April 2013

I have seriously been lacking in the blogging area lately.  With spring reluctantly arriving, my fingers want to dig into the dirt and grow something rather than type away at the keyboard.  And then again, how on Earth can it be the night before May 1st?!

Low:

• My time is winding down at my second placement.  It has literally flown by and I now only have 7 teaching days left!
• My car air conditioning needs recharged.  It was a long, hot drive back from the Twin Cities last weekend.  Just ask Dustin.
• Lu canceled her Netflix.  Just when I was almost done with Brothers & Sisters.

High:

• I have had great weekends this whole month!  The first one was spent with Whit having best friend time, the second one was spent at home with the niece and nephew for their birthdays, one was spent in Brandon and Iowa City, and last weekend was in the Twin Cities.  Great times were had!  :)

• I have had a wonderful time in my second placement!  I love the students, teachers, paras, and the random things that happen.  Like Duck Dynasty Day!  :)

• So far, I have sent out exactly 1 application for teaching positions.  I sent it yesterday.  I received a call to have an interview today.  I have an interview on Thursday!  Pray for me please?

What a crazy month before a summer of unknowns.  Some answers are slowly coming, but a lot of things are still up in the air.  Just knowing that God is always faithful keeps me hopeful.

Commonalities

Finding that common ground.  Pick up on commonalities.  Common, common, common.  This thought has been drilled into my head in my years at UNI.  Bill, last semester, was the main driller.  Whenever I hear the word, I hear it in his voice.  Seriously.  

Never in my whole life did I think that the common ground with my students would be as easy as princess stickers, talking about the day to day, high fives and Mario.

I seriously love these students so much!  I mean, how many people can say they have made cupcakes with a student who is blind?  Or dirt cups for that matter?  I love what I do!  I love the people I work with!  They make every day just a little bit better than it already was.

Yesterday one of my students was asking me about what radio station I listen to.  I told him I listen to country and Christian music.  He is the soft rock kind of guy so he was a little disgusted with my answer.  Somehow, the conversation got turned to George Strait.  Go figure since he is my FAVORITE!  I like to consider myself a George Strait Junkie of sorts!  :)  Anyway, Evelyn is one of the sweet paraprofessionals that I work with.  She's kind of like my grandma at school.  She was saying something about having George Strait records that she'd have to look for.  The subject changed and I never gave it another thought.

Today in the hub-bub of the morning, Evelyn came in and handed me a flat bag.  I opened it to 2 George Strait records!  She told me I could keep them!  I geeked really badly!  It was all I talked about today!  I annoyed my students a little when they didn't know who he was and I played some tunes for them.  I didn't care!  I was too stinking happy!  Evelyn found that common ground with me, and look at where we are now!  It's huge when you can find something that really connects with a person.  Finding common ground with one of my girls was as simple as offering her princess stickers, but it's been a little slow up until about Tuesday.

Ah, common ground!  :)

You Just Have To...

I have been embarrassingly behind on blogging lately.  So much has been going on since I last blogged!  I've sat down to write a couple of times over the past month and then I would get distracted by a more pressing need.  So, for this blog, I will attempt to catch up on the past month and all its happenings.

I couldn't be happier with my second student teaching placement.  I started after a mere 4 days of saying goodbye to my 3rd graders.  That first day was practical culture shock.  Instead of there being more students than teachers, it's the other way around.  Instead of my name being said, yelled, uttered multiple times in a half hour span, I could go for half hours without hearing my name.  Instead of a stuck to schedule, there is a roll with the punches atmosphere.  I don't think I can express how happy and free I feel in this room.  I take over next week completely.  I've been getting along so well with each of the students.  And I need to get red pants for Red Pant Wednesday!

And I have a desk.

With a yellow rain boots pot with a plant.

AHHHH!!!!  

:)

My boyfriend and I have been dating for 2 whole months.  The time has simply flown by!  He's come home with my twice and loves hanging out with my family.  We love playing cards and just last night, he beat me for the first time in Rummy.  Dustin is a country boy through and through.  He's convinced I need to get a gun and go hunting with him this year.  He loves fishing...and he enjoys catching more than me...

Bella, his dog, is super jealous.  She's had him all to herself for her whole doggie life.  But that problem is now solved since he took her into his parent's house to stay. 

And then there's Benji.  Ya know, that sweet and innocent Yorkie that guards the Abrahamson house?  The only reason he's so 'sweet' is because he ate 1 1/2 Scratch cupcakes.  Yep.  The cupcakes I got for Dustin and I.  One that he special requested.  Benji got them and took one to hide for later.  We aren't on sweet terms right now.

I was able to see Jani Lippert last week.  Oh man, did I miss that girl!  It was so good to get a hug from her!  It was great to catch up a little bit in the gas station parking lot.  She brought me a portfolio that I was badly in need of because not only do I have to do the whole teaching thing, but I have to do the portfolios and other assignments for seminar.

Did I mention that I'm starting to look for real jobs now?  Holy cow!  I'm trying to find something up this way.  There are a few openings, and there is so much to get done for the application process.  Dustin came over last week to help me look and I was stressing out a little bit.  After a good dose of prayer, I was able to sleep that night.  I know that God will open the door I need to walk through.

Well, you should all know by now that my best friend is getting married in November.  We got her dress, and so with my precious few weekends that I have left, we spent Saturday looking for my dress.  The first one I tried on was the one!  I can't wait to wear it at her wedding!  No pictures because the dress was the wrong color, and it was a size too small, but look for them in November.

Before the kids even left today, my teacher told me to get ready because I was leaving as soon as the kids left.  She was too.  

"It's too nice to sit in here and work.  Sometimes you just have to do that for yourself."

So I sit on the deck getting ready to work on lesson plans and portfolios.  At least I'm outside, right?

February 2013

This one's a day late.  I kind of forgot that February ends at 28...  This month has flown by!  And with it has gone 4 weeks of student teaching!  It's incredible how fast the time has flown and to think of all the great and unexpected things that happened this month!

Low:

• I got stuck twice in one morning in the snow...I don't really want to talk about it...
• Some of those days of being fully in charge were rough.
• When some of my students said they hated me...I know they don't, but the fact that they even said it digs under my skin a little bit.

High:

• I was fully in charge for 2 weeks!  It was incredible!  It really gave me some great insight as to the teaching field.  It was exhausting, but completely worth it!  :)
• I got asked out on a date...and now we've been on 4 total!  He's coming home to meet my parents in a couple of weeks.  No pictures yet, but he did bring me this lovely bouquet of flowers on Valentine's day!  :)

• I have Skyped with so many friends this month!  I love it!  I miss them so much and it's so nice to be able to 'see' them and have the chance to catch up with them all!
• Not only was I able to help surprise Grammy for her 80th birthday, but Abbey and Tim were there too!!  It was so great to see my big sister!  :)
• Wedding dress shopping with Whit was so much fun!!  A tear jerking trip for sure, but it was FANTASTIC!!  :)

February, you were pretty great!  I have seen so many prayers be answered this month, and extensions to those answers.  I'm just so stinking blessed that sometimes it hardly seems real and it seems more like a dream than anything!

Favorite photo of the month!  :)

The Downhill Slide

This week was my 7th week in my first placement.  Holy cow!!  This week was a little on the boring side because I didn't always know what to do with myself.  This week I wasn't teaching full time and I had more time to work individually with kids, but I just didn't always know what to do during large group lessons.  On the upside, I started taking my laptop and since I don't have internet access, I was able to get so much done on my TWS!  :)

Today was a great day!  Yesterday I was told to bring my snow gear because we would be having a sledding party with those students who had been bringing their reading logs back.  I was looking forward to it ALLLLLLLLL day long!

Finally, the time came!  Students were sent to go read, and those who were involved in the party got dressed.  The students were a little surprised that I was going outside too.  They couldn't believe that I owned a pair of snowpants.  They giggled a little at my boots, but that's okay.  They are a farm girl's best accessory after all!  :)

We went outside and as soon as we hit the snow, the requests came.  

"Miss Strupp, will you sled with me??????"

"Miss Strupp, will you push us?????"

Over and over again I heard those phrases, and I didn't mind one bit!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  Up and down the hill I went.  I constitute the sledding adventure as my work out for the day.  When I pushed them, I laid out completely on my belly to give them the best push I could.  I was completely covered in snow and it was completely wonderful!  I loved hearing the laughter as we slid across the top of the snow, and to hear their giggles as they wiped out was20 minutes of bliss later we had to go back in.  The time flew, just as the past 7 weeks has gone.  I can't believe that I am leaving next Friday.  I know that I will be bawling like a little baby that last day.  There will be 22 sad, sad kiddos, and 2 sad, sad teachers.  Can't time just slow down a tiny bit?

This Girl is on Fire

Well, today was the day.  Today was one of the days my best friend has been looking forward to for so long.  We went wedding dress shopping!  :)  Momma Abe, Joy (Caleb's momma), Lynnae, Whit, and I piled into the car to head to Des Moines.  It was such a fun car ride there and the time flew by.  Naturally, we had to make a stop at Scratch!  This was Joy's first time.  It was a big day for me as well!  I hit stamp #50 on my tour card!!!  :)

Our first place was Schaffer's.  I have never been wedding dress shopping before, but it felt so natural to be picking out beautiful dresses.  It was so much fun to watch Whit get all gussied up in the beautiful gowns and twirl around on the pedestal.  Lynnae went right for the shoes and kept walking around in some high heels!!  It was a no go on the dresses there, but before we went to David's Bridal, I treated myself to a cup of Turtle Mocha from Caribou Coffee!  :) 

At David's Bridal, Lynnae was tired.  The place was busy, and there were so many dresses that would be perfect.  This was the place we should have started at.  I was able to do the honors here and zip my best friend into all 3 contenders.  Honestly, she only tried on 3.  The first 2 were big hits, but that third one.  WOW!  That was it.  We all looked at her, she looked at us, and we all just knew.  The tears came down.  The hugs were given all around.  The pictures were taken.  The bell was rung.  Whit had found the dress that she will marry her other best friend in on November 23rd.  It is BEAUTIFUL, and that's all I can say...until I can share pictures in November!  :)

After that, we joined up with the fellas at Hu Hot and had a very late lunch.  We talked and laughed the whole meal through.

The whole way home, we jammed to Taylor Swift.  We danced like crazy women.  We laughed into hysterics.  We belted out the high notes.  We let Lynnae sing her solo...This Girl is on Fire.  :)

Stop

"Do I have 22 kids?"

"I still have _____ minutes left.  What am I going to have them do?"

"What are they doing!?"

"Where did _______ go?"

This week has been my second full week being in charge.  What a week it has been!  The kids have been testing me.  The end of last week was AWFUL as far as behavior goes.  The start of this week was interesting, but it has been getting a lot better.  I love all 22 of those kids, but some of them can be MEAN!  One of the boys had one of the sweetest girls in tears one day.  

And then they have those absolutely adorable, why can't you be like this all the time, moments.  Those moments where one comes up to hug you after a small group lesson.  Those moments where they're talking to each other and saying that I'm an awesome teacher.  Those moments where they want me to sit by them at lunch.  Those moments where they come in all excited in the morning to tell me a story.  Those moments where they really get something I was teaching them.  Those moments where they are fascinated with some ridiculous story I share about a random moment in my life.  Those moments where they say something so ridiculous or unexpected that I just can't help but laugh with them.

Today was a little crazy, but not as crazy as the previous days had been.  Which that in itself is something just short of a miracle since all week they were set on no school on Friday due to the impending snow storm.  I honestly don't think I heard more than 3 kids talking about it all day.  They listened really well.  They transitioned quickly.  They did pretty good on their math test.  

They still had me on my toes all day long.  I felt like I was running around all day.  I was even in a hurry to get home because of the storm.  My body was busy all day long.  My hands were always doing something.  My eyes were always looking at something.  I got home and I didn't want to do anything.  I stood and looked out my window at the falling snow.  I just stood there, completely motionless.

I finally stopped.

I finally stopped talking, looking around, moving, correcting, teaching, driving, walking.  

I just stood motionless.  And boy, did it feel good.  Just to stand there and marvel in the falling snow.  Just to marvel in the Creator who sends that snow to Earth.  Just to be.