“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

“I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”-Dr. Haim Ginott (Included this in my teaching philosophy paper I just finished)

Wow. Much has happened since I last updated. The college basketball season has ended, so I am less distracted from my studies. As I mentioned in my last blog, there is something comforting about having basketball streaming while I do homework. (Probably because most of the time I end up forgetting about the homework.) Now, the season is over. No more MIZ-ZOU, no more Georgia Tech. The one and only good thing about the end of basketball season is the beginning of tornado season. I love storms! I didn’t used to like storms but grew to love them. Now, I live in a place that has no storms at all. I am wrapping up my third year here (crazy how time flies, right?!) and I have never heard thunder in Juneau. Luckily, the few times I have been home, it always seems to storm. Even this past Christmas break I heard the sound of Mother Nature. You know I won’t be able to stay away forever.

Moving on, the most important thing to happen this week is me finishing my Advisors class. This is a class in which I have worked my tail off. I wanted to do great in his class because he is also my supervisor of student teaching. It is important to impress him. However, he is not easily impressed. This is an older man who has seen so many students pass him that he rarely complements anyone. He is not the type of guy who will boost your spirits. He speaks only the truth and is not afraid to tell you if he thinks you will fail. I like that about him. I like having honest people around because I always know where I stand. (I say that now because he has never said anything mean to me. My opinion might have been different otherwise. Lol)

This past week I was working vigorously on my Philosophy of Teaching paper. This paper will stick with me for a bit as I travel through the rest of the student teaching program. Needless to say I was worried about it. The perfectionist in me worries about the littlest things some times. Now it is finished and turned in. I presented on it last night and got great feedback. My Advisor emailed me and said he was very impressed. I got the “at-a-girl” and let me tell you, after all the hard work, it sure felt GREAT!

-The best part of presentation night was the girl who went before me. We had to connect Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories to our philosophy. Anyways, throughout her entire presentation she called Piaget… (normally pronounces Pee-a-shay)…. Pee-gay. Maybe I was childish but I couldn’t help but laugh. STILL it makes me giggle. Of course, I would have to be the person to present right after her. It was hard to pronounce his name right without giggling for the rest of the night. Also, a small part of me wanted to pretend pronounce Vygotsky as V-gots-gay…but I didn’t.-

Now, I have two main classes to wrap up. Both are demanding of my time but I have 100% in both. It IS possible that I could actually pull off that 4.0 this semester.

Last week I was able to catch my mom and Kinsey on Skype. That was fun. I need to get on there and talk with my family and friends more often. It’s nice to see their smiling faces and hear what all is going on 3,000 miles away. I am reminded of my roots and it keeps me grounded.

(She is looking way to grown up! I don't like this...)
(Kinsey doing her scary face for me on Skype.)

Also, I am officially back on the schedule at Era Helicopters again. My first week is April 25^th. It will be finals week for me as well but I am SO excited to get back to work again. I love seeing the large groups of people come in and I love being around the helicopters. It’s not like there is another summer job where I get the opportunity to fly in helicopters over the Juneau Ice Field. God has been SO good to me.

How can you see this view and NOT believe in God?