For the Student Teacher

My little sister will begin student teaching in February! I am SO proud of her. She has worked so hard to get to this point and I can't wait for her to finally see all of that hard work pay off! As we talk about her student teaching, I find myself wanting to give her 5 million tips from my student teaching experience (and now 1.5 years teaching). I've held back because I know she doesn't need my help, but I decided to write a blog about it anyways. Now she can read them if she wants, but I'm not being her "second mother"... At least not this time. Here are a few things to consider:

• Teaching is exhausting in ways you may not be expecting. Your students quickly become your kids - you will love them, you will take care of them, you will desire their success, much like a parent might. I believe this is one of the best and hardest parts of teaching. Because just like every child does a parent, your students will let you down. Your students will not always appreciate your care, will not always meet expectations, etc. This part of teaching is what you can't prepare for - the emotional exhaustion - the part that refuses to let your heart rest.
• Teaching is exhausting physically. Your feet won't hurt so much after the first week or so :) But expect them to hurt again come January and again in August - it's amazing how quickly our bodies change and adapt. The same goes for your voice - it will be hoarse and scratchy at the beginning, but this too shall pass. On that note, invest in a good water bottle and USE IT!
• Some kids will love you (and want to please you) because you are young; others will test you (and want to make life more difficult) for the same reason. Be thankful for the priors and patient with the latters.
• You can't do a fancy project or activity EVERY lesson. One of my advisers suggested to have a goal of one "fancy thing" per week. Once you're keeping your boat afloat while doing that you can start adding more.
• Pick a lesson planning format and stick to it. I truly believe that colleges and teacher prep programs teach you "rules" for lesson planning SO that you can BREAK them. Your lesson plan has to work for YOU.
• Your "To Do" list is never ending. It doesn't matter if it's September or June, there is always "just one more thing." Learn to set boundaries and stick to them. Learn to take breaks and rest.

 Kayla is going to LOVE teaching, I just know it. Furthermore I think (in my professional opinion, haha) that she will be very good at it. There are some pre-K and 2nd grade kids who are in for a blessing and they don't even know her name yet! I can't wait to hear all about this fantastic journey! I love you, baby girl. I am so proud of you!

Weekend Wonders

On Friday afternoon, Adam and I drove to El Dorado. If you didn't know this about me and Adam, we enjoy the car. We've found it's one of the only places we can have a private conversation while we're on campus and so we often make the loop around Arkadelphia, just to give us a chance to talk! Adam also asked me out in the car, we shared our first kiss in the car, and Adam even ended up proposing in the car :) So needless to say, we enjoyed the drive!

When we arrived, we met up with his family and attended the Bebo Norman and Point of Grace concert... I listened to the concert... Adam talked to his little brother through the whole thing! (It's okay, they needed some bro time.)

Leigh, Shelley, and Denise
Point of Grace

I love Point of Grace. Before my sister and I made it to high school, we were not allowed to listen to "non-Christian" music, so we were obsessed with Point of Grace and other popular Christian artists. I enjoyed the concert and the acoustics were awesome! When the group sang "Circle of Friends," I flash-backed to being a 4th grader... Swimming in a hotel pool with 4 of my very closest friends, listening to this same song, and promising each other that we'd always be a "Circle of Friends." We were at that hotel because two of us didn't make the deadline to go to church camp. We refused to go without each other and so "hotel camp" was born. God bless Mrs. Sharon and our wonderful Moms who took care of us and made sure we had an awesome time that week! Since then, we've grown up and gone our separate ways, but we will always share very special memories of the time we spent together.

And to top our weekend off, we spent most of the day Saturday with this little guy... :)

Adam's nephew, Jody

Wrap It Up

What are we wrapping up? Christmas break. Put a nice little bow on top and save it for next Christmas, because this year's is over. Adam and I got back to Arkadelphia last night. I'm completely unpacked and somewhat organized for the semester.

Christmas break seemed to pass so quickly and last forever all at the same time. Doesn't it always? Adam and I spent 1 week in Memphis with my family, 2 weeks in El Dorado with his family (including a trip to Illinois to see extended family), and 1 more week with my family. The last week with my family was spent in Jackson, TN because my parents have finally moved! Here's a short list of some of the things we did over break:

-slept (a lot!)

-spent time with family

-played SkyRim (I'm a Warrior. Who knew I would like killing trolls and dragons?!)

-assembled a bookshelf

-completed our wedding registries

-sent out save-the-dates

-read (Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury and Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks)

-watched movies

-bought a Nativity for our apartment next Christmas

How do you spend your time off?

And so Christmas break ends and this semester begins. This semester is bittersweet for me. Student teaching is supposed to be the culmination of everything I've learned and accomplished in college so far, but right now it feels like a dark cloud looming over me. I'm anxious and wary of everything it will hold for me. Ready or not, I'm set to graduate on May 12. Although I'm excited about this achievement and all that God has brought me through, I feel unprepared to face "life after college." A sweet friend told me when I first got to college that God would challenge and grow me here. He has. The friend also told me that when it was time to leave, God would have completely prepared my heart. I trust that she's right. God will prepare my heart and He will carry me through this last semester.