Teaching

This has been a fabulous week! I feel so blessed to be at my university. God orchestrated this week.... I feel like I've been able to make some good connections, personally, academically and professionally.

Around the middle of the week, a well known speaker on education and education reform gave a talk at the university. I was very impressed by what was said and took 5 pages of notes. I'm like my mom in that... It was awesome to hear a counter argument to what is being touted in the media as the latest and greatest reform: Race to the Top. There are points that I definitely want to know more about, but overall it was an inspiring message. Now we just need to do something about it.

The cool part was sitting with a new group of people and getting to know others in my major. I was four seats down from my physics professor so I finally got to nail him on the most missed questions from last semesters final. :) We then chatted about his class, the teaching tests and his teaching style. Such a worthwhile class and a great teacher! So many professors were there; it was fun to see them outside of class!

I caught up with Dr. W. to make sure that he had me down for some homework and we got to chat about the talk briefly. It dovetailed so nicely with what we had learned in class. It's wonderful when the pieces start to fall together and the picture becomes clearer.

Today, I had my first classroom volunteering spot of the semester. I almost canceled since my neighbors partied until 2 am, and I wasn't sure I was going to be useful as I was so tired this morning. I'm so glad I went though.

I'm working with 2nd graders. So cute! It's been interesting to see the difference between 2nd and 4th grade. I love the teacher. I like her style and her classroom. This is what I thought teaching would be like. As I was signing out, the principal stopped and said hi. She recognized me from Dr. W's class. When she heard that I was looking forward to her next visit to our class, she asked if I had time to ask her my questions now. I was able to ask my questions regarding scripted curriculum, expectations, her role as principal and the teacher removal process. A long term sub who had taught on the school's role in the community for my Learning and Teaching class stopped in and I was able to get his perspective on some of the issues.

What I really walked away with was: if I'm going to be a teacher, I'd better be positive that that's the right path for me and be ready to stick with it.

I know I'll be a good teacher. I'm just not sure I'll be able to handle the bureaucracy and politics that comes with it.

That's why I'm here.

One Year

God,

It's been one year since you turned my life upside down. You took my dreams and said you had something better. Left me wondering what my next step was.
I was comfortable; You changed that.
I had to depend on you.
Really depend.
My heart hurt. I felt betrayed.
Why me? Was something wrong with me?
Instead I was given a new life. New challenges.

My dreams are still befuddled. I'm not sure what to dream or if it's even safe yet. I know your dreams are better but I keep trying to peek around the bend to see what's next.
I thank you for this year.
You've given me a richer life than I hoped for.
It still hurts sometimes when I think about what I'm missing:
the people, the happenings, the changes, the growth.

But you've promised something better.
I'm trusting and waiting for your timing and wisdom to be revealed.

Soli Deo Gloria

Food vs. Foodie?

Part of life at the University is cooking for myself. I love cooking... but I rarely follow a recipe. I never really thought about the creativity that goes into food until I moved. I had to decide what I wanted to buy and make it affordable. Where did I want to put my money? One of my first purchases was "green" dish soap. When I bought ziplock bags and saran wrap, I had to think about what the trade offs were and if it was worth it. Yeah, my environmental conscience kicked in big time. Thus, I try to grow food and buy more at farmer's markets than the grocery store. The hardest part is figuring out how much vegetables I will use in a week. It all looks so good. Swiss chard and kale are my weaknesses, I always buy too much. There are some organic things that a college girl can't afford but it's about balance: balancing priorities, money, health and ethics.

It's rather nice to cook for myself. I was definitely influenced by the foodies at church and in Children's Ministry. We did food like you wouldn't believe. We're not in Costco anymore, Toto. Church luncheons are always surprising...

I've been taking pictures for a while of my creations and thought I would share some with you. All the vegetables are organic and most were bought at the local farmers market. The pictures were taken at different times so yes, some vegetables are out of season.
The main ingredients of most of my cooking: olive oil, fresh garlic and onion.

Chicken Stir Fry with yellow zucchini, red and green cabbage, carrots and broccoli over noodles.

This is a variation on a noodle bake. I omitted the meat and doubled the eggs. There is about one cup cooked chopped spinach, low fat ricotta cheese mixed with 2 eggs, spiral pasta, spaghetti sauce mixed up and topped with cheese. I made two of these last week. One for the freezer and one to eat!
Chili (from a can) with extra beans and carrots. I stirred in some frozen corn when I served it and topped it off with monterey jack cheese.

This was a left over creative inspiration. I had too much brown rice so I added chili powder, garlic, black beans and corn. I added some cheese and topped it with some left over chicken. The rice was better than the chicken which was rather bland.

This is a family favorite which has become my favorite study food for crazy weeks. Tuna Noodle Salad. A can of tuna, noodles, olives and green beans over a bed of lettuce and topped with a olive oil vinaigrette. The side dish is garlic sauteed summer squash.

This is my favorite summer meal. Corn chips and "salsa". Onions, sometimes a spicy pepper, heirloom tomatoes, cilantro and dash of lemon or vinegar. Yes, it's more of a pico de gallo but at our house it's called salsa...

My other favorite study food is salsa with frozen corn and black beans. Simple, fast, and filling!

Presentations and Power

I've emerged from last week slightly sleep deprived and over caffeinated. Last week went much better than I expected on most accounts. I have to thank my professors for a couple class-wide extended due dates.

I gave my longest academic presentation on Wednesday. Thirty minutes! I definitely could have gone for forty though. I managed to weave the history of "textbooks/curriculum" spanning from Hornbooks to McGuffey Readers (briefly touching on the Dick and Jane Basal Readers) with how they perpetuated the social norms and contributed to national stability and unity. Webster's desire for a national identity was an important part as well as the shift from oral literacy to written literacy. We sped through the Puritanism, Presbyterian/Calvinism, Protestantism and Victorian morality. Year II of Worldviews of the Western World came back with a vengance as I explained who Cromwell was, spoke about "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", defined creed vs. catechism and gave a brief overview of the Calvinist beliefs. Thanks, Mom and Dad! I even had a little hornbook and recitation activity. I was out of breath by the end trying to cover all the material. Dr. W. had that goofy grin on his face for most of my presentation that means he's pleased (either that or he was stunned). :) He only stopped me once to emphasize something so I think it went well. I'm not trying to sound my own praises but this was one of the most notable and exciting things this week.

Well, that and the electricity issues, we've had.

We had half of the breakers in the kitchen, laundry room and my room go out. We switched the breakers and nothing happened, so we put a work order in. A couple hours later, I looked at the breakers and realized that one whole bank of breakers were off. We had flipped them on and back off not realizing which direction they should go. We canceled the work order. ;)

Today, when I came home from church, I went into the kitchen and turned on the lights. The incandescent lights were really dim. I went into the bathroom where the lights are really bright, but they were dim too! I thought I was going blind... either that or my eyes were taking way too long to adjust from coming inside. Then the florescent tubes went out. My roommate lost power at that point and we watched appliances and lights turn off one by one. It's a little creepy. I called the management company who referred me to the electric company. Turns out there was an equipment failure. We got power back around 2:30.