Summer Sewing Classes

Each year our YW/YM programs host a youth auction where members of the ward donate items/services and people bid on them. I offered a couple of sewing lessons for the auction, and then when a couple of friends asked if I would be interested in teaching their kids some sewing lessons this summer I decided to make it a thing and host some official classes.

I taught four different projects, one per week. I had two sessions of Monday/Tuesday classes with four kids in each class.

June 29&30 8:30-10 or 12-1:30 Adventure Banners (for collecting pins, stickers, jr ranger badges)

 July 10&11 8:30-10 or 10:30-12 Quillows (foldable fleece blanket) 

July 17&18 8:30-10 or 10:30-12 Rolled Pillowcases (Fits a standard queen pillow) 

July 24&25 8:30-10 or 10:30-12 Scrunchies and Otter Pop covers 

$15 per child per session. I will have standard supplies and a fabric stash that the kids can choose from. (*Quillows have an extra $15 supply fee)

 I will provide a supply list for kids who prefer to go pick out their fabric themselves.

I had a really fun time with this. It was fulfilling in a way that felt a little different than my normal. I enjoyed sewing with the kids and was able to use the money on some fun extras this summer. (i.e. Sarah Eden's Book Launch Party).

Adventure Banners: 

Rolled Pillowcases:

Quillows (I didn't get pictures of all the quillows, but this was by far the fan-favorite project). 

Scrunchies/Otter Pop Covers (also didn't get pictures of both sessions, but the kids liked this more than I thought they would.) 

I saw someone with this bag at church on Sunday and decided I wanted to figure out how to make it. So maybe next summer I'll add in a bow-bag project. 

I had such a fun time with this, I'm already thinking about doing a few Christmas sewing lessons. It was fun to sew again and fun to teach lessons to these small groups. 

State FCCLA & thoughts

I was going to post these photos on Instagram, but then I could never find the right words, because the photos are pretty simple but I have SO many thoughts and feelings that this experience brought to mind. I'm not sure I'll even be able to get them all out here, but this is a better place for my wordiness. 

Every year my old co-teacher, Candace Wilson, from Westlake High School reaches out to me to see if I would be able to come and help judge at the state FCCLA competition. (Remember that I taught high school at Westlake before Lydia was born?) 

This is Candance and I in 2011 with our School's FCCLA chapter leadership. (I'm on the far right - looking JUST like one of the other students, ha. No wonder I would always get asked for my hall pass when I walked through the halls during class.) 

I've never been able to make it work before, but this year when she asked, I thought about it for a minute and then thought YES! My kids are at such a great stage right now and I'm feeling a huge shift in my ability to do things like this. Lucy is 2.5. I've never had a 2.5-year-old before without also having a tiny baby! Not only am I feeling more energy than I have for years, but it's just not as hard to ask someone to watch the kids for several hours because even Lucy is pretty independent. 

David and I were just talking about how we are basically 1/3 of the way through the raising of our children. (If you add up their ages it equals 24, which is 1/3 of 72. 18x4=72). It absolutely feels like we've just exited that first stage, the baby/toddler stage. While thinking about that too hard makes my heart twinge with sadness, I am also SO excited for this new stage that we are entering - the early childhood/pre-tween stage. I see so many fun things on the horizon and am loving interacting with my kids right now. This is empowering for us as a family because we are going to be able to DO so many things together! It's also empowering for me as a mother because I, individually, am able to do so many more things now that I'm not needed quite as intensely as before. 

This day is a great example of that. We drove up the night before and stayed at my mom and dad's house, then I woke up and drove to the Davis conference center. I only spent a couple of hours judging the "Job Interview" event, but I was able to step into an old valued role for a day and it was really rewarding. 

My kids, of course, had the best time with grandma and grandpa and it ended up being a really nice day for all of us. 

I have more thoughts about FCCLA from a homeschool perspective, but I'm not sure that I have the words to explain my feelings right now. The first is a slight sadness that my kids are on a different path than the kids I judged in my event. The second is a sincere relief that my kids are on a different path than the kids I judged in my event. The third is a determination to make sure that my kids still have the opportunities to help them learn, grow, and experience different things. The fourth is a decision to not worry about what my kids schooling will look like in high school because that's a long way away and we will make the best decisions for our family as we come to them. 

Back to school...

Well... It's time...

                                                                                              .... time for school to start.

I just got back from a huge district celebration where all of the teachers/staff from Alpine School district gathered to get excited about the upcoming school year. It was full of great music, loads of balloons, prizes, cheerleaders, and great motivating speeches. It was inspiring to see the thousands of people dedicated to educating students and improving the future all gathered together in one place. During a section of an awesome video that was put together, they showed students from around the district saying things like: 

"Someday you will need me to fight for your freedom, but today I need you to teach me to read." 

"Someday you will need me to keep your family healthy, but today I need you to teach me math and science."

"Someday you will need me to design your clothes, but today I need you to teach me to draw and sew."

The teaching profession is more than just babysitting kids while their parents are at work. It is more than just teaching them how to conjugate sentences, and how to do their times tables. Someday the students will be the ones running our country, playing professional basketball, working in our hospitals, and teaching our children. I often focus on the skills that my students will be able to use forever - because I know that the things I teach them will benefit their lives and the lives of those around them.

But now, as I try to prepare for my first day of school... I am scared. Scared that I won't be able to do enough, to teach enough, to care enough. I'm intimidated by the mass of potential and energy that will be pouring into my classroom come Tuesday morning. I will be teaching classes with 40 students in them - so how can I give them the attention they need to succeed? I have 22 sewing machines in my classrooms. I will have over 35 students in both of my Clothing 1 classes. These things are a little scary as I try to organize my lessons in a way that is engaging, informative, and relevant to the students. So scary, in fact, that I can't even bring myself to do more than brainstorm for my class lessons. I have created posters, rearranged boxes, gone on a search for the custodian to fix my current "ant" problem, printed seating charts, and visited with other teachers. But if I try to start solidifying anything for my classes I get this panicky feeling in my chest that forces me to do something less stressful for fear I will go into cardiac arrest. *sigh*

Well... congratulations if you are still reading this. I'm sure that it is boring to you. No pictures, no funny stories, not even a joke or funny quote. But I am hoping that if I can get this out on paper - then I will be able to concentrate on the task at hand and really get things going in my classroom. I know that as soon as the school year gets going - I will be able to rock it. I had a great year last year and I have some great ideas for this year - it's just the getting started that is scary. So... now that I have gotten all of this "thinking" out of the way. I think I will go and get to work. But first... tell me... what scares you? Do you ever feel that tightening of the chest or am I just a crazy lady?

*Update: After writing this post I was able to plan all of my lessons out for the first two days of school. With six different classes - that is a lot of lessons. I am excited about the things that I have planned and feel like I just had to cross that bridge and now I will be fine. I just thought I would let you know how successful I was after writing this post.*

Accomplishment for the day...

It's Wednesday, and I am back in my classroom getting ready for school to start next week. It is a very exciting thing - but I am also kicking myself for not doing more this summer. *sigh* C'est la vie. I
enjoyed my summer to the fullest and now it is back to the grindstone.

I have made posters/bulliten boards, worked on my grading scale, and done other organizational things around my classroom. However - my biggest accomplishment today is my website! I finally buckled down and created a website for my classroom. It isn't perfect - but I am really excited and think that it will really help me out during the school year. I realize that you probably don't care - but the school is basically empty and I don't have anyone to share my awesomeness with (except for David - and I already made him look at it.) Therefore - I am sharing said awesomeness with you.

Mrs. Peaden's Classroom

https://sites.google.com/a/alpinedistrict.org/mrs-peadens-classroom/

Again, I know that it isn't perfect - but I am really proud of it. Thanks for caring!

Schools out... for the summer!

At this very moment - I am sitting my in classroom, looking around and thinking, "How in the world is it June already?" The past six months have flown by. It's been a great ride, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited for the summer. Things have been hard for the past couple weeks. The students have wanted to be done and my patience levels have been wearing thin. I think it's a good thing to have a summer break.

This will be the first summer break that i've ever not had a summer job since - I don't even know how long. I guess back to when I was in my early years of high school. I've thought about getting a small summer job to keep me busy - but when it comes down to it, summer break really isn't that long. I have a Math-in-CTE conference that I will be attending from 8-5 everyday next week, then the week after that I will be presenting at the FACS Summer Conference. (That means that I still have two weeks until my summer even starts.) Calculate a summer vacation in there and the fact that I will be back at school halfway through August and I start to get panicky! My summer is already slipping away. So instead of trying to get another job - I am going to just focus on Red Ladder Design and have as much fun as possible.

David and I have repeatedly discussed how grateful we are that David took the job with Hansen, Barnett, and Maxwell. Not only have they been an amazing company to work for, during the summer they get off at noon on Fridays! Isn't that the greatest? It makes me so grateful that this is where we are - and that they are the kind of company who realize that the summer is a slow time of year and are okay with people taking off early on Friday. I think that it probably helps the employees to work harder during the week, and I know that it makes me loyal to the company as a wife. I just love them over at HBM.

I've been thinking a lot about how much has happened in the 5 years since I have graduated high school. Five years ago, I was in a white cap and gown wondering what my future held for me. Yesterday I was a faculty member in a gold hood and gown watching as the students that have become so dear to me turned their tassels from the left to the right - signifying their own journey into the future. In the past five years I have graduated from college, married an amazing man, gotten a real job, and started my own business. I think that I am pretty close to what I would have said if you had asked me where I would be in five years. I hope that the next five years is as good to me as the past five have been.

I guess this is a pretty random post - and it's super uninteresting because I don't have any pictures. (Hopefully that will change this summer when I start blogging from home instead of blogging from school.) But - there you have it. Shantel's thoughts on a Friday afternoon. Now i'm headed home to clean my poor, neglected house. (It's been quite the busy couple of weeks - don't judge me.)

Happy Friday to all of you!

Wednesday.... again.

Well, here we are. It's Wednesday again. How did that happen so quickly? Who knows.


The big news of the week is that I was officially hired as a contract teacher here at Westlake High School. I interviewed last Thursday, and they told me yesterday morning. Last night David and I celebrated by eating  pizza pockets for dessert while watching an episode of Lois and Clark. (After which, I promptly fell asleep on the couch until David kindly woke me up and helped me crawl into bed.) But back to the big news - the fact that I was hired as the official teacher is a big deal. I've been so blessed to get this job. I will be forever grateful to my friend Emily who basically dropped this opportunity into my lab. I would feel a little guilty about snatching this job away from here if she wasn't so happy staying home with her darling baby girl. (And if I wasn't so jealous of her because of it!)

Today, being Wednesday, is parent teacher conferences at Westlake. This means I will be here for the next 4 hours. Not that this would be unusual for me. I generally stay till 5:30, and Tuesday I was here until 7:30. I just won't be able to get as much work done as I usually do. However, I do have something grand to look forward to. Tonight is HBM's "End of Busy Season" Party - and David and I get to go party with the rest of David's incredibly interesting Accounting associates. Hooray! (I really do love HBM. They have been such a great place for David to work, and the people there are awesome.)

Okay, sorry for another random post. We have been incredible slackers at taking pictures lately, and so I don't have much else to post about but the random musings of my mind. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Chocolate Chips

Right now, I am sitting at my desk at school enjoying a small handful of chocolate chips. I brought them to school with me one day when I knew that I was going to need a treat and I have been grateful for them many a day. (They have lasted me a surprisingly long time.)

As I was sitting here, taking a break from my lesson planning and grade entering, I was just thinking... you know? Just thinking about how it is the small things that make life so good. Small things like having a bag of milk chocolate chips hanging out in your desk drawer. Or being able to chat with your darling husband throughout the day so that between classes you can come back to a message on your computer that says something like "I really love you a lot and hope your day is going well." That is a little thing that makes life just a little bit brighter.

The more I think about it, the more "little things" I come up with. Here are just a few:

-My new "scissor hangers." I was having a hard time with my students using my fabric scissors to cut paper with and so I asked the metal shop teacher to make me some scissor hangers. He got them to me last week and the custodians hung them up last night! I love them.

-Rearranging my classroom. I had my aide help me start rearranging my classroom and I am loving the way that things are working out. There isn't much I can do about the arrangement of the desks, but even the small changes make this classroom feel like my very own. I love it.

-My red trench coat. I've always loved the trench coat look, especially the red-trench coat look, but Logan has always been too cold for be to be able to justify buying it. After we moved to Lehi, I bought this red trench coat - and I have been loving being able to wear it during this "spring-like" weather. In Logan I would still be packing around my winter coat.

(Can you say "I-love-this-coat-and-think-it's-the-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread.")

-The fact that David understood how much I love this coat, so he took me back to the store to buy me one in black and one in blue! (That is right ladies and gents - these coats are perfect for this Lehi weather. I now own three of them. And yes, I know that David is wonderful to me.)

-Having my students see me in the hall and say "Hi Mrs. Peaden!" with a big smile on their face. (Mostly this means that at least some of my students like me.)

-Having a Meal Plan so that I know what is for dinner. Seriously, this is a tiny thing, but it helps so much with my stress level. I love it! 

-Spending time with my family! Last weekend David and I spent quite a bit of time with family. For part of the weekend we went to Morgan to watch my little brothers in the school play and it was awesome. I only wish that I could show you some scenes from the play because it was so amazing. More on this to come. Spending time with my family is the best. I just love them!

-Being able to write all of my crazy thoughts and feelings on this blog. (I just realized that I said "I love it/them at the end of half of my "little things". Oh well, I can be happy if I want to be. It's my blog.)

These are just a few of my little things, but unfortunately, my lessons are beckoning to me. My goal is to get at least one week ahead in all of my classes - but lately I have been stuck at a steady 2-3 days. I just need to focus a little bit more to be able to make it over the hill and get to my full five days. Wish me luck!

Oh, and before I forget... leave me a comment and tell me about one of your "little things" I would love to hear about them!

What a life....

Isn't David the best? I haven't had a whole lot of motivation to write a new blog post because then David's sweet post wouldn't show up at the top of the page every morning when I got to work. (My morning routine includes arriving at school, turning on the lights, logging into the 4 email accounts that I use on a regular basis, and opening up my blog. I usually have enough time to blog stalk one or two of my favorite blogs before the bell rings.)

However, it's been almost two weeks and it's about time for an update. We had a great Valentines Day that mostly included both of us working fairly late, going out to dinner, and stopping at the grocery store for me to buy supplies for the foods lab I had the next day. We decided to go small and simple with the gifts this year and put that money towards a nice picture of the Logan temple (like this) , but it was still a wonderful day. I can't believe that February is almost over. The month has absolutely flown by.

Sometimes when I say things like that, like "This month has flown by," I have to laugh at myself. My days and weeks fly by. But when I think about how long it has been since we have lived in Logan, or even how long I have been teaching at Westlake... I feel like we have been here forever. Seriously. I can hardly even remember living in Logan. Lehi is so much our home now, I feel like we have always been here. Hmm... Maybe it's not that we have always been here as much as the fact that I feel like we belong here. Maybe I confuse the feeling of comfort of belonging with the comfort of living somewhere so long you know everything there is to know. Sorry, random.

So, David has been doing really great at his job. He seriously rocks. HBM think that he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. (Which is pretty great.) It makes me happy to see him so happy, even though they didn't give him Presidents Day off so I had to spend the day bumming around by myself instead of having him there to bum around with me.

I do lots of bumming around these days. Mostly I just sit around and eat bon-bons all day and watch the grass grow.

Yeah right.

I have been so busy lately I can barely understand how I've been able to make it through. I am amazed at how well my teaching is going, considering I am usually making up my lesson plans the day before (or morning of). I guess the good part is that my students don't know about any of that. They see this completely put together teacher that is full of incredible knowledge. Ha. But in all actuality my classes have been going great. I teach six different curricula. (curriculums? cirriculi? It's apparent that I am not an english teacher.) It is a lot of work to be preparing for six different classes AND grading papers for seven class periods. All that included - I love it. I absolutely love it. I had a pretty difficult Student Teaching experience, and there were times that I wondered if I would really enjoy being a teacher. I mean, of course I knew that I liked being in charge, and I liked having people pay attention to me. But I didn't know if I could really do it on a regular basis and still enjoy it. Turns out... I can.. and I do! There is nothing better than teaching something and having students GET it. Or showing them how to make a ruffle for their pillowcase trim and then having them do it and see the confidence and satisfaction on their face. It's awesome. However....


This morning I woke up and all I wanted to do was stay home in bed all day. That wasn't really an option. (The whole real job thing. It really puts a damper on sluffing classes.) Even though I had to get out of bed, I wanted to find my slouchiest sweats and sweatshirt and wear them all day. Instead of doing that, I got up, found my favorite grey pencil skirt, curled my hair into soft ringlets, slipped on my black high heels and headed out the door. I was a little wary of teaching all day in a pencil skirt and heels, but I knew that I needed to change my attitude right there or else there was no way I was going to make it through all of the things that I needed to do today. It totally worked. I had a great day, and I feel ready to take on the massive amount of grading that is sitting in my classroom waiting for me. I think that it is amazing how true the motto "dress for success" is. I felt better than I have all week. My students stayed on task. I was able to accomplish all of the things that I had on my to-do list (plus some!). Most of all, I had a 300 times better day than I would have if I had stayed in bed, or worn grungy clothes to school. Thank goodness for my pencil skirt and heels.

 Sometimes I think about how great this life is that I live and I get overwhelmed at how blessed I am. I can't count the number of mistakes i've made, the people i've hurt, or the regrets I have. I am far from perfect. But I am grateful for how blessed I am. I am grateful for the successes I have had, the relationships I cherish, and the hope I have for the future. This truly is a wonderful life we live.

I realize that this is such a random post. I wasn't planning on writing so much, but sometimes I get carried away. I have so many thoughts bouncing around my head and it does me good to get them out. So... to end, I will leave you with this picture:

This is the project that I have been working on for weeks with one of my FCCLA students. We have seriously put in over 70 hours on this baby. 

This is what it used to be:

About 5 sizes too big, covered in lace, etc... Amazing right?

Fun Facts

Here are some fun facts about my life lately:

-My Interior Design 2 class is learning about Architectural Features and Vocabulary. We are learning how to look at a house and pick out & name all of it's identifying features. This is my very favorite part of interior design.

This house has a steep pitch, gabled roof, turret with dovecote roof, triangular pediment, wraparound porch with balustrade, extended bay window, deep eaves, and some gingerbread trim. My students had a grand old time picking everything apart today. 

-I am helping a student take a wedding dress that she bought at Savers and turn it into a prom dress. We have altered the sleeves, bodice, and length. She just brought it in this morning and over the weekend she dyed it a beautiful purple color. I am in love with it! We have to be completely done with it by this Thursday so she can take it to an FCCLA competition. I will try to get some pictures of it to show you. It is awesome!

-I was observed by one of the Vice Principals at Westlake today. I was a little bit nervous, but as he left the classroom he gave me a high five and told me to keep up the good work. I am hoping that means that he was impressed with my teaching abilities.

-David and I have been watching Star Trek together. We love it. There is just something about old-school TV shows that makes everything 100 times more entertaining. It may also be that I don't have the patience to wait for a new season to come out. It's way better to wait until all of the seasons have been released on DVD and then watch them all marathon-style.

-In the past few weeks I have worked with five different clients doing Red Ladder Design things. Add that on top of school and you get one exhausted lady.

- I started wearing eye liner again. For some reason, this makes me feel like I am older than my students.

-Every person that I meet seems to think that they need to make a comment about how young I look. I get everything from  "How do the students know you're a teacher? You look just like them!"  to "Are you SURE you are old enough to be a teacher? You are just a baby." It really bugs. Like... REALLY bugs.

-I am taking a break from writing lesson plans because I  promised myself that if I finished the first three - then I could take a blog break before writing the next four. This poor blog was feeling sorely neglected. My time is just about up.

- I am going to get a haircut within the next week. (My hair desperately needs it.) Do you think that I should grow it out?

I don't even know if it would get this long!

Or cut it short again?

I am just about in the middle of these two right now. Any thoughts?

District House

I just had to share this because I think that it is so cool.

So, I've mentioned before that one of the classes that I teach is an Interior Design II class. There are only eight students in the class, so it is really laid back. (Especially right after the class before it which has a zillion students. Seriously. There aren't even enough desks for all of the students.) They have been working on a project all semester called the District House. It's awesome. You see, Alpine School district actually builds two houses every year and then sells them. This year, Westlake is in charge of the construction and design of the house. The wood shop is making cabinets, other classes are providing their contributions, and the Interior Design II class actually gets to design the interior of the home! It is set up so that the students are in groups and are competing with each other to come up with the very best design. Next week, I will assist in picking a winner. Let me say this again: The students who designed the winning project will actually be able to see all of their plans carried out in a real life house! They put together a whole binder full of designs, color swatches, counter/carpet/wood samples, quotes from different companies, and many other details.

I think that it is an incredible learning opportunity for the students to get that hands on experience. Plus, there is something really cool about seeing something that you designed become a reality. (I feel that way every time I see a wedding announcement that I designed after it has been printed. Especially when my clients mail me an announcement - it's an awesome feeling to watch it come out of an envelope. It makes me giddy every time!)

Pretty much... I think that Alpine School District is pretty awesome. Especially this school. It's really new (less than three years old) and has around 2000 students (which is huge for a small town girl like me). One thing that shocked me when I started here was their cell phone/technology policy. The policy essentially states that students can have their cell phones/ipods/laptop computers in class - as long as it is not creating a major distraction. Holy moly - 360 from when I was in school! I am still not sure how I feel about it. It really gets under my skin to see students with headphones in while I am talking (especially when they are sharing headphones with their neighbor and I can see them both tapping out the rhythm on the desk.) But - it actually hasn't been as distracting as I thought that it would be. Which surprises me. Maybe it isn't worth the fight to keep the technology out of the classroom.

So I am curious - how many of you did projects like the District House when you were in school? Also, what was your school policy concerning technology? What do you think that the technology policy should be?

Well... thats it! I believe that my job interview is tomorrow. Wish me luck!

First Day

Hooray! Today was my first day teaching at Westlake High School. I am not going to lie, I was a little bit nervous about everything because I didn't know exactly how everything was going to go... but everything went wonderfully. Like I said before, my friend Emily just had a beautiful baby girl and needed a long term sub while she is on maternity leave. It worked out perfectly for me to be able to take over for her.

I didn't talk about it very much on this blog because I didn't want to tell everyone that I was going to do it, and then have something not work out - but now it is officially official. I am a long-term sub at Westlake High! I will be interviewing later this week for the permanent teaching position. There is nothing guaranteed - so I am not getting my hopes up too much - but it will definitely be to my advantage to be in the classroom already with the students. Today I taught Interior Design 1, Interior Design 2, and Clothing 1. Tomorrow I will be teaching Foods, Clothing 2, Clothing 1 and Financial Literacy. I've never really understood how the AB schedule works, but now that I have been thrown into it... I really like it!  

I love being in the classroom. Seriously, it rocks. The best part is that I have no supervising teacher (like I did in student teaching). I feel completely comfortable and am excited to be able to have control over how I run things. (Obviously I am just a sub right now, but I am still able to teach the lessons with my own personality without having to worry about someone else judging everything that I do.) Also, I really love the subjects that I teach here. They are absolutely perfect for me.

We still don't have internet at our house, so I am blogging this from my classroom. (It's so cool. I am like a real life grown-up!) I still haven't talked to David about his day, but today was his first day at HBM as well. The first two days are training, and then he will dive right in. I had to be to work about an hour earlier than he did - so we woke up and he made my lunch and then went down to scrape my car for me. (He really is the BEST husband.) I was surprised when he came back in the apartment after less than a minute, but he just smiled at me and said, "I forgot that we live in Lehi now and not Logan. I didn't even have to scrape."

*sigh* I could really get used to not having to scrape my car on a daily basis.

I realize that there isn't much of a point to this post - but I will be going home today and will be without the internet for the rest of the day. (Unless I stop at the McDonalds on the way home and sit in their parking lot to use their internet. Which, I must admit, has happened frequently over the past couple of weeks.) I just wanted to share my excitement of a successful day and my relief that nothing terrible happened. I will definitely keep you posted on my many adventures in the classroom.

The Perfect Teacher

Someday I will be the Perfect Teacher.

I will be smart, and funny, and kind while maintaining discipline and order in my classroom. I will not only teach my pupils but I will act as a role model and guide them in life. I will be patient and understanding. I will explain everything thoroughly the first time, but if students need extra help on a topic I will be willing to do anything I can to help them succeed. (Unlike a teacher I know who once said "I don't get paid enough to teach you twice." Lucky for her she didn't say that to me, or she would have gotten an earful!) I will care about my students and what they say and feel. Not only will I listen to them and help them succeed, but I will teach my content to them in a way that is meaningful to them. I will never assign busy work and then not give the students points for it when they do it. When it comes to discipline, I will not be too strict, or too relaxed. I will give suitable punishment for the crime.

I will be respected by my students. I will teach them why the content they are learning is critical to their lives, and how they can apply it in their futures. I will motivate them and give them the desire to achieve great things in life. I will help them experience success, and help them learn from failure. I will give my students choices in what they want to learn and how they want to display that learning. I will teach lessons that are full of multiculturalism, literacy, cooperative learning, multiple-intelligence-teaching-strategies and real life application. Then I will give them formal and informal assessments that do more than test what they don't know. My assessments will guide the students to further knowledge and will provide feedback on my teaching skills.

On top of this, I will be a perfect wife and mother (and daughter, and sister, and friend and disciple of Christ.)

I may not be there now, but someday...
I will be.

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"Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." (3 Nephi 12:48)

"In urging us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, Jesus was not taunting us or teasing us. He was telling us a powerful truth about our possibilities and about our potential. It is a truth almost too stunning to contemplate. Jesus, who could not lie, sought to beckon us to move further along the pathway to perfection."
President Spencer W. Kimball

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This post started out as me venting my frustrations about everything that is going to be expected of me as a teacher but ended up mixing with my real hopes I have for my future. I am frustrated by all the things that seem to be the "most important concept in teaching" that, when combined, squash any time I may have had for actually teaching content. But I do want to be a fabulous teacher who really knows how to help students get it. At the end, I realized that even though I am so inadequate in all of these areas there is hope for me because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love the hope and happiness that comes through the Holy Ghost. I am now going to finish writing my "Backwards-design/full of literacy and multiple intelligence strategies/interesting and applicable/assessment AND student oriented" lesson plan on Ceilings, Walls and Floors.