Thoughts About Teaching

On Thursday I was sitting in the library with Andrew and chatting. Actually he was venting and I was listening. He needed to vent because he hates his English class and thinks his teacher is an idiot. Now, I don't think I would go that far (I only call stupid drivers idiots), but he had some great points about the idiocy of his teacher. Now, I won't tell you what his issues are with her, but I will tell you the things that I think can help me as a future teacher. Andrew said that it made a lot of sense for teachers to teach a concept, give you a variety of examples of great use of the concept, and then have you go out and try it out. Apparently, this is how engineers think. It is also what we were talking about in my Teaching Writing class, and it was good to hear it from someone who isn't just teaching me educational theories. I can see how this applies to English and engineering, but now I'm trying to figure out how to apply it to history education. History is usually taught chronologically and sometimes topically. I guess you can teach that way with skills that historians use. Let me know what you think if you have any thoughts on the matter.

Which brings me to my next thought about teaching. My current major (History Ed) will make me a secondary teacher, in high school or junior high. Sometimes I am not quite sure if that is what I really want to do. I met with two of my professors and we ended up talking about historical things for about an hour and I got a list of about 10 book recommendations. My profs were both like, "Man, have you thought about grad school?" Yes, I have, but never really seriously about doing it soon. "Sarah is the kind of student I like to talk to. She's not here to complain, but is here to ask questions and express interest." Why complain? Profs are there to impart knowledge and they are such interesting people! "Dr. M, Sarah wrote this paper last semester about Black anti-Semitism during the Detroit race riot of 1943." "Really? That is impressive." And so on. I'm not meaning to brag, but they have planted a few thoughts in my head. I would be happy wherever I end up in my job. But, I have started thinking about timing, and I wish I could see how things would turn out, but that doesn't work. I have never thought about graduate school this seriously. I would love to be a researcher or a professor or a high school teacher. I'll figure it out. I just had to get that out.

Ahhhh, LIFE

Ahhhh, life. Yes, life. I am doing really really well now! After a brief trauma, I am now doing awesomely. Congrats to all my cousin-in-laws and future aunt-in-law who are pregnant. Yay for you.

On Saturday night, Andrew and I went to see Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare, put on here at Utah State by five Actors from the London Stage (http://www.nd.edu/~aftls/ for info on their current tour). What this troupe does, is use five actors to act out an entire Shakespeare play, which means that everyone plays about five roles. I saw them a few years ago doing Hamlet. It makes things sometimes very confusing, but also really amazing to see how much voice, slight costuming, and body language can create an entire character. Everyone playing multiple roles made things even more hilarious. Shakespeare is still hard to understand, and Andrew said it was sometimes hard to figure out what they were saying because of the language! Now he knows of my suffering!

More about my Shakespearian sufferings... We had to draw numbers out of a hat in class to determine which play we are studying we will do a critical analysis on. God is cursing me. I am writing about Henry IV, which is hard. Really hard. Histories are just difficult. I wish I could be writing about Twelfth Night, but no. Oh well. I'm meeting with my prof today and I think that things will be all right.

I'm also reading a really great book. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is really great, and it is hard to put down. It is about some historians researching a Dracula myth, and right now, there are people dying as supposed warnings. We'll see how it ends. Andrew said it sounded like secret combinations, but I have heard great things about it and am really enjoying it. It is SO SO nice to read for fun, and to not just read stuff for school.

Less than 100 days (sorry, no exact count yet) until The Wedding!

A Tribute to Wal Mart Employees

As much as I do not like Wal Mart, there are two employees that have gone above an beyond in making sure my Wal Mart experience. So here is a shout out to Beverly and Marsha.

Christmas season, 2007. My roommate Maren and I were on the hunt for mistletoe. It is important! Especially for college girls in need of a guy. So our search took us to Wal Mart. There was no mistletoe in the Christmas decor section. Weird, I know. So we asked this sweet old woman named Beverly where the mistletoe was. She looked at looked, but her search was in vain. We told her it was all right and walked away. Minutes later, we here a shout: "WAIT!" and here comes old Beverly hurtling down the store, mistletoe in hand. What a great Wal Mart associate. So we nominated her for a Superb Employee at Customer Service.

Trip with the parents to Sacramento. I had told my parents the day before that I was going to get married, and we had to stop by Wal Mart for a belt for my dad, cuz he forgot it. Anyway, we get to the register, and there is this tall black woman working there. I think her name was Marsha, or something like that. My dad talked to her a bit, and then he asked if they sell wedding dresses as Wal Mart. Marsha said, "No." And Dad said, "She thinks she wants to get married." Then, Marsha turned to me, and in her kick butt awesome accent said, "Girl, don' chu let no one steal you' thunder." It was awesome. Marsha's advise has become immortalized among me and my roommates.

So that is my tribute to the Wal Mart employees. Yay them!

And here is a picture of my cute gecko, Grendel. I thought this was adorable. :D Yay Grendel! He eats crickets. That reminds me, I need to feed him today.

Pictures of What I'm Up To

Hello everyone. 16 weeks and 1 day! WOOT!!! Then I get to marry the above featured hunk!

Enjoy some pictures of my latest loco adventures. The next two pictures are my hands doing something I like to do. I am reading a rather nerdy book.


The next two pictures are of the ring that Andrew got me. Beautiful! I love it. It is really sparkly. I especially like how it is so good for distractions during boring classes, or frustrating classes, or anything in general that needs to divert my attention. I am way distracted by shiny things as it is, but now it is even worse.


The next picture is of me and Andrew at a wedding luncheon, first pretending not to like each other and then pretending to like each other.


And those are my latest loco adventures! I must admit that blogging is way more exciting than doing my homework, which is going pretty well for the most part. I'm sick and tired of sitting and tired of people giving me chocolate. I'm going to get fat. I'll have to start starving myself so I can be anorexicingly thin for my wedding. ;) Just kidding. I really don't have an eating disorder. And if I did, I would want to be bulimic cuz I like food a lot.