Some Sun Valley pictures!

Here are some pictures from driving around in Sun Valley...some just MIGHT be homes of the stars...

Those are solar panels, we think...

The house sizes were INSANE!

This is not a house, it's a ski lodge.

I went to the Sun Valley/Hailey/Ketchum area with 3 other girls in order to do our practicum. While we were a little sad to spend the first half of our spring break here and be bored out of our minds with observation in schools for the majority of the day, we still managed to have a little bit of leisurely fun such as eating out at different area restaurants and driving/walking around. The town was a bit dead because it's nearing the end of ski season, so not many people were around (specifically, movie stars). People kept telling me that they have seen people like Robin Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis but since the season was over, they probably wouldn't make much of an appearance. I was a little disappointed because it was like they were hibernating...haha! I kept my eyes peeled, nonetheless! I want to go back sometime in the summer possibly and maybe at Christmas since those times seem to be the most active.

To tell you about the work part of our trip: we visited their Spanish dual immersion schools that they have there and those were nothing short of amazing. It was awesome to see these middle schoolers speaking fluently in Spanish (of course, they have a high latino population, so it's not surprising to hear the latino students speaking but to hear the white students speaking was AWESOME)! The dual immersion starts in Kindergarten and goes up through either 7th or 8th grade...they don't continue it right now through high school, which is a shame but it's still cool that they have it in the younger grades. Subjects in school are taught half in English and half in Spanish and that's what the dual immersion is and the kids/parents can opt either to be in it or to not be in it. Although, I can't imagine why you wouldn't want your child to be in it because clearly it allows the students to have a leg up on everyone else by being totally bilingual!!!

Out of town on "business"

Us girls are headed out of town tomorrow afternoon to Ketchum/Hailey (in Sun Valley). We're leaving about 3pm. It should be interesting. It's kind of a disappointment to be leaving the weather here since it's just now warming up for spring time and then going some place colder. I guess I'll get over it though. We better have fun while we're up there! The lady that's driving told me that she was bringing a cooler to bring food for lunches and dinner for tomorrow possibly. I was kinda in disagreement with that part about dinner because I want to make it worthwhile when we're up there and go out for dinners. I don't want to be holed up in the hotel just eating cheese and crackers and drinking wine. That's not a dinner. I'm gonna try to be good for the most part while we're there and not over eat. I don't want to destroy myself and gain 10 pounds. Isn't it sad that I can gain about 10 pounds in a matter of a week but to take it off takes about a century, it seems.


Well, sorry this is a short entry....I gotta go change out the laundry and possibly start packing before we have fun tonight with some friends. I got my special edition Twilight DVD and we're all gonna watch it. How I'm obsessed, let me count the ways....especially when it comes to Mr. Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson)....

What a week!

I've had one heck of a week in my new job! I'm so so so exhausted. I was in an absolute ROTTEN mood yesterday because of 5th period because they're a bunch of little poopheads. They talk constantly and if I start talking (which used to mean, "shut up, teacher's talking"), they seem to want to talk louder or just not even listen. They took their first test with me this week (not first ever but it was the first one with me) and lemme just say that that class period did horrendously. I really have a lot to write about so sit back and relax as you read...

At the beginning of the week, I had said that we were going to take the test this week, preferrably on Tuesday and they all complained and said we should take it on Wednesday because it's a longer class period that day and it would give them more time. Well, of course some people said that they wanted to still take it on Tuesday because they probably wouldn't study at all anyway. So then when I finally confirmed Wednesday, they said no...they wanted Tuesday after all because the whole class said they wouldn't study so I made it final...Test on Tuesday, no ifs, ands or buts. Tuesday rolled around and I started to pass out the test. You won't believe what some of the kids said..."I thought we were gonna take it on Wednesday?" "I was lead to believe we'd take it on Wednesday!" "I didn't study!" UUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!! I wanted to slap them silly. After the test, I passed out the new unit story and began to explain vocabulary and such. Were they even paying any attention to me? NOPE.


This is gonna be a loooooooooooooong two months. I already don't like this class. This class and my ELL class are probably going to be the toughest to get control of. Although, I will say that the ELL kids are, for the most part, respectful to me...I think for now. :/

Decision made

I made my decision as to what I was going to do about getting my practicum hours in while doing this longterm sub job. I've got the option of going up to Blaine County (which is in the vicinity of Sun Valley--about 3 hours away) during spring break, which is in a little over a week from now. I'm going with 2 other girls, maybe 3 if the other one can make up her mind, and we're gonna go during the first part of the week and get all our hours taken care of and done. Then we'll just come home. I know, I know, exciting spring break, right? Oh well...gotta grow up sometime. :) We might get to squeeze a little fun in there sometime...it's not like school lasts the WHOLE entire day. Oh, and the reason we're able to do this is because the schools in this particular county will have already had their spring break so they'll have school while we're on our break.


I've started training again for a run race. It's on June 20th (called "See Jane Run"). I'm kinda excited! I'm still trying to decide if I wanna do the whole enchilada and do the 26.2 miles or keep it at 13.1...I've been told that people who are normal runners still have a hard time with the whole marathon and are "dead" at the end but maybe it might be worth it to try and do the whole thing at least once just to say that I did it. We'll see. I'm following a whole marathon training plan so maybe it'll at least help me get through the half-marathon without walking if I decide to just stick with that choice. Kyle thinks I'm crazy for even entertaining the idea of a whole marathon. ha! :) Maybe I'll just have to do it in spite of him...hehehe. I don't want to damage my knees though and last year's half-marathon did take a little toll on my legs the whole week after the run was over.

Interesting options..

I got a call last night about finishing out the year at Boise High for the German teacher. The only problem with that is I have to clock 20 hours in an ELL classroom somewhere else...meaning, I would have to miss a few days, OR I could go to Hailey during spring break and spend about 3 days there and get my work done and not miss any school. Decisions, decisions...

Waiting to leave

I'm just sitting here waiting until time to leave for a sub job at Bishop Kelly. Last time I went there, the secretary told me that I didn't always have to get there at 7:30 because most teachers don't get to the school until about 10 minutes before school starts. I guess I'll take 'er up on it and not get there quite as early but most of the time, I like to get there in enough time to relax, use the restroom and get everything in order just in case the lesson plans are hard to understand or something.


Well, within the next 2 weekends (this one and next weekend) I will be done with 2 out of 4 master's classes this semester. I have to do presentations in both classes but I'm pretty much done with all of it. Maybe a few final touches but for the most part, I'm DONE. Then I'll have 2 classes left--field experience (which requires 20 clock hours of classroom observation/work) and a portfolio of all the stuff I've done or at least some of the stuff and a documentation of all that I did and that's due on April 24th. The other class is the Wednesday night class and we have to do a final paper on an issue in education or something like that. I'm writing about "The culture of Poverty". There's an author out there named Ruby Payne and she's basically full of crap. She wrote this book called The Framework of Poverty (at least I think that's the exact name) and she made all these stereotypical claims about why children who live in poverty do so poorly at school....and she cites very few sources so where is she getting this information? We don't know. For some reason though, schools are handing these books out to all their faculty and having in-services about it and the teachers and everyone are just eating it up, therefore fueling the stereotypes of different culture groups. Poison, I tell you, pure poison! Anyway, my research paper will delve into that and get different people's perspectives on this woman's "work".


I guess I better go now. It's about time--watch, I'll probably still get there early. :/

I'm gonna go to the gym after work today since I get to leave earlier since the teacher has his planning period during the last period of the day--plus, it's a shortened class schedule today because of an assembly they have near the end but I don't have to go! :)