Thankful

It's Thanksgiving tomorrow, you know, so I should be thinking of things I'm thankful for. Some people are posting every day on Facebook - good job! I'm not that diligent right now.

1. I'm thankful for Mike. He's pretty great. He puts up with me. He still is around after all the weird things I do and say. He pushes me to do things (get my teaching license, get a master's, run, etc) and always tells me how capable I am when I get discouraged and think I'm not able. I'm really glad it's him I get to be with every day.

2. I'm thankful for my job and all the students I teach and all the great people I work with. I have been so lucky to have been given a job at Vista Heights where the faculty is so great. The new school opens next year and I'll be happy just to have a job somewhere, but if I really did have the choice, I wouldn't choose to leave the faculty I work with now. The principal has done such a great job picking and leading great people who know how to respect eachother and work together. I've heard stories of difficult work environments but am glad to say I don't know what that would be like. And the students really are great. They certainly have their moments, but they still make me laugh (mostly at them, not with them). We've been talking about how to teach middle school students and three things have been brought up that have changed me, just a little, this year. One, don't forget why we wanted to teach. Was it really to get through this specific lesson, or was it to reach a student? Am I going to get through to them if frustrated all day, every day? Two is that they're going to remember how I treated them more than what I said. (That one really hit me.) And three, it doesn't matter what I really think about a student. Their perception of how I feel about them is all that matters to them and how they respond / learn / act.

3. I'm thankful for my calling in the Priamry Presidency. I don't love the responsibility, and the fact that I have to worry about all the callings for teachers we still need to fill, but I really love being with the kids. They are so cute and say the best things. They have a TON of energy, and sometimes channel it in ways that I wouldn't choose, but to be able to teach them is the greatest thing I've done for a calling.

4. I'm thankful for the Gospel and to know how much Heavenly Father loves me and everyone on this planet. It's so easy to forget, but when you see simple beauties, or small acts of kindness, you can see and feel His love.

5. I'm thankful for food. I shouldn't be, because lately my choices of what I eat has kept me up late at night, but I am thankful for not having to go hungry. We had a canned food drive this last week and it was awesome to see the response. And to think that there's students in my classroom that have to go hungry is so disheartening.

 

 

6. I'm thankful for my family (including in-laws). Again, I've heard stories and seen other families and no matter how crazy mine can sometimes seem, we all care for eachother and would do anything when in time of need. And they can be fun to be around.

 

I'm thankful for so much more, but these are the ones mostly on my mind right now. (Oh, and they're in no particular order, except number 1!)

 



Mrs. Jenkins

Now that the first quarter of school is finished for Jen, I guess it's about time I posted these pictures from back-to-school night.  Jen is very excited to be a full-time teacher with her own classroom this year.  She teaches a Life Skills class (I think that's what it's called) this semester, where they teach kids in their first year of Middle School study skills, how to make friends, how to deal with a bully, how to talk with their parents and other adults, and other things.  The second semester will be Utah History.  She has a pretty big class size this year, over 40 if I remember right.  Next year there should be a new middle school completed so she may or may not end up being transferred there.  Nobody will really know until around May, so she'll just enjoy her time at Vista Heights for now.

Don't mind the handwritten name tag at the door.  They eventually got her a real, permanent one.

Life Lessons from Swim Lessons

1. I will not die when my head goes under the water. And, even more, I won’t die if I breathe out my nose.

2. Mike might have had my best interests in mind when he asked me, frequently, over the course of the last…oh, 5 years, to take swim lessons. Swim lessons can actually be beneficial.

3. Lots of other people don’t know how to swim. I was initially embarrassed to tell anyone about my lessons, and I might have put it off for so long because of my pride. But really, so many people had a positive, truly inquisitive response to my telling them. Everyone should take swim lessons! 

4. Being wet in the middle of October isn’t fun. I would much rather have NOT put it off so I wasn’t going to swim lessons when it’s below 50 outside. Oh, and the room the pool was in had a giant glass wall that let out the heat and the rec center said it was “too early” in the season to turn on the heaters. Brrr!

5. Sleep is a most wonderful, necessary thing. Swim lessons that start every day at 9 pm, go till 10, meaning I get home at 10:30 and to bed no earlier than 11…then wake up at 5:30…not fun. By Friday, you could say I was tired.

6. The changes I saw: I don’t look like I’m drowning when I’m trying to move through the water. I can spend quality time under the water, making my body more streamline. I don’t tire out from moving five feet because I can use an efficient swim stroke. I don’t have to pause to breathe out of the water (even though I still am not as graceful at that as Michael Phelps). I learned the free stroke and the backstroke.

 

7. Swimming is a really good workout. But your hair doesn’t like it every night for a week.                                                                                                                                                                                            

8. A Master’s Program wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world and might be in my future.