and it really made me want to start blogging again. About what, I haven't entirely decided just yet. I think I am just going to start typing and see where it gets me...
I am taking four classes this semester: Discourse Analysis for ASL Interpreters (Deaf Studies course), American Indians in Film, Chaucer (both English courses), and Ancient Roman Drama (Classics course). All of the classes are fine, so far anyways. Midterms are coming up, so I have a lot of work to do; a lot of work that I don't want to do and clearly am not doing. Sometimes I wonder to myself why I chose the major that I did and what on earth possessed me to want to double minor, but alas, that is my life right now and I must deal.
Things with Future Teachers Club have been great. We have gotten a lot of recognition within the College of Education and even within the university. A couple weeks ago, the FTC officers and College of Education Ambassadors were invited to watch the UA vs. Citadel football game in the Presidential Skybox. I had the opportunity to talk to President Shelton, past President Schaffer, and other authoritative people about FTC and the importance of the club. Next week I have been invited to give a ten-minute presentation about FTC in front of the dean and associate dean of the College of Education as well as a board of scholarship donors. I hope that the more FTC's name gets out, the more support we will get from the College of Ed. The club itself is going really well. We have a solid number of consistent members and they all seem very dedicated to the club. We have partnered with the Wildcat School to run an after school 4H program (we are teaching drama to fourth through seventh graders) and a read-a-thon. I am just so proud to be president of such a great club. I can honestly say that the success of the club has nothing to do with me, though; my officers are wonderful, the members are wonderful. All around, the club is wonderful!
It's been two months since I was last at Lutherwood and I miss it terribly. Well, I don't really miss the cold nights in the Ark and always being tired and only showering twice a week, but I do miss the atmosphere of camp, the silly camp songs and skits, getting to know new kids every week, and so much more. The thing I miss most of all, though, is the staff. The staff this time around was absolutely wonderful. I felt like I could connect with every person on staff in some way or another. I have been so blessed to have gotten to know well a lot of the counselors, some of whom I still keep in contact with on a weekly basis. My life has been so completely enriched by every single person I got to know this summer and I feel as though I have become a better person because of them. If anyone from camp is reading this, know that I love you more than I can express and I am so glad you are in my life. How deeply you're connected to my soul!
Also, I forgot to post when I moved into my new place, but here is my new address.
1717 E. Speedway Rm #D221
Tucson, AZ 85719
I absolutely love getting mail, so anything you would like to send me would brighten my day immensely. :)
Blessings to all! I hope to hear from you soon!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Look! I am updating again!
I am hoping to start getting into the habit of updating my blog biweekly, and even though I am failing at that at the moment, perhaps this semi-frequent posting will train me for that endeavor.
Nothing overly noteworthy has happened since my last post...School is still kicking my butt and I have a laundry list of books I need to read this weekend, the amount of pages I don't even want to think about. My roommate sat me down the other day and had a "talk" with me about needing to get out more. She says the amount of time I spend doing homework in the room is not healthy for me and I need to make friends or something. She does not understand that I don't really have much time to do anything else besides homework, but I must admit that getting out and doing something fun would be a nice alteration to my forever-reading schedule. Not to mention my closest friends don't even go to this university, some of which don't even live in this state. It's a problem. But nonetheless, I think I am going to take her advice, crawl out of my hermit hole, and begin the discomforting task of being extroverted...
I guess I started my venture with my small, but not-to-be-considered-insignificant volunteer work. About once every couple weeks, I give tours of the University of Arizona to upper-elementary school and middle school students from the Tucson area. I am not overly articulate or well-versed in facts about the UA, but that doesn't seem to matter a lick to these kids; they are struck with utter admiration that a college student would take time out of their "no-rules-no-responsibility" day to lead them on a tour and they blush with the feeling of extra-ordinariness when they receive my answer to a question they have asked. It really brightens my day and even makes me swell with self-importance, perhaps undeservedly, for being able to mentor these students, even in the condensed time I get to spend with them. The more tours I do, I start to realize more and more that I might actually want to teach junior high school students for a living. Call me deranged, but I am not turned off by the incandescent rush of hormones or the awkward interactions; in fact, I find them rather entertaining and slightly endearing. Perhaps God will bring me to work in a junior high setting some day. Until then, the plan is still rooting for ninth and tenth grade English.
Speaking of which, (random interlude of something you probably don't care about, but is nonetheless intriguing for me and I am thus going to share with you regardless) I have been thinking a lot about what kind of material I would be teaching if I were to teach the age group previously mentioned. When I was that age, our curriculum focused greatly on Greek mythology and literature, reading The Odyssey and learning about the different myths. I have always found this be incredibly fascinating and have really enjoyed taking a mythology class two semesters ago and currently reading classical literature in my Women in Lit class. I am so seriously divulged in these subjects that I have even often thought about minoring in Classics. Since I am almost finished with my minor in Special Education (Deaf Studies), it's kind of pointless to make Classics my minor. However, I was talking to one of the girls in my classes and she is double minoring in two emphasis areas, something I am thinking of incorporating into my four year plan. If I can double minor without having to spend any more time at the U, I will double minor in Special Ed and Classics, but if I have to be here longer and pay more money (they're raising our tuition 31% for next semester, ugh), then I will just take Classics courses as some of my elective credits. Nevertheless, I am extremely looking forward to enriching my knowledge in the Classics, especially Greek mythology and literature, not to mention it will be very advantageous to have studied these traditions if I do end up teaching them in my future classroom.
So that's my life: completely mundane. This weekend I am taking Jenny's challenge and so I will be hanging out with my sister, which should be fun and then working. Not exactly my roommate's idea of "getting out," but I love my job, so I don't mind (I still work at Centennial Hall, the performance theater at UA, but as of last semester I was promoted from being an usher to being a manager, fancy fancy). Oh, and this weekend, I will be reading up the wazoo as usual. Breaks from school are most certainly welcome, so I invite you to give me a call or send me an IM/email to catch up/distract me from my homework. :) Take care and I can't wait to talk to all of you soon! Peace and Blessings
Nothing overly noteworthy has happened since my last post...School is still kicking my butt and I have a laundry list of books I need to read this weekend, the amount of pages I don't even want to think about. My roommate sat me down the other day and had a "talk" with me about needing to get out more. She says the amount of time I spend doing homework in the room is not healthy for me and I need to make friends or something. She does not understand that I don't really have much time to do anything else besides homework, but I must admit that getting out and doing something fun would be a nice alteration to my forever-reading schedule. Not to mention my closest friends don't even go to this university, some of which don't even live in this state. It's a problem. But nonetheless, I think I am going to take her advice, crawl out of my hermit hole, and begin the discomforting task of being extroverted...
I guess I started my venture with my small, but not-to-be-considered-insignificant volunteer work. About once every couple weeks, I give tours of the University of Arizona to upper-elementary school and middle school students from the Tucson area. I am not overly articulate or well-versed in facts about the UA, but that doesn't seem to matter a lick to these kids; they are struck with utter admiration that a college student would take time out of their "no-rules-no-responsibility" day to lead them on a tour and they blush with the feeling of extra-ordinariness when they receive my answer to a question they have asked. It really brightens my day and even makes me swell with self-importance, perhaps undeservedly, for being able to mentor these students, even in the condensed time I get to spend with them. The more tours I do, I start to realize more and more that I might actually want to teach junior high school students for a living. Call me deranged, but I am not turned off by the incandescent rush of hormones or the awkward interactions; in fact, I find them rather entertaining and slightly endearing. Perhaps God will bring me to work in a junior high setting some day. Until then, the plan is still rooting for ninth and tenth grade English.
Speaking of which, (random interlude of something you probably don't care about, but is nonetheless intriguing for me and I am thus going to share with you regardless) I have been thinking a lot about what kind of material I would be teaching if I were to teach the age group previously mentioned. When I was that age, our curriculum focused greatly on Greek mythology and literature, reading The Odyssey and learning about the different myths. I have always found this be incredibly fascinating and have really enjoyed taking a mythology class two semesters ago and currently reading classical literature in my Women in Lit class. I am so seriously divulged in these subjects that I have even often thought about minoring in Classics. Since I am almost finished with my minor in Special Education (Deaf Studies), it's kind of pointless to make Classics my minor. However, I was talking to one of the girls in my classes and she is double minoring in two emphasis areas, something I am thinking of incorporating into my four year plan. If I can double minor without having to spend any more time at the U, I will double minor in Special Ed and Classics, but if I have to be here longer and pay more money (they're raising our tuition 31% for next semester, ugh), then I will just take Classics courses as some of my elective credits. Nevertheless, I am extremely looking forward to enriching my knowledge in the Classics, especially Greek mythology and literature, not to mention it will be very advantageous to have studied these traditions if I do end up teaching them in my future classroom.
So that's my life: completely mundane. This weekend I am taking Jenny's challenge and so I will be hanging out with my sister, which should be fun and then working. Not exactly my roommate's idea of "getting out," but I love my job, so I don't mind (I still work at Centennial Hall, the performance theater at UA, but as of last semester I was promoted from being an usher to being a manager, fancy fancy). Oh, and this weekend, I will be reading up the wazoo as usual. Breaks from school are most certainly welcome, so I invite you to give me a call or send me an IM/email to catch up/distract me from my homework. :) Take care and I can't wait to talk to all of you soon! Peace and Blessings
Saturday, February 13, 2010
It has been brought to my attention
several times in the last few days that it has been nearly a year since I have updated this blog, and for those few and far between viewers, I have concealed the falling action of a rather mundane but nonetheless progressive story of my life. Since my last post, I have completed two semesters strongly at UA with a summer sabbatical working at a Christian kids camp in Bellingham, WA, in between. I guess "sabbatical" is a bit of a misnomer considering the fact that I was incredibly sleep-deprived, never showered, and was constantly on the go working with children first grade through twelfth grade (not all at the same time; each week I was working with a different age group). However, I can honestly say it was the best three months of my life. I made some of the closest friends I have ever had and could ever ask for, friendships that will last for a lifetime, no doubt. I had the unique opportunity of getting to hang out and play with kids, while at the same time being able to mentor them and show them Jesus' love. I have collected quite the array of hilarious anecdotes from working at camp, a few of which will have you laughing so hard you are crying. If you are interested in listening to some of my stories, just ask (I highly recommend the nudist fifth grader story or the hummingbird story). It was through working at Lutherwood that God really made it clear to me that I am supposed to be working with children and youth for a living and that He has designed me to help them grow in their faith and grow as human beings as well. Do not consider me vainglorious for boasting of these astute qualities for I can guarantee you it is not of my own doing; all the praise goes to God. I am just thankful He is allowing me to assist Him in being a shepherd to His flock, something He continued to remind me of every day while at Lutherwood, not only through the interactions I had with the kids but through my camp name as well. As counselors, you go through a small identity crisis at the beginning of staff training where you no longer use your birth-given name but it is instead replaced with a puerile name that will be used for the rest of the summer. It soon becomes the campers' unofficial game to try and guess your real name. I can honestly say that no camper ever guessed my real name and I remained imperishably Lamb Chop all summer long and will remain as such forever in the eyes of the other counselors. As ridiculous as said camp name is for me, it was God's reminder to me of my duties as a shepherd to his flock, and I most certainly owned and grew to enjoy being called Lamb Chop (or Chops, Choppy, Choppy Chop, Da Chopsta, etc.), a name I will continue to use when I return to Lutherwood this summer. Or that is the plan, at least. But until then, I have to finish this current semester...
Speaking of which, said semester is proposing itself to be far more difficult that I had previously gathered it to be. I started out taking three literature classes and two Deaf Studies classes, but due to a series of stressful and dramatic events, my class schedule has transformed into one Deaf Studies class and four English classes. Kill me now. When describing my course schedule to Manatee, another counselor from Lutherwood (as you can plainly tell by the inordinate nickname) and a fellow English major, he was completely shocked that I was taking so many literature courses at one time. I didn't realize the serious consequences of taking four English classes simultaneously until it was too late to drop any of them. My homework consists of mostly reading and analyzing novels and other literature but at an extremely rapid rate. I average reading around four to five books a week, something presenting itself to be rather difficult for someone like me who has not been fond of reading in the first place. I am reading my books every chance I get: in between classes, during classes, while eating lunch, at work, at parties my roommate invites me to, etc. This excessive reading is portraying me as an avid bookworm and introvert, but really, it's simply so I can trudge through my courses without failing miserably. I am praying that I find some way to survive and excel at these classes without getting too burnt out; additional prayers from you would be greatly appreciated.
I mentioned earlier about my roommate...Since my last post, I have roughly gone through three roommates. The first one who I was living with during my last post ended up transferring to NAU for the 2009 fall semester, leaving me with a random roommate, a freshman pre-med major. We had absolutely nothing in common other than we lived two miles away from each other back home, and we barely spoke to one another, never exceeding one two to three minute small talk conversation per week, complete with a couple angry exchanges about temperature control and sleep schedules. Needless to say, we didn't exactly get along. I had become very good friends with a girl who lived down the hall and I spent a lot of my time escaping my roommate in her room. Since we spent so much time together, we decided it would be best for the both of us if we moved in together. After much drama and cattiness, Jenny moved into my room and my roommate moved into her room with Jenny's old roommate. As of now, Jenny and I are very happy in our vintage-themed mess of a room and she has become to be one of my best friends. It is pretty evident to everyone that I am much happier this semester since my living situation has been remedied. However, it is also evident that I am a bit grouchier due to my intense workload, but there's not much I can do about that but traipse through all of my homework, something I should probably be doing right now...blarg...
Thank you all for reading my picayune troubles posted on my blog. I hope you all are doing well and I am hoping to update my blog more often. It has become my 2010 resolution to be better at keeping in contact with people who are important to me (that's you!). Help me out by emailing me/calling me/bugging me to update my blog. I hope to talk to all of you individually soon. Love and God Bless
Speaking of which, said semester is proposing itself to be far more difficult that I had previously gathered it to be. I started out taking three literature classes and two Deaf Studies classes, but due to a series of stressful and dramatic events, my class schedule has transformed into one Deaf Studies class and four English classes. Kill me now. When describing my course schedule to Manatee, another counselor from Lutherwood (as you can plainly tell by the inordinate nickname) and a fellow English major, he was completely shocked that I was taking so many literature courses at one time. I didn't realize the serious consequences of taking four English classes simultaneously until it was too late to drop any of them. My homework consists of mostly reading and analyzing novels and other literature but at an extremely rapid rate. I average reading around four to five books a week, something presenting itself to be rather difficult for someone like me who has not been fond of reading in the first place. I am reading my books every chance I get: in between classes, during classes, while eating lunch, at work, at parties my roommate invites me to, etc. This excessive reading is portraying me as an avid bookworm and introvert, but really, it's simply so I can trudge through my courses without failing miserably. I am praying that I find some way to survive and excel at these classes without getting too burnt out; additional prayers from you would be greatly appreciated.
I mentioned earlier about my roommate...Since my last post, I have roughly gone through three roommates. The first one who I was living with during my last post ended up transferring to NAU for the 2009 fall semester, leaving me with a random roommate, a freshman pre-med major. We had absolutely nothing in common other than we lived two miles away from each other back home, and we barely spoke to one another, never exceeding one two to three minute small talk conversation per week, complete with a couple angry exchanges about temperature control and sleep schedules. Needless to say, we didn't exactly get along. I had become very good friends with a girl who lived down the hall and I spent a lot of my time escaping my roommate in her room. Since we spent so much time together, we decided it would be best for the both of us if we moved in together. After much drama and cattiness, Jenny moved into my room and my roommate moved into her room with Jenny's old roommate. As of now, Jenny and I are very happy in our vintage-themed mess of a room and she has become to be one of my best friends. It is pretty evident to everyone that I am much happier this semester since my living situation has been remedied. However, it is also evident that I am a bit grouchier due to my intense workload, but there's not much I can do about that but traipse through all of my homework, something I should probably be doing right now...blarg...
Thank you all for reading my picayune troubles posted on my blog. I hope you all are doing well and I am hoping to update my blog more often. It has become my 2010 resolution to be better at keeping in contact with people who are important to me (that's you!). Help me out by emailing me/calling me/bugging me to update my blog. I hope to talk to all of you individually soon. Love and God Bless
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Back at school
This is my second day back to school and nothing much has happened, really. I have substantially less work this week than I did before I went on Spring Break (I survived the week from Hell, by the way! Completed everything but one assignment that really didn't care to do in the first place, so be proud of my accomplishments!), however, I do have a ten-page paper due tomorrow that is only half finished and I have absolutely no motivation to do whatsoever. At this rate, it'll probably get to be about 1:00am before I actually start working on it...Other than that, this week should be pretty chill. Although I have just returned from a wonderful week at home, I am sick of school already and desperately wish to be back at home spending time with my family. Perhaps it is the fact that the week was indeed so wonderful and it didn't feel nearly long enough that I have this unquenchable yearning to return, but whatever. Only 16 more days until I go back home! (but who's counting...?)
In other news, my best friend, Jared, and his mom are driving down to the U this weekend to visit and take a tour of the campus. I am so incredibly excited to have someone I am so close with experience my world and see all of the places I am so repetitiously mentioning. The only issue is...Jared and his mom have major food allergies. Jared and Linda are both allergic to gluten, so anything with wheat, oats, barley, and other assorted grains are completely off-limits, and Jared is also lactose-intolerant. I have come to discover that is much more difficult than it seems to plan and make meals for them to eat. So many things have gluten in them, even things you would never expect like tomato soup (don't believe me? Go look at the nutrition facts...). I think I have concocted a few meals for both of them, and I am also relying on the assistance of Taco Bell and Applebees to help me out...But besides me stressing about the food options, I am completely and utterly ecstatic that they are coming down here to visit. I am sure if you speak to me between now and then, that's all I will be talking about.
I sent in a summer-job application yesterday! While applying for the Youthworks job, I received an instant message from one of the ladies I met on the Youthworks trip I took two years ago. She had taken her youth group from Washington state on the trip and she and I became very close while we were there. She was inquiring if I had heard anything from Youthworks, and that when I heard back from them to inform her if I got the job. After finding out that I didn't get it, I emailed her and told her the bad news. Jokingly, I asked if she knew of any good places to apply for a summer job. She emailed me back and told me that she was no longer the youth pastor of the church in Washington but that she is now the Program Director of a 1-12 grade Lutheran summer camp in Washington and that I should apply for it. Well, I sent in my application yesterday, emailed her and told her that I did, and I received back a very excited email from Nichol saying that she will look out for my application. Pray that she and the other hiring staff smile upon my application!!
Next week, I have my appointments with both of my advisers to discuss my class choices for next semester. I am assuming that I am going to be taking mostly English classes with a few Deaf Studies or Interpreting courses. Unfortunately, with the Arizona Education budget cuts, the Secondary Education department at the UofA has been completely abolished. The Secondary Ed students will now be forced to major in the subject they want to teach and then take education classes as their minor in order to get their teacher certification. This system is beneficial in one aspect because the teacher will be more well-versed in the subject they are going to teach, but will be ill-prepared to teach in a classroom setting. In effect, I am no longer a Secondary Education major, but rather a double-major in English and Educational Interpreting (unfortunately) with a minor in Education. I am thinking about modifying my minor to include another area, which I am hoping will be Classics. For some reason, I am thoroughly interested in Classical Mythology and other such subjects (probably just because Professor Sexy is totally fantastic), and I think I would really enjoy learning more about the subject area, but we'll see. Sadly, I am really starting to hate American Sign Language. Well, I guess I can't really say that. I really enjoy the language, but I do not appreciate the culture that goes along with it, and considering that the culture is a vital part of the language and my major as an interpreter, it's kind of difficult to run away from. It really saddens me that something I used to be so passionate for has fully lost its fire in my life and I no longer care for it whatsoever. Since high schools nowadays (and especially the high school in Gilbert I want to teach at) prefer that incoming teachers are equipped to teach more than one area of expertise, I am reluctantly going to stick with American Sign Language just because I am good at it, but for no other reason but that. Ironically, I am discovering that I am less proficient at English than I originally accepted and that scares me because I am going to get a huge slap in the face next semester when I am enrolled in upper-level English courses, but I stay true to my dream of wanting to be an English teacher because I do love it and I don't want to do anything else. I am really starting to pity my future students...
Well, I should really get going on that paper...You know, I think I would rather pluck my arm hairs out one by one than write this paper, but such is life...
Take care everyone. I miss you terribly but am so thankful for your presence in my life. <3
In other news, my best friend, Jared, and his mom are driving down to the U this weekend to visit and take a tour of the campus. I am so incredibly excited to have someone I am so close with experience my world and see all of the places I am so repetitiously mentioning. The only issue is...Jared and his mom have major food allergies. Jared and Linda are both allergic to gluten, so anything with wheat, oats, barley, and other assorted grains are completely off-limits, and Jared is also lactose-intolerant. I have come to discover that is much more difficult than it seems to plan and make meals for them to eat. So many things have gluten in them, even things you would never expect like tomato soup (don't believe me? Go look at the nutrition facts...). I think I have concocted a few meals for both of them, and I am also relying on the assistance of Taco Bell and Applebees to help me out...But besides me stressing about the food options, I am completely and utterly ecstatic that they are coming down here to visit. I am sure if you speak to me between now and then, that's all I will be talking about.
I sent in a summer-job application yesterday! While applying for the Youthworks job, I received an instant message from one of the ladies I met on the Youthworks trip I took two years ago. She had taken her youth group from Washington state on the trip and she and I became very close while we were there. She was inquiring if I had heard anything from Youthworks, and that when I heard back from them to inform her if I got the job. After finding out that I didn't get it, I emailed her and told her the bad news. Jokingly, I asked if she knew of any good places to apply for a summer job. She emailed me back and told me that she was no longer the youth pastor of the church in Washington but that she is now the Program Director of a 1-12 grade Lutheran summer camp in Washington and that I should apply for it. Well, I sent in my application yesterday, emailed her and told her that I did, and I received back a very excited email from Nichol saying that she will look out for my application. Pray that she and the other hiring staff smile upon my application!!
Next week, I have my appointments with both of my advisers to discuss my class choices for next semester. I am assuming that I am going to be taking mostly English classes with a few Deaf Studies or Interpreting courses. Unfortunately, with the Arizona Education budget cuts, the Secondary Education department at the UofA has been completely abolished. The Secondary Ed students will now be forced to major in the subject they want to teach and then take education classes as their minor in order to get their teacher certification. This system is beneficial in one aspect because the teacher will be more well-versed in the subject they are going to teach, but will be ill-prepared to teach in a classroom setting. In effect, I am no longer a Secondary Education major, but rather a double-major in English and Educational Interpreting (unfortunately) with a minor in Education. I am thinking about modifying my minor to include another area, which I am hoping will be Classics. For some reason, I am thoroughly interested in Classical Mythology and other such subjects (probably just because Professor Sexy is totally fantastic), and I think I would really enjoy learning more about the subject area, but we'll see. Sadly, I am really starting to hate American Sign Language. Well, I guess I can't really say that. I really enjoy the language, but I do not appreciate the culture that goes along with it, and considering that the culture is a vital part of the language and my major as an interpreter, it's kind of difficult to run away from. It really saddens me that something I used to be so passionate for has fully lost its fire in my life and I no longer care for it whatsoever. Since high schools nowadays (and especially the high school in Gilbert I want to teach at) prefer that incoming teachers are equipped to teach more than one area of expertise, I am reluctantly going to stick with American Sign Language just because I am good at it, but for no other reason but that. Ironically, I am discovering that I am less proficient at English than I originally accepted and that scares me because I am going to get a huge slap in the face next semester when I am enrolled in upper-level English courses, but I stay true to my dream of wanting to be an English teacher because I do love it and I don't want to do anything else. I am really starting to pity my future students...
Well, I should really get going on that paper...You know, I think I would rather pluck my arm hairs out one by one than write this paper, but such is life...
Take care everyone. I miss you terribly but am so thankful for your presence in my life. <3
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"You should see my schedule..."
The infamous phrase that's been coming out of my mouth for the past week. Yesterday, I was looking at my calendar of due dates for my classes and I just realized that the rest of this week and next week is going to be completely crazy.
Tomorrow, I have an English presentation due, an essay due Sunday, three essays due Monday, Tuesday, I have a major homework assignment due and then I have to work that night, Wednesday I have two midterms and a ten-page paper due as well as a major homework assignment due, and then on Thursday I have another midterm. Yeah, ridiculous. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and I really should be working on all of the stuff I have to get done, but I really needed a break. I have been living off of liters of Dr. Pepper for the last week, but I am thinking I am going to have to bump it up to two liters a day the way things are going. Prayers for me would be greatly appreciated...
But after these couple of crazy weeks, I will be home for Spring Break! I am coming home Friday, the 13th of March and will be returning to UofA on the 22nd. I think we should hang out. :)
Tomorrow, I have an English presentation due, an essay due Sunday, three essays due Monday, Tuesday, I have a major homework assignment due and then I have to work that night, Wednesday I have two midterms and a ten-page paper due as well as a major homework assignment due, and then on Thursday I have another midterm. Yeah, ridiculous. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and I really should be working on all of the stuff I have to get done, but I really needed a break. I have been living off of liters of Dr. Pepper for the last week, but I am thinking I am going to have to bump it up to two liters a day the way things are going. Prayers for me would be greatly appreciated...
But after these couple of crazy weeks, I will be home for Spring Break! I am coming home Friday, the 13th of March and will be returning to UofA on the 22nd. I think we should hang out. :)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Wow.
It has literally been forever since I have posted; my apologies to those few and far between people who actually take the time to read this measly thing. I guess I should try and cover everything as briefly yet completely as I can.
Classes are a lot better this semester. I am taking 15 credit hours, with four attendance classes and one online class. I am enjoying the subject matter of my courses far more than I did last semester, however, my classes are more difficult which means more homework. I am taking mostly gen-eds (with one graduate level course), but they are higher level gen-eds or whatever. Classes include:
Educational Leadership: Mondays and Wednesdays at freaking 7:30am. Ridiculous. My professor lectures like she is giving a speech, meaning she just brushes over topics in a well-versed manner that does not explain anything, so we are forced to read the textbooks to gain any sort of knowledge about what the class is about. All of her tests are online, which is great, but you would think that because of this factor I wouldn't have to go class...WRONG. Being the clever professor she is, she assigns in-class activities due at the end of the hour so we HAVE to be there. It's usually not that bad, but a lot of them are group projects and I am not a sparkling pearl at 7:30 in the morning...
Nutrition: It's online, so there's really not much to talk about...I am really glad it's online because it's the stupidest class ever; my physiology majoring RA even thinks so...Besides the complete and utter less than lack of motivation to do anything associated with that "class," everything is fine.
Mythology: My favorite class! The subject matter is so interesting and my professor is absolutely fabulous. I think I am developing a slight personality-crush on the man, to be honest...But overall, that class is just fantastic.
Language and Culture of Deaf Communities: This class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00. Nice that's it's my only class on those days, but Mondays and Wednesdays are really busy for me, so after that class, I am just wiped. The class is taught by the professor I had for my ASL class last semester, which at first I was like, "Oh great..." but now I am really starting to like her. At the beginning of the semester, we had a lady come certify our class to work with the DeafBlind, which was a really neat experience for me and now I am qualified to work with the DeafBlind in either a casual, volunteer, or paid environment. As of now, we watch a lot of videos and have a lot of class discussions (all in ASL), so it's totally chill. The only two things are...1) There is a lot of homework. AND 2) Professor Volk is having us serve 30 hours of volunteer work in the Deaf community and I have yet to find a place to volunteer. The whole class is centered around our service-learning project, so the fact that I haven't found a place to serve yet has really set me back. Being the over-planner that I am, not knowing what I am going to do to serve my 30 hours really scares me. I have roughly two months left to finish 30 hours and all of the work associated with it and it is stressing me out like you wouldn't believe.
English 102: THE. STUPIDEST. CLASS. I. HAVE. EVER. TAKEN! I can't even reiterate that enough. To start, my teacher is a total creeper. Seriously. Tim Meloni is a skinny, hairy, grad student in his late twenties who has the greasiest hair and the longest, yellow finger nails I have ever seen. He says, "OK?" more than any human ever should and he has trouble breathing when he teaches. Speaking of teaching, he has never taught English 102 and he told us on the first day of school that he is going to be learning the material we are learning right along with us. EXCELLENT. He writes cutesy, cheesy poetry that would make any girl swoon...but only enough for him to get in her pants, something of which he probably had no experience of whatsoever. He assigns us ridiculous busy work that will never help us when writing our essays, the main thing our grades are based off of. We recently handed in our first essay, on which I got the highest grade in the class. The girl who sits next to me thinks this is because Tim has a crush on me, mostly because he tends to look at me whenever I am doing anything awkward. I, personally, like to consider that my writing is better than everyone else's in the class (even those who think they are all that by using big words that create a circumvented argument), and I feel like I am not learning anything whatsoever other than to never to take a gen-ed English class ever again; I actually feel like my writing is deteriorating rather than improving, but whatever. Basically I cannot wait until I get into upper-division English classes, even though I am pretty sure they are going to kick my butt...
As far as majors go, I have decided to double (and almost, triple) major. My vowel-infested majors are: Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English and Educational Interpreting for American Sign Language (boy that's a mouthful). In addition, I have joined Future Teacher's Club, also know as The Lamest Club on Campus. There are about ten regular members (on a good day) and we basically just sit around and talk or listen to guest speakers from the College of Education. I absolutely love the people in the club and even after my third meeting with them, I feel like we are going to be good friends. FTC is supposed to be a community outreach club for teachers, but they are not doing so well on the outreach aspect. I am trying to get more involved with the club so I can help with that. If you have any good ideas for outreach in the community revolving mostly around students, teachers, administration, or just school in general, please let me know.
Really the last thing I am doing to occupy my time besides class, homework, and FTC is work. I still work at Centennial Hall as an usher and I absolutely love it. UA Presents got another Usher Manager (my boss) this semester and he's totally awesome. His name is Tadj Hodges (I had to add that in there because saying his full name is totally fun!) and he's totally cool. Some of the other ushers and I agree that we like him better than old boss, Sam, which is a big deal because Sam was absolutely fantastic. Speaking of ushers...I am starting to get really close with the student ushers, which is really fun. A lot of the volunteer ushers know me personally now (most of them are teachers or were teachers at one point so they like to talk to me about their experiences and sort of take me under their wing) and I love talking to them; I guess I just have thing for old people. :) I work at Centennial two to three days a week and it's totally chill. Basically I just love my job all-around and I really hope I am in the running to become a manager for next year...
I think that's about all. Things are still going great with the roomie and we have decided to live with each other next year in the same dorm. I still haven't found a solid Christian group to be a part of yet, but I am looking. I haven't been to Ballroom at all this semester because I have been working a lot and have just kind of lost interest, which is a little sad but not too heart-breaking. My elbow is doing a lot better. I am going to physical therapy twice a week and it's pretty much back to normal. I don't think it will ever be completely back to the way it was, but that's to be expected after such an awful break, but what can you do? Basically things here are just good, plain and simple. ;)
Hope you all are doing well and I would be blessed to receive an email telling me how you are and what is going on in your life. (allison.sherer@gmail.com) God Bless. <3
Classes are a lot better this semester. I am taking 15 credit hours, with four attendance classes and one online class. I am enjoying the subject matter of my courses far more than I did last semester, however, my classes are more difficult which means more homework. I am taking mostly gen-eds (with one graduate level course), but they are higher level gen-eds or whatever. Classes include:
Educational Leadership: Mondays and Wednesdays at freaking 7:30am. Ridiculous. My professor lectures like she is giving a speech, meaning she just brushes over topics in a well-versed manner that does not explain anything, so we are forced to read the textbooks to gain any sort of knowledge about what the class is about. All of her tests are online, which is great, but you would think that because of this factor I wouldn't have to go class...WRONG. Being the clever professor she is, she assigns in-class activities due at the end of the hour so we HAVE to be there. It's usually not that bad, but a lot of them are group projects and I am not a sparkling pearl at 7:30 in the morning...
Nutrition: It's online, so there's really not much to talk about...I am really glad it's online because it's the stupidest class ever; my physiology majoring RA even thinks so...Besides the complete and utter less than lack of motivation to do anything associated with that "class," everything is fine.
Mythology: My favorite class! The subject matter is so interesting and my professor is absolutely fabulous. I think I am developing a slight personality-crush on the man, to be honest...But overall, that class is just fantastic.
Language and Culture of Deaf Communities: This class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00. Nice that's it's my only class on those days, but Mondays and Wednesdays are really busy for me, so after that class, I am just wiped. The class is taught by the professor I had for my ASL class last semester, which at first I was like, "Oh great..." but now I am really starting to like her. At the beginning of the semester, we had a lady come certify our class to work with the DeafBlind, which was a really neat experience for me and now I am qualified to work with the DeafBlind in either a casual, volunteer, or paid environment. As of now, we watch a lot of videos and have a lot of class discussions (all in ASL), so it's totally chill. The only two things are...1) There is a lot of homework. AND 2) Professor Volk is having us serve 30 hours of volunteer work in the Deaf community and I have yet to find a place to volunteer. The whole class is centered around our service-learning project, so the fact that I haven't found a place to serve yet has really set me back. Being the over-planner that I am, not knowing what I am going to do to serve my 30 hours really scares me. I have roughly two months left to finish 30 hours and all of the work associated with it and it is stressing me out like you wouldn't believe.
English 102: THE. STUPIDEST. CLASS. I. HAVE. EVER. TAKEN! I can't even reiterate that enough. To start, my teacher is a total creeper. Seriously. Tim Meloni is a skinny, hairy, grad student in his late twenties who has the greasiest hair and the longest, yellow finger nails I have ever seen. He says, "OK?" more than any human ever should and he has trouble breathing when he teaches. Speaking of teaching, he has never taught English 102 and he told us on the first day of school that he is going to be learning the material we are learning right along with us. EXCELLENT. He writes cutesy, cheesy poetry that would make any girl swoon...but only enough for him to get in her pants, something of which he probably had no experience of whatsoever. He assigns us ridiculous busy work that will never help us when writing our essays, the main thing our grades are based off of. We recently handed in our first essay, on which I got the highest grade in the class. The girl who sits next to me thinks this is because Tim has a crush on me, mostly because he tends to look at me whenever I am doing anything awkward. I, personally, like to consider that my writing is better than everyone else's in the class (even those who think they are all that by using big words that create a circumvented argument), and I feel like I am not learning anything whatsoever other than to never to take a gen-ed English class ever again; I actually feel like my writing is deteriorating rather than improving, but whatever. Basically I cannot wait until I get into upper-division English classes, even though I am pretty sure they are going to kick my butt...
As far as majors go, I have decided to double (and almost, triple) major. My vowel-infested majors are: Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English and Educational Interpreting for American Sign Language (boy that's a mouthful). In addition, I have joined Future Teacher's Club, also know as The Lamest Club on Campus. There are about ten regular members (on a good day) and we basically just sit around and talk or listen to guest speakers from the College of Education. I absolutely love the people in the club and even after my third meeting with them, I feel like we are going to be good friends. FTC is supposed to be a community outreach club for teachers, but they are not doing so well on the outreach aspect. I am trying to get more involved with the club so I can help with that. If you have any good ideas for outreach in the community revolving mostly around students, teachers, administration, or just school in general, please let me know.
Really the last thing I am doing to occupy my time besides class, homework, and FTC is work. I still work at Centennial Hall as an usher and I absolutely love it. UA Presents got another Usher Manager (my boss) this semester and he's totally awesome. His name is Tadj Hodges (I had to add that in there because saying his full name is totally fun!) and he's totally cool. Some of the other ushers and I agree that we like him better than old boss, Sam, which is a big deal because Sam was absolutely fantastic. Speaking of ushers...I am starting to get really close with the student ushers, which is really fun. A lot of the volunteer ushers know me personally now (most of them are teachers or were teachers at one point so they like to talk to me about their experiences and sort of take me under their wing) and I love talking to them; I guess I just have thing for old people. :) I work at Centennial two to three days a week and it's totally chill. Basically I just love my job all-around and I really hope I am in the running to become a manager for next year...
I think that's about all. Things are still going great with the roomie and we have decided to live with each other next year in the same dorm. I still haven't found a solid Christian group to be a part of yet, but I am looking. I haven't been to Ballroom at all this semester because I have been working a lot and have just kind of lost interest, which is a little sad but not too heart-breaking. My elbow is doing a lot better. I am going to physical therapy twice a week and it's pretty much back to normal. I don't think it will ever be completely back to the way it was, but that's to be expected after such an awful break, but what can you do? Basically things here are just good, plain and simple. ;)
Hope you all are doing well and I would be blessed to receive an email telling me how you are and what is going on in your life. (allison.sherer@gmail.com) God Bless. <3
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
School
has been far too stressful for its own good. It's the end of the semester and the professors are just packing on the work. I had six papers due the week of Thanksgiving, one ten-pager last week, and another one due tomorrow. I have two finals tomorrow, one on Friday, I am working all weekend, have my hardest final on Monday, and then my last one on Thursday, the 18th. Not to mention I have countless other events I have to go to. I calculated the amount of sleep I have been getting and in the last week and a half, the total hours are 21. Crazy. I have been so busy, I haven't had time to breathe. It stinks I am not going home until the 19th. I just want to cut the stress, make some Christmas cookies, and play Sequence with the family; that's it.
My health is not so good. I am losing my voice from all of the stress (and screaming at the UA vs. ASU game--BEAR DOWN, CATS!). I have been running on adrenaline for so long that my body has finally just crashed. I am still taking my iron pills, but they are giving me other health problems, so I switch on and off from taking them. I feel tired all the time when I don't take them, but I am sick when I do take them. It's just a lose-lose situation, really. I went to the orthopedic doctor a couple weeks ago and I no longer have to wear my arm in a sling. My elbow, however, is not healing as quickly as he would like it to, so I have to do intense physical therapy on my own, which I have been bad about doing. My arm should be completely by Thursday of next week at my next appointment, so my friend Kyle down the hall is going to work with me every day to get my range of motion back. Basically, I am just all messed up...
The day before my birthday, I had a meeting with my adviser. It was basically a major session of "Let's Crush Allison's Dreams, Shall We?" We were discussing the fact that I need to declare a major and minor soon, so I asked her if I could major in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English and a minor in Educational Interpreting so that I can be qualified to teach both English and American Sign Language. She informed that Deaf Studies and Educational Interpreting are not minors they offer for Education majors and that the state of Arizona does not offer a teacher certification exam for ASL teachers, so if I wanted to do anything with sign language, I would have to a) change my major altogether OR b) wait until I graduate and get accepted into the masters program. Even then, they would be teaching me how to TEACH the deaf, not teach hearing high school students sign language, which is what I really want to do. I kept thinking to myself, "How come this isn't possible for me when I know I had two great sign language teachers in high school? They must have had some way to be able to teach ASL..." So I emailed Mrs. Thomasson (my level 1 ASL teacher and one of my all-time favorite teachers in high school) and asked her how she became a sign teacher. She told me that she took 24 credit hours related to Deaf Studies and then took the Arizona Educator's Proficiency Assessment (which is the exam that all Arizona teachers must take to become certified) in order for her to get certified as an ASL teacher. So I am going to speak with the head of the Deaf Studies/Education Interpreting department and see what advice they have to give me. I am thinking I am going to have to double major in Educational Interpreting and Secondary Education, but I think it will be well worth it. If I have calculated my credits correctly, I believe that I have fulfilled half of my required credit hours already and I am only a freshman; double majoring will be a piece of cake. I really want to make myself marketable as a teacher so that people will be begging me to be working at their school, and working half as an English teacher and half as an ASL teacher will not only allow that to happen, but teaching both is what I want to do. It's my passion to teach and I want to be able to teach the two things I love and (hopefully) help my students to love them just as much as I do. Plus, if I teach English for only half the day, it'll be less papers to grade. :)
I really need to get started on my paper considering it's due tomorrow and I haven't even started, not to mention, I still have two finals I need to study for. Can't wait to see you all over Christmas Break! Love you all.
My health is not so good. I am losing my voice from all of the stress (and screaming at the UA vs. ASU game--BEAR DOWN, CATS!). I have been running on adrenaline for so long that my body has finally just crashed. I am still taking my iron pills, but they are giving me other health problems, so I switch on and off from taking them. I feel tired all the time when I don't take them, but I am sick when I do take them. It's just a lose-lose situation, really. I went to the orthopedic doctor a couple weeks ago and I no longer have to wear my arm in a sling. My elbow, however, is not healing as quickly as he would like it to, so I have to do intense physical therapy on my own, which I have been bad about doing. My arm should be completely by Thursday of next week at my next appointment, so my friend Kyle down the hall is going to work with me every day to get my range of motion back. Basically, I am just all messed up...
The day before my birthday, I had a meeting with my adviser. It was basically a major session of "Let's Crush Allison's Dreams, Shall We?" We were discussing the fact that I need to declare a major and minor soon, so I asked her if I could major in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English and a minor in Educational Interpreting so that I can be qualified to teach both English and American Sign Language. She informed that Deaf Studies and Educational Interpreting are not minors they offer for Education majors and that the state of Arizona does not offer a teacher certification exam for ASL teachers, so if I wanted to do anything with sign language, I would have to a) change my major altogether OR b) wait until I graduate and get accepted into the masters program. Even then, they would be teaching me how to TEACH the deaf, not teach hearing high school students sign language, which is what I really want to do. I kept thinking to myself, "How come this isn't possible for me when I know I had two great sign language teachers in high school? They must have had some way to be able to teach ASL..." So I emailed Mrs. Thomasson (my level 1 ASL teacher and one of my all-time favorite teachers in high school) and asked her how she became a sign teacher. She told me that she took 24 credit hours related to Deaf Studies and then took the Arizona Educator's Proficiency Assessment (which is the exam that all Arizona teachers must take to become certified) in order for her to get certified as an ASL teacher. So I am going to speak with the head of the Deaf Studies/Education Interpreting department and see what advice they have to give me. I am thinking I am going to have to double major in Educational Interpreting and Secondary Education, but I think it will be well worth it. If I have calculated my credits correctly, I believe that I have fulfilled half of my required credit hours already and I am only a freshman; double majoring will be a piece of cake. I really want to make myself marketable as a teacher so that people will be begging me to be working at their school, and working half as an English teacher and half as an ASL teacher will not only allow that to happen, but teaching both is what I want to do. It's my passion to teach and I want to be able to teach the two things I love and (hopefully) help my students to love them just as much as I do. Plus, if I teach English for only half the day, it'll be less papers to grade. :)
I really need to get started on my paper considering it's due tomorrow and I haven't even started, not to mention, I still have two finals I need to study for. Can't wait to see you all over Christmas Break! Love you all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)