Care-iculum.

It's been an awesome year at Mapleton Junior High. I loved it. I learned so much. I grew. I had a great time. I met some amazing people (adults and otherwise).

As I look back on our year, past the lessons about Islam, WWII, Apartheid, Communism and Immigration, I've found that what I REALLY want them to know was never listed in my state core curriculum.

• Everyone is worth listening to, and we're all a team. 
• You are responsible and are going to be held accountable for everything in your life. Don't drop that ball. You can't cop out.
• The Office is the greatest television show ever made. 
• Clean up after yourselves!
• Self-evaluate. Constantly ask yourself "Why?" "Why am I doing this?" "Why are they doing that?" and really think about the answers. Be aware of what you are doing and why.
• To my girls - Gossip sucks and you can't control what people say about you. But the way you live will give them things to talk about, good or bad. 
• To my boys - SWAG = douchebag.

But the biggest thing I want them to walk away with?

You control your life. You determine your happiness. You build your future.

So stop whining. Stop blaming. Stop giving up on hard things. Stop competing with everyone around you.

Start trying. Start thinking. Start living. Start loving. Start choosing.

Ultimately, I want you to care. About your future. About your present. About your brain. About your heart. About your reputation. About your morals. About your family. About your relationships. About who you are and who you want to be. 

In this society that says it's cool to be apathetic and nonchalant, where you can protect your pride by not trying, I wish you could see how much I believe in you. I wish you could see the amazing things that lie ahead of you if you just have the courage to reach out and try for them. I want you to enjoy the endless benefits that come from standing up and deciding that YOU are going to be happy, no matter what.

I want the best for you. I love you and I'll miss you. Thanks for an amazing year. I wish you many, many more.

Always,



Mrs. Holdaway

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

After Jeanette tweeted obscurely about new life changes, Katie and I got on her case about writing a blog post to update us all on her exciting summer plans. At school and following graduation, I've been getting a lot of questions as well. Our lives have changed dramatically in the past month, so I suppose an update is in order.

I have been interning at Mapleton Junior High as a 9th grade World Civ/Geography teacher for this entire school year. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Education program, basically this means I'm a slave. I have my own room and teach my own stuff  (read: not a student teacher), have to attend a million more meetings and work on two different portfolios, all while getting paid half salary. And the sickest thing about it? I still loved it. :) However, what is less than lovable is that I am not guaranteed a job. Our school lost 3 FTEs and a Geography teacher from another school in the district put in to transfer here. They couldn't hire me. It's been a pretty stressful few months looking for jobs and really just grasping at straws. I used up the remainder of my few personal days to drive all over the state for interviews, checked websites constantly, pulled my hair out....

Finally, I was offered a job at Sunset Ridge Middle School! They are a pretty new school, and they are doing some amazing things. They are a National School-to-Watch, which I think is super cool. I'm really excited to be a part of it. I'll be teaching half 9th Grade Geography and half 8th Grade US History.

In case you haven't already googled it, Sunset Ridge is in West Jordan. Clear the freak out in West Jordan. Like against the copper mine. Like the edge of civilization. It's 70 minutes from where we live right now - hence we have started looking for housing in the Salt Lake Valley!

Conveniently, although scary at the time, The Beard's branch of Online Image in Orem shut down the day after we heard about my new job. They offered him a job at their Murray branch once they move into a new office building with enough space in June. He decided he didn't want to wait around for that job, so he started applying for other jobs. He was offered several and finally settled on Larry H. Miller Dodge/Lincoln in Provo! We're pretty excited about him as a car salesman, especially because he doesn't have to be obnoxious or pushy or deal with the finances at all. He just gets to ride around with people in new cars and make friends. Any of you who know The Beard know how great he'll be at that. :) Also, we're both in the market for new cars... so it couldn't come at a better time!

So my school year ends on Friday, we'll move up to Salt Lake somewhere (any ideas people? We're already liking Daybreak a lot) and The Beard will be able to transfer to one of the 40+ dealerships up north. I'm hopefully going to get a puppy next week when I'm officially free. How cute is that little guy? To think I could have my own... I get to excited just thinking about it. It's working out pretty well.

It will be weird to leave the Valley. It will be sad that I can't just drop in after school to visit my Blade. And family... I guess. :) It will be weird to move somewhere and know no one in the neighborhood. It's weird that  we're actual adults and our lives are changing. This could be a permanent Salt Lake life for us.

But we're so excited! The crazy and rapid turn of events actually relieved us because we can see the Lord's hand in all of it. We're so grateful to still be within an hour of our families, have good jobs and of course, each other! As long as I have The Beard... life is wonderful!

Confucius Say...

On Monday we learned about Confucianism, so I had the kids read some Confucian sayings and then write their own. This was the best idea I ever had because they wrote some great and hilarious stuff.

Actual Confucian Sayings:

• Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

• The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterward speaks according to his actions.

• Choose a job you love and you will never work a single day in your life.

• A lion chased me up a tree, and I greatly enjoyed the view from the top.

My kids' Confucian Sayings:

• Girls are like war, dangerous and unpredictable.
• Nature is beautiful because it chose to be.
• Boys are like Pop-Tarts-- They're better when they're hot! (LOL LOL)
• If you look at the ground you'll never see a rainbow.
• Seek to express, not impress.
• Chocolate makes a moment perfect.
• Don't wait for a miracle - become one.
• If you have haters, then you're doing something right.
• No matter how good you are at something, there's always an Asian better than you.

I think the mix of hilarious and poignant is a great snapshot of what life is like here at the junior high. :)

Baby Meetings

Don't get excited. I'm not baby hungry. Not even in the slightest. When I am, I'm sure you'll be the first to know, because I've observed that the #1 symptom of baby hunger is excessive blogging.

Baby Meetings is the affectionate (cynical) nickname I give our new teacher trainings. I meet in Orem with all the BYU people once a month. I have observation pre- and post-conferences with my mentor or principal every 3ish weeks. Every other week there is a training on class management that we are encouraged to attend, and finally Nebo School District's noob meetings once a month.

I am not bitter about these meetings, but often just confused at why new teachers, who have more work and less time than most teachers, are required to attend these meetings that just re-teach everything we just got in college, while the older teachers don't seem to know any of that information or the strategies, but never have to attend extra meetings. I suppose it may make sense in the future. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that jazz.

Anyways. On Monday we had our baby meeting and they shared with us an article by the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project, which is studying the experience of a new teacher and how to best support them. They have found that new teachers go through 5 basic phases. I found them both depressing, relieving and accurate. My husband is probably the one who needs to learn these the most, so he knows who I'm going to be over the next few weeks...

Phase 1: Anticipation

We get all anxious and excited. We completely romanticize teaching and vow to give 110% to these bright new spirits we've been appointed to educate. (HA!!!!) The adrenaline of this phase gets you through the first month. And it's just that. Complete adrenaline rush.

Phase 2: Survival

You knew you were going to be busy, but you didn't know you'd feel like you were constantly running. I've never worked harder in my life. It's like finals week every single day (so stop whining about it on Facebook. Yeah. We've all done finals weeks. You're not special.) I was staying late, going through red pens like crazy, researching all of my curriculum because I forgot so much from college and high school, and sleeping straight through the entire weekend. Despite the craziness, most teachers maintain tons of energy and basically we're just hoping it will subside. This lasted until about Fall Break.

Phase 3: Death (Just kidding. "Disillusionment")

Two months of nonstop work and stress takes its toll, physically, mentally, all of the -llys really. We start to really question our effectiveness, our self-esteem drops somewhat dramatically, and the idea that we're not even halfway done is a pretty ominous thought. Most teachers get sick in this phase as well. I hit this in early-mid November. Thankfully I've never questioned my desire to teach. There were moments when I thought "I am the worst teacher ever. I try so hard and really can't improve. I'm THAT bad." I got sick right before Thanksgiving and it really hasn't gone all the way away. I'm still functioning at like 70% healthy, with fluctuations. I think I'm on the upswing, though, and the break is coming soon. A lot of teachers also start to lose control of their classroom management. Luckily this hasn't really happened, so I'm very grateful for that.

Phase 4: Rejuvenation

This is supposed to happen over the break. We get to rest, spend time away from school, exercise, eat better, and have some time to prepare for the upcoming semester. We're ALLEGEDLY going to come back with an acceptance of the system and stresses of teachers, and be able to see our progress instead of our failures. We come back ready to make some changes and do more long-term planning instead of flying by the seat of our pants. Again, this is a myth. (No. This really will happen. We just like to pretend like we're hopeless in our baby meetings because it's hilarious.)

Phase 5: Reflection

As May rolls around and we're wrapping up, we get to look back on the year as a whole and see it for what it is. We can make better judgments about certain lessons and units, think about what we would do differently and prepare for next year. Our mentors encourage us to try to do this in bits and pieces right now. I definitely try to. Some days I take down a page of notes about how things went and how I'm going to do it differently next year. I get excited.

That's what it's all about right? Even though this death phase has been tough, I still want to do this. I'm still excited. I still love this job. It's all worth it. And thank goodness, because I would have blown my brains out already.

To My Prospective Teacher Friends: I don't write this to freak you out. I write this so you have an accurate perception of what it's like. Unfortunately my university classes only helped like 25%. The real thing is super different. But know going into it that it's all worth it IF THIS IS YOUR THING. And if it is, it's awesome.

Mad props to the Beard for sticking with me when I'm cussing out my kids as I grade tests on the couch in my grossest pajamas, not moving for days on end, eating nothing but popcorn all day and falling asleep at 8:30 pm.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

I know I can't compete with this gem for student-answer entertainment. But I had a good one today.

When explaining the importance of a certain news article, my student wrote:

"People get pissed off at rapists."

In his defense, they do. They totally do.

Top Ten

I survived. One week ago I started as a new teacher, with a real room and a full schedule of bright-eyed 9th graders. Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous. I wasn't. Everyone kept asking me if I was ready. I wasn't. So sixes, I guess.

Often in my Teacher Ed classes they would say "you'll learn more your first day of teaching than most of your BYU career." Fact. Imagine what I've learned in one week. Well you don't have to imagine. I've summed it up concisely for you here.

What They Don't Tell You About Teaching

10. How naturally teaching comes. You really don't have a choice but to get up there and teach. I know I am blessed and it isn't as natural for some people. But generally speaking, its an absolute necessity. You simply HAVE to be prepared. You simply HAVE to employ some classroom management. You'd die otherwise. And I haven't yet.
9. Over 80% of my job is being able to successfully multi-task. You guys know how I feel about that.
8. How quickly the day rushes by. I'm there frantically making copies. Then first period starts. Suddenly it's lunch. I blink again and it's flex time. I take a breath and the kids are all gone. It's insane. I love the fast pace.
7. How much time teachers spend each day. Not enormously surprising. Everyone in the universe knows teachers are overworked and underpaid. But its very different to be on the teaching end of that. Especially as an intern. I'm doing the full amount of work (more even, because I'm a first year and doing a lot from scratch) for half the pay. I consider myself lucky. But even I can't believe I'm showing up at 7:15 a.m. and getting home at 5:30 p.m. or later consistently. Good thing I love this, right?
6. Being mean is such a good idea. In the same way that a girl loves a guy who treats her badly, students don't hate you when you're mean. It kind of drives them to win your respect and love even more. Plus discipline problems diminish steadily.
5. Teachers love to steal and be stolen from. I love that I can walk into a classroom, steal someone's idea and they commend me for it. Encourage it, even. It's fantastic.
4. There are no such kids as "bad kids." Ok. They kind of teach you that. But you don't realize it until you have the opportunity to watch and get to know some of your problem kids. Even over the course of one week I've gotten to know one kid that hates trying. And he's delightful! I see it as a fun challenge.
3. Teachers see everything. Oh, you think you're a sneaky texter? You aren't. Oh, you think I can't see you making lovey-dovey eyes at your boyfriend? Well, I can. And gross. HEY TEENAGERS. I GET IT. YOU ARE CHAMPION EYE-ROLLERS. Guess what? Me too. [rolls eyes]
2. How little teaching you actually get to do. So much of my time is spent in preparation, giving instructions, grading stuff, answering random questions and babysitting. In a 45 minute class I generally get around 20 minutes of instruction if I want them to get some independent practice (which you almost always do). That's disheartening and relieving at the same time.
1. How much fun it is. For reals, you guys. All day I smile and laugh. The kids, teachers, staff, everything is just so fun and hilarious. It's so comforting to me that I enjoy it so much. I know I made the right decision and I'm going to love this for the rest of my life. I'll work as hard as I can to not become a grumbling, cynical teacher. Because I believe that isn't inevitable. The noble profession of teaching can be just as fun and exciting 10 years from now as it has been this week.

I'm just glad I have the chance.

Animaniac

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Not Your Average Mormon Housewife Recipe Blog

On the first day of school I'm having my students write a recipe... for themselves. This is a good way for me to get to know them, as well as providing an opportunity for creativity. We're also making a school-wide effort to increase reading and writing in all disciplines, which I think is a fantastic idea. Everyone, even you. Yes you. College attending or not. You should read and write more. (Hint: it makes you smarter.)

I have a policy of doing each assignment I'm asking my kids to do so that I make sure
A. It isnt ridiculous
B. I have good instructions for them
C. I can answer any questions/prevent problems

Therefore I condensed myself down to a recipe. What is YOUR recipe? Enjoy!

Preheat oven to St. George temperature - 80 degrees Farenheit.

Mix 7 seasons of The Office with 1 Liter of optimism in a mixer.

Add 3 softball games, one at a time. Mix on low.

Add 2 teaspoons of Zombie movies, 1 bag of microwave popcorn and a case of Diet Dr. Pepper. Let sit for 1 weekend.

Form into a short, blonde mass and sprinkle with a handful of classic rock.

Bake for 21 years.

Prepare a frosting of yoga and reading. Spread on when cool.

Serve with friends, family and students.

Makes 1 Mapleton Mustang.