I'm all done.. yay!

So it is official... I have finished my student teaching! I can't believe it! I never thought this day would come when I would have no other semesters of school to dread/kinda look forward to. But I'm done. Hasn't quite hit me yet, I know I'm done, and I kinda feel like I'm done (because I know I don't have to drive to basic high school at six in the morning anymore) but it still seems surreal right now. Although I would never choose to student teach EVER again, it was a great experience and I'm glad I got to do it. I learned o much from both my mentoring teachers that would have taken quite a long time on my own. It was really comforting to know that even if things went wrong in the classroom I wouldn't get in trouble. So all those times that I messed up or thought I was doing poorly were a lot less stressful knowing my livelihood wasn't on the line! After these past few months I feel much more prepared to go teach a classroom of my own and I'm excited to have my own classroom too! We'll see what job I get (hopefully I get one). I'm going to be going to some job fairs in Houston in April so cross your fingers! Things in Vegas aren't looking too good. Basic High School wants to hire me but with the budget cuts (meaning teacher lay-offs) I'm pretty much out of the running. So Texas looks more promising so we'll see how things go.

About my teachers. Well Rachel Lutz was my Biology cooperating teacher. She was so petite and dainty, I loved her! We got along great and I could always count on her to give me the truth about things dealing with my teaching and with the school and district and so on. She was such a great example to watch, man of her procedures and activities are how I imagined I would run my classroom so that was great to get to see! Vijean Thompson was my Math cooperating teacher and I taught two of her Algebra I classes. She' been teaching for 25 years so she knows how to handle those kids! She was exactly who I needed to learn from for discipline. She really showed me what to do with trouble kids and I think I gained some guts from what I learned from her; I'm definitely more strict now than I would have been. With her help I gained more authority in the classroom which I know I'll need! She was a great mentor as well.

Rachel - Biology

Vijean - Algebra

The boys are back in town...

James's brothers, Steven and Christian, came to Vegas to hang out for their spring break. So this past week all the Hartshorn boys (minus Jeff unfortunately) have been making their mark all over town! We had so much fun with them here! We were all busy bees with all the fun stuff we've been doing this week. We started the week off with the "Blue Man Group". Then all the brothers, and Spencer, went shooting. James took the boys out on the strip where they managed to see some celebrities. We had a semi-surprise birthday gathering at the park for Kayla's birthday... Happy Birthday Kayla! We all enjoyed the donut tower cake and just sat around at the park near Rob and Kayla's house. It was so great to have everyone together hanging out and talking at the park. I went with all the brothers and raced go-karts (I got whooped!) but they had a blast! We all went to Sky Zone their last night here, it's a huge warehouse with a bunch of trampolines. Man was that so much fun and a great workout :) After out workout we all celebrated with the all-you-can-eat buffet at Green Valley Ranch. I think we all stuffed ourselves to the brim with crab legs, shrimp, apple cobblers, ice cream, pasta, salds, fruit, and anything else you can think of! We all were about to burst when we left. Before the boys left all the brothers went out to all-you-can-eat sushi (a tradition) while I was at school... so jealous! I don't know how they managed two all-you-can-eat buffets in 24 hours but they did. It was so fun to have them here and to get our minds off the bland everyday routine that we have going right now. Can't wait for the next time!

Christian shooting with Bryan.

The donut tower cake. mmmmmm.

Trampoline dunk contest in the backyard.

Hanging out at the park.

Go-kart racing.

My first time.... it was awesome!

After our Sky Zone trampoline workout.

One step closer....

Today there was a teaching job fair at BYU in provo and last minute James and I decided I needed to go and talk with the three Houston school districts that were there. So, all Thursday at school I prepared my resume, James ran around printing them out and getting things together so I could leave right after school. Ended up that James decided to come with me (its a long drive by yourself at night!) so he called in sick to work at his graveyard and we left for Provo after I was done teaching on Thursday. After the job fair we went and visited James's grandparents in Alpine and then went to lunch with my brother Derek. We had to make it home in time for James to take a nap before his all nighter tonight at work. The job fair went well and now I'm not worried about finding a job cuz everyone asked for my resume once I told them I was certified in secondary math and science education. So, with job prospects looking good in Texas, we're one step closer to figuring out what we're gunna do with our lives :) woo hoo!

Here we go...

Alright, I gave in... I'm finally on blogger! Ok so it's still a work in progress but its at least progress right? Well more will soon be coming so get excited!