So it's been a little while since I've made a post. Still, I seem to have a lot more accountability with my 'journal writing' when I do it in the form of blogs, especially with those people who so graciously remind me that I haven't made a post in a while. ;)
Where to begin? First, I subbed for a first grade class. No, not that I taught like usual when there's another teacher there or had to take over the class when the other subs would get lost, but it was actually me.
Like I was it, man.
So, what happened was the day started out as normal when the teacher I work with found out her daughter broke her arm and had to go to the hospital. So she asked me to sub for the class. Of course I accepted because I was getting paid and I wouldn't want to say no in her time of need. She cleared it with the principal which seems crazy because I am not a certified teacher; in fact, I have less college experience than the BYU-I students that I train when they come in for their Early Field Experience, yet here I was in charge of a whole class of 27 students for the day. To top it off, at the beginning when one of the BYU-I students was there, I had to evaluate her with the rubric from the Teacher Evaluation Form. The day went by pretty smoothly, despite the surprise fire drill that was sprung upon the school (to make sure we were on our toes?). And it feels good knowing that I can do it.
I love my job at Burton Elementary School. It is such an incredible blessing. To make things even better, the principal has been trying to get the Education Department at BYU-I to give me class credit for my job. So I went in and had a meeting with one of the Directors and introduced myself as Emma Johnson. Later as he was conversing with the principal there was some confusion as to if the person he talked to was the same "Emily Johnson" who was on the payroll at the Elementary School. It was quickly cleared up, but still.
For. the. record.
I was born as Emily Kylie Schmidt. As I grew up, I went by a few nicknames that people would call me (Mily, Em, etc..) About seven years ago my little sister started calling me Emma. I quickly loved the nickname and was happy when a few others in Washington followed suit. When I was applying for college it asked for my preferred name and my little sister, of course, insisted that I put Emma. Little did I know that by doing so, my name would automatically change to 'Emma' Schmidt on every list/roll my name would be on at BYU-I. So, I went by that name and it was fine by me.
Until I came back to Washington on my off-track.
Holy cow, you'd have thought I'd changed my name to Sheni'quah and dyed my hair neon purple. Some people honestly flipped. I was getting all kinds of interrogations about "trying to change my identity" and "denying my true self'". Seriously, people? It's just a nickname.
Rant over ;)
In other news, Michael and I are both going to be starting up classes again in two weeks. We even managed to get a class together which will be fantastic because between our two schedules we will hardly ever see each other. But maybe we can sit next to each other in the library as we write our reports or something. Oh didn't I mention? Someone in our apartment complex was illegally downloading something or other so everyone's internet in Lexington is indefinitely cut off. Blessing in disguise? Who knows. We're still debating on whether or not to renew our contract in August. Maybe losing our internet will be the thing that convinces us to leave. We shall see :)
