Hey there!

Student teaching: Things are going pretty well. I feel like I am finally approaching the finish line. There are only about five more weeks left. I like it more than I did in the beginning, for which I am mucho grateful. I am working on my work sample project right now. It is basically a mini-portfolio. I chose to do mine on political parties, the electoral system, and the presidency. It is supposed to be about 5-7 lessons worth of material. I have to give the students a pre and a post test to show their progress. I am not thinking that it is too big of a deal. Here are some favorite quotes from the past few weeks:

• "This is a fun and creative way to take notes. It gets the student involved in the lesson." (This is funny because it was coming from a fifteen year old gangster boy. He is one of my favorites. It reminded me of something that one of my education professors would say.)
• "Why can't we watch National Treasure 2?" --obnoxious boy "Because she doesn't love us." --obnoxious girl
  
• "That is a hard core video worksheet." --Mike, in reference to a matching rather than fill-in-the-blanks worksheet that went along with a video on Egypt that they watched. I thought it was a freebie assignment, but my students agreed with him.
  
• "It is weird that [the Egyptians] worshiped many Gods. One is enough."
• What are some of the best things about America? "American football."
  

Idaho Adventures: I have visited Mike that past two weekends in a row because I had holidays. The downside to going up there is that I don't ever want to leave. This past weekend I got to do a lot of fun things. On Friday night, Mike and I went on a double date with my friend, Kelsey, and her husband. We went to a haunted straw maze, the Haunted Mill, and to Applebees. I was jumpy the whole time and squealed just about every time we turned a corner. On Saturday, we went to Mesa Falls (pretty waterfalls about an hour away from Rexburg.) The weather was perfect. We also celebrated Meredith's twenty-first birthday with a yummy breakfast early in the morning.