As previously mentioned, I have switched into the wonderful world of teaching. I teach History (Ancient Civilizations) and Earth Science, along with a character ed class to a group of mostly 12 year old students. Each class has between 35-36 students in it and my classroom is pretty small, but we make do. Needless to say, between our room arrangement, the mind (and hormones) of a 12 year old, and my interesting subject matter....we have had some very interesting conversations! Here are just a few memorable quotes off the top of my head....
#1
Students: let's guess how old Mrs. Dennistoun is! (inward groaning on my part....)
24! 28! 26! (Ok, not so bad....)
34! (Excuse me!! No offense to 34 year olds...but that is not my age yet!)
No, I think she is more like 20! (Bless you child!)
Student who thought I was 34: SHE WISHES!!! (He was promptly dismissed from my classroom after that!)
#2
Before Thanksgiving break, I had my students do a reading comp sheet on the history of Thanksgiving....one of the things it mentioned that the pilgrims ate was cod fish. During this activity, I had a student very confused over this. He explained to me, that he was confused because every time you see COD on the internet, it stands for Call of Duty (a very popular video game amongst my students), and he thought the fish had something to do with the video game and it just didn't make sense to him! Oh goodness....
#3
One day we were working on creating a map of Ancient Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent. Everything had to be created out of paper. As I was walking around the room observing my class' work, one of my boys, was quite upset and said, "Mrs. Dennistoun, it looks like a kindergartner made it!" I just smiled, because let's be honest, it was pretty bad, but I tried to encourage him to keep going. His response, "Arts and crafts just aren't my thing, my mom never bought my coloring books when I was little!" (I laughed over this for a long time...take note to my future self....buy your kids lots and lots of coloring books!)
#4 (My favorite from this year so far....)
We are out at lunch and a few boys are kicking something around in the dirt. I just knew trouble was coming. A few minutes later one of them runs up very upset about this thing in the dirt, but can't explain what it was. The second boy runs up and tells us that it is a "conceptual toy." HUH??? What are these boys talking about? The third one clarifies...."You know, it's what a boy uses to not get a girl pregnant." Oooohhhhhh....... Apparently, after dark, our campus is a great place for some hanky panky to take place!
I'm sure that these stories are much funnier to me since I was there, and I know there are many more, but I have been so bad about writing them down. As they happen, I will record them here, so at least I have them writen somewhere, and maybe every once in awhile, someone else will get a laugh out of them as well!
I've thought about doing this for awhile, and with all the exciting new changes coming our way, thought this would be a great way to document our adventures as well as keep friends and family updated with more details that a Facebook status can provide!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Oh Me, Oh My, Where Has the Time Gone?
Well, I started this blog some time ago to keep friends and family updated on our life happenings and adventures....I posted twice and our life went on a CRAZY and BUSY adventure and well, needless to say, the blog, while thought about often, went untouched. My end of the year resolution is to improve in this area! Since I now have some free time on my hands, I will post a few updates from the past few months....
Biggest Change of All: New Career! After much prayer, thought, consideration, testing, and hoping, I started a new career in August. I left the crazy world of corporate event planning and decided to become a teacher....a middle school teacher at that!! And I love it! I am working in a school that focuses on training kids for careers in public safety. I teach 6th grade and grade and thoroughly enjoy it! However, while learning this new profession, working on lesson plans, grading, parent conferences, etc., I now FULLY understand why teachers have the summer off!! This takes up ALOT of time. AND to top it off, I am enrolled in school again. Needless to say, this is my excuse for not posting anything in months....I spend a great deal of time on the computer, but not for personal reasons anymore! (More to come in future posts about my new job....)
PSA....Home of the Phoenix....HOORAH!!
Something Fun: Another fun thing that this fall contained for the Dennistouns was Matt's softball season. He joined a church league and was provided the chance to release some of his competitiveness again! Every Saturday evening we headed out to the field and he got to play, while his adoring wife cheered from the stands. When it came down to it...their team ended up winning their league championship...it was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to the next season!
The winning team!
The champ with his number one fan!
Other Exciting News: My little brother graduated from nursing school! After many years of HARD work, endless hours of studying, some crazy stories from clinicals, and a great study group, he graduated as an RN! We are very proud of his accomplishment! Now we are praying for a good job to follow!
Nick, RN, with his study group
Other Updates and Fun Events From the Past Several Months:
- Finally got to see Dave Matthews Band with our good friends Josh and Adri!
- Attended the National Youth Workers Convention....which is sentimental because it is where Matt and I got engaged!
- Celebrated the Mom's birthday with a delicious dinner at North Woods Inn....a old time family favorite!
- Enjoyed the fruits of our labor in the form of a blossoming vegetable garden!
- Made our first attempt at painting by tackling the bathroom...and I think it looks pretty good! Now, I just need to finish the baseboards...and yes, it's been a few moths since I re-visited that as well, another Christmas Break "To-Do!"
Well, I think that covers the major highlights of the last few months! In all honesty, life has been fairly boring! I sit on the couch and grade, lesson plan, and do homework, while my faithful husband makes sure that things like dinner and laundry are taken care of so I don't have to worry about anything else! I truly appreciate him and can't wait till my credential program is over so I can go back to being a more domestic wife!
Biggest Change of All: New Career! After much prayer, thought, consideration, testing, and hoping, I started a new career in August. I left the crazy world of corporate event planning and decided to become a teacher....a middle school teacher at that!! And I love it! I am working in a school that focuses on training kids for careers in public safety. I teach 6th grade and grade and thoroughly enjoy it! However, while learning this new profession, working on lesson plans, grading, parent conferences, etc., I now FULLY understand why teachers have the summer off!! This takes up ALOT of time. AND to top it off, I am enrolled in school again. Needless to say, this is my excuse for not posting anything in months....I spend a great deal of time on the computer, but not for personal reasons anymore! (More to come in future posts about my new job....)
PSA....Home of the Phoenix....HOORAH!! Something Fun: Another fun thing that this fall contained for the Dennistouns was Matt's softball season. He joined a church league and was provided the chance to release some of his competitiveness again! Every Saturday evening we headed out to the field and he got to play, while his adoring wife cheered from the stands. When it came down to it...their team ended up winning their league championship...it was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to the next season!
The winning team!
The champ with his number one fan!Other Exciting News: My little brother graduated from nursing school! After many years of HARD work, endless hours of studying, some crazy stories from clinicals, and a great study group, he graduated as an RN! We are very proud of his accomplishment! Now we are praying for a good job to follow!
Nick, RN, with his study groupOther Updates and Fun Events From the Past Several Months:
- Finally got to see Dave Matthews Band with our good friends Josh and Adri!
- Attended the National Youth Workers Convention....which is sentimental because it is where Matt and I got engaged!
- Celebrated the Mom's birthday with a delicious dinner at North Woods Inn....a old time family favorite!
- Enjoyed the fruits of our labor in the form of a blossoming vegetable garden!
- Made our first attempt at painting by tackling the bathroom...and I think it looks pretty good! Now, I just need to finish the baseboards...and yes, it's been a few moths since I re-visited that as well, another Christmas Break "To-Do!"
Well, I think that covers the major highlights of the last few months! In all honesty, life has been fairly boring! I sit on the couch and grade, lesson plan, and do homework, while my faithful husband makes sure that things like dinner and laundry are taken care of so I don't have to worry about anything else! I truly appreciate him and can't wait till my credential program is over so I can go back to being a more domestic wife!
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