I'm a copy cat...

In the world of teaching, it is commonly accepted that you beg, borrow and steal the best ideas. Today's blog post is no different. I am taking an idea from my friend Tiffany's blog (which is a fantastic read by the way) and writing about the past ten years. It's hard for me to think about the fact that I've already taught for 5 years, but here's what the past 10 years of my life have looked like.

2000 -- the year I graduated from high school. That summer I unsuccessfully ran for State FFA Office. Decided to attend Eastern and competed in the National Extemp contest. I also had my first Collegiate FFA trip which was NOTHING like the other Ag trips I had ever been on.

2001 -- I completed my first year of college that Spring and decided to run for State FFA President. I also "dropped out" of college and lost my Lottery Scholarship and several others that were making college possible. However, the experiences and relationships I made that year were well worth it.

2002 -- I finished my year of being State President and after travelling about 10,000 miles a visiting almost every school in NM with an FFA chapter, I still wanted to be an Ag teacher! lol. I also ran for National FFA Office (and lost) but saw a new side of the organization I love so very much. I turned 21 while at National Convention that year and was back in college at Eastern.

2003 -- After not being elected to a National FFA Office, I was appointed to serve on the National FFA Alumni Council. That was an incredible experience. I learned a lot about people and how they can work together for something they love. I was alo the Outstanding Sophomore in Agriculture that year at ENMU and started my experiences with Student Government.

2004 -- For some reason I have trouble recalling the important events and things of this year. I was elected to serve as Student Body Vice President that Spring.
I do remember that my Grandpa passed away 2 days after my 23rd birthday and that I was busy with college and ASENMU stuff, but other than that I don't remember all of it.

2005 -- I was nearing the end of my college career. I was working hard to get ready to student teach. My student teaching semester was the Fall '05 and was in Elida. I had a great time working with Mr. Savage and made some of the most important decisions of my career there.

2006 -- This was the year I was officially "grown up". Chase and I graduated with our Bachelors degrees the day before Mother's Day. I spent most of the Spring subbing in Dora and Elida...those were some adventuresome days. But I also took my first teaching job in Elida as the Home Ec/History teacher.

2007 -- I taught school and learned A LOT. We qualified an FCCLA Parli. Pro team for Nationals in Anaheim, CA. That was a fun trip with a great bunch of kiddos.

2008 -- I resigned my position in June from Elida and took a job in Hagerman. I moved to Roswell. Some of my responsibilities changed, I was now just a History teacher and taught 2 Jr High electives called "Journalism". I was also the Student Council and Jr Class Sponsor.

2009 -- Coached my first State Champion Judging Team! It was the first time Hagerman ever had a Dairy Foods team and we managed to get first. Sadly 3 of my 4 kids moved away and we didn't get to compete at Nationals. But the remaining student and I went to the National Convention and we had a great time. I got more involved with FFA and became a co-advisor to the chapter.

2010 -- Over the summer, my peers in the NM Ag Education Teacher Association (NMAETA) selected me to the be the Rookie Ag Teacher of the Year, which was really cool. Chase was Young Ag Teacher of the Year. A pretty special summer for our family. When school started up in the fall, I was no longer the Student Council sponsor but instead took on the role of being more involved with FFA. We started a full fledged Jr High Ag program and now have over 100 members in our FFA chapter. In December I completed my Masters degree in Secondary Education...whew that was a long, hard battle but so worth it!


Looking back there are a few things I might do differently, but for the most part I think that things happen a certain way for a reason. Not getting elected to State Office the first time I ran opened opportunities for me in other places and let me appreciate my year as State President that much more. Attending Eastern allowed me to make friends and have experiences I might not have otherwise. It's funny to see how much I have changed, what I thought I knew at 19 and what I've learned at 29. However, if I had to take just one lesson away from this is that lifelong learning is important. To be a good teacher I have to keep on learning new things.

2011 Goals

This semester in an effort to keep my sanity and be more productive I came up with a list of goals that I am going to work toward while I am at school each day. Hopefully in sharing this goals I will hold myself more accountable and be successful. Here's the list I came up with the other day during inservice --

1. Keep Up With Grading -- Grading papers is probably the teaching chore that I HATE the most. I am not sure why I have such an adversion to this, but I think it has something to do with sitting down and focusing just on that task. However I realize this is a very important part of my job and one that keeps everyone happy if it is done promptly and frequently. Plus, I refuse to take papers home to grade. Call me crazy and I know that I ask the kids to take homework home to do, but really I do not want to spend my time at home doing that. So this semester I am going to try to grade everything at school in a timely manner. Along with this goal comes the task of having to stay strict with deadlines, not accepting late work, etc (ideas to address in another blog)

2. Keep My Classroom Straightened Up -- Another thing that I am not sure why this is an issue or challenge for me, but really I think part of it relates to the fact that I am a "saver". Don't worry I won't be on Hoarders anytime soon, but I like to keep copies of things, especially worksheets and papers that I create myself. This has proven helpful to me especially since my first school laptop had the untimely death on the first day of school and I lost tons of stuff. I haven't had time to throughly clean my room yet, but hopefully I will tackle this project and some organizing in the near, near future.

3. Better Classroom Management -- One of the greatest challenges in teaching comes from trying to keep everyone in line and doing what they are supposed to do. I have been fortunate enough to teach in two districts with very, very minimal discipline and behavior issues. Most things we deal with can be categorized as typical kid mischeviousness or silly drama. We are lucky like that. However as a teacher, I think that one of my areas of greatest growth can come in the realm of dealing with my kids, keeping my classroom productive, etc.

There are other things that I want to work on this semester that I think will positively impact my teaching, however these 3 goals are my top priority. I'll try to let you know how things are going as the semester progresses.

The Start of Something New..

So after spending some time reading a friend's blog, I've decided to be a bit adventourous and try something new. I hope I have to creativity and self-discipline to write about the experiences I have in the process of a day of teaching. I will probably start off with daily recaps and recounts of the funny things that happen each day, the randomness that somehow finds it's way into my life and the frantic pace that comes with trying to teach both History and Ag.

The title of my blog is kind of explained in the header, but I am sure that I will find myself writing about how it those things come into play. I got the title from a conversation I found myself having with an old high school friend, he called me a "Scholar of Young Minds". I am still not 100% sure what he meant, but I'm quite certain that I learn from my kids everyday. The lessons run the gamut and sometimes it takes a couple of days for the lessons to sink in.

I hope this ends up being something people want to read. I'll try to be interesting! Thanks!