Kimmel, Fallon, Cobert - and Late Nights -

I'm an "early to bed, early to rise," kind of person. I need 8 hours of sleep, and if I rise at 6am to exercise before work, that means I'm in bed by 9:30, asleep by 10pm. I probably miss out on some things, but missing out on sleep is catastrophic for me.

But - if I wasn't an early riser, I would so be hooked on . . . Thank heavens for Youtube! Enjoy -

End of Semester Advice -

I try to teach, not preach, to my students, but along the semester they certainly "should" begin to learn what I believe, how I operate, and what my thoughts on life are. At the end of every semester I leave them with a board of advice.
In addition to what was on the board for the first final, I added (with the help of some of my Instagram friends):

Question everything
Follow through
Keep wondering
Be authentic
Make good art
Live life loud
Don't take yourself too seriously
Try new things
Follow your gut
Get a tattoo :)

I'm still learning how to take my own advice, but bit by bit it happens - and life is always better when I listen to myself!

Not All That Glitters is Gold - Being a Writing Instructor -

This past semester I have taught 3 entry-level college writing classes. There are 23 students in each class. They are required to write 3+ papers plus an expository research paper of 7-12 pages.

23x3=69. 69x4=276 (x approx. 30 pages per student = 8280). And though I do much better with words than numbers, that's one hell of a lot of papers (and pages) to grade.

Paper 1, 3-5 pages: First Kiss (Gets me acquainted with my students' writing skills, and the students can write this one! Plus, folklorist Ronda says this is a great document for the students to have in their life history.)

Paper 2, 3-5 pages: How To (How to make a sandwich, change a tire, peel an orange, avoid the zombie apocalypse. The student chooses, and now that they have their first paper graded by me, I can see how well they can take what they've learned and apply it.)

Paper 4, 7-9 pages: Expository Research Paper, and I assign the topic, which is: My Name (Typically 1010 students spend most of their time trying to decide what to write about, then they choose a gigantic subject, and their paper turns into a cut and paste paper. Assigning my students this topic gets rid of that mess, and again, they have a personal interest, and it's a great addition to their life story.)

Paper 4 also requires about 10 pages of pre-work.

Paper 5, 3-5 pages: Persuade Me (This is the segue into the next writing class, Argumentative Writing. Their topics have ranged from going to Disneyland vs. a road trip, benefits of getting married, women in combat, Utah's snow, benefits of living in Iowa.)

Paper 6, 1 page: Final (Course evaluation)

And my happy bright energetic eyes that approached the first, and even second, paper have dimmed. And I am tired of grading papers, putting grades into the gradebook, pushing myself to getting these papers out of my house, and the romance is far over.

Every semester, about this time, I swear I will cut down on my teaching for the next semester, and it doesn't happen, because I love teaching. But I promise, grading bites, and it is not pretty, not kind, not sparkly. Ask Scott.

I want December to be bright white snow sparkling in the morning sun, carols on iTunes, the scent of gingerbread cookies and peanut brittle in the air, and me wandering through the mall looking for the perfect gift for my loved ones. Oh - and writing a really witty Christmas letter and spending quality and quantity time with family.

Bah-humbug. Rather, I get Scott and I bickering, a pine-scented candle burning, no Christmas tree or Christmas lights (inside or out), Christmas gifts consisting of things that can be purchased online, in-between grading, or at the hospital gift shop, Chik-fil-a lunches with children and grands, and I'm tighter than a piece of freshly pulled taffy. And still - final grades need to be tabulated, and students will whine, and grades need to be reported, and hopefully by Dec. 22 school is over. Oh, but wait - I still have 2 other jobs and their commitments and deadlines.

Happy freakin' holidays to you.

Looking at Both Sides -

Don't wait, please, to see if there's another side to "the story." Please look at whomever is being bossy, annoyed, stand-offish, angry, and see what their reasons are. And what it is you're doing to cause this - and I can just about bet you dollars - there is fear in that reaction. And you and I and the finger-pointers of the world would be much better people if we looked first, reacted second. 

As adults, it is our imperative to not always have an answer, not always be in the right, but to always look at another's perspective. Put yourself in the other person's shoes, even if yours are on so tight it hurts to take them off - do so anyway. Then look at their reaction from their point of view. This won't make you Queen for a Day, but it will help you see more of the world, and in doing so, you will develop some empathy. 

Believe me, please. Do this before "it's too late," whatever that time means to you. 

Trigger Dreams -

This morning, as I lay between sleep and awake, I heard Scott blow his nose. And instantly I was lying in my twin bed, aching from chemo, and Scott was out of the shower getting ready for the day.

I had to shake my head a couple of times to realize I was in our King-size bed, 3 years later, healthy, and sleeping in.

Interesting what a noise can trigger.

Today I will set my intentions to being grateful for my health and the opportunity to sleep in, not because I'm sick, but because I was tired.

Happy day -

My boy - and Plugfones -

I brag quite a bit about my best friend/daughter, Jenna. Well, I also have a son, Tyler. He is an amazing man. When he was growing up (well, he still is :)), all he wanted was to have a family with lots of children, and be a fireman. He loved serving in the nursery at our church, he was a good baby sitter, kids naturally gravitated toward him. He could tease, console, and play with children very very easily. Cousins adored him, and I think Tyler would have loved having a house full of younger siblings.

As a young man and new husband, he felt very pressured to have a career that could support him and his goal of having a family. He graduated from the UofU with a bachelors degree in Social Work, partially because he wanted to work with children, as well as not really knowing what his passion was, besides people.

Tyler worked for the state of Utah as a social worker for foster-care children, and while the interactions were extremely satisfying, the paperwork and pay were not. So Tyler took job and talent assessments, personality assessments, career quizzes, and nothing stood out as a "must" career for him.

Tyler was disappointed - thinking that he had no direction, that there really wasn't a career "out there" for him. He did summer sales (alarm systems) in Texas for a summer, and while he enjoyed visiting with people, door to door sales became visits and making relationships rather than selling alarm systems!

Then - the tides did turn. Tyler linked up with his cousin, Shaun, who had a concept company, but didn't know how to implement the concept. And those tests that showed "no focus," really showed "entrepreneur."

Their company, Plugfones, has soared, and has been featured as one of the top growing small companies in the state. Tyler has been able to think the product through from beginning to end, and with the relationships he's made over the years, create quite a team to support their company. In addition, Tyler has several other "projects" going on, and he has total confidence in himself, thus in his ventures.

And - Tyler and Meili, who will be celebrating their 12 year anniversary in a few days, have 5 of the most gorgeous children anyone could ask for. They range in age from 10 to 6 months, and oh, I love them.

Congrats Tyler, on making your dreams come true. And to Meili, for supporting these dreams. The best is yet to be -

This a news report on small businesses. The website developer, SEO guru, Justin Wilde, is a friend of Tyler's. Justin chose to focus on Tyler's company in this report. Very sweet!

Why I Teach -

Over the Thanksgiving holiday break I graded 69 7-11 page research papers and their accompanying portfolios. Yikes! I assign my 1010 students their research topic - otherwise so much time is lost in them coming up with a topic. Their topic is to write about their name/s.

As these students took me on their discovery of their names - from how their name was chosen to the meaning behind their surname, to the other names they are known by, I thought how grateful I am for the opportunity to teach. And the students love this topic - they are on an adventure as they do their library research, as well as talk to their parents, their grandparents, friends.

I try to make a difference - I want my students to leave my classes energized rather than drained, enlightened rather than numb, and I want them to leave knowing that I am choosing to teach - because I love teaching, but I also love my students.

I teach because I am energized by their youth, by their innocence, by their grandiose plans and dreams. I teach because I get to see eagerness turn into studiosness, see ahaa moments rather than sleeping (I do occasionally have a student fall asleep; I typically let them sleep). I get to see them grow through the semester, gain confidence - not only in the classes I teach, but as a university student.

I teach because my students keep me on my toes. I have to learn their lingo (I got a laugh yesterday with my "swipe left, swipe right" reference to binary thinking), I watch how they dress, watch what they talk about, watch how they interact with each other - and they think I'm only in the classroom to teach!

I teach because I want my students to know I care - I care enough to grade their papers over Thanksgiving, so they don't have to stress writing them over Thanksgiving. I care enough to cautiously put $20 bucks into a student's hand when he made a casual comment about not having gas, not having food. I care enough to pray for them at night. I care enough to worry about them after class, to notice the other student who was bright and sparkly when the semester began but who now struggles to come to class on time.

I would like to think that I'm doing my part to make the world a better place - to make a difference -