Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers. - Josef Albers

I was always the kid who said things like, " When I pick a major for college, that's it, I won't ever ever change it". I'm currently on my 5th major choice. But I'm pretty confident it's the right one. For real, Mom.

I thought about elementary education, elementary counseling, occupational therapy and culinary. But when I started to think about it, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. And I wanted to teach about cooking. And babies. And decorating. And learning life skills. Then it hit me. Family and Consumer Sciences. (or home economics for all of you who are old) It is a career that was made for me. Or so I like to tell myself. I was so excited to tell Lindsey, who had also been thinking about switching majors, only to find that she had also decided to teach FACS. We hadn't even mentioned it to each other. We do things like that alot....

How do you know when you have chosen the right job for yourself? 1.) people don't even blink when you tell them what you are majoring in, they just already assumed it. 2.) You get excited when you get to job shadow/observe 3.) you get excited about grading papers (yes, I know, this will soon fade) 4.) you make lists of things to remember when you are a teacher 5.) you relate everything to teaching...such as this list.

I am completely confident I have chosen the right path. In a dream world, I would work for Martha for a few years in the city, but it's not completely impossible. I just want to feed people, and teach kids how to be proud of themselves. If there is one thing I learned from experience as a high school student, it's that self esteem building in high school is crucial. I didn't get much of that at St.Joe, and I wouldn't be the same person without Mr. Steber, Mr. VanDyke and Mrs. Billington. My first day of high school, I was so nervous I puked up my breakfast in the office trash can. On the last day, I knew my place in high school, and there weren't many people I didn't know.

People keep asking me, "aren't you scared of all of the budget cuts and rifting?". No. I cannot change my dream because of a dip in the economy. It wouldn't be fair. I will find something to do until I can teach.

Today I gave my first real lesson to a class at the high school. I found out a little about myself and my teaching styles. I'm not very good at staying at the front of the classroom or lecturing yet. I tend to tease them alot and crack semi-inappropriate jokes. I'll have to work on that...
I thought it went pretty well, and at the end of the period, I knew all of the kids and am happy to say that they actually cared about my project and I think they had fun doing it. This is what I want to do.

When I left the high school today, I found an ice cream cone smeared down the side of my car and left to melt on the running board. My first hate crime. Adorable. I'm crazy for wanting to teach these walking hormones. It's a good thing I like crazy...

My picture may be a little staged...