I heart my students

The other day I was talking to my mom about my students and how much I love them. I have picked out some of my favorites and it's been hard not to get attached to them. There is a group of them that are all best friends and have all been playing soccer together since they were in elementary school. It came time for them to try out for the high school team and all of them made it but two, some of my favorite two. I found as I was driving home from school I started crying thinking about how sad it was that they didn't make it. I have become pretty attached to a lot of these students and I find that when they are sad, I'm sad. I want them to succeed and be the best they can. I can see the potential in all of them. I love that I can become close to my students but it makes me sad to think that I'll leave and probably never see them again :(

The Bobcat Den

Well, here is just a little update on my life as a teacher. I love being teacher and I know without a doubt that I picked the right profession. Everyday has it's ups and downs. It is so easy to pick favorites and to pick on the students you just can't stand. I have found that if it wasn't for those students who actually do their work and joke around with me I wouldn't make it through the day. I have actually picked my favorite periods of the day which are 3rd and 5th period. Surprisingly my honors class drives me crazy! They never stop talking... EVER! My 7th period is the hardest because I have three students that cause the whole class to be disrupted. They get suspended all the time. But for the most part my students are awesome. They say the funniest things to me that make me laugh. I find I make fun of them a lot and they think that is pretty funny. I do act like a crazy when I am in front of them but it gives a little flavor to the class. I just want to put some things on here that my students have said to me that make me laugh.

"Ms. Pasiguini- oh I mean, wait, how do you say your name?"

"Mrs. P- your name is g" (Yes, I'm so glad the gangsters think I'm "g")

"Mrs. Passantino, are you going to the dance?"
"I don't think so Daniel"
"Oh, I was gonna ask you to go with me"

(We were having a discussion about Angle Falls, the highest waterfall in the world and all these what-ifs came up. PS: Angle Falls is two times higher than the empire state building)
- What if you fell off?
- Well what if you just went down with the water, would you die then?
- What if you were in a big cement box and fell off?
- What if you were in this container thing that was really pointy at the end, would you die then?
- What if you were in a big hamster ball thing?

"Ms. Passantino, do you think that if you had a jet ski you could ride from Cuba to Florida?"

(While talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis) "I don't understand why we didn't just bomb them, I mean, we could just bomb the whole world and then we wouldn't have to go to war with anyone"

"Ms. Pistachio, Me and T.C, we're your favorite huh?" (these two remind me of my brother and his best friend)
(I over heard my student ask my teacher this) "Can students date student teachers?"

"Ms. P, you should date my brother, you guys listen to the same music!"
"Oh yeah? How old is your brother"
"He's 17, he's a senior!"
(Not sure that is legal ... haha)

(There are a lot of gangsters in my school and one of them is so kind this is what he said to me in my first week)
"Ms. Passantino, I'm ( he introduces himself) and I just want you to know that you have beautiful eyes"

"Ms. Passantino, will you be my valentine?"

"So, we were hoping you could go get a job over at Taylorsville High School so that we could have you as a teacher again and see you everyday!" (once again, my two favorite students)

"We just want you to know that you are the coolest student teacher, all the rest are weird and mean!"

I love my students, I'm having so much fun! Now if only papers and tests would grade themselves!!!!!

Teaching: I'm a big kid now!

Wow, I can not believe that I am actually student teaching! It is almost like a surreal experience because it just doesn't seem like I am old enough to be a teacher. Sometimes I find myself joking around with my students and then remembering that I am the teacher, the authority figure, and I need to act that way... ha ha, I still just feel like a big kid.

The students overall are pretty awesome. I am amazed with the things that these students have to go through. The last couple weeks my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Black, has told me the different stories these students have and I am amazed at what they deal with in everyday life. It has made me so grateful for my upbringing and it makes me want to help these kids as much as I can. I've been able to try to form some sort of relationships with some of them and I think I am doing OK so far but I need to do better.

I was surprised at the amount of gang activity that is in my school. I teach at Benion Junior High which is actually a nicer school than the ones my roommates are teaching at. On Wednesday there was a shooting at Kearns High School just a couple miles down the road. It was gang related and the student that got shot died. You would think being in Utah this wouldn't be a prevalent but it is and it is an eye opener for me. A lot of my students are in gangs and don't care much about school, I'm gonna try as hard as I can to get through to them.

I've also noticed how important it is to use the spirit as I deal with these students. It's not like I tell them about it but the spirit really does help in knowing what a student needs. It's just more motivation to be close to the spirit in everything I do.

I start officially taking over the class next week and can't wait. I'll be starting the Latin America unit! 9th graders sure are interesting!

Friends

I love my friends. Because of these people my last semester at BYU-Idaho was amazing. I spent almost every day with them this fall. It is hard for me to think about what it will be like to not walk across the street to Alpine (the boys apt) and just hang out or have Alaina and Nadya hanging out in my room till I finally kicked them out. In college it's hard to make good friends and stick with them throughout the years because everyone moves around so much. I've been lucky, I've been able to keep some of my friends for a long time. It makes it hard for me to say goodbye. I even cried when I had to say goodbye to them. I know I'll see them again but nothing will really ever be like it was before. I'll never forget the amazing times we've all had together. This new step in life is going to be hard for me: reason #1- I won't be around these people anymore. They made me better.

Disney Love!

So, my amazing roommates took me to disneyland for thanksgiving break! It was one of the best vacations I've been on. I had so much fun! We drove what felt like a million hours but we played hard and went on every ride a whole bunch of times. I forgot the joy that disneyland brings, it made me feel like I was a little kid again! It was amazing. We took a total of 275 pictures and there are so many I want to put on here but I'll just put my favorites. I changed my music playlist to my favorite music/rides in disneyland!

We also went to the Newport Beach Temple and to the actual beach. Our roommate Ashley had never seen the ocean so it was so fun to be there with her!

Mary Poppins is my favorite Disney Movie and I just love Bert. I was very excited that I got to see them!

Tower of Terror is one of my new favorite rides! It was awesome!

Brady, Steve and Mike: Finally a Real Dance Crew

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Mom and Dad: High School Sweethearts

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