Miss Meyerson, do you have a first name?

Saturday, Mary and her family came to DC, so I got to spend a few hours with them. Too bad that darn reflective pool is so gross looking, cause it's Winter.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we went up inside the Washington Monument. You go up 500 feet to the very top and you can see all of DC and a lot of Virginia. This view is of the Lincoln Monument. It'd be really pretty if the reflective pool hadn't been drained and become all nasty. It's still a pretty sweet view.

This is another beautiful view. If you look at it blown up you can actually see the DC temple. It's the white dot on the left hand side, a little to the middle. Can you spot it!? The big white building up front behind the big circle lawn is the White House.


The view of the Jefferson Monument. Arlington, VA is on the right...One of those giant buildings is my apartment complex. :)

So, since I'm teaching two periods a day, after today I've finally taught all four periods for the first time. After introducing myself and explaining why I'm there, I let the students ask a few questions. Among the questions asked in all four periods:
-Are you married?
-Is that your natural hair color? (Most of the students are Black, so it's a little more novel out here)
-Why are all of the student teachers from BYU?
-Are you a Latter Day Saint? (I thought this one was interesting, because most people don't know enough to not just call it 'Mormon')
-Why are you in DC?
-Why did you live in Utah???

Overall, I really like most of my kids. My last period today was a little crazy. They were super chatty and I couldn't get them to shut up. I'm writing up a disclosure document tonight where I'll list all of my rules and expectations and then resultant consequences. Hopefully that will help them understand that even though I'm young, they have to take me seriously, too.

I had a descent scare today when a girl walked in wheezing like crazy. She had tears streaming down her face and snot dripping out her nose and she was breathing really heavy with really heavy wheezing. She sat down and I tried to ask her if she was okay. I asked if she needed to go to the nurse. I asked her if she was asthmatic. She didn't respond to anything. I was seriously freaked. I told a girl to run to the nurse and tell her to come. Another girl said she had an elevator pass, so she ran and got that so we could take her to the nurse. Then, finally, she said that her mom was coming to pick her up and that she just wanted to sit there and not go to the nurse. Her breathing was calming down, so I told her that was okay, but I told the girl next to her to watch her like a hawk! That's just what I need: a girl to die my second day as teacher. She was okay, though. She made it until her mom came and picked her up. Slightly scary, though. I'm not going to lie.

Anyway, times out here are pretty stressful, but I don't really feel that stressed, because deep down, I know that I love what I'm doing. I only had one badly behaved class, but I feel pretty good about being consistent with my management plan...aka (in non-teacher talk) I feel like I'll be able to cut the crap and not let them take advantage of me like they think they might be able to.

Love you all and I hope everyone is having a lovely Winter...especially experiencing their first ice age in Utah.