Grading: September is Over

I'm not going to lie, grading papers is my new favorite thing.

This week I spent a ton of time on campus. Surprise! I'll bet you didn't see that one coming. The Writing Center feels less like training and more like a job now. We had our first viral explosion over at Expert Textperts when Casey was inspired to combine two of his favorite things: general conference and gambling. Ha! Our ward got moved into a new stake, meaning in two weeks we'll be in a real building and not a seminary building. I turned in my application for student teaching, the hardest part of which was my personal letter of introduction. I had 11 people look at it before I sent it in. The most critical of those was Brother Rock, the teacher I work for. After we discussed a number of changes, he admitted that even if I didn't make any changes it would be "better than most of the letters they'd see." I made the changes anyway, and Casey had the final look at it to help me with word choices.

I learned about family history, the Holy Eucharist, Francisco Goya, why Kronos ate his kids (it's cooler than you think!), el siglo de Oro (the Golden Century - which lasted two centuries...), mysticism, what it feels like to have a gurney run over your toes, and a number of other crazy interesting things.

Me, riding the gurney that ran over my toes.

One Down, Four to Go.

Last Friday, I kissed school goodbye for seven weeks. I love this long break.

I won't brag about all my accomplishments this semester, but I do want to brag a little. After all I did take 19 credits and I totally kicked its trash.

History and Philosophy of Education - the class has already been removed from I-Learn (why?!) but with I think 3 exceptions in the whole semester, I got 100%s.
Advanced Grammar in Languages - I got a 91% on the final project. I spent all of 2 hours on it.
Intro to Spanish Lit - 92% on the final essay. 100% on the final exam (which took me 15 minutes).
Religion - memorized The Family: Proclamation and got all the points possible reciting it.
Child Development - my final project received 200/200 possible points. I got a 101% on the last test.
Intro to TESOL - got 100% on my Teaching Philosophy paper (basically a cover letter to future principles, administration, etc.) and the teacher's note said, "You're hired!"
Spanish Cultures and Civilizations - 100% on the semester-long project, 100% attendance, 98% on the final exam.

Phase the Next

My how I have neglected my post. (Ba-dum-CH!) Terrible pun, especially for a lead-in. I blame being married to my husband.

After much deliberation, I have decided that I need to start writing on our blog again, because while pontificating my thoughts in a different forum is fun, and I will of course continue, life in the Walrath family is about to make a change and I want to keep everybody updated on us.

Now you know!