Let me clarify...

The last post was SUPER short because I was very limited on time, yet wanted to share my joyous news with you all. Now let me explain.

Yesterday was a CRAZY day. I not only had a real job interview up against 34 amazing women with 24 openings; I had to pass this observation to be able to pass my minor. The reason this is particularly difficult is that I already had this same observation before and didn't do too hot. I'm not going to give any excuses, and trust me I have plenty, but it simply went poorly.

So my interview for my internship began at 10:10 in American Fork Utah @ the Alpine district offices. There are 3 other women begin interviewed AT THE SAME TIME AS ME. It was a group interview. All 4 of us walk in and there is a room full of principals. There were probably 10- 15 principals in the room. We had to state our name, the school we are in now, and our grade preferences (not to give away the exciting news, but I said I'd prefer 2, 3, or 4th grade and got 5th haha). Then we had 3 group questions. They basically throw the question out in the air and whoever wanted to could answer. Then they had 3 individual questions. That's it. On to the next room of principals. Then it was over.

It was a tough interview. The group aspect was hard because you had to think of the right group dynamics (being nice to them, not talk too much, or not talking enough). Plus the questions they asked were so broad and vague; it would have been difficult to say a wrong answer. How are they supposed to judge if you are a good teacher by 6 questions? I walked out of the interview feeling good about my answers and my impression, yet unsure because everyone was so great. How are they going to decide?

I left the district office back to my 4th grade class waiting for a phone call from the principal...waiting... with my stomach in knots...

I get to my class and get my lesson set up for my observation. We were doing a lesson on severe weather. Here's a quick synopsis. I read a children's book on weather. In the books some people had to miss out on their fun day at the beach because of bad weather. Then I had the students share experiences if weather had ever affected them in their life. (We could have gone on the rest of the day with just sharing those experiences. EVERYONE wanted to share). Then I said today we are going to talk about severe weather, what does that mean? We talked about what the word severe means and what are some types of severe weather. Then they had pictures on their desk of severe and normal weather. Then we sorted them into those categories on the board. Then we made a severe weather book complete with a glossary, table of contents, and title page. THEN we did this.

Well the first part of the video. We created a severe rain storm. Ya it went awesome. I got 100% on my second observation. My teacher was practically crying because of how well it went haha.

One thing down. Now I wait...

...and wait...

...and wait...

Then my phone rings. As soon as I heard the voice I knew I got it. It was the Vice Principal at the school I'm in right now!! As soon as he said hey Nikki this is Boyce Campbell. I said "this better be good news" (Apparently I'm rude when I'm nervous haha). Then he extended me a position in the 5th grade at the school I'm in right now.

Cool thing... I am in the 4th grade right now, which means I will get some of my same kids next year!!!! I am stoked about that!

Now let me explain the internship to everyone...
*I am the ACTUAL teacher. I do NOT have a mentor teacher in the room. I am evaluated quite often and have people keeping tabs on me so I don't kill the kids, but other than that I'm the real deal.
*It is a paid internship. I receive half pay and full benefits. Something crazy, my school district has the best benefits and we don't pay a cent for them out of our paycheck.
*My school is about 10 minutes away. It is so close and I love it.
I can't think of anything else... I'll let you know.

Anyways... it was a great day!! I am proud to say. I have been working really hard and it is great to see my hard work pay off!