Things that made me laugh today

This summer I'm working with the Bell program. Let's just say that going to the school on Monday left me in a somewhat shocked state. I didn't quite know how to react to the teacher's classroom management and discipline style. I didn't know how to interact with the kids either. I just felt paralyzed for some reason (which is not like me at all!). Luckily we were given an assignment to go and listen in on what the kids talk about when they are out of the classroom.

The result: kids are just kids. They talked about Halo Reach, Japanese comic books, superheroes, wanting to be taller, going to the pool....

But by far the best line I heard today was one boy telling another, "Yo, I seen the weather channel, we gonna die in 2012.” Oh really? I thought. Somehow I don't quite understand how the weather channel would have such prophetic information and unfortunately he didn't elaborate on it. I guess I'll have to investigate on my own. Let me know if you have the answer. Haha.

I need to make a correction to the previous post. The head teacher is Mr. Barnes and the TA is Ms. Barker. And I am Miss Woolrey. Some people can't pronounce my name (i.e. Mr. B).

He had some great jabs at the students today that made me burst out in laughter inside. I'm really learning out to control my outrageously loud laughter (how professional of me).

So here were the other 2 gems of the day from Mr. Barnes:

1. One student had her arms in her shirt because she was cold. He asked her why she was doing so and then said, "it's 400 degrees outside, how could you be cold?!" Then everyone laughed. You're not laughing? Guess you had to be there. :)

2. Ironically the second comment was to the same student. She was messing with her hair and he said, "your hair looks lovely, I promise, leave it alone." He had to say this about 3 times.

Other quick items of note today: They had homemade Mac-n-Cheese for dinner in the cafeteria. I ate 2 helpings worth...and had ice cream. My suite mates and I decided that we've already reached the stage of eating when we're stressed. Luckily I've been playing frisbee the last few nights to work off some of that cafeteria food. Which reminds me, another night of falling while trying to get the frisbee, which lead to re-injury of my bruised leg from last night. But I'm loving every minute of it. It feels great to get out there and sweat so much that you feel like you just took a shower in your clothes.

Another late night of reading and writing, but I've got Keith Urban to keep me company so it's fantastic!

15 days, or is it 14?

Remember when..

..I turned 30, went to Hawaii, quit my job, helped to set a Guinness World Record and started school again?! I didn't think so (I barely remember it myself).

I'm currently sitting in my dorm room at Coppin State University. Here's a picture of the outside.

Don't let it fool you, it may look new on the outside but it's stuck in the 70's on the inside. And you know what...I'm loving every minute of it. (More pictures to come of the interior).

What am I, a little white girl, doing on THIS campus on THIS side of Baltimore? Only the best thing I've ever done in my life! I can't even begin to describe how guided I've felt and been throughout this whole process. To "randomly" decide to join a listserve of Young Education Professionals when I wasn't even in the education field (where I subsequently found out about UTC). To not get accepted to a summer of awesomeness in France working at an English language camp. The timing of everything was so perfect and so directed. I know God's hand was in it and I'm extremely grateful for His watchful and diligent care over me and over all of His children.

I've been in the program for a week now and it's a little crazy being back in school again. But I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to learn something new and exciting and I intend to be one grand student by fully engaging myself in the work, asking as many questions as I can and practice my little biscuits off!

I'm in a cohort program called the Urban Teacher Center which is parterned with Lesley University to provide us with a Dual Masters Degree in Education and Special Education. I couldn't have found a better program anywhere else.

We're working in summer programs in Baltimore until mid-August and guess who got placed with the 7th graders? Um, me. Yes a bit scary. I definitely panicked a little when I walked in the room to meet the class, but my excitement is building to have the opportunity to work with my 7th graders.

The head teacher, Mr. Barner is from Jamaica. Just thinking of him makes me smile/laugh. I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to share about him. He is like a roasted marshmallow, hard and crusty on the outside but warm and gooey on the inside. Well, he's not warm/friendly with the kids much, he is a discipliner, but when he talks to me or the TA he turns into his chill Jamaican self. I'm gonna love it.

And just in case, I've decided to teach myself some Jamaican phrases that I can use to build a good working relationship with him. Here's what I have so far.

"Ello, mi can help yuh wid someting?"

Translation: "Hello, can I help you with something?"

"Mi love chaklit cake with nuff icenin."

Translation: "I love chocolate cake with plenty of icing."

"Yu can cyarri dis cow pan yuh chuck?"

Translation: "Can you carry this cow on your truck?"

And finally, this one will probably get me the most use with those 7th graders:

"Im jook mi inna mi yeye."

Translation: "He poked me in the eye."

The people in my cohort are pretty fantastic! They are people that are passionate about this work and you can tell. We enjoy spending time together on site at our schools, during mealtimes, during class and most especially during the nightly frisbee game. No one will ever understand how much I love to play frisbee. I haven't played it for so long and the last few nights playing with my UTC friends has brought me tremendous joy. And thankfully we'll all be doing one of my other favorite things, going to a baseball game.

Well I hope to be blogging more frequently in the future, you can thank me later.

~Miss Woolley

The Final Countdown

I'm turning 30 on Monday! I can't believe I'm leaving the 20's, I didn't even know that was possible. I decided to make a slideshow of all of the things that I did in the last year of my 20's. Twenty-nine was a great year! Come laugh, cry, share a tender moment with me. I'm very grateful for my loving family and friends who inspire me to be better each day. And I'm extremely grateful to an all-knowing, loving Heavenly Father that has led me to this point in my life. I am so blessed!

The New Dream Team

Front Row (l-r): Adrienne Woolley, Perla Antoniak

Back Row (l-r): Sunni Mumford, Erika Sosa, Caitlin Magidson

Please join me in welcoming the new Relief Society Presidency (hereinafter, "Dream Team") of the DC 2nd Ward!! And the power players are:

President: Adrienne Woolley: Lover of brownies, flowers, and Asian culture. Known for hurting her mouth from smiling so much when she's around the Dream Team.

1st Counselor: Sunni Mumford: Our basketball beauty with a heart of gold who loves her snacks.

2nd Counselor: Erika Sosa: Our Latin beauty and resident polyglot. After stalking her on facebook, I found out that she is a fellow Daft Punk fan!

3rd Counselor: pErLA aNtOniAk: Our artistic beauty who loves everything tropical!

Secretary: Caitlin Magidson: Czech this girl out, she's our singing, dancing beauty.

I LOVE these ladies and am extremely blessed that I got my first draft picks! I'm looking forward to our service together as we Blossom and Bloom and do all sorts of things!

And a HUGE thank you to our photographer, Michelle Farnsworth. She's got skills!

A reason to chuckle

My friends and I saw this plea for help posted outside a 7-Eleven in Philly two years ago.

I still think of it today and get a good laugh. Enjoy. 

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was great! All day Ashley and I talked about Valentine's Day miracles. It was mainly small stuff that we could laugh at, but it made for a great day. After work I made dinner for the Sister missionaries and had some friends, family and neighbors over. We had a truly enjoyable time. Later that night I Skyped with my brother and his family. The little girls told me all about Valentine's Day and I saw baby Alex stand all on his own. This year, Valentine's Day was full of love and friendship and I loved every minute of it.

 Happy, Sister Muthuswamy, Mike, Sister Luthi, Myles, and Alex

These are the cookies I made last week for the sisters in my visiting teaching district. 

And I made these cookies for the Super Bowl, even though I didn't end up watching the game. 

Wingardium Leviosa

I felt like I was flying the entire time I was at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! All of my Harry Potter dreams finally came true. It was as if I was one of those little wizards seeing Hogwarts and Hogsmeade for the first time. Here are some highlights: