Enjoy!
Author: Amber Blair
Feeling Worthwhile
Last week, one of our vocab words was worthwhile. We were reading a story that featured all the vocab words, and when we came upon worthwhile, I said, “Raise your hand if you’re worthwhile” expecting every kid to immediately wave his or her hand in the air.
I was wrong.
Only about 5 kids raised their hands!
So then I was like, “Wait a second! You don’t think you’re worthwhile? What??” I stopped the lesson to talk about how special each of them is, and I read “You Are Special” out loud. This got me thinking about the huge blessing I had to grow up singing “I Am a Child of God” from like age zero. Then in Young Womens, I stood every week and declared “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him.” This is a precious truth I’ve known my entire life, and I guess I’ve kind of taken it for granted.
My kids don’t know who they are!
On the mission, it was my job to teach that God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are His children. One of my favorite street contact questions was, “Who is God to you?” and they would respond, “He’s everything!” or “He’s in my heart.” and then we’d talk. But now that my job is different, I forget that my kiddos are essentially in the same shoes as my street contacts.
Because of church and state, I can’t tell my students who they are. However, I can help them feel God’s love by teaching them that they are in fact special, and treating them in a special way. CS Lewis’s oft-quoted passage about everyone being potential gods and goddesses who we would be strongly tempted to worship applies to EVERYONE, including my students.
Growth Mindset
School can be really hard. I know there were times when I was in school when I just wanted to give up and go to sleep for a week.
There are times my kiddos feel the same way, so we repeat this inspiring poem every day before we leave:
I think this is powerful.
Living the Dream
This is a photo I posted in 2011, captioned, “I’m gonna be a teacher when I grow up.”
You guys. I chose a major I love (two majors I love!) and BOTH of the fields were hiring, and I LOVE MY JOBS!!!! I just finished my first week of teaching 6th grade, and I am just full of joy. I love my kiddos, I love the curriculum, I love the position of influence I have, I love the relationships I’m developing, I love the book we’re reading together (Esperanza Rising), I love the multi-cultural class I have. I just love what I’m doing. Life is good.
However…
Truth.
Nothing compares to the exhaustion I experienced after the mission, but let me tell you, this comes close.
An Open Letter to My Students
Dear future students,
You are currently still enjoying Summer vacation. Technically so am I. Starting tomorrow, the kids in my neighborhood here in the Provo School District will no longer be enjoying Summer vacation, because for some odd reason they start a week before us. Tomorrow is also an important day for me, because I’ll be given a key to my classroom. That will give me the power to go to our room whenever I want, as long as the school is open. In other words, I pretty much have the same access you will. But I’ll be spending next week thinking about you like crazy, and getting our room ready for some serious magic. I hope you’re into that.
I went to Elementary school before the days of No Child Left Behind. That means my Elementary experience was vastly different than yours has been. You face countless standardized assessments, and the curriculum is carefully mandated by people that get paid a lot more than me. You also won’t have a swimming party at my house or get homemade brownies every time someone in our class has a birthday. The rules are different now.
When I was in 6th grade, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was the newest Harry Potter book. It was way longer than any book I’d ever read, but I still read it in two days. You won’t have the excitement of waiting for a new HP book to be released, or even a new film (besides Fantastic Beasts!) but I’ve provided you with approximately five copies of each book in the series, so I’ll be really sad if you don’t read every single one this year. I did give you a Hogwarts acceptance letter, after all. Please like Harry Potter as much as I do.
Let me be really honest with you (something you can ALWAYS count on from me): this is my first year teaching full-time, and I’m kind of terrified. All my experience is in 3rd grade, and I just don’t know what to expect from you. I can guarantee I will never give you less than my best, because you absolutely deserve it. But I can also guarantee that I will not be perfect. You can count on me to make lots and lots of mistakes, but they will never be on purpose. Please be patient with me as we learn together. I promise to be patient with you.
My big goals for you this year are to help you learn to love to read, to be confident, and to plan for college. You are special, my friends. If you leave my class feeling anything other than special, then we need to talk. You can always talk to me.
We’re going to have our best year so far. I won’t spend it all preparing you for Middle School, because you deserve one last year of Elementary School. Can’t wait to see you soon!
Love, Miss Blair
July Book: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
It’s time for me to review #CursedChild. I read it as soon as I could get my hands on it, and although it was different from the seven books in the Harry Potter series, I loved it. It felt magical and nostalgic and familiar, albeit different and different and different.
It’s different.
People seem to collectively hate this play (it’s a play! Not a novel!) because it’s not the same as the seven HP books. If you’re expecting Harry Potter 8, you’ll be disappointed. But this isn’t Harry Potter 8; it’s a play about Harry and his family 19 years after the 7th book.
I’ll admit there were some weirdish things, like the trolley cart witch and Voldemort having a kid. But a) whatever and b) two other guys helped JK Rowling, so it’s not like this is canon…
Here are a few thoughts of mine:
1. If this doesn’t confirm that Ron and Hermione are soulmates, I don’t know what else could.
2. Voldemort doesn’t have a kid.
3. Aww Albus and Scorpius. Aww Scorpius and Rose. <3 4. Awwwww Malfoy!! :'( 5. Not a huge fan of Hermione being minister. Not that she wouldn't be FANTASTIC. I just distinctly recall her saying, "No, I’m not [going to work at the Ministry of Magic], I’m hoping to do some good in the world!" 6. So Harry made some parenting mistakes. Literally everyone does. 7. Trolley witch???? 8. Portrait Dumbledore?? 9. This is Back to the Future meets Harry Potter 10. Get me to London RN. So yeah. I'm happy. I'm not really taking this as canon, but it filled me with joy all the same.
I Want to be McGonagall When I Grow Up
In honor of Harry’s today, I wore my new Gryffindor skirt. In honor of Neville’s birthday yesterday, we watched the first six HP films and ate delicious HP food. In honor of growing up with these amazing stories, I am passing on the magic to my students by striving every day to be as much like Minerva Mcgonagall as muggley possible.
Let me explain why she is my hero.
1. She’s patient.
2. She’s super invested in the success of her house/ students.
3. She has high expectations.
4. She’s straight up and honest all the time.
5. She has a huge heart, and it’s in the right place.
6. She cares about the students individually.
7. She’s an expert classroom manager.
8. She takes pride in her students.
9. She’s tastefully sarcastic.
10. She’s pretty much the definition of BA.
I am so grateful for a role model like Minerva McGonagall to inspire me. I will do my best to follow her example every day!
Careers I will NEVER pursue
1. Politician
2. Administrator
3. Referee
4. High School math teacher
5. Professional dancer
6. Truck driver
7. Actress
8. EMT
9. Professional athlete
10. Prostitute
I was just trying to think of all the most miserable things I could possibly do, in no particular order. No offense to people in those careers; they just aren’t for me.
Getting Super Real and Honest
Hi friends. Today’s post is going to be slightly different from my norm. I’ve been thinking a lot about perfection, and I wanted to take this time to share my thoughts. I’d really love to hear what you think.
So I have this kind of weird trait that I love to set goals. For example, the other day I announced that I set a goal to watch every classic Disney in Spanish. Why didn’t I just express my desire to do that? I don’t know. I’ve had a weird thing with goals since my mission. #chapter8
Anyway, I’ve been super goal-oriented ever since the mission, and one of my goals was to go to the temple every week. I did that every single week without fail… until two weeks ago when the Provo temple was closed and I had Girls Camp. I didn’t make it to the temple, and I felt awful! I considered my worthiness to take the sacrament, and I just felt like a terrible person.
And then I realized that weekly temple attendance isn’t actually a commandment.
My primary class has a goal to read the Book of Mormon every day, and they’re doing awesome. But one boy has missed just a few times, and it really stresses him out. Today I shared my story of missing a week of the temple, and then I shared this scripture that has recently brought me a lot of comfort:
But now I tell it unto you, and ye are blessed, not because of your iniquity, neither your hearts of unbelief; for verily some of you are guilty before me, but I will be merciful unto your weakness. Therefore, be ye strong from henceforth; fear not, for the kingdom is yours. (D&C 38:14-15)
To me, those verses are saying I know you’ve made mistakes, but don’t be afraid. Just keep doing your best.
I talked to my class about how messing up doesn’t make Heavenly Father mad. The only thing that makes Him mad is when we’re ungrateful. He expects us to mess up, and that’s why He gave us His son Jesus Christ. Like we learned in last Conference, in the Gospel, we get credit for trying!
What a relief, right? I sure do mess up every day. Sometimes I get really overwhelmed with all my weaknesses, like being bossy or competitive or overly goal-oriented. But as long as we’re trying our best, we’re on track. I know the Lord has our backs. That’s what the Atonement is for!
Life Update
Here are 3 photos to depict the last 3 weeks of my life:
Girls Camp was a total joy. This is why is attend the family ward! #familywardsarebae We had a Jungle Book theme, and ate incredible food, and did archery and canoeing.
Super fun cabin trip. This is after we swam in Firehole and went to visit the hot pots that flow into the water (making it almost like fire. Not.) If you can’t tell, we were literally freezing to death.
I don’t recommend this show. It’s pretty lame. But it’s on Netflix, and for some reason I just started binge-watching and I can’t stop. I watched approximately 63 episodes in three days. (They’re only 20 minutes long!)