I remember at 30

30 November 2011, 3:16 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Relationships, Remembers

I remember at 30 when Brett “claimed” me at church.

I’d pretty much outgrown singles’ wards before I graduated BYU. They might be a good fit for some people, but they are not for everyone, and definitely not for me. When I moved to Arizona I decided to give them one more shot though. I said six months, my mom told me to give it a year. Fifty-two Sundays later I switched to a regular ward and I was much more comfortable there.

However, there were some interesting experiences in the singles’ ward in Arizona. Brett and I were in the same ward, and some people could tell we knew each other and were friendly, but we were NOT the couple making out on the back row during services (and yes, there was at least one couple that would do that). In fact, we never even touched when we were at church or church activities, as far as anyone knew. We might hold hands under folded arms during a prayer or he’d touch me on the back when he’d walk past, but that was it.

Our bishop even asked me towards the end of that year if things worked between Brett and I physically, implying that perhaps that was the reason he and I hadn’t gotten together yet. That’s an odd question to get from a church leader. To me that meant we were being appropriate with our displays of affection (church is not a place to make out!!). It also meant whispers and gossip was kept at a minimum.

However on my last Sunday in the ward, things changed. During the first hour meeting Brett put his arm around my shoulders. We did that all the time elsewhere. But NEVER at church before. I actually sat there wondering if he knew what he’d done, if he was aware of what he was doing, and if he’d figure it out and move his arm back. So I sat very very still. And then he did it again in Sunday School the next hour! That definitely wasn’t a mistake.

It actually felt that in a way he was “claiming” me and telling all the other guys to leave me alone and that I was his. That was a fun feeling, and I didn’t mind in the least.

I did find it interesting that he waited till I was leaving the ward to do that. He says that was deliberate. That way if things didn’t work out between us then we wouldn’t have to deal with everyone in the ward making a big deal about it.

It was later that month that he told me we were dating and I was his girl friend. And before I turned 31 we were engaged. Looks like things did work out. At least I hope this is what he’d call things “working out.” 😉  :kiss:

Turning 30 was great. My 30s are so much better than my 20s were.

5 Shared thoughts

I remember at 29

29 November 2011, 3:48 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Family, Life, Relationships, Remembers, Work

I remember at 29 wondering if quitting one thing would mean I’d always quit when things weren’t so much fun any more. I loved my job. Well, 90% of it anyway. I loved the students. I loved the teachers I taught with. I loved the administration at my school. But the district/state was really making me miserable. And I could feel it was time to move on.

Yet at the same time I worried that quitting a job when I didn’t like it any more meant I’d quit other things, like perhaps a marriage (hey! nobody ever said my fears were rational!), when they stopped being enjoyable as well.

Thinking about my dad calmed me down. We moved twice while I was growing up because my dad had changed jobs. My parents have moved a few times since I left home because of employment. He was doing what was best for him and for our family.

Quitting one thing does not make you a quitter for life (I really hate that saying I’ve decided).

Less than a month after my Masters diploma arrived in the mail I was unpacking in Arizona and starting my PhD (so much for a break between the two). My career track was taking a different fork in the road.

I’d left my job in the middle of the year. Which logically is crazy. But in hindsight, if I’d done the logical thing so many other things most likely wouldn’t have fallen in to place. I moved against the wishes of Brett. He was quite against my moving. But who was he to tell me what to do?

Considering how many things I didn’t have planned at the time, it’s amazing how well it’s all worked out.

Plus, that’s three four-corner states down as a place of residence, one more to go.

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I remember at 28

28 November 2011, 9:19 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Happy Things, Remembers, Work

I remember at 28 feeling honored beyond belief. I wrote about it briefly on the blog back when it happened, but here’s the full story from my journal. (And I’m wearing the same sweater from yesterday’s memories in today’s photo! Must be a lucky sweater.)

—–

Every month we have an assembly on the first Monday of the month at school to recognize the students of the month. Each month a different grade does a presentation of a value and a few other things are taken care of as well. because they are on Mondays, I am only there for them if I happen to be substituting for someone that day.

On Tuesday, May 1st, Scot Westover came into my room in the afternoon and asked me if I was substituting for anyone on the 7th. I said I wasn’t but asked if he needed me to. He didn’t, but asked if I could be there for the assembly. I could. The assemblies start at 9:30, so I wasn’t too worried about getting there too early. While I was driving there that morning though, the school called me to make sure I was coming. Something was definitely fishy about the whole thing.

When I got to school, I walked through the office so they would see me and know I was there. There was a man in a suit sitting there. I figured he must be there for a job interview or something. Mr. Westover told me that maybe the kindergarten needed me to help with their program. But when I went into the gym, they didn’t say anything. Something was definitely weird.

The school came in for the assembly, and the guy in the suit was sitting there too. And I thought that was really weird to ask someone who was there for an interview to come to an assembly, not to mention scheduling an interview during an assembly.

The kindergarten did their songs and Mr. Westover said they needed to do one thing before moving on to everything else. He then introduced the man in the suit as being from KSL and Zion’s Bank. And I suddenly knew why he was there, and why I was there.

Every Tuesday morning, KSL radio features a different Utah teacher that was nominated by parents or other teachers. Back in February, Mr. Me wrote them a letter nominating me. He let me have a copy of the letter so that I would know what he thought of me in case they never picked his letter. (letter below)

When they announced where the man in the suit was from, I knew that meant they had picked Mr. Me’s letter. They called me up to the front and he read a lot of the letter and gave me a plaque and a folder with some real good gift certificates in it. I felt so honored. The teachers stood to clap for me and I felt so small because so many of them are amazing teachers that I look up to and so many of them deserve to be honored too.

On May 15th they announced it and read part of the letter on the radio. It was a very surreal start to my day.

—–

Mr. Me’s Letter

I would like to nominate Lisa Giles as an outstanding teacher.

Miss Giles came to Mount Mahogany nearly five years ago. She took on the daunting task of teaching computer and keyboarding skills to all of the children in the school. Not only does she teach 800 students, she knows each child individually.

Miss Giles has made learning fun for her students. That may not seem like a difficult task for a “fun” subject like computers, but teaching things like keyboarding skills to kids whose fingers still trip over each other can be a particularly difficult task. In order to help her kids get excited about keyboarding, she wrote, produced at her own expense, directed, and starred in an educational video called “Home Row” that she shows to her keyboarding classes each year.

Miss Giles continually comes up with new projects to keep her students excited about learning. Her 6th grade students use digital cameras to take pictures and create slide shows complete with sound effects and music. This year, her 4th grade classes are going to create short stop-motion movies. She’s always looking for something new to keep her students engaged and involved in the learning process.

In addition to teaching everyone in the school, she is always volunteering to help out with other teachers’ projects. For example, every year the 5th grade puts together a big production that they call the “Traveling Show.” Miss Giles usually spends a good amount of time putting together the slide show of video clips and photos that correspond with the theme of the “Traveling Show”.

Before school, Miss Giles meets with students that are struggling with their math skills. On her days off (computer classes are only taught on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at Mount Mahogany), she’s usually substituting for another teacher. She even invests a lot of her “free time” in the education of her students.

Miss Giles is always increasing her own knowledge. She is currently finishing up a Masters Degree in Educational Technology at the University of Utah. She has plans to continue her own education and get a PhD.

Miss Giles’ impact on her students can best be summed up in the words of my son. A couple of years after Miss Giles started teaching at Mount Mahogany, he told her “I didn’t like you at first. You made us do stuff instead of play games. But I think I’ve learned a lot more than I would have with the other teacher.”

Mr. Me
Father of two of Miss Giles’ students

—–

The son he quoted in the last paragraph was in third grade when I started teaching. He’s applying for college now.

6 Shared thoughts

I remember at 27

27 November 2011, 6:58 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Family, Happy Things, Relationships, Remembers

I remember at 27 starting graduate school and meeting Brett. Both of which still affect me today (one in more enjoyable ways than the other).

As I was finishing my second year teaching both my brother and sister graduated from college. And I realized that I’d been saying that if I was still single two or three years after graduating that I’d go back and get a Masters degree. And it had been two years. So I started looking into programs and decided on the department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Utah. I started on January 10, 2006, mid-way through my fourth year teaching.

I’d said I wanted a graduate degree because of the funny hood. Dad told me I needed a better reason than that. So my better reason was because I wasn’t finished with me. I had more growing I could do. Graduate school has definitely taken me in new directions. Although the hood is fun.

At the end of that month Brett emailed me for the first time. And two months after that I wore the same sweater I wore for my first day of graduate school for the first day of our first date.

That’s been a good sweater for me, I guess. I’m still in graduate school and I’m definitely still with Brett. Although I do hope to be through with graduate school forever in another year and three weeks (nope, not counting), I’ll never be through with Brett.

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I remember at 26

26 November 2011, 7:49 pm by Giggles
Categories: Remembers, Work

I remember at 26 taking on an additional project at work that meant I had to get to work even earlier, and on my normal days off (I taught computers Tuesday through Thursday).

Towards the end of my second year teaching, my school decided that the following year they would start an early morning tutoring program for those students who were just not quite keeping up. They were going to do two classes of reading for first and second grade and then a reading class and a math class for third through sixth. I expressed my interest in doing it (in large part because it would mean more pay), and joined the group. For the next 3.5 years I taught an early morning math class four times a week. I think the most students I ever had was 10 at a time. We reevaluated if they should keep going every 8 weeks, so there were 4 sessions a year.

I loved my morning math groups. I worked really hard to make sure it was something they wanted to be doing and that it was something they wouldn’t feel stigmatized for by the other students. We played games. We used candy for place value. We ate breakfast in the teacher’s lounge at the end of each session (biscuits were a real favorite). It was a real fun thing for them and we did end up with kids asking if they couldn’t please come and do math.

I loved seeing them get excited for math. Several teachers reported that my students were asking more questions in class and participating more than they did before. I remember working with one boy on division once and the only way he could do it was by counting out the number of blocks in the problem and then dividing them into groups. And that way certainly works. So I kept giving him larger and larger numbers till he looked at me and asked if there wasn’t a way that wouldn’t involve him counting out so many blocks. He hadn’t felt a need to learn another way before then.

I am not a morning person, but I did enjoy those mornings.

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I remember at 25

25 November 2011, 9:09 am by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Remembers, Work

I remember at 25 already having made a name for myself at the school. Which translated into me dancing in the Oscar Myer hot dog costume for the fifth grade traveling show that school year. I helped with that show every year till I left and I loved it. My classroom was in the same hall as the fifth grade and they really took me in as part of their team.

During spirit week that school year they had a day where you were supposed to dress like a rock star. That day we also had an early morning faculty meeting, and I was running late. As the principal went around the room seeing who was and wasn’t there he noticed I wasn’t there and said something to the effect of, “She’s probably getting into costume.” Mere moments later I walked through the door dressed all in black, bright red streaks in my hair, and a tattoo drawn on my arm. I’m really quite glad I’d dressed up for school that day. People just expected me to fully jump in on days like that, and I always did, and I always loved it.

It was great that I’d found a niche at the school and I filled it real well. It made going to work all the more fun.

I also started this website at 25 (the blog would come two years later). So from here on out it’s going to be interesting to see if I can remember any stories I’m comfortable sharing online that I haven’t shared yet.

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I remember at 24

24 November 2011, 2:40 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Remembers, Work

I remember at 24 being thankful for my first job as a teacher. I spent a large portion of that summer making calls to principals every week trying to get a job. There just weren’t enough available for how many people needed them. And I was getting nervous. Grandpa Giles drove me to the interview and I sat in the front office wearing my suit and crossing my fingers. The person being interviewed before me came out of the principal’s office wearing jeans and a holiday sweatshirt and I thought to myself at least I’ve come more professional than that.

In the interview they asked what I would do if I had students who didn’t speak English. So I was able to tell them what I’d done in Mexico. They asked why they should hire me. And I told them because I’m good at what I do. That afternoon the principal called back two more times with additional questions. Five o’clock came and went and I figured I’d have to wait till the next day to know. And then the principal called one more time to offer me the job.

Later when I picked up my keys and was getting a tour of the school and seeing where my classroom would be I noticed a plaque outside the library. The plot of land the school was on had been the farm of one of my ancestors at one point. It seemed like it was meant to be.

I was thankful for my very first apartment that year as well. I’d outgrown both roommates and singles’ wards and so I was living on my own and attending a normal ward. I bought a queen sized bed (planning for the future) and had a lawn chair and two bookcases when I moved in. And then I was able to pick up a lot of furniture from my cousin, some that had belonged to her, her parents, and our Grandpa Nelson. And suddenly my apartment was completely furnished. That was all the furniture I had when we got married and it was amazing how the furniture for my 600-ish square foot apartment filled our entire house (Brett had furniture too, but we could fit all of his in the kitchen, and did when we cleaned the carpets before we got married).

I didn’t have a car that year. So I was very grateful that there was a bus that picked me up a block from my apartment and dropped me off a block from the school. There were a lot of schools I could’ve gotten jobs at that weren’t on the bus routes. That was a definite blessing.

The things I have to be grateful for grow every year. I don’t know that I really could count all my blessings now.

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