It's time to set some limits!

Today was talent day. We had a lovely duet of Beauty and the Beast sung by two students and a beautiful personal composition played by another. Two students brought in trumpets and played together and another duo performed the dance routine they did at Stadium of Fire. It was awesome.

We also had one boy demonstrate how he could roll his eyeballs back into his head and another do various tricks that showed how flexible he was. We also had a stunning performance on a set of "heelies," those little shoes with the wheels in the heels which can do some pretty amazing tricks. The latter three talents were all performed by 7th grade boys, by the way. I think next semester I need to be a little more specific regarding the kinds of talents performed on talent day (not that I don't appreciate amazing feats performed by the human body).

Milagres sao reias!

That's Portuguese for, "Miracles are real." That was a big theme song on my mission :-D. Tonight, it applies to something extra special.

We, Tiff's Tackling Tigers, won our game. Against all odds. And I actually got my first "tackle" (I pulled an opponent's flag off). I still have never thrown the ball nor caught it during a game, but it's all about baby steps. I didn't play the whole time either, but I definitely didn't spend half the game on the sidelines, which is an improvement from our first game. I even biffed it on the ground trying to pull someone's flag off. Even though I didn't get the flag pulled in time, the fall made me feel really serious.

I want to describe a magic trick that one of my students does daily to one of his peers. He's done it on me before, too. He has you hold out your hand. Then, he runs his index finger up each one of your fingers and asks at the end which finger tickled the most. Then, he pinches each of the three sections of that finger and asks in which section you felt the most pressure. Then, he has you secretly pick a number between one and five and show it to someone. He then proceeds to rub the section deeply as he intently stares into the finger. He then tells you what your number is. This has been going on for days now. It didn't work on me, but I'd say he probably has a 1 in 5 chance of getting it right each time! What a cutie. I love middle school.

I have never...

...been good at detecting lies.

Today, we played "I never" in my classes. Half of the seventh graders were supposed to go on a field trip today. I went to the cafeteria during lunch and found one of my 7th grade students crying. I asked why and she said "There are some of us who were supposed to be going wherever it was where we were going and we're not." I said, "Just you?" and she said, "No, all of us!" I said, "What happened?!" and she said, "They didn't get the buses!" Oops. Details, right? All the 7th graders got sent back to class instead of taking a trip to Salt Lake during periods 3-7 and I decided to play the game to boost morale before we finished watching "The Sound of Music" (and, let's be honest, I didn't have anything really solid planned for the day anyway...hehehe...).

In one of my classes, one student said, "I've never run a marathon." The students were supposed to raise their hands if they HAD done what the student said he/she hadn't. I had one of my 7th grade students raise his hand. Really? Is that even possible? Wouldn't that have to go in the Guinness book of World Records? 12 years old? I wasn't convinced. We explained it was a 26 mile run. Another girl raised her hand and I said, "Really? 26 miles?" and she put her hand down and said, "Oh I thought you said 20."

In one of my classes, I had a girl who raised her hand for every single "I never." One of the students said, "I've never played Cricket." The student of mine who raised her hand on every statement shot her hand up and I said to her, "What's cricket?" She hemmed and hawed a little bit until another student shouted out, "It's from Samoa!" She immediately said, "Yeah!" Does anyone know the history of Cricket?

In another period, I had to confiscate a cell phone. The student came up to me after class nearly in tears and asked if I'd give it back. The school rule is that the teacher takes the phone to the office and the student can't get his/her phones back until a parent comes with the student to pick it up. She told me that her parents were out of town and couldn't come to get it with her. She said she was just checking the time (even though a few texts came in while the phone was sitting in my pocket during the rest of class). She also said that usually teachers give a warning. I didn't budge but felt like a jerk all the way to and from the office. I started doubting myself...what if she was just checking the time? Had I been too hard on her? I went back to my office and decided to make a phone call. Her mother answered. I told her who it was and then asked, "Are you out of town?" She said, "No..."

Turns out her parents had a discussion with her about the phone just the day before. I don't feel so bad anymore.

Family Love

My family came for general conference and I was soooooo happy to see them! The only missing member of the fam was our brother Joe, his fiancee Shana, and Looston. Yes, my brother and Shana adopted a little puppy and his name is Looston. Pictures of the the puppy to come! For now, here are pictures my mom really wanted to take in honor of Utah's fall leaves :-).

Welcome to teaching in the 21st century...

I chose a handful of kids from one of my 7th grade chorus classes to sing a descant on one of our songs. We were preparing to sing the song and one girl from the small group raised her hand and said, "Do you want the people who are singing the desktop to go over there?"

Talk about self indulgence!

Today we did talent day early for my 8th grade choirs who have a field trip in another class tomorrow and many will be gone. I brought some music books so we could have a sing-a-long when the talents were done. We definitely rocked out to High School Musical. That was very selfish on my part, but the girls ensemble especially had a grand old time right long with me.

Another tiny indulgence...my 8th grade kids are doing a fundraiser and I wanted to open it up to you if anyone is interested. They are raising money for their choir outfits and their competition/trip to lagoon next semester. The fundraiser is through Lehi Roller Mills. They sell gourmet baking mixes that come in cute little seasonal fabric bags (which makes them great for holiday gifts). They have hot cocoa mix, cookie mixes, muffin mixes, pancake mixes, and more. They seem to be pretty popular. My mom loves them. I told my students I was going to fundraise along with them, so I better get cracking! We are selling for 2 weeks, ending on October 15th. The mixes will arrive to us in early November (in time for the holidays). The mixes/gift baskets range anywhere from $6.00-$20.00 each. Let me know if any of you are interested!

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I felt like my guts were going to spill over today because I was so happy to be a choir teacher. I honestly had such a feeling of delight that wanted to burst from my soul as I went about my daily tasks. It feels like a crime to get paid for having so much fun. My kids give me such a sense of purpose in life. I know who I am when I am in that classroom. I like who I am. I like being myself because they accept me unconditionally. I know what they expect of me and what my role is in their lives. I want them to feel happy and accepted in my classroom. When I go home at the end of the day, I wonder who I am again. Where is that confident teacher who loves and is loved? How can I love myself there and yet wish I was someone entirely different when I have to go home and be Katie instead of Miss Houston? When I see myself as a teacher, I see someone I am proud to be. I never thought that the place where I could truly be myself was in front of nearly 250 junior high school students. But it's so true! I am who I want to be from 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m in room 104.

I love it when the kids come in before school and play on the pianos.

I love it when a student who struggles with learning disabilities comes to me over and over again to re-take tests and/or make-up work. His/her desire to overcome his/her weaknesses and succeed is truly inspiring.

I love it when I have to ask a student to come sit next to me in the front because they're misbehaving and I get to listen to them and encourage them privately while they are near me.

I love it when my 7th grade students blow me out of the water by learning something extra fast.

I love it when one of my "tough guy" students actually sings and I can tell him how much we need a voice like his in our classroom.

I love it when my students encourage and lift each other on talent days by their kind written comments.

I love it when my students call me "Miss Houston."

I love it when my 8th graders get really excited about fundraising and ask questions like, "Can we fundraise more than what we're supposed to?"

I love being able to refer to the choirs as "my show choir kids" or, "my girls ensemble." I know they aren't really mine, but our individual choirs are like little families. And I guess that makes me Big Mama!

I love calling my students by name.

I love it when my students sing diligently!

I love it when my show choir buckles down and works up to their potential.

I love it when my students get really excited to share their talents on talent day and plan and prepare ahead of time.

I love it when my students correctly identify a note value or a symbol.

I love it when my students get excited over anything we may be doing in choir.

I love to love my students!