Pray for India

please keep the hostages/gunmen/families of victims in your prayers....

thank you.

Ohh the holidays! I know it's a day late, but Happy Thanksgiving. I want to start by saying that I had such an amazing time with family this year. We shared a delicious meal (of which i contributed these two pieces, sadly, these photos are not mine, courtesy of 1. velvetstrawberries.typepad.com and 2. Ditte Isager, an amazing London-based photographer), played Guitar Hero II, Balderdash and shared stories about our year and the things that have really inspired us. I am so thankful for family, friends, and the stage that I am enjoying in life right now. I am free to visit and enjoy many members of my family that I have had little time and resources to visit in the past. It is always fun meeting new people and making new friends, and I am very grateful for that. Also, I am thankful for the emotional/financial support of family and friends during this time of transition for me. Being a jobless grad student isn't easy!! :) In other news, I am mourning time with my camera so as soon as I spend some time shooting, I will post some of my findings. School is getting more interesting by the day, and I am LOVING what I am learning about child development. The job search has slowly started for me, but for the most part I am waiting to see what positions open up later on in the year. CHRISTMAS is coming! Although I am sad that it is forced upon us in late October, it is coming up quick! Visiting friends/family in the South is looking really good right about now and I have been scouting out great ideas for homemade gifts. Don't you just love those! Haha... lovin life, lovin you!

Dee

trick? maybe just the treats.... :)

HAPPY HALLOWEENNNNN!!! too bad you cant get some dark chocolate buttermilk cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing in your candy bag.... trick or treat!


If you are reading this, I love you.




* Rule 8: DON’T TRY TO CREATE AND ANALYZE AT THE
SAME TIME. THEY’RE DIFFERENT PROCESSES.

i kissed dating goodbye.

haha....funny title eh? i just found out that my new pastor, (of two weeks) who i really like, is an author.... he has written several books and i just found out that he wrote "I Kissed Dating Goodbye." funny funny...i never read it but i heard tons about it...

that pretty little cake over there was made for Opa (my uncle's dad) for his 83rd birthday! vanilla with lemon curd and raspberries! it was delicious....

school is okay....finishing my fourth theory paper of the weekend....observations start in a week though and i am really stoked about getting in a classroom.....my first school to observe in is on 12 acres of land! it is beautiful!

i miss you guys and have a great Sunday!

Rule 7: The only rule is work.
IF YOU WORK IT WILL LEAD TO SOMETHING.
IT’S THE PEOPLE WHO DO ALL OF THE WORK ALL THE TIME
WHO EVENTUALLY CATCH ON TO THINGS.

throwback from the 60s.

Every Saturday, protesters stand on opposite corners of the major intersection downtown and have a "pro war"/"no war" honking contest...it is HYSTERICAL! I heard about them and expected young liberals or middle aged conservatives and it is a throw back from the 60s! Everyone there is a senior citizen and it is the old hippies vs. the war vets. I LOVE the freedom we have in this country, but aren't we supposedly moving toward an undivided nation? I know it will never happen, and this kind of thing is a living example. It was a great to see people standing for something, no matter what, and actually voicing it publicly. Old people, I knew they were wise and all, but man are they cool....

p.s. so sad i couldn't get a pic of the old vets in their full getup...they were around the corner....

scrumptious.

My latest creation! S'mores cupcakes with mallow frosting.... pretty scrumptious...On another note, school is intense. It pretty much consumes all of my time. We are preparing our lessons for when we start teaching that have illustrations as well (prob. about 275), along with the 10 theory papers, and about 25 theory notes papers. Tons of work... It is all very worth it though. The theory behind Montessori's work is fascinating and completely brilliant.

RULE 6: NOTHING IS A MISTAKE. THERE’S NO WIN AND
NO FAIL. THERE’S ONLY MAKE.

p.s.

RULE 5: BE SELF DISCIPLINED. THIS MEANS
FINDING SOMEONE WISE OR SMART AND
CHOOSING TO FOLLOW THEM.
TO BE DISCIPLINED IS TO FOLLOW IN A GOOD WAY.
TO BE DISCIPLINED IS TO FOLLOW IN A BETTER WAY.

this is what i do.

a quick little comparison to put things into perspective.....

“If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men”
-Maria Montessori

A Comparison:

Traditional Education -Textbooks, pencil & paper, worksheets -Occasional peer tutoring or group work -Subject areas taught separately -Single-graded classrooms -Period lessons -Students sitting in desks & listening -Teacher-directed instruction -Students work at pre-determined pace -Students fit into district-wide curriculum -Emphasis on academic skills -Testing & standardized assessments -Grades, external rewards -Students change teachers each year -One teacher per classroom -Geared toward girl’s achievement -Memorization and remediation of gaps in skills -Rely on teacher for feedback and instructions

Montessori Education -Concrete, hands-on materials -Daily peer tutoring and group work -Integrated curriculum for more meaningful learning -Mixed-age classrooms, family-like grouping -Uninterrupted work cycles -Freedom (within limits) to move and converse -Child-centered, teacher-guided environment -Children work at their own pace -Open-ended curriculum fit to child’s needs -Emphasis on whole-child development -Authentic assessment based on daily observation -Self-correcting materials for intrinsic motivation -Student stays with same teacher for three years -Teacher and assistant in each class -Optimally designed for success of boys and girls -Repetition of skills for mastery -Encourages organization and self-reliance through individual work plans, goal setting and reflection

last week of summer.

With summer coming to a close, it is a really exciting time for me. Usually, I am sad to see summer go so quickly, but in this case I am really looking forward to the year ahead. I move to a new house with a new family (my cousins) and start school in less than a week. My program is going to be strenuous and challenging to say the least, but to think that I will be an AMI certified Montessori teacher by next summer is so hard to grasp! For the year ahead, I am really looking forward to building relationships with women in my program (ALL 20 people in the program are women!) and getting involved in a new church family. My brother and I have had some great times and I have loved being here. I will miss our trips to the beach, hiking, our movie nights, weekly trips to the library, quests for candy, and bowling tourneys, but I feel great knowing they are going to be less than a couple hours away. Ahhh growing up.

It wasn't until this summer that I actually had the time (and the kitchen space) to live out my baking fantasies, and I can't get enough! Since I updated last, I have made two apple pies from scratch (my neighbor even grew the apples), and my first batch of cupcakes completely from scratch. Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla with Blackberry Buttercream Icing... mmm mmm delicious! I have also decided that sometime in my future I am going to open my own bakery. The enjoyment that you can give someone with a little baked love is something that never gets old.

Goodbye summer, hellooo turtlenecks and sweater vests....

RULE 4: CONSIDER EVERYTHING AN EXPERIMENT.

my sweets.

With so much spare summer time, I have started actually pursuing other creative outlets. If you know me, you know that I LOVE cupcakes, so I actually got the tools and started sharing these little pieces of heaven with the world. My first batch (last image) were yellow cake with chocolate icing. The favorites though have been the red velvet with cream cheese icing (top two). After several requests, I started selling them to friends of the family, and am pretty excited about it. I actually just purchased this for all of my future baking ventures. I also tried to start sewing more often and after several broken needles, I am taking leave from that for a while and I'm going to leave it to this thimble queen!

RULE 3: GENERAL DUTIES OF A TEACHER. PULL EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR STUDENTS.

P.S. a real life post coming soon....

Upon thinking about where I am in this life, i am still completely unsure of who I want to be. I DO know that I want to live in the happiness of truth and love, and never want to be in a place where I lose my childlike innocence and joy. Surrounding myself with kids is the easiest way to keep myself in such a state and teaching them is going to be the biggest gift to my heart.

As for where I am right now, in this big house, I feel slightly alone in the sense that I am not completely vulnerable with any of the people I live with, and it feels like this house is so empty at times. At times, we resort to silence and spend way too many hours in front of the square mind-deteriorating machine called a television. I miss the open conversation and relatability of friends and always having people around that share the same life stage as me.

RULE 2: GENERAL DUTIES OF A STUDENT:
PULL EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR TEACHER.
PULL EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS.