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Top Five Blue Graduation Announcement

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Top 5 moments of College
5. Receiving my State Literacy Test Certificate
4. Receiving a passing score for my first Praxis test
3. Finally getting passing grades in ALL of my math classes
2. Finally receiving a passing score for the PLT (2nd Praxis test)
1. Finishing my student teaching

Heather Anne Moss
Brigham Young University-Idaho - Class of 2011

I love teaching but I do have to say something...

I miss performing.

I haven't been in a play or a dance performance in over a year and it's killing me. I'm living vicariously through watching others perform because I have no time to do it myself right now. :( Within the last 24 hours, I have watched most of the performances of the Superbowl episode of Glee at least 3 times just to feel like I am performing with the Glee club.

This past Thursday (and this coming Thursday, actually) my school had an assembly put on by some students from one of the local colleges and watching all of them perform dances or sing has made me SO homesick for performing in shows. :(

I haven't done any shows with Timpanogos Valley Theater since 2009 because I've been focusing all of my efforts on finishing my schooling and that's resulted in me sacrificing doing something that keeps me sane and happy.

For someone who has been performing in various shows since she was about 5 years old (Sunshine Generation), I feel like the performing arts are in my blood. I am not usually happy unless I am singing or dancing somehow. Luckily, I will be singing with a stake Women's choir in a couple days for a stake women's conference around where I live, so that's better than nothing.

But seriously, I am having HUGE performing withdrawals and my heart is hurting because I haven't been able to do anything where I have truly enjoyed performing since Fall 2009 when I was in Annie Get Your Gun. I was in a local talent show during the county fair back in August, but I've way overused that song I performed with (I Enjoy Being a Girl) and it wasn't as enjoyable as I was hoping it would be.

I am just hoping that I can somehow use my performing arts experience in teaching my science unit starting next week because otherwise, this could be a LOOOONG 7 weeks for me.

A turning point for me

Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely ever yell at people. Ever. Now I know what you are thinking, but this post is not to say that today I snapped and yelled at my class. No, I've had a recent realization of when I can become firm. Because believe it or not, I CAN be firm. I know a lot of people who know me have never, ever seen me mad. There have been a select few, but overall, I am not an outwardly aggressive person when I get mad.

Starting this past Monday, I took over the 6th grade class that I have spent the past 3 weeks with. There was a substitute in the class on Monday because my cooperating teacher wasn't at the school because of personal matters, but I had a reality check that day when it was just me and the sub- I needed to crack down on discipline or I was going to die (or at least my future as a good teacher would die).

Well, over the course of the past couple days on my own, I have discovered that I CAN be firm. I CAN be strict. My students are progressively learning that yes, I can be fun and we can have enjoyable lessons, but if they continue to do something that I tell them not to do, there are consequences to those actions. And honestly, I'm kind of glad they're pushing the limits because it's proving to not only them but to me that it is possible for me to enforce the law in the classroom.

I'm just so happy with myself! I think it's true when some teachers say that becoming a teacher helps you become feared (as a law-enforcer). Hopefully this really is a turning point for people to see me as more than just a nice person. I mean, it's not a bad thing to be seen as a nice person, but when people don't take you seriously because they don't they you have it in you to be firm, it's kind of insulting.

Here's hoping for a turnaround!

A story that needs to be told...

There's a story that I've been meaning to write for a while.

I've put down many of my thoughts about it over the last couple years and I haven't actually started the draft yet. But I'm hoping this weekend, I can start the story of my experience of working in Disney World.

It's a story that needs to be told.

Wait for it.... wait for it...

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
http://pirates-of-the-caribbean-4-trailer.blogspot.com/2010/07/pirates-of-caribbean-4-sneak-preview.html


(I'm a little excited for Pirates 4, can you tell? :D)

I'm Almost There!!! I can do this!!!

Couldn't have said it better myself, Tiana!

Tis the Season to be Thankful!

Remember how I said I was going to go study? Yeah.... I'll do that in a minute or two. I just wanted to say what I was grateful for since it is the month of Thanksgiving right now and we need to be reminded of everything our wonderful Heavenly Father has blessed us with. I wrote a post a few months ago about people and things I'm grateful for, but I don't care. There's no such thing as being too grateful for what you have!

There's a lot of things for me to write, so I suppose I'll categorize them to make it easier for me.

Schools:
-Being in Joyschool as a kid and meeting some of my best friends

-Preschool with Ms. Horner

-J.R. Smith Elementary

-Midway Elementary (I had two pen pals there when I was in 3rd grade and my class got to visit that school to meet our pen pals :D)

-Wasatch Middle School

-Rocky Mountain Junior High

-Wasatch High School

-UVSC aka UVU

-BYU-Idaho

... and every other school in the entire world that allows students to have an education.

People:
-Every single one of my roommates that I've ever had in my life (at school or in Walt Disney World).

-The lessons I've learned while having those roommates.

-The good times I had with my closest roommates

-The not-so-good times I had with any of my roommates

-My immediate family. I appreciate them now more than ever because they have always been there for me.

-My Mom's side of the family

-My Dad's side of the family

-My Day's Market coworkers. They often see sides of me that many people, including my family and friends outside of work, don't see on a regular basis and I thank them for being there to appreciate the feelings I often feel when dealing with certain customers that come through my line. :)

-My supervisors at the ROC (my default college job)

-The other interviewers at the ROC

-My coworkers at any of the jobs I had before going to Day's Market

-Every single school teacher I had from Preschool all the way to 12th grade

-Mrs. Patterson for inspiring me to go into teaching

-Mrs. Isaksen for teaching me how to write cursive

-My chorus/choir teachers

-Ms. Thurnell for teaching me about the basics of theatre

-My Timpanogos Valley Theatre Family

-My UVSC and BYU-Idaho Professors

-All of the bishops I've had, both at home and at school, and the bishopric members adn their wives

-My friends that I met while working in Walt Disney World

-All the Presidents of the United States we've had from 1776 to the present day

-Johnny Depp and Sandra Bullock: my favorite actor and actress

There are SOOOO many more people I could list, but I need to move on to a different area that I'm grateful for.

I'm grateful for many places, but for the sake of keeping my whereabouts private, I'll just say I'm grateful for every place I've lived or visited.

I suppose I'll just have to write another gratitude post another day because I'm out of time at the moment.

See ya real soon!