I am so grateful that God gave me social skills!

So for those of you who know me, I am an ESL minor. And for those of you who don't know me all that well...I am an ESL minor. This means that in addition to teaching history, supposedly I will also be qualified to help English Language Learners (ELL's) to learn English. Not a difficult concept, right? Anyway, in one of my ESL classes, we have to visit an ELL's family and talk to them about their education, their beliefs of education, how they view education, do they volunteer in schools, etc, etc...So we drive down to Springville, my partner and I, and we meet up with my former teacher here at BYU, who teaches ESL in Springville , and we knock on this door of one of her students that she is concerned about. BTW, I felt like I had been transported one year ago back to the mission. The mom was really taken off guard by our visit and asked, "is my son in trouble?" We told her no, but she was kind of on edge that these random people were standing on her door step. Yeah, well, I must give myself a pat on the back because what could have been a very awkward meeting turned out to be really positive! Hooray! Not only did we find out the things we needed to for class, but we also did some BRTing (Building a relationship of trust) as well as getting the correct phone number. Background: We had to do a little bit of searching for the correct phone number. Definitely a mission deja vu incident. (I don't think I spelled that right). So we were able to ask her a bit about her background as well as find out some of the concerns she has for her son. We wouldn't have been able to find out that information if we hadn't been able to put her at ease. I find that a friendly nod, consistent eye contact, and smiles really do work! Don't believe me?? Try it!

Moral of the story: it pays to be social. Here's my theory, if you can talk to anyone, you can really become friends with anyone. If you can be friends with anyone, then you get what you want from anyone. If you can get what you want from anyone, you can manipulate anyone...oh wait...forget that last part. But seriously, it pays to have social skills. The best thing about it, you can develop them! See How to Win Friends and Influence People.

One more thing...thank goodness for serving a mission! If I hadn't had that experience, I'm not sure how I would've handled the potential awkwardness. In honor of my former mission companion, Sister Powell, "chalk one up for the mission."

And in honor of missions, here's a pic of me on the mish. I pride myself on talking to basically anyone, like awesome Sik men. Ok I'm done. Seriously.

According to an 80 year old lady I am either a laurel or a returned missionary

Last night I went to the Mormon Tabernacle choir concert at Temple Square with Shauna Seely, Katie Barrus, and Marcee Minster, my old MTC buddies and mission companions. So being the silly girls we are, it was fun to reunite, gossip about mission peeps (did I say gossip, oh I meant we talked about them), analyze our love lives, catch up with our employment/graduation plans, and you know, reminisce about old times. Being around those girls made me feel like I was in young womens as I reverted back to some of my old spastic ways. We had about a half hour till the concert started and an old lady behind us asked Marcee whether we were laurels or returned missionaries. I guess she was talking to her friend for about fifteen minutes and they couldn't figure out if we were 16 or 24...that just goes to show how mature or immature we acted! Ha! So they finally asked one of us, and we told them that we were all in the MTC together. Luckily, they believed us.

I must add that the MoTab concert was amazing. The name of the concert was "American Songbook." They sang songs like "Some Enchanted Evening," "The Impossible Dream," "Come, Come Ye Saints," "America The Beautiful," etc...it was a random concoction of music but so powerful. Although all the songs were beautiful, I felt the spirit the strongest during "Come Come Ye Saints." How many times have I listened to this song, seriously? But, it always puts things into perspective as I realize that I am not traveling across the plains right now, bearing children and stranded in blizzards. Ultimately all is well and all will be well as long as I continue to put my trust in the Lord and do His will. I am really good at these pep talks.

Bottom Line: The concert was a blast and it was spiritually uplifting. So what if my age was questioned? Bring on the immaturity! I only have so many years left that I can get away with it.

My frustration with the education program

So as happy as I am to be a future teacher, I can't help but get really annoyed with my teachers at BYU who supposedly teach us how to teach. With a few exceptions, my teachers are not the best. They are kind souls who have deep and abiding testimonies of the Gospel, which I appreciate. However, having so much love for students or for education itself does not guarantee that you are an effective teacher. As much as I love a million personal stories, an hour straight of lecture, or a teacher who shows no passion or knowledge of the subject, I just can't help but analyze people's teaching styles all the time.

This skill can be a strength, but it's also a weakness. Before I know it, I analyze teachers at church and how they present the material. Needless to say, I think I just need to pray to enjoy the lesson and not be so quick to judge. But seriously though, going back to my education teachers, I can't stay sitting for 2.5 hours! I know I've been in school for 20 years, but seriously, I do have some tendencies for ADHD or maybe I'm developing it! Bottom line: If you become a teacher, like as your profession, and you're teaching at BYU, please be good. Please.

So I created this blog...

In my IP&T class here at BYU we have an assignment to create a blog. I guess it's about time that I join the "blogging bandwagon"...we'll see how long this lasts. Who knows, I may like it a lot.

Oh, you all (I think I'm talking to no one right now because no one except me knows that I created a blog) probably think I'm obsessed with my singleness. I just couldn't think of something better for my blog title. I am sassy and I am single. I think is sounds kinda snazzy, (if I do say so myself) and if I want to continue my alliteration theme. So if anyone wants to know anything about me they can simply look at this blog and know two things about me (as stated above). Everything else will be revealed as I write. I must say I am quite the artichoke to peel! Enjoy!

By the way, I am using a lot of parentheses. I am on to something!