1/11/11

Happy 1/11/11! Lots and lots of 1s! So, I’ll start off with someone who is 1:

Kodie! Isn't he the cutest thing? We love having Kodie around :) This picture was taken during our Pavlova baking experience…we enjoyed watching him clean off the beater almost as much as we enjoyed the pavlova. Something else I love about Kodie: he comes into our room ever night so we can give him a goodnight kiss…precious.

Today was also a monumental day because we made it to school on the bus! The bus driver wouldn’t give us the tertiary (student) discount even though we had our BYU IDs, but we were mostly just grateful she didn’t drive right past us today. After school, Dr. Jacobs—who we are now going to start calling JJ—took us to get a refund for our bus passes. There were many phone calls back and forth, but once they found enough money from another area of the mall, we were all refunded the full $71.20. What a relief.

I don’t have any super exciting stories today, but I do feel like I had quite an insightful class with JJ today. He told us how this is his last full semester as a BYU professor, and, for better or worse, he is using this opportunity to teach us everything he thinks is most important—I think it is definitely for the better, and I’m excited to learn from all his wisdom. Here are a few things to think about:

· We shouldn’t focus on making kids smart; we should focus on making them curious.

· JJ wanted us to come up with one succinct sentence that explains why we teach. He said, “I teach because I want to be the kind of learner I want my students to become.”

· A good leader must always provide VISION—where we are now, where we need to go, how we’re going to get there.

· God’s assessment for us in this life: change of heart

· “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” –M. Scott Peck

· “The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.” –George Orwell

· “If it’s not in your heart, it’s not in your horn.” –Charlie Parker, jazz saxophone player

· “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” –Galileo Galilei

Just some things to think about. I feel so blessed to be here and to be learning from such wise teachers. Life is good :) (especially since Anna and I just ended our night with a dance party to “Stuttering”…love it!)

Oh and I’d like to end with a little shout out to LISA, LAURA, and BROCK for our fun little Skype dates :) Anna and I have loved “seeing” our a-mazing friends.