The Chronicles Of Nay

I know I am a week behind… but here is a look back on 2019

As I look back on this past year there for sure some ups and downs. There were horrible times, there were great times, and there all the times in the middle! This year brought traveling, losses, honors, friendships and so much more!

In March I was able to visit Costa Rica with 2 woman that have done more for me than they will ever know. I was invited to present with Molly and Cecilia at an international researcher’s conference. It was such an amazing experience. The work that I am doing with those ladies is awesome! They have helped me look at vocabulary, words and teaching in such different lights. I feel like I have grown so much as a teacher while I have been working with them. They are always so complimentary and encouraging and grateful that I allow them to come in to my classroom, I am just grateful to be able to work with them! I always feel like I am just pumping them for all their knowledge every time I talk to them! But as long as they are willing to share… I’ll continue to take that knowledge! haha

April was one of the rough times I was talking about. We lost an amazing woman, colleague, science teacher, and friend. Yannazzo was such an amazing woman. She and I had been working together for a while and we bumped heads constantly. We were both passionate, very passionate, about the things we believed! She had so much knowledge about science. We may have bumped heads often but she was also so encouraging. Anytime I had good news to share or something exciting going on in my life she was right there with a smile and words of encouragement! I miss her so much! She had such a passion for her students, I know that she made a difference in many students lives and I strive to be that kind of teacher!

I am a stronger believer in God placing people in your life right when you need them. Well he did that to me in April. My friendship with Liz is one of those friendships. She is an amazingly strong woman with prospective and the ability to tell you how it is. I am generally the blunt friend so I have never had a friend that was that for me. Well that is Liz! She doesn’t sugar coat things and If I ask I know that she is going to be honest with me. Not only can I always count on her to tell it to me straight… I can also count on her to bring a different perspective. Sometimes I get so tunnel versioned that I only see it my way! We all need those people that look at us and say “really… do you hear yourself!?”

During the spring semester I was part a program that was piloting some lessons from NASA. They were lessons regarding the anniversary of the Apollo missions. During the summer I had the privilege of teaching these lessons with some friends to some summer program students at TCU. The three of us all teach at different campuses, so it was nice to work with them!  It is always nice to work with different people.

When school started in August I was ready. I was ready for new challenges, I was ready to work with new people and I was ready to make this year great! This year my science team has been so strong! We have gotten so close. We all play off of each other so well!

During the summer I applied for the teaching chair. It is basically like a district wide teacher of the year. I was up against all the people that teach secondary science. One September morning I found out that I was a finalist, they were going to come and record a mini lesson and I would have an interview with a panel. I was so excited! The interview and the mini lesson happened all so fast and it was so intense. Then I had to wait 3 long weeks until I found out that I had been selected. It is such a humbling experience. Some people that I have looked up to in my career were telling me that they were proud of me. It is a pretty awesome feeling!

While I was waiting to hear I took a mini trip to Arizona for the weekend to help my brother celebrate this 30^th birthday! It was so much fun! He was not expecting it! Keeley is too good to him! She took him on a cruise then she orchestrated this elaborate surprise party that included my grandma, me and my parents coming in to town! It was a great time.

In November I went to Salt Lake City to present some more of the vocabulary stuff I am doing in my classroom. I had never been to Salt Lake City, that I remember. It was so pretty. Got to visit temple square. Everything was just so pretty, the weather was great. Overall it was a pretty nice trip!

After I looked back on the year and wrote it all down it was a pretty awesome year! The good definitely outweighed the bad! Looking forward to 2020 I have a few goals to help this year be awesome too! One of the goals I have is to be more organized with my time. Which includes buying a gift ahead of time and wrapping it… in wrapping paper! Another thing that I am doing is I am going to take a picture a day for the whole year. I try every year… and I have never made it past like February! Haha You can follow my picture journey here. I think https://365project.org/thegute8/365/2020-01 let me know if it doesn’t work I’ll try something else! What are some goals you have for 2020? I want to know even if its Something fun, something funny, something serious… anything! Hope everyone has a great week!