Changing Blogs

Hi Friends... I have decided to create a new blog for my trip to Bolivia and leading up to Bolivia!

Here is the new addresshttp://rachel-buenosdiasbolivia.blogspot.com/.

I will be updating this one from here on out!

My next Adventure...... Bolivia??

As some of you may know I am strongly considering moving to Bolivia in August to teach for a year.

Yes I know, this is crazy and has come up quickly but I think this is what God is calling me to do.

My roommate Sarah and I found out about this opportunity about three weeks ago, and from the very first email sent to the school, everything has happened so quickly. The schools seems very interested in having us come down and teach and SIM( the missions organization) seems very willing to work with us and find a way for us to get down to Bolivia in time.

If we were to go, we would have to be down there around the beginning of August and the school year goes until around the beginning of May.

As I think about whether to go or not, a lot of things come to mind. I think about what a great opportunity this would be. I would learn so much about teaching, about myself, about God and about a foreign country. I would have so many stories to bring back and so many things to share. I know that I would be changed by this experience and I would hopefully make a change in the lives of my students down there.

I also know that things will be hard if I go. I will be away from my friends and family for a long amount of time and it will take effort to stay in contact with them. I will be in a foreign country and will have to adjust to a new culture and meet new people. I will have to re-learn Spanish. I will be homesick. I will need to fund raise.

While there are this list of hard things, these do not seem to hold a candle to all the good things that can come out of this. As my dad said " Who wants to live a comfortable life, Rachel". I know this can be hard and at times uncomfortable, but God is in it all. If he is calling me to go, he will provide the money I need and the comfort I need to be able to make it through. It may be hard, but when I think about the great experiences I could have and the fun times that could be ahead, I get excited!

In the future when I look back at my life and see what I have done, I want to be able to say that I was involved in Ministry and Teaching and going to Bolivia has both of these!

A New Semester

Hello Everyone,

The second( and last) semester of my Masters Program started 1.5 weeks ago and the load is starting to pick up.

I have been placed in a first grade classroom and I will be taking three grad school classes. My class is very sweet and are a lot of fun to be around. They each have their own great personality and seem to really enjoy being at school. My mentor teacher is really funny and we have had fun the past week and a half. I am excited to get to know my students better and to start to take on more responsibilities.

One thing I really like about first graders is how funny they are. They say the sweetest things. I have gotten so many hugs( I am all ready sick :)), a lot of drawings, and a couple " I like you".

My classes have also gotten off to a good start as well.

Christmas Break: I was at home for 4 weeks which was really nice. It was nice to be able to relax, read and sleep in late. I enjoyed spending time with my family, going to my sisters basketball games, and hanging out with friends. I was able to read 4 books over break which was a nice change. My dad and I were also able to work on a puzzle which was a lot of fun. I use to love doing puzzles when I was young, so it was fun to do it again. My friend Sarah also came up to visit for a few days which was really nice. Se brought up her Wii which was a lot of fun! All in all winter break was relaxing!

I will be sure to update you as things continue to progress! - Rachel

Done with Semester One!!

Hi Everyone,
I am happy to report that as of 9am this morning, I have completed my first semester of CTEP! It is very weird to not have any work to do and for everything to be finished, but I will take it!

These past few weeks have been busy and full of lots and lots of work. I have had several papers, lesson plans to finish up, my sustained teach week, and a final to complete.

My Sustained Teach Week went pretty well. It was definitley fun and challenging to have and implement all the lessons for a full three days. Using the curriculum as a guide, I had to create and write up lesson plans for the major content area's and I created my own Social Studies Mini Unit. For this mini unit, I had to create lessons that taugh my students about Ellis Island Immigration. We started off by reading a book about a little girl coming from Ireland to Ellis Island and asking students what they know about Ellis Island already. The next day, students had a chance to do some research about Ellis Island and on the third day students wrote diary entries as if they were immigrants who had come over from Ellis Island. The students diaries were great!!

Yesterday, I went into my classroom to say goodbye and the Students had planned a surprise going away party for me! It was so sweet. They also gave me a little canvas bag that they had signed for me. It is definitely a great memory to have.

This semester if my classroom, has been great! I love my classroom and my mentor teacher and am really sad to leave them!

I have met my new classroom and they are so cute. I will be in a 1st grade classroom in Orange.

Well I am home for winter break now! I am excited to relax and read!!

I hope you all have a great Holiday Season!!

- Rachel

Much needed update

Hello Everyone,
Sorry it has taken me so long to post. Life has been pretty hectic.

I am throughly enjoying my 4th grade placement. I am in the class for the full day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My mentor teacher is really great and the kids are really cute. I have been leading morning meeting, leading a reading group and helping kids throughout the day while the teacher is teaching certain lessons. My mentor teacher has been really great about including me in the class and encouraging me to make the class my own. I have been learning a lot from my mentor teacher and I am excited to put some of the things I have learned into practice during my lead teach week at the end of November.
Classes are also going pretty well, but the work load is starting to pick up. We have several projects and papers that are due with in the next few weeks along with the normal work load. I am learning some interesting things in my classes and they are not hard, but they are just a lot of work.
My weeks are pretty busy. I am in the school full day Monday with a class a night, the same thing on Tuesday, just a full day in the school on Wed, one class on Thursday and two on Friday. I am also leading Bible Study on Wed Night. Bible Study is going really well. It has been nice to meet some new girls and to get to know them better.

In my "free" time, I have been hanging out with my roommates. I am living with three good friends, which has been a lot of fun. It is fun to joke around with them and have fun. It helps to take away some of the stress that has built up throughout the week.

So, overall life is going well!! I just have to make it to mid December where I can get a month break, before the craziness doubles during spring semester!!

- Rachel

3,2,1.. Grad School has officially begun

Hi Everyone,
Yes, I have started Grad School and so far it has gone pretty well. We had two days of Orientaion last week which were good but pretty overwhelming. We got a lot of information, learned about liscensure, did some group building activities, talked about classroom management, and talked to former students. I think we were all doing ok until we talked to the former studtents. Once we heard about how much work it was and how busy we would be, we all got a little nervous.

There is a total of 5 of us that will be going to the same school this fall. We will all be carpooling together and it will be fun to get to know them better as time goes on.

This week marked our first time in our classrooms. Monday and Tuesday were spent helping our Mentor teachers set up the classrooms and get oriented in the school. I really like the teacher I will be working with. I got to know more about her and about the school as we hung up stuff in the classroom, oragnized books into reading groups, organized where all the students were going to sit and did a lot of labeling. It was fun to see the behind the scenes work and to see how the classroom comes together.

We are slated to have 17 students in our classroom and we may have some more if students move in at the beginning of the year. My first day in the classroom with the students will be next Monday. I am excited to meet the students and to get started!

Aside from school I have been preparing for the Biblestudy I am going to be leading at my church this fall. MercyHouse Midweek( what our biblestudies are called) will start Sept. 23rd. I am excited to meet the women that will be in my study. We will be going through a book called
"Capture My Heart Lord" by Laura Wilcox. This study is a 10 week "journey towards a heart captivated my God". I think that this will be a great study.

I also found out on Sunday that I will be a Sunday School teacher at Mercy House. I think this will be a lot of fun and a good experience.

So as you can see this will be a busy year, but I am looking forward to it!

Wedding and NYC

Hi All,

Just thought I would write a little update. It has been a few weeks and a couple exciting things have happened.

#1: On July 25th one of my former roommates, Sarah, got married. We were able to spread out the celebration over a few days, which was fun. On Thursday her Maid of Honor flew in, and a group of us went out for a Bachelorette dinner. After dinner we went on a little Scavenger Hunt that we had prepared for Sarah. We hid "wedding" things at different memorable spots around campus and created different clues to help her find these items. Friday morning/ afternoon brought about a lot of setting up and organizing the church for the wedding and reception and then friday night was the rehearsal dinner. Saturday was the Big day and we were able to spend time in the morning getting ready with Sarah which fun. The ceremony was very nice and the reception was fun. After the send off, a group of us cleaned up and then went out to dinner in town.

Not only was this weekend a fun weekend to celebrate with Sarah but it was fun to reconnect with friends to came to the area for the wedding!

Here is a picture of a group of us and Sarah and Jordan and Sarah's parents from the wedding

#2: Last weekend two of my friends, Katy and Lauren, and I traveled to NYC! This was my first time in the Big Apple and it was a lot of fun. We spent a full day there on Saturday and half a day in the city on Sunday. We saw almost everything one would want to see in NYC. On Saturday we took our train into Grand Central Station and then made our way to 5th Avenue and saw the Empire State Building. We then made our to Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, FAO Schwarz, Central Park, The Met and the Guggenheim. Saturday was spent visiting Battery Park, Ground Zero, and visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Overall it was a great trip. It was definitely a whirlwind, and we saw a lot and came home exhausted. I would say my favorite part of it was seeing the Statue of Liberty. She was a pretty amazing site!

Here are a few pictures of us. The first one is us in Times Square and the second one is us in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Besides those two exciting events, I found out that I will start student teaching on August 27th and that Orientation is August 20th and 21st. Also as of today I have one more week of work and then I am done. I am pretty excited about this!!

I will be sure to write an update as soon as my student teaching starts!

Hope you are all doing well!