Spring Break: WCC Tournament in Las Vegas

Oh just me, reporting from the land of people who have blogs but never...blog...ANYWAY, I just got back from Vegas with my amazing dance team for the 2014 West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament. Needless to say, the Portland Pilots did not play as well as we had hoped, but the dance team ROCKED it out on the court. My favorite action shot is from the University of Portland Instagram PR person, and I'm the last person whose face you can see on the right!

I'm so blessed to have had an amazing ride as a Portland Pilots Dancer, and I can't believe my days of dancing at basketball games has come to an end. It truly is bittersweet -  I have no regrets; I've danced my heart out at each game, cheered until I lost my voice, and got way too many bruises and cuts from hard days of practice, but I'm going to miss my dance sisters like crazy, I'll miss the laughter, the "no pain, no gain" mentality that we pushed each other to uphold, the sparkly uniforms, the amazing choreography, and the family that we create again and again each year.  Dance consumed the majority of my waking hours during my time in college, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  

"Leave it all on the court," is our coach's famous line, and that's just what we did - me, my senior teammates, and our dance family. We left it all on the court in the Las Vegas Orleans Arena. And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

xoxo (and zzz),

Five for Friday: I'm Back!

I don't understand how I still have followers after a full month goes by of no blogging, but THANK YOU to all of you who are hanging in there with me and my busy schedule! I'm liking up for Five for Friday with a few updates for all of you! Kisses!

I am SO excited to announce that I will be joining the Teach for America 2014 Corps, teaching elementary back home in Hawaii! As a Native Hawaiian, born and raised in Hawaii, it has always been my goal and dream to go back to my community and teach students who may not have the ability to afford the same luxuries and experiences that I was blessed to have when I was growing up. When I opened the email and found out on January 9th that I would be able to fulfill this dream of mine, I started crying. I am well aware of the many criticisms of Teach for America, and I have encountered a few individuals who are skeptical of my dreams and the journey that I am about to take, but I couldn't be more excited and passionate about this cause. So I'm going to be a typical 21 year old for a minute and say that my haters are truly my motivators. Here's to my future endeavors! 

I took my last pictures for the University of Portland Pilots Dance Team spread (cue crying). We received graduation announcement and cap and gown order forms in the mail yesterday, and I can't believe that senior year is just a few months shy of being done! After graduation, I really don't know when I'm going to dance next. That thought is just heartbreaking for me, but our team pictures came out absolutely perfect! I love this team, I love these ladies like my sisters, and I can't wait to finish out the rest of this basketball season! West Coast Conference (and VEGAS!!!) here we come!

This semester, I'm student teaching in a Kindergarten class, and my work sample is going to focus on addition through 5 and 10, centered around a cookie theme! I'm going to start by reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" to my kids on Monday, and then kick off addition on Tuesday! Wish me luck, my students' number sense is severely lacking, but I'm so excited! I have a rambunctious bunch of 56 students (28 in the AM, 27 in the PM) who never fail to make me laugh. 

I've had a sore throat all week, so I went to the doctors yesterday, missed student teaching, and found out that I have strep! I haven't had this since middle school and completely forgot how much it sucks. BUT, being at home has given me a chance to catch up on my dearly missed sleep (I slept for 12 hours last night, thanks to NyQuil), and I've also had time to review some NYX beauty products that I've been eyeing out in the store for some weeks now. I LOVE makeup and doing makeup reviews, and long story short, these NYX butter lip glosses are PERFECT. The lip gloss in Tiramisu is definitely my MLBB (my lips but better) color, and the product is very smooth, not sticky at all. I've been skeptical of lip gloss since the days of getting my frizzy and unmanageable hair stuck in the goopy mess on my lips, but I am extremely impressed with these babies. The color payoff is great, it's the perfect amount of color for student teaching (being conservative with makeup and whatnot), and it's not overly shiny. Love them!

Earlier this school year, a group of friends and I had a falling out, the reasons behind which I have never quite figured out. Although it still hurts and I'm not 100% over it yet, I've made other friends, and strengthened old friendships, and I think it's been a good life lesson for me on personal growth. Pinterest is a great place of inspirational quotes, and this has been my mantra for the past few months.  With a little over 3 months until graduation, I'm just going to continue being the best person I can be, spend more time with the friends who really matter to me, and spend less time worrying about what others may be saying or doing behind my back. God carried me to this point, and he will carry me through it. 

Happy Friday. folks! Enjoy the weekend!

xo,

Finals Week Freedom

Yes, you all read that right.
It is I, Pili, contacting all of you wonderful readers from the land of she-who-never-blogs.

I'M SORRY I know I said I would blog more but that was before student teaching and TFA and dance team literally took over my life. But it is officially finals week, which means the first semester of my last year of college is almost over! What?!

To kick off this week of celebration (senior education majors don't have finals), I made a delicious batch of banana muffins that I'm sure all of you would enjoy as these months get colder. A little baked treat never hurt anyone!

It makes a small loaf, or 12 muffins. Or more, if you're frugal with your muffin batter.

You need:
A bowl
A fork/masher/mixing utensil
Greased muffin/cupcake pan
1/2 stick (4-5 tablespoons) butter, softened
2 eggs
2 or 3 very ripe bananas
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup milk

In bowl one, mix the first 4 ingredients. Mash the bananas to your desire. I don't really like chunks of bananas in my muffins, so I mashed the bananas until they were basically soup. Then throw the rest of ingredients into the soupy banana-eggs-sugar-butter mixture. Then spoon the dough into your greased muffin tins, pop them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, and you're good to go! Go have a cup of hot chocolate or something.  

My oven is extremely hot, so I put mine on for 20 minutes and just checked up on them, poked them with toothpicks, you know the drill. You don't want the muffins to be too brown on top, but you don't want them to be mushy in the center either. 

Pull the muffin pan out of the oven, let those babies cool for about 5 minutes (or 3 if you're impatient like I am), and enjoy!

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe out there! Happy Holidays!

xo,

I See The Light

The one at the end of the tunnel? Definitely seeing it now.

Good news: I taught my last lesson of my work sample today, and my wonderfully insane kiddos are taking the post-assessment tomorrow!!!! OH HAPPY DAY.

Bad news: I now have to find time to sit down and put my entire work sample together: introductions, goals, learning targets, graphic organizers, unit organizer, 12 5-page lessons, pre/formative/post assessments, and learning gains.

I'm running on fumes here, and this is just the first week back to school after Fall Break.

Powers to be, please help me.

xo (and zzzzzz),

October...Already???

Adding the word "already" with many question marks and exclamation points seems to be something I'm doing a lot lately. As in..."It's Friday? Already?!?!?!" or more commonly, "Wait, seriously...it's Monday...already?!?!?!" *cue tears*

BUT! I'm back with my October Currently, courtesy of Fabulous Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade to fill you faithful followers in on my life.

Also, I've really gotten into alliterations. Is it obvious? Hehe...



Currently, I'm listening to my brain cells slowly dying. Honestly. I'm so burnt out from trying to be a college student, a 21-year old, and a teacher. How. How am I supposed to do everything? No sleep and lots of coffee.

I'm loving watching all of the leaves on the trees around campus turn from bright green to yellow, to orange, to red, to purple. Also, looooving the sweater weather (and boots weather!!!) that I get to enjoy on the weekends when I'm not dressing up in teacher clothes. The dean of the School of Education at UP always says, "Dress 10 times better than your cooperating teacher; they can wear jeans and boots because they have a job. You, sadly, do not...yet." Cheers to slacks, heeled flats (because these third graders are TALL), and cardigans.

I'm thinking that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Fall Break for the university starts on Friday, and tomorrow is the last day of instruction for this week. Inservice is on Thursday, and Friday is a no-pay non-work day, so I get to take an extra day for my break! YIPPEE!!! I'll be on the 7 am flight home to Hawaii for an entire week. *cue world being lifted from my shoulders* Life is good.

I'm wanting my darned work sample to be finished already, but it's getting there! So for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the work sample is a minimum 10-lesson unit covering a subject of our choice, that we have to teach our students. For this first placement, I've created a unit for the 3rd grade personal narrative writing unit, and we're ALMOST READY TO START OUR FIRST DRAFT!!!!! Excuse my excessive exclamation points, but this has been a greuling process. This is the first formal/structured writing for these kiddos, many of whom are ELL students and waaaay below grade level as far as literacy and language arts goes. Merp. We're doing the best that we can, and we've come a long way! I'm so proud of my kids, and I can't wait to finish this unit with them.

I'm needing (desperately) for my senior year of college to slow down. I don't know where the time is going (actually I do, it's going into my work sample), but I feel like I don't have any time to spend with my friends or do fun things on the weekend anymore. Not really the senior year experience I imagined, but hopefully after I finish this first work sample, I'll have a little more time...before I start the process all over again with next semester's placement (Kindergarten, woop woop!)

Trick or Treat? Treat. As in, I'm trying to treat myself and my body better by working out, eating right, and (as lame as this may sound) giving myself daily affirmations that I am smart, I am strong, and I can do this. "This" as in whatever the day may throw at me. I struggle with self-esteem, self-doubt, and bouts of depression, so this is a big step for me, and I'm really working towards appreciating myself more and showing myself love. Hopefully this attitude of love and appreciation will extend into my relationships and create a more positive environment for me to thrive in!

Hope everyone is surviving this week! Happy October!

xo,

Totally Tired Tuesdays

Okay, maybe I'm not tired to THIS extent, but it's getting there.

I wake up at 5 am. I teach from 7 am to 12 pm. I go to work from 2-5 pm. I have class until 7pm. Then I have dance practice from 8-10 pm. Then I have to finish any homework lesson plans that are due the next day for class. Then shower, sleep for 3 hours, and wake up and do it all over again with a smile on my face.

This work sample is exhausting. Being a student and a teacher is exhausting. Trying to work and get money to drive to student teaching is exhausting. 

I'm just so exhausted.

On a positive note, my work sample (I'm making a unit on writing a personal narrative for my third grade class) is going along quite well, and my University Supervisor (the dude who is evaluating my ability to be a teacher and ultimately will decide whether or not I should get my teaching license when I graduate) told me after my observation today that he has never been more impressed by a student teacher's classroom management skills. *cue small inner victory dance*

I AM SO SO SO SORRY for being a ghost for the past month or so. I'm way more busy than I thought I would be. I'll try my best to get back into the hang of this thing. Really. I know I've said that before, but scout's honor this time (hey, I was a Girl Scout back in the day, it works still).

In Portland news, it is now pouring. Oh wait, I mean it's sunny. Cloudy? Windy? Pouring again? Do I wear shorts and a tank top or my sweats and North Face?  

You get the idea.  

Stay dry, stay sane, and keep smiling!

xo,

Flabbergasted

"Whether we're ready or not, the kids are coming on Monday morning!"

Famous last words, courtesy of the principal of the school that I'm student teaching at this year, as my fellow student teachers and I walked out of the school this evening on the last day of our inservice week.

I'm flabbergasted. Completely caught off guard, had the rug pulled out from under me, any other way of saying that this whole student teaching gig snuck up on me. I'm so so so nervous, but I'm really truly excited. My supervising teacher is amazing, and so are the other 3rd grade teachers, and I can't wait to learn all that I can this semester from them. 

I'm also flabbergasted that it's already Friday, and I've officially completed two weeks of my last year of college. How did the time go by so quickly...

ONE

I'm not a huge fan of cobbler. Pie? YES. Cobbler isn't really a huge dessert in Hawaii, but my housemate convinced me that it would be good. So we went to the farmer's market, bought a bunch of berries, and made the BEST double-decker berry cobbler in the world. I'm not exaggerating.

I LOVE FRUIT

The masterpiece

TWO
Welcome to Room 6! My supervising teacher and I were scrambling to set up our class today, and it is sure to be filled with super student artwork before our open house this Thursday! 

33 students, yippee!

THREE
My mom emailed me my third grade school picture with the caption "Don't forget that you were once in their tiny shoes. Be the best you that you can be." It's so easy to forget that we were their age at one point in time, and that is definitely something I am going to work on this year; patience. 

FOUR

For my work sample this semester, I'm focusing on writing. So here's my weekend homework: reading the complete writing curriculum for PPS, with added emphasis on setting up the writer's workshop and the first unit of writing: narratives! If you veteran teachers out there have ANY words of wisdom to give this complete newbie, I'm all ears...err...eyes.

FIVE

I was having an awful week. I'm really tired (prepping for dance team tryouts and the first week of school is tough), homework sucks, and I'm just getting more stressed out by the second. On top of all that jazz, KDog has been super busy, so time to talk and catch up with each other has been extremely limited. Being in a long-distance relationship sucks, but coming home to a vase of roses from the sweetest human in the world made my week take a complete turn from the seventh circle of hell straight on up to cloud nine.  

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend! I'll be indoors, teaching 60+ college girls how to dance all weekend......can someone say advil and water?

xo,