It's funny how life works out sometimes. Most people only ever get to experience 3rd grade once in their lifetime. But me? I'm going back for my 3rd time! Each time has been for very different reasons. The first one isn't so special, it was as a student, obviously. However, the next 2 events make for a quite interesting story.
To get the full effect of this story, I need to start in the beginning, with my first experience in 3rd grade. That was way back in 1991, and my teacher is Mrs. Handwerk. Wow...that seems like forever ago!
Fast forward to 2005, when I was a senior year at Malone, studying early childhood education. It's a requirement in the last semester to have a student teaching assignment. Because I commuted to Malone, they were nice enough to place me at a school close to home. All of my other field experiences were in Canton schools, so it was nice to be closer to home. I was shocked to find out that I was actually going back to my old elementary school. I was even more shocked to find out that I was going to be student teaching in the 3rd grade...yes...with Mrs. Handwerk! 14 years later, and I end up in the same classroom! An added coincidence occurred when I found out that the other 3rd grade teacher was Mrs. Clark. Mrs. Clark was my 2nd grade teacher! I worked very closely with both of them because their classes switched for certain subjects. I can't tell you how comforting it was to be in a familiar school, with familiar teachers. I really enjoyed my time student teaching, and I had some really great kids. As a side note: I just realized that my 3rd graders from my student teaching class are graduating this year! Oh my goodness!
I graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor's of Science in Early Childhood Education. While looking for a teaching job, I did some subbing. I also continued to work at Lehman's, where I'd been for 4 years as a CSR. Something had been telling me, for quite some time, that I was never going to actually ever be teaching in a school. It was just very hard to picture myself with my own classroom, even though I always really enjoyed my experiences working in classrooms. Other than working on the farm growing up, Lehman's is the only place I had ever worked (and that's still true!) I loved it at Lehman's (and still do), and it was hard to see myself leaving.
A year later, God opened up an amazing opportunity for me. Out of nowhere, a new position was created--"Trainer". It was perfect! Getting that promotion was the best thing that could have happened to me! I got to stay at the place I loved, and (sort of) do the job I went to school for. Perfect timing, and the perfect job...I have no doubt that this was God's master plan for me at work.
You might think that this is where the story ends...but, you'd be wrong. It's now 2014, and it's time again, to go back to 3rd grade...
I never knew this, but Glenda Lehman Ervin, (VP of Marketing and daughter of founder, Jay Lehman), had for years been a Junior Achievement volunteer. She decided that this year, she wanted to pass this on to someone else at Lehman's. Apparently, I was the first person she thought of, so she asked if I was interested. Strangely enough, I had actually volunteered for JA, in 2006 (I think), at Mt. Eaton Elementary School. So, this was actually something I had a little experience with, so I didn't hesitate to accept.
I got kind of excited when Glenda asked me to do it. And that was before I found out WHERE exactly Glenda volunteered. Yep, you guessed it...Dalton Elementary. I was going back "home", yet again. And to my surprise, guess which teachers are still teaching 3rd grade. Mrs. Handwerk and Mrs. Clark! Seriously...what are the odds?!?!
So, today, I went back to 3rd grade for the 3rd time. It's been 9 years since the last time I was there as a student teacher, and 23 years since my first time, as a student. Wow. I think it's truly amazing how all of these seemingly unconnected things have been miraculously interwoven! Don't you think?!
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May 9, 2014
May 2, 2014
Music Ironicness: William Tell - Jeannie
This morning, my friend Jessica and I were talking about another co-worker, named Jeannie. Not long after, the song "Jeannie" by William Tell played randomly on my Google Player. What are the odds?! I have over 8500 songs, and it plays THAT song?
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April 22, 2014
Music/TV Ironicness: Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Monday night on Dancing With The Stars, Danica and Val danced to Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". This morning, I was listening to Pandora. I was listening to my Boy Band station, and what song comes on? Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"! Why? That is so crazy! That's such an old song, and I don't see a lot of similarities between that song and the other boy band songs I've favorited on that station. I'm not sure why Pandora picked that song. So crazy!
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April 21, 2014
Ironicness
A couple days ago, I had another weird case of irony. One of my Facebook friends posted needing help with a word game. You have 4 pictures, blank spaces for letters and letter options. You have to figure out what the word is that describes all 4 pictures using the letters. I'm usually pretty good at this game, and often can help people within seconds or a few minutes. My Facebook friend's answer was "French". The pictures were of French-tipped fingernails, a long loaf of bread, an arch (that looked like it would be somewhere in Europe), and someone painting.
After helping out with this answer, it put me in the mood to play a few rounds on my phone. I had a different version of the game, but it's the exact same concept. My VERY FIRST puzzle, the answer was France! I actually tried French first because all those letters were there, and the words have the same number of letters. When French wasn't right, I tried France, and that was right! What are the odds? That is just crazy!
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After helping out with this answer, it put me in the mood to play a few rounds on my phone. I had a different version of the game, but it's the exact same concept. My VERY FIRST puzzle, the answer was France! I actually tried French first because all those letters were there, and the words have the same number of letters. When French wasn't right, I tried France, and that was right! What are the odds? That is just crazy!
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Seinfeld Reference #128
April 28, 2014: Seinfeld #128
In training this morning, Suzie found out the hard way that something you make as a description will show up in places you might not want them to. Needless to say, what she used as her test description was pretty funny, and we all got a big laugh out of it. For the afternoon class, we used this funny situation as a lesson on what not to do. To reference Seinfeld, I said we wouldn't "name names", but before I could say it, Chris said it was Suzie. So I said, "he name name"...I don't think anyone got it. This was a reference to when Elaine got Ned's name blacklisted at Hop-Sing's, and he said "she name name".
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In training this morning, Suzie found out the hard way that something you make as a description will show up in places you might not want them to. Needless to say, what she used as her test description was pretty funny, and we all got a big laugh out of it. For the afternoon class, we used this funny situation as a lesson on what not to do. To reference Seinfeld, I said we wouldn't "name names", but before I could say it, Chris said it was Suzie. So I said, "he name name"...I don't think anyone got it. This was a reference to when Elaine got Ned's name blacklisted at Hop-Sing's, and he said "she name name".
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April 17, 2014
TV Ironicness
What are the odds?
Yesterday, I was reading a blog written by one of my friends, and it's called "Work in Progress". As I was reading the blog, I was also watching American Idol. Sam Woolf had just performed, and Harry Connick, Jr. was giving his critique, and he said that Sam was still a "work in progress". Whoa! So weird!
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Yesterday, I was reading a blog written by one of my friends, and it's called "Work in Progress". As I was reading the blog, I was also watching American Idol. Sam Woolf had just performed, and Harry Connick, Jr. was giving his critique, and he said that Sam was still a "work in progress". Whoa! So weird!
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Seinfeld Reference #127
April 17, 2014: Seinfeld Reference #127
Diane said she had a carload of stinky junior high boys in her car last night, and she had to air the car out afterward because it was so bad. That reminded us of the horrible b.o. smell left by the valet in Jerry's car that was so bad that it "infected" anyone who came in contact with it.
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Diane said she had a carload of stinky junior high boys in her car last night, and she had to air the car out afterward because it was so bad. That reminded us of the horrible b.o. smell left by the valet in Jerry's car that was so bad that it "infected" anyone who came in contact with it.
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April 9, 2014
Survivor Alum Twitter Interactions
Lots and lots of Survivor alums were active on Twitter for tonight's Survivor. I took the time to send a few tweets from my Reality Bites account, and the reaction was incredible!
I got Phillip Sheppard to follow me, I got Coach to Favorite and Retweet me, and I also got Skupin and Kat to Favorite a couple tweets. I just think that's too cool!
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I got Phillip Sheppard to follow me, I got Coach to Favorite and Retweet me, and I also got Skupin and Kat to Favorite a couple tweets. I just think that's too cool!
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Music Ironicness: Bowling For Soup - 1985
Today, I was posting something to Facebook. I was marking the visibility of the post using my pre-defined group "TV". When I start typing "TV", it also shows another group I have set up called "Reality TV". As I was doing this, the song "1985" by Bowling For Soup was playing, and a line in the song says "When did reality become TV", just as I was selecting "TV", but also looking right at "Reality TV". So weird! What are the odds?!
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April 3, 2014
Music Ironicness: Rain
Today it rained, and rained, and rained....all day long. It's funny that it seems like any time it rains, a song about rain randomly plays. It's usually Travis's "Why Does It Always Rain On Me". Today I heard not one, not two, but three songs with rain in the title!
The first one was Jordin Sparks's "Let It Rain"
Next came The Audition's "Make It Rain" (Note: on this song, I actually chose to play my entire The Audition collection, but still).
Then, as if that wasn't weird enough, on my way home from work, I hear Blind Melon's "No Rain" (What's odd about this song is that this song is 20 years old! What was it doing on the radio? Side note...how can this song be 20 years old? Man, I feel old!)
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The first one was Jordin Sparks's "Let It Rain"
Next came The Audition's "Make It Rain" (Note: on this song, I actually chose to play my entire The Audition collection, but still).
Then, as if that wasn't weird enough, on my way home from work, I hear Blind Melon's "No Rain" (What's odd about this song is that this song is 20 years old! What was it doing on the radio? Side note...how can this song be 20 years old? Man, I feel old!)
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