I nearly cried from exhaustion yesterday. It has been a long summer. I can't wait for it to be over.
School started for the kids on Tuesday, but Seminary doesn't start until the first Monday. It's a good thing, too, because what with volleyball tryouts and my ill relative and interviewing/coordinating/training caregivers and managing two houses and subbing at church and and EFY and camp and volleyball camp and band camp and football games and trek and and Heritage Foundation meetings and dealing with a distant ill relative and keeping up with my own home responsibilities (or trying to), I am BEAT. I don't know how to put in words how tired I am. My relative is coming home on Thursday, however, which will put a minimum of 2 hours back in my day, and with the kids gone to school until nearly 5pm, I should be back to my normal self in a week or so. It can't come too soon. I'm wasted.
This week, luckily, my parents have been in town and I've not had to go visit my relative as much. I've been able to get a lot more preparation done for Seminary on Monday. I'd post a picture here but there might be some students who stumble across this blog, and I don't want to ruin my surprise. Suffice it to say: it will be awesome. It already is awesome, truth told. I've just got to reveal it.
Yesterday morning I went to visit a Seminary class in a different stake. The famous Linda D has been teaching Seminary so long that she has outlasted at least 6 coordinators. Two of them are now the top two guys over SI now. She's a machine.
There was an accident on 95, and that plus the fact that I missed my exit made me late for class. I was kicking myself because I was afraid I'd miss Moments, the part of Linda's lesson I was most excited to see. Linda could not have been more gracious, and took 5-10 minutes from her class DURING the class period to teach me specifically about what she is doing in Seminary. And to my great joy, she held off on introducing Moments until the end of class and I got to see it! Hooray!
After class was over I got to visit with Linda and another teacher in the building, Joyce, and learned so much. Honestly, I find watching other teachers so much more helpful than inservice. It is much more effective for me to talk one on one or in a small group about what is working in class than to be lectured. I can ask questions and brainstorm much more easily than in the inservice setting.
Anyway, I learned a lot of things from watching Linda. She is an incredible teacher who plans each activity with a purpose. She starts out with easier activities and builds to more difficult ones that helps students learn sharing skills and scripture mastery skills. I try to plan each activity in my lessons to have a purpose, and it is really helpful to me to hear another teacher's reasoning for activity choices so that I can hone my own abilities.
