New Opportunities

Well, I unfortunately didn't get the job at Madison High. Today I got texts from about 20 students from the school. Here are a couple samples:

"Mrs. Cooper! You were an amazing teacher and you will get an awesome teaching job someday really soon. You totally had my vote!"

"I think you're a great teacher. I'm sorry about the job. Don't give up. Keep trying. When you get a job, you'll be the best!!!"

When I first heard I didn't get the job, I was sad. But as you can imagine, given my emotional tendencies, reading these texts just made me break down and cry. I really will miss the kids. It is a great school. However, today proved to me that sometimes when one door closes, another one opens. Or even a couple of doors. Stay tuned.

In the REAL WORLD now!

So, life since graduation has been great, but it has also given me a little taste of the world of adults. After working at the Buckle for five years, it has been a while since I have been interviewed for a job, especially a REAL job. I did my student teaching at Madison High School, and one of the teachers in the English department, Diane Madsen, is retiring after this year. The school held interviews for the positions and narrowed the applicants down to a top 5. Lucky for me, they liked me enough in my interview to include me in that 5. Unlucky for me, they wanted the 5 applicants to teach a lesson in front of the Principal and any teachers in the department that want to come. The past days have been filled with the stress of putting together a 20 minute lesson that would be interesting, interactive, and instructive (now that is a parallel sentence, right?) Now, a 30 or 60 minutes lesson would have been a little more ideal, but I made the 20 minutes work. I got to teach my lesson in Ryan Snelgrove's CREATIVE WRITING class, which was so fun!!! For part of my lesson, I morphed the face of the Principal, Mr. Hampton, into the face of my dad. Here is the before and after.

Before

After

I really think that Josh and I did a great job manipulating the photo a little bit! I really see Dennis Sucher when I look at this picture! I do think that I'm channeling a little bit of my uncle, Mike. However, my dad and Mike are practially twins anyway, right? My lesson went really well, and I couldn't be more happy with myself. If I don't get the job, I'm happy to know that I did my best, and that it is just not meant to be. It was a great day!

Graduation!

On April 10, 2009, I hit a huge milestone in my life: graduation! I finished my degree in English Education, and it feels so strange not to be starting school with Josh this next semester. Although I am going to miss school, I am really loving the extra time that I have to read. In the time since I finished school, I have read The Wednesday Wars, the second and third Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and started The Atonement. Once an English major, always an English major, right?
It was so fun to have some of my family up for my graduation. Unfortunately, they make the graduation gowns the size of a circus tent. Thankfully, Josh bought me some really cute shoes to make up for it. :)

Marsha and Bob came to my graduation. I chose this picture because it displayed Bob's natural talent for looking like a big goof in most pictures. He's so funny. Bob and Marsha share have really got us hooked on American Idol. Bob agrees with me; Lil Rounds has got to go

My family also made an appearance. I especially like the look on my father's face. I wonder what he was thinking when this picture was taken. Here is my guess:
I wonder if I can see my job from here....
That man takes pride in his work. :)
I think Grandma Bonnie looks particularly vibrant in her purple sweater.

Altogether, it was a grand day, and not nauseatingly formal. Now it is just time to answer the question that looms in the mind of every college graduate: What next? Fortunately, a wise man (my father) once said (almost every day) that "everything has a way of working out."
So regardless of what my next step is, I know that it will be the right thing for me!