A Teacher and a Librarian?

This semester I will be playing many roles... so many I am starting to go a little crazy already! This week I starting my teaching "practicum" as they call it, I will be working with two different teachers over the next couple months, basically as their slave. The idea is for us education students to learn to appreciate how much work it is to be a teacher. It seems that the class is essentially designed to terrify us potentials to the very core of our beings, with an occasional, "but, teaching is the best job ever!" thrown in to keep us hanging on. Anyway, it has been a little overwhelming, but I think I already pretty much knew what I was getting in to so I am not too afraid. The first teacher I am working with has been really nice. Plus, she is the mother of BYU football hero, Johnny Harline, which makes her a kind of celebrity-by-association according to me! Right now I am at Pleasant Grove High School and then for the end of the block I will be at Canyon View Junior High. I make it sound miserable, but it's not THAT bad. I will survive.

In addition to this, I got a second job to bring home a little more moola. Last semester I worked at the credit union in the mornings, but because of my school observation class, I had to switch to afternoons. They were nice in working with me, but I could only get about half the amount of hours scheduled that I had last semester. However, it worked out good because I think/hope my new job will really help me build my resume and prepare for my future career. I applied for a "juvenile reference assistant" position at the BYU library (thus the classic "sexy librarian" pic!), and they hired me, yay! It made me feel good that they chose me for the job even though my schedule wasn't as flexible as probably most of the other applicants, but they still thought I was the most qualified! Pretty cool! Before, I used to just want to get the easiest jobs possible because I was terrified of interviews and I didn't want to have to go through a lot of stress and competition to get a job. However, I am now starting to feel like I have a better understanding and abilibity to handle those kind of situations. It is mainly a matter of forcing myself to have confidence, and just make them (and myself) think that I am just obviously perfect for the job (or program, or whatever). Interviews still make me ridiculously nervous, but it is getting better, yay! Anyway, the job so far seems like it will be perfect. It is only about 12 hours a week, so I can still work both jobs and be okay, and it is very flexible. I haven't started my training yet, but my understanding of it is that I will basically be working on becoming familiar with the children's and young adult literature. I will be organzing the shelves and so on, but I will also get to read books and write reviews every month. I think it will be fun! We shall see!

Anyway, that is the current life of Alison. I will be trying to write in my blog more often then I have been because its kind of theraputic for me. As for Mike, he is doing good. He is still plugging away with design and his courses. He might post once in a blue moon if I force him. Or he could just at random if something interesting happens in his family, as he did a little while ago! Well, that's it for today!

Back to school!

Well, the holidays are over and it's back to school for Michael and me. This year we just stayed home in Utah for Christmas and New Year's. It was nice to have some time to relax, but it still went by much too fast! The first day of class was on Monday. This semester I am finally starting the education courses for my major. For those of you who didn't know, English Teaching is a limited enrollment major, so I had to do a ton of stuff to apply. After putting it off for a couple years, I finally got my application together and applied to the program... and I got in! YAY! This was around October. Michael also had to apply for his major of choice, Graphic Design. He had to submit a portfolio in order to be accepted into the program, and he finally did it too, and he also got accepted! Hooray! He just found out over the break. So, as you can see, we are finally starting to see the end of the undergrad. tunnel here in the Cañar household. Unfortunately, the tunnel is still a little bit long.

The main problem is we both have too much we want to study. Mike is hoping to finish a double major in Graphic Design and Latin American studies, and I am trying to see if I could graduate with Psychology as a double major as well, rather than just a minor. Mike still wants to apply for the BFA program in Graphic Design (right now he is in the BA track) which is more prestigous and can make it easier to get a job and start with a better salary. But, it will take a longer time in school. As for me, it is basically ridiculous to try and do more than just major in English Teaching because it is already designed as a 5 year program, but I just love Psychology so much! My goal/dream/wish is too get a PhD in a field related to Psychology one day (like when I am 50 and all of my now unborn children are grown-up). I would really like to do either Clinical Psychology or Marriage & Family Therapy. Maybe both! That would be amazing. Anyway, as you can probably see, there are just so many intriguing things to do and so little life! Michael's plan for after graduation to get an MBA (go to business school). Basically, there is definitely a lot of schooling left in our lives. But, we just have to take it one semester at a time, so here goes another one!