Come Follow Me Lesson April 2013 The Apostasy and Restoration: How was the priesthood restored?

Even though I'm the time is drawing near that Matt and I will be married (only 5 more days) and moving to Provo and I'll no longer be the Young Women's president of the Alturas Branch I was told I should still share my ideas about how I teach my lessons.

Today's lesson was "How was the priesthood restored?"  None of the materials in this lesson were original, so I've of course will give credit to all sources and the link so you can find the materials for yourself.

I began this lesson the same way I began last week with quotes from General Conference pinned on the wall.  I asked each girl and leader to choose any quote they want and do a quick write of what the prophet/apostle/general authority was trying to teach us and why it is important to follow this counsel.  I decided to start doing this because I wanted to keep conference fresh and all still get the messages across to the girls who didn't watch conference. Thanks to My Computer is my Canvas I got the quotes here and here.


Last week's lesson was on why was a restoration necessary.  Since one of my Young Women were gone last week and may not know a whole a lot about the apostasy and restoration I decided to use the first page of this worksheet from The Red Headed Hostess as a fun review.  It ended up taking quite a bit of time but it was apparent by the end how much everyone knew about the restoration. I wanted to do this object lesson, but forgot to buy cups the night before.  It worked out because we wouldn't have had enough time anyway.  I explained the object lesson to the girls anyway and that seemed to make the apostasy and restoration more clear for those who were still having a hard time understanding.



From there we related what we knew about was lost as part of the apostasy, including the priesthood.  I handed out these handouts to make sure the girls knew what priesthood is (I really try to focus the beginning of my lessons on understanding Gospel vocabulary because not everyone knows what certain words mean) and how it was restored.

 

After that we watched this video about how the priesthood was restored. I really love this video. I love that scripture helps narrate it.  It helped me understand the events of the restoration of the priesthood so much better.

We then had a priesthood holder come in and share his priesthood line of authority with us.  This was really cool and I emphasized how the priesthood that is held by worthy priesthood holders today has a direct line back to Christ.

We ran out of time today, so we didn't get to do what we normally do. We normally right the questions from each lesson on a large piece of sticky paper and answer them at the end of the lesson.  It gives the girls the chance to show what they know and help the teachers see if the lesson was effective and what touched/inspired the girls.  Next Sunday each girl will answer the question "How was the priesthood restored?" at the beginning of the lesson.  So the girls' assignment is to retain that information for next week and be prepared to share by writing the answers on the large piece of sticky paper.  Not the most original assignment but it works for us because it meets the needs of the girls and the lesson for the day.

Reflection on a General Conference Talk April 2013 #1

What difference will General Conference really make in our lives if we just leave it as a first weekend in April or October that we watch or listen to prophets and apostles speak inspired messages to us?  If we just leave them to be as memories of those weekends and not ponder, pray, and incorporate them into our daily lives, they will simply be just that memories rather than the guidance we need to help us live a happy, productive life.

Having said that I bring you a reflection on President Boyd K. Packer's talk "These Things I Know."  This will be an ongoing post as I feel inspired to carefully pay attention to his words and record my thoughts to them, so this may take awhile.

Tonight I read this article.  In it the author of the referred to article talks about his frustrations as a teacher.  He refers to all of his frustrations as things that make him tired.  As I read this I thought, I'm grateful I don't feel tired as a teacher.  Now more than ever since I began my teaching career I feel the same sense of excitement I did when I first did when I was a student teacher. 

There are too many teachers who fall victim to the trap of feeling like they can't escape the system.  They worry they have to play the game or they will lose their jobs.  These are the teachers who will feel tired and burned out.

When I see blogs like Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher, Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher, My Life as a Third Grade Teacher, The Science Penguin, One Extra Degree, A Teeny Tiny Teacher, 4th Grade Frolics, Common Core Activities, and *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge* I am inspired by these teachers who despite being under the same stresses all the other teachers in the country are still are creative and have fun teaching.  These bloggers are the GREAT TEACHERS! Thank you to them for posting great ideas and discussions to help motivate me.

Along with blogs, you would have to have been living under a rock for the last year if you are a teacher not know anything about teacherspayteachers.com and pinterest.com.  Between these two sites you can find everything you need to make you're lessons engaging and exciting.

There are so many more resources out there that I cannot even begin to name.  I am so thankful for the Internet for that reason. 

California is just now rolling out the Common Core Standards and I couldn't be more excited about them.  While I was a student teacher I learned the importance of depth not breath while teaching.  Readers and Writers Workshop approaches brought this point home for me.  Unfortunately when I started teaching I felt like I couldn't carry out this philosophy, mainly because of the reasons the author of the referred to article mentions.  But this year because of the introduction of the Common Core Standards, the support of a principal who thinks outside of the box, and my combination classroom which has allowed me to develop my own methods separate from other classrooms at my school I have felt myself become the teacher I knew I wanted to be when I was a teacher. 

Now I feel like I will never fall into the trap of being too tired with a lack of creativity or energy. I am on my way to finding out who I am as a teacher and am so excited to see where that leads me.  I love being a TEACHER!!!!

Opinions

So I realized it's kind of a scary thing to post anything that is of the nature of an opinion on the internet.  Tonight I got on a craze of posting pictures from a Facebook page called "You Can't Scare Me, I'm a Teacher." Some of them expressed the flaws in the education system and some of expressed the joys of teaching.  As I posted them I realized that when someone posts something on the internet it is so easy to believe that musts be what that person believes, has believed, and will always will believe if they go that far to make it so public.  But I realize that is not the case with me and probably isn't that way for many other people.

I haven't been writing on this blog for anyone else. I've been writing in it for me.  You could say why not just write in a journal if writing on this is just for you, but even though the blog is for me I still like the idea that others can read it.  It is through that ability to share writing that ideas about our own human experiences are shared and we can all learn and grow together because of our shared and not so common experiences. 

So having said that, I realize that this blog is a really place for me to go develop my ideas.  I like hearing the best of both sides of the story.  That is one reason I love blogs and the internet.  I love that you can get so much information from them.  Then I like to think on my own about what I have read.  I like to listen to myself and pay attention to what I feel as I apply what I'm reading to me.

Nothing on this blog will probably ever be really polished. In truth, I never go back and reread what I have written on it until sometimes days after I published it (I know don't tell my students I'm bad example of what I tell them to do).  But really what I hope I do help my students see is that writing doesn't have to be about perfect conventions all of the time.  It's about helping you learn where you stand on certain issues, and that is really what this blog is for me.  It's my place to come and explore my ever changing thoughts and opinions.

I'm grateful...

There's not enough time this morning for me to write about everything I would like to write about, so instead I'm simply going to list off a few things I'm thankful for this morning.

1.  I'm thankful for this blog.  Writing truly has become my therapy. :) It makes me happy.

2. I'm thankful for the scriptures.  There is an undeniable peace that I obtain when I read the scriptures which testifies to me they are true.

3. I'm thankful this past weekend was General Conference and for modern technology.  The words of the prophets are already transcribed on lds.org for all to view.  I am excited to begin reading and studying them more.  I'm sure one or more of them will at some point become topics for the blog.

4. I'm thankful for my job.  Even though it will be soon coming to an end I'm really grateful I have it now and have for the last four years.  The students and teachers I have met have richly blessed my life.  I'm also grateful for just teaching in general.  I love everything about it.

5. I'm thankful for the Lord's timing.  Right now I'm busy looking for a new job to start next school year.  During our writing time in class yesterday, the thought came to me what if I don't find a job, as I chose to write about this thought ideas came to my mind about what wonderful things the year could still hold for me even if I didn't find a full-time job (another blessing of writing). When I realized this I became much more at peace and realized everything will be just perfect.  I'm grateful for the Lord's hand in my life and continue to ask for continued faith to let everything work out as it will.

Therapy

As I corrected papers this evening and readied for bed, I realized how joyful I felt. I realized that reading and writing are my therapy. Not just one or the other - both.  Because of both I feel an inner me being freed. I feel free in the sense that reading allows me to take new thoughts and ideas which I am passionate about and writing because it allows me to explore my own thoughts and ideas.  I feel very grateful this evening to be me. 

The Job Search

At the risk of hoping this post does not hinder me being offered a job if seen by a future employer, I'm going to go ahead and post about my current status in the job hunt.

Last month I officially resigned from Alturas Elementary School. It was bittersweet indeed.  AES and the community has been the perfect place for me to begin my career.  Now I'm moving on to the great state of Utah with my wonderful soon-to-be hubby Matthew! :) I am so excited to begin this new adventure with him.

To prepare for moving to Utah I have been busy looking for an elementary teaching position.  As of yesterday I have applied to a total of 144 jobs! I know, that's a lot! And as of yesterday I got my first rejection emails... 15 to be exact! Well, that's still 129 to go so let's see what today brings...

So I'm not being too laid back after all?

This week I noticed I have very little will to do much wedding planning.  At this point, I feel like it is what it is.  Not to say I haven't enjoyed the process.  Everything really has been smooth sailing and thanks to the help of loving family and friends everything I dreamed of in my mind is coming to fruition. I am very excited for the day to come and to enjoy everything about it!

But like I said I'm at the point now where I just want to sit back and not worry about anything.  This has put a lot more weight on friends and family's shoulders, but they have so willingly taken it upon and for that I am ever so grateful.  So feeling bad about wanting to take a step back from the one holding the reins leading up to the wedding, I wanted to see if my feelings were normal.  Luckily for me, the Internet pulled through for me once again to prove to me that I'm just as crazy as everyone else. Phew! :)

According to this article, I'm in the Resolve stage which is the sixth stage of the Seven Emotional Stages of Wedding Planning for Brides.  This makes total sense given that we are less than 3 weeks away from the big day, which means were are closing in on the seventh stage which I am most excited about, Jubilation! :)

And let's hope I completely miss this stage...

3 Things I Wish I Knew Before We Got Married

Saw this posted today on Facebook from iFact written by Admin khuy. 
For those who just want to jump to the point here are the 3 things the writer wishes he would have known:
1. Marriage is not about living happily ever after.
2. The more you give to marriage, the more it gives back. 
3. Marriage can change the world.

At first I want to disagree with #1, but when I read his reasoning I saw that really his argument goes along with my own thinking that marriage is about each individual's growth and development.   I highly agree with #2 and #3 and enjoy his discussion of these ideas.



3 Things I Wish I Knew Before We Got Married


I used to think I had my stuff together. Then I got married.

Marriage is great—but it rocked everything I knew. I quickly realized my basic goal in life, prior to getting married, was to simply remain undisturbed.

This “disruption” came suddenly and was disguised as a 5-foot-nothing Swedish-Filipino woman. When I decided I’d rather not live without her, I proceeded to ask her to marry me—that is, to officially invite someone who wasn’t me to be in my personal space for the rest of my life.

This decision introduced my most significant experiences and most challenging experiences—none of which I would trade for the world.

However, I wish I’d had a bit more insight on the front end of our marriage to help me navigate it all.

According to most research, more than 50 percent of people who say “I do” will not be sleeping in the same bed eight years from now. And though Scripture alludes to the fact that adultery and abuse may be reasons individuals might end a marriage, I’d be willing to bet that most challenges experienced in marriage are the result of unawareness. Most people—myself included—jump into marriage with suitcases full of misconceptions and bad theology, entirely unaware of the unique beauty and paradoxical intentions of marriage.


Although happiness is often a very real byproduct of a healthy relationship, marriage has a far more significant purpose in sight.
The following are three thoughts on marriage that friends and mentors have shared with me. I remind myself of them often in hopes of keeping this anomaly called marriage both enjoyable and healthy.

1. Marriage is not about living happily ever after.

Here’s the truth: I get annoyed at my wife. But this is more a reflection of me than her.

I’m intensely certain that nothing in life has ever made me more angry, frustrated or annoyed than my wife. Inevitably, just when I think I’ve given all I can possibly give, she somehow finds a way to ask for more.

The worst part of it all is that her demands aren’t unreasonable. One day she expects me to stay emotionally engaged. The next, she's looking for me to validate the way that she feels. The list goes on—but never ventures far from things she perfectly well deserves as a wife.

Unfortunately for her, deserving or not, her needs often compete with my self-focus. I know it shouldn’t be this way, but I am selfish and stubborn and, overall, human.

I once read a book that alluded to the idea that marriage is the fire of life—that somehow it’s designed to refine all our dysfunction and spur us into progressive wholeness. In this light, contrary to popular opinion, the goal of marriage is not happiness. And although happiness is often a very real byproduct of a healthy relationship, marriage has a far more significant purpose in sight. It is designed to pull dysfunction to the surface of our lives, set it on fire and help us grow.

When we’re willing to see it this way, then the points of friction in our marriages quickly become gifts that consistently invite us into a more whole and fulfilling experience of life.

2. The more you give to marriage, the more it gives back.

Over the past year, a few friends and I have had an open conversation about the highs and lows of marriage—specifically how to make the most of the high times and avoid the low ones. Along the way, we happened upon a derailing hypothesis that goes something like this: If one makes their husband or wife priority number one, all other areas of life benefit.


When we return marriage to its rightful place in our priorities, it can quickly turn into the greatest asset to every other layer of our lives.

It’s a disorienting claim. Disorienting, because it protests my deeper persuasion that success as an entrepreneur, or any professional, requires that career takes the throne of my priorities and remain there for, at the very least, a couple of years.


However, seeing that my recent pattern of caring about work over marriage had produced little more than paying bills and a miserable wife, I figured giving the philosophy a test drive couldn’t hurt.

For 31 days, I intentionally put my wife first over everything else, and then I tracked how it worked. I created a metric for these purposes, to mark our relationship as priority, and then my effectiveness in all other areas of my life on the same scale, including career productivity and general quality of life.

To my surprise, a month later, I had a chart of data and a handful of ironic experiences to prove that the more you give to marriage, the more it gives back.

Notably, on the days my wife genuinely felt valued, I observed her advocating for me to invest deeply in to my work. She no longer saw our relationship and my career pursuits as competitors for my attention, and as she partnered with me in my career, I have experienced the benefits of having the closest person in my life champion me.

Of course, marriage requires sacrifice. And sometimes it will feel as if it takes and takes. However, when we return marriage to its rightful place in our priorities, it can quickly turn from something we have to maintain and sacrifice for into the greatest asset to every other layer of our lives.

3. Marriage can change the world.

John Medina, the author of Brain Rules and a Christian biologist, is often approached by men looking for the silver bullet of fathering. In one way or another, they all come around to asking, “What’s the most important thing I can do as a father?”

Medina's answer alludes to a surprising truth.

In my previously mentioned experiment, I measured the effect that making my marriage priority number one had on different areas of my life. One of those areas was my 16-month-old son’s behavior.

What I found in simply charting my observations was that the majority of the time, my child’s behavior was directly affected by the level of intention I invested in my marriage.

Re-enter John Medina, the Christian biologist. After years of biological research and several books on parenting conclusions, what is his answer to the question, “What’s the most important thing I can do as a father”?

“Go home and love your wife.”

Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, the authors of Babywise, say it this way: “A healthy marriage creates an infused stability within the family and a haven of security for a child in their development process.” They go on to sum up their years of research by saying, “In the end, great marriages produce great parents.”

The point is that marriage has a higher goal than to make two people happy or even whole. Yes, the investment we make into our marriage pays dividends for us. But, concluded by Medina and his colleagues, the same investment also has significant implications for our family, our community and eventually our culture.

So men, women, the next time you find yourself dreaming about living significantly or succeeding in your career or being a better parent than yours were to you, do the world a favor: Go home and love your wife. Go home and and love your husband.

Zombies and Testing

Every morning I receive an email in my inbox called The Opening Bell from NEA (National Educators Association).  It gives links to articles concerning education around the country.  One article today that caught my attention was this Foes of standardized tests plan to hold 'Zombie rally'.

I like some of the points the article brings up about comparing the never-ending battery of standardized testing to zombies.  Some points are “How is a standardized test like a zombie? They’re mindless, and they just keep coming," and “They suck time and money from teaching and learning. Eventually they will eat students brains. But only if we let them.”

As I googled images to use for this entry, the image I chose was the only one I found that didn't make me cringe.  Zombies are pretty ugly, scary, and disgusting.  So I imagine this rally will stir up a lot of interest when it happens as adults and children parade down the street as zombies. So while I like the idea behind it, I think this will be one event I'll be sitting out on.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/08/3966735/zombie-rally-set-to.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/08/3966735/zombie-rally-set-to.html#storylink=cpy

Should college women think about marriage?

Thanks to a Facebook friend I stumbled upon this article this morning. The article entitled "Why I Told Female Princeton Students to Find a Husband" rang quite true to me today.  I really see a viable argument for young educated women who are considering marriage to keep their options open to looking for marriage material while still in college. Now while not all young women will find a suitable marriage partner, while in college, it is a great time to begin scoping out what you want in a husband. 

I remember being amazed my first weeks of college at all the "smart" guys around me.  These were young men who wanted to do well in school, but not only that they enjoyed academia, engaged in thought provoking discussions, and had aspiring career goals.  This came as a pleasant surprise to me as I saw very little of this behavior from young men in high school.

As I think of successful college relationships I think of my sister and her fiance and my cousin and her husband. Both couples met while in college and have happy, healthy relationships.  I began dating Matt while I was in college, and we are on our way to the beginning of a wonderful marriage. One reason I believe our relationship flourished so much early on was because I was in college.  We got to take advantage of everything college life had to offer us which made our dates more fun and exciting.  Because I was going to school in the San Francisco Bay Area we got to experience more  culture, food, and people than we would have had we just been dating in our small hometowns; therefore, enriching our relationship. Within the coming months we will be moving to Provo, Utah where Matt will be finishing his degree.  As a newly married couple, it will be fun to once again experience all that a college community has to offer. It will undoubtedly enrich our lives once again.

As the article points out though, as woman enter the work place they will not find as heavy a concentration of these types of high quality men in one place.  This is not to say that all is lost for women who do not find the loves of their lives in college. There are plenty of women who find love later.  However, I do feel that would behoove young women to open themselves more to the possibility of going out on more dates while yet in college.  These experiences will also give young women more opportunities to learn and grow not only as students and professionals, but also emotionally as they develop the ability to have stronger relationships and learn more about their own interests and tastes. Even if dating while in college with the idea of finding a husband does not ultimately yield the desired outcome of finding a husband, when done with discretion and wisdom a young woman can ultimately come out all around better because of having tried.

Which religion is the most connected?

I have discovered a new love for spread of opinions, ideas, and news on the world wide web.  I love how an article can be shared instantly with thousands of people that never may have been able to access it in the first place.  This opens up the conversation to so many more trains of thoughts.  Wanting to jump in on the conversation on a small or large scale has led me to get back into blogging as well.

An article that caught my attention this evening was this one Are Mormons the most connected? If any of you watched general conference today and jumped on Facebook at the same time you probably noticed that a wave of people were posting quotes and thoughts from their favorite talks.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the article:
"Hunter Schwarz, an Associate Editor for the social media news site BuzzFeed, and also a member of the LDS Church, has been tweeting about conference all weekend with observations that seem aimed at guiding his readers unfamiliar with General Conference. One tweet Sunday afternoon noted:
More people are tweeting about Elder Jeffrey R. Holland than will i am right now. #LDSConf twitpic.com/chrsuq— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) April 7, 2013"

However, the article does go on to answer the question that Mormons are not the most connected:

"Mormons may not be the most connected people on the web, but they have clearly embraced it as a method of communication and connection ideal for a world-wide church."

It is still pretty cool to be able to see so many, particularly young, express their excitement for their faith more so than for the latest party or sporting event.

Mawwwige!

So Mawwwige has been on my mind a lot lately! And as my fiance Matt so eloquently put today, "I wonder why?" Could it be the fact I'm getting married in 19 days!?! Wowzer!

So I don't know what other people's experiences are like when it comes to preparing for mawwwige (sorry I just like saying it that way!), but for me I look it as something I really want to do well.  Now when I say that marriage is something I want to be really good at, I'm sure some people will jump to say I must be talking about fulfilling the 50's housewife stereotype...

part of it yes, but there is so much more to it for me than that. Let me explain. I have fallen head over heels for this guy.

Sexy, no? He makes a mean stir fry. He's smart, funny, spiritual, and a family man. He loves me even though I'm not perfect. He supports me in my endeavors. He makes me unequivocally happy. He loves life and he has so many passions: Star Wars, books, Lord of the Rings, Saving Private Ryan, movies, Brazil, his mission, and World War II to name a few.  He makes life fun and interesting! That is why I'm marrying Matthew Roger Siemers on April 26, 2013 in the Medford, Oregon temple and I can't wait! And because he is so awesome that is why I want to give so much back to him. I am on a quest to become the best wife I can be to Matt, but also for me because I know that if I strive to do my best in our marriage I will in turn will be filled with happiness, joy, and satisfaction beyond measure.  A happy, successful marriage is of course built on love and mutual support. As a result, I know that keeping a tidy home (yes, people, housework is important), giving emotional and spiritual support, giving affections of love, and doing so much more are so important to creating a happy marriage. I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for this reason.  In so many ways I realize that my knowledge of the gospel is still growing, but one thing I realize that I truly understand is the importance of the family in the church.  I understand better how husbands and wives are suppose to care for each other and it turn receive so many blessings of happiness.  I am so excited to start this journey with Matt and can't wait to see what ways I grow and develop as I learn to love and give more.

Here we go again!

Within the last three weeks, I have begun using the Being a Writer program in my classroom.  I love it because I read examples of good pieces of writing to my students, then my students are given the opportunity to write, write, write, and write.  They can write in a style that is similar to what they just heard me read or they can write whatever they feel inspired to write.  At the beginning of the writing block I write for a minutes as well to model my love of and demonstrate the importance of writing.  Lately as I model and as I listen to my students talk about their writing experiences, I am reminded of how important writing truly is to express ourselves.  A 1980 Ensign article (Ensign is a monthly publication from The Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about Ensign click here.) written by Janet Brigham when speaking of one gentleman's experience of keeping a journal expressed writing it this way, "He feels an urge to write that comes from within—an urge to express, to understand, to improve, to establish the validity of his experiences and his existence. When he sits at his typewriter to crash out a few quick pages or when he spends a quiet hour on a Sunday to catch up on the last few days, he is spending valuable time with himself, listening to himself." There is so much of ourselves that can be explored through our writing. So here goes another attempt at keeping a blog.  I hope to make it be what writing is truly meant to be - just an exploration of my thoughts as they come to me, not something that is meant as part of work or a regular routine.  So let's see where my mind takes me first...