2004 - 2005
Heber City - 3rd grade - Internship through BYU - Miss Gallardo
- I had a giant student who was just about as tall as I was and 5 times stronger than I was. He really liked to hide under desks, and when he was angry, he liked to throw them. He turned out to be my big teddy bear.
- I made a student cry on his birthday. I didn't mean to, he was just being a little punk. I flipped his card and he said, "Miss Gallardo, but it's my birthday." I looked him straight in the face and while shoving a yellow card into his pocket yelled, "Well, Happy Birthday R!" Not my best day.
- My class thought it was so much fun to make the moon phases out of Oreo cookies. Science was a success that day.
- I took countless naps in the nurse's room during my prep period. I don't know if my principal ever knew. Shhhh! Don't tell.
2005 - 2008
St. George - 4th grade - DDES - Miss G/Mrs. Adams
- I completed my ESL endorsement and Bilingual endorsement in just a year. Palabra.
- I took violin lessons with my students through a music grant our school received. I'm still terrible.
- I got to cha-cha with the art teacher for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The students thought we were in
love. We were not. He was married and shorter than me.
- This is when I realized that my students have many issues outside of school and for some, education
was not their first priority. I handled my first ugly divorce.
- I volunteered to be in the dunk tank all 3 years for our end-of-the-year celebrations!
- Eli and I got married during this time. The students did not want to call me "Mrs. Adams." Instead,
they compromised and called me, "Mrs. Galladams."
- Ran races against my students and kicked their butts!
- I had three students who found out where I lived and loved to bug me early Saturday mornings...
- I hope no one ever has to show up to work and find the police there with a little girl who had been
murdered on their playground. That was a rough day.
- This was also the time I had my first meeting with parents who were not satisfied with the education
their little girl was getting in my classroom. Bleh.
- Classic sight: 30 teachers playing broomstick hockey on roller chairs. Awesome!
- I did not get stabbed by my transfer student who stabbed his last teacher with a pencil.
- I had to call a mother because her little girl was constantly falling asleep in class. Her solution was to
send her child to school with coffee in a Sylvester thermos.
- I had a student make a flip book of me dancing. Hilarious!
- I had a kid promise me that he'll thank me on T.V. when he wins the World Cup. I hope he
remembers.
- I got my first student gift from a vacation. It was a porcelain hula girl from Mandalay Bay. I love that
she thought of me while she was gone.
2008 - 2009
Rio Rancho - preschool - Miss Mandy
- Hugs in preschool are the best!
- We got to make the letter "D" into a dinosaur. How cool!
- Little squeaky voices singing the days of the week is awesome.
- I was introduced to Laurie Berkner. Love her. Still listen to her with Luci and Gabi.
- Little Olivia. I believe there was a hurricane named after her somewhere. Oh my.
- TL was my little bud and I got to watch him outside of preschool. He even called me when I moved
back to UT.
2009 - 2013
Lehi - 6th Grade - SSES - Mrs. Adams
- First time I had a room mother! Woo-hoo!
- I made a student sit by the heater because he sprayed "fart spray" in it. He threw it away after he had
to smell it all day.
- The first time a student wrote a song about me. It was titled "Daughter of Sintin." It was a catchy tune.
- I was told after my first year at this school that I needed to take a classroom management class. I did.
Things got much better.
- I confronted a parent (a military guy!) about being involved in his kid's life and making school a
priority. I just found out that he's one of the best kids in middle school. I'd like to think part of that was
me.
- Took an afternoon and made funny face pictures with my students in photobooth.
- I attended SO many plays and sports games! I have had so many active students!
- When I was pregnant with Luci, I fell asleep in the library while the librarian was reading a book to
the students. She sent them back to class and let me sleep. I was SO happy that they went to class and
actually worked.
- I had two students make a video of themselves upside-down and talking with their chins. Hilarious.
- Thanks to the Jazz Read-a-Thon I got to meet CJ Miles, Gordon Hayward, and Jeremy Evans.
- And I got a pie in the face. Twice.
- As a teacher you get a lot of awkward things. Like this door decoration for Teacher Appreciation
Week one year.
- 4 trips to the Space Center! It's the coolest simulator ever. It's kind of like being in Star Trek.
- 4 trips to the Clark Planetarium.
- Countless hugs. I'll miss the hugs.
- Four years later, I am $5 richer. I bet a kid that by his 16th birthday he'd have a crush on a girl and at
least kind of want to kiss one. I love when kids come back to visit!
There are so many other things that I could write about. It's amazing what happens in 9 years and when you share so much time with over 200 kids. I hope that they'll think of me every once in awhile. It'll be weird to not be in the classroom. I'm a little nervous about the future, as teaching has been my life, but I am SO ready to be home with my girls. At home is where I am supposed to be. I am looking forward to this new adventure!
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