Christmas and Wedding

It will be a short post. My sister's wedding is on Friday and I still have to write 13 pages of my final paper. At least the class will be over in a week and the wedding will be done! I'll update next Sunday about everything!

Week of Writing

I only have 3 days left of work and then it's Winter Break. I will be doing homework all week though. I have to write my next 15 page paper before Leanna's wedding next Friday. Wish me luck!

Sick Again.......

On Thursday night my awful cold came back. The rest of the horrible symptoms of a cold and the chills came the next day. I love my kiddies but I sure do get sick a lot from them. I am not even sure if this is my old cold or a new one. I am calling the doctor today to find out what is going on. It's been a month now. MY immune system is out of wack.

NHMU Update

I have been an animal handler at the natural history museum for the past 3 months and have loved it. I get to work with amazing animals and there is a lot less procedure to follow than at the zoo. Looking back I realize how truly unhappy I was at the zoo. It was a great opportunity and I learned and grew a lot. However, I am so much happier in my teaching job and volunteering at the museum. Life is too short to be in a job that makes you sick and anxious everyday.

Another sick week and grad school

It was Thanksgiving break this past week, but I spent most of it working on schoolwork and fighting my cold that will never end. I got antibiotics for my sinus infection on Monday, but they did not work. It must be a viral infection and I will just have to suffer through it. It doesn't help that I have to sub twice this week. However, I am so grateful for my job and the time spent with family on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Break

I'm still battling the nasty illness. I am glad it's only a two day week at work. I do have a lot of homework to do though so that will eat up much of my free time. I'll post next Sunday if I survive this sickness!

Sick Weekend

On Friday, I woke up feeling weak and chills were all over my body. By the afternoon, I had the most searing pain in my throat. I stayed home all weekend fighting off another cold. The cold I had in September lasted 3 weeks, so I am doing everything in my power to nip this cold in the bud. I guess illness is what comes with teaching.

Denver Trip

I got back from my trip to Denver on Wednesday night. It was so nice to only have to teach one day last week. This week I don't have to teach on Friday because it is a professional development day. We were supposed to start our intensive language arts center this week, but now we won't start until next week. Almost half of our kiddos read below grade level. I will update next week!

Subbing Update

Subbing went well on Tuesday. It was a long day and I hardly got a lunch break. I also did not get to the worksheet in most classes because the kids were so chatty. But I survived without any major mishaps so it was a successful day. It was fun seeing the organized pick up system after school. When I was in elementary school, they didn't care if you wandered into the woods or a white van after school. Fall break just ended, but I had so much other work to do it wasn't really a break. At least I go to Colorado at the end of the week.

Subbing

Hi everyone! I will be substitute teaching a full day on Tuesday because my mentor teacher has her grandfather's funeral. I am nervous but excited to be there the whole day. This will be especially hard if I have to accomplish my TA lunch duties as well. I won't get a break! It will hopefully work out somehow. I'll update how it goes!

Problem Students

A student I have been having immense trouble with was suspended last Thursday. I cannot say I am upset. It's just sad when children so young already have so many emotional problems. I will pray for him and see if he'll be able to come back to school next week. In other news, I am doing more planning for my Denver trip!

Denver Trip

I just got an airline ticket to go to Denver at the end of the month for my birthday. I am so excited to go to the Denver Zoo and History Colorado Center. I will post everything about the trip after it happens. As for teaching, all I need to do is make sure I am covered the three days I will be gone.

More Papers

Nothing new on the teaching front. I am starting to write the proposal for another 15 page paper in my Graduate Seminar in US History. I may shift the focus of this blog to focus more on my graduate school experience.

Rainy Day

We finished Dibels testing last week. There is nothing new going on. We had to wrangle a bunch of kids during recess because it was an inside day due to heavy rain. I'll update next week!

Dibels Testing

We started Dibels testing last week to measure student literacy. I also had a horrible cold so I could barely speak. I will be better this week I hope.

Second Week of School

We had our second week of school. Next week we start Dibels testing and I will be doing my fundations training to teach students during language arts centers. I will update!

First Week of School

Last week was the first week of school. The kids are very cute and I start teaching them language arts and math this week! I will update how teaching goes! I did not think I would ever love students more than the Thai kids, but these kids are quickly catching up!

TA Training

I had my training last Wednesday. I met the teacher that I will be working with and I cannot be more excited. The first day of school is on Tuesday. I will update next week about the first week of school!

New Title of Blog

I have updated the name of the blog to reflect its new content. I will update next week after my teaching assistant training. I will blog about the various roles in education I have filled over the past few years.

Updates

No real updates this week on the job front. My twin sister is getting engaged today! We have already started planning her wedding.

Creature Care Orientation

I have orientation for my new animal care position on Friday. I am so excited to work with a lot of the same species I worked with at the zoo. I will update after Friday!

TA Job

I got a job as a teaching assistant this past week. I also got accepted to be a volunteer at the Natural History Museum of Utah. I will be taking care of the live animal collection. They have a lot of the same animals at the zoo so I get to work with species I am already familiar with. I will probably still update this blog.

Future of Blog

I do not know what the future of this blog is going to be now that I no longer work at the zoo. I do have another interview to take care of animals tomorrow. I'll update you on how that goes!

I Am No Longer an Eco-Explorer

So I resigned as being an Eco-Explorer on Wednesday. I'll still keep up this blog though. I am still very passionate about wildlife conservation and I hope I will find another opportunity to explore it soon!

Starting New Class

I am starting my new graduate class tomorrow. It was so nice to have a week off of school, but I'm also working one less day at the zoo from now on, so that should ease some of the burdens. My sister is also in town for a few days. It has been so much fun to hang out with her!

Done with First Graduate Class

I finally finished my research proposal last week. I have a week long break before my next class starts. However, it really does not feel like a break because I am still working a lot. I will update next week when I start my second graduate class!

Grad School Update

I am working on the graduate research proposal right now and it is taking over my life. I only have one more week left of my class! I'll update after that!

Going to Grad School

I am also getting a master's degree in history while working at the zoo. It is a lot of hard work and I rarely have a day off, but it is so worth it. It is nice to study history and work with animals at the same time. I will do a post soon about balancing grad school and work.

Nothing Really New

There are no new updates on the zoo front. World Ocean Day is on Thursday! Wear blue! I'll update next week.

Discovery Theatre

Hello Everyone! There are not that many new updates. Emily and I will be doing our first Discovery Theatre show on Saturday. I am also narrating my first pinniped program on Monday. I am excited, but nervous. I'll try to post some pictures from the show!

Going Full-Time

This week I am starting to work full-time at the zoo. I will be doing this in addition to taking one graduate class for my master's degree in history. I am working every single day of Memorial Day weekend. Emily and I have finished our framed message about the desert blonde tarantula. We will be filming a video with pictures. Emily will be drawing and I will be providing the narration. We are also starting at Discovery Theatre next Saturday. I am so excited, but nervous at the same time!

Continuing at the Zoo

I worked the last two days at the zoo. I now have the next week off. I learned how to do the drumming before the pachyderm program yesterday. Today I was able to be a giraffe wrangler again. We also continued our training on the tier 2 animals. I got to handle some snakes and a chuckwalla. I cannot believe that I am getting into the swing of things. I even got to interpret by the new baby zebra today! My coworker and I are also making headway on our climate change final project. I am so grateful to get to teach conservation messages!

First Two Days

This past Sunday and Monday were my first two days working out in the park. It was very scary to talk to people at first and it was especially difficult to get in a framed message. However, I am slowly getting better at going up and talking to people. On Sunday I learned how to be a giraffe wrangler at the giraffe feeds. Monday I learned how to present at the seal and sea lion training program. I also passed off handling all the tier 1 animals and we got started on our climate change script. Working at the zoo is very hard but also very rewarding. I have to remember that first and foremost I am helping to conserve and educate others about the animals I love.

Eco-Explorer Graduation

We graduated from our Eco-Explorer training yesterday and got our tan vests. We went out into the park and the senior Eco-Explorers showed us how to interpret in all of the areas of the zoo. We even had two medical emergencies the first day and had to do crowd control. It was a little overwhelming, but I know I will get to know all the animals and become a great interpreter. We also did a team photo shoot. The team I work with is absolutely amazing. On another note, I also got a job offer to be an instructor at a charter school for next year. Although it has been a challenging past few months, I have been blessed with so much. I'll update next week!

Finished with Training!

Yesterday was the last day of our Eco-Explorer classroom training. Next Saturday we get to shadow our mentors out in the zoo. I am excited and nervous at the same time. We did our final training on interpretation. We also learned how to handle the education snakes. We also did a fun Easter egg hunt in the morning. I am so excited to be able to spread the message of wildlife conservation! Unfortunately, another team member quit yesterday, but we are still going to have a fantastic team. I'll update after our shadow day!

Hogle Zoo Big Six

As Eco-Explorers, we try to promote conservation for the Big Six in all of our education programs. I especially love the radiated tortoise. When you come to the zoo, you can help support these vital conservation projects by riding the conservation carousel or buying conservation wristbands. More information can be found at this link.

Eco-Explorer Updates

I decided that this blog is going to solely be about working at the zoo from now on. We only have two more training days left! We finished learning how to handle all of the tier 1 animals and have started working on some of the harder animals. The tier 1 animals were really easy animals to handle like toads and cockroaches. We are now moving on to snakes and mammals. We are also getting into our training on how to talk about climate change. We as zoo educators are trying to move away from individual choices such as recycling to bigger picture solutions like community action. I will post my final project when it is finished.

Change of Plans

I mentioned on my last post that I had been accepted to be a head teacher with International Language Programs. I was accepted quickly. I put Ukraine as my first choice of country and Lithuania as my second. Well, they assigned me to Changsha China. Pretty much the worst of all ILP locations. It's in the middle of nowhere China. So....I am no longer being a head teacher in the fall. It's all good though because I can stay at the zoo through the fall. I am probably going to be changing the name and focus of this blog to wildlife conservation. There is so much to write about. I'll be making those changes soon.

Second Day of Eco-Explorer Training

Saturday was the second day of training! We started our animal handling training. I got to see all the animals in Creekside and learn how to handle them. We also got to watch two of the senior eco-explorers perform the Discovery Theatre show. The show had such a great conservation message. We got assigned our partners and our parts for when we have to perform the show ourselves. I luckily got the smaller part. This year's show is all about animal movements. I get to handle the Madagascar hissing cockroach and the chuckwalla in the show. For this week's training, we are all giving an "About Me" presentation. It only has to be two minutes long, but I am still pretty nervous about it. I am going to talk about my love for teaching.

On another note, I am still trying to find a graduate program that will prepare me to teach history. I am still so disappointed that Western Governor's University did not work out, but I do not think I want to teach secondary education anyway. There were just so many problems substitute teaching near the end and the politics surrounding public school teachers in Utah is only getting worse. I may get just a regular master's degree in history and teaching community college. I have found some pretty good online programs.

I'll keep you updated on zoo training. I will also try to write next week about teaching for International Language Programs in Thailand. I recently got accepted as a head teacher for fall 2017 as well! I'll be sure to update when I get assigned to a country!

First Day of Eco- Explorer Training

Saturday was the first day of Eco-Explorer training! We were combined with the guest services employees for the first day of orientation. We did our paperwork and the morning consisted of mostly just the typical items of business with the human resources department. They brought out some of the education animals during lunch. In the afternoon, we split into groups and went on an Instagram scavenger hunt throughout the zoo. We then watched some videos about providing great customer service and did some team-building exercises.

Next week we start our animal handling training! I cannot wait to learn more interpretive techniques in zoo education and I will keep this blog updated.

Eco-Explorer at Hogle Zoo

Hello again!

Two weeks ago, I was accepted to be an eco-explorer at Utah's Hogle Zoo! It is a position that I have wanted for a long time. I absolutely love animals and wildlife conservation, so I am extremely excited to be part of the education team. The eco-explorers help zoo visitors connect with zoo animals through biofacts (such as an animal skull or fur) and even through live animal interactions. I am so excited to get to work with the education animals. I was previously a zookeeper aide in the Animal Resource Center where the education animals live, so I already know most of them. My favorite animals to work with were by far the desert tortoises and I can't wait to work with them again! The eco-explorers also help do the giraffe feedings and shows in the Discovery Theatre. In the Discovery Theatre show, we introduce visitors to the Big Six. The Big Six are the six species of endangered animals that Hogle Zoo is heavily involved in trying to conserve.

The most terrifying part was definitely the audition process to get on the team. It was not a typical job interview. Everyone applying to any position at the zoo auditioned at the same time. We all gathered on the bottom floor of the education building and stood in a large circle. The auditions started with us doing the hokey pokey! We then got with a partner, got to know each other, and then introduced each other to the rest of the group. The next step was the most terrifying part for me. We all had to get up in front of the group and showcase a talent. I have absolutely no talents I can perform in front of an audience. I ended up telling a funny story on the fly, but I was so scared! The last step was getting into groups and imitating an animal while the rest of the group guessed what animal we were imitating.

At the end of the auditions, I was nervous to say the least. There were so many outgoing, talented people there, I was worried I wouldn't stand out. I was hoping my previous experience as a zoo volunteer would help set me apart. I got a call a few hours later and was offered the job! I am so excited for this opportunity. Training starts tomorrow. Zoo education is very unique in that you have only a few seconds to help visitors make connections with wildlife.

I'll do another update on the orientation and will probably change gears a little bit and write about teaching English in Thailand with International Language Programs.

Introduction

Hello friends! I am so excited to start this blog and share my passion for education. I will write about my experiences teaching English as a second language for International Language Programs, being a substitute teacher, and working in zoo and museum education. Stay tuned for updates!