décembre.

Cannot believe we are halfway through December already. It boggles my mind! I haven't yet gotten into the Christmas spirit, although I find myself going through the motions. I've tried singing Christmas songs, watching Christmas movies, decorating a bit, doing some baking, and today I did half of my Christmas shopping. I can't even keep up with my advent calendar, because I just do not have Christmas on my brain. Tomorrow, at my parents house, we are decorating the tree, and hopefully that will help.

December has been an interesting month so far. Interesting, to say the least. I guess what I really mean, is that December has been stressful. Last month I worked as a TTOC for thirteen days. I mean that doesn't sound like a lot to those of you who work Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 kind of thing. But for a TTOC in this district, I felt it was a lot. This month however, halfway through the month and I have worked a grand total of 3.8 days. THREE POINT EIGHT DAYS. My phone has been oddly quiet, and just not ringing for work. I guess December is a quiet month for TTOCs because of all the Christmas events going on in the elementary schools. Anyways, I am stressed because how does one person live off of 3.8 days, and that money has got to last me until February 10th (TTOCs are only paid once a month, so my measly 3.8 days will be paid January 10th). Thank goodness for small fortunes like a GST cheque at the beginning of January.

As well as not really teaching, I came down with what seemed like the flu about a week and a half ago. After battling through extreme chills, a fever, and feeling nauseous for 3 days, I finally went to the dr. when my sore throat would not go away. A couple days later, I found out I actually had strep throat (which apparently is very similar to the flu and I've never had strep before so I didn't know).... so since then I've been popping penicillin like it's going out of style. In some sort of blessing, I managed not to get a phone call for work in the 2 days that I needed for sleep and rest. I am very thankful for that. I did not want to have to turn down work!

James returned home last night for the holidays. Happy to have him back, because I haven't seen him since July! It's been too long! Missing my other extended  family dearly. Wish I was able to get to Vancouver more... feeling like a need some QT with the fam, and sad we won't be seeing them at Christmas. However, we may be taking a short trip to Osoyoos for a few days after Christmas. That way we get to see my other grandmother, aunt, and cousins. If only more of the family would travel over for a visit too! Missing all the little munchkins.

Peace and take care.

XO

back in action.

Well, here I am again. The last time I had posted was April of 2010. Now in December 2012, it has definitely been awhile. I did the tumblr thing for a bit (still have an active account, but almost never on), had twitter and facebook (axed those in October 2012), and all I am left with is pinterest, instagram, and coming back now... blogspot. I tried a bunch of different blogs for a bit (teaching/practicum blogs, gratitude blogs, and a personal blog--but they never stuck! I always loved blogging ... having my own space, and being able to just write and post whatever I wanted without the obligation of a feed and having to go through others "stuff".

Let's try this again. As we embark into a brand new year (2012 was very lovely to me), I am excited to start up One Hundred Million Suns again.

Cheers. Hope your holiday season is off to a good start.

Thoughts go out to those affected in today's awful tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Cannot believe that guns are legal in the states. Please Obama, we need gun control and new laws.

Taylor.

the drizzles

hey lovers... just wanted to let you all know that I am now on tumblr:

http://www.taylorlinknipe.tumblr.com/

see you there.

xx

cute as a button

eh? to zed!

Here I am .... Saturday day and evening working away on 10 of the 26 maple leaf letters for my Canadian alphabet. Since there are only 16 kidlets in my class, I have to make up for the other letters. It's been fun though... so far I have done A is for Alberta, E is for elk, K is for kayak, Q is for quarter, U is for uranium, V is for vacation, X is for X-crossing skiing, Y is for Yukon Territory, and Z is for zamboni. I just have to do J still, and that'll make it 10. And I am drawing little pictures for each of them, and I have to admit, they are pretty CUTE looking maple leaves :)

Other than that, I went for lunch with Nicole and Steph to That's a Wrap ... it was delish, I haven't had it in soooo long. I also hit up the gym before supper, and then had a t.v. dinner with my parents and we watched some of Crazy Heart.

Now, I am getting ready to head down to the show to see The Back-up Plan with J-Lo! I love her movies; they are so cute and funny!

Happy Saturday.

ps. Great Minds Think Alike: apparently my brother and I did identical blog posts just three days apart (he did his first, but I swear, I did not see his before posting mine). Crazy!

xx

fine shrine

glory club

blair waldorf vs. audrey hepburn

practicum week 02

I have hardly blogged (and I said I would)...but I've been busy with practicum, and though I haven't been busy, busy...it has basically consumed my life (in a great way). I am loving it. I can't find the words to describe how much it fits me (and I am so blessed to have gotten a K/1 class, and a wonderful host teacher) just perfectly. I am so excited that I am this happy with going into education, and becoming a teacher! I am thrilled :)

This weeek was good. I taught about 3 lessons, and they all went terrifically. I am still working on my peripheral vision ... it's hard! I am so comfortable in front of the kids now, and I am developing a relationship with all of them ... three weeks is not enough time! I wish I had another week ahead .... I would stay until the end of June if I could!

I have so many stories, and I wish I could share them all, but you'll have to ask me about them in person if you want to know more details... it's all too hard to explain on the blog!

Anyways, it's the weekend: happy for a little break ... and I need some time to finish planning my last two official lessons. Then, I am also doing a third lesson on Thursday with Jenny (we are team-teaching) and we are going to be doing a drama based lesson!

--enjoy the weekend, you cats. and I hope the sunshine stays!

xx

calories make me happy

Why I love Puck and Quinn

look alikes

Two men that I love: I think that they resemble each other! One is from the hit show Glee on Fox, and the other is from the amazing drama The Pacific on HBO. You need to watch both if you haven't, and I think you'll start to see the similarities.

Meet James Badge Dale and Matthew Morrison ...

(J.B.D. is featured on the right)

(M.M.)

glee(ful) moments

sunday funday

Today's been a wonderful, relaxing day! I was able to sleep in a bit more than yesterday. I got up, and watched some more Modern Family (I am all caught up now...can't wait for Wednesday's episode!). Then, I revised my lesson plan for tomorrow's soccer skills. I added on another game to play if there was time leftover at the end. Last time I felt I had to make up for time because it was dragging on a bit much. But, tomorrow I've got two back up games, so I think the lesson will be jam packed! After that, I went for a bike ride with my parents on Rails to Trails. It was really sunny and warm at first, but then started to rain. It was fun though, and I got to try out my Gramma's old bike! We hit up the superstore afterwards, and now I am home sipping chai tea, and finishing off some mini eggs (they were 24 cents a piece at the superstore!).

Tonight: dinner, printing off lesson plans, and possibly Brothers and Sisters (if it's a new one!)

Hope you all had some relaxing days :)

xx

besties

praticum week 01

Hello, weekend. Was I ever happy for the weekend (not to say that I am not loving practicum, buuut I definitely needed a bit of a break)!

The first week went swimmingly. I am so happy about my placement, my host teacher, and my class. I hope that for future practicums, I am welcomed with open arms like this one! It's been fantastic, and the students at KCA are wonderful too. I have two lessons to date. I taught my No, David, sign language one, and a PE one.

The LA one went well! The kids were a bit noisy during it, but I think they were excited to learn something new, and the lesson was super interactive, and perfect for all types of learners. I hope that my other LA lessons are as good as this one! This lesson was on Thursday, and on Friday I assessed the students again before lunch, and they all seemed to remember the signs, I was so impressed!

Yesterday (Friday), I taught a PE lesson just for the grade 1's, and my supervisor (no host teacher this lesson). It went okay, but I felt that the 45 minutes was much too long, and I should have had another game for at the end (reminder: add another something onto my Monday's PE lesson!). The students were testing their luck, and kept asking to grab a drink of water: next time I will make sure that students drink water before the lesson, and then not until the end. Also, I have to make sure that the doors are closed in the gym, because one of the little girls kept running in and out! My supervisor said overall it went well, I just need to work on some details, that I guess I wouldn't have known about until I taught because they are student behaviors.

Anyways, I am loving being back in Cranny for a visit, teaching, and this warm sunshine to boot! Yesterday and Thursday it really started to warm up, and today is supposed to be fantastic as well. I can't wait! I can't believe I've been in town for over a week, time is flying. I feel myself getting attached to my students, and I know for sure it's going to be hard to leave them in two weeks :(

Last night I watched episodes of Modern Family: it is hilarious. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely give it a go! I also went to Hotshots with Steph and caught up a bit. And had a yummy green tea latte :)

Today: gym, relax, possibly outside for a walk if the sunshine stays! Tonight: my mom and I are going for sushi, and then to Mum's the Word with some of her girlfriend. Hope I can keep up with all the mom lingo..

Happy weekends to you all

xx

super heroes.

I am teaching my first lesson tomorrow. I am super stoked, and not so nervous now that I have worked it out with my parents, and tweaked it a bit! It is feeeling pretty organized. I am still nervous though, for things like classroom management, and really hoping the children stay engaged for the entire time!

Friday I am also teaching (PE), and my supervisor will there. I hope that one goes well too, but he seems super friendly and easy going. Friday is also Superhero day, and so you can dress up as any one of your role-models. I decided to dress up as my Dad and wear like a tool belt and safety goggles.

Not feeling so good today. Sore throat, and this afternoon my head was spinning. I came home and had a nap, and took some tylenol...and I feel much better now. I had a light dinner too, cause just in case I am going to puke, I don't want too much to come out! haha. I also don't want to get sick, and have to miss any practicum and miss out on wonderful things!

Can't believe that I've been here for 6 days already! Time is flying.

---Sleep time.

xx

this blog should really be devoted to audrey hepbun...

get ready for it.

--This is the first time in a long time that I've been 100% open/personal on here...so here goes...

Okay, I am going to have to rant here.

I am seriously so sick, so over, and so fricken frustrated when people say "that's sooo gay". It is really ignorant to use the word "gay" to describe something with a negative connotation. Why is it that people have to relate the word gay to something negative? It's really lame. It's really immature. People who use it have become accustomed to using it in their everyday slang. But really, it's not so hard to insert another word into "That's so ______". Hello, ever heard of a thesaurus? When you look up the word GAY in the dictionary, does it have any relation to anything negative? NOO. I didn't think so.

I guess I am really frustrated, because people use this slang way more in Cranbrook than in Victoria (where there are obviously more gay people, and people just DON'T SAY IT!). And I have heard it/seen it more in the past 5 days, than I have in the past 5 months. I am not trying to point fingers at anyone, because everyone has said it, including me. But I stopped it a long time ago, when I realized that when I used the phrase, "that's so gay", it actually had nothing to do with anything I was referring to. It is offensive to not only the gay population, but to a lot of straight people as well. Every time I hear it, I cringe....really, I do.

I won't get into the whole homophobe thing or the slang word fag, but for those of you out there who insist on using this phrase: grow a pair, and figure out another word, another phrase, another sentence to use besides "that's so gay". Because that term is so OVER with.

Hey, we're in 2010 now, and we're smart...we can think of something else to say.

I am Taylor Knipe, and I will not stand by and keep my mouth shut when people use the phrase "that's so gay".

ps. you can also refer to the video I posted in January here

thoughts

practicum day 01

I woke up this morning and did not wanna get out of bed because of my nerves! However, I felt wide awake, and excited to at what the day had to bring. I ended up going to school early and attending the morning Devotions. It was nice to meet all of the staff (or most of it), and everyone was female which is nice too. Devotions is new to me, but it was mostly people talking about concerns (personal concerns), and then people praying for one another.

Every Monday, there is a morning assembly that the K-6's attend. It is mostly for announcements, and the principal leads a story/lecture sort of thing. We got introduced at assembly so that most of the students could meet us (or at least see us waving!)

After that, we did the usual school thing. I decided to jump right in and starting helping with whatever needed helping. I ended up working with the Kindergarteners a lot while my teacher taught the grade 1's. I also had a chance to help out the grade 1's while they were working in their work books.

I brought a game with my to help the kids get to know me a bit better. I had 6 true/false questions (but called them yes, no), and they had to put up their thumbs or stick them down depending on what they chose. Then, I let students choose the card, and read it to the class. Then, I explained my answer. I tricked them with the last one "I have red curly hair", and they all looked at me like "WHHHAT!!", then I laughed and told them it was a joke! I got them good. Then I handed out my letter of intro, and they have taken them home to read with their parents.

Other than that, I just really had a great day with the students, and am finding myself remembering their names easily. I am trying to use names as much as possible in order to grab their attention, as well as me memorize them!

I am teaching my first lesson on Thursday, and I think I'll do my sign language one or the I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato one, because I am most familiar with those. I am teaching a PE lesson on Friday, and being observed by my Supervisor.

That's all folks! This afternoon, I have just been doing more lesson planning to prep for my supervisor visit tomorrow. My mom and I watched Brothers and Sisters, and had dinner together...and I am going to be watching Life Unexpected soon!

xx