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Friday, July 12, 2013

Who Me?

It looks as if I've been nominated for a Liebster Award! Thanks, Amy. Amy is a middle school teacher thus her blog is the Middle School Minions!

 
There are a few rules for the Liebster Award:
1. Link back to the blog that nominated you.
2. Answer the questions the nominator asked you.
3. Create 11 questions for your own nominees.
4. Nominate 5-11 blogs with less than 200 followers.
5. Contact the nominees to let them know that you nominated them.
 
Sounds easy enough. Here goes:
Questions for me from Amy
 
1. What made you interested in blogging? I wanted to collaborate with other librarians and then quickly turned to also following ELA teachers. I get so many wonderful ideas from classroom teachers. I've been known to send my teachers to some of the blogs I follow.
 
2. Share your favorite easy recipe after a work day. I love to crock-pot! My "go to" meal is what I call Sunday Chicken. I simply place frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot, drizzle with Italian dressing, turn on low and go to school! When I get home all I have to do is fix a couple quick veggies and dinner is served.
 
3. What is your most memorable teaching experience? After teaching almost 20 years, I have several great memories. I guess the one that stands out the most was when one of my former students thanked me for being his teacher during his high school valedictorian speech. I cried. He's now a teacher. Makes me so proud!
 
4. Where did you graduate from college and why did you pick that school? East Tennessee State University. It was close to home and I could afford the tuition. I also received a scholarship if I attended. (Very Important!!!)
 
5. How do you deal with difficult students and parents? I rarely have problems with students in my library classes, but when it happens the one thing I've learned is to remain calm. If at all possible, I try to wait and make sure I'm totally composed before I contact the parents. I do have a "time out" corner in the library for students who need a moment to collect themselves. I can see them, but they're not as visual to the other students. I try to make my classes so exciting/fun that no one wants to miss library!
 
6. How do you  plan on staying organized this school year? I have purchased a planner from TPT and I'm going to organize one larger notebook. I teach library classes, computer lab classes, and have Reading RTI groups. Last year I kept them all in separate notebooks. I found that I was constantly digging for the "other" notebook. I also have started using dropbox. LOVE IT. It's keeps my files from my school workstation synced with my home laptop.
 
7. What is your favorite television show? This one is hard. It's probably Design Star but Duck Dynasty is a close second. I don't watch a lot of TV. My nose is usually in a book!
 
8. Do you speak any other languages? Not unless you count East Tennessean! The tech people on the phone never seem to understand or maybe I just don't understand them! (I'm also my school's technology support teacher.)
 
9. What is your favorite educational website?  I use United Streaming with my teachers. If the teachers need a quick video of something for their class, I can usually find it. I frequently use Starfall for my lower grades in the computer lab.
 
10. What is your favorite professional development book? This summer it's been all about Debbie Diller. I've been reading a lot about centers and small groups. Currently my favorites are her Literacy Work Stations: Making Centers Work and Making the Most of Small Groups: Differentiation for All.
 
11. How do you feel about grading? Do you grade everything the kids do or do you use participation grades from some student work? How do you grade their notebooks and homework? I'm lucky I don't have to keep grades. But, when I was a classroom teacher (6-8th ELA) I graded almost everything from the students. I assigned a lot of projects with rubrics so it made grading easy. If we had a bunch of little assignments, I had no problem with participation grades.  
 
Random facts about me:
 
1. I married my high school sweetheart. We started dating our senior year then all though college and grad school.  
2. I love to sing, play the organ, teach Sunday School and help with our Youth Choir at church.
3. I love RED LOBSTER!
4. My favorite favor of ice cream is strawberry! Chocolate is a close second.
5. I love my flower beds but hate to weed them.
6. I hate/fear mice.
7. My favorite chapter book is The Giver by Lois Lowery.
8. I collect Agatha Christie novels and old blue canning jars.
9. If I had to pick my favorite children's illustrator it would be a tie between Eric Carle and Denise Fleming.
10. One year I was "banned" from doing the "snow dance" in my library by the UPS driver. We missed over 10 days that January.
11. My nickname at school is "Little Miss Sunshine."
 
 
 
 
 
Questions for my nominees:

1.       What’s your favorite subject/grade to teach?

2.       What is your favorite picture book?

3.       What is your favorite chapter book?

4.       Give us your best teaching tip for new teachers.

5.       What piece of technology could you not do without in your classroom and why?

6.       What is your favorite “after work” meal?

7.       What are your hobbies?

8.       List your 3 favorite vacation spots.

9.       What is one thing you have purchased for your classroom this summer?

10.    What book would you recommend for fellow teachers?

11.     If you won $500 for your classroom what would you purchase?
 


In the spirit of the Liebster Award, I nominate:

Crystal at The Library Fox  


Rachael at Classroom Game Nook
 
Kara at To Engage Them All

Kristy at 2 Peas and a Dog

4 comments:

  1. Congratulation! I was surprised to read how much you teach besides library. Wow!
    --Chrissy firstgradefoundme.blogspot.com

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  2. My school is very small. I wear lots of hats out of necessity! I don't mind. I love my job/jobs and my school.

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  3. Sara, I loved learning more about you! I'm not too far away in Kentucky so it is great to see another southern blogger too! :) Your most memorable moment is the kind I hope to experience once in my lifetime...just to have a former student remember you years later and say thank you. What a blessing!

    ~Amy
    http://middleschoolminions.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. It was truly a blessing. Everyone needs a "Jordon" at least once in their career. It was definitely a delight to go to work everyday he was in my class.

    ReplyDelete

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