In no particular order... and maybe a few more, too...
Travels
1. Disneyland at Christmas
2. Colonial Williamsburg
3. Washington, DC
4. Civil War tour
The Theater
5. Wicked
6. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Movies
7. Harry Potter Movie Marathon
8. Breaking Dawn
Hobbies
9. Reading
10. Crocheting
11. Crafting
Family, Friends, & Others
12. Family
13. Friends
14. Others
Technology
15. iPad
16. New Camera
Experiences
17. Relief Society at the prison
18. Camp Spike & Wave
19. Craft Booth at Midvale Days
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Because of Mr. Terupt
I really, really needed a good book to read. Something uplifting. But quick. This book was it!
Because of Mr. Terupt made me re-remember that teaching is more about the tests-at-the-end-of-the-year. It's more than the book-learning that goes on. It's more than passing AYP and NCLB standards. Sometimes being a teacher is just being a good person, helping students on their way in other parts of their lives besides the 'school life'.
The 'telling' of this book is through 7 different student narrators. What a great, effective way to tell such a great school story. Of course everyone sees and feels and experiences something different in class. Yet the commonalities the kids share is incredible.
Loved it!
Totally recommend it!
Because of Mr. Terupt made me re-remember that teaching is more about the tests-at-the-end-of-the-year. It's more than the book-learning that goes on. It's more than passing AYP and NCLB standards. Sometimes being a teacher is just being a good person, helping students on their way in other parts of their lives besides the 'school life'.
The 'telling' of this book is through 7 different student narrators. What a great, effective way to tell such a great school story. Of course everyone sees and feels and experiences something different in class. Yet the commonalities the kids share is incredible.
Loved it!
Totally recommend it!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thankful - Linky Party
1. What are you thankful for in your classroom?
My class this year - I love them! A lot!
My Promethean board, Elmo and projector - I couldn't teach without them!
Books - a lot of them. Never is "I can't find something to read" an option.
2. What people are you most thankful for?
My family - I wouldn't be where I am without my Mom, Dad, and Holly
My lunch group - I am sane thanks to Karen, Jami, Ryan, Vickie and Megan!
3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?
What the Teacher Wants - of course!
Read This!?!? - my BFF's new book blog
Heartland Paper - to keep me sane!
4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?
Diet Coke
Chocolate
Dancing with the Stars!
5. What are you most thankful for?
Family, friends, the gospel, a great job, health, and wellness!
My class this year - I love them! A lot!
My Promethean board, Elmo and projector - I couldn't teach without them!
Books - a lot of them. Never is "I can't find something to read" an option.
2. What people are you most thankful for?
My family - I wouldn't be where I am without my Mom, Dad, and Holly
My lunch group - I am sane thanks to Karen, Jami, Ryan, Vickie and Megan!
3. What 3 blogs are you most thankful for?
What the Teacher Wants - of course!
Read This!?!? - my BFF's new book blog
Heartland Paper - to keep me sane!
4. What guilty pleasure are you most thankful for?
Diet Coke
Chocolate
Dancing with the Stars!
5. What are you most thankful for?
Family, friends, the gospel, a great job, health, and wellness!
Monday, October 10, 2011
still here
yeah.
haven't blogged for a while.
i'm sure a lot of really great things have happened...
school... 33 5th graders... who are actually really quite great... just time-consuming...
40 books for the school year... most my kids are keeping up... me not so much... this is week 8... and at one a week i am about 3 weeks behind... but i have some really great books lined up... the new ranger's apprentice books for example...
math class... reading that i skim... lesson plans to re-write... but a lovely wednesday evening that passes by fairly quickly... and the best part is that i can come to school the next day with new ideas for discussion in math.
history class... even more reading that i just barely skim... does anyone get through it all?.. doubt it!... but good knowledge... and my favorite for dinner - golden corral... ick...
crochet class... really great students that don't need lots of help so i can stitch too... coming up with projects that will work is a little challenging... but good...
the utes... started out the season great... and now i have no idea what happened to them... except to say that they could give me a scholarship to fumble 10 times in the last two games... it's probably a good thing that the most important game of the year was early on, and they played a lot better than they really are, and the cougs played a lot worse than they really are...
general conference... was good... lots of things i need to work on... but i have apparently a lot of time to do that now... and not just to 2012 like all my great students say every time someone reports a new volcano or earthquake in the world... but i probably should be telling you this in person instead of sending it into the great cyber void...
so yeah.
see you in a few weeks... or months... or whatever...
haven't blogged for a while.
i'm sure a lot of really great things have happened...
school... 33 5th graders... who are actually really quite great... just time-consuming...
40 books for the school year... most my kids are keeping up... me not so much... this is week 8... and at one a week i am about 3 weeks behind... but i have some really great books lined up... the new ranger's apprentice books for example...
math class... reading that i skim... lesson plans to re-write... but a lovely wednesday evening that passes by fairly quickly... and the best part is that i can come to school the next day with new ideas for discussion in math.
history class... even more reading that i just barely skim... does anyone get through it all?.. doubt it!... but good knowledge... and my favorite for dinner - golden corral... ick...
crochet class... really great students that don't need lots of help so i can stitch too... coming up with projects that will work is a little challenging... but good...
the utes... started out the season great... and now i have no idea what happened to them... except to say that they could give me a scholarship to fumble 10 times in the last two games... it's probably a good thing that the most important game of the year was early on, and they played a lot better than they really are, and the cougs played a lot worse than they really are...
general conference... was good... lots of things i need to work on... but i have apparently a lot of time to do that now... and not just to 2012 like all my great students say every time someone reports a new volcano or earthquake in the world... but i probably should be telling you this in person instead of sending it into the great cyber void...
so yeah.
see you in a few weeks... or months... or whatever...
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Summer in a Post
Summer 2011
My summer very literally started the last day of school with a red-eye flight to Washington DC, and ended officially just days before the first day of school. What a great, crazy, summer!
Library of Congress Teacher Institute @ Washington DC w/ me
Computer Camp @ Deerfield w/ 16 kids
Computer Camp @ Deerfield w/ 16 kids
Utah National Guard 23rd Army Band @ the Tabernacle w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne
Hair Cut @ Joyce's w/ Joyce
 |
| The before |
Williamsburg Teacher Institute @ Williamsburg, Va w/ Karen and the history cohort
Relief Society patriotic presentation @ the Prison w/ Mom, Holly, and about 30 prisoners
Murray 4th of July Parade @ State Street w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne
Crocheting with Achievement Day girls @ Joee’s w/ Joee
 |
| Sad it's over... |
 |
| ... but happy it happened! |
Crocheting marathons @ the back porch w/ Mom
Pops Concert @ Abravenel Hall w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne
Pioneer Commemoration Concert @ the Conference Center w/ Mom and JoAnne
Cruising the parade route @ SLC w/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne
Camp Spike & Wave @ Park City w/ Holly and campers
 |
| another jackpot! |
Harvest Days booth @ Midvale w/Joee, Holly, Mom, &JoAnne
Riding the new Trax lines @ South Jordan and West Valley 2/ Mom, Holly, and JoAnne
Co-blab-eration @ Deerfield w/ Karen, Jami, and Ryan
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat @ Hale Center Theater w/ Mom, JoAnne, Holly, and Joee
Lagoon @ Lagoon w/ Holly
All this! Plus the usual… going to the rec center (hem, hem…), sleeping in (staying up late), being lazy, cleaning up, cleaning out, taking stuff to the DI (and watching to make sure they don’t take more than they’re supposed to!), enjoying Tippy’s adventures in the backyard (bird, anyone?), watching daytime TV (She’s Crafty, Matlock, Studio 5, Maury)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Summer wanderings...
Washington, DC
I totally had a great time in DC at the Library of Congress teacher seminar! It was fantastic! I LOVE DC! (see post dated a little ways back...)
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Williamsburg, Virginia
25 teachers from my district got to go to Colonial Williamsburg's teacher institute for a week. Talk about History Boot Camp! (Another week of 90+ degree temperatures combined with 90+% humidity (Utah really is a dry heat - but you can't fully appreciate that until you've experienced the opposite!) and I would have melted into the sidewalk!) We got to visit Jamestown, Yorktown, and, of course, Colonial Williamsburg. I learned so much while I was there, and gained a greater appreciation for Virginia as the first permanent English settlement in North America, and for the founding of our country. One thing that was particularly cool was that British soldiers occupied the town while we were there - so interesting to have so much going on!
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Harry Potter!
Holly and I plotted many weeks ago to do a multi-day marathon showing of all the Harry Potter movies, and to take Mom and JoAnne. It started on Monday and wrapped up Friday morning with the 7.2 movie starting at 12:01. It was kind of sad, really, to have such an important part of my life over with. Is that dumb? A book and movie series as an important part of my life? I guess having these types of interests though is what makes life life. JK Rowling did say this though, which is helpful: “Whether you come back to it by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." It was fun to see all the movies on a gigantor screen and with a fun crowd. They gave us lanyards with our movie pass, and served up butter beer the last night. Oh, and the popcorn. Yum. Though I think that I'm capped out on that. Definitely a worthwhile way to spend 20 hours of my summer, lazy life.
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Accomplishments
There are some summer days when my biggest goal for the day is to shower. Other days I'm more ambitious. Like wearing shoes other than bummy flip flops.
Many summers I don't have anything to show for what I did, but with my great seminars and movie marathoning, I got certificates for all of them (yes, even the HP marathon!). I think I'll frame them and post them on my wall at school and see which impresses the kids the most.
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Crocheting
I love crocheting. I really do. I learned how a long time ago, I think when someone in my ward or a teacher or someone was having a baby, and I asked JoAnne to show me how to crochet around a burp cloth. I was in elementary school then. I liked it okay, but didn't have a lot of patience for crocheting with such small thread (I still don't...). I also didn't have a lot of time to do it, and definitely no money to fund my habit.
Fast forward to 9th grade. Ms. Woodger's creative stitchery class. What a great class - one of the best I've ever had, probably (for what we did - not so much for my classmates, that's an entirely different post!). We did a little bit of everything handiwork - cross stitch, swedish weaving, plastic canvas, knit, sew on a machine, needle point, quilting, and crocheting. I'm definitely more of a jack-of-all-trades with these skills, but they are great skills to have!
Fast forward to two years ago. Mom, Holly, JoAnne and I decided to take a crochet class via community school. It was so fun to get back to crocheting again! JoAnne especially acted like she didn't know a lot about crocheting, but it was good to have an expert with us on our table! Holly never really got into it much (college is a tough time to do anything with your life except study). Mom loved it - she only mastered one stitch really well (we're still trying to figure out what that stitch actually is...), but she uses it all the time. Her favorite thing to crochet? Dishcloths!
I've loved getting back to crocheting. It's fun, it's relaxing, it's not something that everyone does. I'm not totally creative on my own, but I am good at following a pattern, so I've made some fun things. Last spring I taught my own community school class at WXHS for beginning crocheters. I was shocked at how many people came! And how many people wanted to make sure I did another class this fall! I also crocheted a lot of hats over the summer to be sold at Harvest Days... Um, yeah, that went over like a lead balloon... but at least I've got all my Christmas gifts ready to go.
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Personal History
I've been thinking about the best ways to go about writing not only a history of myself, but a history of Dad. One of my aunts is big right now into writing biographies of deceased relatives. They're finely written for the relatives I didn't know at all... but now that she's getting more into writing about people that I actually did know, like my Grandma, I see all the holes that are there and have been wondering how to write someone's life without things missing. I guess a lot of it has to do with the documents and pictures that people leave behind, along with the stories and memories that others have of them. The latter is particularly troublesome to me - no one person has the same memories as anyone else... so how do you get it all? Any ideas?
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
I totally had a great time in DC at the Library of Congress teacher seminar! It was fantastic! I LOVE DC! (see post dated a little ways back...)
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Williamsburg, Virginia
25 teachers from my district got to go to Colonial Williamsburg's teacher institute for a week. Talk about History Boot Camp! (Another week of 90+ degree temperatures combined with 90+% humidity (Utah really is a dry heat - but you can't fully appreciate that until you've experienced the opposite!) and I would have melted into the sidewalk!) We got to visit Jamestown, Yorktown, and, of course, Colonial Williamsburg. I learned so much while I was there, and gained a greater appreciation for Virginia as the first permanent English settlement in North America, and for the founding of our country. One thing that was particularly cool was that British soldiers occupied the town while we were there - so interesting to have so much going on!
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Harry Potter!
Holly and I plotted many weeks ago to do a multi-day marathon showing of all the Harry Potter movies, and to take Mom and JoAnne. It started on Monday and wrapped up Friday morning with the 7.2 movie starting at 12:01. It was kind of sad, really, to have such an important part of my life over with. Is that dumb? A book and movie series as an important part of my life? I guess having these types of interests though is what makes life life. JK Rowling did say this though, which is helpful: “Whether you come back to it by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." It was fun to see all the movies on a gigantor screen and with a fun crowd. They gave us lanyards with our movie pass, and served up butter beer the last night. Oh, and the popcorn. Yum. Though I think that I'm capped out on that. Definitely a worthwhile way to spend 20 hours of my summer, lazy life.
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Accomplishments
There are some summer days when my biggest goal for the day is to shower. Other days I'm more ambitious. Like wearing shoes other than bummy flip flops.
Many summers I don't have anything to show for what I did, but with my great seminars and movie marathoning, I got certificates for all of them (yes, even the HP marathon!). I think I'll frame them and post them on my wall at school and see which impresses the kids the most.
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Crocheting
I love crocheting. I really do. I learned how a long time ago, I think when someone in my ward or a teacher or someone was having a baby, and I asked JoAnne to show me how to crochet around a burp cloth. I was in elementary school then. I liked it okay, but didn't have a lot of patience for crocheting with such small thread (I still don't...). I also didn't have a lot of time to do it, and definitely no money to fund my habit.
Fast forward to 9th grade. Ms. Woodger's creative stitchery class. What a great class - one of the best I've ever had, probably (for what we did - not so much for my classmates, that's an entirely different post!). We did a little bit of everything handiwork - cross stitch, swedish weaving, plastic canvas, knit, sew on a machine, needle point, quilting, and crocheting. I'm definitely more of a jack-of-all-trades with these skills, but they are great skills to have!
Fast forward to two years ago. Mom, Holly, JoAnne and I decided to take a crochet class via community school. It was so fun to get back to crocheting again! JoAnne especially acted like she didn't know a lot about crocheting, but it was good to have an expert with us on our table! Holly never really got into it much (college is a tough time to do anything with your life except study). Mom loved it - she only mastered one stitch really well (we're still trying to figure out what that stitch actually is...), but she uses it all the time. Her favorite thing to crochet? Dishcloths!
I've loved getting back to crocheting. It's fun, it's relaxing, it's not something that everyone does. I'm not totally creative on my own, but I am good at following a pattern, so I've made some fun things. Last spring I taught my own community school class at WXHS for beginning crocheters. I was shocked at how many people came! And how many people wanted to make sure I did another class this fall! I also crocheted a lot of hats over the summer to be sold at Harvest Days... Um, yeah, that went over like a lead balloon... but at least I've got all my Christmas gifts ready to go.
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Personal History
I've been thinking about the best ways to go about writing not only a history of myself, but a history of Dad. One of my aunts is big right now into writing biographies of deceased relatives. They're finely written for the relatives I didn't know at all... but now that she's getting more into writing about people that I actually did know, like my Grandma, I see all the holes that are there and have been wondering how to write someone's life without things missing. I guess a lot of it has to do with the documents and pictures that people leave behind, along with the stories and memories that others have of them. The latter is particularly troublesome to me - no one person has the same memories as anyone else... so how do you get it all? Any ideas?
--- ~~~ --- ~~~ ---
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
I {heart} WDC!
 |
| Looking toward the National Mall from Arlington House |
Things I {heart} about Washington DC:
1. I love the Metro. I like that I can take the Metro and walk pretty much everywhere I want to go. It's safe, it's clean, it's easy to figure out where you want to go.
 |
| Luv my Metro stop! |
2. Tourists. Yes, I know that I'm one when I'm here too, but I really try to not look conspicuously like one (well, except for the camera - but even that, I don't bring all 8 zillion lenses with me). I like how parents and children are making connections over the documents, monuments, and artifacts they're seeing. I also like chuckling to myself when parents get it wrong.
 |
| Paying my respects to President Lincoln |
3. Too much to see! Museums, monuments, exhibits, offices, restaurants x 10 million! There are so many things to do and see - how could you ever see it all?
 |
| WWII Memorial |
4. Softball on the National Mall. I love that teams - law firms, offices, and congressional staffers - organize and play their games on the Mall. Sad to say, but watching them play is one of my favorite down-time activities when I'm done with museums and monuments.
Things that I could do without in WDC:
A. June = 8th graders on tour. Yeah. Avoid DC in June if at all possible.
 |
| Washington Monument, the emptied-out reflecting pool, and 9 million 8th graders and their poor chaperones and tour directors... I feel their pain, but I'm glad it's not me! |
 |
| The Capitol... and brown grass... ick... |
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