Shelter Dogs

We have a shelter dog. She is insane - loves to dig and bark and play. She has a toy duck that she sings to in the morning.

This morning while enjoying a cup of coffee I saw this commercial - and cried. That's how you know it's a good one... or that I'm a sap.

He comes from the land down under

A little over 6 years ago I got married to my best friend.

He and I dated for 4 long years. He was in Sydney - I was in Flagstaff (going to NAU).

In two and a half days we leave to go to Sydney for a month.

We will be spending time with his family and enjoying a long needed vacation.

Here are a few things I am looking forward to:

- Spending time with Family
- The train ride up to see Nannie and Pop
- Cherry Ripe candy bars - think mounds with cherries in it
- Tasty Cheese, this is really the title of this type of cheese, it's not like cheddar and not like jack but somewhere in the middle, and it's amazing
- Walks into the junction - His family lives in a little suburb outside of Sydney and we are able to walk into the local train station to go into the city.
- Public transportation
- The beach - It's winter time so there will be no dip in the water for me, but it sure is pretty.

The last time we were back was in 2006 - so this is a long overdue trip. I should go pack some more and make sure I have enough socks and sweaters. It's a very strange process to pack in shorts and tank top - but be counting the number of sweaters I need to take with us.

Advanced 10

I have dislexia.

I was in classes that helped me with reading from 2nd to 5th grade. I tested out of RSP when I went to middle school but still struggled with reading. My 8th grade English teacher refused to let me go into advanced English or Spanish when I went on to high school.

Now I teach advanced English. This is insane to me. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE it. I've had advanced 11 for a few years now and l.o.v.e. it.

This year in my mail box I got the memo that I would be teaching Advanced 10. I was a little shocked and then progressively excited.

I found out what the books are and now I'm interested in adding two more supplemental books to the list. We have four books for supplemental reading and I would like to be able to let students choose four - these are the four that are already on the list

Joy Luck Club
Native Son
All Quiet on the Western Front
Things Fall Apart

Core Lit:
Of Mice and Men
Night
Julius Caesar
Animal Farm

If you were going to add two titles what would they be?

It's world lit - I was kinda hoping for a good piece with a latino/a background.

Thoughts?

ohhh vacation - I love you

I left my keys with the front office at 11:45 today! It felt great.

I did get some filing done in my room - I could always do more, but it is what it is.

Here is the plan for the summer.0

• Next 16 days prep for Australia trip!
• July 1st - fly to Sydney
• Have fun with family and friends
• Eat way to much food - but it's oohhh so yummy
• Aug 3rd - get back to the US
• Aug 10th - get ready for the new school year.

I can't believe that it's going to be my 6th year teaching. It's so weird to think that I've been teaching this long. This last year has been the hardest by far. It was hard because I didn't have the connection to the campus like I had in years past.

For four years I was a class adviser and I loved it. It was so amazing to guide wonderful kids to do wonderful things in their lives.

But it was hard to not go to things that I had gone to for so long. I love being involved in campus life. It's been a part of who I am for close to 15 years. I was in student government in high school, and was an RA in college. It feels good to give back. It feels good to be involved.

A few weeks ago I applied for a leadership position on campus but I didn't get it. To be honest I'm still crushed. I'm getting over it, but it was a hard loss.

Next year I am really hoping that something falls into my lap. I know that great things are a head of me. I don't know what it is yet. But I just hope that clarity and a bit of time off helps me find it.

Night and SR projects

So because I don't have children of my own - I have to boast about the 'children' I am in charge of at school.


This Student read The Book Thief









This one read Because of Romek by David Faber
It's hard to see but she wrote a quote from the book and his number






This student read In My Hands by Opdyke - It's the biography of a Catholic girl during the Holocaust who saved Jews by hiding them in the basement of a Nazi official




I'm so proud of my little cherubs!

a week to go

So a lot has been going on over the past few weeks.

I had the amazing opportunity to be nominated for the Crystal Apple Awards and received runner up. I was able to speak for a moment and really was amazed by the outpouring of love and support from my fellow teachers and the members of the LDS church who host the Awards.

My brother Evan got married this past weekend. He had been dating Rachel for three years and they were engaged last summer. We had a wonderful time and I'm so happy for them.

This is the last week of school. It is always the hardest week of the year. I would rather be experiencing the first week - it's the amount of grading the last week that kills. It feels like you are in the last moments of watching the sand fall out of a timer. There are so many emails and so many parents wondering what is going on with their child. I would love to be able to say to them. There is currently nothing you can do to save the grade, but if you have the ability to make a time machine and go back to force your kid to do their homework - then we are in business.

I want to take my camera to school tomorrow and take pictures of some of the amazing projects my sophomores did to capstone our Night unit. I had them choose SR books that would connect to Night. Their project was to make a memorial to honor those 11 million lives lost. They did so well. I'm so proud.

It's been a wild few weeks. And I know that this post is a bit all over the place. When summer starts in a week I promise I will sound less crazy!