Getting to Know Us a Little Better

Day 10 Blogging Challenge

Share five random facts about yourself.

Share four things from your bucket list.

Share three things that you hope for this year, as a “person” or an educator.

Share two things that have made you laugh or cry as an educator.

Share one thing you wish more people knew about you.

5 Random Facts: 

Meg-

1. I have been to five of the seven continents.  (See bucket list below for remaining two.)

   

   After hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

2. Cozy is my favorite word.  It just makes me happy.  :)
3. I really wish the television show FRIENDS were back on the air!  Nothing like a good laugh.
4. I am definitely a foodie, but if I could only eat one food for the rest of my life it would be Portillo's chopped salad.
5. I have two scars on my left hand (kitchen knife & friend's braces from a cheerleading fall) and one on my left knee (playground accident in 5th grade).

Jamie-

1. I love to be out on the lake fishing.  There is nothing like reeling in the big catch.
2. Before majoring in education, I was a studying political science with the hope of one day becoming a lawyer.
3. I once jumped out of a gondola at the top of the mountain in Telluride, Colorado.  I decided I didn't  like it any longer, and jumped out at a transfer point.  A worker from the resort drove my husband and I down the mountain instead.  I still can't believe I did that--yikes!
4. In high school I was a band geek.  I was a percussionist, and I really loved marching band season.
5. One of my first jobs was a bowling instructor.  I taught young kids the basics of bowling.

4 Things from My Bucket List

Meg-

1. Become a mother
2. Travel to all seven continents (I am 5/7 of the way to my goal)
3. Take a hot air balloon ride
4. Continue to take risks and try new things each and every day

Jamie-

1. Build my dream house from the ground up.
2. Write and publish a fiction story (picture book or young adult novel).
3. Travel to Italy to visit my aunt and cousins. I'd really like to take my parents, too.
4. Own my own business (Meg....what do you think?).

3 Things I Hope for This Year

Meg-

1. To use formative data more resourcefully to alter my instruction and intervention
2. To laugh every day with my students so their memories of sixth grade math all involve the word "fun".
3. To continue to learn from my colleagues and be open to new ideas

Jamie-

1. I have already made a promise to my students to keep up with using our portfolios for self assessment and to show personal growth in both reading and writing.
2. To keep my classroom organized especially my desk area.
3. To actually get through three or more read aloud novels this year.  I am especially nervous about this one :)

2 Things that Made you Laugh/Cry as an Educator

Meg-

1. Seeing my first group of sixth graders come back from college to visit me (and receiving emails from some that attend my alma mater with campus updates)--so crazy and wonderful it makes me both laugh and cry
2. Hearing about difficult home lives of my students (cry)

Jamie-

1. As our school continues to be more rigorous with curriculum to meet the demands of the CCSS, I hope that people also remember that teaching is also about building relationships.  It is okay to have fun, too.  
2. After 21 years of teaching at the same school, I truly value the friends I have made.  Some of us are like family.  I can't imagine my life with them not in it!

1 Thing I Wish More People Knew About Me

Meg-

1. This may be evident already, but I love learning from and collaborating with my colleagues.  I want all educators to know that I love hearing about ideas from your classroom just as much as I love sharing my classroom experiences.  I would love to hear from you any time!

Jamie-

1. I know that I have a smile on my face and laughter bubbling out of me most of the time, but I am also a very serious person.  I try very hard to keep up with educational research and best practice. Being a teacher is something that makes me very proud. There is no better job!