Liebster Award

I don't like to do two posts in one day, especially when one is this long, but I realized that it had been two weeks since Jessi at Mrs. Hester's Classroom nominated me for a Liebster Award!  Thank you Jessi!

As it was explained to my through Mrs. Hester's Blog and my own research, the Liebster Award is an award that is for blogs with less than 200 followers.  It is a means to promote your blog and hopefully gain some more followers.  It is a way for fellow bloggers to welcome the new little guys into the world of blogging.  One also can't deny that when your starting out, a nomination is acknowledgement that someone is reading and liking what you are producing! :)  There are some rules to accepting the award, though.

First of all, I need to answer the questions that Jessi left for me to answer.  So here we go!

1. What is your favorite thing about your job?
My favorite thing is that it is never the same day twice.  I love that everyday is different and that I have so much say in making my day be what I want it to be.

2. What is your morning routine once you arrive at school?

It's usually warming up the computer and doing a quick e-mail check.  Double checking that I have everything I need for my morning and sometimes making a quick run to the copier!  The last part of my routine is the all important bathroom stop.

3. How do you decide what to assess?

I usually check the standards for my state and make decisions from there.

4. If you weren't a teacher, what would you do?

I would like to do interior designing.  I would also like to try my hand at technical writing.  This is of course assuming that being a college professor would still be in the realm of teacher.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I want to say that I would move to Hawaii to be closer to my best friend, but I think I would go island crazy after awhile.  I think moving to Costa Rica would be nice for awhile, but Minnesota is where I always call home.

6. What is your favorite meal to cook/eat?

My mom's roast beef by far is my favorite meal to eat.  I can't make mine taste like hers.

7. What is your favorite school supply? You have to choose one!

New notebooks because there are so many possibilities of what it could become.

8.  What is your best tip for new teachers?

It came from a college professor who said that becoming a teacher was a process.  You don't just walk into the classroom on the first day and suddenly become a teacher.  The first year you teach you just are.  You are five minutes ahead of the kids and things go badly sometimes.  The second year you become.  You have less things going wrong because you learned from last year.  You are better prepared and full of new things to try.  It is the third year that you say, I am a teacher.  Looking back at my first three years I would say that Sr. Patricia Ann Obremski was correct.

9. How do you handle the tardy bell? What is the first thing students do?

My school is a small private school.  We don't have a tardy bell, which is good and bad.  Kids are good about being on time.  First thing students do is get out homework for me to give them completion points.

10. How many years have you been teaching?

This will be my 15th year teaching.

Next, I need to share 11 random facts about myself:

1. I am a huge Little House on the Prairie fan.  

2. When I adopted my dog Ella from a rescue shelter, I asked her if she was sure she wanted to stay.  She put her paw on my arm and I signed the papers with a tear in my eye and giggle at her.

3. I live in Minnesota, but prefer to watch the Green Bay Packers.  Sorry Vikings fans!

4. I love gardens, but hate gardening.  I purposely buy the clearance plants that are half dead.  That way, if they don't make it I don't feel so bad and I am not out a lot of money.

5. I have a degree in Spanish Education as well as Elementary/Middle School Education.

6. I love teaching math, but math isn't a natural gift.  I have to work at it to get it.  I wish my students believed me when I tell them that.

7. I want to be a college professor someday.  I would love to work with pre-service teachers, especially in a methods course.

8. I hate when I forget to put on my watch or the battery runs out. 
9. I found out that I really like archery at camp with the kiddos.  I'm a decent shot.  I just need to practice more!
10. I love going to estate sales and garage sales.
11. I only crave chocolate that has caramel in it.

Next, I need to nominate 5 other blogs and then let them know that I've nominated them. 

School of Fisher
Algebra's Friend
The Teacher Who Hated Math
thenumbertwentyone
Trust Me-I'm a Math Teacher

The last thing that I have to do is pose questions to the newly nominated blogs.  So here you go!

1. Why did you decide to start blogging?
2. How long have you been teaching?
3. What is your favorite part of teaching?
4. What was your favorite subject in high school?
5. What is your favorite quick and easy dinner after a long day at school?
6. If you could transport yourself to anywhere else, where would you go?
7. What qualities make an amazing teacher?
8. Where did you go to college?  Why did you pick that school?
9. What is your favorite classroom activity?  (The one you can't wait to do each year.)
10. If you were given a magic wand to change one thing in education, what would you want to fix?

And, with those questions, I have completed the process to accept the Liebster Award.  Thanks again to Jessi at Mrs. Hester's Classroom for the nomination.