Between Facebook and this blog - I'm not always consistent with my updates. So here comes a big one:

After my last post, I was contacted by another teacher at my former school and she extended an invitation for a summer job. There is an award that is given out once a year to a young adult/ adolescent level novel. This award is called the Heartland Award, and was started about 12 years ago by a professor at KU. Every summer, 20 individuals (teachers, librarians, etc...) are given a list of 30 books that have been recommended for this award. Our job is to read all 30, and then meet to narrow down the list to 10. Those 10 will then be read by teens all throughout the school year and at the end of the school year, the students vote and one book receives the award. So I'm on this committee to read - and I'll get paid to do so! - 30 books before August 22nd.

Therefore, my summer goals have been a bit thrown off - but here is how my list of "to-do's" is coming along:

1. Re-arrange the contents of my filing cabinets from school and recycle unncessary papers.

This I have done. It was a huge task, but very fulfilling! As you can see though, the contents of a classroom take up a lot of closet space (and this picture only represents half of the closet and a limited view of the top shelf!).

2. Read books:

- "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan ~ loved this book and this whole series really

- "I am the Messenger" by Markus Zuzak ~ got it from the library, but had to return it because of the 30 other books I have to read... I'll get back around to this one.

- "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith ~ gave up on it after 100 or so pages... so boring!

- "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt ~ also loved this book. I recommended it to my mother. It's a good one!

- "Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet" by Jamie Ford ~ have this one checked out right now, but haven't started it.

- "The Book of Lies" by Brad Meltzer ~ this one was just "okay." Nothing to write home about.

- "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau ~ not yet, but there is still summer left!

Here are some of the other books I have managed to read so far this summer though:

** For the Heartland Award **

"My Mother the Cheerleader" by Robert Sharenow

"Becoming Billie Holiday" by Carole Boston Weatherford

"Lizard Love" by Wendy Townsend

"All the Broken Pieces" by Ann Burg

"More than Friends: Poems from Him and Her" by Sara Holbrook and Allan Wolf

"Jumped" by Rita Williams-Garcia

"The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

"The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson

"Revolution is Not a Dinner Party" by Ying Chang Compestine

"Hippie Chick" by Joseph Monninger

"The Book of Jude" by Kimberly Heuston

"Breathing" by Cheryl Renee Herbsman

"Handcuffs" by Bethany Griffin

"Thaw" by Monica M. Roe

"Rits" by Mariken Jongman

"Walkaway" by Alden Carter"

** Not for Heartland **
"Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

"My Last Skirt" by Lynda Durrant

"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

"Secret Society Girl" by Diana Peterfreund

"The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb

"The Scarlet Pimpernell" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

"Downtown Owl" by Chuck Klosterman

"The Stolen Child" by Keith Donohue

"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon

You can ask if you want to know what any of these are about or how much I enjoyed them individually.

3. See movies:

- "My Sister's Keeper" ~ no one to go with who has already read this book. It is even good enough to merit a theatre visit?

- "Harry Potter 6: The Half-Blood Prince" ~ going today... SOOOO excited! I re-read this book as well.

- "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" ~ I sort of gave up on this one.

We also saw "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp (too violent, not enough plot or character development) and rented "The Cake Eaters" with Kristen Stewart (it was actually okay, a bit weird in times, but a cute story in the end). I also re-watched HP5 (Order of the Pheonix) in prep for the newest movie.

4. Perhaps try to re-finish my shoddy kitchen table.

I went to Home Depot looking for cast off gallons of paint and have just not found a color I like yet. I'll keep looking...

5. Take a couple of classes through the school district.

I took a class about how to incorporate the use of student-created videos into my curriculum and how to upload them onto various websites. Useless. I also got paid to play with Google Earth for 2.5 hours. It was awesome.

6. Cook interesting vegetarian dishes.

- Scalloped Potatoes in the crock pot earned 3 out of 5 stars. I changed the recipe - this was not a good plan.

- Lentil Vegetable Casserole earned -7 out of 10 stars. It was basically the most disgusting thing I've ever made. We kept trying to eat the leftovers in various other dishes, but there is nothing you can add or take away to make this any better.

- Campfire veggies (potatoes, onions, carrots & garlic in tinfoil packet over a camp fire) earned 4 out of 5 stars. Not too messy, great during camping. I may try this at home!

7. Apply in a couple more school districts in the New England area.

I filled in the application for the Boston public school system online. I also mailed my application to the Manchester, NH public schools and Ryan & I are going this weekend to interview for a job for Ryan. We're hopeful!

8. Make my own windchimes using random scraps from random places.

Um... yeah. I haven't done this. I don't know what I'm doing. I haven't put my mind to it either, to my own credit. Stay posted on that one...

Our very long road trip to the General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene in Orlando, Florida was a lot of fun. We drove some 4,000 miles and saw plenty of cool sites. I touched a stingray (on purpose), bought a journal made out of recycled elephant poo, stood on the highest point in the US east of the Mississippi River and visited the Magic Kingdom. Not too shabby.

Tune in next time for more summery fun.

So I just finished The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. The book clocks in at 730 pages and is heavy: both in actual weight and subject matter. The author covers such topics and themes as:

American Civil War
Iraq War
Korean War
Women's sufferage
Anti-slavery movements
Prohibition
Columbine shootings of 1999
September 11, 2001
Hurricane Katrina
alcoholism, drug usage, AA meetings
incarceration - particularly of women
rape, incest, other abuse
familial relationships: ancestry, step/adoptive families, genetic traits and characteristics
marriage, divorce, adultery
anger management, violence, rage

There are probably more, but I'm too exhausted to add more to this list. Lamb also incorporates characters and events from his previous two novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True as well as the volumes of writing he edited written by female prisoners at the York Correctional Institution. The characters are complex and generally believable, although the flow of the story is often a bit hard to follow. The plot jumps from "current time" to letters written during the Civil War and then snippets from the life of a minor character in the 50's. Some parts I found myself wanting to skip, and I experienced anger at the ending of the novel as well. I suppose I just like a happy ending - and that would have been possible in this novel if Lamb had so chosen.

Either way - this tome has worn me out and I think my next summer read will be The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. More posts to come!

summer plans

As a teacher, I could easily lounge around all summer wasting my time, so instead I'm setting some goals.

First - I have two trips that are non-negotiable. I'm flying to Maryland with Ryan for my grandfather's 80th birthday/ family reunion. This is just a weekend trip.I'm also driving to Florida and back - totaling 2.5 weeks - for the Church of the Nazarene General Assembly and high pointing with Ryan. One of the spots we're camping is an island off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico called St. George Island. I'm pumped!

So with these trips on the schedule, here are some of my other goals:
1. Re-arrange the contents of my filing cabinets from school and recycle unncessary papers.

2. Read books:
- "The Last Olympian" by Rick Riordan
- "I am the Messenger" by Markus Zuzak
- "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
- "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary Schmidt
- "Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet" by Jamie Ford
- "The Book of Lies" by Brad Meltzer
- "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau

3. See movies:
- "My Sister's Keeper"
- "Harry Potter 6: The Half-Blood Prince"
- "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

4. Perhaps try to re-finish my shoddy kitchen table. Does anyone have any free paint? White/blue/green... whatever.

5. Take a couple of classes through the school district.

6. Cook interesting vegetarian dishes. I am armed with a vegetarian cookbook and a bunch of courage - we'll see where it takes me.

7. Apply in a couple more school districts in the New England area.

8. Make my own windchimes using random scraps from random places. This is ambiguous because I technically have no idea what I'm talking about - I'm just wanting to try it.

Eight seems like a good place to stop. I'll probably forget to blog about all of this - so maybe I should make it a goal of mine to write about various adventures. Don't hold your breath... I'll be busy. Expect pictures - I'm good at that. Okay - happy summering!

This has been a difficult period in the life of Katelynn. When we first moved to Kansas, I am confident that I experienced depression (at least event-triggered depression, rather than biological... if that is such a thing). I questioned why on earth I had decided to leave all of my family and friends to move to this foreign place called Kansas. We had to find jobs, a church, new friends, and adjust to new schools. This is not even to mention adjusting to married life.

Yet I eventually found the way out of this time, mostly triggered by finally engaging in student teaching. For the first time in several years, I felt like I was doing what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I student taught, I subbed, I got a job in the Shawnee Mission School district teaching middle school English. We moved into a nicer apartment.

I've been happy for several years now. I've been feeling confident and competent in my work. Several weeks ago now though, my principal informed me that my position has been cut for next year. I have not been officially "fired" (or released, or whatever it is called when you lose your job). If an English position opens up at another school, I may get it. Yet due to the economy and budget cuts and the national and state levels, there are other English teachers in my district in the same position - many of them with more seniority than me. So perhaps I'll become a long-term sub for next year. Perhaps I won't have a job at all. I'll officially find out this Friday if I've totally lost a job.

Ryan & I had sort of been counting on my job as a back-up plan depending on what happened with his job search after graduation. He graduates from NTS in 14 days. Yet even after sending out resumes and making phone calls, he's heard nothing either.

So now the question: do we stay where Ryan currently has a part-time job not in his field and I am maybe a substitute teacher? Do we make a leap of faith and move to a place we would like to live and hope that we both find jobs? How much longer will we have to "wait out" this economy? Decisions, decisions.

I wish I could say that I've been at peace through all of this - yet it's hard to stay positive. I've been sick for about 2 1/2 weeks and things are not currently going well at school. Myself and the other 7 people who have lost their positions in our building are finding it hard to stay invested. Those individuals chosing to retire this year seem to be giving up on their responsibilities as well. It's hard to want to go to work every day - and I can honestly say I've looked forward to going to work every day up until the past few weeks.

So I'm again at a cross-roads in my life and coming to the realization that I may not handle these things as well as I wish I did. I've learned lessons since the last time we uprooted our whole lives and I have to hope that God will provide direction quickly so that I don't have the chance to try to take things into my own hands and make a mess of them. ;o )

Not a cheery blog - but an honest one.

Spring Break Reviews #3

Spring Break Day 3 - the "get-lots-of-work-done-so-you-can-feel-accomplished" day.

BIBLIOPHILIA: I love reviewing literature.
Face on the Milk Carton - loved it. I went to the public library this morning to check out the next three books in that series just because I want to read them all before I get my kiddos hooked on some series if it turns out that they're all garbage. My mom wouldn't let me read this book as a kid, and I had to call her today on the phone and specifically apologize for reading it now and confess my love for the story. Ahh, sweet cleansing.

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes is FIVE STARS baby. I loved this sweet little tome. Each chapter is told by a different student in a high school English class in the Bronx. Their English teacher gets them all to start reciting original poetry once the kids realize that it's not much different from rap. After each chapter is the poem that character speaks at their weekly poetry reading. A really "whole" story about diverse characters and situations from an impoverished area. I want to read sections of it to my students. BTW, it won the "Coretta Scott King" award for literature which promotes peace, non-violent social change and brotherhood.

LIFE REVIEWS:
1. Ryan graduates this May, which led us to think about graduation announcements and potential wish lists for parents who want to buy him something memorable. I am excited to get my hands on these announcements, being the paper-phile (I'm sure there is an actual word for this... the closest I could get was logophile... lover of words) that I am. Is $3.50 for four announcements a good price? I am also pumped to purchase a store-bought cake with fancy writing and thick gooey frosting. Ryan doesn't want any part of this and desires that no attention be drawn to himself, so I think I may have them script in pink something like, "at least he's not turning 30" or "Paramaribo is the capital of the Republic of Suriname" instead. I might also ask for gigantic flowers all over the place.

2. I have begun the arduous process of researching which states in this country have reciprocal agreements with Kansas for the transfer of teaching licenses. Since Ryan has begun the process of sending out his resume to various regions, I figured I had better get on the stick with figuring out how my job may change. Here are a few highlights from my searches today:

MAINE: will take anyone... literally. There are no real requirements other than "send us your application." Low fees involved.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: only need to have 3+ months of previous experience, as opposed to the 3 years that most other states require (I only have 2). I will have to submit a portfolio demonstrating that I'm legit. $300 fee to submit said portfolio. Do I get a discount for having been born there? No.

VERMONT: sucks. I would also have to submit a portfolio, which is peer reviewed, due to lack of experience. However, this peer review process costs over $1,000 and requires two in-person visits for seminars, etc... Did I mention I currently live in Kansas and Vermont really has no major airports to speak of?

RHODE ISLAND: has no reciprocity with the state of Kansas. $50 application fee to try though... might give it a go.

CONNECTICUT: no official reciprocity with any state, which is interesting. I would only need 20 months of "successful" (how do they measure this?), "appropriate" (again, is there a scale?) full-time teaching experience to apply for an out-of-state license transfer. $50 application fee. Reasonable.

NEW YORK: website was too confusing. Am I a moron? Is New York always this way? Gave up and wrote myself a note to "call a real person."

NEW JERSEY: hilarious. I will now copy directly from their state deptment of ed website an actual step to receiving a license: "Applicants applying for instructional certification must pass an examination in physiology and hygiene. The examination is administered at the county offices of education. In lieu of this examination, the applicant may present basic military training or college level study in areas such as biology, health or nutrition." So New Jersey really is smelly? Oh wait, as long as you take a college level nutrition class, you're probably fine. Love it.

MARYLAND: apparently you must have completed an out-of-state "APPORVED" program. If they won't hire me as a teacher, perhaps I could proof-read their web content instead.

VIRGINIA: see Maine. Love it.

I sort of gave up after this and really have only included the highlights here. Please say a little prayer for this not-overly-experienced English teacher. Several state websites specifically said, "due to budget cuts and decreases in staffing, application requests may involve a 6-8 month processing time." Maybe I could get a job reviewing adolescent literature? Would anyone pay me for these musings? On that note...

Spring Break Reviews #2

Spring Break ~ Day 2 (the 80-degree-weather-lay-outside-on-a-blanket-and-read day)

BOOK REVIEWS:
Today I read Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson. It is all about a 16 year old girl who is attempting to "prove up" a piece of land in Montana in the 19-teens. She is homesteading all by herself since her parents died and her only uncle left her the land upon his death. The story is really well told, through some prose sections and other sections comprised of letters back and forth with a childhood friend who is in France during WWI. The book mentions the fear and propaganda which swept the nation at the time as well as the Spanish Influenza which took lives as well. I really enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the setting as well as the fact that the book contained just the right amount of conflict and joy. I found myself getting a bit choked up at the end. It is nominated for this year's William Allen White Award (given annually in the state of Kansas to an adolescent book worthy of merit) and so far might be one of my top three votes for that prize of the eight I've read so far.

I am 2/3rds of the way through The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. I think I read this book when I was in 5th or 6th grade but could not really remember it at all. I am thinking of teaching it during 4th quarter in my Communications class. So far, I'm actually really enjoying this story! I am surprised at how gripping it is - I want to find out if the female protagonist really was kidnapped or not! This book was eventually turned into a series: What Ever Happened to Janie, The Voice on the Radio, and What Janie Saw.

FOOD REVIEW:
Ryan and I have been thinking of switching to a more vegetarian diet for various reasons, including the inhumanity of the meat processing industry. Therefore, I've spent some time in the past couple of days looking up various vegetarian recipes and wandering the grocery store for ingredient ideas and price comparisons. Tonight we tried our hand at refried bean & bell pepper tacos. We did cheat - we cooked some chicken too (but only because we still had it in the freezer!). I think that refried beans are sort of weird and bland, but when mixed with other things, really weren't too bad. In our quest for more bean recipes, I think I'd be willing to try refried beans in a layered dip as well (with some salsa, guacamole, etc...). We're also going to try and switch to buying more locally grown fruits and vegetables and whole grain pastas and rice. More updates to come.

Spring Break Reading List

So today is the first official day of Spring Break in the sense that usually Monday is a work day, but today I got to sleep in and lounge around my house.

At the beginning of the school year, I put together the goal to read at least 90 books this school year, and so far, I'm not on track. Therefore, I have a heavy week of reading prepared while I'm out of school to try and catch up on my goal.

This morning I finished The Whole World Over by Julia Glass. It is 509 pages of beautifully written, engaging story lines involving a couple in crisis, a gay restaurant owner and his punk nephew, New York circa 9/11 and a tidbit of the water crisis in the western United States. The whole book was woven together beautifully and I found myself reading nice and slow to take in all of the phrasing and description. If you couldn't tell, I loved it. This book was the selection this month for my book club and I can't wait to talk about it with the ladies a week from today.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine gave me The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling. I never would have purchased this book on my own due to the fact that I speculated it was written purely to prove that Rowling has not died and can still rake in the cash for any book with her name on it. Although, as I've been reading through the short tales, I've found them relatively delightful. This is a book you could read to actual children (not young adults or adults as her other books eventually wandered through death and romance). It is short and the margins are ridiculously huge. I'm excited to finish it this afternoon.

My list for this week also includes:
- The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney. I read this book when I was in 5th or 6th grade, but am thinking of teaching it to my Communications class during 4th quarter.
- Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson - a William Allen White book award nominee for 2008-09.
- Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes - winner of the Coretta Scott King award and recommended to me by another teacher for students who are hesitant readers.
- Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever by James Patterson. This is the second book in a series, the first of which I only mildly enjoyed. A student really wants me to read it, so I figured I'd give it a go.

Tonight, we went out to Arthur Bryant's for barbeque - another restaurant we had not tried before and were informed that we must before we move away. It was certainly really good and I'm glad to add it to my list of BBQ experiences. I ranked their sauces from best to worst:
Sweet Heat - not too spicy with nice honey overtones
Rich & Spicy - sort of unoriginal really - it tastes like other sauces I've had before.
Original - this one should really be named "revolting." It tasted like grainy A1 sauce. No good.

I still think that I like Oklahoma Joe's the best.

So thus begins my week off from school. Stay tuned for more posts!