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More Homework Meme (AKA Sunshine Awards)

Thanks to Bill Ferriter, who tagged 10 bloggers and then opened this up to any of his readers who were interested, I decided to take the challenge and participate in this blogging challenge.

Here are the rules:

  • acknowledge the nominating blogger (Bill Ferriter)
  • share 11 random facts about yourself
  • answer 11 questions the nominating blogger has for you
  • list 11 bloggers to nominate
  • post 11 questions for the bloggers and let them know they have been nominated
  • don't nominate the blogger that nominated you
  • post back to the nominating blogger with a link.
So, here it goes.

11 random facts about me:

  1. I worked for three months with ACORN (Association of Communities Organised for Reform Now) right after graduating from college in 1981. I was based in Durham, N.C.
  2. I was born in Cuba and am fully bilingual.
  3. I have lived on two continents, three different countries, and 10 different cities during my lifetime.
  4. I have two daughters and one son aged 26, 22 and 9, respectively - all from the same father.
  5. It is true that I was the one that asked my husband to dance when we first met at La Peña in Berkeley in 1985.
  6. I spent my first New Year's Eve in San Francisco blowing up helium balloons for downtown parties.
  7. I like reading romance novels every once in a while.
  8. The only book I've read twice is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, first in English and then in Spanish.
  9. I am afraid of heights. 'Nuff said.
  10. My first cell phone was a 1996 clunker that my husband bought for me so we could communicate while he was interviewing for a job in Ecuador and I was in New Orleans.
  11. I survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco; an incredible dust storm between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in 1991; Hurricane Andrew in New Orleans in 1992; two volcano eruptions in Quito, Ecuador in 2001 and 2001; and six harsh winters in Calgary from 2006 - 2012.

Answers to Bill Ferriter's questions:
  • Grande Soy Green Tea Frappuccino with Extra Whip or House Blend Black?
    • I prefer House Blend Black. Just getting my head around what all is in the Grande Soy Green Tea Frappuccino with Extra Whip makes my head spin. I wonder what that says about me?
  • If you were going to write a book, what would its title be?
    • All of the Things I Leaned About Working in a School that No One Dares to Talk About or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of School Administrators. Can you tell I'm going through a low period right now?
  • Rate graphic novels on a scale of 1-10, with 1 representing "useless" and 10 representing "simply amazing."
    • I don't generally read graphic novels but many of my students do and love them. So, just based on that I would give them a 10. Graphic novels have turned around many reluctant readers I've taught.
  • What member of your digital network has had the greatest impact on your professional growth?
    • This is a hard question to respond to because I can't name just one so I will pass. Coward? Yeah, I know.
  • How do you feel about the holidays?
    • I am conflicted when it comes to the Christmas and New Year's holidays. In some ways, this is my favourite time of the year because all five of us are together. On the other hand, it is a stressful time for me both in and out of school. I am glad when they're over and we have January to recuperate but then I miss my daughters when they leave.
  • Rate the following movies in order from best to worst:  Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version).
    • Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
  • What is the best gift that you've ever gotten?
    • The best gift that I've every gotten was when my husband surprised me and flew my daughters from the US to Calgary for my birthday. 
  • If you had an extra $100 to give away to charity, who would you give it to?
    • I would give it to Doctors Without Borders. They are my heroes.
  • What are you the proudest of?
    • I am proudest of my children. They are amazing human beings with big hearts and a clear sense of what's right and wrong.
  • What was the worst trouble that you ever got into as a child?
    • I generally didn't get into trouble as a child. I was definitely a goody-two-shoes. It wasn't until I got to college that I started rebelling.
  • What was the last blog entry that you left a comment on?  What motivated you to leave a comment on that entry?
    • I think the last blog entry I left a comment on was in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life. One of my goals is to start blogging on a schedule (not there yet) and this is one place I go to every week for that.
11 bloggers to invite:
  1. Two Writing Teachers
  2. Raki's Rad Resources
  3. Margotmania
  4. Peg with Pen
  5. Tech Transformation 
  6. Zenhabits
  7. Marcie Flinchum Atkins
  8. Ali Edwards
  9. Kevin's Meandering Mind
  10. Mile High Reading
  11. YOU (following Bill Ferriter's suggestion since that's how I got to write this post)
My 11 questions for bloggers:
  1. Who is your favourite author and why?
  2. What is something you've done that you're not so proud of?
  3. If you could change something about your current situation, what would you change and why?
  4. What advice would you give a young teacher coming into our profession?
  5. What is your one guilty pleasure?
  6. What is the best gift you've ever given and why?
  7. If you could thank a teacher, whom would you thank and what would you say?
  8. What book are you currently reading for pleasure? Professional read?
  9. What professional book has had the most influence on your teaching practice? Why?
  10. What would be the perfect vacation? Why?
  11. How has your spirituality or religion influenced who you are as a teacher? If you don't consider yourself as a spiritual or religious person, then what out of school influence has had an impact on who you are as a teacher?
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