Stories with Sophie

Here's the best thing about being in a 1to1 environment Learning Doesn't Have to Stop! Take a minute. Think about it. No snow days. Or cold days. No heat days. Or fog days. (We've had them all!) Start up the computer, send out a message, and class is in session. Learning Doesn't Have to Stop! In creative writing, all they need is on the website (or will be once I finish this post). With schoology and remind101,  it's easy to communicate with students.   And then there is email. Learning Doesn't Have to Stop! For quite a bit of this day, I've been communicating with one of my senior Creative Writing 2 students. I read her blog posts and did a website check. She's doing an amazing job. A requirement of the class is that students blog three times a week. She is using weebly to house her work, but she was putting all posts on a standard page. I emailed her that on weebly there is a blog page. I told her I would show her

My friend Ruth Ayres has created a wonderful spot for sharing moments from your week. She even has  a page to give you all the details you need to know about sharing your own celebrations . So head  on over and see what everyone else is celebrating.  The week of speech contest is always a bit frantic, and this week has been no exception. Weather has brought it's own special problems this January. Seems we've been out of school as much as we've been in school. Trying to keep things going is a challenge. I've been managing things pretty well, but today I kind of let the stress get to me. I hate that. I sometimes forgot to "Live Aloha" So, celebrating the good things.... 1.  Here's to my former co-coach, who took over improv rehearsal Tuesday when an emergency dental procedure kept me from being able to go to rehearsal. 2. Here's to one of the bravest kids I know this year. A sophomore girl who didn't blink an eye when I asked if she coul

They call this "Black Tears". In reality, it small amounts of oil still leaking from the Arizona years after she was sunk at Pearl Harbor. I shouldn't have been surprised at the tears. Mine had been welling up all morning. Why should the Arizona not share her tears with us as we strolled above her? You think you know. You think you are going to see a war memorial. You know you will see names and ships. You think you know. I take lots of pictures, but above the Arizona , I just couldn't. It seemed wrong somehow. So I listened to the voices tell me about that day. And I cried. Visiting Pearl Harbor was a powerful experience. If you go, spend the $7.00 and take the audio tour. Listening to the story, hearing the voices of survivors, seeing the ship....I still can't wrap my head around it or share it. I don't have the words.  But trust me, you should do it.....

  My friend Ruth Ayres has created a wonderful spot for sharing moments from your week. She even has  a page to give you all the details you need to know about sharing yor own celebrations. So head  on over and see what everyone else is celebrating. Normally, I would give you a link to her site and the exact page, but I am writing this from my iPhone and haven't figured out how to do that yet from the blogger app:) This week I'm celebrating... My new iPhone 5c. It took along time to convinced my husband that a smartphone was worth the added expense and then that we needed two cell phones. It didn't take long for him to decide he liked all the iPhone could do, especially getting directions when we were a little lost or getting the road conditions while traveling. Right now he got himself a tracfone, but I have a feeling that by this time next year, he'll have his own iPhone.  Celebration 2. The new blog that my school family and I have started. As part of our professiona

The thing is, I didn't know I wanted to go to Hawaii. My grandpa used to tell us that everyone should go to Hawaii at least once in their lives. I thought that was sweet, but I didn't know I wanted to go. When my sister-in-law and her husband called and asked if we wanted to go with them, I said yes. I was excited about it, but I didn't know I wanted to. We planned and saved for two years. We had mid-winter get togethers with computers and books and recommendations from friends. But I still didn't know.... And then we landed..... And suddenly, I knew I wanted to go to Hawaii. I was so excited at the airport!   Did you know that just about everything in Hawaii is open air?  Even the airport? There might be roofs on buildings, but there are big open windows so you can feel the air as you walk.... Since we went through a travel agency, we were met at the airport by Curtis, our representative. He gave us our leis, took our picture, helped us with luggage an

Ahhhh, it feels good to be back..... This week, I am celebrating 1. Family.  We arrived back on the mainland on January 1. Our boys came for our family Christmas the night of the 3rd and stayed the weekend. I worked the 3rd. Good thing the Aloha spirit was with me. It got me through worrying about everything being perfect when they arrived. I put at the forefront that it was most important we were together and enjoying each other. On Saturday we had a Hawaiian Luau dinner: Kalua pork, Hawaiian baked beans, Mai Tais, but my potato salad, because some traditions can't be changed! We played games, enjoyed the kids and each other, and ate well! 2. Being back at school.   I missed my kids. Plain and simple. I couldn't wait and get back to see them and find out about their break. Some had tweeted me over break, but not nearly enough. And some of them needed to get back too. Gotta love this tweet: 3. Short Weeks: I know this sounds contradictory, but I

JOY My OLW for 2013. It chose me in the midst of family Christmas chaos .      Dogs were barking        Kids were giggling          Adults were cheering on favorite teams And it all made me happy JOYful I vowed to find little moments of JOY in every day. And I did. And I shared them .  Sometimes as Friday Favorites.  This year, when Ruth started her #celebrationlu on Saturdays , I began sharing there. What I discovered was that because I looked for JOY it was everywhere. A wonderful thing to discover. And because I spent this past year looking for it, I'm sure I'll continue. JOY will continue to be a part of my life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This year's OLW was alluding me. But I trusted it would find me, just as JOY did. And last week, as I basked in the sun on the island of Maui, it did just that. Throughout our trip we remarked on the people of the islands.... their happiness with what the