Back to School Challenge Day 09: A Note to My Teachers

Day 09:Share with us the story of your favorite teacher or mentor.

Believe it or not, this isn't going to be a story about one of my English teachers or professors. It's actually going to be quick story about my favorite math teacher, Mr. Aasen.

David Aasen was my tennis coach and math teacher. I suck at math and I suck at tennis. I'm not the most coordinated person on the planet and numbers make my head spin. And while, Mr. Aasen didn't make math easier for me or make me a better tennis player, it was his positive attitude that stands out in my memory. He always had smile on his face and cared about everyone. It's not often, I found throughout my remaining years in the halls of education and throughout student teaching, to find teachers who care that much about everyone and can do it with a true and honest smile on their faces. And with things kind of being in this negative swing in my life, I think it is fitting that I'm writing this post right now as I remembered something Mr. Aasen used to say every day...

"The grass is green, the sky is blue, It's a great day to be alive."
As I try to find my momentum again and find joy in each day, it's nice to be reminded that each day I wake up is a blessing and I should be grateful for that. I have Mr. Aasen to thank for that. So thank you, Mr. Aasen, thank you.

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9

The Sunday Post #37: Week of August 17, 2014 + Back to School Blogger Challenge Day 07

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

How's it going everyone? I've been having a great time this week with the Back to School Book Blogger Challenge sponsored by Parajunkee. Have you been participating? What have been some of your favorite posts so far? There's only a couple of days left and we'll be back to our regular schedule.


Back to School Day 07 Question: What are the most inspiring books you've read that have been assigned to you?
Honestly, none. There's not a single reading assignment that inspired me. The people who taught me literature inspired me to be a reader and pursue English as a major in college. But no single reading assignment was influential in me being a reader. Sad, I know. But it is people and the discussion surrounding those assignments that inspired me to want to read and discuss more not the actual readings themselves.

What's Happening on the Center Stage

• Monday: Back to School Challenge Day 01: Getting to Know You
• Tuesday: Back to School Challenge Day 02: A Lesson from Teacher
• Wednesday: Back to School Challenge Day 03: Walking the Halls of Memory Lane
• Thursday: Back to School Challenge Day 04: Take My Advice
• Friday: Back to School Challenge Day 05: Dedicated to the Ones I Love
• Saturday: Back to School Challenge Day 06: Up Fronts for Mid-Season Schedule

Don't forget about this!

LitRate is still looking for some love. Please consider promoting this new book community via social media and/or buy donating a couple of bucks. Give up your latte this week and support LitRate! Check out the website to learn more.

Part of my Meet & Greet feature over at Gin's Book Notes does include a giveaway. It's small, but there is some signed swag involved. The giveaway ends on September 1st.

What's Waiting in the Wings

• Monday: Book Tour + Book Review #33: The Ærenden Series by Kristen Taber
• Tuesday: Back to School Challenge Day 09: A Note to My Teachers
• Wednesday: Challenge Accepted: 2014 Book Challenges Update #7 + State of the Blog
• Thursday: Chaotic Goddess Swaps: Local Flavor Swap
• Friday: Quote of the Week by Clare Booth Luce

What's Happening on Other Stages
In an effort to share great content I find all week long and promote the blogs a visit frequently, I encourage you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook as I'm posting links there throughout the week that I find that might be of interest to my followers.

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What did you read or watch this week? Anything good? Something I should add to my to-read or to-watch list?

Back to School Challenge Day 06: Up Fronts for Mid-Season Schedule

Day 06:Back to School means time to get organized and start fresh. What are some steps you'll take on your blog to keep things flowing smoothly or change things up?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. After my feature over on Gin's Book Notes, I feel the need to share more of my photography. It's another love of mine and since I started my blog in December, I've gotten away from going outside, exploring and taking pictures. So tentatively, I'm planning, after the first of the year, to change up my posting schedule. I've got lots of posts scheduled right now so I can't easily make the change now. I also need to get back to organizing my digital photo collection so that I can be better equipped to share those images.

I'm kind of excited about this change. And I'm sure that my excitement will overwhelm me where I end up making the schedule change before January 1!

So how about you? How are you going to liven things up or get your arms around your workload now that we are "back to school?"

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9

Back to School Challenge Day 05: Dedicated to the Ones I Love

Day 05:Share your own story about what or who fostered the love of reading in yourself.

Oh, boy, I could go on for ages about this. And I kind of do over on my Meet the Cast page. So if you want the details of exactly how these people influenced me, you should check it out.

• Mrs. Veissleman, my first and second grade teacher
• Ms. Kephart, my fifth grade teacher
• My mother
• Ms. Allevan, a high school English teacher
• Ms. Vondrachek, a high school English teacher
• Ms. Symond (ne' Martin), a high school English teacher
• My co-workers
• My horrible teenage years when I hated everyone and everything. Books were an escape and still are for me.

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9

Back to School Challenge Day 04: Take My Advice

Day 04: If you are a parent, or have advice for parents...what do you do (or thing would work) to foster the love of reading in your kids?

This is my sister. Everyone say, HI! (Oh, and feel free to Oo and Ah over my adorable nephew.)

If you have kids, or are involved with kids in any fashion, you should do what my sister does. She reads to her kids. And not just little kid books! I remember one time a couple years ago when I was visiting and my sister was reading one of the Little House on the Prairie books to my niece, Anna. Kim didn't force Anna to sit down and listen, she just let Anna wander around the room while she read. I sat and listened.

Now I haven't read the "Little House" books in ages. Kim got to the part where the family is forced to ford a creek and their dog drowns. My sister read those words, stopped and as our eyes met, we both shouted, THEIR DOG DROWNED?! Neither of us remembered that. Anna just kept wandering around the room playing on her own while my sister and I marveled at the simplicity of the statement and the lack of mourning by the family at the loss of their pet. I think Kim and I were more upset than the family was. It was a wonderful, shared moment.

I guess the long and short of my advice is this. Lead by example. Read in front of your kids. Create a ritual around it. Collect your favorite books and read them aloud to your kids. Don't worry about their age. Just read, whether they are listening, or not. You might be surprised what you learn as you try to share one your passions with them.

What parenting advice do you have about reading?

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9

Back to School Challenge Day 03: Walking the Halls of Memory Lane

Day 03: Share your most memorable school memory.

My elementary school days were spent at a small Catholic school. The classes were small and we were required to attend Mass on Fridays. Each Friday a different grade was in charge of Mass. My very first Mass, my little brother was born. I was staying with my grandmother and my dad, who was never able to come to many of my school events during the day because of work, was waiting for me in the back of church before everything kicked off. He told me I had a baby brother. Then my class walked down the main aisle, lined up in front of the alter and started to sing a song to start Mass.

Only a few bars into the song, I started crying. No one is sure whether is was pure joy at the birth of my brother, my father's unexpected presence at Friday Morning Mass or stage fright, but I just let the tears go. And until I go through 3rd grade, every time I had to get in front of people during Mass, I would start crying!

I eventually got over my stage fright and when I got to high school I was very involved in theatre and speech, but I still remember (as does most of my hometown) my first time "on stage" and the emotional impact it had on me.

What about you? What's your favorite school memory?

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9

Back to School Challenge Day 02: A Lesson from Teacher

Day 02: If you were/are an English Teacher, share with us your dream lesson plan as far as reading assignments.

Little known fact about me...I ALMOST became an English teacher. I wasn't cut out to be in front of a group of students sharing my knowledge about literature or grammar. I couldn't discipline a dog much less a child. So this question isn't much of a stretch for me.

My dream lesson plan would take some of the major events of the Bible, read them, dissect them and pair them up with real historical happenings. For example, why was Rome occupying Jerusalem when Jesus was out on the road preaching and stirring up a fuss. Or how did the Hebrews end up in Egypt and what was their role in the Egyptian economy?

Why is this my dream lesson plan?

We know that real world events influence literature. Some would argue that the Bible is one of the greatest literary works. I'm not saying it's the most well-written or the most exciting to read, but stuff was happening in the World and that influenced the stories that were recorded. I would love to see how it is all connected without someone trying to convert me.

So how about you? If you were a teacher, what would be your dream lesson plan? Or what topic in school got you really wound up and lit your dreams on fire?

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9 Note: As some point, once again, IntenseDebate suddenly stopped working on this post and the Blogger comments appeared. After trying to recode the post and some deep searching on Google, I finally found the answer. Glass, I'm sorry I had to delete your post and my response. But I did take a screenshot!

Back to School Challenge Day 01: Getting to Know You

Day 01: It's time to stand up in front of the class and share with the rest of us a little about you!

Extra Credit: Name the Musical referenced in the title of today's post WITHOUT Googling it!

Now it's time for show and tell. My name is Terri. I am from southern MN, moved to Iowa to go to college and never left. Oh, the picture? That's me with Jim C. Hines at ICON 38 last year. ICON is the oldest science-fiction/fantasy convention in Iowa and I'm on the planning committee this year.


I started blogging on Monday, December 9, 2013. That's when my first review posted. It was a movie review and I had to share my love for About Time because it was largely ignored when it released.

I called my blog Second Run Reviews because I always feel like I'm late jumping on the bandwagon with the latest book and/or movie hype. I also tend to like movies and books that are a bit off the beaten path. I guess some people would classify them as indie releases.

I like adult and young adult novels. You'll find out tomorrow why I stick with YA novels even though I'm closing on 40. I like historical fiction with a side of mystery and romance, fantasy and some science fiction (as long as it isn't too hard core). Time travel? Automatically count me in. Ancient Egypt or WWII? I'm there in a flash. As a former Disney cast member, I'm on board with fairy tale re-tellings. In general, if it sounds interesting, I'll give it a shot.

Fun fact about my reading habits! Instead of setting a number of books to read goal for myself, I set a number of pages read goal. My goal is to try and read 20,000 pages by the time 2015 rolls around. And if you didn't know, GoodReads tracks pages read!



So welcome to the Second Run Reviews classroom, who are you? Share one fun fact about yourself below!

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Day 7 | Day 8 (did not participate) | Day 9