Meet the Teacher

Cara, from one of my favorite blogs, The First Grade Parade, is hosting a Linky Party and I thought I would join in on the fun!






My name is Dana and I am 28 years old.  I am the oldest of four kids (all girls!).  I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Justin, for a little over five years, but we have been together for over 11 years.  (My dad and Justin's dad graduated from high school together!  Justin and I did not meet until 7th grade though, and we did not start dating until our senior year of high school.)

I graduated from Miami University in 2005 with a BA in History (yeah...still not completely sure what I was thinking!).  While in college, I taught preschool for two years and LOVED it.  After graduating, I worked as a Systems Analyst for a large insurance company until I realized that I was miserable sitting in a cubicle and I desperately missed working with children.  So, I returned to Miami University and graduated in December 2009 with a BS in Elementary Education.  In Ohio, the ECE degree is for PreK-3rd grade, so I am in the process of taking a few online classes through Ohio University so that I can also be certified to teach 4th and 5th grades (I will finish those in March).  Right now I am working as a substitute teacher and dreaming of the day (hopefully soon) that I have my own classroom.

 We do not have any children yet, but we do have a bunch of spoiled furbabies.  I have a huge soft spot for stray dogs and cats.  We live in a very rural area, so unfortunately a lot of cats are dropped off in our area.  Those that we have not been able to keep we have taken care of until we could get them into a local no-kill shelter.  Rylie was found by someone we know in the middle of a road when she was about 7 weeks old.  Rhonin was adopted when he was about 8 weeks old through a local shelter that does put animals down if they have not been adopted by a certain time.  Two of our cats were found as strays at the same time by a friend of ours and we took them, and the other two showed up at our house at different times (I can't find a good picture of our 4th cat on my computer - I will have to update that later).  

Nemo and Rylie (our lab-mix)

Rhonin (our shepherd mix)

Andie and Darwin Jack

Now for the Q & A

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a teacher?                                             
A:  I always wanted to be a writer, so maybe writing children's books.  I might also still be a Systems Analyst! 

Q: What are your hobbies?                                                                                    
A:  I have always loved to read - I remember reading Gone With the Wind when I was in 5th grade!  Right now one of my favorite hobbies is creating and finding ideas that I will be able to use in my classroom when I find a job.
I also love scrapbooking, hiking, reading the blogs on my bloglist every day (seriously, it's becoming an addiction!) and spending time with my family and friends.                                                                

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?                     
A:  I always said I wanted to be a teacher and I always played school with my three younger sisters.  When I started college, I was kind of dazzled by all of the available majors.  I love to learn and there were so many things I wanted to learn about!  I guess that is why I ended up with a degree in history - I got to learn a little bit about a lot of different things!  Now I am 110% positive that teaching is what I should be doing.  It is definitely a calling - I cannot imagine doing anything else!
   
Q: What are your guilty pleasures?                                                             
 A: Chuck!  I LOVE watching that show with my hubby!  Dove milk chocolate (ok, all chocolate!), organization "stuff" (cute containers, label makers, office supplies, etc.), Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks, my Kindle, collecting children's books - my classroom library will be very well stocked! 

Q: What is your biggest fear?!                                                                  
 A: Spiders, tornadoes, losing someone I love

Q: When you’re on vacation, where do you like to go?                              
 A: I like places like Hocking Hills (Eastern Ohio) - you can rent a cabin and hike around in a really beautiful area.  I also love Virginia Beach.  My husband is an engineer and had an internship there in the summer of 2003.  We had a blast!
                                                         
Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?                                                   
A:  Follow your heart, life's short - make every day count, and also treat others the way you would like to be treated. 

Q: What do you value most in others?                                                                   
A:  honesty, being "real," and approachable/friendly, not taking themselves too seriously

Q: If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass down to your kids, what would it be?                                                                                                        
A: being able to laugh at myself and having the courage to follow my dream   

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world….living or dead…who would it be?                                                                                                          
A:  My grandparents and my uncle.  All four of my grandparents have passed away now - one of my grandpas died before I was born.  My uncle passed away from pancreatic cancer 4 years ago.  I miss them all very much.

Now tell us one random thing about yourself:

I built a tree for my classroom in my capstone class two summers ago!  For our project we just had to create something that we would be able to use in our classrooms.  I decided to go all out with a rainforest theme - I gathered a ton of resources, made some lesson plans, got some puppets and had my hubby help me build a tree.  It would sit against a wall and has a place for a child to sit under it and read - I would have to put in one of those lights that can stick anywhere.  Not sure if I will be allowed to use this or not in the building where I end up getting a job, but it was fun to make!


Now it’s time for YOU to join the party!!!!  Here’s what you need to do:  Write a post titled “Meet The Teacher”.  Start with a brief “biography” and then copy & paste the Q&A {using your answers, of course!}  Copy the web address of your “Meet the Teacher” post and come back here & link up!  It would be GREAT if you could visit at least 3 other teachers…get to know a little bit about your fellow bloggers…and leave a comment!!!!