Liebster award!

Hey everyone!  Mrs. Smith from Mrs. Smith's Class nominated me for the Liebster award, which is given to recognize new blogs and welcome them into the community.

To accept this award I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator

4. Share 11 random facts about yourself

5. Create 11 questions for your nominees

6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

Questions for me to answer :)

1. Who is your hero and why?

My teaching hero is our former Latin teacher.  She was my best teacher friend.  She was such an encouragement to me and we did some of the best brainstorming together.  Paula is the one who encouraged me to join Teachers Pay Teachers.  She unfortunately lost her battle with cancer last fall, and she is greatly missed by all of her students and colleagues.
2. What is your best management tool?

I have an app called "TeachersPick" that I love!  For a high school teacher, I think it's more practical than using sticks, and my kids always remind me to use it if I forget. It's only $.99 on the iTunes store.  I also love that you can import a class list instead of manually entering every name.  Here's a pic from their site:

3. What is an activity you do during the first week of school?

I play "Find Someone Who..." in English for Spanish 1, and I play in Spanish with my other classes.  I like that it gives them a way to get to know each other, and the shy kids don't have to introduce themselves in front of the whole class at the beginning of the year.  They also love to play this later in the year practicing vocabulary ("Find someone who has a younger sister.  Find someone who likes vegetables." etc) It's so easy to apply to just about any chapter or grammatical theme.
4. Do you play any musical instruments?

Growing up, I played the piano, but I don't play it any more.
5. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

I really enjoy teaching Spanish (obviously...), and I love teaching the "hard" concepts (like preterite vs imperfect, subjunctive, etc) because there are so many fun application and extension activities you can do.  It's the best when you see the student who has been struggling finally get it!
6. Where would you take an all-expense paid vacation??

I would love to go somewhere tropical..  Maybe Puerto Rico or Hawaii?
7. What advice would you give a first year teacher?

Be patient with your students and yourself.  Cut yourself slack - everything is not going to be perfect and it's okay to make mistakes.  Make a connection with every student - that's the hardest part, and once you do that, everything else is so much easier.
8. What are your favorite blogs to read?

For teacher blogs, I enjoy reading The Tattooed Teacher, Ladybug's Teacher Files, and The School Supply Addict.  For personal blogs, I love Young House Love and Colores de Carol.
9. What are you doing when you are not blogging/teaching?

I love to sew, read, and play with my pets.
10. Favorite easy recipe to make :)

Hands down, baked okra.  All you have to do is buy frozen cut okra (not breaded), spray a baking sheet with olive oil, salt it, lay the okra on the sheet, spray and salt it again, and bake at 450 until it's crispy.  Soooo good!
11. When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?

I'm not really sure, to be honest.  I entertained a lot of ideas as a child, and at some point in high school, knew I wanted to teach.  I haven't looked back since!

11 Random Facts

1. Okra is my favorite food :)
2. I have broken almost 40 bones in my body (I'm very clumsy!)
3. I love thrift shopping - I get most of my clothes from thrift stores (you can score awesome brands like Banana Republic, Gap, Loft, etc).
4. I always wear nail polish and my students love to give me "nail challenges" and see what polish I'm wearing (even the boys!).
5. I'm messy, but I know where everything is.
6. I have had 8 surgeries in my 27 years of life (4 of them were back surgeries).
7. I don't have any tattoos yet, but by my 30th birthday, I want to have a sugar skull tattoo on my right rib cage.
8. I have my nose pierced and 10 ear piercings.  I like shiny things :)
9. I speak Spanish, can read French, can understand some Portuguese, and know a little Latin.
10. From kindergarten through second grade, I went to school in the Jefferson County School District, the same one as Columbine HS.
11. Frozen pineapple is my all-time favorite snack.  So yummy!

Questions for you to answer:

1. What is your must-have teacher tool?
2. What is your favorite age to teach?
3. If you had to eat one food/dish every day for the next year, what would it be?
4. What is your favorite subject or topic to teach?
5. What is your favorite place to buy teacher clothes?
6. Chevron or polka dots?
7. What is your best teaching-related memory?
8. What is the funniest thing a student has said to you?
9. What is your favorite organizational tool (teaching-related or not)?
10. If you could talk to yourself before you started teaching, what would you tell yourself?
11. What is your favorite movie or tv show?

Nominations:

1. Jessica from Teacher's Heart
2. Brittany from From Tractors to Teaching
3. Maris from Maris Hawkins
4. Emily from Style Closet to Classroom
5. Melissa from Tech-Knowledgey Teacher