A little photo montage

I guess it's not really a vacation until you make people look at your photos, so here it is... a video ala Megan Prentice of our adventures.

Almost home

Hard to believe we only have one more day left in London! It's been a fantastic trip with mom and Katie.  We made it through Christmas Day where next to nothing was open, and a Boxing Day strike where no downtown tube stations were open successfully.  Our only hiccup was a faulty tube ap that said one of our lines would be open, but when we got there, it wasn't.  Ugh.  A 20 pound cab ride later and we made it to our other tube option in time.

London has been pretty incredible.  Everywhere you look is something you've seen on tv, or read about in history class, or in a novel... just crazy! Today we got to go to Harrods, which made Katie's day (my nightmare with so many people being pushy shoppers).  We then took a bus down to Buckingham Palace, and finally got a picture of mom in her Barrister's Wig!  We also got a tour of mom's first trip to London- the infamous poop spot which forced mom to buy new shoes on her first day in London with Cara, the spot where she saw Helen Mirren but froze before they could become besties!  Overall, a great day.  

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We'll see you all stateside in a couple days.

Scotland, Durham, and York

We have made it safely to England! We started our journey in Edinburgh after a 10 hour flight, during which I, of course, slept for a grand total of 10 minutes.  I did get a nap from London to Edinburgh, so that helped a little bit.  I'm a trooper though, so I was ready to venture out when we got into our cute little hotel, which even had three places for us to sleep (2 beds plus a couch).

We toured Edinburgh Castle and the museum (where all good things were noted as being in the British Museum).  The castle was really cool though, and it was the one thing I wanted to see in Scotland.  I'm pretty sure I could move there, marry a Scottish lad and be perfectly content for the rest of my life.  :)

We headed to Durham next, braving the roads (Katie), and navigating with a TomTom (Pia), and trying to get us lost regardless of the TomTom (Laurie).  Our only tour stop there was at Hadrian's Wall.  The museum was closed, but we were able to hike to the wall and walk around.  It was cool to see the ruins of the outpost and the wall still standing.  Mom loved all the history there, as did Katie and I.  The 3.5 mile hike was nice after all the car driving.

We're in York now.  Just got done at the Jorvick Viking Center, and are heading to York Minster now.  More to come, plus pictures (when we get home). Love you all and Merry Christmas!
Pia

Babysitting Colie...

The Longinotti girls get to watch Colie tonight at our house, and we are loving every moment.  We have cuddled, fed, changed a diaper, and fought over who got to hold her.  And she modeled her new sweater made by yours truly, a Rowan Norton sweater.  Good times, my friends, good times. Gosh our girl is cute!

Cara, you are FUNNY! 

Back by popular demand: Friday Fun Videos

My poor students haven't had a Friday Fun video in weeks.  Partly because I missed a couple of Fridays and partly because they had lost some privileges for a bit there.  Tomorrow though, they get to have a new one.  I love this one, and hope you will too.  Happy friday friends!

Grading...

Sorry sports fans, I don't have much to report right now because I am in grading hell! I have been working my way through explanatory essays for the last couple weeks...roughly, 120 essays for four classes worth of English students.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike grading them (they are actually pretty interesting since my students got to pick their own topics), it's just that they are taking sooo long.  In my journey to being a better teacher, I decided my students should be able to resubmit papers to improve grades, which means I, in turn, have to give them feedback to help them improve their writing.  Long story short, it is taking me about 30 minutes per paper to grade.  I am on week three of grading.  I am NOT done.

Ah well, at least my students might improve their writing at the end of all this.

And no, I haven't given an A yet... I'm tough. :)

Trick or Treat?

I did some adult trick-or-treating today and bought myself a new car.  After watching Cara, Katie and Tony get new cars this year, I finally gave in and realized it might be time to get into something with a great warranty.  My Kia has been a great car, but it was time.  :)  So here is my beautiful new VW Tigua, thanks to a lot of help from my wonderful sister Cara!

Budding photographer?

Well, I have another photo shoot under my belt.  This time, I took some family photos for my friend Lindy.  We've been trying to do this for ages, and were finally able to make our schedules work.  I had a ton of fun shooting Lindy and her beautiful family.  Levi (her younger son) did NOT want to stay with everyone else, so there are some pretty funny shots of him trailing behind and doing his own thing.  Thanks for the opportunity Lin! Love you, and can't wait to shoot baby #3!

Busy little knitters

This weekend, my mom and I joined my aunt Susan, her friend Alice, and the Northside Knitters group for a weekend of knitting fun up at Camp Spalding.  It was a great weekend of knitting, eating, chatting, and even included an outing to Colville for Cabin A and an appearance by Cara and Tony to drop off a knitting project my mom forgot.

Camp Spalding has definitely made some improvements since the last time I was there.  The cabins were so nice, and there was even a latte stand in the main meeting room that served Starbucks.  It was pretty fantastic.  Here's a few pictures from our weekend.

Sue and Mom showing off their BFF vowels (C & T's special delivery) 

My finished project: the Techno Hat

Techno Hat close up

My Noro Spiral Hat- picked this project up in Colville.

The great Quilt-In

For some reason, I decided this summer that I needed to make a t-shirt quilt.  (OK, I know the reason...Katie, Lavs...all of their shit about the number of t-shirts I own finally got to me).  Anyway, I decided to take some of my favorite shirts from tennis and basketball and make a quilt.  Fast forward to this fall, and I give you quilting craziness.  I have been working hard to get my new bedspread made.

I found some awesome Cat-in-the-Hat blue and red stripped fabric for the back.  I reintroduced myself to my 8th grade skills with a sewing machine (not too bad if you ask me).  And I cut and ironed fabric like you wouldn't believe.  Here's the finished front (cute red fabric with orange flowers, and teal-ish with a square-polka-dot-esque pattern.  I used the C&H fabric for the center squares.  I just need to get the batting for the middle and we are ready to put this baby together!

Nothing exciting

Sorry team, I don't have too much to report right now.  School is crazy with all the new stuff we're doing, but I'm loving it.  The best part is that I have a Teaching Assistant first period, Mrs. Lyons, to help me work with some of my special needs students, who lifts me up everyday.  It's pretty awesome to have someone in your room who is constantly complimenting you on what a great teacher you are and what a great job you're doing.  I feel really good about myself after first period with my own special cheerleader!

I'm still pretty excited about our new curriculum.  It's quite a bit of work for me, and my students are already complaining about all the annotating, but I know it's going to pay off for them when they get it figured out.  

Friday videos are still happening and making me chuckle.  Last week, we played off of the TroLoLo video with this gem!  Gosh, it just makes me laugh every. single. time!

I'm taking suggestions for future entertainment for my students if you have any thing to throw my way!

Friday Fun Videos

If you haven't heard the news yet, I decided in a weak moment filled with plenty of insanity to revamp my curriculum this year.  The. Whole. Thing.  Reading, check. Writing, check. Novels, yep those too.  Clearly, I'm 1/2 crazy, 1/4 stressed about needing to align my curriculum with the new CCSS (Common Core State Standards), and 1/4 bored of what I've been doing the last couple of years.  It's going to be busy in my neck of the woods.

 So as part of my new curriculum, I decided that I wanted to end my week this year with a "Friday Fun Video".  My goal is to have my student leave my room every week on a positive note with a positive message in their heads.  Sadly, I know that school may be the only place they hear that they are valued in a week, or may be the place where they feel the least valued.  So with that goal in mind, I showed one of my favorite youtube videos of all times.  I hope you love it as much as I do.

Have a great day loving your life!

1st day of school

I was thinking about all of our little munchkins starting school this week (week 2 for me), and looking at Hadley's first day pictures, and it made me think of this blog by Kylene Beers-one of the gurus of teaching reading, and a personal favorite of mine.  I think all of our mamas (Megan Prentice, Pam Narode) can probably identify with this.  And it reminds me why I need to be kind to my kids every day!  Enjoy!

When my first born headed off to first grade, 21 years ago, she held my hand as we walked down the hallway of Will Rogers Elementary School in the Houston Independent School District. We walked into Ms. Miner’s room and Meredith’s steps grew more hesitant. This wasn’t the University of Houston Child Care Center, the place she had gone for years while I was a doctoral student at UH. This place looked different – bigger, more official. There were big-kid desks pushed together in clusters. And though there were centers, they were not the dress-up center or the cooking center or nap center or water play center of the Child Care Center.

The room was filled with children she did not yet know, with books she had not yet read, with a math center that had lost-teeth and birthday charts, and with a big poster by the door labeled, “Our Classroom Rules” that was still blank. “I don’t want to stay,” she said.  I didn’t want her to, either. I wanted her still with me, only me. I didn’t want to give up those first six years of childhood just yet, those years when her world mostly revolved around her parents and new baby brother and a silly dog with big ears and afternoons spent in our local library reading book after book after book or playing in our neighborhood park, sometimes just sitting on the grass, watching the ants march by. With every ounce of courage, I said, “Oh, you will love first grade. It was my favorite year in school. I loved my first grade teacher, Mrs. Allen, and I bet you are going to love Ms. Miner, too.” Meredith looked doubtful and so very small. And then Ms. Miner, long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, saw us, came over, and bent down to Meredith’s level.  A first year teacher – the one I had told the principal that if he was willing to listen to requests I wanted – Ms. Miner was full of energy and excitement. She loved books, wanted to be a great teacher, and had obviously spent weeks making her room look inviting to these 22 six-year-olds.

“Oh, you’re Meredith! I recognized you from your picture! Come here and let me introduce you to some others. And let me show you all around the room. And, hey, you brought Corduroy as your favorite book and that’s one of my favorite books, too!”

And then, somehow, without me even realizing, Meredith’s small hand moved from mine to Ms. Miner’s and she was gone. She was swallowed up by the sheer joy this other woman brought into her classroom, into learning, and into my child’s life. “I guess I’ll be going now,” I said to Meredith who was busy putting school supplies away in her desk. “So, I’ll be just around the corner at our house,” I said blinking hard to keep away the tears.” I think she nodded. Perhaps she even paused to wave. My feet couldn’t move and Ms. Miner gently helped me and a few other moms out of the classroom. “She’s really shy,” I said to Ms. Miner just as Meredith sped by holding a new friend’s hand showing her “all these hooks where we can hang our backpacks.”

Meredith was breathless with excitement at the end of that day – every day – and by the end of the first week, our family had a new member: Ms. Miner. Each afternoon and for long into the evening, I had to listen to “Ms. Miner said . . .” and “Ms. Miner thinks . . .” and “Ms. Miner showed us . . .” and “Ms. Miner suggested . . .” and when I slipped and said, “Oh damn” at dinner burned in the oven, I was reminded that “Mom, Ms. Miner would never say . . .  .”  Right, I smiled through gritted teeth.  ”Ms. Miner says that manners are important,” Meredith said as she explained why we must always put our napkins in our laps, something that I swear I had mentioned a million times.

For the entire year I watched my child fall in love with school, with learning, with figuring out, and most importantly, with her first grade teacher, Ms. Miner. Meredith, who had once hated ponytails, now only wanted to wear ponytails. And blue skirts, “just like Ms. Miner’s.” “And Mom, my name starts with an M and Ms. Miner starts with an M. Isn’t that great!! We match!” Yes, Meredith, just great. Really great. Oh damn.

Though I had been a teacher for years before having Meredith, before sending her off to first grade, I had never truly understood the power of a teacher in a child’s life. We give our most precious and priceless to you – dear teachers – each year, knowing you will teach them, but also hoping you will care for them, help them discover how very much they matter, watching over them, and being there when they have been hurt by the ones who won’t let them sit at the “popular” table – and then you do just that and they fall in love with you. It shows up in different ways, as they grow older. But it’s still there, this deep affection and respect. And, certainly, it’s harder to forge those bonds when there are 150 students instead of 22, when the day is fragmented into 45 minute segments, when education seems to be more about the test than the child. But I promise, underneath that bravado of the seventh grader or swagger of the tenth grader you will find that small first grader who wonders, “Will my teacher like me?” And when that child – that teen – knows that you believe he or she matters, then that student will do most anything for you.

To this day, Meredith remembers you, Ms. Miner, and to this day, I so hated how much she loved you that year. And, simultaneously, I am so grateful that she did.

And so, teachers, across this country during the next two weeks, most of you will be opening your classroom doors in a first-day welcoming for your students.  As a teacher I am proud to stand beside you in all that you do. But as a parent, well, as a parent I stand in awe of all that you do.  And to Ms. Miner, thank you.

Crazy Summer

Hello out there.  I'm sorry, I've been the lamest blogger ever this summer! I have no excuse, as I have had some sweet adventures.

I went to Indianapolis.

I met Aubry Grace and saw Emily!

I drove across country with Cara Lee. 

I got settled into a new house.  

I went to camp and played with 4th and 5th graders for a week.

I went to Journalism Camp and got three of my students excited for our class this year.

I went on lunch dates and out to dinner with my girlfriends.  

I got my classroom set up.  

I helped throw a baby shower for my cousin Caris.

I took some senior pictures for one of my favorite students, Felicia.  

In short, I've been busy.  I promise to start doing better.

A poem for the day

It’s not my day to blog, but I decided to share this on our Convention Blog today (and with all of you).  I bought a book by L. William Countryman this week at the Exhibit Hall called Love Songs & Reproaches, a Conversation with God.  (I know.  You’re shocked that I bought a book, but you don't have to move it mom!)  It has a poem in it that is really speaking to me about General Convention, and church governance, and really churches in general, so I thought I’d share it with you. 

Fair warning: you are about to read poetry, something that gets my students shaking in their boots. J

A Voice in the Static

Your words are hard to decipher,

your voice, submerged in the static

of chattering minds and hearts,

is hard to hear—

above all, for us the pious,

trying so hard to listen!

Jesus was never more of a problem

than for us who knew God best,

who read the scriptures and taught

the rest to know their sins.

The more confidence, the more static.

Better to confess, with Solomon,

that, finally, we do not know.

Confessing our ignorance, we make room

for friendship, we affirm beyond our understanding.

                  When Jesus brought good news,

he said, “Turn and believe.”

What does it take to believe

good news? Turning away from despair,

from fear and foreboding, surrender

of self-confidence, the opening of the hand

to receive goodness, the triumph

of thanksgiving over dread.

                                                      Grace

can only come as surprise.

And when grace comes, it confuses

all our accounts.  All that time

spent with the double-entry columns

of our merits and our sins—all

swept away.  All that deliberation,

the slow building of confident theologies—

all shattered.  Yet, not all wasted.

Lying among the fragments,

we find, like Paul, the neglected

words that could have pointed us

toward the forgotten possibility,

to a knowledge of you that admits

we do not know, to a heart

willing to accept surprise.

                  Turn and believe the good news.

Your good news does not amend our knowledge of you.

It upends it, till every element of it,

shaken loose in free fall,

rearrange itself to form

a picture we recognize and yet

could not have drawn before.

                  Turn and believe. There is no hearing

of your voice that does not transform.

And no single hearing

that transforms once and for all.

Always some static remains,

blurring the voice we hear. 

Grace, even when we have known it

many times before,

will still find ways to surprise.

Its music penetrates the gabble

and we are astonished and we are changed.

I'm in Indianapolis

Hey all,
    For those who haven't heard yet, I am in Indianapolis until July 13 participating in the Episcopal Church's General Convention.  I'm a deputy for the Diocese of Spokane and have been busy on the World Missions committee.  Our job over the next 10 days is to work on the governance of the church for the next three years (we work a lot like the US government with a bi-cameral governance structure).    It's crazy and busy and really interesting.  If you want to know more, post comments and I'll answer what questions I can.  ;) Otherwise, I really put this here as a short intro to my blog post that I did today on our convention deputies website for the Diocese.  I thought I'd stick it on here to so you could see what's on my mind today.  Love you all and see you soon!
PS. Thanks Katie, Mom, and Tony for moving all my stuff this weekend!
Pia

Impressions of World Mission

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Pia Longinotti

The Episcopal Church (TEC) is doing amazing things in our world. I know. I’ve been listening to testimony all day from members of our church on world mission. Our committee got to hear about the work missionaries are doing all over the world, and learned that the proposed budget is calling to increase money so that we can support more missionaries around the world. They are even planning on increasing the Young Adult Service Corps from 15 to 30 young adults – a missionary opportunity in which our own Diocese’s Matthew Kellen took part. We got to hear from the head of the Committee on World Missions, and we heard testimony from Bishops around the world who head our Covenant Partner Episcopal Churches. TEC is building schools, ministry, providing health education… the list is endless. There is so much good news in the area of World Mission.

But not everything was positive in the missionary world.  We also heard testimony on the impact the TEC had on our Covenant Partners when TEC pulled part of the funding promised those churches over the last Triennium when the budget was cut across the board.  It was heart-breaking to hear that we had not met the financial end of our covenant agreement with some of our Covenant Partners and because of this, they had to cut important ministries, couldn’t fund schools, couldn’t do all of the good work that they had planned because our agreement wasn’t kept.

I was reminded today of the importance of faith-built agreements and the far-reaching impact they can have on others.  A decision by someone to include our Covenant Partners as part of the Program budget instead of the block grants they really are created a loss of necessary programs for thousands of people who are truly in need.  The decision of a Diocese (who can afford it) to not give their full asking to TEC creates a budget shortfall that keeps TEC from supporting hundreds of amazing ministries throughout the Episcopal Church that help our poor and destitute, and support every member of the church.  The choice of a parishioner to not tithe what they can could keep a church from reaching  its full ministry potential.  We need to give what we can not because of some misplaced duty, but because when we plan in faith and dream ministries in faith, we need to support those dreams too.

Today, I am reminded of the parable of the woman who gave two coins, and how her generosity, as small as it seemed, was an outward expression of her faith.  I want to be her and watch how my gift feeds the world through faith.

Moving

I HATE MOVING! I think anyone that knows me knows the truth of this statement.  I think I would live in a place I hated just to avoid the chaos and pain of packing, trying to get people to help me, and getting settled into a new place.  With that said, I am moving into a new, bigger place since Cara and Tony are moving back to Spokane and back in with us.  We found a great house on top of the South Hill that will be a great location for me to commute to work (only 15 minutes on a bad day)! It has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a giant backyard for the dogs.  I can't wait.

Sadly (maybe), the timing couldn't be worse.  I leave for a 20 day trip on Monday, and we are set to move on the 14th.  So, I will miss all of that, and I'll have a boxed up room to come home to upon my return with one week to pull it together before I head to camp for a week and journalism camp for another week.  CRAZY!  But don't you worry, I've contributed to the cause.  I think I have 3-4 students lined up to help (who I'm paying), and my trainer Silka volunteered her time (maybe she's the crazy one actually).

So, as of today, I am officially packed up and ready to go.  My room is packed, my bags for my trip are packed, my boxes are labeled.  I even got my address changed at my bank, got a new bed set for delivery, and got a phone upgrade (went with the Droid 4 instead of the iPhone-hopefully, not a mistake).  Life is good!

London or bust

Today I booked two tickets for Katie and I with them:

So that we could travel with mom for Christmas here:

Enough. Said.

10 days and counting

It always seems funny to me how at Christmas Break, it seems like the end of the school year is never going to get here, and then it feels like you blink, and it's time to close up the classroom for three-ish months.

My year has been crazy, challenging, and at times I wanted to walk out of my classroom and just keep going.  And yet, I have loved this year and my students.  Even 4th period.  But don't tell them that.  In 10 more days, I will never again teach most of my sophomores (except for the brave ones-or the unlucky ones- who take journalism as upperclassmen).  There's always a small part of me that is overjoyed to have them walk out my door never to return as a student.  BUT, there's also this bigger part of me that is going to miss those young men and women so much it's ridiculous.

We spent two years, 360 days together learning the ins and outs of English, studying Bradbury to Shakespeare, vocabulary to sentence structures, and of course, how to pass their HSPE tests to how to research using something other then Google.  And in the process, they claimed a piece of my heart with their antics and heartbreaks and their abilities to annoy me and everyone else in the classroom.  And I live for those tiny moments when they take me utterly by surprise, when something just clicks or they are suddenly so childlike, it can't help but be endearing, or they just pop by my room in the morning to say hi or to hang out.

In ten days, my sophomores will be juniors and I will miss them...and I might even tell them that as they head out my door.

Happy Memorial Day

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all the men and women who serve our country.  I've been blessed to have a number of family members serve in the military (Grandpa Walt, Grandpa Tony, Grandpa Pat, Uncle Chuck, Aunt Peggy, Cousin Darrin), and a number of my students have gone on to serve in the armed forces.  I couldn't be prouder of all of them! Thank you for all you do to protect our freedom!

My Uncle Chuck serving in the giant sandbox!

A few of my former students home for Veteran's Day