Seven Things

I was tagged by two different people to do a “Seven Things” meme… they were pretty similar, except for a few questions. So I just combined the two and picked my seven favorite categories, to save time.

Seven things to do before I die:
1. Fall in love and get married.
2. Have children (2 or more).
3. Finish grad school, get certified as Reading Specialist (and maybe get certified to teach ESOL as well).
4. Learn to speak Spanish fluently.
5. Travel more. Places I’d like to visit include, but are not limited to: Europe, Australia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico and some tropical island (I’m not picky about which one).
6. Organize all of my photos and memorabilia into fabulous scrapbooks.
7. See the Flyers win the Stanley Cup. (Not that I’d have anything to do with that… but man, I really wanna see that happen!)

Seven things I cannot do:
1. Understand football.
2. Turn off my teacher-instinct to correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
3. Keep my desk clean (at work and at home).
4. Enjoy “The Three Stooges” on any level.
5. Leave the house without showering.
6. Play an instrument well.
7. Not be sarcastic.

I Just Can’t (Or Don’t Wanna) Stop:
1. reading
2. buying/downloading and listening to music
3. finding new things to buy/make for my classroom
4. buying stationery supplies (markers, crayons, paper, stickers)
5. collecting children’s books
6. watching “Lost”
7. playing with my dog

Seven things that attract me to teaching:
1. Kids make me laugh. It's great to have a job where you can be entertained every single day.
2. I love having my own classroom. I get to play interior decorator anytime I want.
3. I am a complete book-nerd, and I get to spend my day teaching my students to love books and reading as much as I do. And it gives me an excuse to buy children’s books.
4. I print very neatly.
5. I like working with people. Every year I get a new group of students (and their parents) so it never gets boring.
6. I get to put my creative side to good use. And the kids think I draw well.
7. I think learning is COOL.

Seven things I say most often:
1. Dude.
2. One, two, three… eyes on me! (to my students)
3. Who’s a good puppy? (said in annoyingly high-pitched voice, to my dog)
4. Shit.
5. Oh my GOD.
6. I’ll wait until everyone is sitting as quietly as ______. (fill in name of student who is behaving appropriately)
7. What’s up?

Seven children's books I love:
1. Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
2. But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton
3. Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
4. The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
5. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
6. Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
7. Curious George by H.A. Rey
(I could keep going… this was WAY too hard to narrow down)

Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had time):
1. The Sound of Music
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Love Actually
4. Shrek
5. The Princess Bride
6. Good Will Hunting
7. American Beauty

Seven people I want to join in, too:
I think everyone has already done it. But hey, if you read this and you haven't done it, go for it!