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Getting to Know You Blog Hop



If you and I were in the same room, we could talk for hours about music, education, families, kids, and lots more.  It happens to me regularly...I'm late to something because I was talking to someone for too long!  BUT.  There always seems to be a catch.  I seem to have more trouble being chatty in print.  While I have lots to share, this blog has been a challenge for me.  Perhaps if we get to know each other a little better, and create conversations rather than one-sided posts, it will feel more like a personal conversation than a writing assignment!  

In an effort to create more of a community feel, several music blogger friends and I have joined together for a blog hop. We've teamed together in order to collaborate as bloggers and bring you music education ideas using a variety of methodologies and approaches. However, before diving into music education topics, we thought it would be fun to get to know each other and our audiences through a blog hop!

How will this blog hop benefit you?

#1.  Getting to Know You
We want a chance to get to know you! Understanding our current and past experiences helps us to form stronger professional learning communities, and we'd love for you to be a part of it!


Now, it's question time!  I'll go first.

What state/region are you in?  

I am living in South Carolina, in the largest town that I have ever lived in!  I grew up in the small town, Mustang, Oklahoma, so I am an Okie at heart.  Each time my family moved, the towns got bigger and bigger.  Now, Columbia is still much smaller than Oklahoma City or Atlanta or LA,  but I have to drive on the interstate to get to work each day, and there is TRAFFIC!


What is your background education/experience?

I was a band kid growing up. I played flute, then switched to French horn my junior year in high school. That year was full of changes for me. My family had just moved halfway across the country and I was now a part of a state champion band.  I caught the serious music bug! My family moved again my senior year, back to Oklahoma. A college band director came to work with our high school band. That was when I first considered the possibility of majoring in music. I was definitely a late bloomer!

I completed my undergrad at Oklahoma State University with some great professors. Prof Montemurro (that band director I had met in high school), Mr. Henry, and Dr. Carter to name a few. I always felt that I had been very prepared for teaching.  I still had beginning teacher struggles, but I knew what to expect. I am very thankful that OSU accepted me into their program and helped me to grow.

Over the years I have taught middle school and high school band, elementary band and strings, children's and adult church choir and handbell choirs. I finally settled in to elementary general music when my own children were in elementary, loved it and stayed. 

The cool thing about music is that you can study for years and still have more to learn. In this quest for more knowledge, better skills and just plain music fun, have completed Orff level 1, GIML Elementary General level 1, GIML Early Childhood level 1, and GIML Instrumental level 1. FINALLY, in May I earned my masters degree in music education from the University of South Carolina, studying with the awesome Dr. Wendy Valerio.

Name something quirky about yourself or one interesting fact.

I like to read and make crafty things, but I am a techy at heart.  My daughter once told me, "Mom, you know you are a geek when you have a technology section in your purse."  While I have taken a few classes, I am mostly self-taught.  My motto is "Just keep clicking until something happens!" Because I have been doing that for a long time, I have skills in a variety of areas and always love learning a new techy trick.  Even with all of those techy skills, I just traded in my flip phone for my first smartphone in April.  

It's time for the next stop, but before you leave, please join in the conversation!  The next question is for you.  Be sure to answer in the comments section! 
Name something quirky about yourself or one interesting fact.

After you've commented with your answer, simply click on the image below to go to the next stop in the blog hop!



#2.  Giveaway






After you're finished with the hop, you can enter a giveaway for your chance to win tons of teacher goodies that are sure to make you smile! Simply leave a comment on this post with an answer to the highlighted question at the bottom of this post. Then, do the same at each blog hop stop. When you reach the end of the blog hop, you'll be able to enter the giveaway for your chance to win!







The winner will receive some paper goodies to stay organized, an inspirational quote block for your desk along with a book that is sure to keep you laughing till your spring concerts; complete with very sweet, but very wrong test answers from students, and some practical items such as hand sanitizer and a glass jar to store your pencils.

So, don't forget to answer the highlighted question at the bottom of this post before hopping to the next blog!


*This giveaway has ended.*









17 comments:

  1. Something people often don't realize about me right away is that on the inside, I am Japanese, not American. I grew up in Japan and went to public school all the way through the end of middle school, so my thoughts and beliefs are shaped by that culture more than any other. People are used to people who are ethnically Japanese but culturally American (Japanese Americans), but not the other way around! ;)

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    1. Elizabeth...I can really relate to your comment and wow---how do you blend the two cultures?

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  2. Perhaps it's the musician in me, but I have a lot of quirks ;) However, the one people notice first is my height. I'm nearly six foot, and that tends to draw attention. Mostly it's positive attention. I also get to help people grab things off of high shelves, which makes me feel useful ;)

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  3. In middle and high school, I was obsessed with smiley faces. I had a huge collection. Most of it is boxed up now. I can't bear to part with it year. But, several items have found new homes in my classroom--mugs, a table, a rug, and a beanbag chair.

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  4. Quirky...uh....I'd rather make music and create than anything else--social people get upset with me as I just want to be alone and do my thing! But I love people too--just in a different way. Love tech stuff too-and love your paper on your blog!

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  5. Just one quirk, eh? Hmm.. There are so many! I am not a morning person. Oddly enough, I am up between 4:30-5:00 am every morning but it's a ruse! To be ready for my students, I've learned to get up extra early to give myself that "warm-up" time. Don't speak to me until for at least the first hour and I have consumed 2 cups of coffee (and by coffee, I mean Starbucks). It's probably why I'm still single, now that I think of it...

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  6. Um, here's a weird one! I don't have a sense of smell! Yep, not even a little bit. Never have! :) Born without it. We don't really know why! :)

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  7. Quirky? Are you calling me Quirky? I'd like to think of myself as "Artsy!" Just kidding. Ummmm. I don't know what's quirky about me. Maybe it's that I absolutely HATE odd numbers - especially PRIMES, but my birthday is 5/11/1973. YIKES!!!

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  8. Personally I don't think I'm quirky... is that a quirk?? I asked a friend what was quirky about me and she said you sew AND you listen to Jeff Foxworthy.

    Hmmm I dunno if I can trust her to tell me the truth.

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  9. I remember fondly one day when my daughter was out in the backyard sanding and painting her bookshelves and my son was in the house sewing lap blankets to take on the band bus. I don't consider that quirky, that's well rounded!

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  10. I would love to take a bunch of cooking classes. When I was young and single, I would spend $$ on food and experiment with new recipes. If it turned out, great. If it didn't, I threw it out and looked for more recipes. I love cookbooks and could spend hours looking through them.

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  11. Hmmm quirky, I dunno...I had surgery this summer and now have a hardware store in my foot:) 4 plates and 21 screws...and yes I get to begin the year on crutches:)

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  12. Quirky- well two things... I have a tendency to laugh at things that aren't necessarily funny. My family jokes that I laugh when I introduce myself and just say my name. The other is I will break out in song similar to what you would see in a musical just out of nowhere. Oh and I like to dance to the music in the grocery store. My husband is now used to it. My kids still get embarrassed. LOL.

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  13. I squeak - the more excited I am the higher my voice gets. And when I laugh, and sneeze.
    And I can cluck my tongue louder than most people - and change the pitch!

    I'm full of noises!

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  14. Quirky. Food that is mixed (like trail mix) or different things or colors (skittles) bother me, and I have to separate them by thing or color. Then (to add to the crazy, I mean, quirky ;-) ) I have to eat them by twos so I can have one for each side of my mouth to chew. Being a teacher with limited free time for eating has forced me to get over these things (while I'm at work) ;-)

    Malinda
    My Musical Menagerie: Kodaly and Orff Classroom

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  15. Even though I'm a music teacher, I suck at remembering the names of musicians, bands, songs, lyrics, etc. And I hardly ever listen to music in the car. I prefer audio books!

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