It's been a while but most of you follow me through Facebook and know that we've had a lot going on this summer. We are finally settled in Wilmington, NC and adjusting to our new surroundings. I can tell you that I am definitely enjoying the 78 degree days over the 90 degree days Tallahassee is still having here in mid-October.Andy is feeling at home with his job at UNC-Wilmington and overall we feel like this is going to be a great place to live! I like our neighborhood - it's cute and quiet. I LOVE our new house and have been busy decorating and reorganizing, much to Andy's chagrin. I will post an entire album of pictures as soon as we finish - which I'm hoping will be this weekend. At least finished with the big parts of the decor and moving the boxes into the attic.
Emma has settled into her new school and has made so many new friends she's already back to getting in trouble for talking and losing focus on her work. I think this is good. I know she needs to learn focus but I'm glad the transition has been easy for her. We're headed to her school for their Fall Festival tomorrow night.
Jackson and I are hanging out at home and getting familiar with the local parks and beaches. I'm working on getting into the substitute teaching circle here to get a feel for the local districts and schools.I'm hoping to go back to full-time teaching but am excited to have this time to be a stay-at-home mom and explore some other professional avenues.
Which brings me to my next news. I'm starting a new blog specifically geared at reading Young Adult Literature and how parents and teachers can pair these books with specific children/students or specific themes/lessons. I'm also excited to still be going to NCTE in November and to be presenting a session on just this topic. My former colleague and friend, Kathryn S and I will be presenting a session on how to use YA books and film to bridge understanding gaps for adolescents with canonical literature. I know that sounds like a mouthful and we definitely have tweaked the language to make it sound as appealing as it really is. Basically, we're attempting to answer the age-old question: How do you get a teenager excited about classic books? I'm excited to be more of a "working" part at NCTE and hope to keep becoming more involved.
As soon as I have the blog up and running, I will post a link on this blog and post the info on Facebook. Wish me luck - because now it's out there in the Universe so I have to do it. Yikes.
