June 2009 Archives

Truth is stranger than fiction. I know this for a fact, because I ride the subway every day. While I delight in the crazy characters imagined by the great brains of Jack Gantos or Daniel Pinkwater I often wonder, how do they come up with this stuff? But then I look up from my book only to be astounded by the interesting details being played out on the human stage. Some of my recent favorites? That guy in the coffee shop with the beautifully worn old brown leather journal, the ivory pages covered in the most spidery gorgeous (not to mention illegible) handwriting in black ink; a perfect match to his worn copy of Kierkegard. Then there is the old guy with the steel grey bouffant hairdo and pencil mustache that I see sometimes on the green line - I do not exaggerate here, because this man requires none. There are also gold chains involved and (though I may be thinking of someone else on the green line now) a busty mermaid tattooed on his hairy man arm. Vivid, yes? Or the young woman on the train wearing a worn, long white dress - shades of Miss Havisham.

That said, I know all too well that these superficial details do not a character make. I read an interview with author Mort Castle (whose books I have yet to read, I admit). I got the opportunity to submit a question, so I asked what he thought was integral to good horror fiction (though this could work for any fiction). I love his answer: "Human beings for whom we give a damn." Well said. The details themselves - the philosophy, the journal, the tattoos, the gown - these are enticing, but there needs to be something beneath that. Something real.

And now...more blog reviews! I can't tell you how it thrills me to read these:
http://juiciliciousssreviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/kings-rose-review.html
http://bookworminginthe21stcentury.blogspot.com/2009/06/kings-rose.html

Celebrate the YA Book Carnival with this CONTEST to win a signed copy of The King's Rose!
http://shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com/2009/06/ya-carnival-contest-kings-rose.html

I practically started piano lessons along with starting school. When I was in the equivalent of junior high, I decided that I would like to play organ at church. One summer in high school, I took organ lessons behind the back of my piano teacher because I was afraid that she was going say that I could not pay adequate attention to both instruments and my piano studies would slack. Well, once school started again in Fall, I truly could not devote enough time to practice both instruments so I dropped the organ. Then I told my piano teacher. It turned out she was the director of the children's choir at my very own church. She already had another teenager as an organist but she recruited me to share the responsibilities. I was 15. She slowly eased me into the "job" by preparing me to play only one piece first, and then gradually let me play more. She was one of my best teachers.

Playing at church is very different from giving a recital because the organist is part of a bigger picture. One needs to be able to adjust quickly when things don't happen as planned (e.g. someone took too long to finish one part of the service, did something unexpected, etc). And one needs to work well as an accompanist (when the choir or soloist is singing something) or as the song leader to lead congregational singing. So it is important to have the ability to play music in an ensemble, some simple musical improvisation, and handle things such as what to do when the soloist sang a bunch of wrong notes.

As complicated as I have made it, it is actually not too difficult to acquire those skills. And it is a lot of fun!!!! Most organists started their musical training with the piano. So if you have decent piano skills, it is rather easy to learn the organ. The different chapters of the American Guild of Organist (www.agohq.org) host an event called Pipe Organ Encounter (POE, http://www.agohq.org/education/indexoutreach.html) for adults. It is a very nice program to introduce the organ. Or one can contact a big church in the area and ask if their organist gives lessons or recommend someone. For youth, there is a program call Pedals, Pipes and Pizza, a half day program.

And the last benefit of being a church organist? Money. Well, not a lot of it, but every bit helps in these days. Organists generally don't play for free. And many people use this as a second and part time job because it involves weekends and evenings (usually 1 choir rehearsal on a weekday evening) only. I know of a few lawyers who do this. This would also be quite suitable for the stay-home parent.

Perhaps this will get some of you interested.

I just joined the LIPW group on LinkedIn and it has truly been a gold mine. I connected with Leah Oviedo who introduced me to an awesome resource, Investing in Women (IIW) (http://iiwomen.com/index.htm). IIW is committed to sowing into the lives of women around the globe through education and appreciation. By partnering with other business owners, IIW provides up-to-date information on the world of entrepreneurship and articles from successful business owners. But, it doesn't end there. IIW has a host of other resources that include networking, a women's business directory, and partnership opportunities. IIW also has a micro grant program for women business owners in the United States.

 

This is the beauty of social media - I have just discovered a great forum for Valentine Consulting of South Florida to participate.

 

Take a minute to visit their website, check out their blog and sign up for their newsletter. I am excited about this resource and I hope you are too!

By Amanda Gross

The hair salon was buzzing with customers. The adolescent boys were packing their backpacks for their first hike up Table Mountain. Neighbors gossiped across balconies while watering their plants. Voices echoed off the buildings as the Cape Town Boys Choir warmed up for their weekly rehearsal.

But their town, District Six, was being targeted by the apartheid government, that saw this close-knit community of Malaysians, mixed-race people, European immigrants and people of all religions as threatening to the white regime and its idea of "separate development." 

The District Six Museum in Cape Town, South Africa conjures up such images from the neighborhood's glory days -- the 1940s and 50s -- so its visitors can understand the thriving, close-knit dynamic in the long-standing neighborhood of freed slaves, immigrants, artisans, and merchants that was District Six.

The museum also depicts the destruction of this quaint city-side community.

In 1966, the 60,000 residents of District Six started to receive notices on their doorstep, informing them they had been evicted from their home by the government because it had decided that space was to be whites-only. In 1968, those who hadn't moved were forcibly evicted and sent to follow their former neighbors to the Cape Flats, a desolate plain several miles to the northeast, even further away from the convenient access they had to the city and the harbor.

"We had blacks, Indians, Hindus, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Christians, Muslims - one big happy family and we proved to the apartheid government that it can work," said Noor Ebrahim, former District Six resident who wrote a book on his life in and out of District Six and now works at the museum. "They didn't like that, and I still believe that was one of the reasons they declared District Six a white area."

The bulldozers and dump trucks started rolling in soon after, and by 1982, the only thing that remained of District Six was a wasteland of bricks and cobblestones.

In 2009, the wasteland remains.

Despite the government's seemingly urgent need to rid the land of its residents in the 1960s, it never actually did anything with the land it snatched from the people.

Renaming the area "Zonnenbloem," the South African government tried to attract developers who could turn the area into a modern suburb. But protests successfully dissuaded them, and the land remained untouched.

The District Six Museum now stands as a memorial to the ex-residents of District Six, as well as a means to educate the rest of its visitors about forced evictions in Cape Town and across South Africa.

The museum is also a part of the initiative to "rebuild" District Six -- literally and psychologically.

A Land Rights Act was passed in 1994 with the "New South African" government offering restitution and reconciliation to those who were dispossessed of land through the racist practices of apartheid.

Former residents can apply for restitution, and many have in an effort to redevelop the site with the past in mind -- rebuilding their past while allowing the space itself to serve as a memorial for the District Six identity.

However, many former residents are hesitant to reopen this closed and sensitive chapter of their past.

The museum aims to work with people directly to "put itself at the heart of the process of reconstruction of District Six and Cape Town through working with the memories and experiences of dispossessed people, " according to its Web site.

Some see the museum's role as a purely educational and historical one in the rebuilding process, providing a "safe place" for ex-residents to mourn and reminisce.

Others, however, want the museum to take a more involved approach to the actual redevelopment of the land. Bonita Bennet, the current director of the museum, sees the museum's role as more involved in the ex-residents' claims to land and claims to their identities that were destroyed by the apartheid regime.

"We continue to draw our inspiration from many sources," she wrote in the museum's annual report for 2007/2008. "And will go on exploring ways of surfacing and combining the many elements that draw us forward."

Remember Dimbaza

Remember Botshabelo/Onverwacht.

South End, East Bank,

Sophiatown, Makuleke, Cato Manor,

Remember District Six.

Remember the racism

Which took away our homes

And our livelihood

And which sought

To steal away our humanity.

Remember also our will to live,

To hold fast to that

Which marks us as human beings:

Our generosity, our love of justice

And our care for each other.

Remember tramway road,

Modderdam, Simonstown

In remembering we do not want

To recreate District Six

But to work with its memory:

Of hurts inflicted and received

Of loss, achievements and of shames.

We wish to remember

So that we can all,

Together and by ourselves,

Rebuild a city

Which belongs to all of us,

In which all of us can live,

Not as races but as people.

-Poem at District Six Museum

I've showed you the affordable art that I like; I hope you've liked it too. You've probably noticed that I've included contact information of the artists, which is one way to buy--actually a very inexpensive way to buy. There's no gallery markup, no commission. And you develop a relationship with the artist, which I can tell you, is a nice thing.

Another way to buy inexpensive art is at open studios. Most towns have them. You get to see the work in the artist's studio, and talk directly with the artist about their work. Many towns in Massachusetts sponsor artist open studio days; you can find listings with dates and locations here www.artistlink.org/?q=spacetoolbox/forartists/openstudios.

All during the warm weather, there are art fairs, often held in the town center, on the green, if there is one. I personally find the art exhibited there typically a little academic and predictable, so after a quick look, I wander away to the ice cream stand, which is where my husband really wants to be. But these fairs are worth a look--you never know . . .

Several of the artists I've showcased here have exhibited at the Concord Art Center, which exhibits truly fine work, as opposed to some cooperatives, whose artists' work doesn't seem all that imaginative, challenging, or daring. I want the art I collect to display originality in the subject, technique, point of view, materials, etc. I want to stop every now and then as I pass it in my home and take a good look at it again.

Galleries can be intimidating, not known for warmth and friendliness, which is why I want you to check out 13 Forest Street Gallery (http://www.13forest.com), which isn't on Forest Street, but on Massachusetts Avenue in Arlington, Mass. (That's a photo I took in their Gallery, above. A couple of others are below.) This gallery carries every type of art you could desire, and the owners, Marc Gurton and Meryl Perlson, are knowledgeable, friendly, and very interested in the work they show, and in their artists. And they actually enjoy intereacting with gallery visitors. They have frequent exhibits. and their prices are very reasonable. Contact them at info@13forest.com.

A few weeks ago, I headed to the Marais on a Friday night for a friend's birthday party.  (The Marais is a hip neighborhood in Paris, similar to Boston's South End.)  I headed up the stairs of a bar called Les Etages (a bar I don't particularly like, but that's besides the point,) and joined my friend Anna and a few dozen of her friends in celebrating her 28th birthday. Anna is a former classmate and now writing teacher of mine at the writing workshop I attend at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore.

As soon as I arrived, I focused on a face across the room that looked familiar - a blond girl about my age with glasses and light white skin.  I said to Anna's boyfriend, Dorian, that this girl looked familiar.  Dorian is French, and when he said her name back to me in the loud bar it sounded like "Enn-lee."  As familiar as she looked, I couldn't place the connection, and as she was across the room in a noisy Friday night bar I didn't puzzle for too long on how I knew her.

Later on that night, after a few beers and some small talk with an English friend of Anna's, I wandered upstairs to the bathroom.  When I got there, the one toilet stall was in use, and the familiar-looking blond girl was waiting in line.  As friends of friends do, we got to chatting and she asked one of the five most common foreigner questions in Paris - "How long have you been here?" I always have to stop and absentmindedly recollect my history when I am asked this question.
 
"Well, I first came here as a student for eight months, then I went back to Boston to finish school, and I returned to France immediately after that but I was in Normandy for seven months and then I came back to Paris... so roughly three and a half to four years."

"Where in Boston did you go to school?" she asked with a bit of a smirk.

"Well, it's this really small school called Simmons, you probably haven't heard of it..."

Her smirk widended and she said, "I went to Simmons."

My brain yawned and stretched and my eyes widended : "You DID? Wait, when did you graduate?"

And so Henley and I were formally introduced.  Graduating a year earlier than me, in 2005, I was away in France for all of her senior year.  We went over fields of study and best Simmons friends and deduced that we must have met once or two in connection with the Simmons Voice.  She's been in Paris for a few years but is planning to leave for grad school next year.

Meanwhile, back in my writing class at Shakespeare and Co, a classmate announced that he will be moving to Boston in a few months so his wife can start school.  Where, you might ask?  Simmons, of course! She will be getting a master's degree in the Education department. I gave him one (of the many) Simmons pens I have fumbling around in my handbag and told him to look into apartments in Jamaica Plain.

So, goes to show that even if you're in Paris, it's a small world after all.

Someone commented recently about the irony of my inherent shyness (which I have mentioned on this blog) considering I chose the point of view of a shameless, knife-wielding murderer for my first book. It begs the question: why do we, as writers, write what we do? What is it that draws us to tell the stories of particular characters, regardless of how (un)pleasant these people may be? As I'm sure I've said before, Erzebet was fascinating to write about - but I wouldn't want to have tea with her. She would probably stab me over the scones.

I was drawn to write about Erzebet because she is in so many ways my stark opposite: so fixated on her own appearance that she'll have no remorse about bleeding her helpless servant girls in order to harvest their blood for her own beauty regimen. She is callous, high-handed, and a perfectionist when it comes to creating the face reflected back at her in the mirror. She craves the power that beauty gives her and even revels in the pure violence as she wreaks her blood-thirsty havoc on the girls unfortunate enough to find themselves in her employ.

I'm not saying that I'm completely without vanity, but I can't even bother with makeup, never mind opening the veins of a servant every night. But aside from these over-arching issues, there were certainly ways that Erzebet and I could connect: her vanity stretched all the way to insecurity, as vanity often does. Her fears of the future, of change, and of the unknown leads her to some very dark places in her own soul, and while she takes a very different route to combat those dark places (with blade in hand) I know I've experienced those same fears, too. So the key to writing about her was finding a way to empathize with her, in spite of her monstrous past-times.

Empathy aside, it's simply fun to write about someone completely different, completely alien to yourself. At the risk of frightening any psychologists who may be reading, there is something deliciously terrifying about experiencing - from a safe distance - Erzebet's glee at the havoc she unleashed, both within her own heart and created in her personal hell on earth in that dark tower dungeon. She is completely out of control, but also completely in control of her own actions, her own mad spiral, and I could just hear her laughing giddily the whole way down. Until, of course, the very end.

Writers out there (and I know you're out there) please chime in! And no, I'm not referring only to published writers - if you write, then you're a writer. Do you choose characters who are like you, in obvious or in secret ways?

By Dorothy Manley

Asserting our identity in the face of prejudice and discrimination can help us fight more effectively for our dignity and our rights. But failing to grasp our fuller human identity can hurt us while also blocking us from helping others with their struggles. This was the message of one of South Africa's most famous gay activists--Zackie Achmat--at a University of Pretoria forum we attended early in our trip.

We chatted among ourselves anxiously at the university's Centre for Human Rights on a dark and rainy May winter morning awaiting Achmat's arrival--a disparate group of wide-eyed students, professors and social justice activists. His topic: "Threats to Our Equality: Sexual Orientation, the Constitution, and Social Justice."

When he arrives, he says he has been asked to speak about sexual orientation and activism. But he has come to take us in a different direction.

"I believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex struggle for equality in South Africa is at a crossroads and is heading in the wrong direction," he says. "That is going to be the underlying theme of what I say today."

Zackie Achmat is well known in the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) community for his relentless activism and personal sacrifice for the rights of sexual minority groups and HIV positive people. He is the founder of one of South Africa's most effective advocacy groups--the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which fights for the rights of HIV/AIDS victims.

Joking about his elaborate introduction, he says: "Very often when you are an activist, you get reduced to the things that you have done, and not your personality." All his titles and awards are not so important. And narrowing who he is to a single identity--as a gay activist, an HIV/AIDS campaigner, whatever--not only trivializes him, it denies his essential humanity by reducing the potential for others to see us as whole multi-dimensional, relatable human beings, he says, adding that this is what is wrong today with much of the LGBTI community.

"We have entrenched the divisions within our society. We don't see each other's humanity, and we don't admit to it. We try to hide it, we do not speak about it because we fear these things," Achmat says.

He goes on to insist on the need to construct the broadest possible alliance of people who otherwise never look at each other and never recognize each other's humanity.

During the apartheid era, which ended with South Africa's first free democratic election only 15 years ago, social discrimination created deep divisions solely based on one identity--race. Achmat likens this to the "identity pride" fostered today within the LGBTI community, arguing that it also limits us as human beings.

"The dignity of white people was totally diminished because they thought they were superior beings,"he says. "We have so commodified our sexual identity that we are exploited as a market, and we exploit other people as a market."

We need to see beyond these identities, so we can empathize with others and in doing so, not only realize our own humanity but also build a deeper and broader movement for the rights of everyone, according to Achmat.

"Unless we as Africans assert the rights of Iranians and the people in the United States to express their equality, to express their autonomy, to express their dignity, then our own humanity is diminished," he says. "It is both at the level of humanity and at the level of law that we have to operate."

Not what any of us expected, but I am still thinking over what he said--and how to work it into my life.

I am teaching a graduate level course called Advanced Topics in Preventive Nutrition.  Although we don't eat TV, the topic of TV and a sedentary lifestyle does get discussed from time to time. In the course of the conversation, I told the students that I don't have a TV at home for 6 years now and they were quite curious how that happened.

When there was a TV in our house, we never had cable anyway. We got rid of the TV a few months after our first child was born, thinking that the problems of TV (e.g. too easy to just plop on the couch and click the remote rather than find something better to do) outweighs its benefit (educational shows).  My kids get to watch TV when they are at the grand parents' house.

I don't miss the TV. I am so busy that I really don't have the time to watch. When we want to watch a DVD, we watch it on the computer.

A student told the class that she used to baby sit for a family for a number of years. For a while, there was no TV in the house, then the parents bought a TV. And she was amazed by how quickly the kids got hooked by the TV. The kids did a lot of reading and other activities before the TV came along, but once there was a TV, they started spending a lot of time in front of it.

I am perfectly happy with a life without TV.

Valentine Consulting of South Florida has built a great partnership with knowledgecrush.com, an online think tank dedicated to managing personal and professional transformations. On June 17^th, we will launch our teleclass social media series in the Knowledgecrush Lounge to help organizations and professionals to navigate and maximize the new and dynamic arena of social media. Be a part of our lively discussions!

 

	Rock Your Social Media Strategy Program Wondering how Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Knowledgecrush.com can help your company grow? Featuring lounge leader Suzzette join this venue: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/354661803
	Jumpstart Your Facebook, Twitter Campaign This hands on, detailed course will leave you with the skills you need to build a company Facebook and LinkedIn pages. Featuring lounge leader Suzzette join this venue: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/356097096
	Rolling Out Your Social Media Campaign You've built your social media tools and you're ready to hit the ground running. Get the best practices for implementation and maintaining a vibrant presence in the social media space. Featuring lounge leader Suzzette join this venue: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/358266585

Join me in the Knowledgecrush Lounge Community to engage with others and receive tips and strategies on social media.

1. Go to www.knowledgecrush.com
2. Click on 'community' in the navigation bar
3. Click on 'join our growing community'
4. Register
5. Important: Choose 'The Lounge'

We will check in with you after the teleclasses to let you know how it went and what we learned. Stay tuned!!! This is going to be an exciting ride!

 

After much deliberation, evaluation, introspection, kicking and screaming, getting in and out of my own way, Valentine Consulting of South Florida, LLC has been launched. And it is the most beautiful feeling. It's like entering a home you have just bought and relishing in the feeling, "This is my home." Some would say that this is not an ideal time to launch a business. I believe this is the perfect time to start a business and begin building my legacy. I may feel the effects of the economy like so many others, but I SEE opportunity everywhere.

 

Similar to the process that a small business experiences, it took a journey of self-discovery, introspection, and hard truths to get here. Not to mention my network - I am blessed to have such a wonderful support system of loving, ambitious, smart people who believe in me.  

 

At Valentine Consulting of South Florida (www.solutionsmavens.net), we are Charting the Course for Small Business Adventures. We are passionate about helping others realize their dreams and achieve their goals. We provide business solutions for small businesses which span a range of services from helping a small business to step out of a rut or simply go to the next level to providing a la carte services which include social media design, implementation and training, program development, and more.

 

Join us on this adventure as we are charting this course.

By Elizabeth Feskoe '10

Our group has shared this experience together as a collective soul. We witnessed the same injustices, felt the same compassion, and tried our best to empathize with each situation.

Now, propelled by our souls' curiosity, its need to create and its low tolerance of injustice, we will shine light on social issues of South Africa kept in the dark to the world. Our goal is to reflect South Africa's beautiful, inspiring and resilient soul.

One can only dare to explain it through words or photographs, yet through the different talents our collective soul possesses, we dare to do it.

With Alicia Lochard's hatred for injustice and her courage to act. Courage everyone wishes they too were born with, but will never gain.

With Amanda Gross's ability to create a relaxed atmosphere perfect for communication, along with her contagious curiosity and humor.

With Ashley Haight's accurate judgment that leaves no one or reader astray and a rare ability to know exactly what is right from wrong.

With Beth Cortez-Neavel's warm and gentle being that is able to get any answer out of anyone at anytime. A true artist.

With Cassandra Cacoq's always open mind that one only wish they have and a rare ability to communicate through art and science.

With Dot Manley's compassion for those in helpless situations, ready to dedicate her life to rid these situations for as many as her heart can handle. It's a good thing that hers is immeasurable.

With Katie Poole's communication through photography and her instinct to capture true moments of life; moments rarely ever caught through a lense.

With Michelle Geoffroy's natural ability to carry genuine and meaningful conversations to anyone from strangers on a plane to children in informal settlements.

With Shannon Brown's talent whose writing of stories simultaneously honest and influential is also true for her personality.

Finally, it can be done with Dan Connell, his love affair with life and his insisting devotion for all to share in this love.

Through the combination of these different tools of communication, the work to be produced is anything but indifferent.

The experiences we shared stirred emotion that will not rest until change for South Africa, its people, and its future are finally created.

There is much we as communicators and you as the audience can do together for this urgent and important cause.

I first saw the art of Sarah Alaexander at the Audobon Wildlife sanctuary at Broadmoor in Natick, Massachusetts, after a chilly, but happy tramp over the paths with my husband. Joe's a nature-loving landscaper, so when we spied a room exhibiting naturalistic botanical art, we raced each other to it. The exhibit was large, the walls covered with paintings by this daughter of a British mother, who grew up surrounded by English gardens. She has been honored by numerous exhibitions and awards--no surprise. I returned to the Broadmoor exhibit to buy one of her works, but by the time I got there, it had been sold. I told a friend about Sarah's work; my friend promptly went to Holliston Mills and purchased two paintings.

Massachusetts just raised the math licensure requirement for elementary teacher candidates. As of 2009, all candidates must pass a new, stand-alone math test. The test covers the four key strands of elementary school mathematics: number and operations, functions and algebra, geometry and measurement, and statistics and probability. The Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) recommends 9-12 credit hours of math coursework for aspiring primary school teachers. The new licensure requirement and course content were spelled out in the DOE's Guidelines for the Mathematical Preparation of Elementary School Teachers (July, 2007).

 

For context, the mathematical performance of elementary school students, along with the mathematical preparation of elementary teachers, has undergone sharp scrutiny. Why? As noted in the Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (March, 2008), the U.S. economy, national security, and leadership in the global economy very much depend on having a workforce which has the math background for careers in science, technology and engineering.

 

As we post our final blog for 2008-09, it is wonderfully fitting, given the present concern for helping children to understand (and like!) math, that we speak with Simmons alumna, Hannah Kimball. Hannah earned her Bachelor's degree in mathematics in 2007 and went straight on to earn her Master of Arts in Teaching in May, 2008. She is a fifth grade teacher at the Cyrus E. Dallin Elementary School in Arlington, Massachusetts where, this year, she fulfilled her life-long dream of becoming an elementary school teacher. As you will see, a couple of special teacher/mentors, plus participation in sports, played huge roles in helping her gain a positive attitude toward math and in confirming her decision to go into teaching. Please meet Hannah!

 

 

Hannah Kimball (B.S. in Mathematics, 2007; Master of Arts in Teaching, 2008)

         

What drew you to math, Hannah?
I always knew that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher, but when I got to Simmons and learned that I couldn't major in Education, I had to re-evaluate. I hadn't liked math as a child but over the years, a couple of teachers put in extra time with me and helped me to be more confident and positive about math. Over time I have come to see the great need for elementary teachers to know and understand mathematics well. The news that only one-fourth of the teacher candidates who took the new math MTEL subtest in March passed the test is pretty scary.

What can you tell us about the teachers who turned things around for you in math?

My fifth grade teacher was a big advocate for girls, in general. I was shy and she worked to bring me out of my shell. I was struggling to understand long division and multiplication of large numbers. She helped me to see the sequential process and to understand the steps. Today I have a check-list for everything! This gave me the extra confidence to work on other things, too.

Another teacher who made a huge impact on me was my Algebra II teacher. He was always willing to stay after class to give extra help. What he did was to carefully go over my work with me, showing me where my thinking was correct and pointing to where it went awry. His approach of cooperative feedback helped me tremendously.

 

Were there any extracurricular activities that have influenced you in your thinking about what you wanted to do for a career?

Growing up, I did a lot of babysitting, because I enjoyed connecting with children and felt comfortable with them. That's what drew me to teaching.

Also, I played soccer throughout elementary, middle, and high school. Very few people knew me because I was so shy, but playing soccer gave me a boost. It was something I excelled at and it helped me feel more connected in school. Even as an undergraduate, when I didn't play soccer in my first year, I didn't feel connected, and so I felt somewhat unhappy. That changed when I resumed playing soccer. Soccer gave me an edge. It gave me confidence, and this helped me to solidify my plans to go into teaching.

 

Do you still play soccer today?

Yes, I play on a soccer league in Boston at a sports club which has many different sports and leagues. We play once a week.

 

Where did you student teach? How did this impact your development as a teacher?
I did most of my education courses while I was still an undergraduate, and then I did a full fifth year internship at the John D. Runkle School in Brookline. It was one of the best experiences I could have ever had, and I credit Simmons for making this possible! I had an unbelievable mentor. On my very first day at the Runkle School, she had me teach a lesson; and, all throughout the year, she always pushed me to take ownership and be part of the class. When she went on maternity leave, I was hired as a permanent substitute. I could never have imagined this happening. I feel incredibly lucky.

 

What your plans for this summer?

Next year I'll be teaching first grade, so I'll be changing classrooms plus studying the first grade curriculum. Teaching first or second grade was always my dream - and now it will be coming true!

 

Do you have any advice for other alums?

Overall, maybe just that no matter what we do, we shouldn't lose track of ourselves or our dreams. As an undergraduate, I sometimes questioned my goal of becoming a teacher. I'm so glad I stuck with it.

 

For students who want to become teachers, it's important for them to keep in mind that parents are looking for teachers who are strong in math. The first things parents ask about in parent-teacher conferences are language arts and math. When kids don't do well in math, parents are concerned - they want insight from their child's teacher on this. So, it's very important for elementary teachers not just to pass the new math licensure test, but, more important, to have a solid understanding of mathematics so they can teach it well and be confident.

 

If you have any questions for Hannah or about this blog, please write!

When I'm in a phase like this where I'm not writing (it's valuable to have time away from a project to get a fresh perspective) it's all to easy for me to romanticize the whole process of writing. My friend Lauren, whose debut novel Nothing Like You will be out this October, is working on a draft of a new project. I keep hounding her with emails: "how is it going? What part are you working on? Tell me about it!" I'm about one crazed email away from asking her what she's eating while writing.

Writing does seem romantic - especially when you're not doing it. I'm able to focus only on the good parts of the process, the inspiration and that wonderful sound of the click click of the keyboard and the satisfying fun of digging deep into a character and trying something new. I can conveniently ignore how dreadful it feels when things aren't going well, and I'm squirming in my seat and all I want to do is leave my desk and eat a whole lot of candy, but I have to force myself to stay put. And sometimes that works and other times I just sit there and eat candy and feel even more miserable. But that's all part of the process too, nothing terribly unusual.

I was reading The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Collins (side note: I came home one day from work to find this very book sitting on Tom's leather chair with my teddy bear and I laughed out loud):

In so many of his poems Collins talks about the act of writing poetry, interspersed with the mundanities of a regular day: the breakfast he ate, the knick knacks on the kitchen shelf. The poem takes place in this domestic scene, and we're invited into it: not only into the poem, but into the creation of the poem. The fact that I'm completely pining for writing at the moment made me enjoy the poems even more. There is also the novel The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which includes such a beautiful description of the main character sitting down to write that it made me want to hug the book. I identified so strongly with that wonderful feeling of a perfect writing day, and it made me so happy to be a writer - squirming and candy-eating aside.