Monday, December 28, 2015

History Quilter Podcast Episode 45 I'm A Teacher!

Surprise! 
I've recorded a new episode of the History Quilter Podcast.  

I've been very busy the last four months TEACHING! 
I'm now an AP World History teacher and I love it.  
So if you want to hear more about it, go take a listen to my latest episode.  

Below are photos of my classroom, the Heath Ceramics Casserole Dish that broke during Thanksgiving dinner prep, and my latest quilt top finish.
My own classroom
My classroom has east facing windows.   Blinds don't work on three of the six windows. 
I made curtains!  Of course they are made with quilting fabric. 
I put a quilt block in both door windows because I can. :) 
Absolutely ecstatic the day I took my yearbook photo. Best yearbook photo I've ever taken.   
I've done a little decorating. 
A student gifted me a tree for the holidays. So sweet. :) 
Thanksgiving: The blue casserole dish I talked about regarding the break all the way around. Btw the turkey gravy in the foreground was the bomb.  

Just finished! Buona Fortuna quilt top. 43" x 53"
Buona Fortuna made with Va Bene and Kona fabrics.  

Until next time, Ciao!
Susan 

Saturday, June 20, 2015

History Quilter Podcast Episode #44 Catching Up

Happy Saturday to you all!

Yesterday I recorded and uploaded History Quilter Episode #44 Catching Up where I primarily spoke about my long term substitute assignment (don't worry it's not too long), Podcast recommendations, being a member of the Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild, a couple of great recipes and sewing projects I've completed.  

You can find my latest episode on Podbean, iTunes and Stitcher Radio.

I spoke about my long term substitute assignment - here is the blog post I wrote just after I finished the assignment.

Go check out the beginning stages of the Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild website.  We need the website hits!

Podcast Recommendations: 
Burnt Toast by Food 52.  This is a fun little podcast about random things that they don't write about on their blog/website.
Criminal. Intriguing podcast about crime.  "People that have done wrong, been wronged or gotten caught somewhere in the middle".
I recommended two episodes: #15 He's Neutral   and   #19 Mother's Little Helper

TED Radio Hour. These are TED Talks that host Guy Roz connects together for a weekly theme and interviews some of the TED talk hosts.
I recommend The Fountain of Youth from May 22, 2015.  

Frontline  PBS documentary show.  The episode Being Mortal from February 10, 2015 is extremely thought provoking.  I listened to the audio podcast first and then watched the documentary.  

Start Up from Gimlet Media.  I recommend Season Two which focuses on Dating Ring.


Two great recipes: 
Grilled Chicken Souvlaki from America's Test Kitchen.  This is from Dinner in the Mediterranean from Season 15.
Grilled Chicken Souvlaki
Perfect Fish Tacos from Bon Appetit.  Make these!  
Perfect Fish Tacos
Lastly, what I've been working on: 
A little basket I made with the Basket of Charms pattern from Sweet Jane's Quilting & Design.  
Basket of Charms - Fresh Air by American Jane Patterns
Baby Quilt made for Kinley Mae...this was so fun! Fabrics from Joann's.  Quilt pattern is Little Man by Camille Roskelley.  

              

Phew...I need to record more often as this blog post took me forever!  :)
Enjoy your Saturday,
Susan 

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Catching Up: Various Things I've Been Working On

First up, I am a member of the Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild! We began last year but didn't formally become a guild until January.  As I live roughly half way between the Los Angeles and Orange County Modern Quilt Guild locations, neither one was particularly easy to get to. 
I'm so happy to be a part of this great group of creative people. 
We participated in the Quilt Con Charity Quilt Challenge and our quilt was sent to QuiltCon in Austin, TX. One of those circles is mine! 

Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild Charity Challenge Quilt
The long term substitute assignment I recently completed was for a gal whom had a beautiful baby girl in January.  I had to make something for the baby so I decided to make two receiving blankets which were inspired by the kits sold by Anna Maria Horner.  I followed the tutorial by Rachel at Stitched Together as it was excellent.  I used Anna Maria Horner voile and Robert Kaufman flannel. These two fabrics together are a light and luxurious combination!  

Voile/Flannel Receiving Blankets
I used two different binding methods: the bottom I created my own bias binding and used a blanket stitch to sew - and it took forever. (hence, the two different biding methods)  The top blanket is done in an easier machine binding style (can't remember what the formal name is!) that I would normally use on a mug rug. 
Voile/Flannel Receiving Blankets
So happy with my front yard!  Love the bulbine and autumn moor grass.  

Eggs...such perfect food.  Especially with vegetables and goat cheese.  


Baby quilt in progress: 

Enjoy your Thursday, 
:)Susan

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Blink: Twelve Weeks In The AP Psychology Classroom


About three weeks ago, I finished a twelve week long term substitute assignment in an AP Psychology classroom.  AP Psychology? You might be wondering why I would be teaching AP Psychology when I am a history teacher.  I have a social science credential and have the ability to teach all of the subject you see below (pretend history is in there too!).

My teaching experience was wonderful!  All consuming: tons of learning every day, mistakes made and lessons learned for the future.  As I had not taught this subject before, everyday I was reading and learning new material to teach the next day.  Here is what my days felt like:
               5:30am Wake up, get ready for school
               7:00am  In the classroom and preparing for the day
               7:50-2:40  Teach
               2:40 - 3:30  Wrap up from the day/get materials ready to take home
               4:00 - 6:00  Get groceries, exercise, clean up a little around the house
               7:00 -8:00  Make dinner and eat
               8:00 - 9:00  Read. Read again, Read yet again until I understood.
               9:00ish  Exhaustion sets in and time for sleep.

Seems boring as I write it all down but I loved it.  Everyday was dynamic and new and I learned so much from my students  Wondering what I taught?  Well I began in January with Psychological Disorders and Treatment - not the most positive of subjects.  Tough material and I had to very sensitive to what my students were thinking/had experienced as I was introducing and discussing this material.  Some great teaching moments were when students would share with the class their own personal experiences with various psychological disorders.  That made me feel like they trusted me.

We moved onto Social Psychology: person perception, attributions, obedience, conformity, social roles, power of the situation, in-groups, etc.  Every day in that unit was fascinating.  One day I was teaching them about person perception (stereotypes we hold for all groups) and I was showing them photographs of yearbook pictures from the 1970's.  After getting into groups, I told them to decide which of the people (in the yearbook photographs) were most popular, smartest, more apt to become successful and those perhaps not so successful.  They thoroughly enjoyed making these assumptions about people that they had no idea about.  The next day I decided to extend the prior day's lesson a bit by showing them my own high school Varsity Soccer team photograph so they could again, make those assumptions and I would be able to tell them if they were correct or not.  It was a good lesson in how we make assumptions about others without knowing anything about them.
1987: Weren't perms awesome? 
I finished up with Language and Thought: how babies learn to understand, form and communicate with the world with language.  Want to see a fascinating TED talk about babies learning to speak? Go here and watch "Birth of a Word" by Deb Roy.  I showed it to my students and along with the other materials we had learned, had a great discussion about the formation of language.  When we discussed Thought, subjects included Heuristics (problem solving) and various decision making models.

My last day was bittersweet. I choked up at the end of both 1st and 2nd periods but then kept it together for the rest of the day. It was a crazy day - I was teaching, coordinating students who needed to makeup various exams and grading.  It wasn't until I got home that day when I pulled out everything that I had received that day from students, that I realized how much of an impact I had on them.  High school students gave me gifts, cards and letters!  

The cards and letters will be cherished forever. 

Those 201 students will be forever my first class.  I loved being their teacher.

Next blog post I'll show you what I've been up to since my assignment ended.  I've been sewing!
Enjoy your Wednesday,
Susan