So many of you blog stalkers may note that between last fall and Spring Break my blog posts were seriously lacking. During that time period, Jarred and I began working on our National Boards for work. In a nutshell, every eight years we need to re-certify as teachers. There are a number of options, National Boards is the most difficult as it's a National Certification program where we must document various aspects of our teaching. It is a content specific program and of all the shit we must wade through to receive certification, this program is the most valid and truly makes one examine their practices. The downside? It must be done by March 31- or within a year of signing up for the program. This means four 13 page papers written in an odd style I will never duplicate, two videos of me teaching my kids, an ass load of student work samples and an entire paper about my outside-of -teaching but teaching related accomplishments- basically a 13 page resume. Needless to say, any free time we had, ended late last fall. Being the busy people we are, we tried to maintain our active lifestyle, work and still work on National Boards. Tough life. We submitted our portfolios on March 31, still have a test to take and will find out if we are among the 40% of the applicants who actually pass. If we don't pass? The process starts over again the following year (or we just go get a job w/out any responsibility). The other depressing part of this process is that because of the Washington state budget (more specifically in part because Washingtonians won't pass a pop and candy tax) the compensation teachers receive for being Nationally Board certified was nixed this year. I realized it's above and beyond teacher salary's and in tough times, everyone has to sacrifice, but I believe this is a huge sacrifice. National Board certified teacher REALLY are good teachers and deserve compensation (to their already meager salaries) just like those bankers deserve compensation. While sitting in front of the computer for hours on end, we were able to take small breaks. Jarred's sister, Jenese, gave us a hoola-hoop for our birthdays and we had a lot of fun with that thing.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
More More Moab
We love our bikes! 
Porcupine Rim- this section was harder than it looks. Looks like I could ride this on a cruiser bike. 
Amasa Back- From left to right: Rob Kulp, Steve Swearigan, Marie Klemmer, me, Jarred. 
Sumo Man rides high on the way up to Porcupine Rim. 
We kick ass. More Moab
Marie and I showing off our Northwest whiteness. 
Sand Flats- should be called Windy Flats where sand blows into every orface of the body and bike. Left after a day for Goose Island campground which was by the Colorado River and not as windy. 
Delicate Arch and Jarred. 
Steve, Marie and I at Delicate Arch. 
Delicate Arch. Moab Spring 2011
Negro Bill Canyon. A great hike. 
Negro Bill Canyon 
Flat Pass- awesome technical ride 
Scary man- "strapped" and burping baby in Arlington, Or. These are the people who voted for GW Bush. 
The rig. Headed out of town. I've neglected the blog for the past few months as my life was mainly consumed by National Boards and figured no one wanted to hear about or see photos of me sitting in front of a computer debating whether to use the word focus or engaged. While I managed to maintain a fairly sane life during this process, I had significantly less free time and when I had free time didn't want to spend it in front of the computer being creative as my creativity was all used up after watching myself on video 15+ times and then trying to figure out how to describe myself as a bad ass teacher who knows what she's doing.
Conveniently we mailed off our National Board's entries the Tuesday before Spring Break. This meant that by the time Friday rolled around Jarred and I were all about a week on our bikes in the sun.
We spent Spring Break in Moab last year and loved the sun and great riding, so rallied some friends together for a trip down this year. Our friend Rob had a camper and offered it up so Jarred, Steve, Marie and I piled into Rob's Suburban (which should be called gas hog as it ate up the gas).
We intended to go to Fruita, Colorado and Moab but the weather in Fruita was less than desirable so we stayed in Moab the entire time which allowed for us to get in more rides and do some more exploring.
Highlights of the trip:
1. Porcupine Rim. We rode it twice. The first time Steve and I had five flats between the two of us. Lesson learned, I ditched the tubes and Steve changed his tires, the second time we rode the 20 miles in under two hours. FUN.
2. Watching large man taco his tire on Porcupine Rim. Kudos to those who have guts to jump but this guy didn't have enough guts. After watching Jarred, Steve and Rob hit a decent sized jump, he decided to try it for himself but with a little less gumption, hence the wheel that became a taco. I also enjoyed watching Rob and Steve stand on the guys wheel so he could ride the remaining 12 miles out to the road.
3. Flat Pass. Loved the challenging rock and the beauty.
4. Riding with Marie. Marie is a crazy climber but we're pretty evenly paced. I don't ride with too many girls and it's nice to find a girl who likes hard rides.
5. The sun. We've had nothing but rain here and nothing beats sticky rock and sun.
Now it's back to work and the real world. Only two more months until summer though and then the fun begins again! Lots more photos on facebook.
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