It's kind of fun to do the Impossible! -Walt Disney (Artist, Animator, Entrepreneur, Inventor)
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ as a Q&A with Sarah Jean -never SJ)
Q. Why do you go by Sarah Jean? A. Because that is my name.
Q. What is your favorite color? A. Pink, Brown, Green, and Plaid.
Q. Plaid isn't a color. List three adjectives that describe you. A. That isn't a question. Nerdy, Creative, and Teachery.
Q. "Teachery?" What is your favorite season, and why? A. I was showing my creativity. I could've said "plaid" again. I love Autumn, because my birthday is in September, it is when school starts, the leaves change color, and the weather is perfect. Also, I love sweaters and flannel!
Q. What do you like to do for fun? A. My main hobby is researching medieval history, dressing like a Norse-woman (Viking), attending SCA events. I enjoy volunteering and doing various arts and crafts. I am also fond of reading, and playing tabletop board, card, and dice games. I'm an active member of Pi Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi. (You can learn about some of my other hobbies (and see photos from the SCA) HERE.)
Q. Medieval Research for fun? Dress like a Viking? SCA what? A. Yes. I explain it a bit more on the It Takes My Child to Raze a Village page. I would like to pause here for a moment and share some knowledge. Vikings NEVER wore horns on their helmets. Don't believe me? ScienceNordic, Wikipedia, About.com, and even the aliens-created-everything History Channel say the same thing! Vikings also were very clean as a people, the men kept their hair short, and they LOVED color!!! They even made purple dye out of lichen! (Purple was traditionally very expensive and only for nobility in the Medieval World.)
Q. I'm still in shock about that Horn revelation. What do you like to read? What is your favorite book? A. I do not have a favorite book! I enjoy Teacher Memoirs (The Essential 55 by Ron Clark, I am a Pencil by Sam Swope, My First Year as a Teacher edited by Pearl Rock Kane, etc.); Fictional Teacher Tales (Learn Me Good by John Pearson, Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, etc.); Historical Fiction and Non-Fiction (mostly Medieval European History, and American History), Urban Fantasy (especially the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs), Post-Apocalyptic novels (The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Giver by Lois Lowry), Young Adult, Independent Reader, and Romance. I also collect Picture Books.
Q. Harry Potter is a teacher story!? What games do you like to play? A. Yes, Harry Potter is as much about the teachers as it is Harry & his pals. My favorite teacher in the Potterverse is Professor Minerva McGonagall. My current favorite games are Sushi Go, Qwelf, Scattergories, Bananagrams, Rory's Story Cubes, Bears vs. Babies, and SET.
Q. Last question, what is something that you spend a lot of time thinking about? A. Is that really a "frequently asked question?" Q. No, but, I'm curious. A. Hmmm. . . I'd have to say it changes at any given moment, but lately I've been considering the following: *Ways to modify necessary medieval skills to be appropriate to modern children *How I can make my future classroom amazing *Teachers I have encountered who were either amazingly terrible or so wonderful that finding words to describe them is difficult. And how very much I want to be the latter.