Kim Hale's Life Family and School
My Family Pictures and School Web Quest
City Builders Web Quest
My Family Pictures
Kim27@icestorm.net
8/9 English & World History Preparatory Academy
Portsmouth Public Schools
Portsmouth, VA
Where I've Been
I was born in Denver, Colorado; however, I have spent the last twenty-five years of my life growing up here in Virginia. I went to kindergarten through college within the same twenty mile radius. This may all sound boring and staid, but I love this area. I am within three hours of Washington D.C. and within three hours of some of the most beautiful beaches on the outer banks of North Carolina. I live in a metropolitan area with the highest concentration of military life of anywhere in the world. In fact that is what brought me to this area; my father is a an engineer that helps build aircraft carriers. But since we have lived here for so long it is clear that he is a civilian engineer. My husband was also brought to this area by the military even though neither of us are currently in the military. We met in college and chose to remain close to where our families live. I now have a beautiful seven month baby girl. It is so wonderful to have so much family close to us. But I do miss my Aunts and Uncles, especially Aunt Jo and Uncle Bill in Alabama. I love you guys.
My Life as an Educator
I have been teaching for five years. I started out teaching ninth grade English. Wow!! I thought they would eat me alive that first year. Since then, I have been teaching in a Preparatory Academy. The Preparatory Academy is designed to give accelerated instruction to students who have previous had academic failure. The students in this program do not have any identified learning disabilities. In most cases, they are economically impoverished, living in broken homes and sometimes have had behavior problems in school and with the court systems. The Preparatory Academy received an honorable mention last year at a national conference on alternative programs. You may have noticed that I teach both English and history. This is a combination that does not happen often in highschool, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I get the wonderful opportunity to combine my lessons in both history, literature, and writing. One of my favorite units is teaching Night by Elie Wiesel. I get the opportunity to teach elements of the novel, World War II, the Holocaust and writing all in the same unit.
I managed two of the most disastrous events of my teaching career all in the same day--my first day. Of course we all wanted our first days to go smoothly and prove that we really did learn something in college. That was not how it was going for me. In my first class of the day, I went to plug in the overhead projector to model student information sheets, but instead the outlet blew throwing sparks at me causing me to scream and the lights to go out. Ugh! Then in my last class I was explaining the information I wanted students to write on their information sheets using the chalkboard (I gave up the overhead). This time I was talking and backing up. I didn’t notice the empty box behind me. It caught me at the knees and I fell into the box and had to get students to help me get out of the box. Ugh again!!
When I'm Not Working...
When I am not in school I enjoy spending time with my husband and our puppy (Poof). He is a terrier mix (the puppy not the husband) and absolutely adorable. He is a little hyper, but he can also be very lovable. Even as I am typing this he wants to be in my lap. I am also an avid cook. I love trying new recipes and trying things out. I find cooking very relaxing. In the summer time I love going to the beach. The past summer was full of getting ready for the new baby, but we did spend a week in the Outer Banks. AHHHHH! Very relaxing. Most summers I spend a week taking teenagers to a Young Life camp somewhere in the United States. Last year we went to Crooked Creek Ranch, Colorado, and the year before we went to Rockbridge, Virginia. My kids (my high school Young Life friends) went to Saranac, New York this year without me. They say they had a great time, but I did miss them. But I am really looking forward to this upcoming summer. Savannah will probably be walking by then and she already loves water--at least in the bath tub.
Web Sites I Like
www.younglife.org This is the web site for a Young Life a wonderful international organization.
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html This is the World Fact Book 2001. Tons of information on places all over the world. I use it frequently when discussing world events.
www.allrecipes.com I love cooking and this is great web site for finding recipes.
This is a personal homepage and doesn't represent the opinions of my school. Last updated on October 20, 2002.
Email: kim27@icestorm.net
