My little moment, if I may :)

Some of you know that I'm on the executive board for the UMLA. I've been on the board for 10 years, now, I think. We are a group of teachers from various school districts who try to promote and support middle level education in the state. blah blah blah. We give out awards each year to individuals for doing certain things. My board felt it was my year to receive the Peggy Rowland Award. I guess you could say Peg was the "founder" of UMLA. I'm not going to bore you with the requirements- you can check out the website for that, I think.

Anyway, if you'll allow me a little moment to "toot my own horn", here it is. It was really sweet of them to do this for me and kind of embarassing, quite frankly. I don't do anymore than any of them do on the board or in their classrooms or anywhere else for that matter. So I'm trying to just "accept it" as one of my friends said. So thank you to the board members, and especially Annette, who wrote the nomination. I'll type it up below, because I know if I don't, my mother will want to read it and I won't have the letter handy.

So- the post keeps going and you can stop reading because it will get lengthy but here's what Annette said:
"It is my pleasure to nominate AmyRoberds for the Utah Middle Level Association's Peggy Lee Roland Award. I have served on the UMLA Executive Board with Amy for the past seven years. Amy has been an active member of the board for 10 years. She started on the board as a region representative, she became the secretary in 2005, and she has served in that position ever since. It soon became evident to me that Amy did a lot more than take minutes of our meetings. She has worked tirelessly to make sure the annual conference always took place and was a quality event. She has arranged for the food for breakfast, lunch and awards luncheon every year since she began on the board, has sought out presenters, has helped with registration, and has presented on middle level topics herself. She actively attends meetings where her input is extremely important.

Amy truly understands middle level students and their unique needs. She understands what makes them "tick," and she knows how to reach them, even those who don't work well with other teachers and have been "turned off" by school. She has been actively involved in implementing middle level concepts in her school and district.

On a personal note as a middle school educator, Amy is the type of teacher I would love to work with. She would be the perfect team mate because she understands young adolescents and works hard to meet the needs of middle level students.

Without reservation, I recommend AmyRoberds for the Peg Roland Award for excellence in Middle Level Education.
Sincerely,
Annette