Sandra Stiles:
CLASS OF 1976
Lake Weir High SchoolClass of 1976
Ocala, FL
Sandra's Story
When I left school I became a legal secretary. In 1981 my parents, sisters and I moved to Sarasota, Florida. I married in 1982. After the birth of my son in 1983 I decided I needed to fulfill my dream of becoming a teacher. Two years into my college education I had a daughter. As I entered my last year of college, my husband and I divorced. I graduated with a degree in Elementary Education. I remarried in 1993. My children are now grown and between them and my step-daughter I have 9 grandchildren. I decided to further my education so I added on an English 6-12 Certificate, Reading and ESOL endorsements, and then became a National Board Certified teacher.
Fast Forward to 2001
I was working in a school for the Visual and Performing Arts when 9/11 happened. We were instructed to leave the TV's on all day. As I tried to comfort and reassure our students, they were concerned there might have been kids in the Towers. This discussion led to what "they" would do if they were in the Towers. This conversation stayed with me. Fast forward again to 2008. I sat in a classroom with struggling readers. They were complaining once again about my writing assignment and the fact that I made them read a minimum of 1 book a month. One of them piped up and said, "You're always making us write, and you're always making us read. We can't always find what we like on the shelves, and we always like what you write, so why don't you write books and put them on your shelves so that we can read them?" True it was somewhat of an excuse, and I still made them write, once again modeling for them by completing the same assignment. I went home that night and told my husband what had been said, and what I had been thinking for quite some time, and he encouraged me to reach for my dream.
2011 Dream Reached
My dream became reality this May when my book, Steps to Courage was published. It is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble web-sites. There are currently four bookstores in the area carrying my book and I am awaiting to hear from Books-A-Million. I took the q...Expand for more
uestions my students had asked me and turned it into a book. I placed three teens in the Twin Towers on that fateful day. I have 3 other stand-alone novels in the works. I self-published my first book and now have an agent who is shopping it around to big name publishers. My ultimate dream would be to see it in Scholastic Book Clubs, since I am a teacher. Since May, I have sold over 100 copies which I think is pretty good.
Spare Time
When I am Not Teaching or Writing, I am reading. I have had a book review blog for approximately four years. It is called The Musings of a Book Addict. The title definitely fits me. One of my sixth graders asked me if there was something like AA for people with book addictions. He was serious. It had something to do with me reading 160 books in 3 months for CYBILS. I have over 1000 books on my shelves at school and another 300+ on my shelves at home waiting to be read and taken in for my shelves at school. This does not include the 30 books I have scheduled to review by October 1 for a variety of authors and publishers. In addition to all of this I have been a judge for the CYBILS (in middle grade fiction) and INSPY (Amish Fiction). If you don't know what those are you can Google them. I participate in numerous reading challenges throughout the year and host reading challenges at my school. This last year I gave away over 300 books, many of them autographed by the authors and I gave away a Nook and a Kindle. Needless to say I will do whatever it takes to get people to read, kids and adults. To foster my love of writing, I teach an after school writing club for middle schoolers.
I also find time to do quilting, and occasionally I paint with acrylics.
When I reflect back on my time in High School I was not all that outgoing. I hung around with outgoing people, because they could pull me out of my shyness and often included me in their plans. I am proud of the path I have taken. It has been rough and bumpy at times, but it was a journey I have enjoyed. I can't wait to see what the rest of my life holds.
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