Yipee!!

My little brother arrived home today from B.C. I haven't seen him since late November.

Passions

I love it when people can share their passions with others. Last night at our beach v-ball/campfire party one of the father's was able to share his passion with some of us.

He had arrived at our house with this huge telescope. This guy knows alot about outerspace. Anyhow, he sets it up and gives us all a chance to look through it. It was really, really neat.

I got to see planet Saturn with it's rings. It still looked so tiny in the telescope. You have to sit and wait for a minute because apparently since it's so far away there's disturbance in the atmosphere and you have to wait for it to settle.

I got to learn the difference between a double star and a binary star. A binary star is two stars that orbit each other. A double star is two stars that look close together but in reality one is much father away from us than the other.

And I got to learn that the Big Dipper has a double star right near the middle of the handle. You can actually view it a little bit with the naked eye. The natives call it the "Horse and Rider" and used it to test people's eye sight.

Year End

The end of a chapter for me. This chapter has been full of different plots and conclusions. Here's some of them:

I will leave having fallen in love with 23 VERY different, talented, amazing students. I will leave having left pieces of my heart behind.

I will leave having made friends for life. There are many teachers/staff/families here that are beautiful. And I have been touched by their beauty. I have learned so much from their support, commitment, sacrifices, and striving to be better people. I will leave having been changed by them.

I will have leave knowing that I've been challenged spiritually. I have hope and excitement for the future because of these interactions. I will leave with God by my side.

I will have leave again trying to trust God. He brought me here, He will bring me somewhere else. He gives and He takes away. I will leave with a future.

I will leave with a broken heart. But I know that God will heal it in time. I will leave trails of my tears behind.

I will leave as an "experienced teacher." I have learned so much about teaching and about students. I will leave having seen my students mature and grow.

I will leave with many memories. I have so many stories that I cannot even remember them all. I will leave knowing that I cannot return as exactly the same, but that life holds so much more memories to make.

I will leave with a car chucked full of junk. I have gathered so much "stuff" over the year. I will also leave with gifts and blessings from my students.

I will leave a changed person. I will leave having been challenged to be a better person by my students and colleagues. I am going to dearly miss this place!!


But, it's time to move on again. Time to take on the challenges and blessings that God has awaiting for me. Cheers to a great year and (hopefully) more to come!!

It is done

Wow!! I made it through one school year. Today was the last day of school, 'tis extremely bittersweet. I am glad for summer but already miss my kids like crazy. They are all so amazing.

Peace and Quiet

So my students, with absolutely no input of mine, intiated a spin-off from the quiet game. He came into class yesterday the most quiet I've ever seen him. Apparently, on the bus, he decided how long he could keep quiet. He lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes.

The challenged had been established. A second student of mind decided that he could last longer than this, and the silence was on. However, he fell a little bit short at 1 hour 30 minutes. Then my most chatty student decided to take them both on. He last 5 minutes, but we gave him a second chance and he lasted almost 1 hour.

Along with one of my students missing, yesterday was probably the quietest day we've ever had.

First Impressions

So, I went to visit my "new" school for next year to check things out. Here's the first impression that I made.

I went for a walk before going to the school because I was plenty earlier (still trying to understand Toronto traffic). As I was walking along, a nice city bird pooped on my shoulder. Yup, I went to school with bird poop on my shoulder. I tried to wash it off but you could faintly still see it. And, I'm not sure if this is solely psychological, but I could smell it on and off all day.

And my second impression, I broke a school dress code the moment I walked into school. Apparently, unknown to me, flip-flops are outlawed at my new school :( Oops!!

But they still want me. They handed me the contract to sign and are keeping me for all my impressions and quirks.