Graduation Night

Tonight was the graduation of the first class of freshmen that I taught. They were a pretty rough group as freshmen, but helped to make me a better teacher.

I am glad to see the strides that most of them have made in four years. That being said, this was the first graduation that I have been to (at this school) that the seniors actually misbehaved. They had beach balls they blew up and passed along, fortunately, they waited until the school song to start passing them around, so it was not distracting to any of the speakers or to the overall ceremony.

Both the valedictorian and salutatorian were in my senior class, and did a great job with their speeches. The salutatorian was talking about how important it is to think for yourself, and the teacher next to me pointed out one of the seniors who was rocking his body to make the tassel on his graduation cap swing in circles. I found this more than slightly amusing - I completely lost it. I laughed so hard I was crying. The valedictorian called me out in her speech, I was worried when I heard my name, but she was very sweet.

After the ceremony another teacher and I were handing out the actual diplomas, and I got to say congratulations to almost every graduate. It is very rewarding as a teacher to see students grow up and move on. I enjoy graduation every year, (and would attend even if it was not mandatory) but this year it was especially enjoyable.

This time of year ...

As a teacher I look forward to the end of the year as much, if not more, than the students. One of the best things about teaching is hitting the restart button at the end of each year. I came into teaching high school from teaching college level labs.

That first year was tough. I thought it was the jump from college to high school, but over the past 4 years I have gathered that it was more a matter of the group of kids I had that first year. I am now thankful that first year was so rough, it made me a better teacher. I am also glad that I had the opportunity to teach a small group of them again this year in an AP class, it is good to see how they have grown up in the past 4 years.

I am also relived to have not had to reteach as much of the freshman information this year as I have in years past. In all reality this was my first year of really teaching anywhere near the AP level. If this group does not do well on their tests, I will be disappointed for them not in them, because they worked until the very end. I hope they succeed in all that comes their way, and that if they do fail, they get back up and try agian.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Delilah Jewel joined our family at 10:35 on Thursday. She has a very odd birthday 05/07/09 - consecutive odds -- a good sign that she will fit in with the rest of the gang :)

This is hilarious

These mugs are awesome for teachers. The same site also had pre-chewed pencils. I have actually prevented my students from taking my pencils, by chewing on them and then trying to hand them to the student. I find myself amusing.