9 weeks left...

       I was in the staff lounge today scarfing down my lunch (running home to take care of my pup only leaves me about 3 minutes when I return to eat) when I looked at the calendar on the wall and noticed that there are only nine weeks left.

Wow. I have almost completed one full year of teaching in a place where being flexible is pretty much mandatory.

Knowing that next year will bring change is exciting, but starting off another morning with an intense fight even before my students walk through the classroom door is  very upsetting. Tomorrow, I get a student back  that was been suspended for two weeks for starting a fight with a staff member. And sadly enough, as he is ready to return, another is suspended for something similar. It gets old. Very old. The confusion, disorder, disrespect, craziness....yes folks...we have it all.

So that being said- I am looking forward to this weekend for my vacation getaway.  Sleeping in, eating out, doing nothing, seeing everything- I am very grateful for a job, even though it proves to be quite the challenge- that provides escape amidst the chaos.

So here's to 24 more hours of school life! and then 96 in Juneau.

Little reminders.

Last year I remember seeing many beautiful rainbows over the school. But this year there have been few and I was happy to see this one last evening. Rainbows tend to lift my spirits and remind me of the One who makes them.

So I decided to go out and enjoy the sight and the sunset with my partner in crime.

After 8  p.m.

Looking for guidance...

from  mountain to  shore as I have just turned in my resignation for the 2012-2013 school year. As hard as it was to make this decision- I know that this is a good one to stand by. It is my hope that Alaska is not done with me, and it is my prayer that God provides soon. So we shall see! As I am always up for a new teaching adventure:)

I find it interesting...

that my students were asking over and over to be given the freedom to visit an awesome site called BrainPOP- where they can watch animated short films on ANY given topic. Well today, I had a short history assignment for them and when the assignment was completed, I gave them the freedom to go and browse the website. What I found really interesting was that they were all, and I mean ALL watching videos that answered the questions:

What happens to your body when you take illegal drugs?


What is a divorce? 


What happens when one smokes?

What is lice?

What I thought would happen was  that they would be looking at the subject (math, writing, reading)  videos b/c they are rather funny to watch.


Not what I was expecting. There was an actual interest in the topics mentioned above and it really captivated their attention for 20 minutes. Another rare insight into their world and what they are dealing with in their daily lives.

Surprise!

Yesterday was a challenging day that ended well! My difficult student is out of the class for awhile and things were going well until three more students of mine took his spot. I haven't had to work so hard holding my ground as I did yesterday. Going head to head, toe to toe with these three wasn't easy as they kept ignoring the classroom rules as often as they could. But after three hours of digging my heels in- I was happy to see that even though they weren't compliant, they didn't leave the class as well- which is a habit here. So we shall see what today holds.

On a brighter note, I got to see some lovely first graders around the house today. And after saying hello and speaking with them- the house then became a target for snowballs.  Their reaction was priceless when Bogart got up there to see who was making the noise. Needless to say- the snowballs stopped:)

And after some time, we were happy to go and visit Caitlin, Rachel, and Nate's place. Bogart loves the females....we are still working on showin' some love to males- so Nate has willingly become a therapist and is working with Bogart in overcoming his fear of men:)

And following that- a quick walk at 8 o'clock at night in -18 degree weather. I should have borrowed Bogart's coat as it was a bit chilly.

Cookies

Right before I took off for Spring Break- I dropped by and surprised Amy's first graders with cookies IF they tried to complete their math sheet at their level without saying HARD. It was such a sight.

Girl's New BFF

Just kidding- this is Griffin, a huge dog that belongs to Nunap's state mentor. We were invited over and I just loved this dog- mainly b/c he looked like he belonged in a Harry Potter Movie.

I am so dying to blog about the last weekend and what went down, but the energy levels are not there as I have a lot of catch up to do and...a new dog. I will write more later, but per my mother's request and my love for this dog, here he  is:

Home.