Monday begins a new semester. New classes and new students. This term should be interesting as I will have students in grade 9, 10, 11, and 12. All these in 3 periods. I am teaching 2 Business courses and an Engligh class. I am looking forward to teaching my favorite play, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. There is so much fun in that play - cross dressing, mistaken identities, a love story, drunken revelry, mischief and mockery.

The last semester is marked and put away and done. Time to turn a new page and begin anew. The next 5 months bring lots of excitement, and I know they will be very busy. And then, summer! (Hey, teachers are allowed to count down too!) Between here and summer is family day holiday, my birthday, march break, easter long weekend, may long weekend, and then the craziness of prom and the last days of school, spent in a school with a bad ventilation system and air conditioning that barely works and hot computer labs sweltering at 30+ degrees Celsius.
But then summer awaits!

Cheers to the new semester!

Another semester down...

Another semester is ending... and not a moment too soon. Now exams ensue, along with some crazed teachers trying to mark and meet obscene deadlines.

I enjoyed my classes overall this term, and with a few bumps and hiccups we survived and are into 2nd semester. This one went so much faster than 1st semester last year. I'm glad its gone fast, and I know the 2nd term always goes much faster as spring and summer approach.
My courses for next term are still up in limbo... some applications are out and now I play the waiting game.

On Tuesday, Barack Obama was Inaugurated as the 44th President. And the school had a great impromptu assembly for it. The library/head technology guy set up a laptop and projector with the Inauguration on it, and since I was teaching my civics class at noon, we went down to watch it in the auditorium. By the time it got past the intros and into his oath, the place was packed. Standing room only. I was impressed with the number of classes down there. I like to think that those teachers understand and discussed the importance of the historical moment the students experienced. However, I'm pretty sure that it had more to do with the fact that it was the 2nd last day of the semester and it was a handy time filler.
Ah well, to each their own.

The New Year

Another year is here and its time to start again.
After having a couple of rough years, I am hoping for a great 2009. I am looking forward to new experiences and trying new things and spending it with those that I love.