Property, Guest, and Packed

A few times the big rock I use to hold my door open during the day has mysteriously gone missing. Most of the time I can find it over this little wall in front of my classroom, but one day a few weeks ago it was nowhere to be found. A few of my students went on a search and found an even bigger one for me. It hasn't gone missing yet. Knock on wood. I had some trash bags also disappear from my room the other day. Finally, as for my little science words collage we put together with photos from our project back toward the beginning of the school year... I finally took them all down and gave the photos that were left to the students. People drew on some, tore some apart, took some down completely, and are constantly messing with it. I was really proud of that project, too; so, it was sad to take it down, but I'm tired of picking up the pieces day after day. Lack of respect for property... you've heard my two cents on that many times this year.

On a more positive note, the bell has actually been ringing closer to real time - not 5 minutes slow anymore. Some times it's even spot on. Still a little variable since it is not automatic, but it's nice to not always have to think about it being 5 minutes off from my watch all the time like it has been all school year. It will be nice if it stays that way for the remainder of the year.

Wednesday we had a guest speaker - Brandon Smart, who has been living here for 3 years, while his twin brother has been here for 7 (They are actually members of a triplet. Their sister lives back in Nashville, TN.) Brandon talked a little about his education - first degree in marketing and has a degree in Education, where he holds a Master's. He taught stateside for 7 years, taught a few years down here, and now works full time with the non-profit organization Field House 100, which helps recruit and send student athletes off to college. It was cool to hear him talk about that. It is cool what they do, and a few of us also think it would be interesting to see a similar push for pure academics. He did emphasize throughout his presentation how important education is. He would not have done a lot of the things he has in his life without his degrees.

He also shared with us some experiences working with the Republican party, a little about Nashville, and a trip in New Zealand while doing some recruiting there. Check out their website if you're curious about the non-profit. http://fh100recruiting.com/2012/06/20/field-house-100-continues-to-make-positive-headway-locally/  I could also tell he was a teacher, and it was cool to see him doing his thing. He's quite the talker and a businessman. He reminds me of my Uncle Ron. I was so thankful and appreciative of Brandon for giving up a day of his busy schedule to share with my students.

I also learned some cool statistics about American Samoa in terms of politics and finances. One cool thing about having these guest speakers come in as I learn even more right along with my students. I have a feeling not so many of them realize that and take some of it for granted. I listen to the speaker 6 different times during the day, and I hardly ever find myself wandering. The presentation seems to be a bit different each time. That's how it goes being a high school teacher. My lesson is never exactly the same for each class. It's fun to watch how it changes throughout the day.

Thursday, I had the students work on some thank you notes for our guest speaker. Then, we watched part of the movie The Impossible about a tsunami. Appropriate for all of my classes. We will discuss it a bit, and I may put a question on the mid-term about it. I think many of them think that video days are free days. Not the case. I show videos with purpose.

Heading home right after school on Thursday to finish packing up (practically done already) and then it's moving day. I'm taking the day off work Friday, and I am not sure how quickly Internet will be set up at our new place. Hope you all have a nice weekend.