Great Day

I sure hope you are as excited about some of the stuff in this post as I am by the time you are done reading. Don't worry, it's not a bunch of exercise that has me excited today. Although, the exercise e is still going well and added to my great days. 

Monday was a lecture and notes day for all 5 of my classes. Went pretty smoothly. Hadn't made them do a full class period of notes in a few weeks. Talked about some ocean basics with my Earth Science classes as the branch of Oceanography is one we have not really worked on yet. In Marine Science we focussed on some shark information. The presentation I used presented the information in a fun way. Did you know that the great white shark will lose thousands of teeth in its lifetime, constantly replacing them? Did you know some of the smallest sharks, pygmy sharks, are only 7 inches long?

Did a little ab workout in my classroom toward the end of my prep period. Then, I headed over to Samoa Baptist Academy to use the workout room there. I had hopes of getting on the treadmill, but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn on. Sorta had a blonde moment. Hopefully going back on Wednesday to give it a go after Brandon explained there is a power switch I missed on the machine. I did end up pedaling on one of the stationary bikes for about 20 minutes, though, as I was already over there. Just adding a little change in my routine. Spice it up you know. I was anxious to use the treadmill after my jog on Thursday last week. I get shin splits easily, and I can usually push myself further. Not a big deal though. Did my ab workout again before enjoying a shower, a bowl of oatmeal, and an apple.

Alright onto Tuesday... What a great day! I was super excited about my guest speakers this week, one being a ranger from the National Park Service. The day Ranger Pa'i and Ranger Sam spoke to us at WorldTeach Orientation I was giddy as a school kid. I loved their presentation and was excited for my students to see some. Ranger Pa'i came in to visit with my morning classes on Tuesday. She focused this presentation on some National Park basics and the different career divisions: Interpretation, Terrestrial, Maintenance, Marine, Cultural Resources, and Administration. Working for the Interpretation Division of the National Park Service is one of my dream jobs. Some point in my life :-)

I learned so much from her presentation again, as did the students. Did you know the fruit bat is the only native mammal to American Samoa and is the #1 seed pollinator? Did you know that 80% of the American Samoa population have never visited the National Park? Did you know that American Samoa is home to some of the biggest coral? When she showed a photo of the table top coral, I remembered seeing some like that the last time I was out snorkeling. Not the huge one they have out by the island of Ta'u, but they were still rather impressive. I could write a whole novella about all the things I learned today. I'm sure some of it was technically review from the last presentation I was in, but that was 7.5 months ago. I will be more than happy to share lots of information about the NPS of American Samoa with whoever is interested. She will be back on Thursday along with another ranger to speak with my afternoon classes. Giddy as a school girl again I am :-)

Had a discussion with my Marine Science class about habitats and adaptations in the ocean. I was so proud of them for staying attentive, noting some of my humor, and some seeming at least slightly intrigued. Some heard whispers of a great guest speaker in the morning, and I said they would get to see that one Thursday like I had told them yesterday. 

Then, for my final two classes of the day, I decided to build off some things the guest speaker said last week. Ethan talked a bit about setting goals and dreams. This gave me a new idea for helping my students set some goals. I did a little searching, and I think the lesson and activity went really well. I asked them to reflect a bit first. We watched a clip from Disney's Tangled - the song "I've Got a Dream" for a little fun inspiration and discussion starter. They enjoyed that, of course. Then, we read a little article. The activity included writing down 5 things you are not happy with or would like to change about your life. Then, you write down the opposite of those statements. Finally, you turn them into "I choose" statements written in the affirmative. For example: not happy - I complain too much, opposite - I accept things the way they are, choice - I choose to be content. Most were diligently working and giving it some thought. I'm happy with it. Haven't perused all their responses yet, but I have a feeling there are some good ones.

Had a staff meeting after school, which included a 20 minut song practice for an upcoming parade in May. All in Samoan. It was hard for me to follow the tempo when all we had were the lyrics in front of us, mind you lots of vowels. Man, this Samoan language uses so many vowels. Was cool to hear the staff singing, though. You can tell they grow up doing this sort of thing a lot. Powerful singing as usual - just like the students.

Did my little ab workout in my classroom before heading to a good Zumba class and my jog to the community college and back, again. Had a bowl of oatmeal again for dinner. One of my regular dinners as you know by now. I am adding a little bit of trail mix in now, to add in some extra energy. I am also drinking a cup of milk each night. For a while I had cut back on milk, and my family knows I love drinking milk. So that was weird (part of me trying to save money, but I'm over that.) I'm really into the rice and soymilk these days. So, this is basically what my weeknight dinner is going to look like for a while. Simple, healthy, and delicious. :-)