"A mind once stretched by a new idea can never regain its original dimensions." ~Oliver Wendall Holmes

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Second day of school

The first day of school went really well. I was so exhausted when I got home that I fell asleep reading on the couch after dinner and didnt wake up until almost 11pm. When I finally did wake up, I had practically no motivation to work out, but I did anyway and was surprised to find that I've lost another 4 pounds. So, now I've lost those 3 pounds that I gained back after leaving Vegas early this summer, plus a couple more. Yay me! When I can see the pounds falling away like that, it really makes it easy to keep it up.

Today, I'm getting to see what all of my classes are going to look like on a daily basis now that the high schoolers are in the building too. So far it's been good. It seems like all of my classes have a really great groups of kids in them. But, then again, they are always well behaved the first week or so.

There are a few things in particular that I am really excited about for this year...
1. I have Avery as a student for the first time ever. It may go good or bad, but either way it will be interesting.

2. The graduating seniors this year are kids that I taught two year ago when they were sophomores in Biology. It will be the first time that I will watch a group of kids graduate that I had as students. Seeing them just this first day as seniors is really exciting. To know that I had a hand in their success is also a humbling thought. I'm proud of them!

3. The students that I will have in my HS school Biology classes this year are the students that I had two years ago in 8th grade physical science. This is the first time that I will have the same group of kids for a second round of classes. Again, it could go great or be terrible, but either way it will be interesting. These are kids that I developed relationships with when they were young JHers. Now they've had two years to mature and it will be interesting to see how they've changed and how that affects are classroom dynamic.

4. We have an exceptional group of 10 new teachers in the building. They are replacing a group of teachers who, let's just say, were REALLY READY for retirement. The new teachers all seem to be excited and ready to be great teachers. It is nice to be in a building where the people actually want to be there and are excited to be teaching.

Well, time flies when you're having fun...today is going by way too quickly. My lunch break is almost over...gotta go!

2 comments:

Christine said...

How exciting to see the kids in different frames and having matured. I had the same teacher (for French for 4 years, English for 2 years and AP English my senior year) for various subjects and she's one of my favorite memories/people from high school.

Second, I'm glad to hear of the new teachers who are enthusiastic. It's so demoralizing to have an unenthusiastic, burnt out/ready to leave person... I can pick up on that 10 miles away and it's sad.

What's the AP Program like at BRHS? Do they have one? If not, are the tests still available if someone wants to try?

alisha said...

We do have an AP program, but it is not very extensive. I would say that it is comparable with what other school our size would have. We also work in conjunction with the university Bethel campus to offer higher level math classes. Many students are able to leave BRHS with their first semester of college credits already complete, if not more. I'm not sure if you can take an AP exam if the course is not offered.