It has definitely been interesting here and the word ADVENTURE takes on a different meaning every day. From the adventure of walking places, to sharing taxis; Adventure of students not listening, to shock the next day when they are super sweet. Adventure of lesson planning and doing grades. The adventure of sponsoring classes and organizations; adventure of a school Carnival.
So much happens on a daily basis that it is hard to keep track of it all, yet at the same time every day is just as routine as the day before it was. This, I suppose, is the beauty of teaching. You know what to expect as far as the order of classes goes, but how much and what you will accomplish in that day depends on the students and morning activities such as chapel and flag raising. It seems that you never quite accomplish everything you hoped for a day, yet you accomplish everything that needed to be accomplished for that day. Looking back I know what many of my teacher meant when they said that discussing topics of life are at times more valuable than the lesson they planned on teaching that day. I have found myself in the past couple of months at times stepping away from a lesson or taking a tangent to talk to my students about issues that are more important, such as respect, or responsibility. Probably the class that has the most divergences is Bible. We stay on topics that are related to the Bible itself, but at times it is more important to discuss things that are relevant to the students such as the impact of music, media or spiritualism, rather than talking about the theories of how the earth came to be. Both are important, but there is most definitely a time and a place for both.
About a month ago, on a long weekend Sunday, all of us teachers took a trip to Enimonet for the afternoon. Enimonet is an island on the opposite end of the atoll that is privately owned. The owner takes groups of people who wish to go there and so our principal made all the arrangement for us embarking on this great adventure. After a 30 minute boat ride the Enimonet, we docked at one of the most beautiful places in the Majuro atoll. The view of the palms and hut like buildings was gorgeous and on that beautiful, sunny, Sunday that it was, we put our stuff in some of these little huts. After we had lunch, we spent the afternoon socializing, playing rook and swimming. It was all the fun that could be imagined. It was a perfectly relaxing day, just the kind you need to get you over till the next break.
Since then we have had two Staff vs High School games. Later that same week, we had a Staff vs High School basketball game. The Senior basketball team played their hardest, kept up the competition, but at the end of the day, the Staff still beat them. It was a close game, but the Staff came through. About a week or so ago we had a Staff vs High School volleyball game. This time, though it was great competition and full effort, the High School team won 2 of 3 games. It was fun to both watch and play in some of these games and it took me back to high school. It is truly an odd feeling to now be the teacher. I remember when we would see our teacher on the court or outside of school, at times it would feel odd. I have come to learn that the same is true for teachers. It is at times unusual to see our students outside of school.
Now as we have come to the end of the first quarter and midterm of the semester for high school, the grades have been turned in and I am about to face the first set of Parent teacher conferences in this year. The hope is that those will go well and that hopefully the students will work on their grades as needed. It is all an adventure always!
