P!nk in the Classroom

I'd like to preface this post by stating that yes, I am a P!nk fanatic, and perhaps I've become a little obsessed with her over these past few months, but well, her songs move me like no other and I'm sure I'll get sick of her one day....maybe?  So if you're already tired of me talking about my new favorite musical artist, then click here.  Otherwise, read on...

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One of the things I like most about teaching ESL is that I pretty much have free reign as to the things I decide to teach.  Anything I plan on using in my classroom is English, and so as long as my students learn some in the process, it's a good thing.  Many times in the past I've used music (surprise!) in my classroom, and earlier this week I decided to go back into my iTunes library once again for a little English lesson.

One of the things I like most about P!nk is her songwriting.  Her lyrics are just so well written and often meaningful, and so after an impromptu event in my classroom a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take some of the more meaningful ones and teach them as a whole new thematic unit for my class.

The event I'm referring to was a practice essay I had my students do about changes in communication and transportation over the years and how they've changed people's lives.  One of my students chose to write about transportation, and in his essay he commented that one day we will have "molecular transport' as a means of getting around.  Light bulb!

Beam me up, give me a minute....

Bam, it hit me!  My creative juices started flowing and I immediately went into planning mode.  I printed out the lyrics to P!nk's Beam Me Up and started looking at them.  As it turns out, there are plenty of things to teach from that one song: vocabulary, theme, mood, imagery, rhyming, etc.  I was ecstatic!

I printed out a lesson plan (sorry, the plan itself is going to be published in another forum), and got to thinking about extending the theme into other P!nk songs.  Oh yeah, I've since worked in a lesson using Who Knew, and tomorrow's is The Great Escape.  Don't Let Me Get Me, Just Like a Pill, Dear Mr. President, Sober, Glitter in the Air, Family Portrait, and others.  They've all got great lessons in them, lessons on life and love, self-image, politics, family and so much more.  So far, the kids have loved the first two songs and the whole thing has made me enthusiastic once again about teaching.  Yeah baby!


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E.S.L.

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One of the things I forgot to mention about myself in my first A to Z post was the fact that I am an ESL teacher.  For those of you who don't know what that means, I teach English as a Second Language in a junior and senior high school on Long Island.  In other words, I teach kids who don't speak English, how to speak English.

Teaching ESL is probably the most difficult of all teaching jobs, especially at the secondary level.  With all of the high stakes testing, there's not much time for these kids to learn English enough to pass state exams in math, science, global studies, U.S. history and English, especially when research says it takes from five to seven years to learn the language, and ours is not an easy one to learn.

Other than being the hardest job in education, mine is also the most rewarding.  To me it is the one type of teaching job where you actually get to see the fruit of your labor.  When I have a conversation with one of my students, in English and remembering when they couldn't utter a word once upon a time, well, it makes me so happy and proud of what I do.  Virtually every student I've ever had is still in my life somehow, whether it be an occasional visit at school or even home, or through parties or get-togethers here and there.

There is so much I can share about my professional career, and I will post some links below to articles relating to what I do, as well as some school stories that are worth telling.  In the meantime, here's an article that was written about my class by another writer for a local newspaper, the Suffolk Times.  Check out ESL teacher reflects on 10 years in Southold schools.

A photo of me in the Suffolk Times piece with some old and current students

As promised, here are some pieces I've penned for Yahoo Voices reflecting on what I do for a living:

Inspirational Songs: Natasha Bedingfield's 'Unwritten' and Heather Small's 'Proud'

An early tale of how two songs inspired a group of students and helped them to learn English, too!

Tips for Working with ESL Students

The title says it all...

Teaching ESL

Ditto!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Every year, my class publishes an ESL Magazine, which is full of the wonderful things that come out of their minds.  This is a collection of some of the darndest things that kids say.

A Teacher's Treasure

This one's my sentimental favorite!

Anyway, I've given you plenty to read.  If you happen to be an ESL teacher, or any other type of teacher, then you'll definitely relate to at least the last two.  There are plenty more stories like these on my Yahoo Voices Education page.  And here are a few photos of my classes over the years:

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A Message from Your Kids' Teachers

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Vacation!  After what feels like some of the longest weeks of my life since the last vacation, Winter Break is finally here.  Many of my poor fellow teachers have had to give up their breaks because of time lost from Hurricane Sandy...some even gave up President's Day.  Ever since becoming a teacher ten years ago, I've been especially sensitive to how my profession is vilified.  Well, here's a great piece from Jimmy Kimmel Live  that gives it right back to where a lot of the blame on the state of education belongs...

This'll show you why these past weeks have been so grueling.

 

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Sunday, October 21, 2012: Bowling...Who'd a Thought?; More Teacher Bashing

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Sunday is such a unique day of the week.  Normally, I love a Sunday morning, especially a beautiful one like today.  In the morning, the rest of the day is filled with possibility of relaxation, enjoyment, and who knows what else, but then as the day wears on, workday Monday begins to loom and my whole attitude changes.  Ah, well, such is life, right?

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Bowling...Who'd a Thought?

Last night, one of my new bowling buddies, Tim, invited me to a party that one of his teammates was giving.  Tim's team was the team that my team played on the first night of bowling and that became my wonderful introduction to a whole new gay world.  Who'd a thought?

The guys on Tim's team, Tim, Sean, Al and Steve...(well Steve's the only one I don't really know yet)...are all fun, genuine people, and I already consider Tim and Sean good friends. Al was the one who hosted the party and there were plenty of guys from the league there, all plu's, and all really nice.  After all of my lamentations about the single life these past few years, I only wish I had done this sooner, and I'm looking forward more than ever to getting to know more people and expanding my circle of friends.

More Teacher Bashing 

One of the things I like about Sunday mornings is reading the Sunday paper.  It's a lifetime Sunday morning ritual that I look forward to, though it's not always a pleasant experience.  I only read the paper once a week because almost always there are things in there that get my blood boiling, like today.  My hometown newspaper is called Newsday, and it's a pretty respectable paper for a non-metropolitan area periodical, though quite often it gets me frustrated!

For the past nine-plus years, I've made my living as a teacher, and it's taken that long for me to become a little jaded at my profession.  I became a teacher for many reasons: it makes good use of my natural talents, I love working with kids, and I have an innate compassion for my students that transcends just teaching.  My students and I are as close as you can get to being a family, and I've been fortunate enough to have maintained contact with many of my students long after they've graduated.

To me, teaching is one of the most honorable professions a person can take on.  Teachers are tasked with a huge undertaking, which in reality is helping to prepare our young ones to be productive and contributive towards society...our society.  Children are our future and teaching them is a teacher's way of contributing to our society today and into the coming years.  So why then do so many people seemingly hate teachers?

Teacher bashing has become a very popular activity these past several years.  For whatever reason (I have my thoughts), teachers have become so vilified in today's society, and part of the problem is that the media seems to only fan those flames, like Newsday has done today.

The cover of today's paper features a headline that reads: LI Teachers: Take a Course, Get a Raise, with a subtitle, Easy Money: Questionable classes boost salaries, costing taxpayers.  The imagery featured between the headline and subtitle is a listing of various courses, I would guess deemed 'questionnable" by the paper.

The key word here, of course, is 'taxpayers.'  Therein lies the source of teacher bashing in today's world, and Newsday once again is irresponsibly fanning the flames of disgust and vitriol against my profession.  The special 'investigation' takes up the entire first five pages of today's paper, and goes on to make a case at how teachers hike up their salaries by taking meaningless courses of required professional development.  The article points to several seemingly ridiculous courses that appear to have nothing to do with teaching, and yes, I would agree that there are teachers who take such courses not for the knowledge, but for the money, but what I have issue with here are all of the implications the article makes, and how certain, specific details are highlighted in order to fan those flames.

My question here is: Is Newsday a friend of education or purposely trying to vilify the teaching profession by inciting certain anger towards us on the part of its readers?   There's a lot more I wish to say about this, and so I feel a piece coming on for Examiner, which is likely to get more views than this blog post, so stay tuned for that...

A Beautiful Autumn Sunday

There, now that I've spoken my piece, I'm going to get moving and head on out to enjoy this absolutely typical and gorgeous autumn day.  Too bad I have no one to share it with, though...sigh!  This is one of those kinds of days where I wished I had someone...  Anyway, thanks as always for checking me out.  Enjoy the day!

 

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September 8, 2012: A Long First Week of School

Saturday is finally here and a well-deserved time for rest and relaxation after a first, long work week has come along with it. Wait, rest and relaxation?  Me?  Nah, of course not!  Since this was an extraordinarily busy and hectic week in John's World, I haven't had time for cleaning, laundry, errands, minding my checkbook, this, that, and the other thing, so I'll be doing that all day today and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to relax a little tomorrow.

The second of two Madonna concerts at Yankee Stadium is tonight, and I'm starting to get excited, although going a second time was not originally in my plan.  You see, when the tickets first went on sale back in February or March, my pal Rich and I gobbled up two of them for the show on Thursday, but I neglectfully forgot another pal-o-mine who's a big Madge fan, Vera.  Vera was less than pleased that she had not been considered while making the original purchase, and so she asked if I would go with her to the Saturday night show, and of course I said yes.  MDNA twice!  Um, yeah!

L-U-V Madonna!

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Back to School: A fresh start met with the same old frustration

School started this past Wednesday and on that day I posted a song that I've posted before, only with some commentary about fresh starts in new school years.  The song is Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten and the commentary is definitely worth a read, not just for teachers and students, but for everybody.  

Even though I had the most marvelous of summers, there was little dread about starting the school year for me, except maybe for having to wake up so early once again.  School for teachers began on Tuesday, really, with the students starting the next day, which was the day I looked forward to more.  Working with kids is much more enjoyable than working with the adults!  I shared my excitement, as well as my frustration with how teacher's are being looked upon these days on Facebook:

Yesterday I was reminded of how my honorable and important profession is still vilified by many, and any teacher-haters out there who think we have it so easy and cushy and are only in it for the money should know this:

I had an enjoyable summer, and knowing that all vacations must come to an end, rather than being sad and miserable about it, I and plenty of my fellow teachers out there are actua

lly looking forward with excitement to see our students and work with them again.

Twelve years ago, I left a high-paying career to go back to college to become a teacher, to make a difference in this world in my own small way. The road has not been easy, but so worth it. I love what I do, and no, not for the money or the vacation time, but because I get to reach plenty of kids who I know are enriched because I am in their lives somehow to help guide them through life.

To all my fellow teachers and all the students out there, have a great school year! And to anyone out there who thinks we have it so easy, why don't you go out and do what I did 12 years ago. Then you'll really see what it's like to teach!

Reading the comment again only solidifies the opinion I have on the subject.  I, and many of my fellow teachers, love what we do, and I think we have one of the most important jobs in society, yet there are way too many people out there who think we're overpaid, we have too much vacation, short hours, and overall easy jobs.  Thankfully, that post got plenty of likes and lots of great comments, but I just wish more people would see things that way.

This Teacher Witch Hunt is Killing Me

Politicians feed into this nightmare with all of their standards and regulations, part of their witch-hunt to weed out bad teachers.  Instead of allowing us the time to hone our craft and actually spend time preparing for teaching, we're tasked with preparing goals for ourselves to be rated on without any clear direction from the Department of Education.  Teachers in my school were made to come in for two days before school started, and all but 1/2 hour was spent being schooled on the latest from the State Ed Department and other unnecessary fluff, while preparing our classrooms and our lessons was frustratingly overlooked.  Yes, we were given just one half-hour out of two days to do all of that.  What a waste!

As a result, the first three days of school were maddeningly hectic, especially for me.  Seemingly every day a new student enrolled in my program to a point now where my population has almost doubled since the last school year.  

For those of you who do not know, I am an ESL teacher.  That is, I am tasked with teaching non-English speaking kids how to read, write, speak and understand English.  My students aren't given very many special accommodations.  They are required to pass all of the classes and state exams as everyone else, all while learning the language.  This is okay when a student from a non-English speaking country arrives here at a young age, but when they move here in, say the 11th grade, their being able to do all of this becomes a daunting task, to say the least.  I've got more than a few students in this situation and the time I'm given to prepare working with them is minimal.  So, yeah, you might say that my job is quite impossible.  

I'm Tired!

To top off the four days of bell to bell busy-ness, Ms. Madge began her show at 10:17 PM, on what was a school night for me.  By the time the show (which was awesome...stay tuned...) had finished, it was well past midnight, and my arrival in my bed was around 2:30AM.  Wake-up time is 5AM.  If you do the math, you might see why I've been a zombie for the past 30 hours or so.  Well, at least today is Saturday and Madge can start as late as she wants tonight.  I can sleep in tomorrow!

Regardless of how crazy my first week of school was, I still look to future days with eyes and arms wide open.  I'll get past this craziness one of these days, and go forth into a wonderful days and months ahead.  Won't you?

 

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LGBT kids shake and shimmy to Lady Gaga's "Hair" for It Gets Better Project

The It Gets Better Project is a wonderful organization dedicated to showing LGBT kids that even though their experiences are tougher than most, things will get better. By shining a light on the "levels of happiness, potential, and positivity" their lives will reach, It Gets Better works hard to remind these kids to hang in there because it does get better. I know, because I survived the torment, confusion and self-questioning that comes with growing up gay.

I received an email a little while ago from LGBTQ Rights Causes, one of the many worthy projects of the Causes organization dedicated to making the world a better place. The email included a link to a video created by the LGBT community of Madison, Wisconsin in conjunction with the It Gets Better Project.

The video features the song "Hair," by one of the champions of LGBT causes, Lady Gaga, along with some very smooth and funky choreography. Like all of the material put out by the organization, this one shows kids that things do get better! Lady Gaga herself put her stamp of approval on the vid with a "This is so AMAZING" tweet. Check it out:




Here are some sobering statistics provided by the It Gets Better Project on the state of LGBT youth:

9 out of 10 LGBT youth have experienced harassment at school
LGBT teens are bullied 2 to 3 times as much as straight teens
More than 1/3 of all LGBT teens have attempted suicide
LGBT teens are 4 times as likely to attempt suicide as their straight counterparts

These statistics are an unfortunate reality, and thank goodness that there are organizations such as the It Gets Better Project out there who are doing something to change it. Since their inception, calls to the Trevor Project suicide hotline have increased more than 50%, helping to prevent the tragic losses of more of our innocent children and allowing them to experience their own happiness, their own potential and their own positivity.

Check out the It Gets Better Project


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January 30th, 2012 - He Passed!; R.I.P. Bradley Thomsen

I love Monday nights. Just knowing that the first day of a long work week is behind me gives me a sense of peace, especially when it was a good day. Well, today was a good day for me personally and I find myself in a much better mood than I was just a day ago. Big smiles!



He Passed!

Just yesterday I told you about a student who I’ve been tutoring for the past three months to prepare for his state examination in Global History. I mentioned how horribly difficult the test was in my Education Smeducation rant, and I still think it’s not fair, but in the incredibly wacky world of education, making up for hard tests with lots of grading leeway and lower passing scores, I’m happy to report that he passed the test! After way too many tries at passing the darned thing, he now has all of the requirements he needs to earn his diploma. Congratulations big time buddy!





R.I.P. Bradley Thomsen


I am sad to report tonight that the husband of one of my oldest friends, Marcia, passed away unexpectedly last night. I heard the news early this morning from Marcia’s daughter and I am as shocked as anyone within that circle to learn of Brad’s death.

Marcia and I go back a long ways, from my days working as a stock boy at Stern’s department store. I was in my late teens/early twenties when I worked there and I met Marcia during a difficult time when many of my formerly friendly coworkers found out I was gay and suddenly ostracized me from the group. Marcia was new at the store and had been hearing much of the chatter going on about me and one day she reached out to me with an ear and an offer of friendship.

For the next almost 30 years, she and I have been through a lot together, both good times and bad, and even though she now lives in Florida we still manage to stay in each other’s lives somehow. Her two children, Layne and Jordan, who I met when they were small, are like my niece and nephew and I’m grateful to have them in my life, as well.

A little more than eight years ago, Marcia told me she had met Brad. He was from Long Island and he was going to be coming down to Florida to live with her. Of course, I was hesitant and doubtful about what seemed like too sudden a decision, but I have never been one to ply my own opinions onto others, and so I was just happy for my friend.

Marcia and Brad were married in November of 2003 and I was on hand to witness the event. Over the years I came to know Brad pretty well and what I can say most about him was that he was quite a character! Always jovial and always outspoken, Bradley was always a presence whenever he was around. Through and through, he and I got along pretty well, and I can say with all honesty that he was a likable guy.

I remember during one of my many visits to see them in Florida, Marcia insisted that he and I spend some time together so that we could get to know one another. It was the first and only time in my life I ever took an airboat ride in the Everglades, something we had both always wanted to do. It was quite an experience!

What I am grateful for the most about Brad was that he was around to take care of my friend Marcia. For the longest time, she had been completely on her own and doing her best to survive. In him, she found a soul mate, someone with whom she could spend her days with and be happy and worry with, and I can say with certainty that that’s exactly what he was for her. Thank you Brad! Rest in Peace!


Brad and Marcia


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January 29th, 2012 - In a Funk; Education Smeducation; Blog Updates

Good morning and Happy Sunday! It’s been nothing but writing for me all morning so far and after this entry I definitely need to take a break. It is a gorgeous day outside, not at all like January, with sunny skies and warm temperatures. It kind of feels like early spring rather than winter and I plan on getting out there at least for a bit…


In a Funk

I really have no idea what’s the matter with me lately, but I am definitely in a funk! Over the past several weeks I’ve kind of been walking around in a daze, not really feeling like doing anything, and I don’t know why. For at least the third or fourth time in the last few weeks, I stayed home on Saturday night, but this time it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Having not gone to the city for two weeks because of the Outlook Awards dinner last Saturday, I had been planning all week on going last night. I got a call from my pal Ivan that he and his friends were going to a new club opening in Hell’s Kitchen and he wanted me to join them. The club is called XL and Kristine W was performing there for the opening.

Though the offer was very tempting, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to deal with the huge crowds of people that I would expect to see at a grand opening like that, but I was planning on going into either Splash or the Ritz, nonetheless. I spent part of the day preparing for the night, gassing up, getting money and I even took a nap, but when it came time to go, I don’t know, I just didn’t. I had even showered and dressed, got in the car and left, but I found myself turning around and coming home not even a mile away from my house. At first I attributed it to a late start, but I’m just not sure…

Lately I’ve been spending too much time in isolation and I know it’s not good for me. I need to get out there and do a little more interacting with people, but I can’t seem to get myself going. I guess I just need to try harder and hopefully that funk will go away soon.



Education Smeducation

Oh, there are so many things I want to say about the state of education in this country and the State of New York, but I don’t have nearly enough time to get it all out there. There’s one thing I can say for sure, and that’s that education is a total mess! In the field of education, as in any other field of work, it seems that the people in charge are so far removed from the front lines that they are clueless when it comes to how the decisions they make affect the people at the root of their domain. In this case I’m talking about the kids.

This past week was Regents week in New York. For those of you who don’t know what that is, the Regents are a series of examinations that students must pass to graduate from high school in New York State. Students must pass five Regents examinations (English, Math, Global Studies, US History and either Biology or Earth Science) to earn their diplomas, which, since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, has made more kids take five years and not the expected four to graduate from high school and many more have dropped out. (Talk about leaving children behind!)

Usually the students who take them in January are taking them because they failed the exams in June and/or August, when they’re offered again. This year, I was tasked with tutoring a special education student to prepare him for the Global Studies exam. Even though I am not a social studies teacher, I feel comfortable enough with the subject matter to have helped him pass the test.

For the past three months, he and I have worked together long hours preparing for the exam and on Friday he took the Global Studies Regents. As I administered the test, I started to burn with anger at seemingly every question. Now I can say with pride that this student, who had failed the exam several times in the past, learned a lot from his time with me. He knows a lot more about global history than he ever did before, especially finding interest in World War II, the Cold War and the Cuban Revolution, oddly enough, but this test covered too broad a range for him to recall.

He answered several questions without hesitation, but unfortunately there weren’t enough that he knew for certain. In fact, there were many questions I couldn’t have even answered. Questions about such obscure and specific historical subjects like the rule of Suleimann the Magnificent, Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Tokugawa shogunate are simply out of the realm of what this particular kid is able to store in his learning disabled brain, and his dejection during the exam was plainly evident on his face. Both he and I knew that for most of the questions, it was simply a crapshoot as to guessing the correct answer.

I wish that the folks at the Board of Regents of the State of New York could have been there to witness this travesty. Maybe then they might rethink the current thoughts on rigorous standards for everybody and see that not all learners are the same.


A wedding chuppah designed by Stewart Wellington, lol

Blogging

Beginning yesterday, I started to work on my other blogs, “john’s food and recipe blog” and “The Misadventures of Johnny Driver.” With the former I simply added my newest published recipe, “Tacosagne,” to the blog and changed a little of its appearance, and for Johnny Driver I started the long, arduous task of rewriting the entire series. I am hoping to add to the Johnny Driver series, which I think has potential if I say so myself, and I feel the need to revisit what’s been done already to make it better and more readable, especially since I think I got better with it as time went on. Check out the reworked introduction here.

Stay tuned for more updates on those sites, which I will mention here when necessary, and feel free to check them out either below or in the sidebar.

john’s food and recipe blog

The Misadventures of Johnny Driver


Well, I think I’ve said enough here for one post. Be sure to check out Shakira in the latest Song of the Day and some news about Lady Gaga’s newest single here. In the meantime, have a great Sunday!

P.S.: Here's a photo I found on the Internet that is just soooo cute I had to share it:



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A field trip...

Thursday was a long-awaited field trip for my students. As an ESL teacher in a 7-12 school, I am in the unique position of teaching the same core group of students year after year, and so we all get to know each other pretty well. At the beginning of each school year, they always ask me if we’re going to go on a field trip and I always start out with good intentions, but invariably I get caught up in the day to day duties of my job and I haven’t necessarily been a good teacher as far as field trips have been concerned.

This year I made a promise to myself that we’d take at least one, and I wanted to make it a good one, so I planned a long day trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island with my students. We took the two-plus hour journey into the city on Thursday, April 7th and it was a great experience.

My students and I are very much like a family. We have fun together. We learn together. We argue and make up together. All of the personalities in the group are well defined and every single person has their place within the unit, and so the trip was more like a family outing than your typical school field trip.

Once we arrived in the city, we walked across Battery Park towards the streets in search of lunch, and that was where the real fun began. Perched on a pedestal near the entrance to the park stood Lady Liberty herself. She was one of those neo-peddlers who earn their wares dressed up as statues and posing for pictures with unsuspecting tourists. Of course this one was decked out in a green robe and crown.

Once the kids spotted her the cameras came out. They started clicking away as some of them made their way towards the figure to be in the photos. Lady Liberty wagged her finger in a no-no motion…she wanted money. Two of my students, Jaqi and Sonia, went to pose for a picture with the figure. Jaqi hadn’t noticed the finger wagging, and from my vantage point I could see Jaqi arguing with the statue. Within seconds, she pulled out a $5 bill and the cameras got busy again. The two of them went into model shoot mode as Lady Liberty struck funny poses for the cameras. A couple of other students got into the action and laughter was everywhere. It would be the first bit of genuine fun we’d get from the day.




After a quick lunch at Burger King, we had to head back towards the ferry to catch our boat. On the way, some of the kids were drawn to the many street vendors stationed on the sidewalk. As I crossed the street back towards the park, I turned back to see that some of the students had stopped to peruse the tables. The other teacher was with them, so I wasn’t worried about, but I knew we didn’t have much time to catch the ferry.

“C’mon, we’ve gotta catch the ferry!” I shouted back at the shopping students.

“We’re coming, we’re coming!…Ooh, Mr. Myers,” Sonia said, “look what I got.” She proceeded to show me the ten rings that she had bought from a costume jewelry peddler down the street. All I could do was roll my eyes and move on as I lead a dash to the ferry terminal. In the end, we missed the boat, the first of three we’d miss.

Even though the little shopping spree took us off our schedule, I took it in stride and just enjoyed every minute. We went to Liberty Island to see the real statue, where we had a group picture done and then went up inside the pedestal. A trip to the gift shop was the culprit for us missing our second ferry, and we ended up staying on the island until almost three o’clock, the time we were supposed to meet the bus driver at Battery Park…and we still had to make a stop at Ellis Island.



After a quick call to the driver, we hopped on the next ferry and sailed over to Ellis, where we’d only have a half an hour. We skipped the bulk of the museum and headed straight for the famous “Wall of Immigrants.” The kids did some etchings on the wall before we headed back to the ferry, which we ended up missing too. Another half-hour’s wait and we were finally headed back to where we started from. Soon we were on our way back to school.



All in all, the day was great fun. During the long ride back, some kids slept, others did homework, while still others had some more fun together. Without prodding from me, they all pitched in to clean the bus before we got back to the school. That’s the kind of kids they are. They made me proud throughout the day. We pulled into the school parking lot around 8PM and the long day was over.

The kids came in to school Friday morning exhausted and exhilarated, just like I was feeling. Many of them thanked me for the day, and I reciprocated. I had as much fun with them as they had with me and I feel honored to have given them a memorable day that they’ll keep in their minds for years to come. I love my job!

Here are some photos from the day:























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