Dreams of a Child

Supernatural strength and x-ray vision were tempting, but my dreams were always to fly. That was the coolest superpower I could think of for the majority of my childhood. Sure, there were those few years in middle school where I wanted to be invisible, but overall, the dream was always to fly. Those dreams have been tossed aside as I have matured. Flying can take you to many places but what are you going to do when you get there? I have bigger dreams now. The ability to speak any language at a moment's notice with no accent. Now that is something that would really be helpful.

Until I am bitten by a radioactive spider or fall into a vat of radioactive sludge, I have had to find other avenues to learn Spanish. Sometimes, it's me driving Becki crazy as I watch Bob Esponja (SpongeBob Squarepants) after a long day of work. Other times, it's talking to the security guard near our dumpster. And every week it's going to a Spanish class. It's not glamorous but I'm just trying to live the dream.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I have always felt that the most difficult stretch of school, as a student and teacher, is that stretch between Christmas Break and Spring Break. It is so long and with the cold, winter weather, there is nothing to do. It always felt like I was cooped up in the classroom, dying for some break from school. I assumed this was a problem endemic to parts of the world that experienced cold, long winters. Coming to teach in this Caribbean country, I thought I would escape all of that. It may be a long stretch from Christmas Break to Spring Break but at least the weather would be nice and allow for me to get out and relax. I was wrong.

The past few weeks have been hard. It has been much easier to become negative. I have been quick to become frustrated with my students. I was much less tolerant of their little concerns that they brought to me. I was feeling overwhelmed . The students made me feel like the pieces of bread I throw into Dale Hollow Lake every summer. The fish swarming around me, violating my personal space and slowly picking me apart until there's nothing left of me. I had a revelation on Wednesday though. Spring Break is only 2 weeks away. Surely I can make it till then. If I can make it till then, everything will fine. I will be refreshed and ready to face the end of the year. Hopefully the fish don't pick apart everything though in the next two weeks.

5th Grade Vocabulary

This week one of our 5th grade vocabulary words was legal. I always start the week by introducing the words with their definitions and then give a couple of examples. From there, I ask the students to come up with their own examples. One student brought up that people had the right to bare arms, therefore it was legal to bear arms. I was quite impressed with this example and with the way the discussion went from there, I knew that they would remember it. Well I was very right.

On Friday, I give the students a vocabulary test to see if they really know the words or not. Well, of course legal was on the test. I always pick 5 of the vocabulary words for them to write their own sentence about it. Here is the sentence that one student wrote for legal.

"Having bear arms is legal."

Well, maybe it is legal to have bear arms, but until someone actually does then we will never know.