I Just Learned Recently...

So,... music works AWESOME to keep kids in check while they're doing work.

Of course, people have talked about this for years, but I hadn't REALLY tried it because they normally ASK for music that doesn't really work for STAYING FOCUSED ... but I've found certain types of music that works awesome.

I've been using Metallica's Rockabye Lullabies with one of my classes. Amazing seeing them kind of mellow out and work, just glide through the class, it doesn't put them to sleep, but it calms them down in a rather cool way.



Then there's this other group that I just have to put on some Tiesto, Beanyles, Karlanton, Oakenfold, or Aldo D'Alessandro and they just dance through class, but WORK.



I actually had one kid dance his way over to me and go, "So, this is the line of the Missouri Compromise, right? Ahhh ok that explains the California mess better... ok Thanx!" and then just dance his way back to class.

It's Monday and they're working, on their own, calmly, ... enjoying the music nicely.

In 10 years of teaching ...

This year completes the TENTH year I have been teaching ... TEN YEARS!

Wow ... I know I know ... I started teaching at 17, but I've been in a classroom 180days a year for 10 years !

That is 1800 days of classroom teaching! ...

... and I still love it.

I look back and I think of all the kids and the friends I've made, I have to admit it makes me teary-eyed.

The sad part is... in my tenth year of teaching will also mark the ONLY YEAR I HAVE NOT BEEN INVITED TO SPEAK AT A GRADUATION!!! :(

Granted, where I teach now does not have a graduating class, but I realized it this time because I would regularly begin to write my graduation speech at the beginning of the 4th quarter.

Every single year I have written a speech, every single year. In fact, the first 2 years I went to do my Associate's degree in New York and my father read the speeches for me.

ten years ... wow ...

funny thing is I can run into ANY of the kids I've taught and remember them in the classroom, remember a funny or crazy moment, something they did, where they sat in the classroom... no importa si fue en la PUCMM, Progressive, Senderos, Ashton, or St.Michael's ... I can pop something up that tends to make them go, "Wow... you remember that?"

:) I will think of my own advice to my Seniors ... "it's not the quantity, it's the quality"

it's been an awesome 10 years.

adrift in peace

And I floated. Adrift in my own thoughts. Conscious that I was not alone, but aware of my solitude.
The ocean current took me, wrapped me in its warmth.
I closed my eyes and felt the peace. I felt the quiet. I felt the nothingness and I loved it.
The sun hid behind a cloud and I felt the cold breeze brush against my skin. My arms spread open, my legs together.
With my eyes closed I felt the sun emerge, the heat touch my every pore. The sun shone fully and I opened my eyes.

I stared at the sky as I floated in the ocean. Silence. Peace.

I thanked God for the beauty in the world. I spoke words of love and admiration, God listened silently.

I closed my eyes and I drifted. In quiet. In silence. In solitude. In peace.