Blog

Here is a video of my homeroom in the morning. Not very interesting, but at least you get to see my classroom!

So I've been taking a break from blogging regularly, mostly because it has freed up time for me to work on my textbook. Yes, it is a bit scary that I was beginning to feel like taking 20 minutes once a week was too much time to take off from work and my family. Guess I just wanted to spend that time with my son, okay?

I'm excited about the fact that the textbook I am writing is nearing completion. I'm starting my Master's degree in January, but I should be mostly done writing by then, and one of the courses I am required to take at my high school (English as a Second Language in the Mainstream - don't ask) will be over very soon. Only 2 more classes...

I miss Vasilia and Thanasi, they have been away on the East coast of the US for what feels like a couple of weeks now (has it been that long?). I've gotten to chat with Vasilia nearly every single day though, which has helped a lot. Wish I got to hang out with Thanasi more, but he's not a web-chat kind of person yet.

School has been okay, I've got a school blog up and running smoothly for my Math class, and I'm working on a Wiki with my 9th grade students so they can review the material we have covered. I think they are mostly enjoying it, but it's obviously a lot of work. Fortunately I'm a bit ahead of the other teachers, so I have the time to do it. The exercise definitely seems worthwhile, they are learning valuable time-management skills, and are using many of the technical skills I have been showing them during the semester without my prompting. Pretty cool. They are also organizing some pretty cool material.

So today was my last day at Southbank International school. Tomorrow we have the barbeque so it doesn’t count, today the kids finally left. It has been a good two years at Southbank, certainly much better than my first 3 years as a teacher in NYC. I will miss everyone here horribly, and I’m feeling very emotional right now, those of you who know me best know that this is an unusual state of being for me.

The staff here have given me a wonderful send off, as they did all of the leaving staff. My pals in the Math department and I were a really good team, and I’m going to want them around a lot next year I think as I adjust to Bangkok, although I’m still excited about the move.

I’ve got most of my cleanup done, but I have a few chores left, so I’m going to get to work at it and finish up for the day.

My son has started properly crawling. We have a video below as proof. We’ve put up a baby gate and raised the height of all of dangerous stuff about 2 feet.

So my son broke his first tooth yesterday. My wife and I can already feel it poking through his gums. It’s very exciting, although it sure explains why he has been so fussy recently. He’s taking it pretty well, but it must be tremendously painful.

Just wanted to share!

My son finally learned how to use his Jolly Jumper properly. How babies learn these things, I’ll never know, but now he’s happily bouncing up and down gleefully. He’s such a sweet happy baby.

My son is doing something pretty cool recently. We hold his hands and he can walk around! He needs us to provide stability for him but he can motor around pretty well. He’s incredibly excited to do it, as the clip below shows.

Yesterday I started telling my students that I am leaving the school at the end of the year, and it was a bit emotional. Strangely the older students tended to react more. My 6th grade students hardly reacted at all, and my 12th grade students were disappointed. Today I told my 9th grade students, but unfortunately forgot to tell my 10th grade class. Guess I am always thinking about teaching, and sometimes I miss the big picture.

So today the 12th grade students had their end of school assembly because this is their last week. Next week they have off to study for their IB exams, and then they start a somewhat difficult 3 weeks of tests, with most of their classes having multiple exams. I couldn’t make the whole event because I was preparing for and teaching my 9th grade class. About half-way through the class, one of my fellow teachers came by and told me I should go down to the hall because the 12th graders were looking for me. I went down, a little bit suspicious, but also apprehensive. When I got there, the twelve grade students I taught for the last two years got up and presented me with a card and told me how much they were going to miss me, and how much they appreciated all of my help for the last 2 years. It nearly made me cry, and I was obviously very touched. It was a really nice surprise to end my day.

I always thought that when you are offered an opportunity to work, you should take it because that opportunity may not happen again. However, I may have to rethink that wisdom, because I have had a recent dearth of work sent my way. I’ve been offered the opportunity to co-author a textbook, assuming my writing is good enough. I’ve also just been sent an email asking if I want to design a website, and assist in the completion of another website.

This is on top of the work that I occasionally get sent to create Drupal modules for various people around the globe. Of course, I also have a full time job as a Mathematics teacher at Southbank International School. This is adding up to more work than I can possibly handle, and still be a good husband and father. I’ve been trying to focus more on my family than before when I was getting wrapped up trying to make enough money to survive living in London because I don’t want to be an absentee father/husband.

I’m going to have to think about this dilemna a bit more because I also want to make sure I am providing the best opportunities for my family (heck right now I’ll settle for actually paying all the bills!).

According to this blog entry you probably are. I know I am.