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6 Things I Learned from Year 6 (and some Summer Memories!)

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     I'm a little late in reflecting on my 6th school year. I normally write this reflection in the airport somewhere along the way, but here I am, 3 days from flying back to Taiwan to start my 7th year of teaching. Better late than never, I think! Here's what I learned this year: 1. Take the dare.  A few of my yearbook students in the 2021-2022 school year dared me to do something different in the talent show this year (my usual gig is balancing things on my chin). I taught myself to play guitar (with the help of Clay, an old friend who plays beautifully) and sang at the talent show this year. If there's a challenge that I need time to undertake but could feasibly manage, I should do it, even if it scares me.  2. History is now.  I now have one year of US History behind me, and it was a blast to learn and teach! Studying an event and seeing a photo of an artifact from that time or some evidence that real people really did the real thing we're studying seems somewhat st
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50 Things from Year 5

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I'm sitting in the Denver airport waiting for the last leg of my journey back to Arkansas, jetlagged and still processing that the school year is over. Now that YEAR FIVE is in the books, it's time for my annual recap! Since it's year 5, here are 50 things I remember looking back on this year: 1. It was my second year with Yearbook! Even though I love all my students, Yearbook has become my favorite class to teach. Our theme this year was "Cute & Paste." 2. The theme included a new twist: we added a sticker sheet in the back of every yearbook! They were a hit.  3. I taught English 2 for the last time (at least for a while). It was time for me to make a change so that the class could have some life breathed back into it. Odysseus, Oliver Twist, Nancy (best character in OT hands down), Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain, and other beloved characters from English 2 will get a new teacher to tell their story next year!  4. I taught English 4 (British Literature) for the first
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From my last day in Quarantine: A Reflection on Year 4 and a Vision for Year 5

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The rain has slowed down for the first time in a few days. In less than a few hours, I'll leave my hotel home for the last two weeks, go home to my apartment and pets, and kick off getting ready for YEAR 5 of teaching! *gulp*  Reflection: Quarantine For the last two weeks, I've spent time reflecting on the last year and soaking in this relaxation time as long as I can. I've thought about year 4 of teaching, reading ( Breath , Interior Chinatown , He Saw That It Was Good,   Flash Boys , and  The Midnight Library;  unfinished:  Jesus and John Wayne, IQ ), watching Netflix ( Car Masters: Rust to Riches & Cobra Kai ), working on teacher homework, scrolling through *way too much* Instagram, improving my Adobe and ProCreate skills, Facetiming friends and family, and doing daily yoga with other quarantiners via Google Meet. Considering how crazy the rest of the world was in 2020-2021, Taiwan requiring quarantine doesn't seem like too steep of a price to pay for relative
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