Jordan B., Bekah G. Tim, Matt, Arthur A., and the seemingly many who have died suddenly and tragically in the last few years that I know of...
and the little 4-year old attacked by pit bulls in Houston...
and those who died after the bus plunge...
and those who maybe few know and remember...
the lyrics of a song:
You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you
I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now
Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I'm still here so far away from home
I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now
In Christ, there are no goodbye
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again
And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now
"Homesick" by Mercy Me, album "Undone"
what's next?
In the tale of crazy times at Pine Tree, things turned tragic this last week as a ninth-grader suddenly died from bleeding into her brain.
Please keep everyone in prayers...she wasn't one of my students, but I knew who she was and she was quite popular.--I'll have a lot of sad students on Monday.
Imagine a cafeteria with about 125 or so 8th and 9th graders enjoying last lunch of the day. Suddenly, it's pitch dark and girls are screaming and people are confused.
Yeah, school ended early today when the electricity went out. Guess my 8th period class is rejoicing in that they didn't have to take their test---today.
A transformer blew up somewhere. It's too much to hope that there are complications fixing it and there won't be school tomorrow...
I'm really loving the workshops this year.
I attended another one today called Big Muscle Activities for Math. The presenter was this crazy cool guy who apparently got 5 degrees in 5 and a half years or something like that and scored excellent on the math GRE even though he only took one math class in college...
He's a creative thinker. He now travels all over with this stuff he and his wife seem to have put together. Even though I was one of three secondary math people in a room full of elementary teachers, it was a lot of fun. I learned this way cool new version of Scrabble today and picked up a lot of really neat ideas.
He also talked about the differences in the methodology of teaching in America and Japan--America it's "Teach Practice Review Test". He told us about a video of a 5th grade classroom in Japan...students milling about talking. Teacher walks in and they bow. He writes a problem up on the board and leaves for 15 mintues. the students all go up to space on the board...some work in groups, some by themselves and they solve the problem. He comes back, has each group show their method of solving and discuss what they liked in each method and what not, what was the best way, he puts up a new problem and process starts again.
It reminds me of how much I'd love to study math pedagogy around the world--Europe, Asia, South America... For now, I have my dream. It's what I'd want to study if I ever get a chance to pursue a master's and/or doctorate.