To Put it in Perspective... The First 3 Days

I've made it through the first three student days at Eagle River, and I'm not planning on tucking and running quite yet. It was nice to finally see students because it lent some purpose to all the preparatory work I was scrambling to do the last four weeks, which is still no where near done.

I am starting to form a little bit better definition of the destination, but I've still got to take the journey. That's an equivocal way of saying I need to finish finding resources and write my final AP syllabus for this year so the college board can hopefully approve it.

On another note, it is eye opening to be in a school with diversity. As I was standing in front of my third period freshmen group I asked, "How many of you are from Alaska and have been raised here?" Only three of the twenty-six students raised their hands! Similarly, when we had a group of sixty students together for block instruction, we asked, "How many of you have lived in another country?" More than half of the students sitting there on the floor raised their hands. I quickly realized military kids, these from Fort Richardson parent/s, have been a few places and seen a few more things than a typical fourteen year old. I can tell it's hard on them to leave a place when they've made connections and they're aware that it might happen again, this on top of their parents coming and going to Iraq and Afghanistan.

So...I'll once again hop on Rocinante's back, taking to the glistening road to ride into the misty mountains to teach a full week next week, fully aware it leads to a three day weekend.