5 Things I Loved About Last Week 10/20/2013

Several weeks ago, Mr. Colby Sharp began a weekly tradition of posting 5 things he loved about the previous week. I don’t know if he started this or got it from someone else, but he is where I first found it. I love the idea. I’m joining in.

1. It’s Official!

If you read my last blog post, you know that I’ve been a bit in limbo as far as my teaching career is concerned. Well, Monday night, the Hale Area School Board approved my hiring as a middle school and high school math teacher. I am employed! Go Hale Eagles!

2. It’s Official, Part Two!

This one is a bit more personal. My girlfriend — whom I’ve been dating for a while now — and I decided to make our relationship “Facebook official.” That’s apparently a big deal. I don’t really get why that makes it big, but regardless, it makes me happy when I open up Facebook and see her name and mine linked 🙂

3. Good Friends

I have been very fortunate, as I began working in Hale, to have friends about half an hour away who opened their house to me and gave me a place to stay. I don’t know if I could have taken the job without their assistance, so that has been invaluable to me. A big thanks to them (and their cats)!

4. New Place

On that note, though, I did find a place to live that provides me with the ability to live within driving distance of my job. I am very glad this was available, and that it worked out for me.

5. Students

I said in my last post that I am a teacher. However, what is a teacher without students? It’d be like a speaker with no audience or a book with no readers. But I have students once again. And I feel at home with them, as I always do. Best moment of the week:

On Friday, I took some time to introduce myself more in-depth than I had on day one. I told the students I would make readers out of them (mind you, I’m telling this to a math class). Their reaction was one of disbelief. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, students! Later in the conversation, as the students were beginning to piece together the type of person I am, a student asked “Are you a nerd?” The way she phrased it was not as an insult, but more of a “hey, a nerd is a thing some people are. Is that you?” I responded by reading to them the following John Green quote:

“Saying ‘I notice you’re a nerd’ is like saying, ‘Hey, I notice that you’d rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you’d rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsay Lohan. Why is that?’ In fact, it seems to me that most contemporary insults are pretty lame. Even ‘lame’ is kind of lame. Saying ‘You’re lame’ is like saying ‘You walk with a limp.’ Yeah, whatever, so does 50 Cent, and he’s done all right for himself.”

I then said “I am a nerd, and I’m proud of it.” A few of the students actually applauded. I think it’s going to be a good year 🙂

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