What do you learn in an American school?

One thing I've been amazed by the past two years is the number of things I've had to 'teach' that I never expected. It has made me realize that there's a lot of things you just learn without realizing it and since it's the first time in school for most of my kids...they've had no need for this stuff before. Here are the most amusing / strange things I remember.

• When the bell rings at the end of a class it means you leave
• It also means that you should walk to your next class and that you're expected to be there in a certain amount of time
  
• You don't go home for lunch in the middle of the day
  
• How to use a pencil sharpener (both manual and mechanic)
• How to click mechanical pencils to get more lead
• Mechanical pencils are actually refillable too!
• The end of the pencil has an eraser
  
• But no matter how hard you try, you can't erase regular pen ink
• And also, not all markers are dry-erase either...
• Oh, and dry erase markers only erase on dry-erase boards
  
• How to use three-ring binders and three prong folders
• How to use a stapler and hole-punch
  
• How to open and use a lock (wow new immigrant students really struggle with this at first!)
• How to hold and use scissors
  
• How to open the glue bottle
• Oops, I should have also taught how to use only a little glue
• How to CLOSE the glue bottle
• Appropriate classroom behaviors-asking permission, raising your hand, not talking over the teacher...
  
• And finally, thank you for your enthusiasm but there is no need to stand on your desk to introduce yourself. I understand that you just want everyone to be able to see you, but we can see you just fine from the ground
  

It's official

And no, it's not official that we're having a baby. Since once you're married close to a year everybody and their brother starts asking about kids.

It is official that Michael and I will be leaving our jobs at Lee High School for a new adventure this August. I've known since around January but delayed posting about it because our families, school Principal, staff, and students needed to be informed first.

Lee HS has been an amazing experience for each of us. Plenty of tears, laughter, frustrations and celebrations of success and growth; I have learned so much in two short years. I've had the opportunity to work with an amazing population of students and develop a curriculum that I haven't found existed anywhere else for preliterate students. If I knew how to market it, I probably would. Lee has stretched me in ways I didn't know I could be stretched, and it has really been an honor to teach there for 2 years.


But, Michael and I have decided that it's time to move on to our next adventure, because sometimes no matter how hard it is, you know you have to move on...
It really couldn't be at a better time either. Our school is continually in limbo and it's been so nice to know 100% what we're doing this next year. Leaving our students is going to be SO hard, but we're both so excited for what's about to come next!

Starting this August we will be attending a Missionary Training School through Global Frontier Missions. We met with the leaders on Saturday and we could hardly contain our excitement afterward. This is the same organization I went to Mexico with June-August 2007 (see blog archives) and it was such a life changing experience spiritually and personally. We can't wait to see what God has in store.

So for the remainder of this school year I'm going to try to dedicate this blog to sharing stories about my students. After that, it will mostly be used to share our experiences with Global Frontier Missions. So with that, I'll leave you with a picture of my kids, minus two absent. I teach these kiddos English for 3.5 hours every day and Michael teaches them math for 1.5 hours. I feel like they really are our kids.