First week

First week at school is now over and I'd say things went fairly well. My cooperating teacher is slowly integrating me into the classroom. TuesdayI taught my first class (using his lesson plan) and it seemed to go pretty well, although I did talk for a little too long (which I'm sure comes as a shock to those of you who know me). For the rest of this week I'll be teaching one class, then the following two weeks I'll be doing two before finally picking up the full teaching load. I must say I'm looking forward to it. It keeps you very engaged to always have to be talking or thinking about students - the day goes by pretty quickly!

There's a dress code at our school, but it doesn't always seem to be enforced. Sure, nobody wears hats and I haven't seen any "revealed undergarments" yet, but slogans on t-shirts aren't really monitored. Last week I had these two t-shirts in my homeroom (subsequent days - same kid):

That's funny - last night your daughter was calling me daddy too.
You're definitely on my to do list.

I found them funny anyhow :-)

Also, two "only in New Brunswick" moments. I have two kids in my class with the same last name. I thought maybe they were brothers or cousins or something...no...it turns out one of them is the uncle of the other one! Go figure...

Second moment - we were discussing ways to heat a home and the teacher said the most cost-effective way is still a wood stove. Then he started discussing the cost of a cord of wood. Now, I don't even know what a "cord" of wood is, let alone have any clue about its cost. But these kids knew what a cord was and knew down to the dollar the cost of a cord of wood. Local issues I guess.

Anyhow, managing to stay above water here :-)