Friday, September 16, 2011

Singapore Flyer

Due to settling a friendly argument with a co-worker, I randomly discovered that September is "Teachers Fly Free" on the Singapore Flyer (basically a Ferris-wheel, or observation wheel, in the city part of Singapore).  So today I decided to organize a staff outing to ride on it after school to start our weekend, since it is free and all.  It felt really nice to get appreciated by Singapore and get to do this tourist-thing for free (saved us each $30).  The outing was a lot of fun and I got to cross off another item on my ever-growing "Things to do/see in Singapore" list.  Here are a few pictures:



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

My Job

I have been teaching for about a month now, so I suppose it is time to update you on how it is all going inside the classroom. Well, I absolutely, undoubtedly, positively, 100%, and how ever many other ways you can say it, LOVE my job.  The students and my co-workers really make all the work worth it.

Let's start with the students.  I love this age group!  6th through 8th graders are at the age were it is still ok to be silly and fun, but are developed enough to really learn.  The students themselves are all awesome, fun, and sweet kids. Yes, some of them do like to talk a bit, and some do not really like to do their work all the time, but they are all still good kids that are a joy to teach and get to know.

The faculty are another blessing and another reason that I love my job!  From my very limited experience, and from talking to my other teacher friends, most faculties at schools in the States do not really associate with each other all that much.  Aside from lunches, and faculty meetings it is likely that some will not associate at all.  That is the complete opposite here at ICS.  On the weekends and often during the weeks, different groups will have different events planned and everybody is invited to everything.  We are a big family here and that has been really nice.  Other teachers are always around to offer encouragement and support to anybody that needs it.  Especially with the Middle School here being so small, and due to the fact that we are secluded up on the fourth floor of our school, we have a pretty tight unit of teachers.

All in all, I am loving it here!