interviews

This year's parent-teacher interviews were border line fun.  It's my third year at my school, and for many families their second child through my math classroom.  For the most part they come to check in, and just to visit. However, these families have also been watching from the sidelines as I've gone through some pretty significant growth as a teacher.

The only thing I was a little apprehensive about this go round was explaining to all my gr 10 parents how and why I was planning on implementing a no marks classroom.  It was a much easier sell than anticipated.  In fact, almost all of the parents seemed to have no issue whatsoever with the idea.  There was one parent who really reassured me that this is the right thing to be doing.

"So what you're saying is that your class is going to be about learning instead of about marks?"

Exactly sir.  Exactly. 

gulp

So I just took the plunge and decided to run an almost entirely markless math class.  The kids seem into it (shhhh, don't tell them it's more work for them in the long run...) so we'll see how it goes.  It will also be a little bit of work for me to make sure I am keeping up to date in holding kids accountable (not a real strong point for me) so I guess we'll all be working.  Wish me luck!

tales of engagement

I had absolutely no idea how wonderful getting engaged would be.  I mean, I knew it would be a pretty fabulous event in the lives of H and I, but I neglected to imagine just how excited everyone else would be for us.  There was a whole lot of congratulations, hugging, screaming, and even some happy crying going on.  If you combine all that with the whole actually being engaged (!) thing, yeah, pretty awesome.

One group of people who I didn't expect to be excited or even really care was my students.  I knew some of the girls would be excited, but as a whole I just assumed my engagement would go largely unnoticed.  Boy was I wrong.

It was adorable.  My grade 10s had already heard from another teacher, and they entered class Wednesday practically dying of curiosity.  Student after student entered offering congratulations and wanting to know all about it.  Even the boys were totally interested in all the details.  They wanted to know all about H, all about our wedding/life plans (I was continually reminding them that we had just gotten engaged, and no, have not planned out the next 5 years of our life), all about colours, dresses, family, you name it.

At some point in the conversation they asked me if I was going to change my name.  I answered that yes, I was planning on changing my name (groans all around at the prospect of having to call me something different).  So of course they wanted to know what my new name would be.  I told them.  Another questions was asked, and then one boy put up his hand and very sheepishly asked

"Mme, what kind is he?"

I just about fell off my chair laughing, as did the rest of the class.  Several students admitted they were trying to think of a polite way to ask the exact same question.  After I stopped laughing we had a mini history lesson on H's family history, which concluded with another kid exclaiming in an exasperated tone,

"You guys, he's brown!"

I suggested they maybe needed to request some supplementary vocabulary from their history teacher as it's clear it's lacking...  Then I remembered who their history teacher was, and could imagine myself having this exact same conversation with him so, I suppose that explains a lot!

the terms of engagement

This past Tuesday marks an awfully special day - the day H decided to ask me to be his wife!  Of course I (quickly!) has to ask myself if I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with someone who:

• brings me supper every Thursday when I am working.
• has a mother who insists on filling our fridge with food at every available opportunity.
• makes me put my clothes away.
• plans and cooks fabulous meals several times a week.
• suggested we take ballroom dancing together.
• is wonderful to travel with.
• wants to travel.
• re-watches movies a billion times, no matter how terrible they were the first time.
• makes my lunch.
• watches all "my" tv shows with me, even the ones involving dancing.
• uses google calendar for everything - including things like picking up our dry-cleaning.
• washes the dishes at least once a day.
• likes all my friends and family.
• always gets blog posts done faster than me.
• takes care of me when I am sick.
• indulges in my need to pretend to budget.
• bought me season tickets to Persephone just a month after we started dating.
• insists on having no less than 30 bottles of wine on hand at any given time.
• has fabulous friends who have welcomed me into their circle from day 1.
• is always up for a concert, a ballet, a walk, and anything really.
• is worth getting up 20 mins early to go for breakfast with.
• listens to me blabber on and on and on and on about my job.
• supports me unconditionally.
• puts my water glass away before I'm done with it about 3 times a day.
• cracks his knuckles constantly, even when he sleeps.
• tells me he loves me before we fall asleep every night, when we wake up every morning, and multiple times a day.
• is so much more than to me than I can express in a bulleted list.

The answer of course is YES.  Yes I want to be your wife, yes I want to spend the rest of my life with you, yes this post is way to sappy.

Clear your calendars for Oct 3, 2009 folks, that's the day I will officially be a wife!