Student(s) crying on the last day of school 2016

This year went by awfully fast. Like I mentioned many times before, it's hard to believe that today is the last day with students.

Unlike previous years, I kept my students inside for the most part (my Science classes mostly) and had them watch The Martian. My rationale was due to utter chaos that typically takes place on the last day since most students think that since exams are over, they have free reign to do whatever they want. (Reminds me of one of my students shoving himself into a locker to go on his iPod. Good thing he was found quickly...). During lunch time, I versed a student in both the card game Speed and Chess. Apparently, I blew their minds in terms of my crappy shuffling skills and slow speed, but I guess their still young, being that they're just in grade 8. As for chess, it was a close game, but I managed to squeak out a checkmate after I successfully managed to trap my student.

As of course, a lot of students had mutinous looks on their faces as I told them we weren't going outside, or that they had to stay in my room to watch a film. I guess it was a sigh of relief for them, because yesterday we were watching Planet Earth documentaries. Also, fortunately, The Martian had enough humour to keep them entertained for an hour and 28 minutes (for I had my science classes for the double today).

Throughout the day, I had students, both present and past, come say their farewells for the summer. What struck me the most were two of my previous students, in my homeroom, that came to see me after the last bell rang for the 2015-2016 year.

These two students of mine were relatively good students. They weren't the strongest academically, but marks don't equate to intelligence. I taught them both grade 8 math, and they improved a fair bit as the year went by. After speaking for a bit, and wishing them well in the future, one of them started to break down into tears, with the other one about to follow suit. They left at that point, which had me feeling proud for both them and myself.

Not to brag or anything (okay, maybe I am), but I believe I had a fair amount of students come up to me and tell me that they're glad that I was their teacher, or that I'm the best teacher they ever had. Most of the time, I'm wary of what they have to say, for I'm certain that some are sucking up for marks. But for these two students, I have a hunch that they were genuine in their feelings. If I'm able to make a difference in a student's life, I feel like I'm doing my job. =)

But to get off my high horse, I have much to improve on. In the next couple of days, I'll write my experiences as a third year teacher.

So much bragging in one post!

Gifts I got today! 

The Power of Grease

Friday night = burger night. I normally try not to eat fast food burgers often due to the high caloric count, but it has been a while since I last went. I splurged and got myself an extremely calorie dense meal. A bacon cheeseburger and large fries add up to around 2200 calories if I remember correctly, and this was just one meal.

It seemed like all that grease was useful for squatting on Saturday. I managed to do two plate squat without too much difficulty. (The last time I did two plate squats was early February before I injured myself). Not my smartest workout, but I nearly had a 90 minute squat session that day since it was relatively quiet.

As for today... last day of karate. Went by like a normal last day: marching for the white and green belts. For next year though, I think we're going to eliminate it since most students don't find it interesting.

But alas, back to dieting I go starting tomorrow. It's been a pleasant couple of months to eat whatever I want. Fortunately, I haven't pack on too much weight (from what my scale tells me). I don't think I'll need to starve myself like how I did last year, though I really should look up programs...

One hour and six minutes ~Father's Day 2016~

That's the amount of time it took for me to wash my car today. Actually washing the car took the least amount of time, while drying took a lot longer.

I used to never dry my car, but I just started to since I was tired of seeing water spots. Drying took about 30 minutes, while the other 30 minutes was dedicated to applying wax detailer. I dried my car at the car wash lot, but went home to detail since the sky was looking ominous. I didn't want my hard work to be wasted away by rain!

What led to today's car wash was the final exam I was writing over the past two days. It took less time than the alternative final exam I written a couple weeks back, yet it was still tedious. Writing the exam though prevented me from taking a long nap... so I guess that's a plus!

My apologies for the weird chronological order, but this morning marked the last karate exam for the year. Typical results, with very few skips this time around if I'm not mistaken.

And now, onto the last full week of school! I think I can survive...

I think...

Oh Father's Day... I normally purchase sushi for my dad, which happened again this year. I was too lazy to pick it up, so I had it delivered via skipthedish.

And that's it for today!

I failed...

For the past couple of weeks, I've been taking naps during Sunday afternoon lulls. They normally commence from around 2:30 to 4:30. Today, I made a mental pledge to stay awake so I can continue being productive.

I was doing really well today by keeping myself busy making quizzes for my students. Four o'clock came around and I decided to take a break. It was a bad choice to lay down on my bed, for I soon fell asleep...

Besides that, my week went by amazingly fast. Once again, it reminds me of what needs to be done before the school year ends... I should get started on those student portfolios.

Yesterday, I installed some minor light modification to my car and added window visors. The rear fog light didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it was a pain in the butt to install at times. Also, I was looking off a guide on YouTube through my cellular data, which in retrospect, wasn't the brighest idea on my part. Each time my phone turned off, it had to reload/buffer the video. All in all, I went over my 2 GB limit by burning through 750 mb in 30 minutes!

Lesson learned I hope.

Onto the last couple weeks of school!

Awe, I was mentioned in the Historian's speech during Grad tonight! =)

Perhaps my longest title for a blog post, but a key point for today's blog post!

I actually managed to get up early today, making it a pleasant experience to work out at the Genesis Centre. I was in the cage for nearly 90 minutes squatting, and nobody came up to ask how many sets I had left! (Well there was this one guy who just took the cage when I was standing off to the side. After making himself comfortable, I went up to him and told him I was still using it. He left soon after. =P)

After my workout, I went to get my car cleaned with a friend. It's a bit different now, since I started (as of today) to dry my car after washing it. It nearly took 30 minutes, and it didn't help that the brake dust sticks to my wheels like gum on pants...

Once my car was clean and dry, it was off to a quick bowl of pho before going home to get ready for the grade 9 grad at a hotel/inn near my house.

Unlike last year, there were a lot more students (or seemed to be a lot more students) at graduation this year. This marked the second batch of students that I have personally taught, which brought a slight tear to my eye. I've seen them grow since grade 7 (during my first year at my current school), and it's nice to see how some of them matured over the past two years! The valedictorian was well chosen, and had a nice speech. The Historians (two of them) presented next, marking memories throughout the year. Like last year, they would mark significant events and mention their memories with their grade 9 teachers.

Despite not teaching a grade 9 core class, they mentioned their memories with me in the previous year of how I would tell them stories and my "stoic" expressions when I got angry. They didn't know whether or not I was actually mad (I never knew that I was good at masking my face) and inquired about my love life. I actually chuckled out loud, since it was touching. It also probably helped that the two Historians were students from my homeroom last year! Nevertheless, it wasn't something that I was expecting, but I'm grateful for learning the "human side" of teaching from my last practicum teacher. She was absolutely 100% correct in teaching me that it's important to build a rapport with students by sharing my own personal experiences.

I didn't stay too long for graduation because I unfortunately have to prepare a final exam for my students. 100 questions, with only 20 questions written so far... and two versions to write since some students have to write a deferred exam. Oh well, it should help for next year!

And that's it for today! Just three weeks and three days to go!

Two events down with one more to go

Last month of school! This week, so far, has been full of events. Monday was the Athletic Banquet. It was a pleasant event with a nice inspirational video of a runner in the States with multiple sclerosis.

Today was Awards Night. Unlike the last two years, today went by very quickly. We managed to get through all the awards in a little over an hour!

Just one more to go now: Grade 9 Grad on Saturday. It'll be my second batch of students to graduate this Saturday.

Time moves by quickly, though sometimes too quickly. It's hard to believe that school year is almost over.

And time to catch up on rest! I'm pretty exhausted from all this week's festivities.