Baby Seal

Seal Pup II

Deer

Frog

Witches Cave

The gorgeous and creepy green lichen on the trees above was a treat to find. Nature at her most Hallowe’eny.

New Lens!

Lens of Glory!

And a few first snapshots with this hallowed behemoth (the sucker weighs a billion pounds):

Sea Star

Sea Spray

Bird

A few snapshots from the garden.

Preying Mantis

Kyna's Birdhouse

Kyna's Bird Home

Passion Flower

kangaroo Paw

What? You say I didn’t post at all? But.. I didn’t have a moment where I wasn’t working! I must have posted! I mean, keeping forty-five 15 year old’s busy for a year can’t be that much work!

Oh wait.

Yes it can.

The truth is, I worked harder for my humble teacher salary this year than my husband who runs a biotech company. His cooing noises and “It’s so cute!” comments when my direct deposit hits our account every month are a little disconcerting.

I totally apologize to any first year teacher out there who was hoping that we could go through this together – and to those who are not first year teachers, but just wanted a laugh at my expense. The irony of the situation is that I think there is no other way to get through the first year except to just hang on. If you make it through the year still breathing, still smiling inwardly at the crazy things that come out of teenagers brains, and still amazed at what they can achieve, then I think you may just have the strength, the stamina, nay, the SUPERPOWERS to be a teacher.

And no one can go through it but you.

I’ve also had a revelation about the content of this site. While the past year was full of people, personalities and drama of every kind, I can’t in good conscience write about it because the best stories are also about real people. People I care about, and who I would have to get signed releases from, which would be a hassle. Which leaves me with the option of writing about lesson plans, projects and teaching philosophies which, while stimulating to many, are not what I want to spend my nanosecond of spare time on. So this site will be for my photography, my travels, clean publicly-acceptable job-sustaining musings, and occasionally a really great teaching story if there is something to celebrate (like girls not being horridly scarred for life).

And there are a few things I want to celebrate right now;  the kid’s Sangaku puzzles, their gas law projects, their first and their final chemistry projects.

For the Sangaku project, students selected an image from an old black and white photograph from the 1930’s – 1960 and then altered it in Photoshop. Next they had to use three or more geometric principles to construct a puzzle and superimpose it on their image. Here are a few of the finished products:

Carolyn's Sangaku

Kristin's Sangaku

Henry's Sangaku

Cameron's Sangaku

For the gas law project, the kids researched a particular law then set up a station for the rest of the class to try. They created posters with explanations and the experimental procedure.

Collapsing Can Demonstration

Collapsing Can Demonstration

For their final chemistry project, students were required to research a real life chemistry example, such as ocean acidification, adhesives, bioluminescence etc.. contact a professional and produce an experiment or demonstration. The kids did an amazing job, creating videos, experiments, attending university lectures and talking to university or industry professionals. I’ll post more details on my project portfolio page in a few days.

And finally, just for fun, we did our own demonstrations of all the chemistry teacher’s favorite class demos and posted them on YouTube. It was our (my) first activity and some know their chemistry better than others. The first one up is gunpowder. It produced SO MUCH smoke that I almost contacted our school director because the sprinklers DIDN’T go off.  I was worried that there must be something wrong with the sprinkler system and in a real fire we’d all die. Since our walls are glass, passing students watched as lightning fast, I leaped tall desks and vast swaths of students to pry open the outside windows. Don’t worry,  I learned from my mistake. We did the thermite demonstration outside.

(I’m joking. We were always going to do the thermite outside. Parents of my prospective students, please believe the safety of your children is my number one priority. No, really.)

And one last accomplishment. I wrote the first draft of a screenplay for my brother. I know right? Teaching gives you SUPERPOWERS!

It needs some major work however,… good thing it’s summer.

I.N.S.A.N.E.

The work load is I.N.S.A.N.I.T.Y.

However, on the upside I have a fantastic bunch of kids, and I mean really, really fantastic kids, and I can see how next summer I might, just maybe, look back and think ‘Hey, y’know? I think I actually DID have some fun! Maybe that one day – that first Saturday of Christmas break – that day was not so work-like, and if I squint and think back real hard I think it might have been kinda fun. At the time.’

Anyway, my advisory (a group of students that I am supposed to get to know really well)  has chosen to represent Sealand during the upcoming Advisory Olympics.

What is the Advisory Olympics you ask? Well, this year we banned the ‘Cucumber Pass’ event. Last year’s participants had to put a cucumber between their legs and then pass it to a team member, who, you guessed it, had to accept it with their thighs.

Despite the raging popularity of this event, Olympic Officials have deemed it unwise given the impending Swine Flu epidemic.

Anyway, you get the general idea.

Here are our T-shirt designs:

My Advisory's chosen Olympic Nation

So without further ado, my first modern day Sangaku! If I haven’t made any gross errors (which is entirely likely) requiring me to take it down and fix it, I’ll post the answer to it in a week or so. Feel free to try it! (Unfortunately at this point it does require a calculator at the end unless you’re a wiz with non standard unit circle trig identities – over the next few weeks I’m going to try to alter it so no calculator is necessary.)

Angles of Grace

Above: one of the many old farm houses dotted throughout the fields of the Luberon Valley.

A group of young horses were skittish before a small rain squall.

Above: the view out of our living room window.

Above: the church in central Apt. I believe it is Ste. Anne’s Cathedral.

Above: our afternoon activity station.

Above: a gloriously blue bench.

]]> http://www.sharrock.net/?feed=rss2&p=82 0 http://www.sharrock.net/?p=58 http://www.sharrock.net/?p=58#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:04:47 +0000 admin http://www.sharrock.net/?p=58 Even though we’re now in Apt, Provence, I’ve finally figured out how to get larger photos to display on this site and have a few favorite images from Barcelona and Cadaques I’d like to share. Click on pictures below for a larger view.

Our Apartment in Barcelona

This is a shot from the apartment we stayed at in Barcelona. The ceilings were wonderfully high, interesting nooks and crannies were hidden behind every door and it had a central meditation room. I wish American architecture was a few  hundred years older.

Barcelona Kitty

Barcelona and I had a lot in common, including our respect for the wonderous feline genus.

Casa Mila

One of the most notable historical figures from Barcelona was Antoni Gaudí, a noted architect of the Art Nouveau movement. Above is one of the ornate balconies of the Casa Milà, a private commission from 1906 -1910. The final building of Gaudi’s legacy, the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, is still under construction, even though Gaudi himself died a pauper in 1926.

Graffitti

This was one of my favorite things in Barcelona. I haven’t the foggiest idea who he is, but he seeps character.

Owl

This amazing owl, much like a really fantastic cake topper, was a block away from our apartment. A fabulous landmark to be sure.

Cadaqués, Spain

On the way up the Mediterranean coast on route to Provence we came across this stunningly gorgeous village. Of course it was chock full of tourists, but still, worth a picture.

Cadaqués Boat

Tomorrow Provence pictures!