Big Week O' Fun

Big week coming up...driving to Paris to see Jimmy Buffett Saturday with our friends Mike and Nicolette. Driving back Sunday morning to hang out with Ks dad. Then I'm off to chaperone a week-long field trip to the German Alps (near a town called Oberstauffen). 50 eighth graders and six teachers in the woods going on excursions for a week. I'm pretty stoked.
THEN, upon return from the field trip, I'm hopping in the car and driving to Munich to celebrate Oktoberfest with the Bavarians and our friends Jen and Seth, who are visiting from PA.

It's gonna be a fun-filled nine days...

Some days you're the bug

Holy cow did I get a wake up call today. After 3 weeks of absolute bliss, working with polite and motivated students all day every day, lessons going smoothly, a total lack of math teaching experience not holding me back, I finally had it. My first terrible math lesson.

Now, I've had plenty of terrible social studies lessons, but while social studies is about content and concepts, math is all about skills. Every day, I introduce a skill, show an example or two, the kids do some problems to learn the skill, then they do some more for homework to practice the skill. Next day, same drill. Seems easy, right?

It's not. With three levels of students working from three different math textbooks in each class, it can get very hectic very quickly. Last week things were going smoothly. Today, it all fell apart. My sixth graders are working on sequences and introductory algebraic concepts, and I'm pretty sure I managed to undo everything they've learned in one period today. Not quite sure where it all went wrong, but suffice it to say, it doesn't look like they'll be ready for Thursday's scheduled test...oh well. Tomorrow's another day. Maybe I'll go back to being the windshield again...

Back to Reality...

and loving it.

After seven months of hiking, biking, swimming, reading, traveling and enjoying all the beauty Switzerland has to offer, I headed back to work in mid-August, as a math teacher at the International School of Zug and Luzern (www.iszl.ch). So far, so good, as my sixth and seventh graders are hard working and eager to learn (despite the photo on the right showing desks delivered on the first day of school...). More on the kids later.
A lot has happened since my last post on July 21, so here's a review:

• One of my former Tamanend students and her family visited on July 23. We had a wonderful time touring Zurich for the day, sampling chocolates, taking a boat ride, and just enjoying the sites. Easily one of the coolest experiences of my teaching career.
• On July 24, I headed back to PA for the first time since moving to Switzerland. GREAT trip. Golfed with family and friends, caught up with old TMS colleagues, had a bball team reunion at Thunderbird Lanes in Warminster, golfed some more, headed to Avalon for a few fun and relaxing beach days, caught a Phillies game, and golfed a bit more.
• After a jam-packed US trip, I arrived back in Switzerland on Sunday, August 10, just one day before starting my new job at ISZL. Snuck in a quick game of touch football Sunday night before my first day...

And since then, my life's been filled with 6th and 7th grade math, half marathon training, soccer matches, student council, and the MYP (middle years program) terminology used at my new school. Fun times.