On Vacation

It has been quite some time since I last posted anything. I am on vacation in the States now and it has been a good one. All of my life vacation was connected to school with me as a student. I had vacations in Korea but they were so short and the work wasn't nearly as hard. This year, this year was such a challenging year that for the first time in my life I feel like a totally deserved this break. I earned it in so many ways and I remind myself of it sometimes when I am starting to feel bad about insisting on certain food or visiting certain people. I earned this vacation. My brain needed a real rest and respite from the mental overload of the past 10 months.

All of that being said, I can really look back on this past year teaching with a new appreciation. I see now how it served to strengthen my character and open my eyes to some unhealthy habits and thought processes. I have had to remind myself that the career path I have chosen is intimately entwined with service to humanity. Being of service to others means to adopt a position of humble learning, willingness to change, work generated by love with focus on the higher reason for the work I do.

Second and Third semesters flew by. I didn't start doing centers again until Third semester. I think I got too wrapped up in the small parts that the bigger picture escaped my vision. I was not able to divide student work into leveled folders, although I have prepared leveled work. I still struggle with instructional time management and I was not as creative as I wanted to be.

The last 3 weeks after the students stopped coming, I did a lot of prep work for Fall semester. I was able to streamline somethings and prepare some new activities for centers and for Fast Finishers.

Although I am excited about the up coming school year, this vacation has opened up many possibilities. My husband was not able to find work while we were there and this was a real hardship for him. We are looking at him coming back early and as a result, I have re-activated my profile on some job sites for SC and NC. I have spent hours in a coffee shop here in Boone where we are visiting his brother and wife, working on populating these websites. I have to remind myself that I have a job and if I don't get an offer before I leave or before school starts, that is fine. I will just keep them updated as the year progresses. So there is a definite possibility that I will be alone in Abu Dhabi for some time.

I am excited by what the future holds for me. I will write in a separate post about what I am working towards in me head that I think will begin to really come out into the world this year.

Back to VACATION!!!!