In a week or so, I will have had my last holiday as a student. I realise that this will only be followed with many holidays as a teacher, but let's not spoil the moment here. It was an eventful holiday, really. Claire and I got to live through a cyclone, went to Singapore for a couple of weeks, and I completed Red Alert 3 twice. We also got to spend good time with family and friends, which is the most important thing.
At the start of the year, I decided to make a reading list for myself, and pulled out the following books from my shelf. The aim was to finish the pile before school starts. Well, I've less than a week to go, and I've only read 3 of those. But it's still been good. I'll see how long I take to finish all 10.
It only just occurred to me too that I haven't actually announced on my blog that I got a teaching job for this year, let alone what school it is. And it's no secret, obviously, because I'm bound to blog about it in the years to come. The school happens to be...
Which, I may add, is a fantastic school ;p From what I've heard and seen, it looks like a really supporting and caring environment, which will be a great place for me to begin my teaching career. And I'm gonna really love teaching in a Christian school, where talking (or even thinking) about God isn't a crime. I was open to working in non-Christian schools too, of course, but things turned out the way they were meant to.
I can't wait to begin! I'll be teaching science to grade 7s, 8s and 9s this year, which will be a fairly new experience, but one that I'm excited about. I also have year 7 and 9 sport, which will be interesting.
It's funny, writing this post on this date, wondering whether any of my to-be students will find my blog and read these words sometime in the future. Based on previous experience, I am fairly certain that this blog will be found, but that doesn't really bother me. Gone are the days when teachers could choose to be two-dimensional characters, with the majority of their lives hidden from their curious students.
I am happy to be transparent with my students. It's not merely a personal preference, but something I think that will enhance my teaching. My students needs to know that I am a real person, who goes through ups and downs in life and thinks and does the same
useless things they do. A person who too was once a student, and spent a lot of time wondering what to do with his life, because he wanted it to count for something. A person who has people he loves and hobbies he enjoys and a Saviour in whose footsteps he tries to walk each day, even though he doesn't always succeed.
Of course that's not to say that there's nothing that should be kept private. But regular readers of my blog know that I don't use it to air rude and private rants and thoughts. It would be totally contrary to my purposes for beginning this blog anyway.
Anyhow, that's where I'm at, right now. At the brink of becoming a real teacher. It's pretty scary, but I have no regrets whatsoever in going down this path. And I have a feeling that this year will only confirm that even more.
