I'm well into my 5th year teaching. As expected, teaching has gotten easier but holy hell, the students are different. I have some difficult classes, notably my form 4, 5 and lower 6 classes. I've been teaching long enough that I had some of the L6 students back when they were in Form 3 and since then it's been a challenge. I love technology, I really do, but it seems that as the students are more ingrained with it, the less they think. Computers and other devices are supposed to make DOING easier, but THINKING seems to have taken a backseat so they don't even know what to do! Critical thinking is more important than ever.
I'm thinking of holding a workshop in January to sort out some of the issues because our exam results will wow us, and not in a good way.
I'm at the end of my 3rd semester at Johns Hopkins. This course was not bad at all - the lecturer was more engaging in the discussions and she graded everything in a timely manner. There was a group project, and I worked with a really good student and a really useless one. The experience doesn't make my dread on hearing 'Group Project' ebb at all.
This is the last week of the course and I am hoping to rack up enough points to secure another A+. These courses are not difficult (yet) so I'll take the A+ when I can confidently and comfortably earn them.
I've moved! I'm finally out of the parental unit's house. There are very few people in Trinidad who leave home, to be honest. Kedar bought a house last year and renovations have been ongoing to make it ours. It's crazy difficult to get good contractors to do ANYTHING in a TIMELY manner, OMG. We got our appliances delivered this week (before the companies call us to ask is WTF with the stuff we paid for ages ago) and lo and behold, the fridge is too big. Some maneuvering and re-designing of the cabinets should fix this (I hope).
In the meantime, we are sharing his room at his parents' place which is actually down the hill from ours. While his family is nice and non-prying, I'm ready for our own space. I just wish it was ready for us. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we are out of here and in there before Christmas.
I turned 30! The backaches from sitting hunched by the computer remind me that I'm not 18 anymore and dancing around won't pop the pain away. I also have a host of health issues that I don't think are related to my age (acid reflux, a chronic hoarse voice that I'm getting checked next week if it doesn't go away after school closes tomorrow and I don't have to *project* my voice).
As for my 30th, Kedar and I went to Fort Myers for the weekend. My birthday is September 24th and is a public holiday in Trinidad, so I took the Friday off and we went away from Thursday till Sunday. It was quite lovely. I might post pictures next week if I remember. We visited the historic town, went to a Slough and shopped. It was nice.
The most interesting thing that happened since my last post - Kedar and I got married! It only took 12 years and all my youth, but we made it before our 30th birthdays. I'm obviously fishing for optimism there.
We chose the Waterville Estate in Santa Cruz as our venue for the ceremony and reception. I got dressed in the Hilton Hotel. Kedar's family did the decorations, mine did the favours and we hired Annemarie Akeung for the catering and Studio 19 for the photography. EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT... except the Pastor's speech but the Imam made up for it.
I will post more on this another time (with pictures).
Sigh... I think this is enough writing for today.
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