Somewhere over the rainbow
Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me...
On Friday I saw the most incredible sunset. The sky caught fire with bright strokes of orange and magenta. Looking out at the ocean, humpback whales breached in the distance. Perhaps they were taking in the beauty just like us before their long trip back to colder waters. After the sun disappeared, the water began to glow and mirror the colors of the sky above it. It was perfection.
The sunset was just what I needed after a week of HSA testing. As a teacher, it was a pretty easy week because the kids were testing all week. But proctoring the test and seeing how my kids fared wasn't exactly a cakewalk, and it was actually pretty painful at times. I think it's pretty clear by now how I feel about standardized testing and its relationship to special education. Still, I've spent a lot of time this year trying to prepare my kids for the HSA and convince them that if they use their skills, they can do alright. But when it came to test time, I think a lot of them reverted into old habits and didn't perform as well as they could have. Still, you could tell that they had come a long way since the beginning of the year, and when the results come back this summer, we'll know exactly how they did. I'm just glad it's over. I feel kind of free now.
The sun is finally out to stay! And it's hot! On Friday we had a half day, so I cleaned up my classroom pretty quickly, headed up to the North Shore, and got some lunch with a few of the other Wheeler TFA teachers. Then we made our way out to Waimea Bay to swim and lay out under a cloudless sky. After that we went back to Waialua to catch that epic sunset.
On Saturday I woke up early to run a few errands. I got my hair cut and then finally bought an ukulele at Costco. I don't know how to play it yet, but it's a really nice one, made of koa wood and decorated with an abalone-shell border. There are only four strings on it, so I don't think it will be too tough to learn. Hopefully in not too long I'll be jamming like Braddah Iz. After that, it was getting hot and I made my way to Ali'i Beach in Haleiwa to catch some waves on my boogie board. The sun was blazing by now but the waves were perfect. I spent a lot of time out there...too much because I got a little sunburned. On the way home I still felt so hot. The salty ocean just couldn't refresh me. When I got home, I turned on the hose and just stood under it for like five minutes. It was divine.
Finally, this afternoon the rain came. It was really refreshing and I love the sound it makes on the roof of our house. That being said, I love that the heat has returned. There's nothing like a warm and sunny day up on the North Shore. It's absolute paradise.
Now it's back to the classroom for the final stretch. I just found out that I'll probably be looping up to seventh grade with my kids, so I really want these last weeks to go extremely well so that everyone is excited to pick it up again next school year. There is such a huge opportunity for these students to make so much growth in two years! I am putting together a pretty sweet unit on poetry as we speak. Hope everyone is doing well, and if you want to experience a little Hawaiian sun, tickets are pretty cheap. I'll even play you a few tunes on my ukulele. Arrivederci!
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me...
On Friday I saw the most incredible sunset. The sky caught fire with bright strokes of orange and magenta. Looking out at the ocean, humpback whales breached in the distance. Perhaps they were taking in the beauty just like us before their long trip back to colder waters. After the sun disappeared, the water began to glow and mirror the colors of the sky above it. It was perfection.The sunset was just what I needed after a week of HSA testing. As a teacher, it was a pretty easy week because the kids were testing all week. But proctoring the test and seeing how my kids fared wasn't exactly a cakewalk, and it was actually pretty painful at times. I think it's pretty clear by now how I feel about standardized testing and its relationship to special education. Still, I've spent a lot of time this year trying to prepare my kids for the HSA and convince them that if they use their skills, they can do alright. But when it came to test time, I think a lot of them reverted into old habits and didn't perform as well as they could have. Still, you could tell that they had come a long way since the beginning of the year, and when the results come back this summer, we'll know exactly how they did. I'm just glad it's over. I feel kind of free now.
The sun is finally out to stay! And it's hot! On Friday we had a half day, so I cleaned up my classroom pretty quickly, headed up to the North Shore, and got some lunch with a few of the other Wheeler TFA teachers. Then we made our way out to Waimea Bay to swim and lay out under a cloudless sky. After that we went back to Waialua to catch that epic sunset.
On Saturday I woke up early to run a few errands. I got my hair cut and then finally bought an ukulele at Costco. I don't know how to play it yet, but it's a really nice one, made of koa wood and decorated with an abalone-shell border. There are only four strings on it, so I don't think it will be too tough to learn. Hopefully in not too long I'll be jamming like Braddah Iz. After that, it was getting hot and I made my way to Ali'i Beach in Haleiwa to catch some waves on my boogie board. The sun was blazing by now but the waves were perfect. I spent a lot of time out there...too much because I got a little sunburned. On the way home I still felt so hot. The salty ocean just couldn't refresh me. When I got home, I turned on the hose and just stood under it for like five minutes. It was divine.
Finally, this afternoon the rain came. It was really refreshing and I love the sound it makes on the roof of our house. That being said, I love that the heat has returned. There's nothing like a warm and sunny day up on the North Shore. It's absolute paradise.
Now it's back to the classroom for the final stretch. I just found out that I'll probably be looping up to seventh grade with my kids, so I really want these last weeks to go extremely well so that everyone is excited to pick it up again next school year. There is such a huge opportunity for these students to make so much growth in two years! I am putting together a pretty sweet unit on poetry as we speak. Hope everyone is doing well, and if you want to experience a little Hawaiian sun, tickets are pretty cheap. I'll even play you a few tunes on my ukulele. Arrivederci!
posted by Daniel T at 10:17 PM
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