An eventful week, weekend, etc.

Hey y'all.

Well, this has been a very busy and good week for Celeste and I. When I said it was an eventful week, that simply means "the usual". Collectively, we taught over 150 students about everything from how to conjugate the verb "ir" in Spanish, to the foundational motives for American independence, to what happens to water when it reaches the surface of the earth, to the result and impact of the French and Indian War. Pretty exciting stuff, really.

In addition to all this, we watched in agony as the Henderson Rams lost their first game since 2007, dropping a very close one (20-14) to Northern Granville Middle School. While that game was a big one, it can hardly hold a candle to this week's game: Henderson vs. Eaton Johnson. Both schools are located in the city of Henderson, about a mile apart from each other. This annual battle is known as the "Cougar-Ram Classic", and is played under the lights in front of 500-1000 fans. It's kind of a big deal, and as coaches we all have matching uniforms that have our name embroidered onto them. It'll be a fun one. I'll be sure to keep y'all updated.

Moving on to the weekend, Celeste and I have really done it all. It started out Friday after school, we drove down to Durham and had dinner in their historic downtown district, which is absolutely beautiful. Anyone who comes out to visit us will learn that very quickly. After dinner we went to Durham's brand new Performing Arts Center and watched Brian Regan perform. Wow. It feels good to laugh till you cry every once in awhile, and that's exactly what happened Friday night. It probably wasn't as good as his performance in Logan, but that also could have had something to do with the fact that in Logan we were on the 3rd row; in Durham we were on the second to last row, as nosebleed as it gets. Either way it was hilarious.

After the show, we spent the night just outside of Raleigh because we woke up early Saturday morning and went to the Raleigh North Carolina LDS Temple for the very first time since moving here. It's a beautiful temple and we had a great time.


After going to the temple, we decided to tour the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As many of you know, this is our top choice for law school when we finish with Teach For America. UNC-Chapel Hill has a beautiful, welcoming campus, in the heart of a beautiful and welcoming town. We walked around campus, had lunch, then took time to tour their law school, which was very impressive on all counts.
And, while we're on the subject, I guess this is as good a time as any to let you know that I've decided to retake the LSAT (law school admission test). We've consulted God on the matter, and He seems to be highly in favor of the decision. To be honest, it's not something that I wanted to do. I didn't like the LSAT one bit, but it became clear that I needed to give it another go in order to get us into the school where we're supposed to be, wherever that is.

Well, I guess that about does it for this week. We love and miss you all (but not enough to move back). Have a great week and check back in next Sunday!

Surprise!

Hello one and all. How's the world treating you?

As for me and my house, all is well. Celeste and I just completed our 1st month of school. Only 8 more to go! Woo hoo! But seriously, this first month has just flown by, and it's hard to believe we're already entering the fall.

For those of you who noticed, I didn't post an entry last week. I apologize for that, but my good excuse is that I was visiting many of you face to face during my surprise visit to Utah for my best friend's wedding. Here are some photo highlights of the trip:


The wedding was beautiful and it was great to see so many family and friends again. However, I will say that I missed my wife, I missed North Carolina, and, strangely enough, I missed my 8th graders. Terrible as they may sometimes be, I love those kids like a tall glass of milk after a syrup-soaked waffle. I hated entrusting them to other teachers for even one day. That's why it felt so good to come home, be with my loving wife, and get back into the classroom where I reminded the kids who's boss.

Teaching is going well. Celeste and I both have our victories and defeats, depending on the day. We have our victors and our casualties, but all in all, things are going well. My students just took their first test on Wednesday. The unit covered basic geography skills, map skills, early European exploration, the Columbian Exchange, Native Americans, slavery, etc. To my delight, my students averaged a 79% on the test. That's out of 70 students, which ain't bad. I rewarded them by letting them watch part of "Amistad", a moving film that accurately shows how African slaves were brought across the Atlantic to America, and how they were brutally and inhumanely treated. It opened the eyes of my students to a world they didn't know existed...until now.

I'm getting excited because tomorrow we start talking about the Revolutionary War, and the events that led to the Declaration of Independence. Boring, I know, but for me, it's a real treat to be paid to teach history.

Celeste has been feeling a little under the weather today. Nothing serious, though. Just keep her in your prayers if you're the praying sort. We love you all.

Another week bites the dust.

Hey family and friends,

It's late on a Sunday evening, and Celeste and I are anxious to start a movie together (see, we get to celebrate tonight because we don't have school tomorrow thanks to Labor Day). But we can't start the movie until I finish this entry, so it's going to be short.

The bottom line is that all is well here in North Carolina. We just finished our second week of teaching, and have emerged relatively unscathed. We have manageable classes (for the most part), and the handful of kids that cause REAL problems get kicked out of our classes pretty quickly. The trick to being a good teacher (aside from knowing your stuff) is to just be tough, act like you own the world, and make darn sure the students know it. Raising your voice, kicking out troublemakers, making threats - all these are valuable arrows in the quiver of a successful teacher. But then you have to follow that ferocity up with some TLC - but not too much. See, cause students "don't care how much you know until they know how much you care". It's a delicate and fragile balance between passion and compassion, and that's what we're trying to find each day. So far, though, I'd say we're doing pretty well.

We are, of course, thrilled at the fact that we're in the middle of a long weekend. I remember as a student always loving the long weekends, but I never thought that my teachers loved them as much as I did - if not more. I now know that teachers LOVE long weekends, and we're taking advantage of every minute.

That about covers the week - oh, except for the fact that Celeste and I went on a date last night and found a surprisingly good Sushi restaurant in Henderson, which is the last place you'd expect to find good sushi. In any event, we're pretty stoked about our discovery.

Until next week, farewell!