When TCK's get a hold of idioms

"Fall has sprung!"

"And then, right out of the bat, ..."

"I've been trying to get him to do that all morning, but it's like pushing teeth."

Dr. Finkelbaumer

My predecessor in the Middle School social studies position basically gave me all his materials and powerpoints when he left the Middle School two years ago. One of them was this great lecture for the 6th grade on what some of the major gaps are in Evolution. Because he was still around last year, I had him come guest lecture on that day, and the kids ate it up, even though the content was at a very high level for them.

This year, he was gone, but I really wanted the kids to have this lecture and not just from me. I knew with it begin somewhat difficult material, they would zone out after 20 minutes. So, on Tuesday, I announced that we would be having a very special guest speaker on Thursday: Dr. Finkelbaumer. The class began peppering me with questions about her - what she looked like, what her first name was, if she was a Christian, etc - and they were genuinely excited to have this science Dr. come to their class.

By Thursday morning, I felt pretty guilty because truthfully there was no Dr. Finkelbaumer. As class started, they looked around frantically. "Where was she?!" I slipped into the closet to "call her," and then proceeded to make a costume change and put on some nerd glasses my friend owns. I hiked up my skirt to my chest, put on mismatched shoes, tied up my hair in a bun, and emerged as made-up Dr. Doris Finkelbaumer. I wish I had taped their reactions. Some snorted, one put his head in his hands and shook it, and the rest looked seriously disappointed while I thought, "What kind of a horrible, lying teacher am I!?"

Anyway, the basic idea for the plan worked. 90% of the class stayed with me as I lectured about Darwinian gaps and all these new evolutionary concepts, and they dutifully took their notes and asked tons of questions as we went. They did also spend the rest of the day accusing me, Ms. Custer, of impersonating the famous Dr. Finkelbaumer, and I had to defend the crazy scientific possibility that we could look so much alike! :-)

If she ever comes to class again, I'll take a picture next time.

Dorm Birthdays

Dorm subbing is a regular part of BFA life. Since the dorm parents are off every Thursday and the RA's every Monday, they need teachers and other staff to come help out and be an adult presence on those nights. In addition, each dorm parent couple and RA gets 3-4 weekends off per semester, so once again, they rely on outside adults to ensure that things run smoothly and the food makes it on the table.

Yesterday, I helped out at the Liel dorm, a high school girls dorm with 13 students. It also happened to be a girl's birthday, and Liel has an interesting tradition. :-) Watch:

Amateur Poetry

Here a couple more Biblical haikus to have emerged of late:

suff’ring’s whip yields scar

cracked spirit mockery’s tune

glory eternal

(2. Corinthians 4:17)

Gold gifts follow star

Myrrh wrapped in wisdom

Frankincense for rev’rent praise

Silver Betrayal

Injured Slave and Certain Dream

Brotherly Savior

(Joseph, or Jesus)

My Basel 7k

So, not many of you know, but I talked a whole bunch of people into signing up for a 7k in Basel this weekend. Which of course then meant I was obligated to run it, too. But we had so much fun (apart from the heat wave that took us all by surprise). I've been running every Mon-Wed-Fri with two Moms in town and have been feeling pretty good lately, so I was pretty pumped come Sunday morning. We successfully navigated our way through the industrious part of Basel, got our numbers and sent our stuff in a huge truck across town to wait for us at the finish line. Here we are still pumped up before the race.

Here we are a little more exhausted after the race. The two women on the far left were my running buddies. During our "training," our best time was somewhere between 48 and 50 minutes (we had conflicting watches), so we were shooting to definitely be better than the 50-minute mark. Somehow, the adrenaline did its thing though, and we all came in just shy of 43 minutes. Hooray for the happy feelings we had!!!
So right now I'm online looking for another race in the near future. Why is this so addicting?!

My wonderful students

Gawk. Here's reason # 3956105762032 of why I adore Middle Schoolers and the way their minds are working and growing and maturing - both good and goofy.

In 7th grade Geography, we've spent the last two days setting the context for Planet Earth. It is, after all, going to be our subject of study for the year. Part of my goal was for them to see how small Earth is compared to other planets, let alone stars and galaxies and the rest of the universe, so I showed the class part of Louie Giglio's "Indescribable" video here. In our follow-up discussion, I asked the question "What is Earth's purpose? Why did God create it if it's so small and insignificant compared to everything else?" They came up with some good answers about God giving us a place to live and wanting to show up his creativity, etc. I was still trying to prompt them into seeing that all of creation glorifies God when MC raised his hand, and I called on him.

MC: "So, maybe God created the Earth as a home for us, okay. But why did he even create us?"

Me: "Do you mean 'why did he create humans'?"

MC: "Yes, why did he waste his time with us? Especially if he knew many of us would not even believe in him?"

Whoa, 7th graders asking philosophical questions most intellectuals can't even answer. My heart skipped a few beats, and of course my mind began racing for an answer. I chickened out and turned the question back on them.

Me: "Why do you think God created humans?"

AP (timidly): "Maybe he was lonely?"

Me: "Um, ... anybody else have any ideas?"

NR: "Maybe he wanted someone to love him."

Me: "Good, keep the ideas coming?"

Sadly we didn't have enough time to fully unpack it. We did eventually end with God's glory, and I'm planning on reviving the conversation on Monday, but HOW COOL IS MY JOB?!?!?!? Where Middle Schoolers can have spiritual conversations at the drop of a hat?

Bring on the kids

As of yesterday, my classroom is pretty much ready for the start of the school year. Here's one view of the back where we've set up a "chill area" (since there's no room for an actual student center at the new campus, there are a few such couch areas around the school), and then there's a shot of the front with me and my lovely geography maps. I'm so much more relaxed this year around.