welcome to another school year!

Today was the first day of the 2010-2011 school year! As early as 8:30 am the relative humidity was at 94%, so I started the day off feeling super sick. BFA is very different from any school I've ever attended, and I'd wager that the same goes for most of you reading this. So, here's what the first day of school looks like at BFA.

Everyone in the whole school converged on the Kandern campus for the Opening Ceremonies. Students, teachers, support staff, residence life, and parents filled up the auditorium. The teachers and residence life staff marched into the auditorium--similar to a commencement ceremony--followed by the Parade of Nations--seniors carrying flags from all the countries represented at BFA this year. The new director, Phil Peters, rappeled down to the stage from the rafters to welcome everyone to the new school year. A charge was read to the Senior Class, the faculty and staff, and the Residence Life Staff, and then the roll was called for each country represented at BFA. Even though this is only my second year here, the Opening Ceremonies is one of my favorite times of year.

Teachers lined up before the ceremony

The Parade of Nations

Phil Peters rappeling from the rafters!

BFA's new interim director, Phil Peters

Following the Opening Ceremonies students said goodbye to their parents, the elementary students boarded a bus for Sitzenkirch, and the remaining students went to either the middle school or high school assembly. At the middle school assembly Miss Steele introduced all the teachers and went over important things for the students to know about life in the middle school.

Students say goodbye to their parents

Miss Steele welcomes the middle schoolers

After the assembly, students checked out their textbooks from the library and then had their pictures taken for school IDs. Then, it was lunchtime!

After lunch, middle schoolers went to their homerooms for an hour and a half. I am a homeroom teacher again this year, so I had the lovely task of assigning mailboxes, locks and lockers, going over the class schedules, collecting tissue boxes, selling planners, and all the other housekeeping tasks necessary to begin the school year. This whole process took about 45 minutes, so we spent the remaining time playing games to learn each others' names and doing Mad Libs.

My classroom as seen from the back

From homeroom the students went to advisory for 20 minutes. Advisory is a 15-minute block of time when the students work on life skills and general skills needed for all their classes but not necessarily taught during classtime. This includes things like note-taking, problem solving, listening skills, how to skim/summarize a paragraph, communication skills, time management, conflict resolution, and many more. This year I will be working primarily with the 8th grade for advisory, so I took today to introduce the new students to advisory and explain the purpose and what it's all about.

My classroom as seen from the front

During the last hour of the day, the students went through the "mock schedule" -- in less than an hour they visited all seven classes! Students had 8 minutes in each class with 5 minutes in between in order to orient them to where they needed to go and prevent students from being totally lost tomorrow when we actually have a full day of classes. And then, just like that, it was time to go home.

"Shine like stars" - Philippians 2:14-16

This year I will be teaching the same classes as last year: 6th grade math, 7th grade life science, and 8th grade earth science. I will also have 6th grade study hall this year as well as 8th grade homeroom. Because I have an 8th grade homeroom and will be working with 8th graders in advisory this year, I am what's called an 8th grade sponsor. When the 8th graders plan class events and parties, I will be a chaperone and help out, and in the spring I will get to travel once again to Lugano for Experiental Learning Week!

I'm SO excited for the opportunities this year holds. Seeing my former students move up to high school is bittersweet, but I love that they're growing up and maturing into beautiful young people. And yeah, I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear when a bunch of former students (now freshmen) cheered my name as I paraded past them during the Opening Ceremonies. I love them so much!! On the other end, it's been so refreshing to see the bright-eyed new sixth graders gazing in awe at everything. They have a million bazillion questions about everything and are so afraid that they'll do something wrong or be embarassed in front of their classmates. SO precious!!

Middle school teachers hard at work! :)

My good friend and fellow middle school teacher, Katrina. She hit 100% support on Wednesday, boarded a plan on Thursday, and arrived in Germany on Friday--four days ago! You should read her blog.

Thank you SO MUCH for helping me answer God's call, which has brought me to Germany and BFA. I am so so so so so excited to share with you what He does this year. Let the fun begin!!