Happy New Year – My resolution is to try to post once a week on the blog. I am bad about forming habits like posting, I often get busy or distracted.

I never did let people know the results of the job posting at the local High School. I got the job. For the rest of the school year I will teach Math 8/9, Science 8/9, and Art. I will also spend time as a substitute for the language class (teaching the local First Nations Language).

When I look  back at High School I don’t remember all that much. Time has made the memories blurry. What I do remember are the teachers who cared about me as a student and about me as a person. I remember having to host a ceremony from another culture in Comparative Civilizations (we had a Hawaiian Luau). I remember the hours at school and after poured into drama productions. I remember the stories they told and the inspiration they provided.

I don’t believe it’s a superpower but I hope that I can inspire my students like that one day. One student tells me dreams about going to University in Paris. I hope I can tell her all the things I loved about France and help her make that dream happen. I have students who want see the world and some who just need a ride to practice. Some students want more work, others more time. I hope that no matter what they feel about the subjects that I teach they look to me as someone they can seek out for help, as students and as people.

For now I work with my students to build connections that they can trust and depend on. Some days that means coming to school when there is no power so students can continue to work. Some days that means cooking meals like a Holiday Lunch. Some days that means letting then teach me; teach me the games that have made, the songs their peoples sing; how to smoke and can fish or any other number of things that I might learn from my students.

I hope that I inspire them to be the best version of themselves they can be and in turn hope they see that they inspire the same in me.