Happy New Year!!

My calendar starts in mid to late August. This is my happy new year. Time for a new start, trying new things, changing the things I didn't like from last year. The beauty of teaching is that you can start over each year. My teaching experience had me teaching in a rural district for four years, moving to a new state, taking on a maternity leave sub job, working for two and a half years in informal science education, and finally 12 years at my current school. This puts me at about 17 years of education experience.
In every year of my formal teaching, I have hung this poster up in my classroom. I remember the student that inspired me to buy it. This student one time raised their hand in class and then holding out their calculator told me that the phone was for me and proceeded to have a conversation with the fictitious person about how I could not take the call because I was teaching. I couldn't help but laugh. This poster is for those students that surprise you and yet they don't surprise you. I could see the inspirational student doing any of the statements by Bart Simpson. This is a reminder to have a sense of humor, especially concerning those students that try you. My personal favorite is "I will stop talking about the twelve inch pianist."