My word

If you've read the book Eat, pray, love, you'll know that the main character - Liz - discovers her 'word'. Since I read that, I have been thinking about my word. I have decided that my word is apple. May sound boring, and I'm sure not many people would choose a noun, but let me tell you why. An apple is ordinary, and I think I'm a pretty ordinary girl. It is also sweet, comforting, healthy; all adjectives I hope you agree would describe me. We cannot forget the teaching connotation. Perfect fit. And finally, last but not least, the sexy 'forbidden fruit' metaphor. Well, believe it or not, I'm pretty sexy. And I'm a forbidden fruit for anyone who isn't my husband.

I know it's hard to believe I'm sexy judging by this picture... but trust me.

On a side note, an interesting teaching moment happened today (almost all day actually) because a huge weeping willow (the tree) was cut down right outside my classroom. A huge branch of the tree fell down last week during a thunderstorm, and when the city went to check the tree, they noticed the whole inside of the tree was rotten and sick. My very thoughtful principal (I've had really good luck with great principals so far in my teaching career) came by my classroom a few days ago to explain to the children that the tree had to be cut down because it was sick and that this would cause a lot of noise. Well I don't think the students quite realized what 'cutting down the tree' meant, since when the tree-cutter men arrived today, my students started screaming 'DONT CUT DOWN THE TREE!!!!' I explained to them that the tree was sick and that the principal had stopped by to warn us this would happen, but they still didn't quite get it. Then a student raised his hand with the best metaphor ever! "Miss" he said, "it's like a cavity." Of course! That explanation went over very well with all of the students. They understood that a cavity was a tooth that was rotten inside and that it had to be pulled out, therefore they understood that the tree had to be cut down. Still, it was very sad and very distracting. I realized at some point that I could have just pulled down the shades, but what fun is that? And seriously, it was the first time I ever saw a tree being cut down and it was exciting and interesting for me too!