Wrapping up 08-09

One of my favorite things at Woodstock is the Baccalaureate service each year. This year I was able to attend all the graduation events that I wanted to go to including, the senior recital, baccalaureate and graduation services.


I am sure I'll never forget my first year of teaching, and walking into my first period class that first day: a group of 25 tenth graders, only six of whom were girls, and most of the boys towered above my head. I felt young, naive, and like I had no idea what I was doing. The textbooks hadn't arrived yet and I had never taught French before, so I had no clue where to begin. I still don't know how I got through those days, weeks, months... The students were sometimes angry with all the work I made them do and they didn't appreciate how I dealt with cheating- it was a rough year. However, by the end of that year, several of them expressed an appreciation for learning something in my class, and some even begged me to teach them French 2. My efforts seemed appreciated. Those students had a big impact on me. I enjoyed their class and appreciated their comraderie as a group. I learned a lot through their questions and the ways they challenged me. Those same students were seniors this year and since that first year of teaching, I have been able to get to know more of their class through outside activities. It was a joy to watch them graduate this year and I will miss them.


I took a lot of pictures of the Baccalaureate service especially, because I think it's so neat to see all the students dressed up in their own cultural outfits. It is such a colorful, beautiful ceremony.

Here is the Woodstock graduating class of 2009:

Below are some pictures of our final staff banquet yesterday.