Thanksgiving Break 2012

Thanksgiving Break

For Thanksgiving Break Caleb, Amy and Enoch traveled from Gifu to Tokyo to spend the long weekend with us. It was a great time of family fellowship and good food. Among other things I was able to do:

• Playing Pinochle, Euchre and Boggle
• Walk along river
• Take an afternoon nap!
• Basketball with 3 CAJ students and Caleb
• Some lesson planning for my lessons on the spiritual disciplines of submission and confession
• Go to おふろの王様 with Caleb and there was an earthquake while we were there!
• Ordered Chinese food from 押川さんand enjoyed watching the Bill Cosby show and Gomer Pyle episodes.
• Reading 1 Thessalonians

Top 10 Teaching Tips!

1. Color-code your handouts
• Green: Syllabi/expectations/rubrics
• Yellow: Quizzes/Tests/Assessments
• White: Regular handouts
2. Color-code & label your grades/classes
• Bible 9: All of my clear-file folders are green
• Bible 10: All of my folders are red
• Bible 11: All folders are yellow
• Bible 12: All folders are blue
3. Write "Master" in yellow highlighter on your master copies
• Yellow highlighter doesn't show up on the copies
4. Grade assignments right away
• Otherwise they pile up. This also allows students to know as soon as possible whether they are missing an assignment or not.
5. Bring a camera to take a picture of notes on the board OR type up class ideas so it is automatically saved.
6. Video student presentations so you can give specific feedback and so you can grade effectively
7. Attendance Questions
• To get to know your students better ask a question they have to answer instead of just doing a head count or call names everyday (of course there are time when you need to keep attendance short as well!)
• Example question, "Which would you rather be, really hot or really cold?"
8. Use Moodle OR some other electronic form to post your slideware online for students to view
• For Bible 11 & 12 I will make a PDF of my Keynote or Powerpoints and upload them.
9. When assigning papers, have students submit a rough draft and a final draft either paper copy or submitted digitally (i.e. Turnitin.com)
• This way you know if students are "on track"
10. Keep all our handouts uniform
• For HS Bible all the students need a B5 binder so that all their handouts can be in B5 size and hole-punched. This way it is easier for students not to lose assignments.

Prayer Requests

• Wisdom as I coach the 21 athletes on the ladies field hockey team. Our first game is Dec. 4th.
• For the two 9th grade guys that I meet with every Monday morning to talk about the Bible with.
• For time management as I continue to plan and teach Bible for grades 9-12.
• That I will get adequate exercise and rest in order to fulfill my teaching responsibilities well.
• That I will continue to ground myself in the word of God and live a life of integrity as I seek to be an example to those around me.
• For my occasional meetings with Daichi Yamada from Chuo University. That I would be bold to share Christ with him and find opportunity to do so.

Pictures!

Preparing for Thanksgiving meal!

My nephew Enoch!

Hmmm.

Preparing the food

Big bear hug! Awww.

The full Thanksgiving spread!

Pumpkin, apple crumble, and apple pie! 

Apple pie with lattice-work crust

Apple crumble

Have you seen this page? 

How does this phone work?

1st Year Teaching

It has been quite some time since I last made a blog post. It has now been about 2 months into teaching at CAJ. God has been tremendously gracious in so many ways! In the summer I spent some time in Gifu and then the remainder of the summer (until August 17) was spent at Nojiri. I returned to Tokyo to begin teacher training at CAJ. Since that time I have been busy teaching Grades 9-12 Bible along with Ryan Potter here at CAJ and my learning curve, as a 1st year teacher, has truly been tremendous!

The following are some of the highlights of the last couple months.

Teaching
At CAJ I have been teaching half of the high school and at the semester I switch with my co-teacher and I will get the other half for the 2nd semester. We just recently finished parent teacher conferences and I met with 62 students and their parents. My office is one of the blessings that God has given and I'd like to share some photos of it.

My desk

Bible Resource Book Shelf

My Personal Books

Personal TeachingResources 1st Shelf

Personal TeachingResources 2nd Shelf

Just a few sticky notes?

Ryan's standing and sitting desks. 

Ryan's guitars and wilderness camp map in the background 

The Bible Curriculum Drawers

Bathroom and shower!

Hotpot Haven!

The name plaque

Entering the Annex building

The view I often have as I walk from my office to the main building

The 2nd floor window is my office

CAJ field where I will soon be coaching my 2nd year of field hockey

My office is the 2nd story left window. Looking out on the field.
I can often see elementary kids playing while I am working.

Between the cafeteria and the plaza

Cafeteria doors

Back of the gym. This is where all the field hockey equipment is stored.

Preparing for Bible 12 Open Forum on the Ten Commandments

Wilderness Camp


Oct. 1-5 was wilderness camp for the 11th grade class and I was privileged to co-lead a group of 10 juniors into the mountains of Okutama. It was a great experience opportunity to get to know the students better outside of a school setting. 

Meg and Isabel

Team Platypi whole group bus photo

Hiking up river

Working on a team Mondrian puzzle

Our first camping spot

Early morning cereal breakfast

Gearing up for the day's hike!

Soaking in the view

Happy campers!

Okutama mountains in all their glory!

One of the best fires I made on the hike

Getting ready for baked apples

Wild mountain goat sighting

Erika

My fearless co-leader. Gibson.

A gum machine...only in Japan.

The blindfold walk.

The sunrise from "Sunrise Mountain" 日の出山

Fun Excursions
On Sunday October 28th I was able to go to a Karate tournament because I had received free tickets from Coach Long who works at CAJ. My friend Daichi Yamada who I meet with from time-to-time was able to go with me and afterwards we went to a 油そばrestaurant in Ikebukuro and talked for awhile more.

• 44th All-Japan Open Karate Tournament

The 44th All-Japan Open Karate Tournament in Harajuku

Exercise
Working full-time has meant that exercising takes real intentionality because it can easily be put off on the sideline. In the last few weeks I haven't done much exercise but I have done various things even from the start of the year. I've done some basketball, staff badminton, swimming and the local sports center, some running, the CAJ Fun Run (placing 17th out of 40+ runners) and even doing an Insanity workout with some fellow staff members. For those of you who don't know what Insanity is, it is a cardio workout that requires no equipment and the first several minutes you think are really easy until you realize it gets increasingly harder and you have about 40 minutes yet to go. By the time I was done I was soaked with sweat. I felt muscles the next day that I never knew I had!

Professional Development
Recently we had Dr. Virginia Rojas (Gini) come and do a seminar on teaching second language learners at CAJ. She was an excellent speaker and gave some ideas to us teachers on how to scaffold for our students who don't have English as their mother tongue.

Something that has been a recent decision is to pursue a multidisciplinary masters through Buffalo State New York. This master's program will be starting in January and will be one that I am able to do in Japan. The first half of the masters will gain me a certificate in technology and the goal is to be able to learn more about technology so that I can integrate it as an enhancer to my teaching of students. I am stepping out in faith in this, trusting that the Lord will guide me as I meet with teachers from other schools and as I continue to learn how to be a better teacher.

Cooking

Testing out my Asian cooking skills!

Meeting with People
On Monday mornings I am getting together with two freshman guys discuss the Bible and encourage each other. It has been really good so far and we have been challenging each other to read more of the word. Right now we are reading 1 Thessalonians.

When I was at Cross Country finals I happened to bump into a St. Mary's alumni that I used to compete against when I was running cross country at CAJ. We decided to get together and catch up so we went to Ikebukuro and talked for a good 2-3 hours over a meal and the Lord really blessed the time we had. He is not a believer but I was thankful to be able to share my life story and to also hear his story as well. Please be praying for Joey.

Prayer Requests:

• Field Hockey: The season will be starting soon and I will have the added responsibility of coaching in addition to my teaching workload; pray for wisdom in time management and planning. Also pray that the team and myself will be representatives of Christ on and off of the field.
• SSS Sports Day: I'll be helping with leading the games for the many homeschooling families who will be coming for SSS sports day. Pray that all goes well and that we will have a safe and fun time on Sat. Nov. 10
• COETAIL Masters Program: Pray for the finances to be able to take on this challenge but most of all that I will be able to not only keep up with my teaching but make leaps and bounds in my growth as a teacher during this time!
• Accountability: Pray for wisdom as I meet with two freshmen guys each week on Mondays. Pray also that I will be in the word and be a man of integrity so that I can teach the word of God effectively and with boldness