Destination Byne

For weeks, I have been spending every drop of energy, creativity, and time into an event called Destination Byne. This event is a cross between an open house, progressive dinner, and international fair, and was designed as a promotional event for the school I teach at - Byne Christian School. The event took place this past Tuesday, February 8 and was a tremendous success. Each classroom represented a country and served a traditional course from that country as well as providing information about the academics that take place in the particular classroom. My class's country was France, and we had fun decorating with Paris themed items and serving French desserts - chocolate eclairs, madelines, and piroulines - yum! Representatives from FOX news and the Albany Herald reported on the event, and the general consensus by parents, staff, and students was that it was a fun and educational evening. Below are some pictures from the event.


Italy Room

Spain/ Latin American countries room

France room (my room!)

Me in a poster one of my student's cousins created for photo ops!

Some of my students' projects - book report T-shirts, science notebooks, habitat models

China room

Registration room with tables about different aspects of the school

Australia Room. This class actually had Outback Steakhouse come and serve some of the food!

Chemistry models and students dressed up outside of the Greece room

Student dressed up for China room

There were 12 countries represented in all. I am now EXHAUSTED, but the result was well worth it!

Check out this video we created to advertise for the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPAdAaHv554

Mastering my Masters

After two years of working quite diligently on my masters of art in teaching degree, I am finally finished! I received my diploma and final transcript in the mail the other day. I finished with a 3.63 GPA. While that is not a 4.0, I still feel pretty pleased when I realize that I completed my degree with that GPA while teaching full time, working as church pianist, and driving to Macon to take piano lessons every or every other week plus practicing many hours at home. Additionally, I plugged away at it through a death in the family, moving out on my own for the first time, my family moving 3 and half hours away from me, and a personal emotional crisis. While at times I thought it would master me, I kept at it and now I have a masters degree to my name! My family and I celebrated with dinner in Savannah at Olive Garden.


It is hard for me to believe I am finally finished! Now, on to the next challenge. Doctorate, anyone??