Another Last Day

 That is a wrap on the 2023-2024 school year. 

I spent this year at Central Florida Christian Academy.  The school is associated with Church at the Cross; a fitting name since the cross in the courtyard is 189 feet high (same as Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom).  

PICTURE FROM SCHOOL'S FACEBOOK

PICTURE FROM WEBSITE OF ANDREW PLATT STUCCO AND PLASTERING , INC

 I had an amazing and wonderful year!  It is for sure in top 5 of my teaching career.

  It didn't start out that way as, for the first few weeks, I had a student who was dealing with some anger issues.  As a teacher, you want to be able to help every child, but unfortunately it didn't go that way. His method of coping with his anger was being physically aggressive with the other students.  It got the point where he had to be by my side every minute.  He could not sit with the others at lunch, had to walk next to me instead of in the line, could not take part in recess, and could also not take part in specials such as art, PE, and STEM.  Being a private school, we did not have a counselor to help him and  we were working with a non-sustainable solution.  We had to let him go.   

The rest of the year was excellent and the students made it a joy to be there everyday!  They had their moments, but overall they played well together and most of all they loved to learn and willingly stepped up to every challenge I gave them. 

                                      MATH

In Math, they wowed me with their number sentences. 

Taken in December

Taken in May

Pretty impressive for 7 and 8 year-olds.  This is an ongoing process that starts with number sense.  The know their multiplication facts through song and so I teach them how to multiply across 0's and the order of operations. In the first picture, they were connecting their knowledge of counting quarters and relating it to multiplication.  I also taught them to do double-digit by double-digit multiplication using the box, expanded form, and multiplication across 0's. 

My success in teaching Math comes from creating an accepting, relaxing, and non-stressful environment and by introducing skills and benchmarks early so that by the time they encounter them in the curriculum, they are proficient.  Most of my students will tell you that Math is their favorite subject. I didn't feel nearly as successful this year; the two 40-minute specials a day took a chunk out of the time I usually spent teaching Math.  

                                  READING

Most of the kids entered with a good reading base. The first fluency read I did (August) resulted in a class average of 72 words per minute.  The year ended with an average of 150 words per minute.  This is well above the national normed reference of 100 words per minute for Spring of 2nd grade.  ALL of them ended the year reading over 100 words per minute.  

Fluency is a very important skill in reading because without it, a student will struggle with understanding what they are reading.  Comprehension is an important part of reading as well as prosody. They all come in reading like robots (normal for their age) and it takes a lot of work to get them to understand character identification and situational awareness so they are able to read with the proper tone, intonation, and feeling.  This Spring we read Because of Winn Dixie and I could hear the growth through the novel reading.  Toward the end, I rarely had to tell to think about the feelings of the character, think about what the situation was, and to read appropriately.  

As a side note, after we read the book, we watched the movie and it was so funny to see the kids react with surprise and glee as each character was introduced.  

This summer I am hoping to get some hours at Huntington and will also be teaching summer school at my old school for the last three weeks. I also what to get some online professional development classes done through the Bob Jones website.  

I can't believe it's been a year (June 5) since this, 

 One year later and I am healthy and have have clear skin thanks to Methotrexate.  

The Magic Continues

 As I eluded to in a previous post, as a fan of the Orlando Magic we became quite accustomed to lots of mediocre to downright awful games and seasons since Dwight Howard left in 2011. 

To be exact 

- 243 wins

- 603 losses

As bad as that is, it becomes worse when you think one can assume some of those 243 wins came only because the other team looked at the Magic as their chance to exercise "load management."  

While finishing 34 - 48 last season wasn't exactly anything to boast about, their (very) young players showed moments of brilliance and gave all the fans hope for the future.  

Before this season started, most fans would probably say they would have been happy with a .500 record and a game in the play-in.  But as the season wore on they exceeded these expectations and positioned themselves squarely in the playoff race.  They ended the season with a 47 - 35 record, the best winning percentage (.573) since 2010-2011, 1st place in the Southeast Conference, and 5th place in the Eastern Conference. This was good enough for the playoffs and first round match-up with the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

It was highly suspected that Cleveland tanked toward the end of the regular season so that they could play the Magic and avoid having to play a "better" team.  Orlando almost made them regret this decision, gave them everything they could handle, and took the series to 7 games.  

Image from Google - Fadeaway World

Image from Google - ClutchPoints

But I want to talk about game 3 ------- because --------I WAS THERE!!!!  It was on Thursday April 25.

The Amway Center is now the Kia Center
Image from Google - Spectrum 13 News

This was my first ever NBA playoff game. I was so excited when my son told me he got tickets and let's just say, the atmosphere did not disappoint. 

The team were coming home down 0-2 after struggling on offense in both games played in Cleveland and, early on, it looked as if we'd have little to cheer about as the offensive woes continued.  But then, as quick as switching on a light, the shots started falling, the Magic pulled ahead, and never looked back.  The 3rd period clearly put some distance between them as they outscored Cleveland 35 - 16. 

The final score was 121 - 83. It was the worst playoff loss in Cleveland Cavalier history and it sent a message that Orlando was not going to be as easy to overcome as they had thought.  It was the best evening I have had in a long time!!!!!!  

Image from Google - Orlando Pinstriped Post

Image from Google - Fear the Sword

Image from Google - Goal.com

The future looks bright. And just in time as it appears as if the Lightning are going downhill.  

 

 

 

 

 

This 'Magic'al Season

 We are a family of long-suffering Orlando Magic fans - well three of us are anyway.  The other two tend to sway towards the Milwaukee Bucks.  But I digress.

  Living in Orlando and being a fan of the Orlando Magic has meant we have attended a slew of average to below average games. They had some pretty good players on the teams through the years, but just could not find a combination that clicked or jelled.  

Since moving to Orlando in 2015, the Magic's record has been 241-376 (not including this current season). This includes the bleak 2020-2021 season record of 21-51 and the equally horrible 2021-2022 season record of 22-60 when they decided to overhaul the whole team and do a complete rebuild.

Emerging from these seasons at the basement of the league, meant high draft choices and in 2021, the Magic had two which they used to snag Jalen Suggs with the 5th overall pick and Franz Wagner with the 8th overall pick.  In 2022, the Magic hit a stroke of luck in the draft lottery and got the number 1 pick which they used to bring Paolo Banchero on board.  They also replaced their coach, Steve Clifford, around this time with Jamal Moseley since Clifford was not interested in a rebuild.  

Last year, Magic fans had a little to cheer about as we watched those core 3 grow and improve each game. They were surrounded by talented players like Jonathan Issac, Cole Anthony, Mo Wagner,  Markelle Fultz, and Wendell Carter, Jr.  Though their record was only 34-48 and they still came in 13th in the Eastern Conference, anyone watching couldn't help but be excited about the possibilities ahead.  

The games we have gone to this year have been SO...MUCH...FUN!  

Even the players are enjoying this ride.  It's so nice to attend a game and have something to cheer about and the attendance has been trending upwards all year. I think they won every game we went to this season. 

I don't know what the outcome of this year will be - right now they are 42-28, 4th in the Eastern Conference, and knocking on the door of the Cleveland Cavaliers for 3rd.  But whatever happens, this has been a fun season and the future is looking bright.