One Year Later: Reflections From My First Year of Marriage

 

Just a little over a year ago, I stood facing the man who would become my husband and, with misty eyes, read the vows I had written. We had looked forward to this day for seven months, and it was every bit as magical as we'd hoped it would be. And in the blink of an eye, it was over. Thankfully, we did not have to return to real life just yet and were blessed to go on a short honeymoon the following day. We had such a good time that we even decided to extend the trip, but eventually the day came when we had to travel back home. And on that day, I was misty eyed for a different reason.

Beauty in the Waiting

 

Last month I boarded a flight at the Miami airport, eager to get back to the little island I call home. We had, to my surprise, boarded early - a rare event in my experiences of traveling. I happily pushed my bag under the seat and buckled my seatbelt, fairly optimistic that I would be getting back home even sooner than expected. The time for takeoff came and went, yet we remained on the ground. The pilot assured us there was no mechanical reason for the delay - just a busy, backed up runway.  Finally, almost one and a half hours after boarding, the plane began to move. As I sat there, it annoyed me to think we had been waiting on the plane longer than the duration of the flight. (The flight from Miami to the Cayman Islands is a short one - about one hour.) I was tired and frustrated, but relieved that we were finally on our way.

2021: A Year of Hope

 

Happy New Year! I don't think there's ever been a year the world has been more excited for than 2021. To say 2020 was a hard year would be an understatement. Many people suffered from or lost loved ones to COVID-19, while others experienced job loss and other struggles. While I am thankful that Coronavirus never got out of control here in the Cayman Islands, 2020 brought its own devastating losses for my family. In April, just before Easter, my grandmother passed away unexpectedly. And just one month later, my aunt was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. She passed away in November, only six months after her diagnosis. She was a special lady, a retired educator, the woman who inspired me to become a teacher. We had a close bond, and that made losing her even more heartbreaking.

Student Crayon Organization (with a Freebie!)

I have a secret to share: Community supplies are not a thing here in the Cayman Islands - at least not in our public schools. 

The first time I ever saw community supplies used in a classroom was during my student teaching experience in the US. I was bewildered. "You mean all these supplies are just shared among the students? They don't have their own?" I asked my CT. However, as strange as it seemed to me at the time, I was also able to see the benefits of using community supplies in the classroom. Although I've wished at times that I could do that here in my tiny island school, I've also recognized that there are many benefits to individual supplies too. With the coronavirus pandemic, one of those benefits has become more obvious: If each student has their own supplies, germs will not be spread through the sharing of community supplies. 

So today, I'm sharing a super easy - and sanitary - way to store your students' crayons. 

Lessons from Lockdown: Cloudy Vision

I'm back for the final post in the Lessons from Lockdown series, which kind of ended up more like a trilogy than a series... haha. But hey, my intentions were good! You might also have noticed that Teaching in the Tropics has had a makeover since the last blog post. After 5 years, I felt like the site needed a new, modern look that also reflects what this space has evolved into. The wonderful Kassie from Designs by Kassie did an amazing job with the new blog design! She was a joy to work with and I am so thrilled with how it turned out!

Lessons from Lockdown: The Essential Thing (Classroom Edition)

Almost two months have gone by since my first Lessons from Lockdown blog post, and I never imagined it would be this long before my second post. To be honest, I initially created this post on April 8th and have had it in draft mode ever since. Two days later, my grandmother passed away unexpectedly, so with that, plus online teaching and finishing my master's program, blogging had to be put on hold again. I still have a lot to share, and I'm looking forward to blogging more regularly now that I'm done with grad school and am more settled in to the rhythm of teaching online.

Lessons from Lockdown: The Essential Thing

Lockdown. It's a word I sure didn't expect to be hearing in 2020, but here we are. The world as we know it seems to have turned upside down over the last couple of weeks, and the Coronavirus has caused a level of change and disruption that we never imagined was possible. However, I think it’s been helping all of us to learn some valuable lessons too. It's been a long time since I've blogged on here, but I feel compelled to share what I'm learning during this time through a blog series called Lessons from Lockdown. (Ironically, when I came up with that title, there was no official lockdown here in the Cayman Islands, even though most people are being cautious and staying home. However, starting tonight, we will be going into a full lockdown for a few days to try to prevent further spread of the virus in the days ahead.)

5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Tiny Classroom

Have you ever had to teach in a super small classroom? In my first year of teaching, that was exactly what happened. My very first classroom actually used to be a storage closet for PE equipment (not even joking) and was eventually expanded a bit so that it could be converted into a classroom. I only had six students that year (not joking about that either), so we had no trouble fitting in the space, and I also didn't have that much stuff because it was only my first year of teaching.

5 Reasons Why I'm Spending Less Time on Instagram This Summer (And Why You Should Too)

It's been a while since I've blogged on here, but now that I'm officially on summer break, I'm excited to get back into it! Honestly, I'm a horrible blogger, maybe posting twice a year. Instagram is where I am most active, and I have been posting regularly on my account @teachinginthetropicsblog since I started it 5 years ago. However, if you follow me on there, you may have noticed that this year I've been posting on Instagram a lot less frequently than I used to. There's a reason for that - five reasons actually - and I'm sharing them today in hopes that someone reading this will dare to spend a little less time on the Gram.

A Year of Light: Reflections from 2018

Exactly one year ago I wrote a blog post sharing my thoughts on my future and my hopes for 2018. I didn't make any resolutions; I stopped making New Year's resolutions years ago. Like most people, I found I never really kept them. However, I did end that blog post with a promise of sorts: