Back to school

After spending some of my morning looking at all of Dita Von Tesse's Twitpic this does not feel like a glam post at all but tomorrow I am back-to -school after almost 8 weeks off! I know, spoiled rotten.

I love getting organized and in the mood to have a great year scholastically - maybe it has something to do with new stationary. Anyway I though I would share all the things that help me to be excited about beginning the new academic year.


You've Got Mail

The reason this film makes me want to go back to school is that it is set in Autumn and in January, when I am over the heat and looking forward to the end of summer all I want is for Autumn to come when I know that I will be busy with work and will not feel guilty about spending hours at my desk because it is too cold to go outside.

Tom Hank's character also talks about sending "bouquets if newly-sharpened pencils" and how much he loves the smell of Scotch tape. I have to agree and sympathize. You can never have to much pristine stationary - ready too be filled with ideas.




The Drina Books

I began reading the "Drina books" when I was in Year 5 at school. I have to re-read them every year (it takes about 2 hours to read each one). They are about a ballet dancer called Audrina Adamo -Drina and the books chart her career from joining a ballet school as a child to the heights she achieves as a principal dancer in a company.

Each book begins with the end of holidays and the return to school and all the subsequent scrapes she gets herself out of and how hard she tries to do well. Reading them now I smile at the earnest tone of a child wanting to do their best but I think that on reflection it was exactly how I wanted to be.



Mona Lisa Smile

I saw this film when I was a university - first or second year - and I loved it. Not only for the setting (1953/1954) but also the friendships the girls have, the architecture and again the culture of always doing the best possible and still pushing yourself that it depicted on both the teachers side and the students.

Now that I am no longer a student I wish that my students were as engaged as the girls are in the film with their lecturer. I hope that I can also foster relationships with my students where they view me as a trusted friend and look up to me as someone who is passionate about one subject and purses it passionately.