Welcome back!

Today is the first day of over one hundred eighty days we are going to spend together.  My greatest hope is this will be a time of great learning and fun together.  I recently saw the quote, "I care more about the people my students become than the scores they get on tests." The more time I spend teaching, the more this idea seems to hold true for me.

This will be my sixteenth year of teaching. Man, am I getting old? I think this will be my ninth year at Highview. I never thought I would stay at one school for this long, but Highview has been such a great community it is hard to imagine leaving. I am really excited to be teaching grade 6 this year. When people have asked me what my favourite grade to teach would be, I've always said grade 6. I've also heard many great things about this year's group of sixes.

Since I will be learning about you, I thought I would share a little bit about me. I was born in Sarnia, but my family moved to Toronto when I was only five. I am the third of four boys (my poor mother). Two passions ruled my childhood, sports and comics. The year I moved to Toronto was the first year the Blue Jays existed. I have been a die-hard fan ever since. I've celebrated the two World Series victories and suffered through some rough seasons (like this year). I played myself in high school, even playing with a couple of eventual major league players. I credit comic books for my reading passion. I've noticed that the people making superhero movies today, like "X-Men" and "The Avengers", are my age.

My biggest influence during my teenage years was my experiences at camp. From working at a summer camp, I discovered I wanted to be a teacher and I loved spending time in the great outdoors. Eventually, I even met my wife to be at camp. My wife and I still spend parts of our summer on canoe trips whenever possible.

This past summer my wife and I enjoyed a trip of a lifetime. We spent two weeks on a Mediterranean cruise. Some of the highlights included Rome, Venice, Athens and Naples. It was amazing to experience ancient sites that I've only read about before.  It reminded me that the more I learn, the more I have to learn. I look forward to sharing some of these experiences with you.

A large part of my leisure time this summer was spent playing golf. I have only just gotten back into playing golf in the last three or four years, but I have caught the bug in a big way. No matter how badly I play, I can't wait to get out again to see if I can get better.  It certainly keeps me humble. During the school year, my sport of choice is volleyball. I play a couple of nights a week.

My big passion all year long is reading. Mr. Kaufman calls my book collection a library! Though my library is growing very fast, because I'm reading more and more e-books. I read about 20 books this summer, including a number of books in preparation for teaching grade 6. I've chosen When You Reach Me for our first read aloud this year, I think you will enjoy the mysterious plot. I hope we will be able to share many great books together. What are your favourite books?

I hope over the next days and weeks I will have the opportunity to get to know all of you better. What is important to you? It looks like a great year ahead.

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                T. Congram