On A Final Note

Dear students,

One summer, 10 weeks (in reality it's been 9 weeks), and a thousand laughs, tears, screams, and memories to last for who knows how long.

A lot of you probably first saw me this summer when I clunked up the stairs in three inch heels, wearing a floor length blue BCBG dress (my graduation gown).
I was Jess Fong: 4th grade & kindergarten English/Math teacher. I was the one with the obscenely loud voice that always carried from one corner of the big room to the other. I was the one who always had a child hanging off my hip. I was the one who told everyone to clean their mess or lose ice pop privilege.

Yet despite the many, many times I've nearly lost my voice yelling at the top of my lungs, I can't help but still love you all. I have taught every single one of you, either through merging classes or substituting for your teachers. You are all my students, and for Jess Fong, that indicates a certain species of bonding that holds deep and doesn't easily go away.

I can't put into words how hysterically proud I am of all of you to carry through the massive lessons and projects that I planned. Debates, ethics, poetry, the government, economy, Constitution... these are all fairly difficult topics to grasp. As for the performance Friday night, I just have two words. STANDING OVATION. Nothing could have topped that performance.

But its 11:35pm, and I have to sleep soon so I can drag myself up at 6am to go down to Hopkins, so I'll jump to the things that I really need to say.
This summer has, hands down, been one of the most amazing and memorable summers of my life. They say that teaching keeps you young, and I believe it really does. Even though many of you are mature beyond your years, you still retain that youthful playfulness and innocence that makes me so happy, even when I'm trying to break up fights or lecture you with a straight face.
Don't try to grow up too early, guys. Stay young, and enjoy your years of pre-high school-ness. Every year is going to have its difficulties, but always look for the silver linings that make up the confetti of life's parties. For those of you who read Sylvia Plath, don't listen to her poems. Life is beautiful, and for the majority of the time it's going to stay that way. Enjoy everything that is given to you, and make the most out of everything.
My suggestion, and the way I have gotten through everything thus far, is to take life head on. Take everything -- good or bad -- head on and barrel into it with the force of Daniel. If not, imagine what you would miss by trying to skirt around everything all the time.
One last note: Work hard, play hard. Give yourselves time to relax and absorb. Just sit and listen to music, name the unicorns that you see in the clouds, read for the sake of just reading. Do your work early, set time aside wisely, and then play until you collapse.

Take these lessons and go conquer your schools, take the future.

I'll be back definitely during Thanksgiving.

Enjoy.

xo
Jess Fong

Pottermore: How I Found the Magical Quill

The story of how I went from Muggle to Witch at Hogwarts! :)

9:00am :: I arrive at my teaching job at a summer camp. All is normal. I enter the classroom to find several students and Mr. Zonis (another teacher) crowded around a laptop, rapidly refreshing.
Me: What's going on?
Alena: We're waiting for the Pottermore clue to come up.
Me: What Pottermore clue? Disclaimer: I did know what Pottermore was, and that something about an early registration was happening July 31st, incidentally Harry Potter's birthday, but I had no idea about this clue business.
Mr. Zonis: Jess, slap yourself and apologize. How do you not know about this!?


So they explain: For seven days, 07/31 - 08/06, Pottermore would release one clue during a specfic time. We had to wait for that clue, solve it, and follow links through the Internet to find a Magical Quill. The Magical Quill allows us to register early for Pottermore and be officially accepted into the magical world we were immersed in for 14 years. Otherwise we wait until October. But space is limited; we must be fast.

9:30am :: Mr. Zonis and I combine our two classes so they can watch Legally Blonde. It's their reward for doing a spectacular job on their first mock trial (all the students had just finished 3rd-5th grade. We even had one second grader testify).
The "movie laptop" is connected to the TV. Another has the Pottermore website and Twitter page up, with Mr. Zonis and Alena alternately refreshing for the clue, scheduled to come between 9am-1pm EST.

c. 10:00am :: Alena screams "OHMYGOD MR. ZONIS ITS UP!"
Spastic screaming begins. The movie is quickly replaced by the www.Pottermore.com screen; the class lunges towards the laptops to see the clue; I grab my iTouch and launch Safari.

"What is the number of students who participated in the Triwizard Tournament? Multiply this number by 28."

Mr. Zonis and Alena: WHAT'S 4 x 28?

Normally, we can all do math like this in our head. This is not a normal day.

Me: 72! NO THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE. Grabs pen & paper...

Mr. Zonis: HURRY UP!!!

Me: 112!

URL :: quill.pottermore.com/112

We are redirected to a Sony site, in which we have to find the magical quill.

"What's it supposed to look like?"

"Is it hidden?"

"Where is it?"

"What are we supposed to do?"

"I DON'T SEE THE QUILL!"

"Where is it?"

"JUST KEEP REFRESHING THE PAGE!"

"WHERE IS IT?!?!?"

3 laptops, two iTouches, and around twenty people that had gone completely nuts.

c. 10:30am :: I hit refresh. On top of the SONY site appears a deep red-violet rectangle with a mass of floating feathers. One of them is glowing. The Magical Quill. In a panic I try to click it, but my hands are shaking so badly it takes me three tries. Finally, my mouse makes contact. The box glows, and all the feathers fade.

Congratulations! You have found the magical quill!

Me: flying victory punch! I GOT IT!!! WHOOOO I GOT THE QUILL!

 

Commence registration

Around me, more screams erupt, as students and Mr. Zonis are finally able to access the registration site. We are seriously due for some celebratory butterbeer.

And I am no longer a Muggle.

Long live Harry Potter.