Like a big chubby Phoenix from the ash, I'm back and I'm salty,

When I made the jump to Tyrone Area High School, a light just seemed to come on. The clouds parted and angels began to sing. I was in my element. Don't get me wrong, I loved Civics, but World Cultures is so where it is at.

I get to take my love of contrasting groups, themes, movements and personalities to a global level. I seriously have the two best units to work on: the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. If I can't make them interesting, I should probably find a new profession. I got to warm up a little bit with Russia, but now I'm full bore at Arabic culture, the development of monotheism and modern conflicts in the region.

I don't like to compare my experience at Penn Cambria and Tyrone, but I did have some of my best lessons during the week of the PSSAs. At Penn Cambria, I did a whole week on the Civil Rights movement and I got to do a lot of different things for the Middle East. We watched a video on Genghis Khan, read articles from both sides of the Gaza strip and even had a guest speaker.

The guest speaker experience demonstrates one of the big differences between the Mount and other schools. I was able to get Shamim Rajpar from the library to come and talk to my class about traveling and living in other cultures. She totally faced all of my classes. At first, they didn't know what to think of her, but she had such an interesting story and such an obvious love for her work it really touched the kids. Plus she brought a truckload of wicked cool stuff from all over the world. Girls in my 8th period went nuts for the ostrich egg.

There aren't a lot of schools that I know of that you could get a staff member to take a day off and come into a high school and talk for three periods. That's just the personal attention that is the Mount's signature. To any of you lazy high school seniors that have already checked out for the year, I'd give the Mount a look-see. I must retire now…many lesson plans to write, youth of America to teach in the morning. Sleep tight.

Face and/or POW!

DePiro Rules!