Well, it has unofficially launched. We'll be publicizing Class Dismissed in September, when we're actually starting our B.Ed year, and when we have a good archive of posts built up from the summer. We want to have something to offer, you see, before we start recommending our blog to anyone other than our friends, classmates, and colleagues.

Jon's introduction perfectly described our reasoning behind the creation of this blog, so I'm going to give a bit of background on us. We've both just completed our Honours BA, with a medial in English (both) and History (me)/Music (Jon).  We are incredibly excited to be starting our Bachelor of Education at Queen's in the fall, something we've been eagerly anticipating for years.

We first met way back in 2005, when we were tiny first years taking part in Queen's University's Frosh Week. Jon and I are in Concurrent Education, a program designed to produce highly trained and dedicated teachers over a period of 5 years. The ConEd program at Queen's has a 6% acceptance rate and not only requires exemplary marks, but also a diverse record of prior teaching-related experiences. In the past four years, Jon and I have bonded over a passion for teaching and a desire to hone our skills and take on challenges within the realm of education. And, as Jon so eloquently explained, that's what this blog is all about.

We decided to name our blog Class Dismissed, in honour of two very significant influences on our personal teaching style. I'm certain you'll hear much more about them in the future, but for now I will say only that these teachers, among others, have made a very powerful impact on who we are as educators. Our blog wouldn't really be right if it didn't include a tribute to Mr. George Feeny and Dr. Robert Morrison. You can expect a lot of coverage of our mentors, within the teaching profession and without (and sometimes even outside the realms of reality, as with Mr. Feeny), because we strongly believe in the importance of growing with and learning from role models and peers. Our former teachers are the reason we're in this profession, and we'd be woefully remiss to create a blog that didn't acknowledge and celebrate them in every way possible.

So, dear reader, if you are a teacher, we would like to thank you. Thank you for putting in those long hours to help with extra-curriculars, thank you for spending your weekends marking papers, for coming up with creative activities, for supervising recess in the rain, for repeating the definition of a thesis statement over and over until the whole class gets it. Most of all, thank you for inspiring your students to become the people you know they can be.

If you are a teacher candidate, as we are, always remember what it was like to be a student. Remember how it felt when your best friend had a crisis the night before your project was due. Remember how exciting it was to excavate the long-deceased class goldfish, how proud you were after earning a gold star. Remember how important those great teachers were to you, and do everything in your power to become one of those teachers yourself.

We hope you'll enjoy reading Class Dismissed, and we hope you'll be eager to add your own opinions to our commentary. We're going to do our best to follow our own advice, push our own limits, and make sure that every moment teaching is also spent learning.