Friday

Big Sigh.

Friday has arrived.

The weekend. A break. Whew.

I have decided that I am not so ready to be a full-time teacher. haha. It looks a lot easier than it is!

All morning Wed. and Thurs. I directed the class. I went through their math homework with them, taught them how to do a different worksheet, read from their reading books with them and helped them do some work, worked on cursive. and more.

Also, lines. Grade school is about having the best most perfect quiet line of students in the halls. My teacher has had me take the kids to the bathroom by myself. A prime time for students to mess around and generally make noise. It's so painful. I would rather send kids one at a time to the bathroom. Yet teaching in a trailer makes going to the bathroom as a class a necessity. "Sos it goes" - a phrase my teacher always uses.

Well. I am excited to have a little more time to watch the teacher teach, after jumping in, I am eager for some better strategies to lead a classroom. I mean, I haven't ever had to be in a classroom for this long. So it's good to be there EVERY day.

All for now. Happy Labor Day everyone!

The Children Have Arrived!

The kids came yesterday. 

Awe. I loved them right away. Many of them have a wonderful Hispanic accent, a reflection of the beauty of other tongues and tribes.

I got to read aloud to them today and found myself sad that I wasn't scheduled to teach the rest of the day. 

I can't wait to teach them all day long! In watching my teacher I have been learning so much, but at the same time so much of it is what I already know. 

Although I am loving this experience, a part of me wants to push the fast forward button. Where I am married and teaching full-time, man. It's so close I can almost taste this period of my life riding on the edge of this semester.

Yet, there's something about living with my aunt. Because my mom died a few years ago, it's been hard to struggle through those things that come with moving on without a mother. And I am beginning to see that in my relationship with my aunt, I am able to get just a tiny picture of what it would be like with my mom. These things tell me this is an important time for me. 

My passion to love and teach children has been ignited full force and each day I get excited all over again about being a teacher. I've been preparing for this time for four years. It's so great to be actually so close to doing it.

Church Day

People who are passionate about going....
Who are passionate about those other churches choose to avoid..or see on skewed terms
Who are passionate about loving, rather than hating
People who are determined to GO into their community, rather than drag other people into a church building.

I didn't realize how thirsty my soul was for living to love those others label as worth less, and worthless. I drank deep from the well of passion today from a pastor who was honest with us and himself about how strands of stereotypes slip into his judgments of others. His words ran over me and I realized I had found the people, the Christians, I have been looking for. Those who choose to love. Because Christ first loved.

Day Three: Have and Have Nots

Some schools, as my teacher said, are have and other schools are have nots.

Our school is a have not school. The school does not have a lot of money. If any teacher wants to copy something, they carry their paper to the media center, put it in the copy machine, and remove any leftover paper when the job is done.

It makes me realize how spoiled I was at UNI. Apparently universities are have schools. I guess it's a welcome to the real world sort of thing. Buy your own paper and make sure you don't share.

Today was also translation Wed. It was open house and I got to meet some of our students. I also translated for many Spanish speakers out in front of the school while welcoming their children. I translated for the parents of my students. Many of my students are bilingual. They have to be. They grow up in a world caught between home and school. Between English and Spanish. Right or wrong, that's how life goes.

It was fun to actually see some of the kids. I am eager to begin.

Day Two

Today:

Teachers are blessed to have machines that laminate. My teacher, the one I'm working with, enjoys laminating things. I get the job of cutting away the extra plastic. All you have to do is stick papers into this laminating roller and ...da da da...out comes plastic coverage over everything!

Also,

Labels. Very important to the teaching profession! A kid's name must be on every space they will use. This includes coat hooks, desks, folders, and lunch boxes. The mighty label is a blessing.

Tomorrow is open house! Finally I get to see some of these children whose names I've seen many times over. It will be fun to put the names with the faces.

In other events I am finding that every school has a certain cast of characters,

These include the reading teachers, the special education teachers, the classroom teachers, the janitors, the administration.

I say characters because they are mostly odd people. Each one has their own quirks and to me, it seems their southern accents cover over all the nuances I would usually hear or miss in people's tones and voices.

I am going to throw, ha, my pizza in the oven and watch a soap opera on UNIVSION!

Day One

The Low Down:

Teacher in-service Day One

Where: North Carolina

What: Student Teaching

Who: Me

I met my cooperating teacher. She is the lady that I will dutifully and respectfully work with in our classroom.

She is awesome. A lovely scatter-brained but amazing teacher. She already rocks!

Lunchtime the other student teachers came and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with them! YES! Of course I want to hang out with people my age! We went to KFC!

Today I wrote names on things, met a lot of people, and was praised by everyone for knowing Spanish. Let's hope that Spanish comes back!