Saturday, March 2, 2013

Teacher, let me try.

Ok. So it may not have been a full week (we started Wednesday) but I have successfully completed my first week of teaching. Boy oh boy was it a roller coaster. I went from bursting into tears on my first day to very much missing my students come this morning (Saturday). Those little buggers are just so darn cute! 

So here are a couple blurbs and highlights from my classes. 

Let's start with first grade. They are by far the most adorable of all. I have 3 different classes and teach each one twice a week. Their favorite thing: when I pretend to be a monkey. Their least favorite thing: raising their hands. Its basically nonexistent with them.  They also LOVE a song from their book and a dance I made up to it. Amber, Cate, and Jake are going crazy because I'm basically singing everything and breaking out into dance every two seconds. Its like I'm on full-time teacher mode already. 

My second grade students are a little bit of a curve ball. There are also three classes, but I see them all three times a week.  My worst class is Grade 2 Class 2. I have kids who can't seem to sit in their chairs without falling out every two seconds. One boy who has come close to pooping his pants twice. Whenever I let one kid go to the bathroom, every single one of them has to go. But one of the funniest things has also happened in Grade 2. I was trying to get the students to make name tags but they were not understanding what I wanted them to do at all. So I tried to make an example by making my own name tag. Next thing I know I have 35 student name tags that all say "Miss Ashley". When I said "no your name" a few kids then wrote "Miss Judy" or "Miss Jerry". I laughed so hard when I got out of class. They are at times entertaining, but over all, mostly annoying. The other two classes are kinda a blur, so I can justly comment on the rest of grade 2. 

Grade three and four are some of my favorite students. Partially because they understand a lot more of what I'm saying (while still keeping what I am saying pretty simple). I get a lot of hand raising and volunteering which is amazing. I have some kids who love to show how much they know and some who I can't get a word out of. But in my 4th grade class I did witness something pretty awesome. I called on one girl to give an example of an activity I had the class do and she was so so scared and wouldn't say anything. Even with my endless encouragement and that of her friend. But finally she muttered out an answer (that was drowned out by me and her friend saying it with her) but I gave her endless praise for a job well done. After that, she volunteered for everything! Including coming up to the board to write an answer! It was so great seeing the confidence grow in her and all within one class. I can't wait to track her progress through the whole semester. 

The one thing that is the same in all classes though is that whenever they get really excited about volunteering to do something its a deafening chorus of "teacher, let me try! let me try!" Even though I was warned about that, it still drives me a little crazy. Its also funny. And awesome to know they all want to try and show off what they know. 

Some parts of teaching break my heart just a little too. I've had at least one kid cry every day so far. And Thursday evening when I was in the office alone working on lesson plans, I had one girl come in (from 3rd grade) and start talking to me with the little conversational English she knows. Next thing I know, she is hugging me and calling me "mama" and then she says she misses her mom. She kept nuzzling into the crook of my neck and saying "you're mama" and I almost wanted to cry. I don't understand how kids as young as 5 and 6 can be away from their parents for so long at a time. Even if it is only a Monday-Friday boarding school, I can only imagine (and am now seeing first hand) just how difficult it can be. 

(this is the only picture of the school I have so far. this is at the entrance and called "wall of smiles" featuring some of the students) 

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