I know I know...

I haven't posted my final write up from Tollgate but I'm sitting here with Paige and Mara working on our storyboard project and I stumbled upon (no, not procrastination stumble upon...) a series of videos on YouTube that deserves a complete and TOTAL shout out.... We will even be using on in our project just to prove how with it this message is. It is Unicef's project on "Cartoons for Child Rights" it is definitely worth sitting down and taking a minute to recognize that not only are they dead on on of those topics but we as humans need to give EVERY single child those rights....The other thing that I totally loved is that each video is created by a different country so it isn't just Europe or America or China standing up for these rights it is a GLOBAL effort to help make a difference. Global awareness... definitely a right for everyone too

Here's the right to education just to get you started...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5R4jAxKY-I&feature=relmfu

The Jig is up...

Thanks to one of my funniest and most all over everywhere kids... I know what my surprise is (aka THANK GOD ... I mean tomorrow is going to be hard enough...The last thing I need is for there to be an unknown surprise factor stuck in there)... Now having been gifted with wonderful intuition from my mother I tend to catch on to when something is going on... Sometimes I try to deny it and sometimes I try to figure out whats going on... In terms of my surprise I had decided that I would just... wait and see what it is.. I mean really how harmless can 24 10 year olds and 1 34 year old be... Anyways so this morning after we picked up the kids from music I had to run a quick errand... When I got back into the classroom my ears were peaked (so to speak) but I couldn't figure out why... So we were beginning to set expectations for our greeting when "MR. ALVERSON... What do we do with the letters for Ms. Detmer?"...Class collective AHHHHHHH MARCUSSSSS "Marcus," Scott replied, "I don't know what you're talking about..." Clearly trying to get Marcus to pick up on what was going on... However, being the endearing child that he is... he totally didn't get it. AT ALL. It was pretty cute... But needless to say all the other kids were very very upset and just could NOT handle the fact that he had spoiled my surprise. For the rest of the day he was thoroughly hassled by his crew members for ruining my surprise... He was very upset and even talked to Scott to say if he thought I knew or not. To blanket the concerns of the class I had to make a statement somewhere along the lines of "I can't wait for my surprise tomorrow..."

One down.... 24 to go

... I'll get to that in a minute but first I'd like to address how I know something is up... When I walked into the classroom today I took inventory as I normally do on Friday mornings... On the chart paper I saw that there was a bunch of adjectives like funny, organized, wonderful... well you get the idea... anyways they were written in Scott's handwriting and at the bottom it said "likes pink..."... Hmm... smiling I thought, oh God, they're planning something. Now I HATE surprises so knowing that Scott and the kids are up to something scares me...


Later today was part one of the hardest part of this job. I had to say good bye to one of my kids. One of my girls is going to Mexico for her sister's quinceanera and won't be at school next week. While I expected to be really sad about this and have potential for crying... It didn't. I didn't cry... not even a little bit. While I know that I will miss these kids and Scott so much, I think I'm just ready... When I hugged this girl at the end of the day I was really realizing that this first chapter of my experience is over.... Knowing that I have to turn this leaf over is definitely hard but I'm so looking forward to things like a 6 minute commute.. and challenging myself with a mixed age classroom... And truly, I know that this is just the beginning of another awesome adventure... or maybe its just a continuation of the adventure...

Gasp...

I think it happened. I mean... it really happened... I became ready for break and ready to be in my new environment. I became ready for break when I realized that tomorrow may be the weekend but on Monday, I still have to go to work... It's totally silly and mildly childish but, I really need a break. I need time to catch up on sleep, to really spend some quality time thinking about and working on myself. The other reason I'm ready for break is that everyone else is going on break tomorrow.... Totally silly I know, but I'm definitely feeling "jealous-of-everyone-else's-long-break-itis"... WIth switching districts I lose 5 days of break. 5 days. 5 whole days... That feels like a lot to me, a whole heck of a lot... I know I know, life isn't fair but man oh man... is it wednesday yet?? While I totally hate the idea of leaving the kids... I'm looking forward to the challenges that my new school will pose... They are totally different and I will once again be forced to find myself in a new element...

Today...

So today had some moments of greatness and some moments of not so greatness.... But over all, I'm laying here in bed feeling like it was a pretty successful last wednesday with the kids. My lesson was awesome and it really proved to me how important it is to know your kids and know their limits. I pushed my kids today and they responded with enthusiasm and excitement... Can't ask for anything better than that now can we? I really was proud of how far my lessons have come from the beginning of the year and I think (...maybe?) I am beginning to grasp the important balance between performing for the kids on the fly and having a solid plan behind me to structure the conversation. Balancing being able to change lessons depending how the kids react to keeping with what the lesson says exactly is one of the hardest parts of being a teacher I think, one I hope to adjust everyday for every lesson. Other awesome part of the day? Having awesome thought provoking conversations with my fellow interns... All in unexpected ways but all making me realize how much this group of people impact my life and will continue to for a while... Despite our ideas of different experiences and thinking we know certain things about schools or other classrooms... Until we experience either teaching for real or anything nearly as difficult... The truth of it is.... now this is a big secret so don't share it ok?.... well, teachers (read: EVERYONE) don't know everything... we don't know everything about every subject ( i learned a new word today: lattice), we don't know everything about everyone (I learned that one of my co-interns figured out a cool pattern I never would have seen if not for her eyes and her knowledge) and we don't know everything about ANYTHING.... The great part about living in this day and age is that we are discovering new things all the time... I am preparing my kids for jobs that DO NOT EVEN EXIST YET.... The best part about all of this?.... It's ok. It's ok to not know everything. It's ok to be surprised once in a while and most importantly, it's ok to be who you are. So own what you know and recognize the gaps in your own knowledge... I promise... It's OK

Tuesday...

So today was weird in that a) it was our double science day and b) despite the kids doing exactly what we asked of them... it was just weird... They were sluggish and not interested or disengaged.... It was just like the last few tuesdays have been... weird... They did everything we asked of them, but they just seemed to lose their sparkle... I'm wondering how you can fight that within the kids or keep their level of excitement up... Is it as simple as making them jump up and shake the tired out of their bodies? Or is it that their natural rhythms just all flat lined at the same time...

The children are too sweet.....

(monday btw)

And gave me presents! I felt so loved by them! I got earrings, a necklace, an ornament, a bracelet and a box I was told I can't open until christmas because then it "wouldn't be a christmas present". It's hard not to feel so loved when you receive 3 presents from kids! After getting 2 different sets of cookies on friday... I'm realizing now how hard it really will be to leave my kids.... This beginning of the day really made me realize how little things can really set the tone of your day. I loved the way this day went... Except when I realized that I had 8 days left the kids.... so basically I'm not acknowledging it.