to simply just listen..

TGIF (thank goodness I'M female) is what I tell the students :) Today we (middle school) helped students clean out their lockers and practiced for 8th grade promotion. This was the first run through for the promotion ceremony and lets just say its a good thing they still have a few more days to practice :) Many students had not seen the lines they will be reading until today and no one had any idea where to walk and stand. So they practiced many times (I think I have the ceremony songs memorized) and acted like it was the worst form of torture in the world :) Needless to say the decorations and organization is a BIG deal and I am starting to see the prep work that goes into these types of ceremonies.

Students were dismissed to go home after lunch today but many students hung out at school until 2:30 (to take the bus home) and many were still there when we left at 3:30. They don't wan't to leave some days.. Its a sweet (and sad) thing to see. On a positive note, it was great to spend time with the students outside of the classroom. I played cards games (they LOVED spoons) and taught them some card tricks I have learned back home- I had a very fun time to say the least.

I truly feel appreciated here. Though students can be very rude and disrespectful at times I also feel welcomed and can see the HUGE impact I have on these kids- I am sure the other student teachers would agree. These kids are very honest with you- they will tell you about their lives outside of school if you simply just listen. This is something that is becoming very difficult for me. Now that I have gotten to know these students (some pretty well) I hear more about their home loves. Being here for such a short time makes me more aware that I am another instability in their already unstable lives.... Hearing some of their stories makes it difficult for me to separate my emotions from my teaching. I find myself thinking "wow.. and I am suppose to teach you language arts today." This leads me into wondering things like "how late I will accept late work?" Yes I know you have things going on but there comes a point when things MUST be complete (or incomplete) and move on. It is my job to prepare these kids for the next grade the best to my ability and I struggle to decide how firm I am going to be with these types of issues and hope to learn from experience in my future years of teaching. This is a trial and error thing in my book and I am realizing that there are no easy solutions..

Yikes.. so thats my intense 'big question' of the week and now we are gathering in the main room for movie time (still bright as day at 11:15pm). Hope all is well back in the homeland!

much love,

Molly