Saturday, February 23, 2008
Solo surrounded by people
It's incredibly difficult to be in this position: a job where you are surrounded by people (parents, colleagues, and, of course, students), yet your regular, outside-of-work life is incredibly lonely. I've had (rather nosey) colleagues ask me if I go out, why I don't have a boyfriend, what I do with my time. In all honesty, I don't go out. I know no one outside of work. I don't have a boyfriend for a trillion reasons, some of the most prominent being my unattractiveness, my lack of time, and simply not knowing anyone. Even if I was completely gorgeous, is it possible to meet anyone if the only time you're away from work is your monthly trips to the grocery store or your daily trips to the mailbox? Without my job, I'd be a hermit; a shut-in; a talentless Emily Dickinson; a "New York death" in Phoenix. I wish someone would just pick me up and set me down in an already created life of friends and family. As a student, school was a natural way to make friends, but now, as a teacher, it's the opposite. I have zero local friends apart from colleagues. What do I do? Honestly, what do I do?
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Because they said so...
"I don't play games with strangers, only strange people." - Diana
"Don't blame me, Miss Sells! You know me- I'm just lazy!" - Alex
Me: "Plug in the word into the sentence and tell me how it would sound."
Steven: "Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
In writing, comparing me to their last year's teacher:
Arnulfo: Miss Sells is not bore, but my last teacher man was she a bore.
Aranza: Miss Sells looked nice when I first saw her. Ms. ____ looked evil when I first saw her. Miss Sells is fun. Ms. ____ is annoying.
Luis: Last year's teacher was well I would said she was a little fat. Miss Sells is skinne.
Alexis: Now I have a teacher who dances all the time. I have never seen such a thing.
"Don't blame me, Miss Sells! You know me- I'm just lazy!" - Alex
Me: "Plug in the word into the sentence and tell me how it would sound."
Steven: "Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
In writing, comparing me to their last year's teacher:
Arnulfo: Miss Sells is not bore, but my last teacher man was she a bore.
Aranza: Miss Sells looked nice when I first saw her. Ms. ____ looked evil when I first saw her. Miss Sells is fun. Ms. ____ is annoying.
Luis: Last year's teacher was well I would said she was a little fat. Miss Sells is skinne.
Alexis: Now I have a teacher who dances all the time. I have never seen such a thing.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Valentine's Day: The Happiest Time of the Year for Eight-Year-Olds
Happy Valentine's Day!
Since the beginning of the year, I've been stressing how much I LOVE fractions with my kids. They responded at first with, "Why don't you marry them?" and I, in the most serious of all voices, said, "I would if it asked."
At about 7:30 this morning, I got a call from the office. Linda (our secretary) told me that there was something waiting for me in the office. When I got there there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Linda said, “They’re from fractions. That was what I was told to say. I have no idea.”
Isn’t that hilarious!? One of my colleagues had bought me flowers, and knew that I had been telling my students, practically daily, of my love. Some of the kids still don’t believe me, but I’m actually not lying when I tell them that Linda had said they were from fractions.
Also, I've received more than I ever have from Christmas or my birthday. Chocolates, stuffed gorillas, bears, dogs, singing frogs, fake flowers, coffee mugs. I joked with, "Is this give Miss Sells presents day?" One of darlings responded with, "Yes. Yes, it is."
This morning, our journal topic was "What is love?" Joe read it and started singing: "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more..." complete with head bobbing.
Alexis' response was "Love is when a boy gives a girl something with the word 'love' on it." Well, hopefully that's not all love is!
Spread the love, people!
Since the beginning of the year, I've been stressing how much I LOVE fractions with my kids. They responded at first with, "Why don't you marry them?" and I, in the most serious of all voices, said, "I would if it asked."
At about 7:30 this morning, I got a call from the office. Linda (our secretary) told me that there was something waiting for me in the office. When I got there there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Linda said, “They’re from fractions. That was what I was told to say. I have no idea.”
Isn’t that hilarious!? One of my colleagues had bought me flowers, and knew that I had been telling my students, practically daily, of my love. Some of the kids still don’t believe me, but I’m actually not lying when I tell them that Linda had said they were from fractions.
Also, I've received more than I ever have from Christmas or my birthday. Chocolates, stuffed gorillas, bears, dogs, singing frogs, fake flowers, coffee mugs. I joked with, "Is this give Miss Sells presents day?" One of darlings responded with, "Yes. Yes, it is."
This morning, our journal topic was "What is love?" Joe read it and started singing: "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more..." complete with head bobbing.
Alexis' response was "Love is when a boy gives a girl something with the word 'love' on it." Well, hopefully that's not all love is!
Spread the love, people!
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Parades, pushing, pooped
A couple of things:
First, the red half circle outside of classroom doors are NOT A SUGGESTION. One of my students split her head open on the doorknob when a child whipped the door open from the inside (she was also being pushed by someone behind her).
Second, when you think of a "brilliant idea" of how to teach letter writing, make sure the prep time and money doesn't outdo the acutal influence of the project. Our root beer float taste contest (writing to the company we thought had the best root beer) was fun, but it took me a total of an hour to prep, and I had to purchase cups, ice cream, and root beer.
Two of my students and I got to walk in a parade today! Our community, Laveen, had a parade where the principals of each school rode in classic cars and students handed out candy. It was really fun!
I'm exhausted, once again, and lonely again, too. I'm in my classroom and it's nearing 6 p.m. on a SATURDAY. I'm pretty sure there's another teacher here, though, because he promised he would call before he left... My life is sad.
First, the red half circle outside of classroom doors are NOT A SUGGESTION. One of my students split her head open on the doorknob when a child whipped the door open from the inside (she was also being pushed by someone behind her).
Second, when you think of a "brilliant idea" of how to teach letter writing, make sure the prep time and money doesn't outdo the acutal influence of the project. Our root beer float taste contest (writing to the company we thought had the best root beer) was fun, but it took me a total of an hour to prep, and I had to purchase cups, ice cream, and root beer.
Two of my students and I got to walk in a parade today! Our community, Laveen, had a parade where the principals of each school rode in classic cars and students handed out candy. It was really fun!
I'm exhausted, once again, and lonely again, too. I'm in my classroom and it's nearing 6 p.m. on a SATURDAY. I'm pretty sure there's another teacher here, though, because he promised he would call before he left... My life is sad.
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