Early in the week, I was teaching social studies. We were doing a lesson on South Carolina and the transportation system. This included the interstates and highways which was my focus for the lesson. The night before I had made a large cut out of the state of South Carolina. I thought that it looked very much like South Carolina; however, my children thought otherwise. I put a picture of South Carolina on the smart board from Google Earth so we could see the interstates and talk about the numbers and where we could go and visit, etc. by using the interstate and highway system. After we had done our discussion on the smart board, I wanted the children to draw the interstates on my cut out of SC that I had laminated so we could use dry erase on it incase of mistakes. So I held up the cut out next to the smart board and said, "Now we are going to draw the interstates on our map. Doesn't mine look like the map?" You could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet, and then there was a tiny little voice that said, "no, not really" from the back of the carpet! It was hilarious! To this I replied, "Well, I don't judge your artistic abilities, so you can't judge mine!" Ms. J, my coaching teacher, thought this was hysterical and had to leave the room!! All in all, it was a great ending to the day. Laughter is the best medicine!
On Friday, we had hotdogs with chili on the side for lunch. Luckily, we made it through lunch without any write ups for incidents with the hot dogs! Later on that day, Ms. J was teaching Math and I was working on something at her desk in the back of the room. There was a break in the lesson and one of the little boys came up to me and said, "N is throwing rubber bands at me!" I called N over to the desk and asked her to give me the rubber band before she hurts one of her classmates. She finally gave it up after about 3 times of my asking her, and she was not happy about it either. I looked down after this and noticed that her pockets were buldging (she is the kid who would have the whole box of rubber bands in her pocket so when one gets taken away, she can have another and she always has to have something in her hands) so I said, "N please empty your pockets so you don't get into any more trouble today." She looked at me and then the floor, moved closer to me and looked at me again. I said, "N, sweetie, you have to empty your pockets. I can't do that for you!" So she sticks her hand in her pocket and wouldn't pull it back out. I knew that there was something she wasn't supposed to have in there. So I said again, "N, let me see what's in there." SHe just looked at the floor and then at me. The third time I asked I almost had to pull her arm out of her pocket, but she did it on her own and I saw a napkin/ tissue. My first thought, was not again (related to the poop incident earlier in teh year!)! I said, "Whatcha got in there?" She wouldn't let me see it. I asked again and the third time, she opened her hand and there it was...a HOTDOG!!!! She had taken a half a hotdog out of the cafeteria!! My coaching teacher busted out laughing and left the room, and I kept my cool and said, "WHy did you take that out of the cafeteria? You know you can't do that!" She looked down and quietly whispered to me, "I wanted to take it home to my brothers and sister to have." This just broke my heart! I instantly explained to her that it was a nice thought, but if they ate that now they would get very sick because it would have spoiled! I told her to throw it away and wash her hands. She did so and sat down at her seat! This really made me sad, she would steal and hide things to take home to her family. I told her later on that day that if she needed more food at home that I would take care of that for her, she just needed to let me know and I would let the school know! She said she eats enough at home though, so I didn't have to do anything further.
Yet again, laughter is the best medicine and children are great doctors!
Today, Monday, we were lining up for lunch and one boy, D came up and hugged me and said, "you make me feel good." AWWWW! I am really going to miss their hugs and kind words.
The end is so close and I am no longer teaching, just sitting around the room doing a lot of nothing. Since I am going to be gone next week I am trying to stay out the room as much as possible so the children can adjust back to the regular teacher teaching all day.
Today was also my final evaluation with my supervisor and coaching teacher. This is so intimidating because you have to sit in the room with them while they discuss how you have met or not met the expectations this semester. Even though my teacher had said I was more than fine, I was still nervous. It's just weird to sit there and listen to them talk about you and your teaching. I did pass though! YAY! This means that I get my recommendation for my teaching certification! One more step closer to the end because this weekend I also took the written part of the Praxis 2. Taking the Praxis 2 will make me a highly qualified teacher when I graduate!
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