teacher! teacher!

when i was done with school today, i had a very interesting feeling. i felt like i had maybe, actually, taught my students stuff today. let me explain.

yesterday was fine. not great (my english class was sort of a disaster. i guess i should plan out group work a bit better...but ESL was fun cause i had them play a pictionary-type game)...but we went out for indian food after work and had a drink at the blue frog. it was nice getting away from campus on a school night.

today, i had class first period, and then not again until 6th and 7th period. i felt like almost every part of today went well! it was so refreshing.

in english, i gave the kids a seating chart so i can keep a better eye on the talkers. i had them read a story out loud, and it seemed like everyone was paying pretty close attention. and there are a couple of kids in that class that i really, really like. they're great.

went back to the office, which is GREAT. it's only been 4 days, yes, but so far i think our office is awesome. the dynamic is just so funny between some of the teachers. in my next free periods, i was actually productive...graded homework, read the student edition for my history class and did a lot of lesson planning. it felt really awesome to get through that all before lunch.

speaking of lunch...just as an aside...please don't ever try stinky tofu. That's right, there is a dish that is actually called 'stinky tofu.' I am not kidding when I say that it tastes the way a public restroom smells. don't do it.

after lunch i brought my laptop to the office, where we have wireless internet. granted, it cuts in and out....but it's better than nothing! and it is AWESOME having a laptop. i love it. i got more work done figuring out which songs i am going to play in my music class tomorrow. the 'first class' playlist currently has 39 songs on it. i'm not planning on playing any of them in their entirety...i just want to play clips to get them to start talking about different genres of music. i don't remember what we did in 5th grade music besides our musical "Homeward Bound." man, those were some good times...of course if I hadn't had a lead role maybe it wouldn't have been so much fun...

...so after lunch I went to my ESL class. If you haven't been in contact with 4th graders recently, I really recommend hurrying up and finding some. They are so damn cute. And since we played a game yesterday and came in with another learning game to play, I think they really like me. Especially this one girl...she's such a good student and is so pretty and nice. She always says thank you. And then there's the little boy who doesn't understand hardly anything...he's just precious. Honestly, these kids just melt your heart. We were playing Simon Says and I was having some of the other kids be 'Simon.' One of the kids said "Simon says, go to the teacher" and the rest of the kids all came running towards me, many of them with open arms like they were going to hug me. There are only 11 kids in my ESL class. it doesn't get much cuter than that.

From ESL i went straight to my 6th grade history class. I felt sort of unprepared for it because on Monday the kids were so nuts. but that was the other section. this group of kids...i can't even begin to tell you how much I liked the class. The fact that I finally got to go into the material (the start of World War I) made me so happy...and the fact that the students understood what I was saying and reacted positively to the way I was explaining the material...it's just such a good feeling. The kids were pretty well-behaved, and seemed genuinely interested. Well, most of them. I left school today actually feeling like a real teacher. There were even a couple of times during that last class period today where I felt like i was looking in on myself, and thought "wow, what a great way to explain the connection between the vocabulary and the material." I was really proud of myself. What a good feeling.

and tonight Shannon and i ordered pizza and watched sex and the city on my laptop. Oliver wasn't kidding when he said 'it's just like college.' good times.