Sorry for my hiatus from posting! Every once in a while the voice inside my head that tells me that reflecting everyday is a healthy practice and that a lot of my friends from home are reading about my journey gets drowned out by the voice that says sleep is a healthy practice and that no one is reading this anyways. I'll try to sort those voices out. In the mean time:
1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. I expected today to be like the step back in "two steps forward, one step back" because we missed school on Friday for our full day of City Year training. I enjoyed the training, especially seeing everyone again, but I missed being at school and I thought about my teacher often as well as about my students who normally are really disruptive, including Josue. But today was great! A lot of them said, "Miss, you're back! Where have you been?" It was nice to be missed. Josue even said that he wishes I could go around to all his classes with him. Dawww. It was certainly a smoother transition than I expected.
2. A student called me Miss C! Until now, most students just say "Miss! Miss!" and don't really care whether they get me or my teacher to come help them. But today! They said my own name! It's the simple pleasures.
Also, students are getting to be pretty open, almost too much so. One sixth grader was really excited to tell me that he danced with a seventh grader at the dance they had on Friday. I gave him an awkward thumbs up for lack of anything else to say.
Another student came up to me before school and showed me his schedule, which he said had changed. He got moved up to Pre-AP English with my teacher! I was so excited for him, and I told him so, but he said that he wouldn't have me any more in class. I said I'd still be there during the flex period and whenever he wanted to talk to me. It was sweet that he was bummed about that, but there was so much to be excited about because he moved up!
Also, this morning a random lady and I shared a smile over two young girls and their mother when they got on the bus. Their hair was all done in braids and they had cute little bobbie socks on. I love sharing smiles. And then she complimented my hair and asked how I got it to curl just so. I told her I let it do what it wants and try not to anger it.
3. Attendance calls were a pretty big disaster today. Normally, we get a list of students who were absent from our attendance clerk during 3rd period so that late students have come in. We then take that list and call the ones who are absent to find out why they are absent/when they're coming back. Today, we got the data and made the calls, but several parents told us that they had dropped their kids off and that they had no idea why they would be absent. This happens a few times every day, and the parents find that their kids have been skipping class or wandering around, but today it was a lot. Come to find out that the attendance clerk gave us the absent list from the WRONG DAY. We had called so many wrong parents and their kids were actually in school! It was terrible. We had to call everyone back and apologize, which was really embarrassing. THEN we had to start the process all over again with the right list! It made us look really bad, but the mistake wasn't even our fault. The process took twice as long, unsurprisingly.
4. I grew today when I kicked my butt into gear and went for a run. Since moving to San Antonio, I have eaten my way all around town. Everyone needs to come visit me, if only for the delicious food. I have zero regrets about the amount of tacos and barbecue I have consumed, but I have regrets about the sedentary nature of my life to date. So, to reconcile with myself, I will exercise every day, and let myself indulge in whatever delicious food I desire within reason. We'll see how well it works out, but I know as soon as I leave San Antonio I will wish I had eaten infinitely more tacos, so there's no sense in depriving myself! Right?
5. Lexie and I are going to distribute our After School student interest survey tomorrow! I'm excited to start building our after school program into something that is really cool for students and that they can get a lot out of and grow into amazing young adults!
1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. I expected today to be like the step back in "two steps forward, one step back" because we missed school on Friday for our full day of City Year training. I enjoyed the training, especially seeing everyone again, but I missed being at school and I thought about my teacher often as well as about my students who normally are really disruptive, including Josue. But today was great! A lot of them said, "Miss, you're back! Where have you been?" It was nice to be missed. Josue even said that he wishes I could go around to all his classes with him. Dawww. It was certainly a smoother transition than I expected.
2. A student called me Miss C! Until now, most students just say "Miss! Miss!" and don't really care whether they get me or my teacher to come help them. But today! They said my own name! It's the simple pleasures.
Also, students are getting to be pretty open, almost too much so. One sixth grader was really excited to tell me that he danced with a seventh grader at the dance they had on Friday. I gave him an awkward thumbs up for lack of anything else to say.
Another student came up to me before school and showed me his schedule, which he said had changed. He got moved up to Pre-AP English with my teacher! I was so excited for him, and I told him so, but he said that he wouldn't have me any more in class. I said I'd still be there during the flex period and whenever he wanted to talk to me. It was sweet that he was bummed about that, but there was so much to be excited about because he moved up!
Also, this morning a random lady and I shared a smile over two young girls and their mother when they got on the bus. Their hair was all done in braids and they had cute little bobbie socks on. I love sharing smiles. And then she complimented my hair and asked how I got it to curl just so. I told her I let it do what it wants and try not to anger it.
3. Attendance calls were a pretty big disaster today. Normally, we get a list of students who were absent from our attendance clerk during 3rd period so that late students have come in. We then take that list and call the ones who are absent to find out why they are absent/when they're coming back. Today, we got the data and made the calls, but several parents told us that they had dropped their kids off and that they had no idea why they would be absent. This happens a few times every day, and the parents find that their kids have been skipping class or wandering around, but today it was a lot. Come to find out that the attendance clerk gave us the absent list from the WRONG DAY. We had called so many wrong parents and their kids were actually in school! It was terrible. We had to call everyone back and apologize, which was really embarrassing. THEN we had to start the process all over again with the right list! It made us look really bad, but the mistake wasn't even our fault. The process took twice as long, unsurprisingly.
4. I grew today when I kicked my butt into gear and went for a run. Since moving to San Antonio, I have eaten my way all around town. Everyone needs to come visit me, if only for the delicious food. I have zero regrets about the amount of tacos and barbecue I have consumed, but I have regrets about the sedentary nature of my life to date. So, to reconcile with myself, I will exercise every day, and let myself indulge in whatever delicious food I desire within reason. We'll see how well it works out, but I know as soon as I leave San Antonio I will wish I had eaten infinitely more tacos, so there's no sense in depriving myself! Right?
5. Lexie and I are going to distribute our After School student interest survey tomorrow! I'm excited to start building our after school program into something that is really cool for students and that they can get a lot out of and grow into amazing young adults!
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