"Yay!"

Today was much better in pretty much every way from the past few days.

I did my first "pull-out" tutoring session during class today, and when I told one of the students that he'd be spending some time with me at the beginning of class, he literally said, "Yay!" 

Also, a positive from a couple days ago was that I had to talk to a student about his behavior in our afterschool program, and I said, "You know, I want this to be fun for you and I would really rather not have to yell at you ever." And he responded, "Miss, you've never yelled at me!" I'm glad he feels that way.

Also, a student led a couple cheers today during power greeting and his normal outgoing self turned into adorable shyness. 

One of the teachers that I've only spoken to once came up to me while I was working in the library, patted my back, and said, "You guys are such a blessing to this school." :)

Today was the dance. And I completely forgot how awful/wonderful junior high dances are in every way. It was comforting to know that this dance was extremely similar to my own junior high dance experiences. City Year had a VIP room set up for students who had kept 100% attendance for the first 9 weeks, complete with games, face paint, and a photo booth! A few students hung around in there for the entire time and I heard "This is way more fun than out there!!" more than once. One of my students lost to me at Jenga and then kept challenging me to games as a "rematch." I obviously didn't let any of the kids win on purpose because then what would they learn? 

Also, I had a good "Boiler Up!" moment with a teacher at my school who is a fellow Purdue alum because today was college shirt day and I obviously was wearing my Old Gold & Black. And it just so happened that when Alex said he didn't really have a college shirt, I made sure I brought a Purdue shirt for him to wear. How lucky! 

And yesterday a 6th grader who lives in Alex's apt. complex and hangs around his roommate asked for help with her homework, so I obliged. In the middle of our testing for factors of numbers, she said, "I like you, Mae, you're cool." :)

In the midst of all the negativity I've gotten from students the last couple days, there have been a lot of positive things, so I wanted to make sure I reflected on those. My mind finds it much easier to dwell on students who don't like me or reject me and downplay the ones who show me affection and approval. I'll work on letting those dominate my thoughts. 

Tomorrow is a half day!!!! For the students, that is. But we get to have a team potluck for lunch and I'm bringing apple cider. Yummmmm.