Just coming off a four day weekend...well, Friday was an inservice day, so I guess it was a three day weekend. I spent it with my parents in Camp Hill which was fun and relaxing, and then yesterday afternoon I begrudgingly drove back to Delaware. But as an act of rebellion (even though no one else cares except me, so rebellion's probably not the right word) I didn't go in to school to finish my lesson plans. Take that, lesson plans. Instead I watched a very good French movie called The Chorus about a boarding school for troubled boys and an inspirational teacher who starts a choir. As my roommate noted, I'm a sucker for redemption stories about troubled kids, which you could probably figure out by looking at my career choice. Anyway, my night got even better when I saw there was an official winter storm warning for overnight. After a pretty sleepless night that involved checking my phone repeatedly to see if we had a delay, at 6:00 I got the text that school was canceled! Yes, I know we've had plenty of snow days, and this now puts our Day 100 celebration back yet another day, but ever since I missed our last snow day because I was recruiting, I was really hoping we'd have just one more. So now I am happy. We don't need any more snow days. I am now ready for spring. Oh, and the icing on the cake for today...the snow melted so I didn't have to dig out my car! It's the ultimate lazy snow day, and I don't feel guilty about my laziness, because I'm trying to knock out an irritating cold, so I figure it's good to take it easy. So far I've watched the Bachelor, started knitting a baby blanket (not for anyone in particular, but I have numerous friends having babies, so I figure it'll come in handy), started catching up on Grey's Anatomy, attempted to do a workout with my new stability ball (which was fine when I wasn't falling off of it), played some Sporcle, and drank tea while listening to Mumford and Sons.
Last week we had a nice Valentine's party at school with lots of sugary treats. Everyone brought cards, which was a pleasant surprise. We decorated cookies and sorted and graphed candy hearts. The weather was considerably nicer, so we had outside recess every day for the first time since before Christmas I think! That was nice, except there was some arguing about what games to play and kids feeling left out and stuff. One day, one of the girls was crying by herself near monkey bars, and when I asked what was wrong, she started explaining how one of the other girls had started a game called "Cheating" and was "cheating" on her with one of the boys i the class. I didn't really understand the exact dynamics of this game, but I'd heard enough to know it didn't sound like something I wanted them playing, so I gathered everyone together and asked them about it. It turns out one of the quietest girls in the class had come up with game. She was the mom, and then two kids were the two dads, and the mom would cheat on one dad with the other dad. I didn't know what to say about this, other than "don't play that," which didn't seem sufficient because there are so many other issues going on here. But it was time to go to lunch and that solved the immediate problem, so that's what I did for now.
Also last week, two of the kids were comparing stories about threats or acts of physical violence by their parents. One told the other about how her dad had threatened to bust her mom's windshield when they were fighting, and the other, seemingly trying to empathize with her, told about how his mom had "beat up a fat woman" on the street. Once again, I interjected with a pretty generic, "That's not OK, " or something along those lines, which definitely felt inadequate. There are times when we're able to have more in-depth conversations about things like this, and for the most part, the kids are pretty receptive to what I have to say. I always wonder how much it's going to stick, but I just try to be faithful in doing my part and trust God with the rest.
It's sad and scary to think I'll only be with these kids a few more months. I've started gradually bringing it up in class to help them start to understand that the school year's going to end. I always try to make it really positive about how they're all ready for first grade and are going to love it and stuff like that. But it's hard this year because I don't know if I'll be around the school next year or not, so I'm trying to avoid talking about that part. One of the girls started crying when we talked about summer last week. If I do end up leaving Urban Promise, it's going to be a hard, hard last couple months. Which definitely makes doing grad school at the University of Delaware sound more and more appealing (if I get in). I can't imagine leaving here, but for now I'll take it one day at a time and try to fully enjoy the rest of the school year. Only three days of school this week, then next week will be lots of fun with our Day 100 celebration and Read Across America day!
Last week we had a nice Valentine's party at school with lots of sugary treats. Everyone brought cards, which was a pleasant surprise. We decorated cookies and sorted and graphed candy hearts. The weather was considerably nicer, so we had outside recess every day for the first time since before Christmas I think! That was nice, except there was some arguing about what games to play and kids feeling left out and stuff. One day, one of the girls was crying by herself near monkey bars, and when I asked what was wrong, she started explaining how one of the other girls had started a game called "Cheating" and was "cheating" on her with one of the boys i the class. I didn't really understand the exact dynamics of this game, but I'd heard enough to know it didn't sound like something I wanted them playing, so I gathered everyone together and asked them about it. It turns out one of the quietest girls in the class had come up with game. She was the mom, and then two kids were the two dads, and the mom would cheat on one dad with the other dad. I didn't know what to say about this, other than "don't play that," which didn't seem sufficient because there are so many other issues going on here. But it was time to go to lunch and that solved the immediate problem, so that's what I did for now.
Also last week, two of the kids were comparing stories about threats or acts of physical violence by their parents. One told the other about how her dad had threatened to bust her mom's windshield when they were fighting, and the other, seemingly trying to empathize with her, told about how his mom had "beat up a fat woman" on the street. Once again, I interjected with a pretty generic, "That's not OK, " or something along those lines, which definitely felt inadequate. There are times when we're able to have more in-depth conversations about things like this, and for the most part, the kids are pretty receptive to what I have to say. I always wonder how much it's going to stick, but I just try to be faithful in doing my part and trust God with the rest.
It's sad and scary to think I'll only be with these kids a few more months. I've started gradually bringing it up in class to help them start to understand that the school year's going to end. I always try to make it really positive about how they're all ready for first grade and are going to love it and stuff like that. But it's hard this year because I don't know if I'll be around the school next year or not, so I'm trying to avoid talking about that part. One of the girls started crying when we talked about summer last week. If I do end up leaving Urban Promise, it's going to be a hard, hard last couple months. Which definitely makes doing grad school at the University of Delaware sound more and more appealing (if I get in). I can't imagine leaving here, but for now I'll take it one day at a time and try to fully enjoy the rest of the school year. Only three days of school this week, then next week will be lots of fun with our Day 100 celebration and Read Across America day!
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