I realized today that I haven’t blogged since two days before my dad died. My world is now divided into before and after him dying. On August 5th, I wrote a post and had no idea that two days later everything would change, and that it would be terrible.
But Papa enjoyed reading my blog, and he’d be glad that I was going to continue writing. He’d love my stories about teaching. I wish I could share them with him.
My mentor and friend told me that I should keep a journal about my teaching. I am 50 days in now, and I haven’t written anything down. I am going to try to be more diligent about writing. Teaching keeps a person darn busy.
I am teaching 2nd grade at a school comprised of primarily Hispanic students. Every one of my students are Hispanic and are English Language Learners. They are the absolute best. They are energetic and chatty, and man do they challenge my patience every single day. But at the same time, they are so curious, loving and generous, and I could not be happier to be spending my days with them.
A couple of little stories: They like it when I play music for them, and lately their favorite song is “Country Roads Take Me Home” by John Denver. I have no idea how they even know that song. One student knew it I think, and he asked me to play it. They all love it. I’ve started ending the day with this song.
They bring me stuffed animals as gifts. I say “are you sure you want to part with these”? They insist and I display them on my former tv stand above my desk. One day, a student brought me playdoh. “I thought your son might like to play with this.” These kids typically do not have a whole lot, but they share everything they have. They love hearing about Davey too. They want me to bring Davey, David and Buster to school so they can meet them. I will make sure that happens.
I have a bracelet that Papa made me on his lathe, and I wear it every day now. One of my students was so curious about how it was made. He kept asking me when I was going to show them a video of how to do it. I finally found a youtube video of a person making a bracelet on a lathe. He loved watching it.
This is not an easy fall for me, but I am very thankful for these students. I am glad I decided to start writing about them, because it reinforces to me just how lucky I am to be teaching them.
