My Last Monday

When I woke up I was in an unbelievably good mood. I could not stop smiling because I was going to make the best of the last three days I had with my learners. We had been voluntold to lead devotion during our staff meeting. My contribution was leading "Peace Like a River." We were a little pitchy, but eventually got the hang of it. Afterwards our principal came up to us and told us how much she like the song and how she wanted us to sing it again before we left. Allison led the actual devotion for our staff meeting and then Liz led the devotion for the assembly. Both girls did a tremendous job and spoke to the message of fighting and beating. Allison challenged the teachers to make every interaction with learners a positive one and to question each interaction to see if it is positive. It was pretty well received. There were several "mmmhmmms" and "amens." One of the head of departments even took it to type it. Liz put a challenge to the learners to treat others the way you want to be treated, so if you get beaten walk away and pray for them.

After the devotion the guidance counselor invited us all up to say something to all of the learners. I just briefly thanked everyone for being so welcoming and told them that I learned a lot and that I would never forget them. I made it brief because I was about to cry.

 Within the last couple of years, the school has instituted a reading period right after break. Each grade level is provided with a reading selection to spend the entire week on. The reading selections are not ideal. This week's selection has two sentences. It reads (the capitalization error is included):

Arabs often give names to their camels. The name of the camel on the left is Camil. the one in the middle is called Hakim and Fredda is the name of the camel which is kneeling.

A picture is included with "Arabs" and their camels. Comprehension questions are included such as, "What are the men and women in the picture?" and  "In their country, there is never any rain. What do we call a country where rain never falls?"

It did not provide a whole lot to work with because it is so short. So, we labeled the camels in the picture (first we had to learn the trick for distinguishing right from left), then we voted on a name for our "class" camel. Kristin was unanimously chosen, which I am not sure if I should be flattered or offended. We then sang "Sally the Camel, except it was changed to "Kristin the Camel." They liked the "Boom, boom, boom" part.

When I was teaching English today I was interrupted by my teacher, who asked which of the students who of them had lost a parent. Probably about seven of my students raised their hands. She called on them one by one and asked if it was their mother, father, or both. It was required for school records, but still.

My day ended with me breaking up a fight with two of my learners. I had to physically tear them off of each other. They were sent to the office, but the sad thing is is that they were probably beaten in the office.

I feel like this blog post is not as positive as it usually is. I would not say that today was a bad day, but it was just a little disappointing. I recognize that each school, and each job for that matter has some frustrations and disappointments. My biggest frustration and disappointment today was just the fact that I did not get to teach as much as I would have liked, in my own teaching style. However, I arranged to teach a math and a science class tomorrow, so hopefully tomorrow feels like a more productive day.

To end on a positive note, I took my camera into school today. Everybody wanted me to "catch" a picture of them, so here are some from today. Enjoy!

Me with some of my 5C learners

My classroom seems a great deal smaller when there are learners in the desks