Oh my! It was one of those “nightmare mornings”! My alarm went off at 6:30 and I went to push the snooze (as I was very, very groggy) and I instead turned it off. So I usually leave at about 7:10 to drop Riss off and get to my school by 7:30, but today I woke up at 7:13!! And just to make things that much more interesting, Riss was still asleep too! Grr!!
Today was a day I wanted to get to school early but insted I was the latest ever! I needed to pick up papers in the copy room and fill all their homemade shoes with candy from los Tres Reyes Magos (3 Kings)! Luckily some early students helped me with this part.
I felt soo gross not being able to shower! Luckily the morning went by quick and I have a wonderful schedule so when I got home at 11:20, before going to M.S., I showered!! Now I feel a lil better and am almost ready for Part 2 of Monday!
It’s so upsetting that I bring in candy for everyone (again) and this time, not ONE student said thank you! I guess it’s my fault for still doing it even after they acted the same way last time. And in addition to no thanks, I had to fight them to pick up their wrapers etc. This is how kids get a bad name. Oh well! It’s just one day. I’m sure tomorrow will be better!
glitter-graphics.com
Categories: life · work
Tagged: life, Mondays, teenagers, work
Today I feel like my purpose for this school year is being revealed to me. It just kind of all hit me today but it’s actually been happening gradually over the school year.
My favorite part of being a teacher is not necessarily teaching Spanish but being there as a mentor, advocate, adult who cares for my students who really need it. This is what I had been lacking earlier in the year. I really wasn’t feeling the connections like I was making a difference in lives or needed.
Before Christmas break when I attended a seminar on bullying, I met a student who was very shy and picked on and we were in some of the same groups during group activities. At the end of the seminar she was crying and I befriended her. I never imagined that I really made an impact on her, but every since that day she has made a point to come to my classroom before homeroom to say hello. She gave me a candle for Christmas. None of my students did (which is fine, don’t get me wrong) but how nice of her! I had only met her a week previous. Today she confided in me that this was her first Christmas without her sister. Her sister was killed in a car crash last year as a Senior.
Another girl had been out of school for quite a while and I knew that before the absence she had been pretty ill. Diabetes, anxiety, depression, been through a bad break up…just in bad shape. I saw her at a local restaurant this weekend and asked if she was going to be back to school. She said she wasn’t sure if she was staying but would be back this week. She told me she had been in a hospital North of here. I told her that I was really looking forward to seeing her. Her and I had a nice relationship since the beginning of the school year. She has a lot of trouble with the subject and used to come for help after class before I went to the Middle School. Today she came in class late and then while the students were making their shoes for 3 Kings Day , she came to chat with me. She really confided in me: her reasons for being hospitalized, her plans to be emancipated from her Dad because she can’t live with him, that she is staying in a hotel by herself at 15 that her Dad pays for but never comes home to, that she has 3 doctors appointments a week in 2 different towns that she has to walk to. She walks up to a hour and a half each way in the cold to go to her appointments. I talked to her about the importance of staying in school and commended her positive outlook and how hard she was fighting the fight. She really appreciated our talk and said she understood that her diploma would be her “ticket out of here”.
Another student tells me often that there is no or very little food at home, that they are barely getting by, that her Mom left the state again this year and is never around, that her Dad isn’t her real dad but it’s where she lives…She is another one that had been bullied this year and I put a stop to it (at least when I’m around). She’s extremely artistic and always doodling. Today she brought me in a paper folded and real casually said to me “just something I made in art class”. It’s a purple butterfly! How ironic is that!!
I know I’ve written of this before but purple butterflies and white roses are “my sign”. My Mom, sis and I all have the same white rose, butterfly tattoo meaning that for eternity we’ll be together and whenever we see the white rose or purple butterfly, we’re on the right path and everything is o.k.
I believe my purpose is being revealed.
glitter-graphics.com
Categories: life · thoughts · work
Tagged: faith, purpose, teaching, teenagers, work
