what a difference a day makes
My boss's dad died this morning, of complications from an infection. My boss is an American citizen, his dad was Nigerian. I only mention this because according to his culture, as the oldest son, he now assumes parental responsiblity of his siblings, some of them are toddlers. He came into work today, I love him so, I came in when my mom died too, but he couldn't stay, he didn't have 20 kids giving him unconditional love. See, my boss is the principal, and coming in meant dealing with teachers, parents, kids, staff, all the while trying to get plane tickets, an appointment for a passport photo, and making arrangements. So, we kicked him out, I got to present my curriculum proposals to the staff, and I was completely poised and confident, something unlike me, but I felt like that was an appropriate way to show my love for him, and for the cherry on top, I followed up my presentation my personally going to each grade level meeting and showing them how to implement "faithful replication"
So, here we are, he is leaving for Nigeria, and who knows when he will be back, we don't even get a sub principal until August 16th and it's the third day of school. See, this is what makes me feel foolish about my useless self-pity. Just when you think you have all the drama, something heartbreaking happens to the undeserving. My boss has seen me through so much, the vandalism of my classroom, the loss of my mother, the myriad of parents who demanded their child be taken out of my too strict classroom, all the while, never losing patience with my emotional ranting ways.
I love him, my boss, he calls me his "Gate" teacher, but I know I am really his "special ed"
In other news, I started teaching today, and my kids responded so well I take back everything I said yesterday, I love each and every one of these guys, and they seem to know it already too. SEVEN, count them, SEVEN of my former students came to my room today, giving up their recess to touch a piece of the class they left behind, relatively unscathed.
I asked my children today if any of their teachers had ever told them that they were "easily distracted" or, "had a hard time staying on task". Ten of them raised their hands. I then told them, that I had a hard time focusing as well, and that's why I needed their help. I need their help to not interrupt my lesson on inference with their raising their hand to tell me there is a dead fly on the carpet, because then I will just focus on the fly, and forget what I was supposed to teach them. We had a bonding moment there. Who knew it would be that easy?
So, here we are, he is leaving for Nigeria, and who knows when he will be back, we don't even get a sub principal until August 16th and it's the third day of school. See, this is what makes me feel foolish about my useless self-pity. Just when you think you have all the drama, something heartbreaking happens to the undeserving. My boss has seen me through so much, the vandalism of my classroom, the loss of my mother, the myriad of parents who demanded their child be taken out of my too strict classroom, all the while, never losing patience with my emotional ranting ways.
I love him, my boss, he calls me his "Gate" teacher, but I know I am really his "special ed"
In other news, I started teaching today, and my kids responded so well I take back everything I said yesterday, I love each and every one of these guys, and they seem to know it already too. SEVEN, count them, SEVEN of my former students came to my room today, giving up their recess to touch a piece of the class they left behind, relatively unscathed.
I asked my children today if any of their teachers had ever told them that they were "easily distracted" or, "had a hard time staying on task". Ten of them raised their hands. I then told them, that I had a hard time focusing as well, and that's why I needed their help. I need their help to not interrupt my lesson on inference with their raising their hand to tell me there is a dead fly on the carpet, because then I will just focus on the fly, and forget what I was supposed to teach them. We had a bonding moment there. Who knew it would be that easy?