Evolution of a Class Picture
How I spent my morning.
This was the second day of Let's Go 3 for my first morning class. Seriously? The sweetest kids in the world. I don't care how sweet you think your kid is, these are sweeter.
See the boy in the back and to my right? In the blue and white shirt? That's Danny, he's the one who wrote my name with hearts (HEARTS, y'all!) all over the margins in his book.
Now, my 9.45am Let's Go 3 class, which becomes Let's Go 4 next weekend, they're a wild bunch. They're my rock and roll class. All of the TAs hate this class; the kids are fantastic, really verbal and funny and smart. I, of course, encourage their creativity and funniness as much as I can. The class is constantly teetering on the knife edge between order and chaos, I hold it there by sheer force of personality and threatening to throw them out the window or down the stairs.
They know I can do it too, because I've beaten every single one of them more than once in arm wrestling.
Also, I'm louder.
Anyway, this class erupts into total mayhem the moment I step out of the room. No matter how many lines I set them to writing, or times I yell at them, they just lose their minds if I'm not in the room.
Usually, I have a good balance with my TAs: they, speaking the same language, know the kids emotionally; I know them intellectually. It's totally different with this class, all the TAs are outsiders to them, when we're in our groove, no one else exists. I hold every single one of these kids in the palm of my hand, I know their secret hearts.
I pity the teacher who will have to take this class over when I'm gone.
So we had to take our class picture six times, as some people arrived late and then half us looked like dorks and the other half looked pissed about it. Here's how it went.
Ah at last we're all here! What a bunch of goofballs and juvenile delinquents. They're lucky they're all so damned charming, I'd have skinned 'em alive by now. Oh, and these kids greet me with "We Will Rock You" when I come into the classroom (of course, that's not due to me, but football).
I was cracking up resizing these pictures.
This was the second day of Let's Go 3 for my first morning class. Seriously? The sweetest kids in the world. I don't care how sweet you think your kid is, these are sweeter.
See the boy in the back and to my right? In the blue and white shirt? That's Danny, he's the one who wrote my name with hearts (HEARTS, y'all!) all over the margins in his book.
Now, my 9.45am Let's Go 3 class, which becomes Let's Go 4 next weekend, they're a wild bunch. They're my rock and roll class. All of the TAs hate this class; the kids are fantastic, really verbal and funny and smart. I, of course, encourage their creativity and funniness as much as I can. The class is constantly teetering on the knife edge between order and chaos, I hold it there by sheer force of personality and threatening to throw them out the window or down the stairs.
They know I can do it too, because I've beaten every single one of them more than once in arm wrestling.
Also, I'm louder.
Anyway, this class erupts into total mayhem the moment I step out of the room. No matter how many lines I set them to writing, or times I yell at them, they just lose their minds if I'm not in the room.
Usually, I have a good balance with my TAs: they, speaking the same language, know the kids emotionally; I know them intellectually. It's totally different with this class, all the TAs are outsiders to them, when we're in our groove, no one else exists. I hold every single one of these kids in the palm of my hand, I know their secret hearts.
I pity the teacher who will have to take this class over when I'm gone.
So we had to take our class picture six times, as some people arrived late and then half us looked like dorks and the other half looked pissed about it. Here's how it went.
Ah at last we're all here! What a bunch of goofballs and juvenile delinquents. They're lucky they're all so damned charming, I'd have skinned 'em alive by now. Oh, and these kids greet me with "We Will Rock You" when I come into the classroom (of course, that's not due to me, but football).
I was cracking up resizing these pictures.