Gettin' My Teacher-Game On!

All things considered, the first day of school went relatively smoothly! Of course, I am learning a lot as I go and constantly evaluating and adjusting my teaching. (For instance, I don't know how much more utterly silent independent work we will be doing in class, as it was only somewhat productive and I didn't know what to do with myself during the time. Independent-time might come back, but only on rare occasions, I'm thinking.) I've also learned the necessity of communicating with the utmost clarity and have been virtually kicking myself for several things I neglected to mention in class. Regardless of my faults though, the students are all very courteous and it was a pleasure to read their first papers--a simple introduction I assigned before school began. I can already tell it's going to be an excellent year and I am going to be learning a lot about what it means to be a teacher!

Small Steps of Faith

Used under CC0 license via Unsplash

Adrenalin rushing and heart pounding, I considered a radically different future than all my carefully structured plans could ever paint. Why? In a word, a book. Over the weekend, I finally finished reading David Platt's book Radical. The subtitle, "taking back your faith from the American dream" expresses Platt's examination of how the iconic concept of the "American Dream" has distorted and diluted the gospel message. Honing in on the command of the Great Commission, "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 20), Platt proposes that Biblical Christianity is much more radical than we've made it out to be in American culture. As I read, this book challenged me to re-think my mindset about my future and role in global mission work. The text convicted me to move but I didn't know where or how. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of the (im)possibilities before me, I began with one tiny step--reaching out. Indeed, there was an email collecting virtual dust in my inbox with two missions-related resources: Brad Voeller's contact info, and a link to GoCorps.org. 

Fry-day Stats

Stats:

episodes of The Office: 3 (awkwardness level: 8)
movies: 3
orders of french fries: 5
rainy days: 2
errands run today: 6
lessons planned: 8
latest celebrity crush: Sophie Marceau
reading: Carpe Diem by Autumn Cornwell
learning: 7am is not. early. enough. to go running
highlights: IEW en français! making mail art! skyping with Maike!
looking forward to: the start of the next soccer season, and the first day of school!

Weekly Update:

This week brimmed with lesson-planning, movie-watching and french-fry eating. #noshame #OKmaybealittlebit Of course, there have been plenty of productive things mixed in there like reading, self-reflection, errands, and quality time with people (Jake, the fam, Maike, and Melissa)! And I've hit all my pre-school (not preschool) goals for the week--which included the aforementioned reading, mailing a few important letters, and answering emails. In fact, despite the fries and movies, I've been a busy lady!

The only other news to report (besides my first day of teaching on Monday!!!! Ahhhhh! Ohmygosh. Ohmygosh. Ohmygosh. *hyperventilating*) is that once again, dad and I are training for another 5K, this time with Cameron in tow! This one will be a cross-country race on a pumpkin farm! A pumpkin farm!! For this race, my goal is to run the whole thing! Stay tuned, come October!

IEW en français!

Img by Jonathan Reyes, used under attribution-noncommercial license

The curriculum we use for the writing program at Veritas is called Institute for Excellence in Writing (or IEW) and the program steadily teaches children how to write by having them rewrite paragraphs incorporating stylistic techniques as they go. In this way, the program teaches students the style and technique of writing while removing the pressure to invent original, creative content simultaneously. As students mature, less content is supplied by the teacher (or article or whatever) and more content is generated by the student. It’s a very useful program that makes writing easy for kids, especially boys who are primarily concerned with fort-making. 

More Exciting News

This morning's breakfast

Stats:

journal entries: 7/7
students: 13
movies watched: 4
hours spent in Starbucks: 5
lessons planned: 15%
feeling: excited and overwhelmed
reading: Radical by David Platt
learning: it's okay to not know what I'm doing
highlights: Jake is acting for Gaslight theater! Having old friends over for dinner, meeting my students!
goals for this week: 1) finish Radical by the first day of school 2) send out an overdue package 3) finish planning the first quarter

Weekly Update: 

Since I posted about meeting my students yesterday, there isn't much to report in the form of this weekly update. But we had the privilege of hosting dinner for a few friends visiting from Santa Rosa. There was a lot of catching up to do amidst much laughter, story-telling, and great food!

In other news this week, Jake has accepted a position with Gaslight theater as an understudy!! Gaslight is a long-running playhouse here in Tucson, known for their dinner-and-a-show style comedy theater. We went and saw one of their shows, "Ghost Blasters" on Tuesday. Everyone there is very talented and I am confident that Jake will make an excellent addition to their team! (and I'm only a little biased.) We are both very excited for this opportunity for him to continue acting.

Next week, I'll be doing a lot of lesson-planning and miscellaneous tasks in preparation for the first day of school on August 18th(!!!!) Stay tuned to find out how it goes!

Middle Schoolers like Batman and Bacon

Courtesy of Death to Stock Photo

"Once upon a time, Batman ate a lizard and a [noun I can't remember]. He got sick and he went to the mall and had a ginger-ale. The bacon consumed Batman. A man pounded the bacon... To be continued" 

Apparently, 7th graders love Batman and Bacon, as they composed the above short story in class. Today, I got to meet all my students in 7th and 8th grade and talk about what we'll be learning in writing class this year! I'm not gonna lie; I was more nervous than the adolescent bird we found in our carport, but the day went pretty smoothly and I'm feeling better now that I've met the students.

The first class was difficult because 5/6 students were ten minutes late, so I had that awkward moment making small chit-chat with the one student in my class. Then, I made a spur-of-the moment executive decision to deviate from my notes and not talk extensively about the class rules (a mistake I will not make in the future), so I ran through my content for today's lesson so quickly, I had 8 minutes left to spare! To be truthful, I would've panicked if I hadn't thought of a game to play while sitting in on the math class just prior to mine. So, to fill time, we wrote the above story about Batman and Bacon together, one word at a time. I am most proud of the words "ginger-ale," "consumed," and "pounded" because those were the moments where I encouraged the kids to give me a quality noun and strong verbs. They are already off to a great start!

The bacon theme continued in my second class when I asked my students to tell me their name, favorite food, and highlight of the summer. Both the boys listed bacon as their favorite foods! This second class was much easier because I learned from my first mistake! "I have one rule in my classroom," I told them, "and that is respect.
"Scripture calls us to respect God, respect authority, and respect one another. What are some ways that we do this in the classroom?"

Bam. Hands raised, and my 8th graders knew all the right answers and that was that. We talked about what we would be learning over the year, reviewed MLA format for all of our assignments, and even discussed some of the "extra credit" projects that would be available. I gave them their first assignment to turn in on the first day of school--just 2-3 paragraphs about themselves so I can get to know them better. I'm looking forward to reading what they write!

After my classes were finished, I lingered around the school a little to observe classes and collaborate with the other literature/writing teacher on assignment topics. The more I get into this, the more my nerves dissipate and I start to think, "This is going to be a great year!"

Friday Stats

Stats:

hours spent in teacher training: 13
cups of coffee: 4
movies watched: 3
podcasts listened to: 7
mood: excited
currently reading: Radical by David Platt

Weekly Update:

Whew! It has been quite a while since I've posted stats or a decent update! It's funny how fast life slips by in the summer. Most of the big stuff that's happened this month has already been posted. I'm still recovering emotionally from my week serving as a counselor for Royal Family Kid's Camp (links to their main website), which is the main reason why I haven't written about it yet. (I intend to, but who knows if it will actually make it onto the blog.) In case the piece does not get published here, let me just say that it was intense, but it was also an incredible and life-changing week.

There were so many times where I literally thought, "Oh God, I cannot do this. I am never doing this again. Why did I sign up for this? This camp is the worst thing I have ever volunteered for!" etc. etc. I didn't believe Kristina at training when she told us we'd be in the fetal position, crying and flicking the lights on and off by the end of the week; but I was hysterical--sobbing my guts out, outside the craft room hysterical--by day 2. But you know what? When you pour out yourself, your whole self, for the ones God loves, He gives you supernatural strength to endure. I was right in those moments where I thought, "I can't do this." Because I really couldn't, but through the Lord's strength he enabled me to keep making those sacrifices, even without the reward of recognition. And there were lots of sacrifices--I smashed beetles and caught bugs with my bare hands. I quietly took care of pee clothes after one of my campers wet the bed. I carried water bottles Bibles and miscellaneous items in my backpack at all times. I gently reminded my campers of the rules every hour of the day. I gave my boyfriend only side hugs all week long, because "At Royal Family, we give really good side hugs!" My personal space was violated almost every day. I wrote kind notes when there was no kindness left in me.

God gave me everything I needed and more--patience, kindness, strength. And by the end of the week, complaints and fatigue and all, I could still say with a smile (and maybe the twinkle of a tear or two in my eye) that yes, I could do it again. It was one of the most challenging weeks of my life, but by God's grace I survived and by his Spirit, I will serve again in the future. If you are interested in serving foster kids who have been neglected and abused, please don't let this scare you off. It's not an easy sell, but at the end of the day, it truly is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

That turned out to be much longer than I thought! Otherwise, I think it's safe to say that work has effectively consumed much of my time lately. Lots of remote work for CP and paperwork (and fingerprints!) for the Academy, plus teacher training the last three days and all the time that reading the manual and prepping lessons takes.... I've been a busy lady. But I am grateful that things have fallen into place for now. I can deal with the hectic activity for now, knowing that a routine is coming in the very near future. (And hopefully more of these updates!)