The past two weeks have been rather hectic and busy at the St Martin household. I spent the first week teaching kindergarten in Eensie’s class and this past week I have played catch up! I also managed to sneak in a pity party or two for myself!!
Eensie’s teachers went away two weeks ago to a reading conference in Chicago. I was asked to substitute teach for the week they were gone. I was quite hesitant because Eens is always a little monkey when I drop him off and pick him up. I didn’t know if I could effectively teach the rest of the children while dealing with Eens. After a few chats with the teachers and the principal, I decided to do it! It turned out to be a great week. Eensie was so well behaved, I was thankful and impressed! The rest of the children, whom I know quite well outside of school, were also fantastic! I’m sure I have my mommy friends to thank for possibly bribing their children for my benefit!!
We started off on Monday with a lovely pirate book. I thought I would impress the boys with my love for pirates. It turns out I actually ended up impressing them even more with the topless mermaid in one of the pictures. I learned straight away that I should preview everything before I dive right in!!!
I counted myself lucky that I only had one case of blood! One of the children got a little over excited for reading groups and knocked another one in the mouth with the book basket!! I feel very fortunate that I only had that one incident considering every time I had them standing nicely, the second I turned my back they somehow ended up in a pile on the floor!!
I struggled a bit with the non-English speakers. I have no training in teaching ESL, so I really didn’t have any strategies for those children who were learning to speak English. As a teacher it is easy to get frustrated when they don't follow directions, but I kept telling myself to imagine sitting in a classroom and the teacher only spoke Chinese. I would understand every few words, but not enough to really get the message.
After working for the entire week, I was exhausted, but excited that I survived! I'm sure the kids were very excited that their favorite teachers were back on Monday!!!
Last week I spent time trying to get myself organized again!! I have so much respect for working moms - I worked for one week and everything at home got turned upside down! I also allowed myself a couple of pity parties during the week, which unfortunately my dear, sweet sister had to deal with!! I was just anxious about going home for the summer! Of course we want to come back, but it is a bit difficult to keep everyone happy when you are not in your own home! It is also hard for the kids and I to be away from Danny - we are so used to spending all of our time together, so it throws us all a bit when we are apart for long periods of time. I know that is a good thing that we are so close knit, but it doesn't help in this situation! Danny is trying to make it easier on me and he will stay a little longer this summer because of Steph's wedding in July! I know in my heart it will all work out and there will be tears when we have to come back after a great summer, but right now the planning is clouding my frame of mind!!
No comments:
Post a Comment