Day 15: Happy and "Full of Children"

The best way to describe my day today is through a series of vignettes, most of which were overwhelmingly positive. Here goes...

• At our morning faculty meeting, my friend Sam led us in a group activity in which we sat on the gym floor and closed our eyes. She invited a few people to stand up and walk around the group. As they did, she called out prompts to them and they were invited to tap on the shoulder any teachers to whom they felt the statement applied. As someone who is self-admittedly self-conscious and constantly seeking approval, this exercise was one of the most touching experiences of my professional life (no pun intended). I was tapped many times for a variety of beautiful things. In fact, for some of them, I was tapped by four or more people, which meant they went out of their way to find me in the circle and tap me. Among those were "Which teacher(s) light(s) up the room with their presence?" and "Which teacher(s) is/are going to make the biggest impact on the lives of their students?" I suppose it is possible that everyone was tapped for every question, but given how many taps I received for those particular prompts, they really stuck out to me.
• One of my advisees who was sick yesterday came in today. He was quiet and a little bit of a smart-aleck, but he was still very sweet.
• My first class of the day (which was the latter class yesterday, since we flip schedules on T/Th) was much more well-behaved and receptive than before. I was observed and filmed for the first half of the period and it went about as well as I could have asked for, which was great because it meant my feedback was directed specifically at my teaching itself rather than my disciplinary abilities, which I already recognize to be one of my areas of weakness and am working on improving.
• My second class was decidedly less well-behaved, but still engaged with the material.
• At lunch, an adorable little 5th grade student told me that my moves as I danced to the music while the kids were arriving this morning were "sweet".
• At recess, some of my new 5th grade pals and I decided to build a giant Rube Goldberg-style track contraption of sorts, using a dodgeball in place of a marble. It was a blast.

• After I built this, I went over to the playground where some slightly older children peer pressured me into trying out a contraption which I am now referring to solely as the spinning wheel of death. As someone who typically likes the Tilt-O-Whirl, I can say this was the most intensely dizzying experience I have had in a long time.
• Right before recess ended, another adorable 5th grader asked me what my name was and asked me if I felt happy. I said of course I felt happy, to which she replied, "Good, today is a happy day because you're full of children." As poorly as that was phrased, she wasn't wrong.
• In my elective class, our students watched the famous Monty Python "Ministry of Silly Walks" video and then made their own silly walks, which was so much fun to watch.
• Lauren and I modelled for our elective class what improv games should look like, and in the process, she attempted for the first time to mimic an American accent. I have not laughed so hard in a loooong time.
• When we finally turned the improv games over to the students, I was BLOWN AWAY by their quick wit and sharp jokes. Despite being just 10-11 years old, they show a lot of potential as comedians. Perhaps there are some future Mask and Wig/Bloomers troupe members among them? ;-)
• My advisory period was much better than yesterday. Some of my kids finished all of their homework, and then we spent the last ten minutes playing Hangman together. Eric stumped the lot of us by using the word "quartz", which I thought was brilliant given that no one would ever guess 'q' or 'z'!
• I wrote and starred in our ASM skit today along with Lauren and our friend Lee. It was the riveting tale of a Breakthrough student who didn't want to do his homework (me) and his two friends (them) who help show him the value of homework and coach him through it together. In the end he shows gratitude for the experiences he gets at Breakthrough (our word of the day!)
• After school, we had a contest to see which teachers could fit a whole half-peach from a can into their mouth in one bite. I am proud to say I was one of the victors, and the peach was delicious.
• After spending several hours lesson planning and prepping for tomorrow, I took an impromptu trip with Tyschell, Sam and Cristi to get pizza and milkshakes at a local restaurant, which was a terrific end to a much happier day. We laughed a lot, talked about our students and our incredible coworkers, and had a blast. Cristi ordered an avocado milkshake, which was wrong on many levels; in the first place, ew. In the second, as we learned after the fact, she is allergic to avocado and started to lose feeling in her lips and drooled all over. Sam then proceeded to almost choke on her bubble tea smoothie from laughing so hard. A strange man came in and announced it was his birthday, to which we, without missing a beat, broke out into the Breakthrough-specific birthday song. At the end, having been very impressed by our showing, the pizzeria owner gave us each free bottles of water.
• After parting ways, I walked with Tyschell to the local Safeway so she could buy brownie mix for her kids in her elective. We had a nice talk about our love lives and teacher aspirations.
• Ultimately, I returned home today as drained as ever, but also uplifted and more confident than before that I am where I need to be, with the people I need to be around and doing something which actually makes a difference.

Invariably, tomorrow is a new day with its own challenges and rewards, but for now, I am relieved, I am happy and I am certainly "full of children".

PICTURES:

Our recess marble machine!

The Spinning Metal Deathtrap

Our Acting students practicing face exercises and body tensing

Chris nails the peach challenge! 

The pizza place had mirrors in front of the seats, and I realized it was (I think) the first time in my life that I ever just sat and watched myself eat. It was interesting to say the least. Hence, selfie.
 

Clockwise from top left: Cristi, Tyschell, Sam and I with our hard-earned birthday-won bottles of water!

Until next time,

Nate