I'll miss you
Valmir's own goodbye...
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Feelin' the Love
Today, I felt lots love. It was our last day with kids.
As usual, I stood at the door to welcome everyone. I was greeted by the usual hellos, how are yous and several sweet gifts which included a silver shiny lotus flower candle holder (cuz you're moving to India and that's like their flower), a Sobral Cobacabana inspired ring, a mug with Portuguese writing and a Korean wallet which reminds me of the hanboks I saw in shop windows.
After morning meeting, we started the day celebrating their memoir writing. Erica and I combined both classes memoirs into one third grade book. Each trio of authors shared their stories followed by two compliments from their peers. Then of course there had to be an autograph session for the authors to sign each others work.
We celebrated the end of the year with an ice cream party outside behind our classrooms before field day. Team M (my team) rotated around to seven different stations "competing" against other teams along the way. The teams were a mix of all grade levels and classes making them a fun mix of kids. I had two former students along with new faces in my group.
After field day, the kids returned to the classroom where I had compiled their Top Ten of third grade into a Wordle document. The Cool V.I.K.s loved (counting down):
10. Field Day, New Books Arrived (they had fundraised and I brought back about 30 books at semester) and Read-A-Thon
9. Book Fair (kids perform and also buy books)
8. Book Clubs
7. Miss Megan Returned (from my surprise trip to the U.S.)
6. Brasilia Field Trip (saw the sights and learned about the city's unique history)
5. Silent Ball (gotta love a game of toss where one of the rules is you have to remain silent).
4. GleEAB (mentioned on previous post)
3. First Day of School
2. My parents visit to Brasilia (that one really made me smile)
1. Nex (field trip to Jaguar sanctuary where we saw rescued jaguars, ocelots, panthers and pumas and cooled off under a waterfall).
The kids got a chance to trace their top ten and then gather email and Skype addresses. I have four students and myself leaving EAB. You all know where I'm headed. The students are going to: the U.S., Malayasia, Sweden and Spain. While they were gathering this important info, two parents stopped by. Both started by telling me that they knew I was going to hear that I was their child's favorite teacher but they really meant it.
One mother, told me that her son loves me and that with my care and attention, he's become a better person this year. He loves school and has felt so comfortable. She told me that he's been sad for weeks that I'm going and that she hopes I'll visit and if I do, I need to stay with them. This mother has been such a supporter all year long and just wonderful to work with. I had to say goodbye to this student before the end of the day and was just heart-broken as he's been such a light this year.
The second mother and I have had our ups and downs. She and I see a lot of things similarly but she's got high expectations but has a realistic picture of her son. Her son's just an amazing child who has so much potential. He spent K - 2 being the class clown for attention and does have a great sense of humor but doesn't love school so much. We've worked ALOT on his behavior, attitude, responsibility for actions and self-control. I'm so proud of him and today I learned what this work meant to her. She came into the room, saw me in tears and began to cry which shocked me. I quickly looked around for her son who then I realized I'd sent back to the bathroom to rewash his face (he had black face paint on it from field day). My heart sunk until she came and hugged me. She shared that I'd made the biggest difference in her son's life this year and that with my help, he'd started to become the boy she always knew he could be. He just needed someone to be tough to show him he could do it.
I was now full-on snotty, gross, crying teacher. I let the kids work for a bit more and then pulled them together.
We had a final game of frogger which is a class favorite. For my teacher readers, frogger is a game where one child is a frog who's rather hungry. To eat, the frog sticks out their tongue quickly at the remaining students who are flies. By doing this, they are eaten and die usually a rather painful overly dramatic death. All of this happens while a fellow classmates tries to guess the frogs identity.
To end the day, we sat in our same circle we'd sat 200 days so far and gave all of the kids a chance to share about this year, their feelings and what they just thought in the moment. Here are a few highlights:
"This year my parents got divorced. It was hard. Lots of you know what it's like and you made me feel better. You could tell when I was sad and you made me happy with hugs and nice things you told me."
"So, you guys know that sometimes I'm not very nice. I can be mean especially when we play games and especially soccer. I'm a bad sport sometimes. And you guys even after I was mean would ask me to play again. I just wanna say thanks for being my friends. I wish you lotsa luck in your new schools and in the future."
"Miss Megan. We could fill a swimming pool with all of the tears in here."
Out of the 18 present, more than half were in tears. I was teary but wanted to end with something positive. We did a final huddle and yelled "VIKs" and then dismissed the kids a few at a time for a final hug, handshake or high five. Mostly hugs.
I had a few more special moments after school with kids and I could share those but what really struck me is that this has probably been my second most challenging class of my career. Today made all of the blood, sweat, tears, beers, complaining, work, consuling, emails, meetings and more worth it. This class has a special bond that I felt like will be important for them for a long, long time.
One of these moments included a particular girl. One who started the year in a pretty mean way. She complained. She was rude to teachers and students. She moaned and groaned. She avoided work and blamed everyone for her mistakes. This girl though, has made major strides. She problem-solves. She helps others without being asked. She gives hugs even when she doesn't want to but knows her classmate has asked and needs it. She sobbed after school. I gave her a long, hard hug. I told her (please know that after the work we've done I was being honest due to the types of conversations we've had) that at the beginning of the year she was mean. She was rude and people were frustrated with her a lot. I squeezed her tighter and told her as I touched her heart. I said that this, her heart, is what changed this year. She let people in. I told her I knew it was hard and that even though her report card didn't show it that the work she'd done was some of the most difficult of all. I told her she now was loving and kind and that by opening her heart her classmates liked her. I told her that sometimes opening her heart actually made her hurt more but that she had to leave it open so others could learn what a wonderful, compassionate kid she is. I told her I was so proud of her and that I loved her. While I was telling her this, her mom was standing nearby. Her mom speaks just a bit of English so another parent translated what I said. Her mom started to cry too.
Wow. I realize this is a really long post. I want these documented so when I have a tough day in the future, I can be reminded of why what I do is so important. It's not a perfect post and it lacks some of the details but to me today couldn't have been a more perfect last day with my students. This year I loved my kids hard and today the love was sent right back.
As usual, I stood at the door to welcome everyone. I was greeted by the usual hellos, how are yous and several sweet gifts which included a silver shiny lotus flower candle holder (cuz you're moving to India and that's like their flower), a Sobral Cobacabana inspired ring, a mug with Portuguese writing and a Korean wallet which reminds me of the hanboks I saw in shop windows.
After morning meeting, we started the day celebrating their memoir writing. Erica and I combined both classes memoirs into one third grade book. Each trio of authors shared their stories followed by two compliments from their peers. Then of course there had to be an autograph session for the authors to sign each others work.
We celebrated the end of the year with an ice cream party outside behind our classrooms before field day. Team M (my team) rotated around to seven different stations "competing" against other teams along the way. The teams were a mix of all grade levels and classes making them a fun mix of kids. I had two former students along with new faces in my group.
After field day, the kids returned to the classroom where I had compiled their Top Ten of third grade into a Wordle document. The Cool V.I.K.s loved (counting down):
10. Field Day, New Books Arrived (they had fundraised and I brought back about 30 books at semester) and Read-A-Thon
9. Book Fair (kids perform and also buy books)
8. Book Clubs
7. Miss Megan Returned (from my surprise trip to the U.S.)
6. Brasilia Field Trip (saw the sights and learned about the city's unique history)
5. Silent Ball (gotta love a game of toss where one of the rules is you have to remain silent).
4. GleEAB (mentioned on previous post)
3. First Day of School
2. My parents visit to Brasilia (that one really made me smile)
1. Nex (field trip to Jaguar sanctuary where we saw rescued jaguars, ocelots, panthers and pumas and cooled off under a waterfall).
The kids got a chance to trace their top ten and then gather email and Skype addresses. I have four students and myself leaving EAB. You all know where I'm headed. The students are going to: the U.S., Malayasia, Sweden and Spain. While they were gathering this important info, two parents stopped by. Both started by telling me that they knew I was going to hear that I was their child's favorite teacher but they really meant it.
One mother, told me that her son loves me and that with my care and attention, he's become a better person this year. He loves school and has felt so comfortable. She told me that he's been sad for weeks that I'm going and that she hopes I'll visit and if I do, I need to stay with them. This mother has been such a supporter all year long and just wonderful to work with. I had to say goodbye to this student before the end of the day and was just heart-broken as he's been such a light this year.
The second mother and I have had our ups and downs. She and I see a lot of things similarly but she's got high expectations but has a realistic picture of her son. Her son's just an amazing child who has so much potential. He spent K - 2 being the class clown for attention and does have a great sense of humor but doesn't love school so much. We've worked ALOT on his behavior, attitude, responsibility for actions and self-control. I'm so proud of him and today I learned what this work meant to her. She came into the room, saw me in tears and began to cry which shocked me. I quickly looked around for her son who then I realized I'd sent back to the bathroom to rewash his face (he had black face paint on it from field day). My heart sunk until she came and hugged me. She shared that I'd made the biggest difference in her son's life this year and that with my help, he'd started to become the boy she always knew he could be. He just needed someone to be tough to show him he could do it.
I was now full-on snotty, gross, crying teacher. I let the kids work for a bit more and then pulled them together.
We had a final game of frogger which is a class favorite. For my teacher readers, frogger is a game where one child is a frog who's rather hungry. To eat, the frog sticks out their tongue quickly at the remaining students who are flies. By doing this, they are eaten and die usually a rather painful overly dramatic death. All of this happens while a fellow classmates tries to guess the frogs identity.
To end the day, we sat in our same circle we'd sat 200 days so far and gave all of the kids a chance to share about this year, their feelings and what they just thought in the moment. Here are a few highlights:
"This year my parents got divorced. It was hard. Lots of you know what it's like and you made me feel better. You could tell when I was sad and you made me happy with hugs and nice things you told me."
"So, you guys know that sometimes I'm not very nice. I can be mean especially when we play games and especially soccer. I'm a bad sport sometimes. And you guys even after I was mean would ask me to play again. I just wanna say thanks for being my friends. I wish you lotsa luck in your new schools and in the future."
"Miss Megan. We could fill a swimming pool with all of the tears in here."
Out of the 18 present, more than half were in tears. I was teary but wanted to end with something positive. We did a final huddle and yelled "VIKs" and then dismissed the kids a few at a time for a final hug, handshake or high five. Mostly hugs.
I had a few more special moments after school with kids and I could share those but what really struck me is that this has probably been my second most challenging class of my career. Today made all of the blood, sweat, tears, beers, complaining, work, consuling, emails, meetings and more worth it. This class has a special bond that I felt like will be important for them for a long, long time.
One of these moments included a particular girl. One who started the year in a pretty mean way. She complained. She was rude to teachers and students. She moaned and groaned. She avoided work and blamed everyone for her mistakes. This girl though, has made major strides. She problem-solves. She helps others without being asked. She gives hugs even when she doesn't want to but knows her classmate has asked and needs it. She sobbed after school. I gave her a long, hard hug. I told her (please know that after the work we've done I was being honest due to the types of conversations we've had) that at the beginning of the year she was mean. She was rude and people were frustrated with her a lot. I squeezed her tighter and told her as I touched her heart. I said that this, her heart, is what changed this year. She let people in. I told her I knew it was hard and that even though her report card didn't show it that the work she'd done was some of the most difficult of all. I told her she now was loving and kind and that by opening her heart her classmates liked her. I told her that sometimes opening her heart actually made her hurt more but that she had to leave it open so others could learn what a wonderful, compassionate kid she is. I told her I was so proud of her and that I loved her. While I was telling her this, her mom was standing nearby. Her mom speaks just a bit of English so another parent translated what I said. Her mom started to cry too.
Wow. I realize this is a really long post. I want these documented so when I have a tough day in the future, I can be reminded of why what I do is so important. It's not a perfect post and it lacks some of the details but to me today couldn't have been a more perfect last day with my students. This year I loved my kids hard and today the love was sent right back.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
One Sister for Sale!
Today for some reason reminds me of the Shel Silverstein poem, "One Sister for Sale!"
One of the lines goes something like this..."Do I hear a dollar? A nickel A penny? Oh isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any one kid who'll buy this old sister for sale?"
No, I'm not selling the Goo but I had my Looney Sale here in Brazil. I sold things like my microwave, lamps, kitchen stuff, garbage cans, etc. I sold a lot of it. This is great so I can have some money this summer to use toward buying things for India, like a new queen bed. Ahhh, that makes me happy just thinking about it.
People are picking up their items this evening. So far three people have come and they've all been just lovely. Sharing stories and chatting.
There are supposed to be 5 more people coming. And they are supposed to come in the next 15 minutes.
Any bets on whether they'll come or not?
Alright, off to do one final bank email and then some packing. I've procrastinated long enough tonight but on a positive note have caught up on some emails and arranged two more shippers to come and give me estimates in late June. More soon...
One of the lines goes something like this..."Do I hear a dollar? A nickel A penny? Oh isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any one kid who'll buy this old sister for sale?"
No, I'm not selling the Goo but I had my Looney Sale here in Brazil. I sold things like my microwave, lamps, kitchen stuff, garbage cans, etc. I sold a lot of it. This is great so I can have some money this summer to use toward buying things for India, like a new queen bed. Ahhh, that makes me happy just thinking about it.
People are picking up their items this evening. So far three people have come and they've all been just lovely. Sharing stories and chatting.
There are supposed to be 5 more people coming. And they are supposed to come in the next 15 minutes.
Any bets on whether they'll come or not?
Alright, off to do one final bank email and then some packing. I've procrastinated long enough tonight but on a positive note have caught up on some emails and arranged two more shippers to come and give me estimates in late June. More soon...
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Today I...
- Went to bed at 1:30 a.m. after ending a work conference Skype call at 12:15.
- Takes some time to wind down after talking about writing for an hour with my new boss, new reading specialist and a writing consultant. I got the shaft in the time zones.
- Proctored a math test covering decimals and the kids did great,
- Said goodbye to my amazing and wonderful maid Davina because unfortunately ans sadly her mother passed away (done during the test),
- Determined placements for my students into their 4th grade classes,
- Don't like this one for many different reasons. The biggest one is that I won't be here or with them next year.
- Watched third graders create decorations for a baby shower,
- Blue monkeys? Well, he is a boy...duh!
- Helped a third grader to realize that when your water bottle falls off your desk 4 times that there's gotta be a better location for it,
- In my room the sound is awful so this is just so loud and interrupts everything but it's really annoying when it's 4 times in a 5 minute time span.
- Wrote my final parent email of the year,
- Called the Indian Embassy,
- Read my other blog if you want to learn more about this call.
- Met with a student book club for the last time,
- We had such an awesome, easy and intelligent discussion.
- Was amazed by my teaching assistant's McGyver skills as he constructed the perfect sponge device for washing 42 brand new water bottles for the third graders to take on tomorrow's field trip,
- Three dowl rods, one sponge, hot glue and staple gun = pretty awesome bottle washer.
Reviewed,Shared, Tried to share information for our field trip tomorrow to the jaguar sanctuary we visited last year,- The kids are so excited and it's the end of the year but why would I do this at 2:45?
- Broke up a third grade kicking fight on the soccer field,
- Yup. I'm cool. But to be completely honest when there's a third grade you really just have to say, "Stop that! You two come here now," and they do and then you start the process of figuring out what happened.
- Shared a banana and chocolate crepe with Erica while talking about silly school stuff like what kids "accidentally" google when they're supposed to be looking for jaguar information,
- It starts with an "s" and rhymes with hex.
- am headed to a final EAB end-of-year celebration at a local pizza place with everyone
- It's chilly here, like in the 60s, so I'm wearing a fleece and jeans and a scarf.
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