resume workshop

Every now and then I update my resume, just to keep it fresh.  I've been doing so this week, and it reminded me of an impromptu resume coaching sesh at my friends' house our second year teaching.  

Picture it:  It's 10:00 p.m. on a Friday, and four of my teacher friends and I are unwinding at the house three of our friends share near the school.  Nothing crazy, just letting our hair down after a long week.  We hear a knock at the door and wonder who it could be.  We open the door, only to discover a family from the neighborhood standing there with a giant bunch of bananas, straight from the tree.  We invite them in, and they all shuffle into the living room.  Mind you--this is a family of 8, and we all currently teach one of the children and we all had a child in our assorted classes last year, as well.  After they come into the living room, the father apologizes for dropping in unexpectedly, but he's applying for a job and would like some help writing his resume. 

TEAR!  I mean, how cute is that?!  

Of course, we helped him with his resume--he got the job!!--and enjoyed the bunch of bananas for quite some time.  So, while it can be awkward to live next door or across the street from ALL of your students (it definitely rules out getting your mail in your pajamas!), it can also be really awesome.

one time stories

My sister has been talking about getting a dog lately.  Her talk of puppies reminds me of a funny story from my first year of teaching.

I was in the computer lab with one of my classes, and two boys who had just learned that they were half brothers were arguing about who was cuter.  Yes, for real.

Boy 1:  I'm cuter!
Boy 2:  No, I'm cuter!
Boy 1:  Miss, tell him who's the cutest!
Boy 2:  Yeah, it's me.  Right?!
Me:  I'll tell you what...I think you're both cute!
Boys 1 and 2:  Awww, come on Miss, you have to pick one of us!

At that moment, another boy turned to us, eyes lit up, and proclaimed...

Boy 3:  Miiisss!  One time my dog had 48 puppies!

Boys 1 and 2 looked at me and we all burst out laughing, which effectively ended the argument.  What?!  48 puppies?  Students are known to tell some tall tales while sharing their "one time stories," but this was probably the craziest one of all.

hurricane

Hurricane Sandy has officially passed over Wilmington now.  School was closed for the last 3 days due to lack of power, but we did not have much damage at all.  We were much luckier than surrounding areas, particularly southern DE, which has been pretty devastated by the storm.  Although we had quite a few hurricanes while I was living in Texas, I always escaped major damage, so I feel very fortunate for that.  A few weeks after I moved to Texas, we had to evacuate due to major flooding, but we were able to stay with friends who lived nearby.  12 of us were staying in two rooms and watching Napoleon Dynamite on repeat (not sure why we made that particular life choice, but anyway).  At the outset of my fourth year of teaching, we were having a hurricane during the opening assembly for teachers.  Many of us arrived a bit early for the program, and waited in the auditorium for about an hour before they told us it was canceled due to the storm.  When we went outside, the water was up to my knees!  It had been raining when we went in, but for the water to rise that much, and so quickly, was incredible.  Regardless, everyone made it home safely and most of the town was ok.

My organization shares a floor with the Red Cross of DE headquarters, and they have been working around the clock to organize services for those affected by this storm.  Please send your good thoughts to them and to the people whose homes have been destroyed.

what other stories do they have?

Have you ever thought you knew someone fairly well, and then learned something about him or her that made you realize you didn't after all?  My church in Rio Grande City had a special event called "Talents Sunday" once a year.  Everyone who wanted to participate could bring in something that represented a talent s/he had.  One year, I noticed an old baseball glove on the table, and wondered who it belonged to.  I later discovered that it belonged to my elderly friend, Mr. S...and it turns out that he played professional baseball after college and before returning to the Valley to run his family's onion farm!  I didn't think I knew him inside and out, but I had been to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family before, so I had seen the inside of their house a few times, and never noticed anything dedicated to his career as a professional athlete.  What a surprise!  

When I was a child, my friend and I would visit her elderly neighbor who lived across the alley behind her house every time I went over to play with her.  He recently passed away, and my mom sent me his obituary.  While reading that, I learned that he was the lead scientist on the team that developed the first birth control pills.  Whoa--talk about a major scientific advancement.  

My last prominent example of when you learn something really surprising about someone comes from my own family.  My maternal grandmother had tons of photos from when she was a child, and my sister and I were organizing them into albums for her one summer.  Even though the photos were in black and white, I noticed that some of them seemed to have lush, tropical-seeming backdrops.  I asked her where they were taken, and she responded, "Costa Rica."  I asked, "Oh did you go on vacation there?"  She replied, "No, I used to live there."  Ummm...news to me!  How did I not know that before college?!  Anyway, that's definitely what got me started thinking about spending a lot of time in Costa Rica, which ultimately resulted in my decision to move there years later.  

I share these stories because I think it's interesting how we can always learn more about the people we know--and sometimes, we can learn really BIG things about them.  Everyone has stories saved up, and I really enjoy discovering those stories that aren't immediately obvious.  Even children who haven't lived for as long can have lots of stories about their lives.  I've realized that for all the time I spend with my kiddos, and all the stories they have shared with me (you hear a lot over the course of a 10-hour school day!), I'm sure they have thousands of other stories that I know nothing about.  

timberrrrrr!

If you're still reading, thank you!  Originally, I started this blog to tell about my experiences teaching.  When I moved to Costa Rica, it became more of a place to talk about my adventures living abroad.  When I returned to the U.S. and was neither living abroad nor teaching any longer, I wasn't sure what to write about any more.  However, I still have some student stories left, and it is very important to me that I tell them, as children don't always get their stories told.  So, for now, I will continue doing so, although I can't promise that I will be here as often as before.  Nevertheless, I appreciate those of you who continue to read.

And now, back to our scheduled program...


One day during the spring of my first year of teaching, the fourth graders down the hall were taking their TAKS test.  Because of the testing, my principal asked us fifth grade teachers to rotate classrooms, rather than having our students switch rooms between classes, to minimize the noise in the hallways.  Sure, great idea.  During first period, my Program Director from Teach For America (sort of like an instructional coach) came to observe me.  The observation went well, and I was feeling good.  For second period, I loaded up my science lab supplies into my trusty milk crate and trotted next door to my mentor teacher's classroom and got set up.  The kids were into the lab; life was swell.  I used the overhead projector and projection screen to illustrate a concept for my students, and they got it quickly. Yesssss.  Then, oh, then.  I pulled down on the screen to retract it to its "away" position up near the ceiling, and as I straightened up after doing so, I heard a loud BANG and saw a look of dismay on the face of one of my students sitting in the first row.  Then everything went black...

When I came to, I was laying on the floor in a pool of blood and several of my students were lifting my legs onto the teacher's chair in an attempt to roll me to the nurse's office.  (The teacher's chair was just like one of those blue plastic student chairs, except it also had a thin cushion attached to the seat and wheels on the legs.  It was kind of lame as far as teachers' chairs go but kind of awesome at the same time.)  As they were doing so, several of the students exclaimed, "Ay Miss, hay mucho sangre!" [There's a lot of blood!]  It turns out that one end of the overhead screen had somehow bounced off of its hook on the ceiling and swung down and hit me right in the face, knocking me out in the process.  The blood was from my resulting facial wounds.

A few moments later, my mentor teacher rushed in, gasped, and cried, "What if it had been me?!"  Ummm, yeah.  Then I wouldn't be lying here with a busted face, which, frankly, would be preferable to me.  But she called the nurse, which was helpful, the nurse came to cart me away in a wheelchair, which was unnecessary, and my principal sent me to the town clinic to get facial X-rays, which also turned out to be unnecessary--amazingly, despite all the blood, there was no real damage done.  My face was just super swollen for a week or so.  The best part was, while I was waiting for my appointment, I got to watch What Not to Wear at my friend's house.  Sweet!  My only concern was that my face would be all puffy and ugly when my boyfriend came to visit me.  Kind of vain, I know, but can you tell me you wouldn't be worried about that?!  Luckily, the swelling went down before he got to town.  All's well that ends well, right? :)  But between this experience and the episode with the dead bird burning in my classroom heater, part of me does wonder if observation days are somehow cursed...

paulina

I received a friend request on facebook the other day from Paulina, a girl who was in my class the same year as Rivers. Paulina is another very special student. She's now in 9th grade and in JROTC, which is crazy to me, since I taught her in 5th grade, and she was the tiniest 5th grader I've ever seen. It's hard to sum up all the special things about her, but she was just so tiny and sweet. When she became frustrated with something, she would stomp her foot and exclaim, "Awww, Miss...it's my supa-bad day!" That happened rather frequently, as she was on a pre-kindergarten reading and math level. During school breaks, she would often call me to tell me that she loved me, and made me many drawings and cards to that effect. She even made "I love you" cards for my mom! (Also, when she called me over school breaks, she would end our convos by entreating me to, "Tell your mama I love her!"  I might add that she had never actually met my mom.) Given some of the things she had experienced in her life, it was just amazing that she was so kind and loving. She continued to call me for several years after I taught her, but I hadn't heard from her since moving to Costa Rica, and I was so excited and relieved to hear from her again!

Since I accepted her friend request, Paulina has sent me several messages. Her spelling isn't perfect, but I'm just so excited that she's able to type messages to me at all, as writing anything, even her own name, was somewhat of a struggle for her at the beginning of 5th grade. She made so much progress that year, and I'm glad to see that she's continued to grow since then. Of course, that's what I hope for all of my students, but sadly, it doesn't always happen. It can be hard to let go of students, especially when you don't know exactly who or where you're sending them...

just...strange

I don't have a real intro or conclusion for this story, because it's just so odd. Last year, I read the following announcement in my school's morning newsletter:

MS and HS: Have you ever wondered what victory tastes like? Maybe apple pie, maybe a mocha chocolate cake, maybe a torta chilena. Find out at the Dessert Social, Wednesday March 23 during third block. With a winning bid you can taste victory. *warning: babies are not safe for dishwasher use!

Ummm...what?! I have never seen such a weird announcement. Some friends and I tried to figure out what it meant, but we didn't feel great about any of the ideas we came up with.