An Unexpected Joy

Looking back at my time preparing to become a teacher, I realize I was very naive about something. Back then, I thought that all a teacher had to do was teach. I knew there would be occasional meetings but I figured those would just be informational, not additional work. I have only been teaching for a year and one quarter but I've quickly learned there is so much more to teaching. There are committees to evaluate curriculum, committees to rewrite curriculum, committees to focus on the mission of the school, and many more committees. I'm in too good of a mood to focus on those things though. Rather, I want to tell you about a different, unexpected part of teaching that I have grown to enjoy. I have really enjoyed working with the parents of the students in my class. I never gave much thought about working with parents prior to teaching but I am beginning to realize how important working with parents is. I really enjoy working alongside parents who really want to help their child. I know that I have been blessed by having great parents to work with but I truly have enjoyed that aspect of teaching more than I could have imagined. Here is an example of some of the parents helping out with our first grade food group lunch.

There is also another picture I took in my WWKD campaign. The Dominican Republic has some excellent iron work. I think that it is because they have so much practice working with iron considering all of the bars on windows and gates that surround the city.

WWKD (What Would Katie Do)

My life is closely connected to the computer and the internet. Therefore, I was like a chicken with its head cutoff last Thursday when our internet was down. It was still down Friday morning and I was getting worried thinking of what I would do to pass the time during the coming weekend. We had someone contact the phone company to report the problem. The company said that they would have someone come and check the problem out and that they would be there any time from Friday to the next Tuesday. I started grumbling about the situation with thoughts that this would never happen in the States. It challenged me to think about my dependence on the internet. Because in all honesty, it's not that imperative to check my email constantly or to research the history of water polo on Wikipedia. But thankfully even small prayers are answered, because there was a small crew of workers cutting and putting wires together late into the night Friday. And sure enough, the internet was back up that night. I quickly got on the internet and went to all those websites that I have to check on a daily basis. Email, check. ESPN, check. IndyStar, check. Google News, check. DominicanToday, check. katiefleetwood.blogspot.com, check.

Reading through Katie's well kept blog made me feel guilty. Sure, her stories were much more entertaining, but I expected that. It was all the pictures she has. She has proof of the life that she lives. I only have stories. I was determined to try to compete with her. I knew I would be going to a church fair the next day. I would be walking probably 1-2 miles to the church by myself. So I decided to bring my camera along for the walk and show you some of the things I'm doing here. I was very glad I did because as soon as I walked up to the church, I saw the most amazing bread maker. I quickly pulled out my camera and documented the machine. I thought, "I bet you Katie would have taken a picture of this if she was here." I won't ruin it by talking about it, because the picture will do it more justice.

Go Fish

When I tell someone new that I am a teacher, they nod in understanding. Then I add that I teach first grade and that understanding nod turns into a look of complete unbelief. Even I don't quite believe myself all the time when I say that. Becki will tell you that I can be awkward around young children since I talk to them like they are adults. In fact, this is how the scenario almost always seems to play out: I see one of my students in the mall, store, restaurant, etc., I try to speak with them, and we walk away as Becki reminds me, "Jon, you can't speak to them like they're an adult." For some reason though, all that changes when I'm teaching. I feel totally comfortable and I become a different person on that stage called the classroom. Because of that, my relationships with students are always very defined. I am the teacher, they are the students and I don't stray from those roles. Today was different though. For some reason, when one of my students begged to stay in at recess and play cards with me, I gave in. I taught the student the easiest game I knew, Go Fish. We played for the entire recess. Strangely enough, I wasn't worried about the copies I needed to make. I was worried that they might beat me. The student wore a smile that I hadn't seen or noticed yet this year. It was a contagious smile that brought a smile to my own face. They showed an enthusiasm for life that I thought was dormant. It was an enthusiasm that renewed my enthusiasm for teaching. It gave me a whole new perspective on this student. No longer were they the difficult student who wouldn't listen to directions. They were the student who has problems like everyone else, but who wants to know that someone cares for them. And all of this happened with just a deck of cards and a mere 15 minutes. What a small price to pay for a look into the life of a student I never would have seen from teaching them math.