A real friend will laugh at/with you, when you tell them about the student who said that they wanted to kill you...

It's November. School has been in session for 51 days (always seems like much more then it really is). And I havent given you all one update from this school year. My apologies for that.

My new class annoys me. Or did in the beginning of the year. I'm getting used to them though, and missing my former students less and less. They've moved on. Forgotten my name. And have given all their love over to their second grade teacher. Whatevs to them. I dont care.

This year's class was proving to be dull and I didnt have much to share, hence the lack of sharing.

Until this week.

Sure I had some stories. Like this one time when I was blending the word "ditch" with my students and asked them to write it down. And was walking around and noticed that majority of them write their "d" as a "b". I kept wondering why the heck my students were writing b****.


And then the time when I asked a student to use the word "tail and tale" in a sentence and he said "My momma said she gon whoop my tail/tale".

But those are eh.

Anywho,I have a student in my class, who I knew from last year (he was retained). He is a very sweet young man, but when he gets upset, theres chaos. He was put on red for punching his sister (shes also in my class) because she wouldnt let him be first in line (Being first in line is sooooooooooooo important to them). He was upset cause he was on red, so he started throwing a tantrum.And I asked him to leave my room, wash his face, look at how silly he looks, stop crying, drink some water, and come back into the classroom when he's ready.

He was willing to do all of that. But from last year's experience, I knew not to send him anywhere on his own because there was a possiblity he would run away, out the door, and down the street. So I sent one of my reliable student's with him.

And when they came back, the reliable student said "He wants to kill you. He told me so in the bathroom."

"What did he say?"

"Uhh...I want to kill her."

He ended up getting suspended for making a comment like this. For one day. And that was that.


I got home and I told my husband.

He told me to quit.

I told some of my friends.

They were worried and concerned.

I told my mom.

She freaked out. Was worried and concerned. And told me to quit.

And then I told C.C.

And she laughed.

And I laughed right with her, cause it was meant to be a funny story to tell.*

Right? Hahaha?

The end.


*Disclaimer: I understand that sometimes we should be cautious of these things and take them very seriously, what with some kids really coming to school with guns and knives ready to kill somebody. But I know this kid. And as soon as he said it, he regretted it and showed remorse, and apologized. And he received a consequence for it. And everything was okay. Alhamdulilah I am alive.

So like I had a dream....

You know when you're dreaming, and you feel like it's so real? And you just want soooooo badly for it to be real? And you don't want to wake up from it?

You know?

I had one of those dreams today.

I dreamt I quit my job.

True story..err...true dream...I mean.

My assistant principal was being shady and I was being avoidant, and they caught me being avoidant, and I was to be "dealt" with later. And I was just so done with the pettiness of the school, so done with the unprofessional way of being treated, and truly fed up with the rude way I was constantly spoken to.

So I quit.

And I didn't even give a two weeks notice.

And I found another job. And I was happier at the other job.

HAH!

It was one of my best dreams thus far in life.

And I so wished it was true.

And everything that happened in it, is what I realllyyyyyyyyyy want to happen.


And here we are in the month of August, the most loathed month of the year by teachers. (Cause you know, school is like coming up...duh!) And everything's quickly approaching and time is ticking by so fast, and it's like I don't have any time to do anything. (But to be quite honest, I do. Alhamdulilah....It's just a feeling of an impending doom though)

Anyways, all I know is that I wish some dreams were real.

The end.

Tales of a Teacher: The end of the beginning

As the last days of school approached, I got very nostalgic. And when the last day of school finally arrived, I felt sad and nostalgic. And as the day went on, and I thought about the past year, I felt as if everything was bittersweet.

I dont remember how last year's last day of school was, I dont remember feeling this sad and emotional about my kids leaving me. I didnt cry, but I sure did feel an emptiness. You would think I would have felt it more last year. After all that was my first class ever.

But something about this year and the kids of this year was different. And maybe I'll feel this way every year, or every other year. Or maybe never again.

I just know that this was a difficult year in so many ways. And I think part of the struggle of this year, left me clinging on to the students who distracted me from it all.

And as much as I whine and complain about my kids in so many different ways, shape, and form--- this job, this profession, this career and especially these children, are sometimes my secret haven away from the (sometimes harsh) realities of life.

If only it were that simple..

The other day my students and I were playing SPARKLE, a spelling game I introduced to them a couple of months ago. For some reason, they loveee this game. And I really appreciate playing it with them and seeing them get enthusiastic about it, because it's educational and they practice lots of spelling with it and they eagerly anticipate the days when we play it. The object of the game is to be the last one standing when all the words have been spelled and all is said and done.

In the midst of playing SPARKLE, and waiting for the students to spell the word tornado, a little hand goes up in the air and seeks my attention.

"Yes, N. What do you need?"

"I just wanted to say that yesterday in Alabama there was a really, really bad tornado."

"Yeah, it's very, very, very sad because a lot of people lost their lives."

"I also just wanted to say that my grandmother died in that tornado."

Left speechless, after a minute or two and not knowing how to react properly, I said the first thing that came to my mind.

" Wow. I dont know what to say. I'm so, so, so, incredibly sorry......"

"...... Would you like a hug?"

"Yes, please"

And I put my arms around her and I give her a tight squeeze which she returned with a bigger squeeze.

"You alright?"

"Yes. I feel better."

And so, as silly as it may sound, I wish I could reach out to the people in Alabama, in Japan, in New Zealand, in Haiti, in Syria, in Egypt, in Yemen, in Palestine, in any part of the world, high, low, where tragedy and misfortune has befallen, and just give them a huge hug. And tell them that I am so sorry for their pain and for their loss. And tell them that somehow, someway, everything is going to be okay.

God willing.

And as Controlled Chaos said before, May God grant peace, mercy, strength, and guidance to all those that are suffering and enduring such difficult times.

Ameen.

Just a Hot Mess

It's been a long week. With parent teacher conferences happening everyday. To being at work for 12 hours for the past four days.To having to hunt down parents in back alleys and chase them down to the corner of a random street to get their signature for their child's report card. Because they dont show up for the appointment time that THEY chose according to THEIR schedule. And yeah the student that stole from me? Yup, did it four times within the past three weeks. Suspension does nothing for him. Lovely, isn't it???

I'm just tired. I want to sleep. And I want to sit and do nothing.

Everyone's so crabby. And in a bad mood. Or in a funk. Or just aloof. I dont know how else to describe it. Except to say that everybody and their mama is acting like a hot mess. And has been for the past week.

As the day continued to drag on and on, I asked K, my other first grade team member, if we, all 83 first graders, and four teachers, could come into her room and practice singing "Never Say Never" by Justin Bieber and rehearse for our awards ceremony that was to commence at 9 a.m. tomorrow. So we all huddled in her room at the very end of the day, sang that song a million and one times. I'm so sick of it. Anyways, we still had ten minutes to go till it was "ok" for us to start getting ready for dismissal.

Whatevs.

So I gather all my children and trudge back ,grudgingly, to my classroom, and put on random songs for them to sing and just call it a day. I send them out to their lockers ten minutes earlier then I should have and we were ready to go. Since we were so early, I decided to put this on. It's so fun to watch them do it.

So the whole class gets into it, and I dont even realize that the entire first grade hallway is deserted and abandoned.I walk out into the hallway and wonder why the heck the lockers are not being opened and slammed as they normally are. And then I see that K's classroom blind is down, walk over to her door, pull the handle and it's locked. Bang on the door. No one answers. Seems like no one is even in there. Look over to her neighboring class, and same thing.

WEIRDDDDD.

Then my mind finally registers EVERYTHING and I realize that the entire SCHOOL is on LOCKDOWN. Meaning no one can come in or OUT of the building. I didnt know if it was a practice drill (kinda weird for them to do it at the end of the day) and I gather all my children once again and command them to hide in the corner of our room. I lock my classroom door, and go hide in the corner with them and admonish anyone that lets out a peep. I also kick myself for never putting a blind up, and not being able to cover the window that is in my doorway. I'm stupid like that.

I text K. And then I text A. And then I text S. WTF is going on? And then they all text me back the same thing. To make a long story short, there was a madman directly outside our school with a gun, that woke up this morning and decided he wanted to go around on a shooting rampage.

Fortunately, the police were able to catch him. And we continued dismissal as normal. And no one was hurt. Thank God.

Kids were OUTSIDE playing for physical education and the gym teacher HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON! I like how no one told me either that we were in lockdown. I like how my kids were in the hallway AND ANYTHING COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ANY OF US, and NO ONE WARNED US. That just burns me like CRAZY. Like SERIOUSLY? If this is what your procedures are, then get me the heck out of here.

So yeah, everything's just a hot friggin mess everywhere.

P.S. Apparently me and another parent scared the crap out of K. Every time we banged on her door and continuously tried opening it, guess who she thought it was?

Rock....Paper... Scissors...JESUS!

Bam!! When my kids at school play this, Jesus totally TRUMPS all of the above. Obviously. It's funny how kids can have more faith in things than adults. Not just concerning their religiosity either. But just in general. They are more optimistic, hopeful, open-minded about things around them then adults are. We can always say it, but it's so true that kids are wiser then we give them credit for. I asked my kids how they would settle a disagreement and argument today. I also asked them to respond and provide both negative and positive ways to settle a dispute. Negative ways included fighting and insulting one another. And positive methods ranged from talking it out, walking away, hearing the opposing side, breathing, counting to ten, apologizing to one another, and asking others for advice. Terry Jones, the pastor that burned the Qu'ran recently, and has been threatening to do so since the 9th anniversary of September 11, and the people in Afghanistan that are attacking and killing innocent civilians in retaliation, could learn a thing or two from them. Shame on all of them for acting the way they are. Whether it's figuratively, or literally, haven't they all learned from Mahatma Gandhi, that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind?

Tales of a Teacher: The Good, the Bad, and the Really Ugly

I'm back? But I haven't really gone anywhere.

I dont know why I've been MIA lately. No particular reason other than the fact that I dont know what to write about...I guess..
There are moments when thoughts creep in my head, and I'm like "Oooooo, post worthy!!" But then I forget, or I think it's not post worthy, or I think it's not post worthy and I force myself to forget about it. I dont like feeling that way, cause then I feel like I'm limiting and restricting myself and my thoughts. Which isn't really cool, nor fair.


Anyways, one of my students stole from me today. It broke my heart. For like a second. Then my broken heart turned into rage. I just dont understand how things like this happen.

I had a oatmeal pie at work today. Took it with me to K's classroom, where the first grade crew likes to hang out and have lunch. I hadn't been feeling so well, so I decided not to consume the oatmeal pie. Instead I brought it back with me to eat later. I set it on my semi circle table and continued reading the next chapter of Charlotte's Web in commemoration of Reading Month. After finishing the most recent chapter, I send a couple of student's to the semi circle table so we can continue our lesson. And I go to reach for my oatmeal pie, and it's not there.

"Where's my oatmeal pie?"
"I dont know"
"I didnt see it."
"What oatmeal pie?"

"I left it right here. It didnt just grow legs and walk away. Did you guys see it?"

"No"
"Nope.

Then, I see it. The smirk. The smirk that I know so well. The smirk from M. The one that I've gotten to know oh so well.

"Can you empty your pockets?"
While emptying his pockets and pulling out an oatmeal pie, M says, "My friend, D, gave me this."

Turns out D didn't even come to school today. And he carried on the lie with saying that D gave it to him yesterday. To make a long story short, M was sent to the office with a referral and the possibility of being suspended.


This has nothing to do with him stealing a cookie. Yes, it is just a cookie. Yes, he might have been hungry. Yes, he might be deprived of sweets at home. Yes, he is only seven years old. Yes, he may not really have known what he was doing. Yes, he may really have gotten it from someone else. Yes, he may have been scared and not really have known what to say.

Yes, for a bunch of other things.


But I have never felt so betrayed by one of my students. Things like this dont happen in my classroom. You hear about things like this from your colleagues, and you thank your God that your students know better than that. They know right from wrong. They have good morals.

And no matter what excuse you may give him, it just doesnt justify his stealing and then lying about it.

It makes me feel like I've taught him nothing this whole year.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

It's snowing so much here. Where I am.

I just hope school is closed.

For a week.

But that's asking for too much.

So I'm just asking for school to be closed for a day. JUST ONE DAY. Please Dear God.

If we can close school cause of a gas leak, SURELY we can close school because of snow. That's supposedly going to turn into ice overnight.

I got a text from my co-worker:

If we have school tomorrow, I'm kicking the principal's $%#

And my response:

I'll join you!
-----

Update: We got a snow day!!!!

A word (or two) to the Unwise.

"Ok, everyone. Let's blend this word together and sound it out."

"K-i-l-t. Kilt."

"Who knows what kilt means? Or what is a kilt?"

::All hands in the classroom shoot up::

"Kilt is like you killing someone and murdering them."

"Kilt is not a verb. It is not when you kill someone"

::All hands shoot right back down::

--------------

"What's a crib?"

That's the place where you live.

------------------
"Ms. Attitude, I was finna do that?"

"You was finna do that? Is that the correct way to say that?"

"Oh sorry, I was going to finna do that."

-------------------

"Who knows what a snob is?"

"Snob is when you are messy."

"No, that's a slob."

"Oh, oh, oh, I know! I know! "

"What is a snob?"

"Snob is when your nose is runny and boogers come out of it. Sometimes it even goes in your mouth."


--------------------------------------
"Ms. Attitude, he called me a name. It hurt my feelings."

"What did he say?"

"He called me boughed."

"Boughed? "

"Boughed."

"What does boughed mean?"

"Boughed is like when you are boughed. It's like when you're mean. And you act uppity."

"Uppity?"

"Uppity."

"Is boughed in the dictionary?"

"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"Oh."

"How do you spell boughed?"

"B-O-U-G-H-E-D. Boughed. "

"Wow. It's like a spelling bee. "

------------------------------
Sometimes I teach.

And sometimes they teach me.

And you thought it was a one way relationship.

Sometimes I really think the world is going to hell...

...particularly when I watch/listen/hear/read about things in the news.

When I was in junior high, I used to be obsessed with the weather. Like, I really needed to know whether it was going to be cold, hot, rainy, snowy, foggy, or humid outside the following day. This obsession followed me into high school, and eventually stopped in 11th grade.

The only way I was able to find out what the weather was going to be like the next day was via the 10 o'clock news.

Pre-internet days, people. Get with it.

So the weather man wouldn't come on until exactly 10:30 and so I would have to watch 30 minutes of the news. This is how I kept up with current events.

Eventually when my obsession with the weather subsided, so did my knowledge of things that were happening in the world in which I resided.

I didnt know what was going on in the world for the past 8 years. No joke.

Fast forward a couple of years and enter: facebook.

Facebook, if used with good intentions can actually be resourceful. For real. I started noticing a lot of people updating their status about various things that were happening in the city, state, country, and world. So I started catching myself up with the latest buzz. And in the midst of catching up with current events, I also came back to the realization of why I stopped watching the news.

In retrospect, there never seems to be good news. Why dont people report on happy things? I mean I know they do, but some days it just seems like there is no good news. It's like you have to dig realllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy deep to find something. Anything. That will make you smile. Or laugh. And if there is good news to be shared, it's always twisted into something that it totally wasn't supposed to be twisted into. Michelle Obama dancing with orphans and kids in India becomes a dance that supports the "axis of evil". Whatever the hell that means. ( This really didnt happen, but you know what I mean)

Some days I really do think the world and it's inhabitants are just far from where we should be, and some days I just rather stay in the dark about it.

But then there are other things that make me think living in this world, aint so bad. Like when I see non-Muslims, like Kate, defending Muslims and Islam. Or like when I see a student's Mom writing encouraging notes to their kids and putting it into their lunchbags.

Or like when I watch the Daily show with Jon Stewart and see how ridiculous the media makes things out to be.




Or like when I hear crazy stories from my sister's new nursing job. Or when I get a phone call from a friend and we talk about the most pointless things in the world. Or when my kids genuinely find my "Knock Knock" jokes amusing. Or when my mom wakes up in the wee hours of the morning and bids me farewell while I walk out to my car, in the dark. Or when I laugh about the most dumbest and randomest things with my siblings. Or knowing that one of my sisters is learning how to play the violin. Or seeing parents involved in their child's education.

Or attending a teacher conference and hearing the famous author, Mitch Albom, give a speech about having a little faith that can take you a long way.



Or knowing that I'm a teacher, and at least one of my students is learning something. Or like watching the show, School Pride, the school version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and seeing how much people truly care about education in America, and being effective about it.




Or (minus the most recent episode----another story for another time), watching people actively defend and protect and fight for strangers on the show "What would you Do?"



And so on and so forth.

So yeah, on certain days, the world does suck, but you just gotta take the good with the bad.

And hope that some day the good will outweigh the bad and pray that the world really doesn't go to hell.

And maybe not watch the news so much.

Freshmen are Stupid

Student A: She seemed like a super enthusiastic student. She was on the wait list for my class in the beginning of the semester. I had already given 2 overrides. She said she really really wanted to study Arabic so I added her to my class. So the first week or two went well. She sat in the front of the class. Then she had a surgery and was off for a work. That's cool...us instructors are accommodating when it comes to these things.

She came to my office hours to get caught up on what she missed. I assigned her assignments and we scheduled meetings to finish all her make up work and quizzes. So that goes really well..

For like a day.

And then she disappears. Hasn't come to class a single day after that but is still registered.

I'm sorry but language course are intense; we meet 5 hours a week and there's no way you can miss class for a week or two and suddenly jump back.

Student B: She also seemed really enthusiastic and used to come to office hours all the time to ask questions and what not. Then all of the sudden she stopped coming to class. At first it was like one class of the three sessions a week. Then it went up to two. Its now at the point where I haven't seen the girl in two whole weeks...that's 10 hours of class!!

This is a top university and these students are lucky to even be here. And what are they doing? Wasting their money away by skipping classes and partying away. Guess who's paying for all the alcohol? That's right...mommy and daddy.

Freshmen undergrads are so stupid. Seriously. I get it. Once upon a time four years ago I was there too and sometimes I just didn't want to go to class. But I had to so I went.

Sometimes I just want to grab students and shake them by their shoulders... "MAN UP! These four years will fly by and you'll be thrown into the real world. What will you have to offer the world????"

What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell

Journal Prompt: What is the best gift you have ever gotten? Who gave it to you?

Student Response: The best gift I have ever gotten is my family.

And God gave them to me.

THANK YOU GOD! I LOVE YOU!

:: throws up the "I love you" sign"::

No one said it was going to be easy...

And if someone did, they dont know what the heck they are talking about. For real.

I'm in a weird funk. I mean, it's not a bad funk. Nor is it a good funk. Just a funk. I dont know how to explain it exactly. It's weird. Right now, life has taken an odd turn. Alhamdulilah--All praise be to God--- for the turn it has taken. It's just not how I expected life to be though. I mean, not that I had these particular expectations for life. Or maybe I did. Like within the past five or six years. But it wasn't like I expected it to go exactly the way I wanted it to. Who knows.

All I know is that life is weird. Life is good. Life is bad. Life is fun. Life is dull. Life is so many things.

I feel like everyone in the world's life is so stressed and everyone is stressed to the max, and I dont know what to do for anyone.

There's this teacher at work who works her butt off. Gets to work early. Has lesson plans up the wazoo. Plans weeks in advanced. Is organized to a tee. And she still gets into so much trouble with admin. Like she gets yelled at by the administration team a lot. Over the oddest and randomest stuff. And by some force of nature, she somehow manages to have the students with the most behavior problems in her class. I've never seen any work as hard as I've seen her work either. And she's an awesome teacher too. MashaAllah. She has so many creative and fun ways of teaching.

I feel like since she has been working at this school, her spirit has been broken. Actually I know this. We've had many conversations where she has confided in me that she loved teaching, when she was doing student teaching. She loved it. So much. But working at this school, for the past two years, has made her hate it. She wakes up every day dreading work. Dreading the students. Dreading the drive. Dreading the parents. Just dreading everything about the place. She cries so much about it. She sometimes even says that she would be so much happier as a housewife, rather than as a teacher.


I am/was just like her. I hated this job. So much. I cant even begin to explain to you what I was going through this past summer.

But during the month of Ramadan, I made so many prayers to God, beggginggggggggggggggggggggggggg God to help me love this job. I didn't want to just like this job. I wanted to LOVE this job. I want to wake up every morning, excited to go to work. I know this is like asking for a miracle, but you should always ask for the best, right?

I'm not there yet. Dont know when or if I will ever be at that stage. But I'm working on it. And I changed my mindset. My goal right now is to try and remain positive. See things from a different perspective. I thought sitting around, complaining about it, stressing out over it, and wallowing in self pity wasn't doing anything for me, except making me miserable. So I opted to take a proactive approach. Because the Final Messenger of Islam, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said that one day he noticed a Bedouin (desert people) leaving his camel without tying it. He asked the Bedouin, "Why don't you tie down your camel?" The Bedouin answered, "I placed my trust in Allah." At that, the Prophet said, "Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah" . You can't expect God to take care of everything, while you sit and do nothing.

So no one said it was going to be easy, but it's definitely not impossible.

Million Dollar Question: What does the toothfairy REALLY do with our teeth?

Because you know, the tooth fairy really does exist and everything.

According to my 2010 incoming class of first graders, the tooth fairy does numerous things for us:

• The tooth fairy gives the teeth she collects to Santa. Santa, in turn, takes those teeth and makes them into toys. And come December, Santa and the tooth fairy hop on some reindeer and deliver them to kids.

• The tooth fairy takes the teeth and makes a castle for herself. ( Well that's kinda selfish of her, dont you think?)
  

• The tooth fairy is really a tooth witch and she eats the teeth like one would eat an apple (They got this idea because we are currently reading a book about a first grader who believes that)

• She gives old teeth to people who have lost their teeth.
  

• She turns it into jewelry for Mom.
  

• Uhhhh, where do you think toothpaste comes from???DUH!

• She is really not a she. But in fact a he. (That doesnt really answer the question. Just thought I would throw it in there though because it shows that they don't automatically think of the stereotypical gender role of a tooth fairy)

Soooo now, I ask of you, what is the million dollar answer?

When I grow up I wanna be a witch...

As with many mornings, my students start off with answering/completing a journal prompt. When kids write, as noted in this post, their writing is for the most part pretty funny and give much insight into the life of a 6/7 year old. Some show wisdom beyond their years, while others act their age. And then you have that rare individual that just shows peculiarity.

Journal Prompt: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Response: When I grow up, I wanna be a witch.


This is the response that I got from K.L. Yup. That's right. She wants to be a witch. And for some reason, I dont think she's joking. And for another reason that I cant begin to fathom, I believe that she will attempt to pursue this goal. And she will try her best to make sure she is a darn good witch too.

K.L. is one of my peculiar and most interesting students of the year. I knew that she would be right from the beginning. And well, as unfortunate as it is, her grandmother was the one that told me that she was a little "cuckoo". And when grandma told me that, I wanted to punch her in the face.

Swear to God.

She said it right in front of K.L. It's one thing to joke around and say that someone is crazy and/or silly. And frankly the connotation of the words are very different in respect to the context in which you use them. But it's another thing for a person to be called cuckoo. And to hear your own grandmother say it about you. When grandma said that, I know I look perplexed. So she went on to explain to me that K.L. was diagnosed with ADHD and sometimes she acted out in very bizarre ways.

Ok, so let me back track just a little, the reason I wanted to punch grandma in the face was because who says that upon an initial meeting of their granddaughters teacher. I think she thought she was doing me a favor, but in all actuality, she wasn't. She put a judgment in my head that she had no right to put there. I would rather have learned this upon interacting with K.L. on my own. Regretablly this wasnt the case.

Regardless of this fact, just as soon as grandma told me about K.L.'s odd behavior, I witnessed it for myself. Throughout the day she would talk out and have sudden singing outbursts and she would hum really loudly to herself. For some odd reason, she likes to chew on the end of the back of her dress, thus resulting in her mooning the entire class on multiple occasions. When asked why she was doing that, she would respond with " I dont know." While sitting with her peers she said "You suck" and "Damn" to them multiple times, landing her on "red" (Red=Not so good) on the very first day of school (which in itself is a rarity). She also took her shoes off in the middle of class and stuck them inside of her desk and when asked again why she did that, she, again, responded with "I dunno".
By the second day of school she was sitting by herself, away from her peers.

She had also already ripped up most of my books. And the response again? Surprise, surprise: I dunno why I did that.

Having had two weeks of classes in, I have learned some things about her that make me smile. While also learning about things that make me want to cry, pull my hair out, and run out the door screaming and just quitting my job. (I also learned from her previous teacher that on the first day of kindergarten, she pulled the fire alarm because no one was giving her attention.)

Albeit all of these things, there is something about K.L. that makes me have a soft spot in my heart for her though. Something that tells me that she obviously really truly means no harm by the things she does. She's the student that will make this year the most challenging for me.

For some this may sound strange, but sometimes I look forward to going to school, just so I can see her.

Tales of a Teacher: Bittersweet Moments

So we are down to the final two days of school! It's been an excruciatingly long year for everyone involved. Alhamdullilah, I have made it through my first year of teaching. And had lots of ups and downs.

I came out of this experience knowing a helluva lot more than I knew going in.

Hey, that's what first years all about: LEARNING.

I made mistakes and will probably continue to make them. But it's something you move past and learn from.

Yesterday (the third day before the last day) I told my students that they would be doing a meet and greet session with their future second grade teacher. And I expected them to be really excited to leave the room for an hour (some were), but what I got from most of them wasnt excitement. It was tears.

About seven kids started crying and wanted to give me hugs. And I knew that they would be sad, but I really wasnt expecting tears. It was amusing, and bittersweet, at the same time. I'm going to miss my students. As much as I complained about them this year (maybe not as much on the blog as I should have) I grew attached to them, and they to me. We all became used to one another and the daily routine that we have/had going.

We all know/knew what to expect from one another and we grew together. As a class. We each learned something about one another and built a relationship of teacher and student. Now I have to let them go and begin a new chapter in my life. And so do they.

When I met my future 1st graders (the kindergartners) and they were sitting in my current first grader's seats, a moment passed where I had to readjust my thoughts and tell myself these kids are my priority now (or will be, come September). Here comes another change, and as all changes that come in my life, I'm really scared/sad. And not quite ready. I'm glad to have the summer to prepare myself for this and make the transition back into teaching a whole new set of children.

Just gotta go with the flow.

P.S. I am happy to inform you, though, that during the meet and greet, I already terrified the new first graders. :)

P.P.S. When I asked the new first graders if they had any questions for me, one student asked, "Why aren't you married?" HAHA

Why do people like going to the zoo again?

Apparently the elephants at the Detroit zoo were sold. I did not know this. And kept wondering where the heck the elephants were. Isn't weird? How can you have a zoo without elephants?

I highly doubt people go to the zoo for the animals anymore though.

I went to get away from the school. My kids went to eat their lunch. When we first got there, one would assume that they would list off the animals they wanted to see first. Nope. All the kids wanted to eat. Other kids went to buy souvernirs. Some went to see a 3-D movie. No one was too excited about the animals. While walking around the zoo, they were excited to see water fountains that sprayed misty water and sprinklers that they could run through. There was a playground inside of the zoo, all the kids kept asking if they could go there.

We had 77 students. 15 adults. And one zoo.

There were five kids per adult.I purposefully put other students with other adults so I could keep them away from me. I intentionally put two students with me, because I wanted to keep a close eye on them.


There was a kid, in my group, who kept complaing about everything. All five of my kids complained. I understand that. Heck, I complained. It was a long day and we were tired and hot and hungry. But this kid, he takes the cake. Every. single. comment from him was a complaint. "Why do we have to go here?" "Why is it so hot?" "When are we going to eat?" "Can we eat now?" "Can we eat now?" "How about now?" And just like most of the kids from our school, it didnt seem like he came to the zoo to see animals.

I put him in my group specifically because he frequently misbehaves. Before the field trip, there were stipulations that each child had to meet. I was rooting for this kid. All of the administration team was rooting for this kid. There were days when I wanted to take the field trip away from him. But I truly did want him to go because he has never been on a field trip before. He has had so many behavior issues last year in Kindergarten and apparently he is not as bad this year as he was last. It made me sad that some of my kids have never gone on a field trip, so I tried really hard for him to go. And he did! He went to the zoo. Complained. But was still able to go. I'll take it.

There was another girl in my group who really frustrated me. She's one of my sweet and quiet students. During our time at the zoo, though, she kept focusing and fixating herself on the randomest stuff. She saw my black and white printed shoes, towards the middle of the day, and commented on them over and over and over. And then she became fixated on this strawberry red frog that she really wanted to see. I didnt know where exactly to find it, I'm assuming it was in the amphibian area but we had already gone there and I didnt want to go back. And then she commented on my purse for about five minutes. Then tried to catch every single pollen she saw and tell me about it. And lastly, out of all the animals, bugs, insects, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals there was at the zoo, she was not interested in any of them. Instead she found a teeny tiny green bug, the size of a period (.) and continuously commented on it.

One other thing, all the animals were hiding. I dont know if it was because of the excruciatingly hot temperatures or if they just couldn't be bothered with entertaining humans, but a lot of them were MIA. At one point, my group and I were searching for the gorillas in the gorilla area. One girl stood on the fence to get a better look. She began shouting, "I see them! I see them! I see the gorillas!!!.................Oh wait....umm.....those are....just....people. Never mind." Lol.

Anyways, I told the kids in my group that if they went the whole day without complaining, I would buy them cotton candy.

Because I ended up complaining too, I decided to buy them cotton candy because they were good sports throughout the day.

And just like everything else that day, they were more excited about the cotton candy then the zoo.

Teaching Do's and Don'ts

Do tell your students to refrain from saying "aint" and "finna"

Don't say "aint" when you are talking to them, otherwise they will catch you and laugh. You will also be a hypocrite. And telling them that you were "testing their listening ears" doesn't work.

Do tell your kids of important phone calls that you have to take during class so they dont randomly go home and tell their parents that their teacher was on the phone during class.

Don't have your phone out so much that even your students are able to recognize when you've gotten a new one.

Do forget every negative thing done during the day.

Don't take it home and take it out on your significant other or your siblings.

Do take breaks during the day.

Don't constantly go to your computer and check Twitter, Blogger, and Gmail.

Do yell when your kids dont follow directions.

Don't leave your door open when you do it though.

Do write down cute things your kids do and say like these:

Student:DADDY! why are you picking me up early? Are we going to that Jesus Memorial thingy stuff?
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Student: Ms. Attitude, I just found out that my dad is a criminal.
Me: What?
Student: Yeah he sells and makes pirated movies.
Me: Huh.
Student: And that's ILLEGAL!
------------------------------------
Me:Good Morning!

Student: Salutations, Ms. Attitude
------------------------------------------

Writing prompt: Write a letter to the president of the USA.

Student response:Dear Malcolm X
----------------------------------------------

Student:I have some sad news

Me:Ok but you're smiling.

Student:Well I'm happy.

Me:Ok.

Student:Well my news is I'm going to visit my grandma for spring break.

Me:Why is that sad news?

Student:Well....you know...... because I figured a lot of people are going to miss me.

-----------------------------

And lastly, DO teach science. Believe it or not, it's actually really, rather important.

DON'T,however, let the whole year pass, complain to your sisters and friends, ask them for help, get their help, and still wait until April to do it though.

Hooray, Hooray, it's the 100th day!

Happy 100th day of school!!!

What? You didnt know?

It's a national holiday.

The 100th day of school is a big hoopla that everyone commemorates.

And it's such a big deal in kindergarten and first grade.

When I found out that the 100th day of school was today, my first thought was FML.


Since I thought that the 100th day of school already passed a WHILEEEEEEEEEEEEe ago, I was extremely disappointed that it was just now occurring.

Blah.

So in honor of the 100th day, I made my kids stay quiet for 100 minutes.

They only lasted for half hour.

Every time someone would breathe I would add ten minutes.

It was quite entertaining for me. They did last more than thirty minutes, but I wanted to prolong it as much as possible.

And also in honor of it, I showed them my hair. I wear hijab , and they've always asked to see my hair, and I was like "What the heck! It's the hundredth day of school, WHY NOT!?"

But in reality, that's not how it happened. My hair was sticking out in every possible ways. And about ten of my first graders kept saying "Ahem Ahem" and pointing at my head. And it got to a point when I was like, you know what, I gotta fix it. So I had one student guard the door, as I unpinned my hijab, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. And the boys were all covering their eyes, but peeking as well. And when I did it, you heard one sharp intake of breath from the entire class, and then a "Wow". And then the class burst out in an uproarious applause. I ended it with a bow and a curtsy and a "You're far too kind."

Kids are good ego boosters.

I digress though.

Back to the 100th day of school. Another activity that I asked them to do was draw a picture of what they think they would look like when they were 100 years old and write about what they will be doing. And I have to say, some of them were incredibly amusing that I had to share it with you all:


When I am hurundred yeards old I will have grand chidren and neces and nefews and it will be so fun. I will not be alive.


I would die it will be sad. I don't want to die I won't to be in peridice with Jehovah and I love Jehovah is cool, nice, sweet, and powerful. you can make a house, eat the animals will be nice to you, and you will be alive ferever but not the animals.


If I was one hondred I would be old with a cane and crumbly skin and my theeth would fall out and my hair will be gray and I might be in a wheel chair living at a nursing home with other old people.



This is what I think I would look like when I am 100 yers old. And I think I am going to be so, so, so, so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so so, so, SMART. And I will know everyone that is 100 will die.

If I was 100 year old I will rasle and be a army. And go to collge to play football and play in the Olanpix.

And last but not least,



When am a-hundred years old I would need to sit in a wheel-chair I would be very old that I would not know how to do KARATA forever and not knwo how to draw or paint I would live in Michigan or Vergea but I will not live in a broken house because they got blown down.


So to you, I say, Happy 100th Day!


And may the next 82 days of school go a helluva lot faster than the last 100 days!!! InshaAllah and AMEEN!

A Night to Remember...

This year was the first year I got to "celebrate" Valentine's Day at a school with children. The reason I say quote, unquote, celebrate, is because I work for a Charter school and frankly, we cant "celebrate" anything.

Regardless of that fact, on Friday, February 12th, 2010, our school hosted a Daddy/Daughter date night in celebration of Valentine's Day. There were 200 daugthers that pre-registered and would be attending with the important man/men in their lives.

I volunteered to stay after school and help out for the event. It was a Friday evening, the show was supposed to start at 6 and I was tired.

I wanted to go home and I kept kicking myself for volunteering.

But after it was all over and I was going home, I realized that I had a good time and was really, really happy that I stayed.

I work in a predominantly African American school in an urban city. I've also lived in this urban city my entire life and have gone to public schools in this city.

The parent involvement, particularly that of a father figure, in schools and in cities such as these is exceptionally low compared to that of neighboring suburban schools. It is unbelievably sad and ridiculous to witness. But on this specific night, at this particular event, I was surprised to see that an innumerable amount of men were involved with their daughters' lives, especially their education.

We had a Reading Room, an interactive Game room, a Board Game room and a Food Room. Every half hour we rotated so that each couple was able to go to each station. After manning the registration table and checking everyone in, I decided to walk around each room and take a peek at what was going on. And the sight that I saw, brought a huge smile to my face.

In the reading room, fathers and daughters and uncles and nieces and grandfathers and granddaughters were all equally engrossed in a specific book. In the board game room, you heard cheers and cheerful banter amongst opposing sides. In the interactive game room, young girls were teaching older men how to play games on a Wii. And lastly in the Food room, daughters and fathers were enjoying a free dinner provided by the hospitatlity committee of our school, free of charge.

The day before the event, one of my students came up to me and said "Ms. Attitude, you should come with your dad." And I couldnt help chuckling and kinda wishing that I could have done this with my dad when I was a kid.

It was, in my personal and professional opinion, a spectacular and successful night. Each girl came in dressed up in their finest attire and in tow was a very special man and probably one of the best dates that a girl could ever wish for.