Wednesday, January 26, 2005
I wonder why it is so hard to forget what you know. Like, I knew that the second half of the year is so much easier than the first, but I still fell into the December hole. All December I felt terrible and useless as a teacher-- it was hard to get over.

But now, at the end of January, I feel great. I guess it takes half a year for the vibe to work itself out in the classroom and for the kids to really trust you and get what you are trying to do. I have had some really cool conversations with my kids this week-- some about school stuff and some not. And when I came into school on Monday (they hadn't seen me for three days due to snow) I had kids all over the place saying, "Ms. R! Know what?" and "Ms. R, come here!" trying to tell me things that had happened to them. Like they *gasp* missed me! It felt really good.

And my slower class "got" Lord of the Flies today! They were excited to learn about symbolism. I almost didn't even talk about it because I thought it would be over their heads, but when I did they really liked it. They thought it was fun to try to figure out what everything symbolized. I almost underestimated them. It is so easy to do.

Things are awesome right now. ¶ 7:54 AM