I’m back to blogging.
At least for the day.
The idea hit me the other day that I should be writing a book about my teaching internship.
Just go home and spill about my day. Every day (and I do mean EVERY day) I leave school with several stories that I’m just bursting to tell somebody. I know my poor mother will listen to every last one and at least SOUND interested, so she’s usually the first person I call. Bless her heart. Love you, Mom.
Each story seems like a bigger deal than the previous day’s, when in reality, I’m just learning SO much. It’s hard to wrap my brain around everything I’ve experienced in the last six weeks.
A few lessons that come to mind:
I used last Friday’s shooting at my former middle school (Discovery in Madison, Alabama) for the GOOD in my classroom. Without going off in a completely separate direction, the shooting made me SICK to my stomach all weekend. All I could think about was how whenever the bell rings to dismiss class, I wave the students out the door and tell them to have a good day. NEVER in my life would I expect something to happen to them between classes – and that is exactly what happened last week.
It’s just awful.
Anyway, on Monday morning I put a quote on the projector about handling conflict, and prompted the students to independently respond to how they handle conflict. After a few volunteers shared their responses, I told them why this journal entry is important to me. I gave them the details about the shooting (most of them had not even HEARD of it, which is SAD), and in each class we held about a 15 minute discussion about our actions towards others, good and bad. My third block class, which mind you is NEVER quiet and honestly a very difficult class, didn’t even budge when the bell rang to go to lunch. They were completely engaged in the story about the shooting, and what was going to happen to the shooter. We ended up talking about related issues for a while. It reminded me about how much you can learn in school besides academics, and though we didn’t get everything done in that class that we needed to, a discussion about violence and gangs proved a lot more valuable than grammar or The Great Gatsby.
I just want to sit and ramble for pages about stories similar to this one. The BIGGEST thing I have learned the past few weeks is that you NEVER know what is going on in someone’s personal life, so be SLOW to judge. I have probably close to 20 students who have at least one deceased parent, if not both. Many of them are dealing with family illnesses, being kicked out, terrible relationships, being a parent, and balancing work and school, just to help their parents get by. The essays they write me are phenomenal, and they have been pouring their HEARTS out. I am so ready to take so many of them home.
I wish I had something else to blog about, but I really don’t. Internship is my life right now, but I really don’t mind. I love my teacher (shout-out Kerri Harris), every last one of my 100 students, and the school itself (despite the lack of administration right now). I am so anxious to have my own classroom in a few months, but I am so scared to have that full responsibility.
Back to lesson planning. Jamie comes home tomorrow. Freaking excited.
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo