School Daze

Here I am with my one of my teammates (Jami) at the end of the first day of school. Hence the tired look in my face. It is Jami's first year of teaching. I am so glad that year is over for me. Going down from 4th grade to 2nd grade has been adjustment. For one, the kids can't read. After two weeks of school, the kids are finally able to remember my name, but I still have some of students raise their hands and call out, "Teacher, Teacher!" when they need my help. I think it is pretty cute.
This picture above says it all. School has been hard work for the students and myself. West Wendover ES a Title 1 school. (Which means that it gets extra federal funding because the schools population is low income.) The school I worked at in Virginia was also a Title 1 school and I gained insight to the many challenges the typical Title 1 student faces. I have had students with a parent in prison, broken & single parent homes, or over crowded home living with extended family. This week I saw some hardships some of my students have to go through. To make a long story short, I was working late on Thursday and discovered at the end of the day that I locked my keys in the car after frantically looking everywhere for them. I called the tow truck guy to come un-lock my door. While I waited, my friend (Jami) drove me to a local grocery store to get cash so that I could pay for it. On my way out of the store I saw one of my students. She happily waved at me. I was caught a little off guard because it was past 9:30pm. Back at the school, the tow truck driver unlocked my car, and then in conversation we realized the I had his girlfriend's daughter in my class. He said, "Hey, she is here in the truck. Come say hello." As he opened the door I saw one of my little students curled up in a blanket asleep on back seat. He gently woke her up. She smiled when she saw me. We talked for a few minutes, then I tucked the blanket back around her. I found out that the girl's mother works at night, so the tow truck driver has the girl and her little brother in the truck with him as he does his job at night. Since that night something inside my heart has changed toward all my students. I pray that I can know what to say and do to guide these students and give them lessons for the classroom and their the rest of their lives.