Random bullets of moments so far.

- Due to being closely located near several forms of loud and/or inconvenient forms of transportation, (who know it was possible to get stuck in airport traffic on the highway, and then get stopped by three different train tracks once getting off the highway?) this school will be called Transportation Central Elementary, TC Elementary for short. I have yet to figure out a convenient way to get to TC Elementary, seeings as how it takes me anywhere from 25 to 65 minutes to get there in the mornings. Traffic is quite unreliable (which is a big change from my rural student teaching placement, wherein my big traffic worry was getting stuck on a one-lane road behind a slow moving tractor).

- I was finally told I was “pretty” and “beautiful” (by a kindergardner) on my fourth day at school. I was first told I was “too beautiful” on my first day of student teaching. I must have lost my appeal. Or College State kids are more easily impressed than Home State kids. (I was told that I was “very pretty” again by a different student on my seventh day here at TC Elementary.)

- On my second day as I was leaving school I walked past a custodian and said goodbye to him. “Goodbye,” he responded. “You know,” he continued “You look like you could be a student here.” I agreed. “I hope I didn’t offend you,” he added. Oh, whatever, I thought. I’m used to it. And I am. (Though it is a bit irritating, nonetheless. So if you have a tiny young colleague, please don’t tell this person that they look like they could be a 10 year old. It’s not a great way to boost their self esteem.)

- In the computer lab with one class, two boys started chatting in Spanish. “Habla en ehngles,” interrupted the teacher in oddly accented Spanish. “I don’t like them talking in Spanish because I don’t know what they’re saying,” she explained to me. (I, maybe inappropriately, added, “Oh, he was just telling the other boy to do X with the computer.”) This provoked PTSD-type flashes back to my student teaching experience.

- In one class the teacher had the students watching a totally and completely non-academic video. If a teacher had done that at Student Teaching School, he or she would have been tarred and feathered on the spot. The principal would have found out and the teacher would have gotten into huge trouble. Apparently, it was not inappropriate here. (I need to comment, I am not judging this action on the teachers part - just commenting. From what I've seen, this is a very competent teacher. I was just a bit shocking coming from the school I had come from.)

- Connecting with the above comment, the school seems so much more productive than Student Teaching school. The schedule is so simple (It runs on a 5-day cycle, just like real life! The kids have the same teacher all day, except for specials or pull-out help).

- I’m not used being called Ms. Grownup. I’m having a really hard time responding to it. When I was student teaching I officially went by Ms. G., (due to my cooperating teaching and I sharing a surname) although in reality the kids usually just referred to any adult as Teacher. At TC Elementary, I officially go by Ms. Grownup, and some of the kids actually do call me that. Though many of them get lazy and just call me Ms. Grown or Ms. Gr…what’s-your-name-again? (Well, actually they call me Miss or Mrs. Lastname, but that is one thing that I don’t fight.)

- There as a magnet on a teacher's desk that said, "Miracles are made in the classroom" or something along those lines. I don't know why they bother me so much, but sayings like that truly offend me. Nothing that happens in the classroom is a miracle. It is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of the teacher and the students. There is no "miracle" there. The teacher plans an effective lesson, the students interact well with the lesson, the teacher, and each other, and then, yes, good things can happen. But what is happening should by no means be considered a miracle. It is the result of a series of deliberate actions made by the teachers and students.

- Hopefully some day soon I’ll find the will/energy/initiative to write something real instead of random bullets. (Or, even more optimistically thinking, maybe someday I’ll find the energy to apply to jobs for next year. Um, that’s my main goal right now.)