happy moments in a day

as usual cloudy gray moments pop up during a routine day at school; today was no exception, but there are the moments that make you incredibly happy to be a teacher.

1) reading: we do reading at JCS in small groups for grades (1-3) using leveled readers. I teach level B as of this week. I used to teach aa the 3rd lowest ability group and loved my kids. most of my kids were first and second graders with poor reading background so while they worked hard they still were struggling. i formed some good relationships with those students and miss them so much.

i did have two 3rd graders in that group as well; since they are older they advanced to level B with me (actually i chose level B because I wanted to stay with them). Joshua and Cristofer have made great progress and I wanted to continue supporting them and building their self-esteem. I am thankful to have them in my group yet again.

A) anyways, the point of this whole story is today at break I went to go say hi to my favorite little girl from my first reading group Lisleydi. Lisleydi is one of the happiest and joyfilled kids I've ever worked with; she always brings a smile to my face. and whenever you ask her how she is the answer is always "happy". today was no exception. I asked her how she liked her new teacher for reading and she said ok. then she said can i tell you something in spanish? [normally if they have something very important to say they want to say it in their own language...] so i said "i'll do my best to understand." Mrs. Williams es agradable, pero quiero estar en su clase otra vez Miss Jantzen. ¿Por favor? {Mrs. Williams is nice, but I want to be in your class again Miss Jantzen. Please?} I just about started crying...I was like hooray I'm actually making an impact on somebody's life while they may not even be in my class, somebody appreciates my teaching.

B)I also love hearing from other teachers that their kids come back to class happy after reading. Sometimes I feel like my reading lessons are a flop, but evidentally my activities are fun. I feel that they are occasionally tedious/repetitive, but then again learning to read is just that. I love it when kids rush up at lunch and say "I'm excited for reading tomorrow, are you going to read the Pigeon book to us?" "Can you read to us now?" I love that they are eager to learn.


2)walking to town
I love walking into town. I love seeing students outside of school and watching them process seeing their teachers outside of school. What they don't live at school? I remember that whole transtion of factual understanding in first and second grade.

I love running into people from the school and stopping to say hi and chat.

I secretly love carrying bags of groceries by myself in front of all the moto drivers and not taking a moto. It's fun to see how people react to a white girl carrying groceries up a hill and not really caring.

3) I love that it's December 4th and I'm wearing shorts and t-shirt.

3.5) I love that I have a half day tomorrow!!!!

4) I love that in 16 days at 7:30pm I'll be landing at O'Hare.

5) I love that in 27 days I'll be in Wheaton with El. Ed. friends

6) I love that in 28 days I'll be in Fort Wayne with my amazing 1L friends.

and in 31 days I'll be right back here in Jarabacoa...a lot of stuff can be crammed in a glorious 1 month span.

God is good and gracious and has provided me with enough grace and patience to survive the first 4 months of life abroad.