My classes

I have had teenagers for the past couple of months. They are fantastic! They are opinionated, cuss in class, talk NON-stop, have cell phones, make fun of each other and me in Vietnamese and I can't understand it and it makes me crazy. And I love them the most. However, they aren't big into getting their pictures taken, so here they are:However, the little kids are willing picture targets. And they love their teacher, so maybe they won't sue me when they find out they've been plastered on the internet.Lilly is not much of a smiler. She is one of the smartest in the class, but sometimes she refuses to write the sentances on the board. She just shakes her head, no. I seriously do not know how to persuade her.Helen is one of the worst students. Sorry Helen. But she has improved immensly since I started offering star stickers to the students who bring me their notebooks. Now she'll do anything, come find me and grab my arm, drag me over, and display her work with this face, hoping for a sticker.Calvin. When he wants my attention he hides under my desk until I come looking for him. He usually has some injury that he needs my help with too. It's usually nothing at all, but he hams it up nicely. Still my favorite. I can't help it.Michael is the teacher's helper. He brings cd's for me to use, and unsuccessfully tries to make everyone be quiet or sit down when I ask. He also gets over-the-top excited when I write, "SUPER!" or "FANTASTIC!!" on his paper.Vivian and Jenny. They always do their work. And they like to take things off my desk and play with them. Jenny has a raspy voice (which I love!) and when she wants to go get a drink of water, she crosses her arms and slightly bows her head, and says, "TeachermayIgoout," as she's walking out the door.This is Peter 1. His pants are always falling down and he's always pulling his shirt up. He crawls around on the floor like a slug, and usually ends up on top of these desks, the flimsiest desks in the world. I just thought you'd like a glimpse of what I get to see every week.

I'm still scared to death every Saturday morning when my alarm goes off. And while I always get so sweaty and exhausted, and sometimes I give up trying to control them and just take pictures, I feel so accomplished when I can understand them! This past Saturday, I successfully told my students not to hit, and if they hit again I would call their parents (When you set the bar low, you always get results). You have no idea how good it made me feel to communicate that. These pictures of individual children almost make my class look managable, but I assure you it is chaotic, and there is never more than one child absent at a time, no matter how hard I pr@y.

A lot of classes are ending and beginning right now. And we have no idea what classes we'll get this time. I'm nervous since we'll have these classes for the rest of our time here most likely! I've been very spoiled having the classes that I like. And these kiddie classes are good for me. Definitely make me earn my paycheck, but I'm learning a lot. I keep saying that. but I mean it.