Remember when I posted about that terrible, awful, frustrating, pull-my-hair-out day I had not too long ago? Well I figure if I am going to post about days like that, I sure as heck better include the other end of the spectrum too. After all, isn't that the life of a teacher? One day your kids drive you so nuts you think about not teaching ever again and the next they bring the biggest smile to your face and remember why its all worth it? Well, it is. Of course, I am going to have moments or days where my kids drive me nuts (you try to spend just 1 hour in a room with 15-20 7th graders and not be annoyed or go crazy). Sometimes frustrating moments like these happen to occur at just the right time or all together, or when its already been a long week, at which point my next train of thought goes something like this: "I have a degree in Biomedical Engineering, one that I spent THOUSANDS of dollars in out of state tuition on, I could be doing so many other things (and paying off my massive debt a lot faster) and I choose to spend my days with 12 and 13 year olds. Really?" Yes Cassie, really. You do. And here are some reasons why.
Last Friday, 11-11-11 was my 25th birthday. In the States it is Veteran's Day, and in Illinois that means no school for Chicago Public Schools (CPS), so my first two years teaching I didn't have to go to work on my birthday, pretty sweet. But this year, I am so glad that I got to share my birthday with my kids. In addition to the birthday wishes and hugs from numerous co-workers, every one of my classes that day came in and sang happy birthday to me and there were lots of hugs as well. Some students even gave me handmade birthday cards/notes, one of which read
Ms. S you are the BEST Science teacher I've ever had. You are very nice with us and you have a lot of patience. Thank you for all you help. You really are a great person. Happy birthday, I hope enjoy your B-day and I hope you continue being such a great teacher.
And its little things like that which keep me coming to work everyday. Now, this particular girl's class period also had a lot more planned for me Friday. It was the last period after lunch and we were set to review for our upcoming Mastery Exam on climate, As students were walking in, they were rambunctious as always, with the added "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" screeches. Meanwhile, Claudia, one of the middle school secretaries came to my room too. Although she only speaks Spanish, we usually manage to communicate pretty well about who she needs to see or what she needs me to do. I got that someone needed to go to the office, but she usually goes with them, and she seemed to be walking further and further into my classroom so I asked "Quien?" and then I finally got that I needed to go to the office for something, and she said she'd watch my class, no worries. So I jogged down to the offices where Marlene, the high school secretary told me we'd take care of whatever it was I needed to do when Claudia got back. Now if you were paying attention, you too would know that Claudia was supposed to be watching my kids so she wasn't going anywhere until I got back to my room. Marlene then said she had a letter she needed to translate for me, but it would be a minute and just to wait and not worry about my class. Normally, this change/interruption of schedule would have really gotten to me, but it was Friday, it was my birthday and it was a review day for a class that generally already does better on average, so I waited.
While waiting, I then saw two of my students scurrying across the lawn in front of the offices and had a look of shock when I saw them.. They came to the office, started making some lies about another student falling from the balcony outside my class and told me I had to wait in the office for the principal. Clearly I already knew something was up. Some more distractions occurred, Marlene called me back over to tell me David had yellow roses delivered that I could pick up after school and then my principal walked in looking very confused. And then he seemed to pick up on something. He said the kids should go back, and that I could probably go back too. So I get back to my class and the kids are just everywhere and they've written birthday messages on the board, but that was it. Oooooook....I said thank you to Claudia and handed back their graded quizzes and realized three girls were gone. More lies about where they may or may not be and then the 6th grade science teacher Amanda came to my room and said the principal needed to see me again. I protested, she said with a straight face "I just hope you don't get fired" and so I was off to the office again. When I got there Mr. Kelly said I could turn right back around and that they should finally have it all figured out by now. Walking back to my class I decided to come in from the outside where I would walk past a wall of windows to the classroom, rather than from inside the science building. I saw all my kids shock and then them hiding under desks, but not before one of them opened the door for me. I walked in and they all shouted "surprise!" and there was a cake with a candle in it for me and they all started singing happy birthday.
Don't ask what the boys are doing, I have no idea. I blew out the candle and they told me I had to take the candle out, bite the bottom and make a wish. They could have completely made that up, but I did it anyway. Then were all had some delicious arequipe roll they had the cafeteria make, in addition to some little ice cream sundaes. Apparently they had been nagging Mr. Kelly all day about the surprise and planned it out themselves (hence the not so perfect plan) and were so excited when it finally all came together. We took some some photos, awkward 7th grader style and then finally with 15 minutes left, they got to reviewing before heading home for the weekend.
"Normal"
Funny Faces!
This will definitely go down in the birthday books as one of my best memories, and is something I have already used to remind myself about the GOOD things when I feel myself start to get annoyed by 13 year olds.
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