The Ying and Yang of Teaching: 3

Good people, the universe has placed me in a new school. I am now working in a K-8 school, and will be there the rest of the year, and the following school year. I am back among the K-8 crowd. It looks like my high school teaching days are on pause; for now. As a special ed teacher you are sent where you are needed.

So, after a few weeks of working with the the younger-yungins, this is what my new journey is providing me:

- I'm the new toy in the school, therefore, the students are fascinated with me. I get curious looks and smiles. Moreover, the friends of students assigned to me, want to come to accompany my students to the resource room and/or have lunch with me.

- Occasionally I accommodate my students' requests to bring a friend to resource room, because building a relationship with my students, will be key in getting them to do their work. Just today when my group was a bit rowdy, my student said to the group "Hey! Listen to Mr. S. He's nice!"

- I decided to call my resource room The Dragon's Lair. I had one of my eight-graders draw a dragon, to serve as mascot for the room. She turned it out! I'll explain the dragon concept in a future post.

- In high school I gave many pats on the back for a job well done. Today I find myself giving many pats on the head for a job well done, due to the fact that I am surrounded by students that are rib-cage high. For the girls I bow and say "Well done little mama." Both acts of praise renders a smile. How adorable!

- Many of my students live in a housing project that is known as The Jungle. I kid you not. This community is living with many social ills. Therefore, our students come into school with all kinds of needs, strengths, insights, and emotions, that are shaped by their experiences of living within poverty. Their reality is very much like the one I grew up in. I am them and they are me.

So, I continue to teach my students and learn from them. Good people, I'm living within my purpose.