So…I teach 1st grade at Tyler Heights Elementary School (aka T.H.E.S) in Annapolis Maryland. My school is considered a Title 1 school, which means the US department of ed. provides additional funds for our school because majority of the students are from low-income households. There are about 400 students in my school and approximately 50% are black and 50% are Hispanic.
I have 19 students, well now 18 because one of my favs. Nieshia, moved to a new school last week. The majority of my students are immigrants from El Salvador (or as they say “El Sal-ba-dor”) and only speak Spanish at home. They are hilarious and have been helping me improve my Spanish speaking skills!!! J It is somewhat challenging as everything I send home must be in both Spanish and English, and daily I get notes from parents that are in Spanish and I have only a vague clue what they say. Basically…I better learn Spanish quickly!!!
Teaching pretty much rocks…minus the fact that I am exhausted all the time and I feel like there are not nearly enough minutes in the day and I basically look like a crazy person running around trying to get things done. You know how sometimes you kill a bug but you miss and only get its head, and then the rest of the bug kinda runs in circles headless?!?! Well…I’m pretty sure that’s what I look like!!! Other teachers see me in the hall and are like “oh, Ms. Baker How are you today?” (they say it with a lot of concern in their voice…) So apparently as I walk down the hallway I look a bit worried/frantic…but I really am happy! I walk extra fast. I get it. I forget that my typical walking speed is the average persons “I’m super late or there is an emergency” walking speed… so maybe that’s why there is so much concern from my coworkers!?!?!
Personal GOAL: Walk at a normal speed. And if you feel the desire to walk quickly do so with a delightful face!!!
Some of my favorite things about my students are…
- Their toothless smiles!!!
- Having them talk about things they learned weeks ago…this tells me that they are actually learning and more importantly REMEMBERING what they learned.
- Hearing them tell stories about their families/their lives in El Sal-ba-dor
- Watching them dance/sing. They all have Justin Bieber fever!!!
- Overhearing my students talk to their classmates. Yesterday Katherine said to Pamela “Yeah even though he sounds like a girl I like Justin Bieber.”
- Their mixed up grammar. Heidy said to me yesterday “When we could have the contest to see who is the most beautiful and you give us a prize?” I’m not certain but I think she was asking when would we have a Halloween costume contest…but she wasn’t dressed up in a costume so I’m not really sure! :)
My list could go on forever but I’ve typed enough already! …thanks for reading.
Peace.
Here are a few pictures of my classroom...I will say that these were taken in August before school started and it looks a bit different now. I pretty much change something about it every week...oh and I finally got a real rug for my students to sit on so that's a huge change!!!
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