St.Louis, Misery

Sorry about the lack of updates. I got a complaint that I am not satisfying the blog-addicts out there, so I apologize. To be honest, I haven't the heart to write lately. I'm still bummed about losing my job, and not having to work is making it worse because sitting around here with nothing to do is making me go a little bit crazy.


On a more positive note, I have been getting a little bit of much-needed experience working with school-age kids. First off, I started tutoring again. Sadly, my previous tutee, Ariel, moved to Chicago this Summer, therefore I did not get to say good-bye. I was a bit nervous about getting a new kid, but it turned out fine because I got Alex whom I have tutored before. She is a sweet girl and I look forward to working with her this year even though I will miss Ariel.
Here is Alex with me last April- (not the most flattering picture, I know)

Other sad news- I quit the two year-old Sunday School class to get the aforementioned experience and moved up to the 2nd-4th grade class. I will really miss the two-year-olds. You remember how much I loved them (if not, click here). This Sunday was my first day with the older kids, and it was a lot of fun. I am not the main teacher, so I get a break from teaching the Bible lessons, but I get to lead song time which means I had to break out the old guitar. I spent practically the whole day changing the strings and tuning the dang thing.

Also, I have visited my friends from church Mary's and Brenda's classrooms the last couple weeks. They are both third-grade teachers at the same private school. That has been good for me because, frankly, I have been freaking out about student teaching next year. I haven't had a whole lot of experience in the classroom or with school-age kids so I am really starting to get nervous. So basically I am doing everything I can to get more experience to ease my fears a little. I am going to start helping at our church's Sunday night kids' program, and I am looking to either tutor another day or volunteer at another church's after-school program.

While I am on the subject, for one of my classes we will be going to an elementary school for a couple days for the next few weeks. We are learning how to give reading tests/inventories and are going to test them out on students. My first day was Monday, and I was in a fourth grade classroom. It was a lot of fun. First of all, the school we went to was awesome. I immediately decided I want to teach there just by the looks of it (probably can't judge a school by its looks though). The building is super nice and airy with tons of pets. Yeah that's right, animals. Everywhere you go there are fish tanks, and in the hallways I saw a huge parrot, other little birds, a snake, and I only saw part of the school. Outside they have a nice courtyard with a pond, and I hear the kindergarten has a pool.

Then I got to work with a fourth-grade girl and she was too cute. Part of our class assignment was to interview our student, and I thought it would be awkward asking her questions like- when is your bedtime? what do your parents do? But it ended up being really enjoyable because she was very talkative and had a very inspiring personality. For instance I asked her if she liked school and she said "Oh, I love school! And I always pay attention in school, for two reasons. First, I want to get a good education, and second, I want to be a teacher when I grow up!" She is a lot of fun, and I will be working with her each time I go to the school.

Yikes! I've got class in ten minutes! Have a great day!