a week of highlights

today was crazy hair day at school. a bunch of the students came with funky hairstyles and sprayed hair a rainbow of colors. all the students with school spirit had the chance to show off their flair. even the principal joined in by mohawking her short hair. awesome.

i started this student teaching in the 2nd grade this last monday. monday was a super fantastic day. seriously...super! i was placed at an elementary school in east LA again, only this time, on the northend, near my friend may's house. i was originally supposed assigned to a Ms. Duff, but last saturday, i got a phone call from my advisor letting me know that the principal had called him for a switch because of my bilingual credential (BCLAD). i was placed in another 2nd grade class with ELLs (english language learners). for most of the last two quarters, the BCLAD option has been more of a curse - one more class than everyone else, later evenings on tuesdays, more work, etc. but, the BCLAD has proven to be my salvation, so to speak. my new guiding teacher is fantabulous. she's so relaxed with her students and she's done an amazing job of teaching them to be independent and responsible. these 2nd graders are phenomenol and so darn CUTE! they have these cute little voices...soooo CUTE!

anyway, yesterday and today, my teacher was gone so while we had a sub today, we did not yesterday and were therefore dispersed into other 2nd grade classrooms. i got to have a little medley of 2nd grade teaching styles by visiting the other classrooms. the teacher i would've been with, not so great. she kind of barks out orders at the kids and really values quiet. uh...they're kids...they make some noise. i've decided that i'm ok with noise and ordered chaos. sadly, the switch came at the expense of my friend rebecca, who would've had my teacher, but instead, got the scary one. so, i owe her...big time.

on tuesday, i had my latest class, which is scheduled to end at 8pm. my team advisor also happens to be the instructor for this course (BCLAD culture). i was a little worried about how it might turn out, but it was pretty great. we had some good readings and discussions and the overview of the class made it seem like it will be pretty darn interesting. hooray! this class also gives me the opportunity to continue with my two-year goal of being best friends with my advisor. ok, i don't really mean best friends, but i do have a goal of breaking down the invisible barrier he sort of keeps with us and to get him to relax and share stuff about himself so we can get to know him better. i'm actually making a lot of progress with my goal. it's become a team inside joke. anyway, he let us out of class an hour early...bonus! when i got home, i met a new person in my roommates small group who went to UO for law school. he raved about portland. he too became my new best friend. apparently, it doesn't take much. rave about portland and you're pretty much cool. :D

wednesday was my evening to relax after class. it was also fabulous.

thursday my class was dispersed due to the sub not showing up. i got to sort of be in charge, in that i administered the district math assessment to the students that had been absent and also collected and checked homework and distributed new homework, along with visiting my kids in their dispersed classrooms. after school, my carpool and i went grocery shopping at 99 ranch in monterey park since it was 10 minutes from our school. i think we're planning on making this our weekly ritual. it's so convenient...close to costco and target too. triple hooray. and even more cool, there was a prayer meeting for church too.

there's a birthday party tonight and magic mountain tomorrow. totally a week of fun and educational highlights.