Were You Born on a Beach?!

So I can officially say I am doing good being here in Chicago. After this weekend and the rest of the week, I am feeling good. A little change in attitude at school and getting to know the kids better is making that go much better. I just really need to focus on the students and the type of difference I can make for them, maybe motivate them a bit more to do their work or inspire them to really want to do their best. At first I was thinking so much more on the level of how much I disagreed with the teaching style of my cooperating teacher or the waste in time management. Towards the end of this week I was able to connect with some of them better instead of becoming so frustrated with their lack of work ethic. Finding the little ways to get them to do their work and make them proud of completing my challenge brings me a nice little smile.

A few random stories from school…just because kids are so dang cute. I was working on math computer games with 2 of the special ed. students. I told the girl she was thinking of the right answer, but just clicked in the wrong spot. She looked at me and asked, “Were you born on a beach?” All I could do was laugh and ask her where she came up with that. I am assuming she has heard that line used before similar to “Were you born in a barn?” But once I asked her, she became completely serious and wanted to know if I was born on a beach. I told her I was not and was actually born in Iowa. She then asked me if that was a beach!! NOPE…not close…it is filled with cornfields. She gave me quite the chuckle!

Friday was the school spelling bee. We had 4 students participate. One of the little boys apparently decided that for big occasions of the type cologne was necessary. It wasn’t way over done as one would assume a second grader would do, but he did ask if it was okay that he was wearing it for the day! Once in the auditorium, I saw 2 little kindergarten boys with dress suits on…too sticking precious! They were adorable!

Friday afternoon felt so amazing as well… a weekend! That evening we went out, after looking for places to go for a couple hours. Haha We rode the “L” up to Wrigleyville and decided we would just find a place on our walk. It was a fun night meeting some new girls from the Chicago Semester. Saturday I ran a few errands…went to Target and saw tons of cute things!! Like normal, but I only bought the non-fun, non-cute things that I needed. That evening I also went and experienced the environment and taste of the Chicago style pizza. It was pretty tasty and filled me up fast.

So yes, things are feeling good right now...especially knowing I have a 3 day week which includes Tuesday morning for a movie reward and Wednesday afternoon for the Valentine's party. I am looking forward to it! I also will be attending my first fine arts event this Thursday and then spending the long weekend with my sister.