Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Playing Favorites



Today, I got hit in the face again. Most of the time, it's an accident. Other times, kids get really upset and, being pretty new to this earth they haven't yet found a better way to express their emotions than punching me in the face.

Today was a different story. I was kneeling before a three-year-old boy to put on his unnecessarily large hiking boots. While I was bent over one, double-knotting it to his specifications, he held the laces of the other boot and whipped me purposefully in the face with his boot. The blow was accompanied by the typical blinding white pain that you get when you are struck in the eyes and nose. I didn't even make a noise. I was shocked by the pain and by the action. When I finally opened my eyes again, the boy sat in front of me looking pleased.

It's hard to balance being a preschool teacher with being... human. He's three, I keep reminding myself. But how can I not be upset with someone who just whacked me in the face and enjoyed it so? Another student of mine loves to speak with me in English, he loves to tell jokes, he loves to make me laugh (see photos above). When one two-year-old boy was crying for mommy, another one put on a silly hat and danced in front of him. How can one not favor these kids over those who seem to enjoy causing hurt? I know, I know, children who are acting out are doing it for a reason but when push literally comes to shove, how can a teacher not have feelings?

I guess, what makes a good teacher is her ability to accept those feelings without letting them interfere with her work. This is what I strive for daily.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Last Day of Elementary

Tuesday was also my last day teaching the elementary after-school program. Here, they are working on the review sheets for their December exam. There's a lot of table-cam coming, beware!
Above, either Jeff or Chris, I'm not really sure which after my boss switched them between classes, works hard while behind him Rain takes a break.


Jenny and Ben


Rain is kind of hilarious. He's not a particularly good or committed student, but we all love him for some reason.

Sean and Alissa. We think that they will one day get married. They're pretty amazing students and kind of hilarious. Usually, Alissa's creative writing assignments involve her kicking the ass of a vampire.




Roy, Jeff-or-Chris, and Ivy


This is Earth class. They tested my patience like no other class ever but I will still miss them. It was not as hard to say goodbye to elementary as to leave kindergarten but I do adore the kids!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: December Birthday Party

Another birthday party happened last Tuesday. All the basic elements are the same, but I focused a lot on getting shots of the other kids just being cute. In this one, we are waiting for birthday pictures to be taken, so Sarah was asked to sing. It was so sweet and cute.

Then we had Ryan, Jupiter's class clown, sing just to give him something to do so he would stop causing trouble. It kind of worked?
While we were waiting. I showed this to a friend who asked, "What are they doing?" "Sitting nicely," I responded. Teaching preschool/kindergarten is living in a world of barely-controlled chaos. And I love it.

Birthday line, Liam and Fita at the front are so much bigger than when I first got here!


Apparently the entire school singing "Happy Birthday" is just a little too loud for them.

Emily, Angel, and Amy of Jupiter really wanted to get my slippers off.
They tried really hard. I eventually had to move away to stop distracting them with my slippers.

Stephen has been practicing his candle-blow-out technique. You can see him second from the left.

Cindy, being a ham.

She may love smiling for me, but she is not going to smile for Peter. No, Peter, she is not amused.

But she does seem to be able to put up with Alex.

Everyone wants hugs from Cindy!

"Smile, Lucy!"

"Now make a silly face!" A+, Lucy.

So, these next few pictures got Mars in trouble with Jessie, their Korean teacher for being silly while they were supposed to be eating. She showed them my camera and lectured them. Sorry guys!

Fita, a birthday girl, is probably supposed to have that crown on top of her head and I don't think she needs that much tissue.

And apparently Lucy should keep one hand on her spoon. Who can stop them when they're being so cute?

Friday, October 17, 2008

Chapter Sixteen: Sports Day

This month instead of a regular field trip, we had "sports day," which was basically field day. We went to Children's Park and played outside. There were a few other schools there. Mostly we played relay races and it was a lot of fun because in kindergarten it doesn't really matter who wins and often no one knows who does. There was a play ground that they got to play on a bit. It was easier than I had expected to control the whole school at once. I was not thrilled, I wanted another Herb Hillz field trip, but I definitely did have a lot of fun. After the kids did the event, they always made the teachers do it too. It was great. There's one shot of me losing (miserably).

Above is them all in formation for a huuuge group stretching time. I'm getting pretty good at leading stretches now! I lead stretches for Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Pluto, and Uranus. Nicole does Mercury. But we let her do it yesterday. It went surprisingly well.

The first event was eating the Korean version of Funyons off of a string (exactly like the traditional Duckett Halloween donut game!).

It was hard to explain that they shouldn't use their hands.

So Kelly assisted.

Liam with the funyon on his eye! But Jenny's got the right idea.
Jully, trying so hard.
Elin just kept poking it with his tongue.

Rocco was a master at the no-hands.

This is the best shot ever. It looks like they're in some sort of "Just say no" video from the early nineties, doin' the anti-drug dance.
Fred, my man, what's the problem?
And here you an see me, losing terribly, behind Arthur and Nicole.

Now it's the bus drivers' turn!
In the next game, they had to fill up a paper "cup" (more like an envelope, these things drive me nuts!) with water, run down, pour it in the bottle, and run back to tag the next person in the relay. Here is Woody on his way back, though he has strayed a little.

Liam looked so pleased with himself.
Jully looks worried. She's planning her strategy.
...which was apparently to walk very, very slowly on the way there...
...and run like hell on the way back!
Anna and her little braids.
Chris is convinced he just won it for his team.
Sally is always doing that thing with her tongue, even when she runs! Extra credit if you can guess who her twin brother is (note: it's not Elin).
I loved Ariel's little bucket hat!

What a pose, Woody.
Now it's the adults' turn. I already had mine and Nicole got to leave gaurding the bottle to take her turn. Her first idea for cheating is to use TWO little cuppy things.

Quickly, she followed Arthur's lead and took the whole bucket.

But unlike Arthur, she had the foresight to declare herself winner and run back!

(all these next pictures with newspaper were taken by the talented Arthur)
The next game involved two people running with a ball in the newspaper, around a cone (aka Colleen and Chris) and then back. It was another relay race. I enjoyed being the cone and cheering on the red team, which I happened to be on the side of for all three games. Ariel and Jenny get ready.

Me, cheering them on.
Joel, the troublemaker, and Kane, the ever-distracted, did a good job.
Lina and Liam... I can't watch. I was expecting a catastrophe, and I do think they ripped the paper or dropped the ball.
Sharon on the blue team couldn't recover the ball because she was laughing too much.
We can do it!
Look at that stance! He's ready.
See how I cheer on my team every time they get near me!

And feel their agony when they lose the ball.

Yet Chris is the zen-master.
This is what Arthur called his "money shot" and I have to hand it to him, it's pretty amazing. Though, it's not terribly difficult to catch Eric making that face.
Again, me cheering them on and Zen Chris.
This thing was the coolest slide I've ever seen. I had been eying it since we first arrived. Some time later while they were all distracted, Arthur and I had a slide race. I won, by a lot! It was amazing. I could play on a playground forever, with or without little kids.
Getting them all into one gigantic circle to use their backpacks for the obstacle course. It took a solid ten minutes to get them into a circle.

Woody had to take some medicine then almost yacked. Sad face.
I certainly did not get them started on this "lift me up!" kick.. nope.. not me. Sorry Chris!

Jessie was just helping them down, then I turned it into a photo shoot!

Priceless Liam face!

This place was so cool! I don't know what all that stuff over there is, but give me some! I could play here all day! (Also, another school in their track suits.)
Proof that we are still very much in the city.
Being cute... or wait, is she pushing him? Can't tell.
I love this shot because it reminds me how little Mars really is! They aren't even old enough to really socialize. They kind of stand around and look at each other if they aren't given an activity to do. But it also looks to me like when teenagers hang out in a parking lot.
Arthur "assisting" with the rolling part of the obstacle course (our final event), or rather, hanging children upside down by their feet.
Woah, standing up is harder than the roll itself (I can attest to this, having done the course myself at the end).
The box in front of Chris is actually what we were in charge of. We had to hold open the boxes to make a tunnel. We may or may not have rigged this race so that red finally won an event by holding the red team's box open much wider.
Nicole was in charge of the hula hoops. They were suposed to stand in it and pull it up over their heads.
Victory! If memory serves, Liam didn't go through the hoop but instead threw it off to the side, but that may have been another kid.
You should click on this and enlarge it to see Arthur's amazing roll of Harry. He is completely flat!

Nicole helping Harry out. She didn't even bother trying to get him to pick it up either.

The end of an amazing day!