Missed you.
It's Friday and I got through the school day by sleeping for 4 class periods in the nurse's office. I spent all last night vomiting--seems to have been bad food, not a real stomach flu.
Anyhyperdrive, I kept tabs on my body and determined that I could make it to school. I managed to sit through my first 2 classes and let them study, but I couldn't last any longer. JY walked with me to the nurse's office and I got some medicine.
I actually did eat rice at lunch, a fair amount of it, so I felt really convinced that I was on the mend. Despite feeling like that walking dead, I knew the bad stuff was out of my system.
After lunch, my 2nd grade students Dohyun and Dongsup came by my curtained hospital bed to inform me that it was class time, but I told them they'd just be with HS-Teacher today. Our double convo class just couldn't happen.
After school, I actually felt well enough to walk home, and Dohyun rode his little bike after me to make sure I was okay, He's SO SWEET. I remember when he was in my second afterschool last year and I thought he was a 2nd Jiyoon, a pint-sized troublemaker, and he's turned out to be my great comfort and joy in many situations.
Here's writing I did on Thursday, before I got sick:
1:22 PM. Well, almost as soon as I halted my
thankfulness habit, the worry bug bit. Today, JY pointed out that this year's
2nd graders aren't quite as happy with their homeroom teachers this year
because all the 1st grade female teachers are young and pretty, while the 2nd
grade female teachers are mostly older ladies.
It made me a little sad and worried for the
future because I'm not going to get younger, obviously. This is a one-way train
and getting older is where it leads.
Doors this kind of student-behavior mean that if
I'm still teaching when I'm 50, none of my students will pay attention? Will I
be less valued, less loved, then?
Then I recall my beloved high school English
teacher, who was almost 70 and was my daily light and inspiration. And the
super-cool ladies of the English department at my college, who were
knowledgeable and polished.
I can't fear age. And I won't.
Good put me in a body like anyone else's,
subject to the same processes as anyone's. it's all a gift, the coming and the
going.
1-1, 1-2 class was great. They're SG's kids,
some of them, and they're just charming and a joy to be around.
Kyeonghun, one of my greatly like 2nd graders
hung out after class to talk to me about Easter, about how he's Catholic and
today is Holy Thursday. He said, as he said last week, that he enjoys talking
with me but that he's upset because there's never enough time to do so.
I suggested visiting my office, but he said the
teachers don't like kids to visit there, and that's quite true. I've got to
wrack my brain a little to do his time to talk with kids like Changho and
Kyeonghun who don't feel like they're getting enough time.
My current idea: have office hours in the
English room every Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday from 1--1:30 for kids who want
extra talking time. Mondays and Fridays are really busy for me, so those days
might not be practical, but it's a possibility at least, for some of them.
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