Hm, It's been a while!

So, I'm kinda bad at keeping up with this. Shocker.

Starting my last week at Institute is bitter sweet. I'm so excited to get back to Kansas City where my car, my apartment, my job, and my sister and her family are waiting for me. Yet, I know I'll be leaving behind more than a half-empty bottle of shampoo and extra worksheets. I'm going to really miss my students. The three that regularly come to school have made all the difference in the world out here. I've decided not to use the names of my students or my school to protect personal information, so I'm going to refer to them as R-, M-, and J-.

These three kids are amazing. They inspire me everyday to be a better teacher. R- takes time out of her nutrition break to ask clarifying questions about her assignments. She even calls her teachers on the weekends when she's struggling with homework. I'm incredibly impressed with how much she advocates for her education. She has big goals to go to college and become a police person. She recognizes that she can be better, and will be better than what others believe. She has a great set of parents who wrote the most endearing things about her to us in the parent survey we sent home. I just about cried when her father answered the question "What do you like the most about your daughter?" with "Everything. She's wonderful." I am so excited to see what comes of this scholar!

J- and M- are a joy to have in my classroom. They both get so excited about learning that I have to actually give them consequences for participating too much! They are so supportive of each other and even me! Whenever I comment on my inability to spell (seriously, it's a problem when I'm making up word problems in class), M- always tells me "Yes you can, Miss!". Both of these students struggle in my class, but their biggest obstacle is miscalculations. They're getting the hang of the concepts! I'm going to keep working with these two to make sure that by Thursday they can accurately add decimals, subtract positives from negatives, and divide fractions.

I will be teaching 4th grade in the fall. I can't wait to help students like J- and M- learn how to calculate accurately so that they are prepared for math in middle school. It's so incredibly important for these kids to get a great foundation before beginning to learn more abstract information.

Ok, past my bedtime. My big goal for tonight is 5 hours of sleep. Adios!