Call in the Replacements

This past weekend wasn't quite as busy for me as it normally is. Two of small star classes were canceled due to the parents being nervous about their children being submitted to the "bad air" from the remodel. All of us teachers are blaming any mistake we are making on the "air."

We now have three out of the five replacement teachers for the five of us that are leaving at the end of this month and the beginning of June. A woman named Aminata is going to be taking over most of my classes along with Miles and Ryan taking one or two each. She is my age and from New York. She has been teaching special education for the past six years. She's lovely and my students are going to be lucky to have her as a teacher. She observed my two small star classes this evening. She actually made me feel better because she was able to pick out a few students who may have some learning/socialization behaviors that should may be checked out by a specialist. It was a bit of a relief to hear that news from someone. I have asked for help with this class and EF had not been able to give me much support. I had actually wished that the violent one was there today. I bet Aminata could provide a lot of insight into that special case. One of the little ones in that class that I can usually really count on to set a good example was acting very abnormal. He was touching the computer, hitting his classmates and not listening to my instructions at all. I kept him after the class for a bit to see what was wrong with the help of the TA translating for me. The little boy told us he just didn't want to be there today and that he was tired... It's good to be reminded that even the sweetest of little ones have their bad days, too.

I told my two highest level classes over the weekend that I will be leaving at the end of the month. Aminata is going to be either observing and co-teaching with me for the next three weekends so I wanted to be able to tell them on my own so they could be free to ask me questions. Both classes were sad to hear that I was leaving, which was really sweet, but also excited to learn about their new teacher. I had told my highest level students that I had big news to share with them and they were hoping I had found a Chinese boyfriend! They were highly disappointed! I am going to miss them a lot, but it's good to know they will be in capable hand.

I want to wish my Mom a happy mother's day! Wǒ ài nǐ!

Happy Mother's Day to all those women in my life: Joanna, my aunts and my mentors and friends, too, because it takes a village to raise a child (or a 28-year-old), and I'll take all the help I can get!