never have i ever...

never have i ever...

1. run
my 5k training has been going well so far. i am proud of the fact that i have actually been able to stick with it and am surprised that it is not as bad as i thought it would be! (insert shameless plug for money) i am about half way to my fundraising goal and you can still help me out! heres the link :) https://lasallianvolunteers.myetap.org/fundraiser/lvsrunninginmemphis/individual.do?participationRef=4586.0.2022467

2. been an esl teacher
each wednesday, i spend time with a middle school student named kim. he is a native of thailand and still struggles with the english language. and by struggle, i mean struggleee. he is supposed to be a freshman in high school this year but it was decided that he would stay in middle school for an extra year because he is not comfortable with english.

when they had first asked me to help kim with esl, i figured that i would helping him working on his reading and maybe some writing skills. easy enough- i do both of those things everyday with the kids at the center. what i found out when i arrived was that this was not the case. we are working on the alphabet, letter recognition, phonics, and vocabulary. and it is hard! i think it is safe to say that this is probably one of the most, if not the most, challenging task i have taken on in a longggg time. i often ask myself "whats the best way to teach a 15 year old the alphabet without using materials that are designed for a 3 year old?" it is definitely difficult at times, but i think i have a good plan of action for the time being and hope that it will work. keep your fingers crossed!

3. argued with middle school students so much, even when i was in middle school!
i mostly work with middle school students. some elementary. and some high school. so i now know exactly why my mother was not such a fan of me during grades 6, 7, and 8. some of the middle school kids are so great and well behaved one day and the next day will fight me to do their homework and argue about everythinggggg. i dont get it. good thing i had plenty of practice dealing with college students who behaved like middle schoolers during my time as an RA! but i suppose that i too was just like this at one point in my life so i am willing to be patient and hope that there are more great and well behaved days than fighting and arguing days. please pray for this as well :)

4. felt like such a mom/kid all at the same time
on wednesday, thursday, and friday this week the center was closed. so there were no kids :( but i did get a lot of work done :) we took a group of kids to chuck e. cheese for a reward from our incentive program on thursday afternoon and another group of kids to racine's factory of fear haunted house on friday night for their reward. chuck e. cheese was so completely overstimulating- i felt like i was about to seizure from all the noise and lights. i hadnt been to chuck e. cheese since i was about 7 years old so it was fun. i almost didnt go in the haunted house because i hate scary things but i figured i kind of had to because it was for the kids and everything. verdict- it wasnt that scary. i actually found the whole thing somewhat hilarious minus the creepy monster guy who followed me through the haunted house breathing in my ear the whole time. grosssss

that was the kid part. it was nice to see the kids outside of an academic setting and allow them to participate in something that they might not get to do on their own. and pretending i was in middle school again :) the mom part is pretty much a lot of my other time at work. i email teachers, go to teacher conferences, and make sure that the kid's finish their homework.

i guess for where i am at in my life its pretty fitting. i get to pretend im actually an adult but still get to have fun. the best of both worlds? i think so! :)