Intro to my kids, part 1

Kristina, Wendy and Dion.  If any picture could accurately sum up the diversity in personalities I teach each day, this can.  Kristina is smart, outgoing, polite and considerate.  She likes to have a good time and show that she knows something but she doesn't get too out of hand.  Bonus: she gives a killer back massage.

Then we have Wendy.  She is average in skill and her behavior swings wildly between good (where she'll pick up trash and do the lesson) to really bad (where she becomes a boy and screams and goes crazy).  Bonus: she likes to play with my hair. 

Finally Dion.  This kid has WAAAY too much energy and prefers to be the center of attention regardless of what he needs to do to get it.  He's very very strong too - so although he's not too bad, he does tend to get physical with the other boys leaving them crying.  He loud and spunky.  Bonus: he can sometimes be entertaining.

Ah, Sally.  This girl is kind of like a girl version of Dion but quieter.  She's Mrs. Mischief, capital S.  Its kind of funny because she is tiny but full of energy and always squirming around and getting things behind your back before you realize she's out of her chair.  Honestly, she can wear on you, but most of the time she just makes me laugh.  I think its because she's really smart so i don't have to worry that she isn't grasping the material  - she's probably just bored.  Bonus: she's so light that i can pick her up, hold her upside down and tickle torture her until she behaves.

This is me watching Jane finish her test while the other kids, who have already finished, run wild around the classroom - totally distracting her.  Its awesome.

Early in the day I have younger kids or kids who are just beginning to learn English.  For me it is more difficult to teach them because i can't tell what they are understanding and what they don't - and they often forget what you just taught them a few days later.  So, because I'm currently teaching them things like "make a line" "skip" "clap your hands" and "jump" - I actually spend most of this class running around with them screaming a command until they all perform it.  I'm sure it doesn't look like a proper class at all ;)

Pictured: Aaron, sweet kid who tries really hard.  Calvin, very smart and pensive but likes to have fun when he can tell its okay to.  And below: Ted.  This kid is smart but super quiet, unless you can get him riled up - and then you have to deal with the monster you've created.  I think he's a slow-to-warm-up to you kind of kid.  But he's probably the smartest in the class.

As I've mentioned previously, I teach a different set of classes every other day.  This means that I have a set of the same six classes on monday, wednesday and friday and another set of six classes on tuesday and thursday.  Whether a set is MWF or TTH alternates each week.  So, I've labeled the sets thus: my good set and my challenging set.   The first (and last) pictures are my challenging set, the rest of these pictures are actually my good kids!

Below is Bruce, Andy and Leah.  Leah, being strong for a girl, tends to beat up on the boys - i think she likes Andy because she's usually chasing him around before class starts.  Andy is so cute - he has this innocent look to his face.  But he definitely likes to goof off.  In fact, the most involved I got him to be was in saying the names of the planets... it was fun to see him actually trying hard to say pluto, venus, etc..   Bruce is a super genius.  I don't think he should be in my class but i wouldn't want to lose him either..  It presents a bit of a problem because he finishes everything in ten minutes while the rest of the class takes a whole hour and doesn't even finish!  ugh.  smart kids.  The good thing is that he is super mellow and doesn't get agitated to be idle.  I often just give him the UNO deck and I'm trying to teach him to shuffle western style.  Now THAT he finds challenging!

I just had to finish this post with a reminder that this is what I experience all day long.  Just in case you wonder why I'm too tired to write a thesis or emails or whatever.  But I'm working on it guys, and its amazing how endearing THIS can be: