I'm currently in a 4th grade bilingual classroom in rural Oregon... 29 kids, 12 girls and 17 boys... that right there should tell you 80% of what you need to know about how it's going o_O
But anyway, I figured that 1) it's been a while since I posted anything, and 2) I had to share this little incident with somebody other than my hubby and kids.
A little background: On my first day at the school, one of the boys in my class (who I'll call Jason) decided that he hated my guts simply because I was there. As it turns out, Jason has an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), so he pretty much hates everything that doesn't fit into his schema... which includes student teachers, apparently. Which is fine... we have a family friend with the same ASD, so I totally get where Jason was coming from.
Over the first few weeks, Jason and I developed a special kind of relationship... I would make eye contact with him, he would glare at me; I would ask him how he was doing, he would growl and turn his back; I would ask him to get out his homework, he would pull his hoodie over his face and pretend to sleep. It was a beautiful and heartwarming thing, this budding friendship of ours.
And then, one day, we discovered that we had something in common: we've both read and loved the Warriors books by Erin Hunter :-D
After that, it was a whole different story... kind of a Longtail-and-Firepaw sort of thing, if you've read the books ^_^ As it turns out, Jason is off-the-charts brilliant... which goes a ways towards explaining why, as he puts it, "99% of the people in this school irritate me..." He also does a killer Christopher Judge impersonation...
... though I seriously doubt that he would ever contemplate watching Stargate SG-1. Ever. Because everybody knows that intergalactic travel through a wormhole is both physically and theoretically impossible. As are time travel and the existence of alternate realities. Oh, well...
So, anyway, this week, I had just finished teaching a lesson when a random fourth grader walked up to me and randomly handed me a meterstick. For no apparent reason. Just... thought I should hold onto it, I guess... o_O
"OK... I now have a big stick. Any idea what I'm supposed to do with it?"
Random Child shrugs, grins, and walks off. Which is typical, but more on Random-Child later on, I'm sure...
At this point, Jason leans over, gives me his Teal'c look, and remarks, "Now all you need is to learn how to speak softly..."
Gah! Roosevelt quotes from a fourth grader??? OMG... I love this kid! :-) (And for the record, yes, he was able to tell me which Roosevelt he was quoting...)
