I'm Done!!

This post is a little delayed, but I am done with student teaching. April 11th was my last day teaching and I flew home on the 12th. I stayed in Twin Falls/Boise for the week and then moved back to Provo last Friday. It is really great to be back. I really can't believe that I'm graduating in 3 days!

My last day at Amidon was very bittersweet. The thought of not planning, not breaking up fights, not teaching lessons to students who really don't care, and moving close to family and friends again was the sweet part. Unfortunately (well not really) I have grown very close to the teachers and students at Amidon, so the last day was really, really, sad.

During the day, the three of us student teachers were honored at an assembly. We got our diplomas from Amidon and got to give a little speech to the school. In the afternoon, the fourth grade had a party which was a lot of fun... until about 3:00. As soon as my students had to start getting ready to leave, the concept that I was actually leaving finally hit them. A lot of them were sad, but hugged me and left. Some of them were acting really down and had teary eyes, but left without a struggle. Then came the hardest part. A few of my students fell apart. They were sobbing uncontrollably into me as I hugged them goodbye. Some refused to leave and just held on to me for about 10 minutes. I was flattered to know that they care, but upset because I felt like I was letting them down by leaving. They have experienced way more than any 9-10 year old ever should. Some have been abandoned by mothers or fathers. Coming to school is the one consistent thing in their life. They know what will happen every single day and they know that there will be a teacher there who loves them and works hard to help them. That's why it is so hard for them to have someone like me go. It changes the one consistent thing in their lives and removes one of the few people who really care about them and love them.

Here is most of my class including my mentor teacher Nikki. Two of my students were suspended that day, one was kicked out of class mid-day, one was permanently sent to an alternative school (he pushed a teacher to the ground, screamed profanities, and then brought a lighter to school the next day), and one leaves early on a bus because he has life-threatening asthma.

This is Xameina, Janay, Curtis, and I out at recess.

Aaliyah (on right) and a third grader dancing at recess.

Some of my students who stayed behind after class the last day.

The little guy in front was one of the students who was technically suspended that day. He is tiny. I was afraid Tyjzae was going to kill him before security got there.

Hillary was one who had a really tough time at the end of the day. At one point she said among her sobbing, "But who's...going...to..d-do...my...hair?!" As you can see, I just put it in a ponytail everyday so I'm sure she'll be just fine.

Nikita took it the hardest. This picture breaks my heart. I cried a little earlier in the day when I talked to her but I had to put a happy face on at the end of the day.

These are some of my favorite teachers at Amidon. Emily, on the far right, is the only white person in the school when we aren't there. Stephanie (far left), was a student teacher last semester. We had a fun dinner/game night our last night.

PS- I got a job!! Next fall I will be teaching 6th grade core at Forbes Elementary School in American Fork. I will also be the school's upper grade Social Studies Specialist so I will teach to all three uppper-grades!

Capitol Building

Our friend Joe took us on a tour of the Capitol Building today. He works there so he took us some cool places that the usual tour doesn't go. We tried to get on Nancy Pelosi's porch, but the cop was a greenie and didn't believe in bending the rules quite yet. We got to go Senate Chambers after turning over all food, drinks, electronics, keys, anything with a battery, etc... The cop made me turn my whole bag in after criticizing me for calling it a purse! She was a beast! We ran into a few senators but I honestly haven't got a clue which ones! I love the Capitol Building. It had been years since I had been there and I think it was a great site to see before leaving this week. Jessica and I had to run all the way from school to the Metro, to the other platform, to the building, and all the way around it to get there in time. It was like 2 miles in a dress with a heavy bag! It was worth it though. The first picture is Jodi, Jess, Steph, and I in front of the Brigham Young statue that represents Utah. The next picture is Jess and I in front of Philo T. Farnsworth. He invented the T.V. and he is from Idaho!

Neglectful No More!

As it turns out, my online journal (aka this blog) has thrived slightly better than any other journal I've ever had. Despite this fact, I have failed to post anything recently so here is the big update:

I only have 3 more days of student teaching. Three more days of college! I can't believe it. At one point, I didn't think that college would ever end. In fact, there was about a year of my life that I didn't think it would end but now, all of the sudden, it is over! Thinking about leaving D.C. and my class is very bittersweet. I am going to miss these kids so much. They all have larger than life, unforgetable personalities. At the same time, I am looking forward to moving on and having my own class.

Jodi, Jessica, Kami, and I spent our last weekend out here on a quick trip to New York City. We had so much fun! Here are the highlights of the trip in a photo journal format...

- The Bus: We took the Chinatown bus from DC's Chinatown to NYC's Chinatown. To paint a picture of what this is like, I just have to explain where the bus pickup was. The neon green bus pulled up right between two classic Chinatown restaurants, the Wok n' Roll and New Big Wong.


-Serendipity: I got to go back to one of my favorite spots in New York for frozen hot chocolate. It is a really popular place (especially after the Kate Beckinsale/John Cusack movie) but it is really worth all the hype. A waiter made fun of Jodi and I for sucking every last bit of our treats out of the glass before we left!


- FAO Schwartz: I love this place. If you are wondering why we all look so annoyed by "think green" it is because the principal at our school (who talks like Michael Jackson) says it ALL THE TIME! Green represents being proficient in standarized tests, and since Amidon... struggles... the big motivator for the last month or two has been to think green. It was sort of catchy at first, but now that it is on every newsletter, announcement, bulletin board, etc, it is just plain annoying. We were laughing so hard when randomly we saw this redundant phrase painted on the wall at the toy store. We also saw these awesome Harry Potter statues made all out of Legos. I wish they were my students. Maybe I could be the next Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher!



-Times Square: We had a lot of fun just hanging out in Times Square. I know, I know... almost every single picture in this entire blog I am wearing this dang green coat, but most of the time we take pictures outside and it is cold!


-Magnolia Bakery: I have been wanting to eat a cupcake from this place for a year and a half now since it was closed when I went to New York over Thanksgiving. It was well worth the wait! The cupcakes in this cute little bakery in the village are awesome! The picture is of our new friend who works there. Afterwards, we ate at a great authentic NY style pizza place called Johns.


-Subway!: Probably the funniest thing that happened on the trip happened on our way back from Chinatown. Chinatown is crazy in itself. The weirdness was heightened when we sat by a lady who had either gone crazy or was strung out on something. She kept "falling asleep" and almost falling out of the seat on the train. Then she would perk up, take a huge bit of licorice, drool a bunch of red spit, and then fall back asleep. When we got to our stop, we (meaning everyone but me) failed to remember that the doors close much faster in New York than in DC on the metro and they don't give you the friendly ding as a warning. Before I knew it, I was standing on the platform while all of my friends were on their way to the next stop. I tried for the next 20 minutes to not look like a crazy person laughing to myself while I waited for them to come back. Top top it all off, Kami almost got left out of the train again as they were trying to come back. Jodi and Jess had to wedge her in after the doors closed on her!

It never ends! ...

...The things I want to say that is. There are so many things that happen every day that I want to share on my blog, but I don't want to kill anyone with boredom. I'll try to make it snappy.

I got a new student last week. His name is Munashe and he is from Zimbabwe. The first day, the students were fascinated by him. They loved showing him around and asking him questions. He shared with us that at his old school "the teachers would hit us with a piece of a broken wooden chair if we talked". Apparently he loved his new-found freedom in American schools because by day two, he had made enemies with almost every person in the class, including the teachers. He's definitely a little punk, but is staring to shape up a little bit.

One of my students, Shawn, is crazy. Most of the time he is in special education, but some "lucky" days we get him all day in class. Shawn has ED which in the educational world stands for emotional disturbance (I think I talked about his crazy little sister, Spring, in an earlier post). The last three days have been pretty eventful with Shawn. Three days ago, he got in trouble in the hall going from recess to lunch. The janitor had to hold him down while he squealed like a stuck pig because he was so mad. Then the principal came and carried him (actually carried with his little legs sticking straight out) into his office. Yesterday, Shawn got in a fight with Ms. Miley, his Spec. Ed. teacher who already doesn't like him. He ended up calling her every name in the book...Everyname and then pushed her to the ground. She hit pretty hard on her knees I guess. I wasn't too surprised about the cursing (he has flipped me off, called me a B*%&$, and told me to go...somewhere on multiple occasions) but he was screaming the F-word and he actually pushed her! *Don't worry mom- I'm not going to die!*

This next parts for my dad-
This week and last week we have been studying poetry in Reader's Workshop. I wanted to connect the poetry to something all of my kids love- music. So, when I taught alliteration, I used the words for CSNY's "Helplessly Hoping". I played them the song too. I also used the words and music to Peter Gabriel's "Biko" to analyze poetry today. I've used a lot of other songs too, but these two stand out the most. Since I was little, every time my day played these songs he would say something like, "Listen how the beginning sound repeats. It's alliterations. See now we are on the H's. Now it's the G's..." With Biko it was always, "Get it? You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire because blowing on it only makes it bigger. Get it?" I finally spread that knowledge to others Dad! They surprisingly loved Biko after they got over the fact that they thought it was weird. They made me print the words to that and "Where is the Love" by the Black Eyed Peas so they could read again later. All day today I kept hearing random little voices singing "Biko, Biko, Because Biko" under their breath. I'm glad that I have found something that really connects my students with their culture and interests. Music is my new teaching tool, bribe, and reward for good behavior. Plus, I think a little exposure to something other than hip-hop and rap will be good for them. Having to convince a 10-year-old that Peter Gabriel was not Akon proved that to me.

*Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll try to get some new ones on soon!

Winner!

I finally chose my "my favorite things" winner. Here she is... Stephanie Meyet! Whoo hoo!

*Disclaimer*
While the "favorite things" post was fun, I thought that I should formally announce now that I am done with "Chain Posts". That means, if you tag me in a post- All about me, what I was doing 10 years ago, If I were a Spice Girl I'd be ____ (I made that one up!), etc.- don't be offended if I never do it. It's not you... it's me. :)

Snippets from the past week

Because of my "favorite things post", I realized that I haven't given an update in a while. Last Saturday, Jessica, Jodi, Kami, and I (my regular crew) went to the Spy Museum which was a ton of fun. We did this thing called Operation Spy where we got to be "real spys"! All I can say is watch out Sidney Bristow.
At school, the fourth grade just finished their realistic fiction stories that they wrote. I'm excited to collect them on Monday and read the funny things they ended up writing. The third grade is also working on realistic fiction stories. Ms. Bryant, a third grade teacher, came in to talk to me the other day and showed me a story that I am going to photocopy. It was by a little boy in her class. As I read through the story, I came across a part that goes something like this. "Jack was playing basketball at recess. Some boys threw a basketball at his head. He went up to his teacher, Ms. Butter, but she started talking to another teacher so he just played by himself." I thought it was really funny but felt bad that I ignored him in the story until I kept reading through his notebook. I found another story about a boy named Zack who gets good grades in math but is failing social studies. He knows he needs a tutor. He gets a note from a tutor to come to the class after school to meet, but when he shows up, it is his teacher Ms. Butter! "You're my teacher," he asks. "Who better to help you than me," she (or I?) reply. That last quote is a direct quote! Apparently the boys in her class have a little crush, or so I'm told. Speaking of which, a bunch of the 4th,5th, and 6th graders are going on an overnight fieldtrip to a college at the end of April. A few teachers and I were talking about how to arrange the kids for room assignments after school in front of Curtis. Sort of quietly, Curtis goes, "I want to sleep in your room Ms. Buttars." I looked down at him and said, "Excuse me!" He just started giggling and said, "Oh! Nevermind! I didn't say anything!"
The other day, we somehow got on the conversation of Utah. I for some reason said I was from Utah and a girl quickly reminded me I was from Idaho but went to school in Utah. I said, "Well yeah, but I live in Utah." Another girl's response was, "You take the metro from Utah?!" I said, "No, the metro doesn't go that far, I fly." This shocked her even more, "You fly everyday from Utah?!" Well, after we got it straightened out that I currently live in Northern Virginia, a boy in my class asked, "What do they speak there? Do they speak Utah?" Oh my goodness these kids are clueless! "No! They speak English." The more I thought about it though, maybe they do speak "Utah". Outside of Utah, I have never heard "Oh my heck","Moun-uhns"(mountains), or a plethora of things that are unique just to the Cache Valley
Okay, last story. A 4th grade version of Stanley from the Office is in my class. His name is Anthony. Anthony has that same glazed over look that Stanley always has and is pretty quiet. I told Ms. Appel that he reminded me of Stanley and she just about died because she could see it too. Anthony, like Stanley, has no work ethic. Yesterday, the kids were supposed to be reading, I went to Anthony's desk and said, "Why aren't you reading like you are supposed to be doing?" His eyes slowly rolled up in annoyance to me. In an annoyed tone he replied, "Because I'm working on my crossword." He honestly does crosswords and wordsearches all day just like Stanley! I'm telling you, the resemblance is spot on and it is really pretty entertaining.

Rain Drops on Roses and Wiskers on Kittens...

As some of you know, I won my sister Carrie's favorite things contest. For those of you who don't know about this, my sister's friend Laura started this trend that is catching on like wildfire. Here are the basics, you blog some of your favorite things on your blog. For a week after your post, people comment on the things that like/want to try from your list. After a week, you put the name of everyone who comments into a hat a draw a name. Then you send that person what they wanted from your list and they have to repeat the whole cycle by posting their favorite things on their blog. Whew!

So here it goes:

1. Shout Color Catchers

These little guys are great if you are worried that the color from one thing in the wash will get on something else. You put in a little dryer-sheet sized thing and it soaks up and traps all the excess dye in the water. They also prevent your clothes from getting dingy as fast because the little tiny bits of color don't stay in the water.

2. Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

Ah, what did I do before these handy things? I love to use these easy-to-dispense wipes for pretty much everything. They are great for quickly wiping down and sanitizing the bathroom or kitchen counter between cleanings. I also like to wipe my phone, doorknobs, keyboard, etc. every once in a while just to kill all the germs.

3. Burt's Bees

This is the best chapstick ever. It is really natural and just works like a charm. Enough said.

4. i-Tunes

I really love i-Tunes. I love looking at the top best-selling songs, celebrity playlists, songs I love sung by other people, the little list they make of things they think you would like based on what you bought, and the free songs that you can download from new artists. If you choose this one and win, I will send you a little gift card as well as a list of songs that are on my own "celebrity playlist" right now.

5. Sharpies

When I moved to D.C. I was very limited to what I could bring. Nevertheless, I brought my Costco-sized million pack of Sharpies in every color and size. There are even retractable ones. I also have a sharpie that is about 2 inches long that I hook in my bag that I take to school so I always have one with me. My absolute favorite is this silver sort of shiny Sharpie. I have a deep love for all kinds of school/office supplies but Sharpies are towards the top of the list.

So that's it for my list. I would put more on here but I don't really know where to get anything in this city. Make a comment and I will draw a name a week from now!

Field Trip #1

I know I'm supposed to be posting my favorite things since I won Carrie's drawing, but I wanted to add a post while I'm thinking of what to include in my favorite things.

We (the three elementary student teachers) took a group of students on a field trip to the National Air and Space Museum. When we first told the teachers and the staff that we wanted to take field trips, they honestly laughed in our faces. We got a lot of, "Really? You want to take THESE kids OUT of the building?" I guess we really did, because we fought for it enough to get it off the ground. There were 8 fourth graders that went and 4 second graders. It was such a great experience! The kids loved the hands-on part of the museum where they just got to play with all sorts of cool stuff. None of these kids have ever been in an airplane, so walking through a model of one was really cool for them. The Air and Space Museum has a McDonalds attached to it, so we treated all the kids to lunch. They were in Heaven! They love McDonalds. They talk about it all the time and even have a little rap they sing all the time in class- "I need a double-cheeseburger hold the lettuce. I ain't playin'..." and then I usually cut them off so I don't know the rest. I also taught them how to make fry sauce because no one has heard of it out here. The kids really liked it. Jiheib said, "Wow, this is really a nice touch." It was like he was at a wine tasting or something. It is so great to see kids outside of class just being kids. We plan on taking most of the rest of our classes in two more field trips to different museums.


PS- I was looking on the Alpine School District website to work on an application, and there was a picture on the main page of a classroom full of white kids. I looked at it and the first thought that went through my head is, "How are you supposed to tell them apart? They all look the same!" It's so ironic because that was my first thought when I came out here!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...

Today marks a monumental day for me. I mailed in my last assignment for school...ever! My Teacher Work Sample, as this historical document is known, ended up being about 65 pages long, so it was very good to have over with. To celebrate this occasion, a few of my roommates and I visited the National Postal Museum. It was really cool. Today was Black History Family Day, and so there were all these projects for the visitors to do. There was also a performance by these people called the Delta Players who read Langston Hughes poetry. Turns out, we were some of the only people who got the memo about this special day (only we didn't really get a memo- we just happened to go today). Because of this, there is a definite possibility our picture will be on the website. This lady asked us to fill out a paper that lets her use our picture and since no one else was there, she took a lot of pictures of us. Also, there was a raffle, so we have a good chance of winning some stuff.
In other news, I have some more funny school stories. I'm sorry if they are boring to you, but I think they are funny and I think there is a small population who agrees so I will continue to share them. First, I was walking around the class during math yesteray making sure everyone was doing okay. This boy Jiheib came up to me and innocently asked, "Ms. Buttars, what's a slut?" Wow! That one caught me off guard. I replied, "Who did you hear that word from?" He said, "I don't know, some kids just say, 'You're a slut,' and someone else says, 'Right back at you." I still didn't know what to say. I ended up just telling him it was a very offensive word and that he shouldn't say it.
I teach writing to both fourth grade classes. Right now, the students are just getting into writing realistic fiction stories. So far they have had to create a character, figure out what the character wants, and then create a problem that gets in the character's way. Last week we started by writing a scene from our story, and then we started writing the introduction. Darjanay raised her hand and I went to help her. She read her story which began like this (I'm making this up but it is pretty close to what it said, "Diamond was in the 9th grade, but only read at a 7th grade reading level. She was 14-years-old. Diamond and her mother walked outside the Rec center. The sun was really hot and all of the kids were playing in the pool..." So far so good in my opinion. I asked her what she needed help with. She said she needed help writing the conversation between Diamond and her mother. "Why," I asked, "what is their conversation about?" She replied, "Well, Diamond obviously needs to go to summer school to work on her reading but she just found out that she's pregnant and needs to tell her mother." Yikes! I'm still trying to figure out what to do with that one.
I absolutely love the funny little things the kids say. Aaliyah, in Ms. Appel's class, was being really snotty at the end of the day on Friday. She is a beautiful little girl with an ugly attitude. She had REACH all spelled out (which is the goal) and I erased her H with 20 minutes of school left. I told her that if she was good for the last 20 minutes, I would give it back. Her sincere response was, "Ms. Buttars! You know I can't be good for 20 minutes... I'm fussy!" I think that most of them are "fussy". I saw one of my student's little 1st grade sister by the office yesterday. I said, "Spring, are you in trouble again?" (she is ALWAYS in trouble). Her face got all sour and she growled, "NO! I just need to talk to Ms. Davis and tell her that Ms. Darlington (her teacher) should be fired!" She is only 6!
Everything is good out here. Student teaching out here is crazy, and will be a big relief to have done, but the thought of leaving these kids forever already makes me sad. They are disrespectful-needy-difficult-sassy-angry-unmotivated students, but I love them and they love me.

Out of the mouth of inner-city babes...

I have another funny story to share. This one involves a little 10-year-old hellion named Mikayla. Mikayla is really snotty and gets in trouble all of the time. One ordinary day last week, she got in trouble and I sent her to the "Quiet Cave" (time out) in the back of the room. It was almost recess, I went to give her the little teacher chat ("what is going on?","What could you have done differently", "There's a side of you I love and I wish I saw it more..." yada yada) Anyway, after I lectured her, we just got to talking. To really tell this story well, the next part has to come as dialouge:
Mikayla: Do you have a Valentine?
Me: Nope I don't.
Mikayla: Ooh! I could set you up with a handsome black man!
Me: Oh really?
Mikayla: Yeah and your kids would be half black.
Me: They would be really cute. It would be nice for them to not be sooo white like me.
Mikayla: You're not white! This is white (holding up a piece of paper). You are like brownish, with pretty green eyes and a white smile and long brown hair.
Me: Well thank you.
Mikayla: This is how it works. You will be sitting somewhere working on some papers and this handsome black man will be sitting next to you. You have to say, "excuse me. Could you help me with these papers?" Then he will ask you out to dinner. When he takes you home he will kiss you on the cheek or maybe even the lips.
Me: On the first date! I don't think so!
Mikayla: Yeah and then on the second date, he will get down on his knee and say, "Ms. Buttars- Will you marry me?"
Me: He's going to call me Ms. Buttars?!
Mikaya: I mean, "Tracie- will you marry me?"
Me: Wow! The second date huh? Can't I at least have a third?
Mikayla: Maybe a third. Then you will get married. But here's the thing. You have to use protection. Do you know what word I am talking about when I say protection? I'll just say the word...
Me: (choking on my spit and trying not to laugh) No, no. I know what you are talking about.
Mikayla: Well I won't say the word but you know. PROTECTION. My aunt tells me all the time that I have to use protection or I will get pregnant.
Me: Uh... Let's go see what everyone is doing for recess...

Here are some random pictures that don't fit anywhere else so I am just putting them on here...

On the longest escalator I have ever been on in my life at the Metro Center metro stop. You can't even tell in the picture unfortunately.


Getting eaten by a T-Rex at the Museum of Natural History.


I know this looks a lot like the previous picture but this time I was imitating the hippo.

Happy Birthday Mr. President...

We wanted to go to Ford's Theatre today for President's Day, but it is closed until next year! Instead we went to the National Zoo for a little while and then walked to the National Cathedral. The sign pointing to the Cathedral made it sound really close. Turns out it was about 2 miles away- uphill. Thy day started out sunny and 70 degrees but turned chilly and started raining while we were almost to the Cathedral... more than 2 miles away from the metro on foot! Talk about bad luck!

Ivory'esha

It's official. I've forgotten that I'm white. I know that sounds really strange, but when I first started student teaching, I was very aware of the fact that I was one of the four white people in school (3 being my roommates and myself) because I had never been such a minority before. Things have definitely changed! Sometimes I will be helping a student or sitting close to them on the carpet and all of the sudden I will glance down at my hand or arm next to my students' and it shocks me! For just a brief second the thought goes through my mind that I must be on the verge of death or something for my skin to look so translucent. Apparently this forgetfulness has spread to my students. Yesterday Darjanay drew a picture of her, Ms. Barber, and myself. Ms. Barber told her to go back to her seat and color it. A few minutes later she brought it back to show us. She had colored all three of us black. Nikki and I both looked at each other as we tried not to laugh. I said, "Whoa, I am tan!" Nikki's response (in an ominous tone): "No. You're one of us now!" Darjanay could not figure out what was so funny. She asked, "What?! Did I spell it wrong or something?" Nikki also told me that I need to get a name for my inner-black woman that is starting to come out. She told me that anything that ends in "esha" instantly makes it black and that random apostrophes help. We thought about it for a while and came up with a winner- Ivory'esha. The true indicator that Ivory'esha is moving in is that I was trying to tell my clas, "I was asking...". I know that sounds simple, but the first three times I tried it came out "I was axing". I actually had to slow down and think about it for it to come out right! Oh dear...!

A Chex Mix Update (aka... random stories all clumped together)

I decided to give a brief update because I figure if I want people to update their blogs so I can read them, I should update mine myself. Last Saturday we spent all afternoon in the Holocaust Museum. It was a really amazing place. Someone in the ward asked me the next day if it was "fun". My reply was, "Well... there was no ball pit..." The museum is actually really depressing but so interesting. One of my favorite quotes in the museum was in a section devoted to those who risked their lives to help the Jews. It is from a German preacher who summarized what happens when people don't take a stand, "They came for the trade union, but I was not a trade unionist, so I did not respond. They came for the Socialists, but I was not a Socialist, so I did not respond. They came for the Jews and since I was not a Jew, I didn't respond. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Somehow from the time I went into the Holocaust Museum to the time I came out, I got sick. Weird I know. I've had a cold all this week though which wasn't fun at all. On Wednesday I was feeling really crappy but had to go to school because my teacher was going to be gone. This left me as the sub... without a voice... with a bunch of crazy kids. They surprisingly did better than I thought but talked a lot. Finally I chewed them all out about how I was sick, how I don't get to go to the nurse and stay home like them, how I plan lessons and all they do is talk and don't do their assignments... yadda yadda. I guess this really got to them because a bunch of kids wrote me apology/get well soon cards. Here is a sample of some of them (note- this is actual spelling and punctuation- or the lack there of):

From: Tyjzae
To: Ms. lovely Buttas
Dear Ms. Buttas I apologize for disrespecting you will just started to play to much Ms. Buttas it will not happend again we all love you.

From: Ny-Jae
I fill bad for you Ms. butters becuse I now what you are going throw becuse you are sick and I was to so I what you to now I love you and I am going to do a porm
Rose oer red vilites are blue I love you so much I what to be just like u. you are so great I just what to hug you so much I will cry. I love you ms. butter I hope you enjoy this note. (On the back)- rose are red vilites are blue I am sorry for disrpetting you. (Then there is a little heart and inside it says- I wish you were my mom).

From: Nikita (after she angrily yelled "slut" across the room and I kicked her out)
Dear Ms. Better
I am sorry for yelling out a bad word in the class because boy dominique (there is a "girl dominique" in the other class) going to call me a bad word so I call his back the same word he call me Do you asape my aglioue (apology?) I miss metake my words because I do not know how to spell them. Thats why I call it back at him. yes or no

They were all so cute and nice. Too bad they were all bad again after lunch...! haha.

Okay last thing- My roommates Kami and Liz and I all set out last night to get cheap Jazz vs. Wizards tickets. Even at the end of the first quarter, they were going for $60 a seat! Well this guy took it upon himself to go out on a mission to find us cheap tickets. He seriously spent like 10-15 minutes looking for us because he wanted to all party after the game together. Well he found us 3 tickets for $15 dollars each! There was even a bonus- my roomamates tickets were nosebleeds but my ticket was a suite ticket. Going in, the guy found out we were Utah fans, which led him to realizing we were Mormon, which led us to realizing we were all really young, which led him to saying "have fun" and parting ways with us once we got in. Well we just wanted to see the lower level box I was in, so we batted our eyes at the old guy checking tickets. He let us all in to the level. The guy at the actual suite couldn't be sweet talked unfortunately. He told us that only I could go in, so we walked around the corner and sat lower than the suite ticket! We didn't really feel that bad because there were a ton of empty seats and it was half-time. It was a blast. We had to cheer quietly to avoid getting jumped but the Jazz won 96-87!

Here is a picture of us after the game-

Happy Birthday Nikki!

Today was my mentor teacher's 35th birthday. The students only had to be at school until noon today so the teachers could do report cards. Since the day was pretty much already shot, the fourth grade planned a little surprise party in the learning center just before lunch. It was sort of chaos getting everyone out of the two classrooms with all of the treats, down the hall, and into the learning center without being caught. We had other teachers come in to "borrow" our students and never bring them back. Eventually we all just kind of left as Nikki was out in the hall having a talk with one of the students. The kids have been so excited for this party for about a week and really went all out for it. A lot of them made cards, some made a banner, and a couple brought treats. Ms. Barber loved it and was pretty emotional about it all. I wanted to include some pictures of the kids while they are all happy and smiling at the party. If you were wondering, the school does have a dress code that you will notice, but a lot of kids don't follow it on Fridays for some reason even though they are supposed to.

Last but not least, I had to include a short video of Nikita dancing. This girl dances and shimmeys all day! Her hair is a little crazy because she had just put extensions in the night before and hadn't fixed them yet (she is amazing at doing her own hair in these crazy twists and braids). She cracks me up...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

P.S.- I had to include something so funny that I read in this boy Jiheib's Reader's Workshop notebook in response to the question, "What makes a family a real family." I'm leaving out some parts at the beginning (I included some of the language he wrote it in) but I have the good parts down. He wrote, "I think family they need to get together and talk about their problem and spend time wiv each otha. We's a good, strong, black family who is just trying to stay outta the devil's hands. He aint going to get us though because we's in God's hands." I thought it was just so cute that he wrote that. This also told me that he is one of the few who are being taught morals and standards at home. Grading any form of written assignment at night is pure entertainment for me because of the funny things they say without even trying.

Post #2 tonight!

School is completely crazy! The major difficulty in teaching these fourth graders is that they all have the attitude of a fifteen-year-old, with the intelligence of a Kindergartener to a 1st grader. Literally, most of the students are on a Kindergarten or 1st grade reading level, and about a 2nd grade level of math. We have math fact challenges with Ms. Appel's class, and a lot of the students can't solve, at least not quickly, problems like 9-8, 5+6, and 10x1. They don't know this, yet we are trying to teach them how to convert fractions into like denominators by finding the lowest common denominator. It is quite the challenge! On the front page of the Washington Times last week there was an article about education. THe headline read, "VA and MD schools rank in the top 5 of Nation's schools." Underneath this, the subheading read, "The district falls into last place." DCPS was actually ranked #51 out of the 50 states plus the district! Yikes. To sum it all up, there is a lot of room for improvement. I know I already posted something tonight, but along with my soapbox rantings, I had to include a funny story that happened yesterday before I forget it. I was working with both my class and Ms. Appel's class when a litle girl from Ms. Appel's class named Satina came over to talk to me. She innocently asked, "Ms. Buttah (that is my attempt to type how they all say my name), Ms. Buttars, what do you want to be when you grow up?" I just burst out laughing and responded, "Satina! I am grown up. Why do you think I'm here? I'm going to be a teacher in a few months!" Her reply was that I was too little to be either a grown up or a teacher. This led me to ask the students how old they thought I was, the most common reply was 16 or 17! Jiheib even asked me if I knew how to drive! Oh yeah, one more thing!! Hillary, this really spacey girl in my class, called me mommy today. That is the second student to do this. Hillary already has two mommies, if you know what I mean, so I'm sure a third is about the last thing she needs!

Restaurant Week

Every January, Washington has a special week long event called Restaurant Week. A ton of really nice, expensive restaurants serve a 3-course meal for $30.08 (the cents are for the year). As an apartment, we were so excited to get dressed up and eat at a swanky restaurant for less than half the price. I know that by now some of you have looked at the picture below and are thinking that it shouldn't be attached to this post... continue reading. As we looked up some of our options, we decided to look at some of the restaurants' menus online. Apparently expensive=gross. Everything was duck confit, veal, mussels, goat cheese, calamari, etc. Eww, eww, eww! This discovery led us to do Restaurant Week our own way- in Chinatown. Chinatown was booming because the Wizards were playing New York at the Verizon Center. We walked around a little and then stopped by H&M (a much better use of our restaurant week funds). Finally, at around 8:30, we were all really hungry so we looked for a nearby place to eat our official Restaurant Week meal. And the winner was...(drumroll)... Fuddruckers!!

Meanies and Monuments

This post isn't in chronological order because I don't how to make the pictures be at the bottom of the post instead of the top! Yesterday, a few of my roommates and I decided that we should probably kick off living in D.C, especially because the weather has been nice, by seeing some of the monuments. We went to the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. It was a lot of fun and I am coming to love my roommates more and more each day. We laid on the ground at the Washington Monument and put our feet up on it because from that perspective, it looks like you are walking on a granite pathway to Heaven!

Thursday and Friday were both kind of crazy at school. Mrs. Barber was gone Thursday so a substitute was supposed to be there but... surprise! No sub ever came so I was thrown to the wolves. The kids were absolutely crazy. You have to understand that schools here completely different than in Utah, so all of my skills and training don't really apply. All of the teachers just yell at and single out students all day, so that is all that they respond to. After hearing about what happened on Thursday, Mrs. Barber made me get tough on Friday. When the kids lined up in the morning, instead of hugging them and greeting them one by one like I usually do, I had to very firmly tell them to go put their stuff away and sit down on the rug with absolutely no talking. As soon as a couple kids starting talking I had to yell, "I SAID NO TALKING!" Then I had to sit them all down and tell them that I was disappointed in how the previous day had gone, how they need to respect me, yadda yadda. It was kind of funny and all I wanted to do was laugh but Nikki (Barber) insisted that I not even smile. After our little heart to heart, the kids were much better for me which was good because I was once again the sub for 1/2 the day so Mrs. Barber could help another teacher do something.

I had a real eye-opening experience on Friday that was absolutely heart-breaking. A little girl's father came in before school and asked if his daughter was supposed to do math or reader's workshop homework that week. We told him that she had homework every night. Apparently she had lied about this and had just done here reading homework. He told us that he would be back to talk to her later. Mrs. Barber went off on how he was such a great man and how he loved her so much. I guess she had a really rough child-hood up until she started living with him. He came back around 10:30 and made her come out in the hall to talk to him. He started yelling at her about how she disrespected him and herself and then started spanking her as hard as he could. The whole class went dead silent until he left. This man was probably 6'6", 275 lbs. The girl had tears running down her face and just came back to her seat and got back to work. It broke my heart that this is what is considererd an ideal parent in this school and that the previous day, the girl had asked me if I would be her mom. The worst part is, this kind of thing is not allowed to happen in the classroom or in the hallway (because of the cameras), so if a parent is going to do that they are allowed to take their child into an empty room and just close the door! Now I see why these kids are out of control. A line from the movie Little Women kept running through my head, "If you hit and humiliate a child, the only lesson the child will learn is to hit and humiliate." This is so true! The parents and teachers of these kids yell at them all day, so all they know how to do is yell when a problem arises. Their parents hit and beat them, and they end up getting into fights all of the time. I know I don't have a lot of influence being a student teacher for three more months, but I really hope that I can show by teaching and example how to deal with emotions, problems, and excitement in way that is different from what these kids know.

Jiheib, Darjanay, Tyjza, Nyjae, Tracie- "One of these names is not like the others"

Today was my first day in the classroom observing! We had a little bit of a problem finding the school from the metro stop because no one told us that we had to switch from the yellow line to the green line at L'Enfant Plaza and get off at the Waterfront/SEU stop. We got off at L'Enfant and walked really far until we somehow ended up behind the school! The kids in my class are so cute. I only have 15 students which is a blessing because as you can see from the title, the names are pretty tricky. The students wear modified uniforms meaning they provide their own clothes, they just have to be gray, white, or burgandy. I was feeling a little bad today for thinking that many of the boys in my class looked exactly the same because of their skin and hair until I heard a funny comment from a little girl in my roommate's class. She asked if my roommate Kami and her teacher Ms. Appel were twins because they have the same color of hair and skin. I wish you could see the two teachers side by side because they look nothing alike!

For anyone who has seen Grey's Anatomy, my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Barber, IS Dr. Bailey. They look, sound, act so much alike! It was crazy being the only white person in the class today and only have 3 white people in the entire school (my roommates and myself). I already love the culture. Everyone is so friendly and outgoing and I can't wait to start teaching!

The adventure begins!

I have never been a blogger, so all of this is very new to me! I didn't plan on starting a blog, but I wanted a way to update friends and family over the next few months, as well as keep a sort of journal for myself. I just moved to Washington D.C. on the 4th of January to do my student teaching in a fourth grade class at an inner-city school until April. There are eight of us teachers from BYU out here, and seven of us live together (the other is married). We live in an amazing penthouse apartment in Arlington, Virginia. It hasn't hit me yet that I actually live here. I'm a little overwhelmed but so excited to get more familiar with the area. Hopefully I will be a pro at navigating the city (especially the metro) by the time anyone comes out to visit!

On Friday, we all had lunch at Union Station and then went to the Library of Congress. It was a really cool place to visit, especially since I had never been there. I wanted to break into the actual library and find the President's Book of Secrets (like on National Treasure) but decided it was probably best if I observed from the glass box above like everyone else.

Saturday we went to Mount Vernon. I hadn't been there in about seven years so it was fun to go back. Mrs. Martha Washington was doing a little meet and greet in one of the outside houses. She guessed from our pants and furs that we all must be trappers in this so-called "Utah".

I promise all of my posts won't be this long, I just had to start somewhere! Oh yeah, and a big thanks to Carrie for helping me get this started and for making the big thing at the top!