Mailboxes

I introduced a new element today. We now have mailboxes in my classroom. It's really an over-the-door shoe organizer, but each student has a "box," if you will.

Here are the rules:

• You may "send" mail to anyone in the class
• If you are sending mail to another student it must be positive/nice
• You can send me anything you would like, but try not to use the word "hate"
• You may only "check your mail" at the end of class
• I will proof EVERYTHING!

So, without further ado... my notes from today!

Note 1: Dear Ms. Joy, You are the best teacher!

Note 2: Dear Miss Joy, You hurt my fillings (feelings)

Note 3: Ms. Joy, you are nice, but you be mad sometimes

Note 4: When you said don't talk about each other, another student said my mom is a whore and got doodi stains in her pants. So do something. Please do it.

Note 5: I don't like you, Ms. Joy (with a hand-drawn sad face... tears and all!)

My heart has been warmed.

My Precious Gems

Precious Gem #1: Sent home 20 minutes into class

Precious Gem #2 (girl in red): Also got sent home 20 minutes into class

Precious Gem #3: Suspended for tomorrow

Our Golden Boy

So I've been sick for a few weeks (head cold) which developed into what I thought was pink eye last week. I'm still not sure on the exactness, but I had a "pink" eye that was itchy and developed some "gunk" in the corner of my eye. Lucky for me, Eric had some eye drops so I began using them. It wasn't bad to begin with, and then got better over the next few days.

In the meantime I stopped taking the allergy medication that was recommended to me. I don't have allergies, but every doctor here says Middle Tennessee sits in a bowl that collects allergens and "everyone who lives here has allergies." I didn't believe them, so I stopped taking the meds. The "pink eye" came back. So I had a PA look at me on Sunday (friend from church) and said, as if there is no other explanation, "You have allergies, take the medication."

Last night I was in a particularly cuddly mood and my husband HATES to cuddle, so I begged and begged to have the cat sleep with us. I still can't believe he caved, but he did. In the first few minutes, Max got STRIKE 1 as he was pouncing on Eric's feet. Over the next few minutes Max got STRIKE 2 as he climbed across Eric's head. I was determined to make it through the night, so I grabbed Max under the covers and held him tight for about 30 minutes (hoping he would fall asleep). Somewhere around 1 am Eric locked Max out of our room. Somewhere around 8am I woke up with my eyes swollen shut. Hmmm...

So I've been doing some research and I truly think I might be allergic to my cat. It's heartbreaking really. But it makes sense. Kittens don't carry as many allergens, they develop as the cat grows... our little Max is just 5 months, and developing those darn allergens. They also say male cats carry more allergens than female cats. I'll be doing some more experimenting... giving Max a bath, doing some extra cleaning, and taking the darn eye drops to see how this develops in the coming weeks. And Eric will be THRILLED to hear that Max can't sleep with us anymore.

A New Experience Everyday

This conversation is from today with 2 of my new students.

Keilis: Mrs. Joy, Keimari just peed in your trashcan.
Me: What?
Me (to Keimari): Did you just pee in my trashcan?
Keimari: No
Me: I think you're lying.
Keimari: long pause.... YEP.
Me: Keimari, look at my face. Don't ever pee in my trashcan again. Do you understand me?
Keimari: Yes, mam.
Me: If you need to go to the bathroom, use the toilet, not my trashcan.
Keimari: nod
Me: Now go wash your hands.
Keimari: I already did. I used the bathroom for that.

A Humbling Experience

I had a mom come in early this week. She had a one page form that needed to be filled out for her son to participate in a new program we're offering. After the "hellos" she said "Mrs. Joy, would you help me fill out this form?"

Seems like a casual encounter, but it has taken a long time to get to this point and I consider it a huge accomplishment. When I first started this job in October, the parents didn't care one bit about me. To them I was another teacher who would probably come and go, but I was offering free tutoring (among other things) to their kids. I learned at my first parent meeting in my first week on the job that I had a LOT of work to do.

Over the past 3 months I have worked to build relationships with these moms as well as their children. The first step was meeting their kids teachers, check one. Then I showed up to the school musical, check two. I've taken kids on field trips, check three. Perhaps the biggest step was the Christmas party and watching parents and kids open gifts they would have otherwise never had, big check four. After Christmas I was still here! Had another parent meeting last week and introduced a new program, "because I care about your kids and I think this will help us all."

Most parents stop in to say "How were they?" "Is she behaving" "Any problems, Mrs. Joy?" It has been my goal to build deeper relationships. I offer medical advice, "Um... take your kid to an eye doctor, she has pink eye." I take kids home when no one shows up to get them. I ask about lives, jobs, opportunities, etc. Sometimes I feel like I'm making no progress at all. Then this mom came in...

You see, she can't read. Until Tuesday, she had never admitted that before. The child's teacher at school didn't know, and here we are sending home notes that this mom can't read. I became skeptical awhile ago, but no one seemed to know for sure. On Tuesday she said "I'll fill out the part I know," and she filled in the name and address. Then there were a series of questions to mark yes or no... I read them to her. Then there was the annual household income question, just circle the category you fall into... she didn't know.

This was a very humbling experience for me. I'm still not sure how much progress I'm making, but at least with this one mom she feels comfortable enough to ask me to read to her. Then I remember exactly why I am here.

Local Weather Alert

We now interrupt the regularly scheduled program to bring you this important announcement:

NO SCHOOL TOMORROW DUE TO FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Okay, I understand in Canada where it might be 40 below, but here in Tennessee it *might* reach zero tonight, so they've gone ahead and cancelled school for tomorrow. It is currently 2:30 in the afternoon and they have already cancelled tomorrow. Here's an actual piece of the weather alert:

TEMPERATURES THIS COLD CAN POSE A NUMBER OF DANGERS.
MOST IMPORTANTLY IT CAN SERIOUSLY AFFECT YOUR HEALTH. EXTENDED EXPOSURE TO BITTER COLD CAN CAUSE FROSTBITE OR HYPOTHERMIA. IF POSSIBLE, STAY INDOORS. IF YOU HAVE TO GO OUTSIDE, LIMIT YOUR TIME IN THE COLD AND BUNDLE UP WITH COAT, CAP, AND GLOVES.

I just can't seem to get my mind around this. The actual forecast says tonight's low is 5 degrees and tomorrow's high is 26 degrees, but it warns the temperatures will not rise above freezing until Saturday.

How do they think Canadians survive? Or for that matter, people in Chicago, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, Washington, Montana, and the list goes on! These states don't close down for 6 months out of the year... life goes on.

Here's to the constant adjustment of life in the South!

The Driving Force

This morning as I was driving to work I was hit with the lyrics of this song:

I don't want to go through the motions
I don't want to go one more day
Without your all-consuming passion inside of me.

I don't want to spend my whole life asking
"What if I had given everything?"
Instead of going through the motions.

It is SO easy for me to go through the motions day-in and day-out. My life is full of procedures and processes. If this happens, then that happens, etc. I haven't been captured by a song in a while, but this one got me today.

What is the driving force in my life? Where is the all-consuming passion inside of me? Jesus is enough, for all of me. Oh, how I long for His passion to overtake me.