The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Tuesday night was our district's Black History Program. (I teach in a district that's like, 98% African American.) The fifth grade girls from another school were dressed up as ballerinas and did the most beautiful dance to this song. It was so powerful; you could just feel God's presence in that gym during this song. It really spoke to me.

There is a popular, much-loved boy in my class named AJ. I think the popularity has been going to his head lately; he's developed just a bit of an attitude. Yesterday, his behavior was totally unlike him. He was out of his seat, talking nonstop, throwing crayons, and he called someone a very inappropriate name. I called his dad after school, and his dad was not happy. I suggested AJ come in before or after school and clean the classroom (there were bits of crayon everywhere). His dad had him there 10 minutes later. I went next door to get a broom from another teacher. When I came back less than a minute later, AJ was sobbing. That boy cried almost the whole time he cleaned my room. I'm not sure what was said, but his dad never raised his voice. And I know he doesn't beat his kids or anything. So I am in awe of his parenting skillz. I hope that someday I'm that effective of a disciplinarian. Today, AJ was back to his wonderful self. For the most part. The

Some of the fifth graders like to come hug me and tell me they want to be in my class next year. Today, one of Charity's students did this. She asked if I could request that she be in my class. I tried to look regretful as I said no, but I was grinning on the inside. This girl is a pathological liar; at her old school she claimed her teacher hit her, which was a total lie. She is a bully as well as a liar; just the kind of girl you don't want in your class. Then, one of my students spoke up and said, "Miss B can't request you, but you can request her! That's how I got in her class!" The girl's face lit up and she said, "That's what I'm going to do!" I had been thinking about maybe staying at my school for one more year because I'm so happy there. But I don't know if I could handle a year with this girl. I think I should stick with my plan of transferring to the middle school. Also, today I was listening to music while t

When I get really stressed, I have dreams that reflect it. Usually I dream that a tornado is coming, but I never actually get to the part where the tornado hits. Another common one is the fish dream, where my fish has somehow fallen out of his tank and I'm trying to save him before he dies. Last night I went to bed stressing about this Powerpoint I'm doing with my learning team. I was supposed to have my part done yesterday, but there just wasn't time because I had a dinner party to go to last night. The topic of the Powerpoint is a 30 minute professional development about standards-based instruction, so the idea is that we can actually use this at our jobs. I dreamed that I was about to present this at a staff meeting, and I realized I hadn't even started researching it. So I got up to present and had no idea what I was talking about, and my principal was grading me and writing all kinds of bad comments. In the middle of this horrifying experience, the secretar

Things that are stressing me out right now (and keeping me from blogging): -Black history program on Tuesday -Powerpoint presentation that I am totally uninspired to do (due tomorrow) -Paper that I am equally uninspired to write (due Monday) -Money- there are many things, such as stupid Comcast is claiming that I owe them all this money, which I don't -This weekend- too many plans -Major headache Things should be back to normal after Tuesday.

Idaho? No, Udaho. We've all heard this joke, right? But you wouldn't expect 6th graders to know it, would you? Well, today we started Walk Two Moons , (one of my favorite books EVER), and I mentioned that Sal, the main character, was on her way to Idaho. I pulled down the map to show it to the class (because I was pretty sure they had never heard of it), and they just busted out laughing. They kept yelling, "I-Da-Ho!" They just couldn't get over it. I told them they were way too young to be making jokes like that, and A.J. replied that they are an "advanced generation." I don't think they'd ever even seen the tee shirt; they just automatically thought of something dirty. A few minutes later, a boy loudly tattled, "He called me a 304!" What?? Is that some new slang? Oh wait, we're dealing with 6th graders here. Type in the numbers 304 in your calculator and turn it upside down. What does it spell? Hoe.

Just as good as it sounded. I took my little sister yesterday, and we had a blast. It was only $1 to get in. Lots of free samples, and a scavenger hunt type thing where you had to visit different education stations and collect stamps on your map. If you got them all stamped, you got a prize at the end. We also made chocolate sachets, and Khalia made a cinnamon necklace. All while enjoying the beauty of the Garfield Park Conservatory. It was so nice to see blooming flowers in February. This will definitely be an annual event.

What is wrong with me? I used to make fun of people who liked country. If you told me that I would be line dancing when I was 25, I'd laugh in your face. But all of a sudden, this is what I like to do. My country phase started when Cortnee took me to Billy Bob's Honky Tonk in Fort Worth. I actually kinda wished I could be out there on the dance floor doing all the complicated dances and two-stepping. And I thought the cowboys were SO hot. When I got home from Dallas, I started listening to country all the time. It just makes me so happy; it's good for your soul, just like opera and Bach. Recently I heard of this place called DC's Country Junction in Indiana, so Nina and I went to check it out. We didn't dance (I was ready to try by the end of the night, but she wouldn't go out there with me), but I was determined to learn how and come back. Last night I went with 9 other girls. I had such a great time! We went to the lesson, which really helped. By