Love.

I've been to busy to breathe, much less post an update. Though I must admit: I love the business. I love sleeping eight hours a night, spending the day dressed as a teacher, acting in front of 4th graders, then coming home to chill for an hour, eat dinner, then run around campus to the various activities to which I have become committed.

Bible Study will be good this semester: Ruth.
Mission Center is interesting, as I'm realizing that my place of leadership has been transferred to another. It's exciting to see the younger students stepping up, leading where I was once needed. I'm able to just enjoy it, worry-free. I can't wait to see Kathleen.
Network will be fun; I'm really hoping to get to know some of the girls a lot better.
Classes are only on Mondays, and long, but I think I'll glean a lot of valuable information.

I taught all day on Friday since my cooperating teacher was at a conference. We had so much fun with the reading lesson in the morning, pretending to have wands, light sabers, claws, and fairy wand thingies; in the afternoon, the students loved the fraction game. There was yelling and cheering and running around. They asked if we could play it again on Monday. I've never seen kids excited to play with fractions.

I tell the students that I miss them while they are at music, P.E., library, etc. At first they didn't believe me, but I really do miss them, and one boy started telling me he missed me too. He gives me hugs. They keep wanting to know my first name (I tell them "Ms.") and how old I am. One girl keeps asking me to tell stories about Alaska, India, and Africa.

I can tell I really need to work on my classroom management skills. Ha. Especially at the end of the day.

I keep thinking about Educating Esme, how she said, "Who cares if the students like us?! We aren't here to be liked; we're here to make sure they learn!" Reading that book really did change how I view education. I'm excited to be able to put those things into practice this semester.