Back to Work

Yesterday was my first day back with students and it has been great to be back, although a bit tiring. I kinda snuck back into work, so nobody was really expecting me, not even the kids. So when they saw me, they were really sweet, even though they couldn't understand why I still had hair. We reviewed the surgery idea again and I did let the kids know that they were correct with the "medal balls" theory, as the girls are heavy and tight. I'm hoping they loosen up a bit and give me a break one of these days! 

For those of you that don't know, I teach high school ELL. Usually the next question I get is, "What does that mean?" In my situation it means that I teach students from all over the world with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Basically my students speak a language other than English at home. I have kids from Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. ALL of them speak English pretty well, but they don't read or write it as well as a native English speaker would. I teach them an English class, but I also push in and help with a Biology class and an Algebra I class. But really, the other teacher I work with and I help with all of the high school subject areas. It’s a very rewarding job and I am very close to my students. A handful of my kids I have had since they were in 7^th grade, as I used to teach in the middle school. So, as you can imagine, we know each other very well. Now I’m going to get to the point of my blog. One of the kids got a huge Snoopy card for me while I was gone and had everyone sign it. Keeping in mind the backgrounds of my students, I wanted to share a few funny yet touching messages they came up with. (Written exactly as they have it)

“Hope you get will soon!”

“Ms. Macintosh you are the best teacher even after I was rude. You are like a School Mom. I care about you so much If something happened to you I would cry.”

“…I am sorry for last semester for been a distraction in class and not for doing my work. I learned that if you just stay in one place you get run over if you don’t keep on going…”

“…this is your girl (name). I hope you get better soon because I miss you. And I raised my grade up in Spanish like you told me to. Take your time to heal because your sub is cute…”

“Keepin it short and sweet…get better gurll! Come back bc we miss you…yea”

“…I’m so thankful for having a teacher like you. We love you very much. I’m going to do my best in school. And having this teacher is making it better. ;) But not having a phone is killing me but oh well. I miss you get better.”

I love their honesty! They literally write like they speak, but don’t worry, their papers for class are much cleaner! J

So, the last bell is about to ring and I’ll be off to soccer practice. Then I’ll head home to a nice couch and to good friends and family coming to visit.

As for the cancer thing, no test results as of yet. I’m guessing I’ll find out all I’ll need to know this Thursday at my appointments…

Have a great day!