Skip to main content

Ms. Ross

This week back home could be described as tiring, trying, and eye opening. It was my first week as a substitute teacher and it went pretty well! I taught science to 6th-8th graders... the grades I always said I would never want to teach. Heck, I've always said that during those ages, I hope to send my own kids off to my brothers until they're out of that awkward stage. But I survived, they were surprisingly better than I expected, and I enjoyed a lot about teaching this older group. I do think I'll stick with the little ones, though.

Blessing number 1: getting to work with some of the sweetest women that actually used to be my teachers. It was an interesting and cool experience having lunch with my former teachers as coworkers now. It made me feel like such an adult! (And them "so old!") It really was a great working environment though being surrounded by such kind, helpful people.

Blessing 2: waking up for coffee with Mom before school. So, maybe a couple of those days I may have fallen asleep during this time together, but it was still nice waking up for time with Mama.

Blessing 3: hearing such encouraging, kind words from my students and coworkers. Several students kept asking if I could just be their permanent teacher, thought I was really good (even though I didn't know some paralyzed scientist that I should definitely know as a science teacher), and left "Ms. Ross is awesome" notes on the board they weren't supposed to write on... how can I get onto them for that though?!

Blessing 4: the laughs and cuteness of the 6th grade girls' giddiness over the 8th grade boys. Those sly boys spent their lunchtime one day, sitting with their starry-eyed admirers, knowing exactly what they were doing. That provided some entertainment and smiles... especially among those girls!

Blessing 5: lastly, the amazing sunrises I got to see on the way to school everyday. They were phenomenal, really. This big open field I passed was always an awesome sight. Sadly, my pictures don't do it justice. I need to dedicate a morning just to the sunrise and get some good pictures of it.


After this week, I'm still not sure if teaching is something I would want to do long term, but it's definitely an option. I at least got confidence that I can do it, and more reassurance that I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy it.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tivoli and Rugby

         Adding another great week to the list for my time in Denmark. Last Tuesday, I went to an international gathering for students at DTU (Denmark Technical Institute) at the Cellar Bar. I met a couple cool people there from Belgium (Ruben), Canada, France, and Denmark and met back up with a couple of them on Friday night. We went to see one of their Spanish friends play a Latin set at a bar in the city. On our way there, we were a bit worried at how this place would be considering it was on the street well known for its... Services. But we got to the Luna Bar and it wound up being really fun. The band was actually excellent , and had everyone dancing. Ruben and his friends were a lot of fun to hang out with.          On Saturday, I went to Tivoli, the second oldest theme park, with the family and met Claus' parents and sister there. It's no wonder Tivoli inspired Walt Disney to do his own thing. It's a beautiful  amusement par...

Hej fra Danmark!

        So I've finally arrived in Denmark and all settled in already. It's awesome in every way so far; the parents are so friendly and cool, the kids are adorable, the weather is amazing (I'm the only one walking around in shorts, a T-shirt and sandals, of course), the house is a beautiful, cozy home built around 1921, I just got done with a little explorative walk and the neighborhood/area is picturesque with flowers everywhere, adorable homes, and a lake nearby... It's just wonderful.           Yesterday, after a little confusion about where to meet up, using a stranger's phone (as always), and wandering around a bit, Lotte and one of the kids picked me up from the airport greeting me with the sign shown below. We made it back to the house after a little detour (I guess Lotte gets distracted driving too!), and we had coffee. We had breads and cake they got from the bakery for me to try, and they were all delicious.       ...

Sunday Times {Plus a Quarterly Review}

A weekly update has now begun! If not for anything but to keep more of journal for ourselves to recap and think about each week. So much happens so quick I don't want to forget all the fun details! This week was my first full week to work with all the crew at my new job. Lots of planning with caseloads and meetings, and such. Excited to get working with the kids more in the next weeks. Dylan started his clinical this week too for his last semester of grad school! Woohoo! He's been killin' it and so close to graduating.  Monday was Labor Day and was a very cozy rainy Oregon day. It's been quite toasty lately, so this actually felt good. So we had a long walk to Peninsula Park for some roses and then hung around the casa making bags and relaxin.  Back to work on Tuesday for a good day and a rocking Crossfit after. I made some chicken tzatziki, a new fav.  Wednesday night we tried a Burmese place nearby after another very hot bike ride.  Thursday we actually went to a c...