can we call you miss spaz??

where shall we begin??

a) i have survived what is reputedly the hardest week of institute - week 3. i averaged 4.5 hours per sleep each night and hours and hours of working.

b) youtube. its such a great study break. take 3-4 minutes, laugh til your face hurts so much it might fall off, rejoin your collaborative members and back to business for another hour or so.

c) fourth graders. there's nothing quite like 'em. the things that come out of their mouths...the behavior they think they can get away with...the bold hopes most of them have for their futures...all of it is pretty breathtaking. AND yours truly got a note saying i was one student's first favorite teacher - i teach with a group of 3 other girls and they had equally nice notes saying they were the second favorite teacher, or third favorite, and so on.

d) michael jackson is dead. this is terrible. one of my students as i walked into class after doing my morning duty: "miss robinson, miss robinson!!!" yes, --- insert name here, i asked. "did you hear that michael jackson DIED??? i am so sad." odd how much the entire school appeared devastated, since most of them were born after the turn of the millennium in 2000. but we jammed out to his songs before the 8 a.m. bell and one of our students did the thriller dance so well she may have taught michael himself. RIP king of pop! -love wainwright elementary.

e) miss robinson. i have discovered the love/hate relationship i have with my name. first of all, at USDA i was just "courtney." everyone used first names. rarely a reporter called me miss robinson, until i corrected them. so hearing it makes me feel both old and respectable, authoritative and old-maidish, cool and antiquated. i think, honestly, i grew up expecting my last name to have changed by now, and though i have nothing against my name, i would prefer to me called, oh, i don't know, mrs.jim halpert. or something like ms.mccool or dr. mccaughney.... but anyways...

f) i miss my friends. i have such little time for phone conversations or random emails or just knowing how people are doing. my life is bus rides at sunrise, teaching and professional sessions all day, busrides, dinner, usually work while dinner, group meetings, lesson planning, usually an hour or two of more professional sessions, sometimes a run and slushie break, a shower, and bed...with five-ish hours before the alarm goes off again. the people i'm surrounded by are hilarious and keep my energy high, as does our mission statement and the staggering statistics thrown our way, but, seriously, a nap sounds really good.

g) its flamin hot down here. heat wave over the entire month of june??? i thank the good lord daily that my job is not outside for hours on end. god bless the construction workers, gardeners, mail delivery people, and whoever else swelters all day.

h) i have a job placement! but this is enough typing for now. details coming soon!

"can we call you miss spaz?" boys asked me on the first day while i was on lunch duty.
i smiled. "only if you can define the word spaz."
they giggled. "clumsy. funny. silly. goofy. funny." they came up with a pretty good answer.
"well, fine, you can call me that. but only in a respectful, we wish we were as spaztic as you miss robinson, kind of way."
"whatever you say, miss spaz."

apparently fourth graders are more insightful than i gave them credit for. happy monday!!! love!