MONDAY:
Well, I have to say that if Monday was a blessing, it was in disguise. It was not only my first day solo teaching, but it was a lesson that I planned, and it had never been tried before. AND, we were trying it on 4th graders.
Don't get me wrong, a 4th grader is adorable, smart, and sweet. But get 75 of those puppies in a room and you have lost it! When the bus first pulled up, a couple really adorable little girls with pink backpacks stepped off the bus. I smiled and thought, "this will be lovely", then...the boys got off. They ran, screamed, fell down, and I was then struck with a wide-eyed expression of fear that probably didn't go away until after work. I taught them a lesson on the beach, and during instruction I was lucky if a third of them hadn't wandered away. I lost a bunch of supplies, and spent the afternoon wiping sand out of the glue-sticks. One of our five microscopes broke, but I am hoping it is just the bulb. And as soon as I handed an object to a kid and began to give an instruction, he was gone. He would come back about 5mins later and say, "I don't know what to do." And in my head I would say, "I wonder why?" But most kids didn't come back to receive the instructions that they couldn't hear as they ran off with my supplies. Most of them proceeded to make sand angels, bury my stuff (or each other), fill their shoes with sand, or wade in the freezing water.
At lunch time, I mentally edited the lesson plan and we gave it another shot. It was a bit better then. And by the end of the day, my face wasn't stuck in that position of fear. :-) I asked one kid before she left, "Did you have a good day? What was your favorite part?" And she told me, "Playing in the sand." So even if they learned nothing about the dunes or wind energy or sand particle size, at least a group of inland city kids who may have never seen the beach before, had the chance to play in the sand.
TODAY:
Today was maybe God's way of saying, you love your job remember? Don't worry about yesterday.
Today, Alesha opened the office door to flood the office with the sound of bagpipes. I have always loved that sound...and it is completely random to hear it in America, let alone South of the Mason-Dixon. But as it turned out, a man was walking around practicing his songs and we were blessed enough to have a morning cup in the doorway and just listen.
Then as we went out to do out plankton monitoring, we were met by the Dolphins. Typically they just swim by the pier on their daily trek up the Cape Fear and we only see a dorsal. But today, they spent possibly two hours playing in the water near us. They were splashing their tales, blowing out their blow holes, and popping their heads up. There were even two babies swimming next to the mothers. THEY WERE SO CUTE! I snapped a few really poor quality photos with my phone but then put it away and just enjoyed the experience. I thank God for reminding me why I am here and reassuring me that I am right where he wants me.
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