Well, Well, Well

Hi to all you cyber readers, buckle your seatbelts, hey Norma,
This was one crazy week. So much went on in my classes that my head is spinning to the point that I may just throw up.
On the positive side, I am only in the classroom twice a week, and following a day's interval one of my students asked where I had been. I responded I could only be there two days because I had a job and other classes. He told me he missed me when I wasn't there. Okay someone tell me how to respond to that. I felt very good for an old meanie. I also attended a cultural festival held at the school. The students wore traditional dress and performed dances from their homeland. They were so wonderful. The students were very proud of their national identities. They brought flags from their homeland and waved them in the audience. The audience itself was a living thing. I thought they were going to bring the building down. They were dancing in the stands. What a great experience. Oh, and one of my teachers recived a call slip for my ADHD student right in the middle of an assignment he was very focused on. She walked back to me casually and notified me that the call slip was for him, but she was not sending him until he completed what he was working on. Glory Hallelujah! Score one for the good guys.
On the less positive side of things, one of the best students in my beginning ESL class failed her weekly test miserably. She did worse than any of the other students in the class, including those with very sporadic attendance. The cooperating teacher and I called her aside and asked if she was anxious about the test. We tried to reassure her that it was just a test and nothing tragic would happen to her as a result of her grade on that particular test, or any test for that matter. It's just a test. The student asked if she could take it over and felt she could do better. To me I see this student's situation as a problem when it comes to standarized testing. She does well and passes all of her assignments in outstanding form. Yet when it comes to the test she has anxiety to the point that she cannot perform. What will happen to students who pass all of their classes yet do not pass an exit exam? Bah Humbug!
I was chatting casually with one of my ESL students during some down time. I asked him when he came to the states. He has been here about one year. He grew up in Baghdad. I asked him if he liked it here." Oh yes". I asked him if he missed his home, he shrugged and said he missed his friends. Then he told me how at times in Iraq people would shoot their guns into the air. During one of these events he was walking with a friend when a bullet struck his friend and killed him. He went on to tell me how his 80 year old grandfather was struck by shrapnel and killed after a bomb went off. Okay I cannot imagine having been through any of these events. I expressed my sympathy to him, and I think he understood my lack of experience in matters such as these. If you get to know your students you may find they are operating from very difficult circumstances. Maybe that is why they may not do all of their homework or have difficulty focusing in class. In another class I found out that one of the brightest stars in the class is going to be a daddy, he's not fifteen years old. I had noticed a bit of a change in him, not the clowning wiggle worm he was a week ago. Oh the heaviness of responsibility.
I'm outta here, til next time, still mean, happy and sad