A long one

Before I start into stories and comments, I thought maybe I'd introduce you to the kids. I'm still working on names for them too...so this buys me a little time. I just read a book where an English teacher does something like the following for his classes and I thought it was cool, so here it is. These are excerpts from an informal writing assignment they had, it was an "About Me" essay and I gave them a bunch of questions that they could answer if they wanted to, or they could just write about themselves without answering the questions (things like: what do you value? what are your goals? what are your talents? etc.) Barring a few small edits, I kept most of the spelling/grammar as it was given. I pulled a comment from each essay, sometimes more than one...so here they are...funny, sweet, heartbreaking and insightful as ever...

My favorite hobby is collecting teddy bears because I need somebody to talk to or keep a secret, I could depend on them.

I love having fun.

Thing that you should know about me is that I’m a hard working person and I can be shy at sometime.

I do have a hobby and its reading, and being a couch potato.

My interests are wondering what the world would be like if it was up-side down.

I believe in fairy tales.

I can’t stand Bugs!

I believe in succeeding.

I want to become a singer and get real famous.

I can’t stand when people yell at me.

My special talents are undiscovered.

Something else about my family would be that we are really fun and courageous.

Events in my life that affected me is when I start realizing the real world and I got kind of mean.

I am pretty, skinny, funny, kind, moody, mean, smart, fun, and creative.

I have very high expectations.

I’m in the 8^th grade and so far not loving it.

My special talents are playing flute, drawing, playing video games, and being good in math.

I am a star watch me shine as bright as the sun.

I’m all around friendly, lazy as all life but I’m getting over that. You should know I will no longer fail.

I’m looking forward to meeting the girls.

I value nothing. A lot of things are material.

I wear a size 10.5 shoe at 13 years of age. I’m really strong. I’m slightly lazy. I’ve never been to Atlanta.

An event that has affected me is when I was born.

My hobby is to meet new people so I can get their quantince and maybe friends in the future.

I can’t stand being hungry all the time.

I am interested in differint types of food.

I believe in con den sation.

My family is big and I love them.

I hope to learn more than I did all school year, this summer.

My grandpa works at a post office. My aunt just had a baby.

An event in my life that affected me was when my mom had a heart attack and passed away.

I believe in everyone being treated equally.

My values are to be generous and thankful for every blessing that takes place in my life.

Very laid back and enthusiastic, but can also be lazy.

I had a bad reputation there but I plan to come here and start all over again.

I have a very special hobby. I like art and I like to draw and make things out of pipe cleaners.

I’m not slaking off this year!!!

I am looking forward to learning a lot of this I don’t know and exploring new things.

My aunt already goes to this school.

You should know that I’m willing to try anything once. I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone near me and to leave with an expanded mind.

I believe in people reaching their dreams.

My interests are girls and sports. I can’t stand girls with bad breath and bad attitudes.

I don’t have a talent. Well, maybe annoying my mother.

The only person that can make me laugh is my friend Derrick.

I believe in trust. Without trust you’re never safe.

My dad is in jail for the 4^th time.

I love to play sports. They keep me moving and having fun.

Something dat affected me was when my mom and dad died in the same month.

I did not like my old school because we really did not learn nothing. People would always get kicked out or fight. My teachers were dumb. They did not no what they were teaching.

I like to act, sing, dance, babysit and play piano.

I know deep in my mind I’m going to be someone nobody is ever going to forget because I’m striving for excellence.

I like listening to music and being by myself.

I can draw very good though my hand writing sucks very much. I’m surprised that you can in some way read this. If you don’t believe that I can draw then ask and I’ll show you my art work.

I believe love is the best feeling or emotion a person or anything can have.

I’m funny, fun, responsible, loving, and easy to get along with.

Designing clothes is my passion.

I don’t live with my parents. I live with my counselor.

In the future I would like to be a Juvenile Parole Officer.

My family is crazy and funny. We stick together no matter what.

I laugh a lot.

I can’t stand being still for a long period of time.

I went to the same school from K-8 so switching schools is big to me.

Since I’m not exceptional at drawing, I want to be the person that colors in other people’s drawings. I want to do this because I’m really good at color coordination and balance in pictures.

My core values are helping my community and all people that I come across.

My grandmother and best friend passed away due to cancer.

In the future I plan on being a lawyer or a social worker.

When both my uncles died I took it really hard.

I believe I can do anything I set my mind to.

I have always been interested in math and Chemistry. It is so fun to figure out how things work and creating things from scratch.

My favorite hobby is to sit for a long time in front of a tv and play videogames.

I believe in honesty and God!!!

A good joke always gets a laugh out of me.

I love to learn.

The events that affected me were when my father died because that’s who I mainly talk to other than my mom I admire my father.

If I don’t got to college I’ll fell like a failure.

Reason #388... (that I love my job/students)

I sent one of my students a Facebook message the other day telling her that her track t-shirt was at the school and that she needed to pick it up. She replied, and let me just give you a portion of her response (incorrect spelling and all ;) )

"and imiss you ever so dearly darlingg.

im going to be visitingg you and the perspective students on monday!

look forward to seeingg you"

Maybe the "g" key was stuck on her computer...

Anyway, it just made me love her even more :)

Adventures in Babysitting...

So...have you missed me? :-P With school out, there is not much to blog about. The end of the year was a whirlwind as well...the only amusing thing I can think of to tell you about is that when I walked into the school on graduation night, Flava Flav's reaction was: "Miss Book, you look hot!" Once again, I love eighth graders...:)

No worries though. Summer session starts in one week, which means about 70 new eighth and ninth graders will be on hand to amuse you!

This past week has involved a lot of babysitting, between helping out some friends who are packing up for a move by watching their two kids (ages 5 and 2), or staying overnight with my cousin's three girls (ages 7, 5 and 3) and their new puppy... well, let me just list some of the amusing comments I've heard recently.

1. This is actually a longer story. It involves a trip to Wendy's with the 5 year old from family number 1. Let's just say the the Wendy's down the street is staffed by the most inept group of high school students ever. Well, maybe not inept, probably just lazy. Case in point: while I was there, the manager (who seemed to be pretty much doing everyone's job) asked a kid to get on the grill. The kid's response? "I don't want to." If I'd been that manager it would have taken everything in me to not slap that kid into next week. As it was some lady behind me in line yelled to the kid that it didn't matter what he wanted...

Anyway, here was my order: two happy meals with oranges, a spicy chicken go wrap and a large fry. Here is what I got: two happy meals with fries, a spicy chicken go wrap and a large iced tea. And it took a long time. When we got back in the car, I proclaimed: "Well, we're never going there again."
Mae: Why?!?
me: They don't know what they're doing.
M: Well, can we go back when they figure it out?
me: Sure.
M: Until then we can go to my Wendy's, the one by my house.
me: Okay.
M: Well, it's not my Wendy's it's just the one we go to. I don't own it. God does. Did you know that God owns all the Wendy's?
me: No, I didn't know that.
M: Well, God owns the whole world because he created it and if you create something, then it's yours.
me: Hmmm, yes, you're right!

2. Later...as I'm getting her out of the car seat:
M: You're never going to have kids.
me: Excuse me?
M: Well, you're not married.
me: You're right, I need to find a husband, then I can have kids.
M: God likes when people have babies because he wants his creation to keep on going.

3. It must be something about five year olds, because Sydney had some good comments too...
Pointing to my toe ring, "I like your toe branklet!"
Hearing a woodpecker, "It's a bird knocker!"

4. And, as she and her older sister were getting out of the bathtub:
"Miss Alexis, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Nope."
"Well why don't you get one?!?!"

5. She also managed to completely steal my heart within the first hour I was babysitting (I usually see these kids about twice a year at family functions.)
"Miss Alexis, will you come snuggle on the couch with me?"
Then, once I was sitting next to her,
"I love you!"

Too cute!