A Lonely Teacher

Are 7 weeks really over already?



After 7 weeks I woke up once again to find myself not knowing what to do with myself.

Our summer school camp ended with a fabulous bang. We went to Canada's Wonderland and it was so MUCH fun. Seriously. I had more fun with those kids than I've ever had going to Wonderland with people my own age. I told my sister that and she said that I'm becoming a sad old lady. I can't help it. Seeing the fun and excitement on their faces (some of them had never been before), made me want to show them the best time ever. And I think I did.

Towards the end of camp, one of the T.A's told me that I'm one of the only people she's seen at the school that "acts like a real teacher and has a real classroom." That was probably one of the best things said because that's what my goal had been -- just to be a "real teacher" with my own class .. for the first time. I did a lot of extra things that the other teachers didn't do but putting in all the extra effort was definitely worth it because what's summer school camp without bringing your Lightsaber for Show & Tell and demonstrating how to use it? My students brought in some of the most interesting things.. that's one of the extra things that I did to make it feel more like a classroom - Show & Tell... and also D.E.A.R, centres to play at (for example, the puzzle centre, art centre etc.), a daily story, special "units" where we would "study" something and so much more in addition to all the things we were required to do.

Even though I broke my nails playing basketball, scuffed up my favourite shoes playing soccer, got permanent marker on my striped capris, turned different shades of brown playing outside in the sun and watched as my students turned different shades of colour outside in the sun along with me, scratched up my nose, got whacked with the ball a million times during dodgeball (because the objective you know, is to see who can get the teacher out first), witnessed a child throw up on the bus (twice) and then had to help her clean up, witnessed another student throw up in the Science Centre Imax Dome Theatre and then had to help HIM clean himself up (while missing the end of the movie), I'm going to miss those kids SO very much.

In those 7 weeks we truly created a classroom. Rules and routines were set. What Simon Says goes and the students know to always follow Simon. We played Heads Up Seven Up way too many times but enjoyed it each time. We ended up reading 22 Robert Munsch books together, acting out plays we made up, creating our own classroom stories, and holding our very own "party." We completed more than 100 pages of Language Arts and used our mathbooks to the fullest. I taught them that fractions can be friendly when dealing with pizza, and that putting a period at the end of each sentence helps both teacher and student breath. I gave them a math and spelling quiz each week and could never get over my surprise that they actually looked forward to them...

... They thought my shoes were the coolest, looked up to my brother with the utmost respect (he was in the grade 7 class and won a lot of trophies), and loved the fact that I played EVERY single game with them instead of just watching like other teachers. That's right, for Duck Duck Goose, I was mostly the Goose and they got a big kick out of that. They learned to love each other despite all their differences. And our classroom became like a mini version of the world. We had students from all different races and religions and we also had our own wars, which like in the real world, nobody really wins but that everyone learns a lot from.

We were a creative bunch, and digging holes to China at the park didn't satisfy us... so we dug holes to Montreal.











We examined animals at the Toronto Zoo, couldn't find Sara at African Lion Safari, discovered "secret" passages at Casa Loma, stared at naked people in paintings while Ms. C tried to shield their eyes at the AGO all the while explaining about "grownup art," and had enormous fun at the Blue Jays game where I got to select a student in my class to go down to the field for the seventh inning stretch (mine was the only student in the school that got to do this). We realized that the student we most thought unlikely to win at bowling actually won (by a lot), found out that Mississauga City Hall is actually more interesting than it sounds especially when you go up the clock tower, thought we could see our school (and houses) from the top of the C.N Tower, dug for dinosaur bones at the ROM, played mini golf in one mad rush, accepted that Playdium is better suited for older kids and that the maze at Ontario Place was too scary for Ms. C to go in but okay for her students. Most importantly, of course, my group went on more rides at Wonderland than any other group or class ... and I went on every single ride with them (including all those little kids rides which can actually be quite fun even though they move about as slow as a snail).

At the end of each day we took time to hold the Lucky CareBear to reflect and share our favourite moments of the day. It became our running joke that Student X would say "going to the washroom" each time the Carebear was passed to him. And on the last day of camp we sat in a circle and said something nice about each person and gave reasons for why we would miss them. It really was the sweetest thing.



At some point during the 7 weeks, every student in my class won a trophy except our two new students who came only for the last week. The Red Flames group won the group points and got special prizes from me on the last day. I bought the rest of the class super long bendy pencils from the dollar store and told them that everytime they use them they should remember me. And on the last day, they showered me with presents, cards, and hugs, and I went home and cried.

A lot of the parents asked me if I could come back the next year to teach the grade 3 class. I told them I would. And I will. I can't wait, I'm already looking forward to it.