I'm a teacher *and* a librarian

I taught today! Five minutes, or maybe it was three, before school began Brook and I were asked if we could take over the fifth grade math lesson for the day. Apparently the teacher was having car trouble and was unable to make it to school on time. Brook and I rushed to the library (which is where the class meets) and looked everywhere for the teacher’s guide math book, which we inevitably could not find. We had to wait for one of the students to arrive in order to glance at the lesson and “prepare” a plan of attack. Fortunately Brook is a math major and I love math, making the mad dash a little less scary. Looking back at the lesson I think that Brook (or should I say Mr. Gannon?) and I did a pretty good job. The students were engaged and by the end of the lesson they were able to classify the various quadrilaterals we talked about. The kids even smiled (in a math class!) and *looked* like they were having fun. ☺ I think that Brook and I are going to have more opportunities to teach math (woo hoo) this month and I can’t wait.

The math teacher, who is also the librarian, took the afternoon to retrieve her car from the ditch and I was asked to be the sub-librarian. What a crazy day! I love the fact that I have a role and a purpose, though. It definitely makes the day go by more quickly as well as gives me the opportunity to interact with the kids in a different context.

I am starting to have more time to talk with students and they are starting to tell me more about their families. Usually I ask them about their siblings and they proceed to tell me about their whole, half, and step brothers and sisters. In two separate situations students have told me about a sibling who has died. In the first occasion it didn’t strike me as odd that the girl knew how old her brother would be if he were alive today. Today I spent some time talking with another student who mentioned a sister who died as well as her specific age today. Every year they celebrate her birthday by cleaning off her grave and leaving presents. It struck me as interesting that these students know the ages of their siblings who have passed away. I have never run into a situation like that. It seemed as though the students I spoke with regarded their siblings were still a very large part of the family and I have never had that experience before.

Martin Luther King Day is on Monday and the school is having an essay contest. One of the teachers that I’m working with spent some time introducing the significance of Martin Luther from his perspective as a Native American. He started talking about the fact that the student’s great-grandparents were not considered citizens of the United States until 1928. From personal testimony he recounted several instances when he was not allowed into certain restaurants and how, in college, he was able to be a part of the change Martin Luther King brought about. From various tribe’s combined efforts they were able to produce the benefits the students enjoyed today. This experience allowed me to see more background to the culture that I am working with and it was quite unexpected.