My First Week

School has started!  I am back at college after being out for twenty years.  I must say, it is so different and so much the same.  And, I'm enjoying it.

Computer Class:  Before my first class had even started on Monday morning, the guy sitting three seats down from me asked me how old I was.  Now, I'm definitely a mother, and the first thing I felt like telling him was, "That is a rude question, so remember not to ask people that in the future, unless they are your close friends."  I was not offended, but I do feel like this is something he needs to know.  However, since I am not his mom (and yes, I realize that I could be his mom, since every student in that class appeared to be under the age of 20 except for me), I did not respond that way.  I simply told him I was forty.  My witty and clever husband told me I should have said, "I'm 40.  How much do you weigh?"  He always thinks of the good things to say! :) And, another note I must add, this same young man helped me answer a question on our group quiz on Friday, so he has redeemed himself a little in my eyes at this point! :)

Parking:  On Monday parking was pretty uneventful for me, and I didn't think too much about it.  However, on Tuesday, after dropping Denise and Derek off at school at the earliest possible time and driving the hour drive to campus, I only had twenty minutes to spare until class began.  This is when I quickly learned, much to my sadness, that Denise and Derek are going to have to ride the bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I guess a lot of students like to take classes on those days, and parking was a nightmare.  I drove into the first parking lot, then the second, and then the third, where I actually got stuck behind five other cars.  There were hundreds of cars (OK, that could be a bit of an exaggeration, but there were a lot of cars!), and there were absolutely no parking spots!  I finally decided to go to the 4 story parking garage where I had parked on Monday, and thankfully there was a spot in there.  However, by this time my class had already started, and that parking lot is about a mile away from my class!  Yep, I was 15 minutes late to class on my first day, and I really don't like to be late!

Backpacks:  So, I quickly learned that Tuesday morning that carrying 20 pounds of books on my back all over campus is not for this chick!  Nope, I am way too old and tired to carry that much for miles on end!  Truthfully, all you mommies out there, it makes taking three babies to the grocery store seem like a piece of cake!  An enjoyable, delightful piece of double chocolate cake!  By the end of Tuesday, my shoulders ached and I realized that I would have to do something different.  This backpack-thing was not going to work out for me!  Yes, I am one smart cookie (Maybe I am feeling hungry for desserts or something!), and a light bulb went off inside my head.  A backpack on wheels!  I remembered that long ago Jeremy had gotten Daniel a light-up orange and camouflage backpack that is on wheels.  You guessed it!  As soon as I got home on Tuesday night I found that thing and loaded it up with my books.  I now wheel my 20 pounds of books around campus with that backpack, and I truly don't care if I look silly! :) I know, all those cool college kids carry their books on their backs, but I think I really am the smart one.  And, my shoulders don't ache any longer.  I cannot begin to tell you how happy Daniel's backpack makes me!

The Crying:  Well, Tuesday is my long day (from 9:30 a.m to 7:20 p.m.) and this first week of classes one of my Tuesday classes was cancelled because the instructor had surgery.  So, I had a 2 hour and 15 minute break.  What to do?  I do not like to waste time in this kind of a situation, so I decided I would go sit at the Plaster Student Union and read chapter one of my Education Psychology book.  Redeem the time, so to speak.  That was the class I would have been in, and we had been assigned chapter one, so why not sit over there and read it?  It began innocently enough, but as I got further into the chapter, I realized I may not be able to read this book in public.  I had gotten to about page five, and the tears started rolling down my cheeks.

The section I was reading was titled, "Do Teachers Make a Difference?" and the book began telling stories about real situations of teachers who had made a difference.  Things that may seem small to some, and yet they touched my heart in such a profound way that I found myself choked up, right there in my chair in Plaster Student Union, surrounded by college students laughing, texting and eating all around me.  The first story was about a teacher who helped several students that didn't speak any English when they came into her first grade class.  The second was about a 5th grade teacher who taught his very diverse class "process writing," journals, responsibility, fairness, science, social studies.  Common, teacher things, and yet the methods that he used impressed me.  Actually, maybe not just that, but his love for his students impressed me.  I think that was it.

The third was about a teacher who helped a student with severe learning difficulties become successful, not just in her classroom, but in life in general.  The next was about an advanced math teacher who showed his class how to rewrite a chapter that they thought did not make sense in their textbook.  The examples continued, but I am sure that you get the idea.  I kept reading, despite the tears, and then I got down to the bottom of page nine.  That was when I decided I would have to quit reading this textbook in public or someone was sure to think that I had just experienced a death in my family!  And, what did the bottom of page 9 say, you may wonder.

Advice a 1st-grade class of students gave their student teacher before she left :

(Remember that these are actually written by 1st-graders.)


1.  Teach us as much as you can.
2.  Give us homework.
3.  Help us when we have problems with our work.
4.  Help us do the right thing.
5.  Help us make a family in school.
6.  Read books to us.
7.  Teach us to read.
8.  Help us write about faraway places.
9.  Give us lots of compliments, like "Oh, that is so beautiful."
10.  Smile at us.
11.  Take us for walks and on trips.
12.  Respect us.
13.  Help us get our education.

Yeah, pretty precious, huh?  So, I closed my book and decided I was unable to read such material in the student union.  It just touches my heart too much.  The book did pose this question, "Does reading these examples make you nervous for beginning your teaching career?"  Nervous?  Are you kidding me?  Actually reading those examples makes me so excited to get into a classroom with some students I can hardly contain myself!

So, going back to school after twenty years is not the easiest thing.  It truly isn't.  And yet, I feel as if I cannot do anything else, because this is what I have to do in order to be able to get into that classroom and teach and love on those kids.  So, this is what I will do.  And, I plan to learn as much as I can.  And, now I have to go, because I have a lot of homework to do this weekend, and writing this blog is not getting that accomplished!  Love to you all!  Thanks for reading!  And, one final thought, sometimes the things that are the hardest to do are the most worthwhile in the end.  I am sure this is not an original thought of mine.  I have probably heard it somewhere.  I don't know where, but I have been thinking about it this week, and I know that in the end, going back to school will be worth it, more than worth it, for me, for my family, and for all the students that I will have the privilege of teaching.