Baguette and Nutella

The longer I wait to blog, the harder it seems to be to start up again. But after a cup of coffee and some baguette with nutella, I’m ready to write about all that has happened in the last month.

I will start with the historic events of January 20, 2009—the day that Barack Housein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States (and the day that my little brother turned 20 years old). I woke up at 4:30am to watch the news before rushing off to teach two hours later. If I couldn’t be in D.C. to see the greatest Inauguration in my lifetime, I wanted to be sure to catch every moment on t.v. As I drove to school that morning, I listened as NPR gave a “play-by-play” of all that was happening in D.C. There were updates about the weather—“It is 10:23am on the East Coast and it is 23 degrees…” and updates about the First Lady’s choice of clothing—“Michelle Obama is wearing a gold dress with a matching gold jacket. She is planning to wear the dress for her husband’s swearing-in ceremony, but will wear a different outfit for the evening events.” The reporters were sure to keep close tabs on the location of our nation’s soon to be new president and his family, telling us, “The Obama’s have just left St. John’s Church and are headed for the White House” and “The First Daughters, Malia and Sasha, have just arrived smiling and excited for the day’s events.” The reporters even kept us updated on the Bible! “It is 11:25am and the Lincoln Bible has just arrived from the Library of Congress.”

I arrived at school and reluctantly left my car in order to set up my classroom for the day. As I do this, I am checking the New York Times live Inauguration blog every 2 minutes. The first period bell rang and I started class by explaining that Barack Obama would officially become president the exact minute first period ended. Ten minutes before 9:00am, I turned on the radio—my first period class and I could hear only parts of what was happening because there was so much static. The bell rang and a few kids from my second period walked in. My classroom does not have a t.v. and the computer does not have speakers. The school was showing the Inauguration live in only two places on campus, but I had been told that both places kept losing the live feed. So, my students and I listened in absolute silence to Obama take oath at 9:05am and then give his Inaugural Address over the radio. Millions of people around the world were glued to their television sets and radios at this moment while I was experiencing this almost surreal yet very powerful and emotional moment with my students. When the speech ended, my students were clapping and cheering as if they had been there. We talked about why this Inauguration was so important and although some of my students were able to explain the significance of what had just happened, I am not sure they fully understood the enormity of this day. I can say, however, that all of us experienced this undeniably special moment together and none of us will ever forget it.

In other news, teaching is, well, not what I expected it to be at all. I love my kids (most of them) and I love the challenge of not knowing what will happen each day when I arrive at Mount. But this job is more emotionally draining than I think I was prepared for. I am not sure anyone can really prepare for teaching at a place like Mount, which is why, maybe, I still feel so inexperienced and a little overwhelmed. At the end of the week, I come home, put on my pajamas, and watch the t.v. shows I missed out on during the week. As exhausting as my job is, there are moments like the one I am about to describe that make it all worth it.

It was a Wednesday and when I walked into the Career Center after school, there were several students studying for finals and completing assignments. I started to walk around to offer help to any students who might need it when I heard a student call enthusiastically, “Hey, Miss D! What’s up?” It was Jordan, a student in my 1st period Spanish 1 class. To be honest, I was a little surprised to see him in the tutoring center. Jordan is failing Spanish along with all of his other classes and does not seem to like school very much. However, there is something special about him. He came over to me and we exchanged “our” handshake—the handshake he invented just for us. I asked him what he was working on and he showed me an extremely detailed but not yet started study guide for history. After struggling slightly to complete the first page of the study guide, he told me he had something to show me. He pulled out the binder I asked all of my students to get for Spanish. He very proudly opened it up and showed me that inside were the dividers and the parent signature I had assigned for homework. In the binder was also the packet of worksheets I handed out the day before to help my students review for finals. I saw that he had attempted to complete the packet, even though most of the answers were incorrect. He then said, “Man, Miss D. This is like the first time I ever done work for this class! I don’t know what it is, but you a good teacher. Mrs. Gonzalez was good too, but I usually asleep in that class! It ain’t her fault…it’s mine.” He then told me that he might be transferring to Pittsburg High School at the end of the semester, explaining, “I live there, and this school wasn’t what I hoped…except for your class, I don’t like school.”

Admittedly, there have been times in the past few weeks when all I’ve wanted to do is walk out of the classroom because I was so frustrated with my teaching or with my students. However, then I remember or experience moments like this—moments when my students show me a reason for teaching and show me why, exactly, it is that I am at this school.