Sweat Lodge

Tonight I participated in what people of the Lakota tribe call a "sweat".  Someone usually "calls" a sweat and it could be for various reasons.  The last one was for a volunteer's birthday.  This one tonight was called by a woman whose nickname is Worm.  She had a dream about something and wanted the medicine man ( heyoka) to explain it.  In the sweat there are four rounds.  The heyoka pours water onto the fire in the middle of the lodge.  Each round consists of something different, but some consist of praying and singing in Lakota.

All the sweats that I have been to so far this year were packed, so it was nice to actually have some breathing room in this one.  Our sweat lodge at the school can fit about 30 people in there.  Being in a sweat is difficult to explain.  When the heyoka pours the water onto the hot rocks a bunch of steam comes off of them. The steam hits you like a down of bricks.  You start to sweat in places that you didn't know you could.

Here's the best thing about sweats--the constant prayer and feeling of restlessness put at ease by the time it's over.  I'm still attempting to understand certain friendships in my life/lack there off.  I prayed a lot about it during sweat and about finding peace here in SoDak.   Bottom line I know that I'm here in Pine Ridge for a reason- it's about the kids.  While forming friendships is good, it's more so about making a difference in these kids' lives.   It's not about me figuring out my life.  My life is peachy keen compared to what some of my students are going through right now.  That's what keeps me in check.  It's that knowledge that this place has turned into a camplike state for me.  It's all about LOVIN' THOSE KIDS.  See, this is why I'm grateful for sweats.  They make everything so simple.

Timing

We have today off and training for these two computer programs on Monday. 

As a Garwood, I'm bad about having time off.  I don't quite know how to deal with what they call "kick it" time here.  Truthfully I would much rather be working in my classroom.  But, one of my friends here said that I seriously need to stop working so much.  The least three weeks I've been going into school at 6:30 and leaving about 7 each night.  Maybe I'm becoming a workaholic....well, that's just part of being a part of my family.

Lately, I've been missing home a ton.... We'll see where this weekend takes me.

The Kindergarten Classroom as we Know it

Once again it's been a couple of weeks since I've been on here.  A lot of it has been because I've been in my classroom.  On Saturday I think I spent about 8 full hours working, trying to get ahead of the game.  When we're in our Education college classes, we can only dream about how much work teaching is.  Just as you think you've caught up, then you're thrown into a whole new set of chaos.  Let me explain. 

Monday we had a GeoDome presentation for 30 minutes, tomorrow we have a Badlands National Park ranger coming to talk to our class for an hour, on Wednesday five of my kids are going to a Speech Contest, Thursday apparently is our normal day, and Friday we don't have school.  Today during our elementary staff meeting we talked about canceling what we call our DEW Day (it stands for Drop Everything and Write day) so that we can actually teach.  This entire month is eaten up by all of the extra crap.  Well, I'm pumped about the ranger coming in, but other than that it's really throwing a raucous into our schedules.  Our kids don't know what a "normal" school day is anymore.  In between all of this, I'm trying to assess where my students are learning.  Wait, do we have time for our actual curriculum?  Nope.  Not to mention that our Xmas program is 23 days away..not that the veteran teachers are counting or anything.

On a more positive note, I have a pretty funny story.  Today my kids came back from PE all rilled up.  My aide, Mando, had told me that she could hear the PE teacher, Kevin, yelling at the kids all the way by our front building.  After Mando had a stern talk with the class about it, one of my kids, Precious, said, "Miss Abby," very loudly.  I turned and saw that she couldn't get her sweater over her head.  She said, "Can you help me?  I'm stuck,".  I pulled her sweater back over her head and realized that her hair was seriously caught in the zipper.  It caught me so off guard that I erupted in laughter and so did the whole class.  Basically after some exploration I had to cut of a small chunk of her hair to get the sweater off.  Thank goodness she laughed it off with the kids.  Having moments like this make me realize how grateful I am to be a kindergarten teacher.  Life wouldn't be nearly as fun without my 20 crazy kids.

First Sick Day

Last night I ended up getting sick right after school got out. I may have the stomach flu :(  I called one of my aides right away to let him know that I wouldn't be there this morning and to look for detailed plans for both of the aides on their desks.  Even though I was sick, I went in that night to get all of my plans ready and it took about an hour. 

I've been having problems with one of my aides so I made sure that the plans were very detailed so that way everything was scheduled to a T.  Then, I got a call this morning about 10 from one of the aides telling me that the kids were being difficult and were not going to earn an afternoon recess.  He wanted to know if he could show them a movie instead.  I explained that a movie to these kids is a reward.  If we give them a movie, they continue their bad behavior.  Instead of the movie I told him to have them redo their homework from last Friday which was sitting out already copied for them anyways. Apparently my aides were changing other parts of my plans too....I guess there are no real sick days here.  I'm going into school anyways.  SHOOOOOTTTT.

A Blur of Words

I Like...

It's been 11 days since my last post.  Even though today sucked, I'm going to focus on the positive for right now, at least so I can get through the day tomorrow.

I like............

-coming back to my house at 9:00 pm and my housemate just finished making scones
-when my students ask me to braid their hair during nap time
-when little art projects turn into huge class projects (aka turning the posts in my room into massive trees)
-when I have time to make plans for NEXT week  by Wednesday of this week
-when Smokey the Bear comes to visit my class
-when my room is suddenly transformed into a Halloween fiesta
-when my kids give me hugs instead of listening right before Specials
-when I can talk to my friend Claire until 1 in the morning on a school night
-when my kids take the time to make me a picture after doing homework
-knowing that I have a field trip, a 2 hour late start, and a 12:30 dismissal all in one week
-knowing that I'm here for the kids no matter what
-feeling like I have 20 children of my own and that I would do anything to see them succeed
-knowing that God's given the strength to get  through this mess of a school year

Assessments to Giggles

Originally I had planned for this post to be about camp and school.  But this weekend took a different turn.

This weekend was homecoming at VU.  All of my sorority sisters posted Facebook statuses like "Going to Valpo for the fest," and "Keg and Eggs".  I didn't really expect this to hit me hard.  I mean, my Dad went to VU in the seventies, now lives in the same town and has maybe made it to homecoming five times in the last thirty years.  No big deal, right?  Well, I got a phone call from my friend Kelley (also my Grandlittle in the sorority) about some sorority family updates.  She told me about the sisterly plans and it made my heart sink.  Boy, do I miss college.  I miss homecoming, having old alumnae come to our chapter room, and the usual lecture about showing up sober to this event.  I miss the stupid VU football game that they never win.  I miss going out to eat with my real family after church on this particular Sunday.  Above all, I wish that I could have spent this weekend with my Delta family.

On Friday, a bunch of the volunteers went to see a movie called "Moneyball".  It was about the Oakland A's and their story of triumph.  Usually I'm not a fan of sports movies.  This one was awesome though.  At the end, the main character's daughter wrote him a song.  Part of the lyrics are about her being caught in the middle and growing up.  She says, "Just enjoy the show". I absolutely love that.  Sometimes we get caught up so much in our issues/life that we don't stop to enjoy it.  This past week at school I've been working hard to get my kids where they need to be at for the end of the quarter coming up.  On Thursday, I had my first parent meeting.  Then Friday, one of my kids had the best day he's ever had the last six weeks.  Sometimes I get so caught up in teaching and forget that my kids are only six years old.  They still need their moms.  They still need hugs when they get stung by a bee or to wiggle in their sits.  I kind of had a break through when one of the girls asked me to fix her hair.  I plopped her on my lap, which caused the kids nearest me to get a fit of giggles, and to braid her hair.  It was one of those "Ah Ha" moments that so many teachers talk about.  The last two weeks I've been caught up in a mess of standards, assessments, and classroom discipline.  I forgot to let my kids BE six years old.  They need to laugh.  They need to giggle.  They also need those belly laughs that God gives.

That's my goal this week.

Just enjoy the show