There are no Animals in the Ocean

The title of the post was how my day started. LOL. These are moments were I don't even comment, just shake my head and keep it moving. Today was the first good day this week. Yet another day of change but I think that now that the other lead teacher is here we can finally have some consistency. She is great. Vibrant personality with lots of ideas. I hope that the students easily adapt to her and her teaching style. The boys naturally have developed some crushes. smh #fast. We talked today about homicide amongst teenagers and how to begin to combat people with our brain power and knowledge rather than fighting. I love moments that help them become better men. I had to talk to one of my students because he continual has issues with respecting elders. He has a great deal of respect for me for some reason (which i can't complain about) but others approach him the wrong way. He reacts in a way that people think negatively about him when he is truly one of the hardest workers in my class. We talked about giving respect even when it isn't given to you and dealing with people we don't necessarily like. It was great to have him truly listen and take in my advice. Another student talked about how he was able to realize how much I actually cared about them unlike teachers they have had in the past. Im tough, I'm firm, but I am consistent and have high expectations that are required to be met. One of my biggest goals as a teacher was to communicate that feeling of love and realness. Slowly these boys are being molded into respectable young men and I am glad to have an active part in that process.