First Days of School...

It’s 7:05 p.m. and I’m currently sitting in the library at Brooklyn College (where I am NOT a student) using their internet and waiting for Aaron to get out of class. I’m not really supposed to be here… Aaron kind of snuck me in. But oh well. Hopefully no one will notice… ;-)

Yesterday was Aaron’s first day of school with students, and it was rough. He only teaches four periods a day, and he teaches two subjects, English and History. He has the same kids for two periods each day, so he actually has an extremely small number of students. He’s supposed to have 8 students in his first two classes; yesterday, only 4 showed up. In the second set of classes, he’s supposed to have 4 students; he only had 1. I think this was a bit disappointing for him, but also somewhat of a relief. His day was challenging enough, so the smaller the class, the better. For those who don’t know, Aaron is teaching in a District 75 school in Brooklyn. District 75 is a special district in the NYC school system just for special needs kids. It really is an interesting set up, because the students with more advanced disabilities are sent to these schools, where there are smaller class sizes, more paraprofessionals (aids that assist special needs kids), and, ideally, a better learning situation for them. It’s definitely a unique system.

Anyway, in Aaron’s first group of kids, only two out of the four were actually paying attention. One kid slept the entire time, and the other, who has more severe emotional problems, sat on the window ledge, making noises and throwing pens out the window. Obviously, this was frustrating for Aaron, and I know he still feels somewhat unprepared to deal with these kinds of situations. He’ll learn, of course, but these first few weeks will be challenging. In the afternoon, Aaron had only one student, who seems to want to learn and pay attention, which Aaron is grateful for. In fact, at first Aaron was unsure what this kid’s “disability” was. It was only once they spent some time reading a story out of the textbook together that Aaron realized the student has little to no reading comprehension skills. He was able to actually read the words out loud, but when Aaron asked him questions about the story, the kid really had no idea what it was about. Aaron will have to really focus on literacy with this particular student, which will be challenging, but hopefully rewarding.

It was funny, because as I listened to Aaron describe this particular student and his inability to truly understand what he was reading, I really felt heartbroken for the kid. It is so sad to me that this poor guy could have made it into high school without being able to really read. I know these stories are common, especially in areas of the country where kids receive poorer education; however, this was my first encounter with this type of literacy issue, and I felt as though, all of a sudden, something inside me was “sparked,” so to speak. I’ve been wrestling for a while now with what exactly I want to do, and I’ve known that I wanted to pursue education, but haven’t been exactly sure in what direction I’d like to go. Now, I feel like I really want to explore the option of becoming a literacy specialist. I can’t think of anything much more rewarding than helping kids who are struggling learn how to read. Because how can you survive in this world if you can’t read? I’m going to be praying about this possible direction for my future. And of course I’ll be doing some research; I’m not going to jump into anything without really thinking and praying it through. I just feel like a new possibility has arisen for me, and I feel really excited about it. So pray for Aaron and I both as we struggle and learn and grow through these new adventures and possibilities!

I met Aaron at his school yesterday when the kids were gone, because I wanted to see his classroom. It was fun seeing where he’ll be every day, and I took a few pictures of him. I wanted to have a record of his “first day of school.” J Afterwards, we went to Pathmark, one of the local grocery stores, and I got ingredients to make lasagna (I wanted Aaron to have something special after his first day). I managed pretty well in our tiny kitchen, though I did set off the smoke alarm twice. It’s pretty sensitive, I guess, because there was no smoke at all, only heat. I suppose that, in such a small apartment, the heat can very quickly set off an alarm. But all in all, the dinner turned out well, and we enjoyed relaxing together after a long day.

In other news, Aaron had a much better day today, and I came out here to Brooklyn College to meet him and have dinner. I’ve left Joey alone in the apartment for quite a while now, so I hope he’s doing ok. I’m still a little iffy on how he’s doing. He’s really nervous to leave our apartment. I have to practically drag him out the door. He gets even more nervous once we’re on the street, until I can get him around the corner where he goes to the bathroom. Then he’s focused on smelling out all the other dogs and peeing over their scents. He’s got to prove he’s dominant… he’s such a typical boy! ;-) We got him a bark collar, which emits a small shock whenever he barks. I really hate to have to use that on him, but it’s not supposed to hurt him, just make him uncomfortable. We haven’t used it yet, but I think I may have to start. I’m afraid he might be barking when I’ve left the apartment, and we don’t want to make our neighbors hate us already! We’ll see…

To close, I thought I'd post a few pictures:

Here's Aaron in his classroom. His school is located at the tip of Brooklyn, out by Coney Island.

Mr. Mast, on his first day as a teacher!