Sparkly purple shirt and rapping during breakfast?

I've been meaning to write for awhile but things have been extremely busy with trying to learn a new job. It's been very stressful unfortunately and it seems like every day there is another thing to learn or task to do. I am hoping things will settle down a bit in the next few months.

Last week I attendedf a new student breakfast that they do the morning after new students arrive. This happens on a weekly basis as new students come every Tuesday. It sure makes for never a dull moment. Each new student was supposed to introduce themselves and answer a few questions. Almost all the students had gone and this tall, African American dude wearing a shiny purple button down shirt was up. I mean this guys shirt was like bathing suit material. It looked a little like one of my old gymnastics leotards. Did I mention it was purple - bright purple! Anyway, he stands up and starts talking about himself and he busts into this unbelievable rap. This guy is just rapping for about 2 or 3 minutes. His rap was all about time and how we don't have a lot of it and we should take advantage of it. I literally think my mouth was hanging open. It was nothing like I'd seen in any school before.

So much has been happening lately. I am really learning a lot about dealing with this population of students. I worked in a very impoverished school last year but all of my students were caucasian where the students in this school are 90% African American. There are some similarities but I am learning about their culture and way of life. Last year was such a good preparation for my current job - it is evident why God placed me there now.

I have quite a few English Language Learners in my classes. If you don't know what that means it's that English isn't their first language. One student barely speaks any English - others are much better speakers. I have been learning about teaching these students even though I don't have my ELL certification. One of my ELL students is from Sudan. His parents died when he was young and he came to the US by himself when he was 13. He's been pretty guarded about his past but I'm sure his story is amazing.

Well, today was a positive day - my students got VERY into learning about synonyms. I hope that this continues.

xoxo
Teach