Beards, Shirts and Setbacks

What do you do when you have a group of students that is full of energy but empty of attention?  Act crazier than them!  Instead of getting frustrated at trying to control behavior, I decided to join in.  I gathered my hair underneath my chin, put a hairband around it, and wandered around stroking my newly formed “beard”.  The kids thought it was hilarious and actually listened to me the rest of the period!

Size of clothing is another difference here.  The school has provided two white polo shirts for teachers.  Making the false assumption or being the same size in shirts here in Mexico as I am in the States, I ordered large.  Unfortunately, a large is more like a very small medium.  I find it terribly difficult to be professional when I look/feel like a hoochy-mama.  Showing tummies may be ok for some people, but I like to keep the mystery alive (advice of a dear friend in CO).  I think I will have two shirts for my youngest niece after washing…

Today I was walking past the Tienda to meet one of my mentees when my principal called me over and said, “You’re going to kill me”.  It turns out she volunteered one of my classes for some kind of story activity.  Not only did I lose an entire class period with my lowest class, but the next teacher lost half of her class as well because the story activity ran longer than expected.  I also lose another 15 minutes with the same class tomorrow for a presentation from the school orchestra… I could choose to be upset over these setbacks, or I could just say, “TIM” and move on.  I choose the latter.