Ladies and Gentlemen, I can now claim to have "experience" as a teacher. As of today, May 25, 2006 at 1:00p.m. (Central Standard Time), I completed my first full year of teaching. To celebrate, Karen and I went to Half Price Books and sold a million books for $9.00. We then used the $9.00 for a posh meal at subway. We then proceeded too spend gift certificates at Border's bookstore, that I received from students. I got two whole, brand new books! Plus, afterwards, we went to Barnes and Nobles and spent two more gift certificates on books. I got two more! I am lovingly calling this night our "book tour". It was great fun.
As I look back, I think about how far my students have come. Believe it or not, over the course of nine months (funny that a school year is nine months. same as bringing a child into the world. hmmmm...)I have seen these kids go from scrawny, small little babies, to courageous problem solvers. I hugged a girl today who, when I first met her, wanted to go back to second grade. She has a learning disability, but passed a very hard state mandated test. I hugged her because at the beginning of the year she wouldn't make eye contact and gave up constantly. At the end of the year, she was smiling and wouldn't accept help. She gained confidence and I got to help with that. Pretty cool.
Now on to funnier musings. First, things you never thought you would hear.
"David, (My gifted and talented student who is brilliant but talks too much and can't pay attention, go figure)why are you in trouble?"
"Mr. Norvell, the only reason I shot pretzels out of my nose was because the others were calling me a 'fraidy cat."
"Mr. Norvell, I have to go to the bathroom bad!"
"Why haven't you told me sooner?!?"
"I didn't think you would let me go!I have to go!! I am going!! (Wet spot appears on the young girls pants : ( )
"Ok go to the nurse and get cleaned up." ( I then nonchalantly throw a couple sanitary wipes on the ground and dab them around with my foot until it is clean.
"Mr. Norvell, my tooth this reeeaaally loose."
"Why don't you pull it out then?"
Girl proceeds to rip the lose tooth from her mouth.
"Oh my goodness, you are a haus!"
"Mr. Norvell, he is looking at me!"
"Mr. Norvell, they are talking near me and I want them to be quiet!"
"Ok class, for today's Grammar assignment I want you to write these ten sentences in cursive on page 245 down and correct them."
(student raises hand)"Mr. Norvell, what subject is this?"
(another student)"Mr. Norvell, do we have to write in cursive?"
(yet another student)"Mr. Norvell, what page is it on?"
(another one)"Mr. Norvell, do we have to write each sentence?"
(and yes, one more)"Mr. Norvell, how many sentences do we write?"
Mom,Dad, I am so sorry!
The way I see it, I had 21 students for a whole school year, taking care of them and working with them for more waking hours than their parents. So, cumulatively I have about 20 years of child rearing experience. Nice!
This has been a great year. The Lord has richly blessed me with a great school, amazing kids, exceptional coworkers and bosses, and a ministry that is near and dear to me. That is satisfaction.
10 comments:
Excellent Dave, just excellent!
-Dad Vendsel
Rachel and I both read this tonight, and we laughed out loud at "pretzels and pee pee"....great alliteration, huh? Heartfelt congratulations, Mr. Dave! I am so proud of you! Welcome to the wonderful world of making a difference in the lives of children!
Love, Mom/Angie
Dave, You must be an amazing teacher who will have a long career among students BECAUSE you are the only first-year teacher I know who actually enjoyed the first year! :)
Congratulations (and hey, the book tour sounded fun)!
Mrs. Dickinson
Very cool. Sadly though, it reminded me of a few of my college classes I taught. =/
Hats off to you, Dave! What a tremendous accomplishment. Keep up the good work...and bring on the next crop of third graders! Let me know when I can be a guest speaker in your classroom; I could brilliantly speak on Aristotle or Plato.
With didactic enthusiasm,
Mike V.
This is a fantastic post, Dave, I really enjoyed reading it. I almost had pretzels coming out of my nose when I read some of these funnies. :) We are really proud of you! The world needs more Dave Norvells. :)
That last comment sounds like something I would expect to read from Angela (subtle, motherly encouragement toward grandchildren...) ;)
Ha ha, Jim - :) What I actually meant was, the world needs more big-hearted teachers like Dave nurturing young kids at school.
I know. But I miss giving the Norvells I Know a hard time. They're good sports.
And I hope that someday Dave might be my little-girl-to-be's teacher. That would be outstanding. I just found out that he might be my best friend's sons teacher in another year... that would be fantastic. Now, if someone could only convince Karen that she has a teacher's heart (besides Dave's) and should be in the classroom... how could I give that hint without being too obvious...
Cool guestbook, interesting information... Keep it UP
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