Marymount Week Four

My last week at Marymount was very bittersweet. It was filled with days of the kids coming up to me saying "please don't go Ms. McCarty" or "Can't you stay just one more week?" and even "can you come back next year and be in fifth grade with us?" They were all so sweet. But the whole week was dedicated to preparing for the students' big diversity concert; which so perfectly happened on Thursday (my last day there!) The concert included the students singing songs from different countries (my favorite of course was Waka Waka) and they spoke in different languages (chinese, arabic, french, portuguese, and italian) about how they accept diversity, and they performed dances from different countries. Some boys did a Russian dance and the kids in my class were assigned to American theme. It was very funny! The girls did a New York jazz routine and the boys did a break dance. It just made me chuckle what things they chose to symbolize America. So the whole week consisted of them practicing for the concert. On Monday, they practiced in the morning from 9-11 and then it was time for lunch and then they practiced again after lunch! I felt bad for them because I could tell that they were really exhausted. There was a small bit of time for teaching in the day, but the teacher and I could tell that the students were really too tired to even absorb any new information. So the students just had quiet reading time. I learned that when you can tell your students are too tired it is important to give them a little break and time to compose themselves. I felt like the students really appreciated it because they all quickly got lost in the books they were reading. Then on Tuesday, I was not at school because I went to the audience with the pope! Although it was very hot out, it was needless to say amazing. The pope rode right past me in the pope mobile (he was standing up and waving) and he looked me right in the eye! It was so crazy!! That evening, Logan (who was with the other fourth grade teacher) and I went out to dinner with our teachers as a thank you to them. It was so fun being out with our teachers in a normal setting! It was fun talking about our students and learning more about our teachers. Then on Wednesday, they again had practice from 9-11. So, my last week there was not much teaching going on. I was asked to make a photocopy of this notebook that the previous teacher had used. It was a brilliant idea. In the notebook it was filled with the notes the teacher wanted to use for teaching the subject matter and it was filled with the paper's that the teacher was going to pass out to the students. This way all of this specific unit (say Ancient China) was all in one location. But I was glad I got to experience that because I know as a teacher, there are going to be times when you are going to want to get things done but other "school activities" take priority. I saw how hard that was to deal with as a teacher because you kind of have to take a backseat which must be so difficult when all you can think about is how much more curriculum you want and need to get covered. Thursday was the day of the big performance!! The students performed it once in the morning for the entire elementary school; this was more of a dress rehearsal in that they were still figuring out the lighting and curtains and sounds. Then the students had lunch and then it was time to perform for the parents. The students did an excellent job! I was so proud of them! :) Oh, and before the performance for the parents my students and teacher had a going away party for me. My teacher had me sit outside the classroom after I brought them in from recess. Then when I was told I could come into the classroom, they all shouted "we are going to miss you Ms. McCarty" it was so adorable. Then on the side table there was a huge card that said "Ms. McCarty you are..." and then in the inside each student wrote a different adjective in different languages. Then also inside there were small little cards written by each student saying thank you and why they are going to miss me. They were so cute! And we also had cupcakes which were more like chocolate and vanilla muffins but they were delicious! I got a special one that was the shape of a heart! It was a wonderful last day! I loved every moment at Marymount and I am definitely going to miss all my students and my teacher!