Children and Valentines

Three layers of pants- two pairs of long johns and a pair of nylons, all underneath a skirt I have found are quite bite-proof. At least from the mouth of a 3 year-old. He stood there and gnawed at my thigh in vain for ten seconds until he gave up, leaving nothing but a wet area of slobber on my already spotty skirt. I'd say I won that battle. Actually, in the case of this child, I have won every battle. He has not yet once successfully bit me, kicked me, or hit me. The kicking is entertaining as well, as when he winds up for a kick I back-step and continue to do so until he gives up. While it obviously ticks him off that he can never land an attempt, he forgets after a few minutes about the incident and often about what even upset him in the first place.

Interacting with children is great even if most of them have the attention span of a goldfish. Some of them (even 10-12 year-olds) can be quite the little turds, however, it's nothing that is unmanageable. It seems there is often a solution. The type that seem most difficult are the children who have become so used to negative incentive, that nothing seems to phase them. Not even positive incentive. Rewarding good behavior works well in many instances but there are some kids, particularly those whom I can not verbally communicate with, who don't seem to respond to either or. Again, this may be due to the lack of ability to focus and feeling the need to act out. Either way, I still have yet to understand why some children act the way they do.

Yesterday, two darling little 10 year-old boys wrote me Valentines in Andrew's class. He had the whole class participate in the project, and the two boys in the class made me a card. The first one I received through Andrew after his class who he informed me was from Misha-

This one had 26 syllables according to the author. A little off in places, but he got it for the most part. C:

The second one I received through Natasha, our coordinator. She told me she had been sworn to secrecy, as it was from a secret valentine, whom of which I guessed correctly to be Kolya. It reads-

Needless to say, these made my day. I've never had students to crush on me before. They're such sweet boys.

Additionally, I have been progressing on ideas for content and ways to narrate my story over the past few days when I get a spare moment. I think there's a good chance I may actually start writing my story in the near future. Yay! Anyway, there you have it, my adventures of yesterday.