Wow. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I posted anything. I had a good winter break. I have some photos of my New Year's Eve up on face book. Check it out. It was nice seeing everyone back home Kris, Zafar, Meg, Laurn and Mike and everyone else.
Then I had a really good internship. These are the thank you letters I'm writing.
Dear Julie,
I want to express my gratitude for an informative and enjoyable week. Your openness allowed me to learn about different aspects of being a teacher. Speaking to other teachers, I recognized how much your peers respect you and that I was learning from a great teacher. I really admire what you do and how well you do it. Also, I think it would be wonderful to love my work as much as you love yours.
I really loved spending time with your kids. While working with the students, I was able to see and begin to understand your style of teaching and also see other styles. Prior to my week with you, I did not realize how much students learn in kindergarten. It’s so much more than reading and writing! By the end of the week I understood that all the classroom activities tie into the curriculum and prepare the students for the rest of their education and their lives.
I found it discovering how schools work fascinating. I got a glimpse of the challenges and opportunities that are presented to teachers from other people involved (including parents, administration, and government officials). I would not have had this opportunity if you had not been so willing to let me see all the different aspects of your work.
Thank you.
Nora E. Taplin
Dear K-104,
I had a very nice time working with you. I had fun and learned a lot. I am sorry that I could only stay one week. You are all wonderful kids and I was impressed by your reading and writing.
I have gone back to my school, Swarthmore College. It is the same school that Julie went to when she was my age. It’s a very pretty place because we have lots of trees and flowers. At Swarthmore, I read lots of very long books. It’s fun here too, but I miss P.S. 87.
Thank you for a lovely week,
Nora Eloise Taplin
Also I had some random memory about snap and bake cookies I felt the urge to write about (its slightly embellished). I love writing about food! And this is why I'm very excited about my new job, as a food reviewer for the Phoniex (Swarthmore's Weekly Paper)
Cookies
One would think that snap and bake cookies are easy to make. Well, they may be simple, but easy it relative. I first tried my hand at these my sophomore year of high school. I had noticed that pretty cheerleaders had a custom of baking cookies for their boyfriends on their birthdays and presenting said boyfriends with the treats at school so that they could share them with their friends. I decided to mimic this practice without fully admitting to myself that I was copying the pretty cheerleaders because of course, I wanted nothing to do with them.
Being inexperienced at baking, I opted for toll house snap and bake chocolate chip cookies. I presented them too my high school sweetheart on the morning of his birthday at before first period. I use the term high school sweetheart out of a feeling of obligation to nostalgia.
In reality, there was nothing sweet about him. He didn’t hesitate to complain about the chore of having to carry them around all day and asked if I would bring them to lunch instead. It was beyond his high school male understanding that the entire point of this exercise was that he display my devotion, his gratitude and the strength of our high school relationship by carrying these cookies around the school like a trophy. I convinced him to keep the cookies. He did understand that getting me angry, even if he could not fathom the cause, had consequences for him.
To further my disappointment and embarrassment when I arrived at our table in the cafeteria my so-called-sweetheart and his two best friends were beating the cookies against the table and laughing about how they were as hard as rocks. Apparently browned on top does not mean that the entire cookie should resemble the chocolate chip in color.
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