Strappy sandals or pointy slingbacks?

Ugh, after being woken up twice at 4 in the morning (I swear, the kid across from me must be one popular frat kid….he has visitors at all sorts of hours), I slid out of bed and into the shower at 7 AM. I looked over my lesson plans on my way to the Nationalities Services Center. I grabbed an overly priced skinny, vanilla late and got to class a little before 9 AM. Using handpicked props from my wardrobe, we practiced using the singular and plural modifiers “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those”. “Shall I wear these strappy sandals or those pointy slingbacks?” Truly mind blowing.

At about 12 noon, I scrambled to meet my volunteers at second lunch for recess support. Here, I headed up a game of kickball. Man, is it hard to play kickball without pinnies! I cannot keep track of which kid is on what team and there is a solid group of five or six kids who seem to always be in the kicking line-up and never in the outfield.

After breaking up a fight between two fourth graders where I did endure one surprising hard punch in the stomach, I hopped on a bus to head to another elementary school. Twice a week, I mentor a sixth grade ESOL student. Lucy is amazing. I really enjoy working with her one-on-one. I coordinate mentoring placements for my 26 undergrads so being able to mentor too and establish a relationship that encourages academics as well as emotional support is really important to me. We worked on her project on African geography and climates.

I swung by the cafeteria on my way to the trolley and scarfed down a barely edible station served falafel. The trolley dropped me off right in front of the Graduate School of Education just in time for my 3 PM class. I love Dr. Rymes. I’m not sure if it’s wise to declare my love for a professor on my public blog, but Betsy Rymes embodies all that is right in Teacher Education. She teaches EDUC 517 Classroom Discourse which studies how teachers frame opportunities (or fail to frame opportunities) for student participation.

After class, I hit the library to get some reading done before my house meeting.
About every two weeks, all of the Residential Advisors and Graduate Associates get together for dinner to discuss house activities. I love these meetings because there are some RAs/GAs that I NEVER see despite living fifteen feet from them. Living with people from all of the twelve schools (well, actually, I don’t live with medical, dental, or veterinary students) that comprise the University of Pennsylvania, connects me to campus in a way simply attending classes never could. They are such creative and socially inviting individuals. I am very blessed. Plus, since we are RAs/GAs, there is never a shortage of freshly baked cookies.

I finally headed back to my room around 9 PM to finish some reading. This of course was interrupted numerous times by my loving, yet completely self-involved freshmen who need guidance on all sorts of important topics such as, “Should I wear these strappy sandals or those point slingbacks?" And it all came full circle.