I'm sick. No, not dirty sick, I'm not feeling well sick. It started last night right after I posted here. Brian got home, we ate a late dinner, and suddenly my nose started to run [actually, that's not true - it started running during my seminar...], my throat felt really scratchy, my head was stuffy, and I got really crabby. I kept waking up all night with cottonmouth, unable to fall back asleep [yes, I realize that it is a contradiction to say both "I kept waking up all night" and "I was unable to fall back asleep"...], and still feeling crabby. I woke up thinking, "Crap. Why did I agree to go into school today?" I mean, I really wanted to go to school, but, because I was feeling sick, I knew that it would make everything a whole lot worse.

I showed up at school during lunchtime, and Miles and I quickly went over the schedule for the afternoon. He seemed to feel REALLY bad that he not only had me come in on my day off, but also that I had to come in when I was feeling so nasty. At Community Circle time, right when the kids got back from lunch recess, Miles told the class that he was going to be leaving early and that I would be taking over. I interjected something along the lines of, "I've got to say that I'm not feeling so good. SO, I'm going to ask you all to be EXTRA good and quiet after Miles leaves." It seemed to work. Recess time came, Miles grabbed his bag, we led the kids out to the play-yard, and then Miles left. My time began. Admittedly, I let the kids play outside a bit longer than I probably should've - (a.) I wanted them to work off as much energy as possible, and, (b.) I kind of wanted to postpone our having to go back into the classroom as long as possible. When I yelled out, "Room KB, line up!", surprisingly, EVERYONE CAME AND GOT NICELY IN LINE. It was magical. I led them back inside and in order to get them to all come over to the rug and plop down without too much gabbing I played a short game of "Simon Sez" with them, the last direction being "Simon says sit down quietly without talking". We read a short poem together ["I Love Colors"], and then I explained what their Center Time choices were. I broke the rules by allowing more than 4 people in the ABC Center, but I don't think that I'll get in too much trouble for that. Honestly, it was one of the quietest Center Times that I've witnessed so far. The kids all sat in their centers, worked on what they were supposed to work on, and there were no complaints, fights, or tears. I'm not sure if it was set up ahead of time as a way to keep an eye on me, but the Resource teacher ended up being in the room working one-on-one with the girl with autism the whole time - I didn't mind this too much because it kept the girl with autism occupied. After Center Time, I gathered the students back on the rug and I read them "The Wishing Well" from Arnold Lobel's Mouse Tales [one of my favorite books from one of my favorite children's author/illustrators]. They seemed to get into it, and liked predicting what would happen next. 1:45 came and we did Appreciations - I mentioned that I appreciated that the students cooperated with each other and with me that afternoon. As the students left the room, I continued Miles' tradition of getting either a hug, a handshake, or a "high 5" from each kid. Most gave hugs. They really are a sweet bunch of kids. The girl who said that I smell nice gave me a SUPER long hug. I asked, lifting my arm so she could get a sniff of my armpit, "Do I still smell nice?" As she took a whiff, I looked back and saw that the Principal was standing right behind me. What must he have thought?

Miles had said that I should leave right after school, but, I ended up sticking around until 3:30 [an hour and a half after school ended]. Well, I thought that I would make sure the room was straightened up, plus I wanted to set up as much as I could for Monday since he didn't get to. Actually, I noticed that I had left my reading program Teacher's Edition at home, so I RAN HOME, GOT THE MANUAL, AND WENT BACK TO SCHOOL. How crazy am I? Such dedication for one whom, you might remember, is feeling under the weather, eh?

At about 3, as I was grooving to some Underworld on the classroom CD player, the classroom door opened and the girl with autism and her mother came into the room - the girl had left her quilted vest in a corner of the room. The mom and I talked for a good 10 minutes or so, and it made me like her and her daughter a bunch more. She asked about my role in the class, my life after December 12th [when Student Teaching is over], she offered me tips on how to deal with her daughter, she talked about how difficult it has been for her to raise a daughter with autism [ugh, this hurt...], she said that her daughter speaks a very little bit at home, and she wondered if it was interesting for me to get to have a girl with autism in the class. As she was further endearing herself to me, I couldn't fight off a thought in the back of my mind: we have the IEP meeting Monday afterschool which will likely decide that her daughter shouldn't be in our class. It is VERY interesting for me to get to have a girl with autism in the class.