Field Trip

Oh field trips...kids love them, teachers dread them. It seems at this time of the year, there are a slew of field trips coming up.

Today, we went on our 3rd field trip in 3 weeks. We went to see the Oregon Symphony perform at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. What a beautiful place! You could tell that these kids had never been to anything even remotely like this before. I enjoyed listening to the music, but felt like my head was going to explode the whole time. It is hard to be sick as a teacher. The thought of taking a sick day crossed my mind, but didn't want to send a poor sub on a field trip!

The most interesting part of the day was the conversations I had with some of the kids in the bus on the way home from the play. The one girl that I sat next to is an interesting character. She has had a tough life for one so young and exhibits this horrible attitude all the time. However, sitting with her and talking to her on the bus, I got to see behind that hard outer shell and see the little girl she still is. She talked about how her dad was going to jail today and how sad she was and how much she'd miss him. However, she told me she is used to it b/c he's had to go to jail before.

Another little boy was talking to me about getting his ear pierced. How his dad iced his ear and then used a fork to pierce a hole in his ear lobe. (At this point, I wasn't feeling very well).

It's just so eye opening to me, still, even after 6 1/2 years of teaching at my school, what my kids go through. I can not even fathom some of the things that go on at home.

It has been a tough year for me, both work related and emotionally. I wonder often what the heck I'm doing.

But after a day like today, when I see kids experience things they never have, or open up for just a moment and I see a glimpse of that little child, sometimes, it feels worth it.