summer, glorious summer

Nothing cerebral or witty tonight. It's been a busy week.

I started summer camp (5 days a week) and summer grad classes (4 days a week), so my schedule is packed tight. Not much of a vacation. I'm taking two classes this summer, both electives. One is about teaching reading and writing to ESL students. Our college hosts a summer program for college-bound high school ESL students. So our class will consist of an hour and half of lecture, followed by an hour and a half of working one-on-one with the kids. I've never worked with high school students before... my milieu is strictly K-4... so this will be a very interesting experience. We meet the kids on Monday. I'm looking forward to it.

The other class is Reading and Language Arts in Elementary School. It's a little on the easy side for me, since I've already finished all my required course work for the Reading Specialist certificate (with the exception of the Reading Clinic, which I'm doing in the fall). On the plus side, it'll be an easy A. And the projects sound like fun. Oh, and there are BOYS in my class. Tee hee. I'm so used to being in classes full of women. There are 15 students in this class, and 3 of them are men (one is married, but as far as I know, the other two are available). Not too shabby, even if the odds aren't in my favor. Of course, that's not the reason I'm taking this course. I value my education. Reading is my life. And so on.

Summer camp started yesterday. It kinda sucks to be back "at work," even though I'm not in my classroom. I did go up to my room to get some supplies, though. It's just as I left it a few weeks ago, except the desks are in the hallway. Anyway, we have about 45 kids total signed up for camp, which isn't bad. I'm in charge of the middle group, which is made up of kids going into second, third and fourth grade. With the exception of one boy, I've taught all of them before. It's funny to see my former first graders again -- after two weeks, they're already taller and tanner.

So guess who's in my group? None other than Joe Cool and his older brother. I gotta say, I'm impressed with Joe's attitude toward camp - totally different than his attitude toward school. I guess camp is a less threatening environment for him, even though we're still doing reading and writing and ... gasp... learning!

Funny story from one of my third grade campers. She was telling me that her cousin got pregnant. "Oh, that's nice! You must be excited," I said. "Yeah," she replied. "She's 18." I nodded, not sure what to say. "Is that legal?" she asked. "Well... yes..." I answered. Seriously, what are you supposed to say when they ask you questions like that? Well, at least I didn't lie to her. It's not against the law for an 18-year-old to get pregnant. But it's interesting that a third grader has that kind of thought process.