Teaching Kiddos

This week marked the first time I taught in Celebration. All of my classes are 11th grade honors English, which is amazing when it comes to teaching. On Thursday (yesterday) I taught two periods. The class is just beginning the novel Beloved, which is a brutal and horrible depiction of the life of slavery through the eyes of an escaped slave.  The lesson that I taught was the first chapter and acted as an introduction to all of the characters for the students. I was incredibly happy, because I had the ability to observe my mentor teach the same lesson before I had the opportunity. 

Teaching the class was much different than I had expected. The students were very quiet, and the amount of questions they had was slim. This is unusual, because both periods that I taught were very talkative, and the first chapter of Beloved is incredibly confusing. The silence threw me for a loop, and unfortunately I ended the first period I taught eleven minutes early.... what an embarrassing moment for me. I was able to extend the second lesson a little longer, but specifically instructed the students to work on their homework until the bell rang. This policy worked well and many of them had half of their charts (homework for Monday) completed. 

Thursday night was absolutely magical. The interns gathered together and we traveled down to the Polynesian resort at Disney. We walked through the doors and it felt as if we were in a Hawaiian getaway, complete with tiki torches and Hawaiian type architecture. Out back we passed the pool with a volcanic looking stone feature built above it, to a white sand beach that overlooked a man made lake, surrounded by other Disney buildings that were lit in white Christmas lights. These other buildings included the Wedding Chapel, The Contemporary Resort, the Grand Floridian resort, and several others. But on the opposite side of the lake, just above the treetops, we could see the color changing night lights of Cinderella's castle. At 7:30pm the music began behind us and we laid on beach chairs as we watched the sky above the castle illuminate with fireworks. It was beyond magical.

The magic of last night, of staring out across the waters to a land of lights, surrounded by children whose dreams are coming true and of parents who are filled with joy is astounding. I could not help but think as the interns and I sat there that I wish I had chosen the twelve week internship. But the thing is, each of us are beginning to think that exact thing. There is something about this area, maybe it's Disney, maybe it's being away from home, maybe it's being somewhere new... but the point is there is something that draws me in. It feels like home, it feels like somewhere that I can honestly picture my future. That concept... it's comforting in a way, because up until this point my life after graduation was a complete blank. Slowly, the pieces of my life are falling in together, and I am able to see a life in Celebration. Who knows what else this journey may hold for me, but I look forward to each and every minute.