MaritaUndergraduate
Exceptional Education |
MaritaUndergraduate
Exceptional Education |
My last week at ISS! Grant and Connor had their last day Wednesday and my last day was Friday. It has been a unforgettable wild ride. On Wednesday we had Sports Day. Now, I am one who loves any kind of sports day, field day, etc. I had been hyping up the sports day for weeks now and the day finally came. Unfortunately, the weather moved the event indoors. My mentor teacher and I came ready to participate but we were the only ones who came in decent footwear. We were hoping to participate in the teacher event at the end but the number of underprepared teachers significantly outweighed the number of prepared teachers. Absolute bummer. I luckily had the run against hunger event on Friday to look forward to. On Friday, we had a whole school run. The run was called “Corsa Contro la Fame”, the race against hunger. All grades participated in one of three different courses. There was a short course intended for the early years, a medium course intended for the primary years, and a long course intended for the big kids. Of course, you could choose which course best suited you. Everyone in Grade 4 except one did the medium course. One student challenged himself to do the long course. I ran with one of the grade fours the whole time and we cheered everyone on as they ran past us. By the end of the run we had a group of four or five fourth graders finishing together. We all high fived each other and drank a lot of water. The one student in the long course had 5 more minutes of running left so we all stood at the end of the course to cheer him on as he was finishing. At the end all the kids surrounded him and were telling how great he was. They are such supportive classmates. We had a lot of fun doing the run and supporting each other. As a final goodbye gift for the students I made them bird nests and paper cranes. I made a nest from paper and foil cups, filled them with chocolates, topped the nests off with two paper cranes and a note from the cranes. Symbolically the nest represents the classroom and the cranes represent me and the student. We have been growing together, me as a teacher and them as a student, and we are going to fly off on our own and do our own amazing things. The kids really liked the cranes. I called them up one at a time to get their note and nest and each student gave me a hug after I handed them the nests. On Wednesday evening, after having a goodbye aperitivo with Grant and Connor, I went home to a dinner party made for me. My host mother had invited every person I had made a connection with in my two months here to this dinner. I had no idea it was going to be so big. She mentioned having a few people over like she does every Wednesday. I thought it was just going to be the regular two or three extra people. I never knew who was coming through the door next. My host mother and brother had gathered some of my favorite people all together to celebrate my time with them. My host brother invited three of his many friends who I had made a connection with. One of the gentlemen I had met in my time here has a wife who is a pastry chef and she had made vegan desserts for our party. Then My host mother's boyfriend and another woman at the table served different types of limoncello they had made from scratch. They ended the night with intensely precious gifts. I admittedly had a small moment where I shed a few tears. It was an incredible evening. Meow even got a big piece of meat for dinner! When no one was looking she stole a big slice of deli meat someone had on their plate. She ate the slice in record time.
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AuthorHi! I'm Marita Miller an exceptional education student at Buffalo State student teaching in Siena Italy. Follow my journey! Archives
May 2023
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