Dear Teachers and Maestr@s Everywhere,

As I sit here and write this, all I can say is that I am in total awe of what you do day in and day out. What is your secret?  I will pay you money for this. Seriously. I have learned that bribing the kids with candy will not be enough.

Kailynn and I just finished our first day volunteering at the orphanage, and I think the best way to describe how I feel right now is to say that I was hit by a train- a very big freight train. Let me just describe our first day so you can understand what I am saying.

With no idea of what we had signed up for, the very first day we arrived, Kailynn and I were both given our very own classroom of about 20 little rugrats around the ages of 6 and 7. As quickly as the teacher had come in to give the kids directions and introduce me, she just as quickly left the classroom, leaving me on my own to make sure the kids followed suit. It was at this point that all hell broke loose in the classroom and it became quite clear that the consensus of the class was that they ran the class, not me.

Taking matters into their own hands, kids began climbing on top of desks, hiding under tables, and running out of the classroom. I should also point out at this time, that the very little Spanish I thought I had learned in the past weeks seemed to just disappear from my brain, right then and there. The only words I managed to remember were “No Mas,” which I think meant “do whatever you want” to the kids.  I will have to look that word up in the dictionary again...

For about two hours straight, I stood there trying to “manage” the children as they did anything and everything. This included drinking some of the cleaning products, blasting the cd player as loud as it could go, working on choreographed dance moves, rummaging and taking whatever they wanted out of the teacher’s desk, and playing their version of ding dong ditch, which meant running out of the classroom, coming back 5 minutes later to knock on the door, and disappearing as soon as I opened it, and then repeating this over and over again.. it was a scene right out of a horror movie.

My only goal became to make sure the kids didn’t die while they were in my presence, because God knows, they were not in my care. (I’m not going to lie, I was a bit worried about the one girl who drank quite a lot of cleaning solution). I think one of the only reasons I kept some of my sanity was the fact that Kailynn and I began to pass notes back and forth with each other via one of Kailynn’s students. We sent secret messages back about how much longer we should stay around, since neither of us had a clue when class ended. When the bell finally rang for lunch, I was left speechless and in a trance. All I could think was Day 1 down and mission accomplished- no one died.

Teachers, you have my utmost respect. Being able to not only gain the respect of the students, but also making sure not to kill any of your students (either by mistake, or consciously) is beyond me right now. I know I have a lot to learn and I am excited to do so, but all I can say at this point, is kudos to all of you who have accomplished this feat and continue to do so on a daily basis. Through all the sweat, tears, and broken backs that you may have encountered, I am pretty sure you have the most difficult job known to man. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your hard work.

Inspired por you,

Kristen

P.S.- For any teacher, I ever did not listen to or pay attention to, I am truly sorry. Karma in the classroom has returned to me now J