The Great Conversationalist

I had one of the greatest conversations with someone today.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had one of those and
It surprised me in ways that I never thought it would.

I practically spent my entire time with him today -
I guess you could say we were stuck.
The things that came out of his mouth were so honest and pure -
His candor was hilarious.

Every time he makes me laugh, it’s one of those laugh-out-loud situations.
When he shares something with me, I can’t help but share it with others
Because I know that everyone else will get a kick out of it, too.

Our little chat took a serious turn today and it revealed so much about his personality.
We talked about family, life, decision-making, and divorce-
Even if love is involved, how divorce is so complicated to understand.

He talked to me about the domino effect and how people have been hurt.
He misses a dad that he rarely sees and siblings he’ll never know-
Yet he knows his mom is happy, or is, at least, trying to be.

Listening to all this breaks my heart because it’s from a kid who’s not even 9 years old.
The happy-go-lucky kid in my class who cannot sit still and talks incessantly –
Is the same kid who has become one of my favorite students.
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They Earned an A-

We had a field trip today to City Hall and the Main Library. As much as I love taking students on field trips, leaving school premises is totally stressful. As is usually the case, we must travel via public transportation...and if you know me, you know that I'm definitely not a fan. Thankfully, we didn't have to take MUNI; rather, my class trudged approximately 30 minutes to the BART station and headed downtown from there.

I won't go into detail about the trip, only that it went well- no one got lost, no one got sick, no one stepped on dog poop (which there was plenty of...)...the only things that did get lost were some nametags here and there. Lost nametags I can handle.

The weather was surprisingly very cooperative, but considering that we did a lot of walking today, it was perfect. The BART trains that we rode happened to be empty because it was during the non-busy commute time and we didn't have any encounters with irate people of any kind. Thank God.

I like to give my class a grade after each field trip to let them know how they did. Because we leave school grounds, they need to know if their behavior is acceptable and if they are able to be the responsible 3rd graders of my class that I expect them to be. Considering that they received a C- on their first field trip (along with the "threat" of not having any more...) well, they knew there were improvements to be made. And improve they did!

Everyone had a walking partner with whom they had to hold hands, myself included. While I usually do not like to hold any kid's hand, because more than likely it means they are in trouble for something, my partner for today was quite enjoyable. Okay, so forget the fact that I had to hold his hand because he was dragging his feet and holding up the line...having him as a partner definitely added to the field trip experience as a whole and that's what I had to write about up above.

It was definitely a good day....completely exhausting, but eye-opening, fun, and refreshing, too.