Spanglish

"Coach drive tomorrow, miercoles my friend, jueves: you?
(I don't know, my mom: my mom mad me.)"

"Siempre!"

"Oh yeah, porque I malo."
(Big grin)

fare well

My class said goodbye to our aide today. There were tears in the eyes of some pretty tough boys, and goodbye notes such as this one:

"Thank you for all your helping me? I'm sorry I don't talk to you more. You are really really cute. And so I'm little afraid."

Another student made a list of all the ways in which she had helped him. He hadn't been afraid to talk to her " . . . or about anything," and she had listened.

She never did get all nasty with the math. But I remembered something I was once told in a grief training: "Kids won't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Thanks for the reminder. We wish you well . . .

nasty math

The teacher's aide in my classroom is leaving us to pursue a career more in line with her interests. She is 19. She told me that her mother is interested in applying for a job in the school system. I asked, "Is she interested in the position you're vacating?"
She replied:

"No, because she can't do the math either. I mean like she knows the basics, but she doesn't like get all nasty with the math."