"Despite everything, [you’re] still you."

I am tired and energized, both, and soooo glad to have a three-day weekend to process my first week.
(Today is Teacher PD--professional development--as an assistant, I'm only a paraprofessional & don't have to be developed.)

Yesterday a coworker told me that a student liked me.
"How can you tell?" I said.
 
"Because they told me."

LOL. Right. I was mightily encouraged to get this feedback on my fourth day.

YIL (Yesterday I Learned) about another video game, Undertale.
The player, Frisk, below, falls into an underworld of monsters---the unique part being that you CHOOSE if you kill or show mercy to the monsters.  (One person said they couldn't bring themselves to hurt the monsters.)

Fanart, below, by Grey-w.

 
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That same coworker also encouraged me to figure out a  teaching philosophy. (We'd been talking about some teaching tactics that don't work well, or that we don't like.)
Such a good idea.

Similarly, I'm trying to figure out how to blog about my new adventures.
It's hard not to share stories about individual students, there are so many good ones.

I can say, without giving specifics about any individual, that overall I am enamored of how intensely some students love what they love. "Special interests" is the name given to this phenomenon--it's actually a hallmark of autism, you know? (An interest in trains is the cliché.)
I'd call it passionate loves.

The enthusiasm some students bring to their interests is like a balm to me, coming from a workplace where often people were demoralized and wary of showing interest in anything.

I do see, of course, that there can be a problem with "regulation"--another catchword--that is, an inability to turn it off, even when a listener is dropping dead of boredom, or when it's time to focus on something else.
(I feel some kinship:
I never want(ed) to pay attention to the boring stuff either.)

A visiting teacher modeled how I'd want to be as an educator.
She comes in monthly from the local non-profit Project Success to lead in-class activities. . .  "to help students gain tools, purpose, and confidence".

I want to look into the project's DIG [Dream. Ignite. Grow.] curriculum, because her activities were GREAT. She engaged all the students--and me. I'd asked if I could participate, and she'd said yes. (The classroom teacher didn't, so I wasn't sure.)
She listened, and met students where they're at; and everything was win/win, more like a game than a test.

I think it was good for the students to see a grown-up flailing (!) alongside them, to do some of the [seemingly easy] tasks.

For instance, you pair up with another person and, taking turns, count to ten.
Me: 1
You: 2
Etc.

Then you do it again, but instead of saying "4", you (or they) say Florida.
[Each time someone flubs up, you start at the beginning.]

Then, you change "6" to 5:
1, 2, 3, Florida, 5, ... 5 ... 7, 8, 9, 10. (It's hard to say "7" after 5!)
 
And, finally, you clap instead of saying "9".

THIS IS SURPRISINGLY HARD.
My student and I each flubbed up once, and we laughed together about it.

"It's all about relationships" everyone says, and this helped me connect with a new student.

Now I'm going to have coffee with JShk at 4 Seasons--my favorite coffee place now.
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Btw, the character Frisk is a non-gendered child who reminds me of the girlettes.

"Despite everything, it's still you" appears in a mirror Frisk looks into at the end of the game (I think).
I like that--we do remain ourselves, I've noticed, and pay the price and reap the benefits that come from being that person.

BELOW: Fan art by AuraGoddess, posted on DeviantArt.
The pixilated inset shows Frisk as they appear in the game.