If anyone is still listening...

Ok…I am a terrible blogger.

Really and truly, I know. I blogged what, three times? And my last blog was telling about driving to an interview? For all anyone knows I jumped ship and went back home. Please allow me to explain my silence.

My main reason for the silence of the blog was because last year turned out to be, perhaps the most difficult year I will ever live (dear GOD fingers crossed, ya’ll). I did in fact teach fourth grade, last year. If I had to guess, I would say about a third of my students come from the ninth ward (or the east as we refer to it), about a third come from the Treme/uptown area, and a third are from all over. It can be hard to tell. Since today is the fifth year maker of Katrina, I do not need to point out (but am anyway) that last years students were in first grade when Katrina hit. For many this meant either no, or little first grade year. Of course, many went to school in Mississippi or Texas, but you have to wonder how much a six year old baby can learn after they had to just evacuate their home. Just sayin.

So, my precious pumpkin fourth grade darlings were pretty chaotic. Actually, VERY chaotic. I went to a lot of happy hours after work. But I think all teachers do that. One could speculate the multiple possible reasons of said chaos. Some of life’s first memories for them are evacuating or staying in the super dome. Grown adults are still having trouble coping with the loss that this natural (and human made) disaster brought about, and little kids just do not have the coping skills. Not to mention that when my babies came back, more than a few did not return to amazing circumstances. Chaos begets chaos. And so it goes.

All this to say, that I did not want my little blog to turn into a place to vent. Had I kept it up, you undoubtedly would have heard stories about fights and lack of supplies or the millions of other things that made last year at times feel almost unbearable. I feared that I would not do justice in explaining all the wonderful, small things that happened as well. This would not have been because good things didn’t happen, of course they did. However I was not in a place to share. I had to come to terms with a lot of things on my own before I could, in a healthy way, relay the events to anyone else.

The last thing I ever want to do in perpetuate stereotypes about my kiddos who already have the odds stacked against them. So I was silent for awhile.

However, embarking on year two, I think I can start blogging again. Maybe because today, as I said before, marks the five year anniversary of Katrina and I am feeling particularly hopeful about life. Perhaps it is the zeal of a young teacher in the beginning of a new school year. Or maybe it is because I already love my new kids and feel both at ease and excited to teach them. Either way, I’m giving the blog a go.