But I like a cookie....

I am counting down the days.

Not the days of school we have left, either.

I'm counting the days till I get to go back to my classroom and back to my kids. Having a student teacher has been a different experience for me. He's doing a great job, and it's been really cool to see his progress as we work on different things. But now, he's to the point where he needs the experience of handling problems on his own, using the strategies we've talked about. Which means I can't be there. At all.

Which has meant I spend my days in the computer lab working on our new Social Studies curriculum. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed having the time to actually think about what I'll be teaching, the chance to really do some research and come up with lessons that will (hopefully) engage and challenge students, the chance to have a coherent plan for what I'll do in Social Studies. But, boy, have I missed the kids. Surprisingly, I go home more tired than I did when I was actually teaching all day. Staring at the computer, typing, researching online, tracking down yet another resource, are strangely draining. And there's no one here to make me laugh, or exasperate me, or celebrate with, or just plain interact with. It's just me and the computer screen. And the occasional 3rd grader who comes in to use a computer, but is too highly intimidated by the big, scary, 5th grade teacher to actually communicate with me.

And right now, thank God, there's D. D is in my partner teacher's class and is the incarnation of Hammy from Over the Hedge. Little guy, big cheeks, the attention span of a gnat, a constant ball of motion; D is currently talking to his math paper. "Take that! Ha! Take that!" Just begging for me to mess with him.

The ease with which I can freak him out is astonishing. One three second glance, and he grinningly whispers, "What?" Two more seconds and the grin gets wider while the whisper becomes squeakier, "Stop staring at me! I hate when people do that!" Two more seconds and the whisper-tone elevates to dog whistle level, "Stop it!" Poor, unsuspecting child has no clue that he's being used by a kid-loving adult craving any interaction with a student.

Must go try it again.....