Hello friends, family, and strangers (I flatter myself)! I am a recently-graduated girl finding my way in the "real world" (apparently, I've been floating around the fake world for the past two decades). Many of my friends' "real world"s consist of cubicles, nine-to-fives, marriage, babies, and other such grown-up things. My real world looks a little different. Yes, I still get up and go to work every morning, same as they do. But instead of battling fax machines, computer programs, disgruntled spouses and dirty diapers, I arm myself against a legion of 14-year-old boys. Well, 83 of them to be exact. You see, I teach 8th-grade boys' Science in an inner-city, high-poverty school. What it is not: glamorous, prestigious, boring. What it is: humorous, heartbreaking, and the most challenging thing I will ever do.

The stories I tell and the people I describe are real; you can't make this stuff up. If you are new to my blog, I hope you'll start at the beginning and fall in love with its characters, just as I have.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Take time to stop and smell the roses

"MM-mmm!!" says Brett, looking me up and down. His lips are pursed, making his dimples even more pronounced. I roll my eyes, taking note of how he has to tilt his head upwards to see me in full, as he barely reaches my shoulder. He takes a chomp out of a chip as he continues his survey. "If you was a flower, I'd pick you first!"

"Except the second you'd lean over to pick me, I'd wilt from Doritos-breath."

Burned. Breaking hearts and taking names. Too bad those names can only be found in the NINETEEN-NINETY-SIX BIRTH REGISTRY. I need a life.
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3 comments:

  1. EvaMarch 9, 2010 at 12:42 PM

    Oh Kiley. You are wonderful. I love your blog, (I should have told you this months ago) and I send people to it often. Be encouraged beloved. For some reason, God has you in this place. It isn't the things that we choose for ourselves that make us who God can use. He is doing a work, using you, but more clearly...WITHIN you.

    That first real firing of the clay in the kiln...it doesn't have charm. It just makes the vessel usable. (the second firing makes it beautiful)
    What firing is this? I love you Kiley!
    Eva

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  2. Davis AnnMarch 23, 2010 at 6:45 PM

    sometimes i read this one over again if i need a laugh :)

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  3. "Ms. Ryan"April 3, 2010 at 9:32 PM

    A friend sent me a link to you blog because she says you remind her of me. Well, after reading this I'd have to agree. Although I'm a bit older than you, I too teach science in an inner-city school (9th-12th), I'm chronically disorganized, & even sit Indian Style on a lab table as I converse with my students.
    We also share similar frustrations concerning the backwards mentality of the educational system as a whole.
    Hang in there, you are so very important. There are so few who can handle urban youth, let alone choose to do so. They have so little going for them and I'm sure they value how much you care for them.

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