Leave Taking, Day 11

Day 11:  My 5th graders

Some of you have seen first hand how social and fun Lao students are.  Last year, I was victim to a group of rambunctious 9 year olds.  My second year of teaching has generally gone more smoothly.  I have only 10 students, and they are fifth graders (10 and 11 years old).  Despite this small class size, my students still achieve levels of insanity and loudness that I didn't even know were possible.  It's also probably a testament to my 'laissez-faire' style of teaching...I've never been a strict person, and I think my attitude towards my students is, "you do you."  Unfortunately, my students have caught on to this, and my classroom has descended into chaos for the last few months.  Their version of 'doing you' is making our classroom into a slime factory (they seriously produce so much of it) and a gladiator rink.  But, that's okay.  I don't like putting leashes on my students, and some of them are able to shine in a way that they can't when just doing academics.  Such as Namthip, the queen of the slime (and also, the sass):

Or Sok, who could care less about academics, but is a fantastic athlete, friend, and class clown.

Or View, who is a budding leader who is great with younger kids.  He all but runs the classroom, and is usually reeling from his latest sugar overdose.  

I'll miss all of my students so much.  With a smaller class, I've had the privilege of getting close to all of them, and finding out their lovely quirks as individuals.

Dan's verbosity and strangely mature sense of humor:

Josh's bad puns and obsession with Harry Potter:

Brie's kindness:

Jazzy's overwhelming sweetness, and creativity in making things:

Pink's quiet and kind leadership:

Jojo's smile and desire to do well:

Tien's incredible intelligence and drive:

All of their sense's of humor:

And their wisdom:

It was a great year with them!

For your entertainment, a slime 'time lapse' series featuring slime and Teacher Leif.