Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
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Post by Adriel Flowers on Aug 19, 2021 6:55:55 GMT -8
Adriel walked into his classroom, feeling weird about leaving Rochelle at home with a babysitter. He'd done all the research and made sure reviews were good, but he was an overprotective papa and had honestly just wanted to bring her into work with him. He'd debated taking Anlan up on her offer, but didn't want to burden her. He had thought about asking Jesse too, not a hard thought to bring up considering he was always thinking about him like a lovestruck teenager, but he wasn't sure how appropriate that would be. So instead, it was a babysitter. Adriel sighed as he set his things down on his desk and looked about the room. He knew he'd be getting a para this year, so he didn't want to make a bunch of decisions before they got here. He figured since they were going to be spending the year in the classroom with him, that they should have a say and feel comfortable here. He sat at his desk and opened his laptop, looking through some lessons from previous years, being productive until his new classroom-mate showed up. Devi J. Yun
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
Bi.
dating Kit.
01/09/1990.
32.
Snake (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Aug 19, 2021 15:36:00 GMT -8
Devi was incredibly nervous. This was the first job he'd ever had that he was pretty sure that his parents would consider an adult job, at 31, though that was a slightly funny thought to him considering he'd been working in bars and therefore adult only environments for the past decade. It felt good to have a job that would finally put the early childhood education degree that had taken him this long to earn to good use. He liked kids, he liked teaching the kids' dance classes at Driftwood Dance Studio, and he figured that at least that would serve him well here.
He wasn't nervous about the kids. He was nervous about the adults. Adults were who had the potential to be weird about him speaking and reading slowly, about him being quiet and shy and a little awkward in many ways. At least he wouldn't have to do a lot of reading to do language and classroom support at the kindergarten level. It was kind of exciting that part of what had gotten him the job was fluency in Cambodian, and that he would get to use that in the classroom. For now though, it was planning week, and he was going to get to meet the teacher that he'd be working with all year, and he wanted to make a good impression.
The people at the front desk had been nice, helping him get the last of his paperwork processed and getting him all of his keys and other supplies that were assigned to him. Finally, about an hour after the start of the workday, he'd arrived at the classroom. He hesitated for a moment before opening the door, peaking around it to see if the teacher that he'd be working with was there.
He blinked in surprise a few times, the man in the room was taller than he was and significantly sturdier in his build. It did give Devi a moment's amusement to realize that they'd probably be among the tallest people working in the school, and they were working with the youngest kids. He ducked into the classroom, trying his best to smile and look friendly and open, but knowing that he looked hesitant and said, "Hi, um, I'm Devi Yun, the para who's going to be working in here this year. Are you Adriel?"
He really hoped this was in fact Adriel, and he'd not somehow found the wrong room or introduced himself to someone who wasn't supposed to be here, or some other strange mishap for the first day of planning.
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
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Post by Adriel Flowers on Aug 20, 2021 8:57:40 GMT -8
Adriel was in the middle of watching a video of a new song to sing with his students when Devi arrived. He smiled and paused his video, standing up and going over to shake his hand. "Yes, I'm Adriel Flowers, you can call me Adriel, and my pronouns are he/him. Nice to meet you Devi. Would you prefer I call you Devi or something else?"
Adriel always tried to start things off with new people on the right foot. Offering pronouns usually gave him a good indication of a lot about a person. Plus, being his size, he always wanted others to feel comfortable, though he did note that Devi was also tall. He debated saying something but wasn't sure how he felt about his height, so decided against it.
He motioned to a chair for Devi to sit. He'd made sure to have another adult sized chair in the room because he didn't want to do the stupid power plays that some other teachers did with their paras. "Make yourself comfortable and tell me a little about yourself." He sat down himself and noted Devi's initial intention, wondering if it would fade with talking, but if it didn't he'd have to take another approach.
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
Bi.
dating Kit.
01/09/1990.
32.
Snake (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Aug 20, 2021 12:30:14 GMT -8
Devi shook the other man's hand, slightly tentative, but he did manage a smile. It was nice to hear Adriel use pronouns as part of his introduction. Devi said, "Devi is good, and my pronouns are generally he/him. It's nice to meet you too."
He hoped that his uncertainty didn't show on his face, and he realized that his pronoun phrasing had perhaps been a little strange, but he hoped that Adriel wouldn't be odd about it. He wanted to get along with the teacher that he'd be working with all year, that would be really nice.
Devi was relieved to see an adult sized chair in the classroom for him, though he still folded himself into it a little awkwardly, arms and legs long even for how tall he was. He figured that someone as tall as Adriel would probably understand that though. He smiled as he tried to pull his thoughts together, talking about himself wasn't always his strong suit. He finally said, "Um, I'm Cambodian-American, that's part of what's got me put in your class, I'm partially here to be language support for a kid who moved recently from Cambodia and isn't fluent in English yet. And I've taught kids dance classes for years, and just got my ECE degree from CBCC. I'm, um, 31. It took me a while to get to getting a degree."
He knew that he spoke slowly, and he hoped that that wouldn't be a point of weirdness with Adriel. He gave another small smile and said, "What about you?"
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
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Post by Adriel Flowers on Aug 20, 2021 15:51:00 GMT -8
Adriel liked him already. "You said generally he/him, let me know whenever those don't work for you."
He grinned a little at Devi sitting in the chair and couldn't help but imagine him trying to sit in one meant for the little ones.
He listened intently and nodded along, "I don't think you took too long. If you'd finished earlier you wouldn't be here in my classroom with me." He offered a warm smile and sat up a little straighter to do his own introduction.
"You already know my name, I've worked with kids for I don't even remember how many years now. I have a daughter, Rochelle, she's seven and goes to school here, so you'll probably see a lot of her. I was a terrible student until I had an amazing teacher, so my goal is to be that amazing teacher for at least one of my students." His feeling about the whole thing were a little bittersweet, it had taken him until his sophomore year to find a good teacher. He didn't want the same for these kids.
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Dancer; Kindergarten Para.
Bi.
dating Kit.
01/09/1990.
32.
Snake (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Devi J. Yun on Aug 20, 2021 16:17:54 GMT -8
Devi smiled at him slightly and croaked out, "I'll let you know if it comes up, but I doubt it would at school."
It was almost reassuring to hear Adriel's explanation of his own school journey, and Devi went out on a limb, really hoping that a teacher with that mindset would handle the explanation right, but internally quaking just a little bit and said, "I have, um, several learning disabilities that weren't caught until seventh grade, so I had a rocky relationship with school as a younger kid. School got immensely easier once I had the right accommodations and some speech therapy. It's funny because when it comes to working with them, I'd much rather work with much younger kids even though it was a hard time for me as a student."
He smiled at Adriel mentioning his daughter. He said softly, "I'll look forward to meeting her then."
He wondered if any of the kids he knew who went to the school would be excited to see him, or seek him out. The majority of his dance students went to Cedar Beach Elementary, which meant that he'd probably run across someone he knew. He realized he should probably warn Lek that he was working at the school now at least. Kit's younger brother knew him well enough that it had the potential to be a little strange for him, though at least he was fifth grader this year.
He was glad that Adriel had a relaxing, calm demeanor from what he'd seen so far. He asked, "How does the beginning of the year usually look in your classroom?"
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Kindergarten Teacher.
Bisexual.
Single.
01/24/1980.
41.
Monkey (WA)
Authored by Velexa.
Offline.
|
Post by Adriel Flowers on Aug 20, 2021 22:35:00 GMT -8
Adriel smiled reassuringly. "Please let me know if you need any accommodations here. This is a safe space and judgment free. Please feel free to ask me for anything. Also, if you see a kid struggling or think of other ways to do something, please speak up. We're here to support them and I am not going to always be right or enough."
"Rochelle will be a handful, but she's sweet and smart, but she might try to put one over on you," he laughed. "I'll try to make sure she doesn't start anything."
Adriel stood up and wandered the classroom, "I usually like to put up new decorations, rearrange the classroom and make something fun and welcoming for the kids. It's most of their first times around so many bigger kids so they're usually nervous. The first few days are just trying to help them settle in. Do you have any ideas for the classroom?"
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