so back in the day, when i was living in maplewood, we used to have apartment dinners once a week or so. those were always fun times because a few people would cook together and then all the different people (friends) that lived in the building would gather in the cooking apartment to eat dinner together. i didn't realize how much i missed that group fun, until this last saturday. a bunch of people gathered at minjue's apartment and we collectively chopped veggies and cooked dinner - miso salmon, green beans + shitake mushrooms, and stir-fried squash + broccoli. i think it came out pretty well. and then, we played board games! i LOVE board games. and even better, we played TV edition scene-it. and then answered more trivia questions. i now acknowledge that i have spent entirely too much time watching TV. i know, not a big surprise. :)
it's been 3 days since i played flag football and parts of me are still feeling the pain. i know...me...playing flag football. i can definitely say that i learned a lot. for example, once you've been thrown the ball and you're running it towards the endzone, you can't toss it forward to another player. after i was told about this rule, the funny looks i got made a lot more sense. seriously, how was i supposed to know? i think my little brother would be horrified - he takes his football pretty seriously. the fact that i still hurt tells me that i need to start being more active. in fact, i'm taking part in "race for the cure" for breast cancer this sunday morning - a 5K run/walk. i'll be choosing to walk, briskly of course. maybe i'll even run...we'll see.
at my teaching assignment today, some students from another 5th grade bilingual class were dispersed into our class because their teacher was out sick and no sub showed up. these students are not as proficient in english as most of the students in my class. so, i look over and one of the boys from our class, eric, is talking with two of the boys from the other class and they're looking over at me and then laughing. this is never a good sign, no matter where you are. i can't hear them, so i figured i'd just let it go. later, at the computer lab, i figured out what they were talking about. the two boys, marcos and victor, couldn't believe that i spoke spanish and chinese and english. they didn't know who i was so eric had been telling them about me. i think for some of these kids, asians are kind of a foreign concept for them because almost all of the population at the school is latino. sometimes, i forget that i stand out. but what's been great is that i've been able to use who i am as part of my teaching practice and using that to get the kids interested different kinds of learning. hooray for cultural capital!
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
relax and let go
last friday (the 10th) was not a good day. my guiding teacher left the room for 10 minutes to take care of something in the principal's office and i was with the students during their journal writing time. it was going well for about 2 minutes. the rest of the time was spent on crowd control - trying to keep the kids on task and clarifying what "chapter book" meant. i was super frustrated, with myself for not keeping it together with the students, and frustrated because they were being so squirrelly. the kids really were being a little obnoxious. so it was not a good morning, though the rest of the day went better - our class even got to check out half a fetal pig in science lab. still, i went home pretty bummed, feeling like i didn't have a handle on the whole class management aspect of teaching. but i've been told, sometimes, you just have to let it go.
this week was much better. i still don't have a handle on the management issue, but i'm learning as i go along. the kids were even more squirrelly this week, but it was ok. afterall, it was valentine's day this week and they had a big dance, which happened yesterday.
on valentine's day (which the students erroneously call "valentime's day"), i brought in a bunch of hershey's kisses for the class. they too brought valentine's day cards and candy. i received a bunch of cards and candy, a mug, a ring, and a little bracelet from the kids. they're too cute. "love" was/is in the air. the school sold valentine's day grams for students to buy and send to other people. on tuesday, they were delivered and Ms. F gave the purchasers the choice of giving it to the intended person themselves or having her give them out. Most of the boys chose to give them out on their own. one boy, david, just walked over to adriana's desk and plopped them down and walked away without saying anything. she looked so confused. it was soooooooo adorable. erik told me he tore up his card and when i asked him why , he said "i don't know" and smiled. neither Ms. F nor i remember who he bought it for. but it was cute anyway. somehow, they managed to be somewhat on task for the rest of the week.
on thursday, my advisor came by to observe me teaching another lesson. last time, it was in english, this time, i was teaching language arts in spanish. oi. i was nervous and given that i do not have a lot of confidence in my language skills, or a whole lot of opportunity to really practice speaking, it felt pretty good. i did lose a few moments here and there, but my advisor was really encouraging and had some good things to say. when i walked back into the classroom, all the kids wanted to know if i had "passed." haha...in their minds, my advisor is the gatekeeper to me becoming a full-fledged teacher. at the end of my lesson, which ended a little more awkwardly than i planned, the kids turned to look at my advisor, and then they clapped really enthusiastically, which had all of us laughing. they're so very sweet, trying to help me out as they can.
and yesterday. friday was a tough day to get through. i stayed the whole day since i was going to help chaperone their 4th/5th grade dance. i had no idea that the prospect of a dance would distract the students so much. they couldn't wait for the school day to be over so they could get to the dance. i'm talking about notes being passed back and forth, and whispers/giggles all around the classroom. ms. f and i just wanted the day to be over by the time it hit lunch. at lunch, one of the other 5th grade teachers made a fair case for the kids. he said that if he had had someone to go to a dance with at 10/11 years old, he wouldn't have been able to focus/concentrate either. haha... at the dance, the DJ, another teacher at the school, had a sound system, lights, smoke machine, etc. it was pretty impressive for elementary school, actually, probably for middle school/high school too. the kids got those glow-in-the-dark necklace/bracelet things and dance around in the dark. we teachers herded them away from dark corners like cattle. a bunch of the kids are really good dancers, with their own little circle of breakdancing performers. see, asians aren't the only ones who dance in circles - little kids in east LA too. and then there were the handful of girls/boys who were dancing like they were in a rap video - NOT OK. seriously, someone should put a stop to those kinds of music videos. that's not dancing, it's pretty much just moving like a stripper - and that needs to go. by the end, it felt like the longest day ever, in a good way.
after all that, a bunch of people went to hang out at rosa's. we ate, sat around, and basically, just hung out. there was a game of cranium (boys vs. girls - as always), and the girls totally won, naturally. :) then we spent the next few hours answering all the trivia questions from the datahead deck. i love trivia - if only i could make a living that way... anyway, we stayed up entirely too late, but it was a lot of fun. it was just nice to relax after feeling so busy for the last few weeks. and i still have the rest of this extended weekend to enjoy...hurrah!
this week was much better. i still don't have a handle on the management issue, but i'm learning as i go along. the kids were even more squirrelly this week, but it was ok. afterall, it was valentine's day this week and they had a big dance, which happened yesterday.
on valentine's day (which the students erroneously call "valentime's day"), i brought in a bunch of hershey's kisses for the class. they too brought valentine's day cards and candy. i received a bunch of cards and candy, a mug, a ring, and a little bracelet from the kids. they're too cute. "love" was/is in the air. the school sold valentine's day grams for students to buy and send to other people. on tuesday, they were delivered and Ms. F gave the purchasers the choice of giving it to the intended person themselves or having her give them out. Most of the boys chose to give them out on their own. one boy, david, just walked over to adriana's desk and plopped them down and walked away without saying anything. she looked so confused. it was soooooooo adorable. erik told me he tore up his card and when i asked him why , he said "i don't know" and smiled. neither Ms. F nor i remember who he bought it for. but it was cute anyway. somehow, they managed to be somewhat on task for the rest of the week.
on thursday, my advisor came by to observe me teaching another lesson. last time, it was in english, this time, i was teaching language arts in spanish. oi. i was nervous and given that i do not have a lot of confidence in my language skills, or a whole lot of opportunity to really practice speaking, it felt pretty good. i did lose a few moments here and there, but my advisor was really encouraging and had some good things to say. when i walked back into the classroom, all the kids wanted to know if i had "passed." haha...in their minds, my advisor is the gatekeeper to me becoming a full-fledged teacher. at the end of my lesson, which ended a little more awkwardly than i planned, the kids turned to look at my advisor, and then they clapped really enthusiastically, which had all of us laughing. they're so very sweet, trying to help me out as they can.
and yesterday. friday was a tough day to get through. i stayed the whole day since i was going to help chaperone their 4th/5th grade dance. i had no idea that the prospect of a dance would distract the students so much. they couldn't wait for the school day to be over so they could get to the dance. i'm talking about notes being passed back and forth, and whispers/giggles all around the classroom. ms. f and i just wanted the day to be over by the time it hit lunch. at lunch, one of the other 5th grade teachers made a fair case for the kids. he said that if he had had someone to go to a dance with at 10/11 years old, he wouldn't have been able to focus/concentrate either. haha... at the dance, the DJ, another teacher at the school, had a sound system, lights, smoke machine, etc. it was pretty impressive for elementary school, actually, probably for middle school/high school too. the kids got those glow-in-the-dark necklace/bracelet things and dance around in the dark. we teachers herded them away from dark corners like cattle. a bunch of the kids are really good dancers, with their own little circle of breakdancing performers. see, asians aren't the only ones who dance in circles - little kids in east LA too. and then there were the handful of girls/boys who were dancing like they were in a rap video - NOT OK. seriously, someone should put a stop to those kinds of music videos. that's not dancing, it's pretty much just moving like a stripper - and that needs to go. by the end, it felt like the longest day ever, in a good way.
after all that, a bunch of people went to hang out at rosa's. we ate, sat around, and basically, just hung out. there was a game of cranium (boys vs. girls - as always), and the girls totally won, naturally. :) then we spent the next few hours answering all the trivia questions from the datahead deck. i love trivia - if only i could make a living that way... anyway, we stayed up entirely too late, but it was a lot of fun. it was just nice to relax after feeling so busy for the last few weeks. and i still have the rest of this extended weekend to enjoy...hurrah!
Friday, February 17, 2006
teacherly duties
tomorrow, i get to help chaperone the 5th grade dance. so exciting! i'm preparing myself to be supremely amused by the 5th graders. more details to follow.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
one of these things is not like the others...
so this morning i woke up earlier than usual on a sunday and decided to watch the grammy awards that i'd taped from earlier in the week. it was fun seeing different performances, but i was confused by a portion of the sly stone tribute. fantasia and devin lima (of LFO fame). uh...what? fantasia...maybe, but the guy from LFO? who let him on the show? the line "one of these things is not like the others" kept running through my head. and speaking of things that don't belong, there was a producer honored and they mentioned steely dan as one of the groups he'd worked with before. this reminded me of the time i found steely dan's greatest hits 4 cd collection in my dad's office. again...what?
-----
i finally got to see brokeback mountain and it was amazing and deeply sad. everything about it was well done. now, i just have to see walk the line and capote and i'll be caught up on the best picture oscar race.
-----
i finally got to see brokeback mountain and it was amazing and deeply sad. everything about it was well done. now, i just have to see walk the line and capote and i'll be caught up on the best picture oscar race.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
highlight/lowlight
this is a thing i learned from minjue. some people are reluctant to participate, but i think it's nice. i was asked how my week was, and as i was thinking about it, i realized that it was a pretty great week.
highlight:
my lesson on monday went pretty well. i spoke a little fast - slower than normal, but still too fast considering the fact that the class is a bilingual class and all the kids are english language learners. but they all had a fun time looking over their zodiac signs, learning to count to 10 in chinese, and practicing the use of chopsticks. and they applauded when the lesson was over. my advisor had a lot of positive things to say about my lesson and he mentioned that it was the first time he'd seen a class applaud after a lesson. haha. so thanks for all the encouragement about my first whole class lesson.
the rest of the week went the same. i've just been having a really positive experience with my first student teaching assignment, though many of my teammates are not. the silver lining that i find in their difficult situations is that they're being challenged and stretched in ways that i'm not. they're having to deal with rowdy classrooms with students who won't focus on the class materials. those are real situations that are likely to be the kinds of classrooms we'll really be in next year. i'm extremely thankful that i've been blessed to be in the class that i'm in, but a little part of me feels like i'm not being forced into learning how to tread water, so to speak.
oh, the other highlights include hula-hooping with my class. my guiding teacher received a nutrition grant and as part of the grant, they were able to get an exercise instructor to encourage physical fitness as a part of nutrition. so all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade kids got to participate. the kids were hilarious. and yesterday, i saw a production of sweeney todd. one of the guys from church was in it. i've never seen sweeney todd before, but i had a vague idea of the storyline and it was pretty darn entertaining. and tonight, i saw proof, the stage play and a girl from church was the lead. i really enjoyed that show too. there is something equally amazing and terrifying about the relationships we have with our parents, especially the role reversal when the kids start taking care of the parents. oh, and my friend who i carpool with's neighbor told her to tell me he thought i was cute. this is a highlight because it's better than being told you're not cute.
lowlight:
traffic. LA traffic really does suck. it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get from my apartment to little tokyo. the trip is only 15 miles. i made the poor decision to forego the freeway, thinking there would be stopped traffic. then i made a series of poor choices that ended up taking more time. lesson: just take the freeway, it'll still be faster than attempting a "short cut" through local roads.
and the seahawks are in the superbowl! i'm not into football, but i'm just glad a sports team from one of my "home" cities is getting a championship shot! yay!
highlight:
my lesson on monday went pretty well. i spoke a little fast - slower than normal, but still too fast considering the fact that the class is a bilingual class and all the kids are english language learners. but they all had a fun time looking over their zodiac signs, learning to count to 10 in chinese, and practicing the use of chopsticks. and they applauded when the lesson was over. my advisor had a lot of positive things to say about my lesson and he mentioned that it was the first time he'd seen a class applaud after a lesson. haha. so thanks for all the encouragement about my first whole class lesson.
the rest of the week went the same. i've just been having a really positive experience with my first student teaching assignment, though many of my teammates are not. the silver lining that i find in their difficult situations is that they're being challenged and stretched in ways that i'm not. they're having to deal with rowdy classrooms with students who won't focus on the class materials. those are real situations that are likely to be the kinds of classrooms we'll really be in next year. i'm extremely thankful that i've been blessed to be in the class that i'm in, but a little part of me feels like i'm not being forced into learning how to tread water, so to speak.
oh, the other highlights include hula-hooping with my class. my guiding teacher received a nutrition grant and as part of the grant, they were able to get an exercise instructor to encourage physical fitness as a part of nutrition. so all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade kids got to participate. the kids were hilarious. and yesterday, i saw a production of sweeney todd. one of the guys from church was in it. i've never seen sweeney todd before, but i had a vague idea of the storyline and it was pretty darn entertaining. and tonight, i saw proof, the stage play and a girl from church was the lead. i really enjoyed that show too. there is something equally amazing and terrifying about the relationships we have with our parents, especially the role reversal when the kids start taking care of the parents. oh, and my friend who i carpool with's neighbor told her to tell me he thought i was cute. this is a highlight because it's better than being told you're not cute.
lowlight:
traffic. LA traffic really does suck. it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get from my apartment to little tokyo. the trip is only 15 miles. i made the poor decision to forego the freeway, thinking there would be stopped traffic. then i made a series of poor choices that ended up taking more time. lesson: just take the freeway, it'll still be faster than attempting a "short cut" through local roads.
and the seahawks are in the superbowl! i'm not into football, but i'm just glad a sports team from one of my "home" cities is getting a championship shot! yay!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)