The Euro Shoe (life)

I've been a little preoccupied by shoes lately. Today, on the train home, I alternated my time between pretending to be the worlds best drummer (but only with my feet) and noticing the shoes of others around me.

I am not so good at keeping a steady rock beat, by the way. Maybe I was distracted by what I saw around me.

One woman had some crazy white outfit on, complete with a big cord-like headband and white shoes. She was like some 80s style Amazon woman...with white shoes.

The highlight of my unusually long train ride was the Euro man. His shoes are what would happen if a court jester bootie had a baby with a cowboy boot. They were leather and had a curly front. They probably got about an inch of air at their tips. Those tips, by the way, were unexpectedly square.

I love the style of my outer borough.

Go Finland (life)

Somehow I knew about Lordi. I'm a little confused how Lordi came into my world. But, I feel like it's better because they are here.

My fear of open toe shoes (teaching)

I spend most of each school day moving. I stand at my dry erase board,
I use my talking hands to explain mathematical concepts, I crouch down
to conference with good readers and writers, I get down to eye level
to explain why it's not okay to punch a friend in the back when he in
in your way, and I gently step around children and their appendages to
make my way to a phone that always seems to be ringing when I am as
far away from it as I possibly could be. I also spend time trying not
to get my foot stepped on or be on the bottom of some falling chair
scenario which happens a little more often than one might expect.

Due to all of this, my shoes must have comfort and a protective
quality. In fact, I see the comfortable shoe is a critical aspect of
teaching. I favor Converse and Puma. Last year, I would mix it up with
dress shoes. But, this year, I see that as an unnecessary action of a
first year teacher. My teaching shoe self is now so ingrained in my
being that I am having a difficult time getting over my fear of the
open toe. I need to get a pair of Tevas for India. Each time I look at
the shoes, a variety of painful possibilities flash past my eyes.
Teaching can change a person.

Subway Samurai (life)

Yesterday, a friend and I had a little city adventure. We began by going to the Guggenheim, which is without a major exhibit at the moment. We wandered around the Kandinsky Gallery and then through a personal collection. Showing me just how much I've become fascinated by design, I was much more drawn by the sight of a completely uniform Guggenheim spiral, created by it's lack of an exhibit, than the art in the annexes.

After a little bit of time there, we made our way down Central Park and ended up at the Met. The Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit was closed which made me sad. But, we got some good time with the artifacts of Ancient Egypt and compelling paintings. We went to the Anglo Mania exhibit; where punk was juxtaposed with the furniture of Jane Austin. A crazy bird lady will most likely be a featured player in my next nightmare.

When we realized we were starving, we took to the subway in search of Mexican food. On the platform, waiting for a train, was a man in some type of samurai outfit. He looked like he had just taken part in some ancient stick fighting and had wooden version of the armor we had just seen in the museum. Because I was in a lack-of-food-induced haze, I couldn't focus on the conversation my friend and I were having. In stead, I sat there wondering if he would let me knock on his chest, just to see what it was like.

Net Neutrality

Thank to the ever political VTGirl for telling me what I need to know. It seems that the most amazing part of the internet is under attack. In a world of highly controlled media, the internet is an amazing forum of freedom. It seems that business is attacking that freedom. In an effort to create more revenue, ISP have the ability to block access to sites in an effort to push users to whom ever is paying them the most money. The whole world got mad at Google for doing something very similar to this with google.cn. I guess I should not be surprised that my country is creating a very similar scenario motivated by dollars rather than historical revision. This YouTube outlines it well:


I think it is time for me to contact some senators and representatives to tell them to support Net Neutrality.

never mind (life)

My mother said that I always wonder if I am learning anything after I
finish a semester. I'm much too old for my mother to have to be
pointing out basic patterns like this one.

six-eighths of the way done (teaching)

I finished the last class of my semester at nine o'clock tonight. I am 6/8 of the way done. I sat through a class where the teacher wrote notes on the board and then made us watch a documentary on the changing face of education. Then, I moved to another class where I realized my whole thought process is lacking when it comes to students with severe disabilities. I discussed my upcoming thesis with my fellow students (all of whom felt that it was nothing that will be academically rigorous) and made my way off campus.

The whole way home, I wondered if I have been taking the easy way out. I complain about school. But, that's more due to the physical pain rather than the intellectual challenges. I learn about a lot of things I know already. And, I hardly ever do my reading. What if I am denying myself an education?

I know that I sometimes devalue my own intellectual capacity. Because something comes easy to me, I say it was easy rather than the ease being due to my ability. I underestimate the amount of time I put into things. Even as I say this, I am nagged by the feeling that I could do more. I don't know if I have ever had to truly support an argument. I don't even feel as if I have had to form an argument. I can just spout stuff and I get a degree.

The idea of placing myself in a situation where the pursuit was intellectual, where I was forced to create and defend opinions, where I had to further thinking is so attractive to me. I wonder if I will be able to create this for myself.

underlines (life)

I have a professor who reminds me of a first year sociology student
from my old days. Because I am a bit of an educational manipulator
(and I know that she responds well to incendiary language), I cranked
up my activist self to write the last paper for her class.

When I got the paper back, the following words were underlined:
forcible, systematic genocide, perpetuated inequity, and brutalizing.
I believe in what I wrote. But, my paper reminds me of that movie
Heathers. Remember when Christian Slater underlined the word Eskimo in
the book that he planted on a Heather. My professor is using the
Heathers method of grading papers.

spring in the park (life)

What country do you live in? (teaching)

When I asked my students this question last week, I received varied answers: Morocco, New York City, Delaware, Queens...all somewhat dishearteningly so close to the end of the year. They all could tell me which planet they live on (well, the loud ones got it right) and they threw out some related information (the borough, the country of origin, their towns, their blocks). But, the concept of which country they currently call home has proved to be somewhat difficult information to submit to the question-answer system.

The globe, maps in our text book, and repeated verbal cues had failed for so long. It was time for me to pull out the teaching aids. Today, during 8th period, I pulled out the LCD projector, plugged in a laptop, and had a little 3D interface with our world. After a few moments of technical difficulty, we used Google Earth to fly from the world, to our country, to our state, to our city, to our borough, right down to our very own P.S. They loved it. We found the corner the crossing guard stands on. We tilted the view so we could see up the block. We zoomed in and out. We found bridges, countries (I had to gloss over the request to see the country Santa is from) and oceans. They were impressed.

I don't know if they can tell anyone what they saw or can tell me which country they live in. ...but, it was fun. I love the things that can happen when we intergrate technology into the classroom. And, I feel like I actually imparted knowledge.

funny ha-ha (life)

Only David Sedaris could move from a notebook to gifts to a human skeleton to vacuum cleaners in one essay. I didn't know he lived in France.

progress (teaching)

Yesterday, I forgot to tell you something. During a passing
conversation with the Occupational Therapist in my school, I found out
things might not be as bad as I think they are. She said that the
students in my class are making progress. She said that she doesn't
really see that in the other classes. She thinks it is because the
students get so much one-on-one attention.

That made me so happy. I get caught up in the frustration of where
things are, as opposed to where they could be; my coteacher and I
cannot seem to figure out how to coteach, the paraprofessional in the
classroom is a little unexpected, the students have such a hard time
with following basic directions, I cannot figure out how to do so many
things that are deemed essential...it's nice to hear someone viewing
my classroom as a place where children thrive.

in between class (teaching)

I'm currently sitting in the corporate giant sponsored coffee shop on
my campus. My last class let out an hour early so my professor could
make her way to her son's trumpet concert. I really am not sure if I
could love the trumpet more right now...well, maybe if Dizzy Gillespie
puffed up his cheeks right here next to me. But, that's about it.

I can't remember the last time I had an unexpected hour of free time.
I could do something completely productive--work on a paper, read a
journal on my field of choice, spend time with people in my program.
But, I'd rather plug myself into my headphones and do nothing for the
next 45 minutes.

Times a-wasting. I have to go.

trash talking (life)

This evening, I realized that I have done something foolish: I talked big game; I got caught up in a moment...I wrote a a check my arse could not cash. After spending the afternoon running around the park for an hour and a half after a frisbee, chasing down my very fast roommate, and having a few run-ins with almost major injury (bent back finger, jumping into a wall of men much larger than myself who were also midair, and some serious elbow throwing by afore mentioned roommate), I feel like my body is about to give out. I feel my ribs. Each step brings a little bit of pain.

Basically, I'm a danger to myself and others when I play organized sports. But, it really is so much fun. Maybe I'll be a little more ready for this level of cut-throat ultimate next time.

where do you sleep? (teaching)

I have recently been so caught up in some of the more difficult
aspects of teaching (struggling readers who continue to struggle
despite all my efforts, coteacher drama, and a child with behaviors
more closely resembling a very angry adult than the six-year-old he
is) that I have forgotten to share some of the funny things that
happen when you are around little guys.

This week, while on the rug (which is where I am supposed to teach), a
boy raised his hand and said "I know you don't sleep at school. I saw
the other teacher leave school and go into her friend's car. If she
doesn't sleep at school, you can't either." What made this comment
better was the fact that it was completely unsolicited. We were not
talking about the places people sleep. We were talking about math.
But, he was thinking about where teachers sleep. And, he finally had
the definitive proof that we do not sleep in the schools.

May 1-4 (teaching/life/travel)

It's been a few days since I've blogged. I am trying to come up with a good excuse. As usual, there is no good excuse. In effort to give you the highlight reel of the past few days, I'm going to have to go bullet point.

• I've taken to knitting baby hats in a big way. I'm a half-an-hour away from finishing hat #3. I feel accomplished.
  
• Graduate school is very close to done for the semester. I have two papers and a take home exam to finish by May 16 and then I plan on not going to campus for 3 months. It will be heaven. I have 2 semesters left and then [pause] I'm supposed to be [dramatic pause] a master. Ha.
  
• Lately, I've been pulled from my class so many times that my students are acting like I'm a long lost relative each time I return. While entertaining it has also caused some not so great things--lack of routine (which is a teachers way of saying "the worst thing possible"), lack of communication with my coteacher, and moments of high-level frustration because I have no idea of what is going on.
  
• There were several bulletin board incidents this week and I was ready to stroke out. I remember thinking other teachers were so crazy for talking about bulletin boards as if they were a life and death situation. I'm not exactly sure when I crossed over to the other side. But, I am now highly offended by the bulletin board wars.
  
• Funny thing #1--walking past Babbette's House of Beauty (or something like that), I saw a strange sight. There was a man with the sides of his head shaved. There was tinfoil. And, there were big bubble hairdryers all over. I love seeing hipster mohawk-men getting their tips highlighted. Funny, funny stuff.
• I'm getting ready for my trip to India. I've been trying to read my new lonely planet South India, I'm reading news from SE Asia on the BBC everyday, and well that's about it. I feel like I should be doing more--getting visas, shots, learning basic Hindi, etc. Maybe I need to make a list.