Paper work (teaching)

Today, I did some multiplication. As a part of my job, I have to keep little notes on each of my students each week. I also have to have the students produce one "published" piece of writing each month (this involves a drafting, writing, revising, editing, and publishing process). There is also some things like tests, planning for the lessons, random forms to fill out on a daily basis etc. etc. But, we will not think about that stuff.

I have 12 students. For each of them, there are 3 conferencing notes per week and one writing sample per month. So, 3 times 4 times the 12 students is 144. Add in the writing samples and you have 156 things per month. 156. I only have 12 students. A teacher who has 32 students has 416 things. This is the reason I can never actually be done with my work. I have to keep up with 144 individual things to hand in per month.

I don't know if this is less or more than anyone else in the world. We all work hard. We all have lots to do. I've just never done the multiplication before.

Birthday (life)

Bunny turned 80. I'm turning 30. I thought that I was okay with the fact that my celebration of 30 happened this summer (I went to India). Then I read about Bunny's birthday and I wonder if I should be doing something more...

Brief Blog (life)

I came accross this Anais Nin quote today and it gave me pause. I
thought I'd share it with you.

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more
painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Election Day (life)

Today, I went to my local p.s. and voted. All went smoothly--no lines, I signed next to my name, the people were nice, and I knew who I wanted to vote for (except for the judges--I didn't know anything about the judges). The only thing I was a little upset about was the fact that I did not get a sticker. I enjoy the sticker. And, I had planned on showing it to my students [they are preoccupied with the things I do and I want use my slight influence sphere to encourage democracy.]

As I was waiting in the gym, I thought about the last time I voted. That experience was also devoid of the whole voting fiasco thing. But, a dog came into the gym, stole a bagel from the people working the polling station, and ran around wild for quite some time. It was a big dog. I'm a chicken. After he stole the bagel, I felt safe. But, before then, I was so sure I was going to end up on the cover of a newspaper as the girl mauled while voting.

Quarter Century Mark

Today, my friend turns 25. She and I have been lock-step in this crazy teaching program since the first summer. Besides the value of having someone reach the same exact frustration levels at the same time, reminding me that it will be all over soon, and having paper when I forget mine, our relationship is so special--we are now almost related and the knowledge she has about me is practically incriminating.

To celebrate her birthday, I'm going to make a list of funny things I have seen and/or things that made me smile today.

*A man with perfectly feathered hair. It was totally 80s.

*The poster for a Greek singer's CD release (all in Greek, of course)--he had a tiny little moustache. At first I thought it was ridiculous. Then, I realized he was following in the Yanni tradition of singer = facial hair.

*The old man we ate dinner next to tonight had a book with him to read. It was Frosty the Snowman related.

*I talked about the Brooklyn garbage book and remembered how much you love that book.

*I looked at a necklace and thought it would be nicer if it was in pink.

I'm glad that we can take walks, eat at Sam's Diner, reflect on what we've learned in the year and make goals for the next year. It's so good.

Happy Birthday!

A day of work (teaching)

Today, I did not step into my classroom at any point during the day. I had day one of a 7-day training course that is going to be stretched over the next few months. My official workday ends at 3:20. Today, I found myself standing on a subway platform at exactly that time. As I stood waiting for my friend, I was thinking about the fact that I was not tired, covered in marker, and rushing. It was nice. Then, someone called my name...one of my students came into the subway and was calling me. She ran over and gave me a hug. We talked about how much we missed one another. I told her I'd be back tomorrow and said goodbye. Even with it’s never ending struggles and overwhelming nature, moments like this show me that I much prefer teaching to any other job.

Fall has arrived

Some might think that the yellow leaves, scarves, and Halloween
decorations are what makes me realize that fall has arrived. But, that
is not the case. The presence of dogs in coats around my neighborhood
is what makes me really know that fall is here.

Stick Control (life)

As someone who grew up with a dad who played a drum set much bigger than this one, I was amused. I am concerned that the paper/balsa wood model would loose some of the fun. But this is still funny to me.

Teacher Math (teaching)

[Warning: The following material may not be suitable for all audience due to it's cranky content.]

[Oh yeah, and it's also very teacher-y. Those of you who don't really like the kids should just skip this one.]

I have 12 students. There are 8 periods in each day. Two periods are for special classes (taught by another teacher) or lunch each day. Except for Tuesday; Tuesday has two special classes and lunch. I am in my classroom, with children, for 29 periods a week. In those 29 periods, I have 27 pull-outs (a time when someone comes into my classroom and takes a student out for a special service). Some of those do happen at the same time (i.e. Physical Therapy and ESL teachers take different students at the same time). But, sometimes they are taking 4 students out at once.

All of these numbers made me want to cry as I looked at my planbook. I feel like I am not given time to teach the students. If my class were the US Congress, we'd never reach a quorum. Even if I had my students in there seat, the time that we'd actually be learning would be grossly overshadowed by test prep I'm required to teach so my class can pass the 3rd and 4th grade tests.

Class trips (teaching)

I spent lots of time trying to think of all of the ways I can get my class excited for our upcoming visit to the NY Botanical Gardens to see Chihuly's sculpture installation. Tomorrow, we'll be looking at maps to use the information to learn about where we are going. We will also be looking at some pictures and maybe a little video.

I think he is the most amazing sculptor. He makes big things out of blown glass. He envisions these things, then a team of helpers blow, streatch, swing, and cut the hot hot glass into what he imagined. The sculptures look organic. They make the space they are placed in completely different. I love it. I want my student's to love it.

So my Smart Board will be bringing them the video and pictures. The gardens will allow us to experience it first hand. Then, if I can find the right squeeze bottles for paint and sheets of plastic to cover a huge section of floor, we'll be making our own art inspired by Chihuly when we come back.

Passing on the Happy (um...so good, I guess)

So, today I was given two little links. I opened the links expecting goodness because of the sender...but, I had no idea of the scope.

What we have are links to happiness--happiness in a visual form.

Movie Magic (life)

After several days of alternating naptime with exhaustion, I finally broke through my sickness-imposed agoraphobia and made my way to a movie with my roommate/fellow Teaching Fellow. We went to see the new Robin Williams movie. I have loved Robin Williams since he was Mork. I had the suspenders...with the pointing finger. Tonight, I loved him when he was being himself. All of the other stuff I was a little /eh/ about everything.

But, that's not what I'm here to write about. My friend and I came up with a big plan for the upcoming movie season. We want to have see all of the movies nominated for a best picture award at the Oscars. Which means we will have to anticipate which move will be nominated. Which means we'll see lots of movies so we have a little wiggle room. Which also means we will be doing something other than going to school and/or teaching school. Woo hoo!

Just bring your iPod (life)

It appears that several hundred people took to the commuter rail station to dance the night away. A flash mob turned communting time into Dance Party UK (I was going to say USA but that would be incorrect). Think about what this must have looked like. One man described it by saying "Soul Train arriving platform one." Funny.

Thank you alarm clock (life)

This morning, I woke up sometime in the 4 o'clock hour, happy to know that it was Saturday and I could sleep and sleep and sleep. Of course, it is not Saturday. It is actually only day two of my school week. I didn't realize this until my nice alarm blared it's buzzy/radio noise combo only my alarm clock can make [it used to just be radio and then i shocked it to a buzzer when I walked accross my room in Arizona and picked up a lot of static]. Thank goodness I remembered to set it last night.

A day off (teaching)

Today is the third day of my weekend. Time off like this is a completely lovely part of teaching. At 6:19, I woke up from a dream about teaching one of my students how to generalize her understanding blends (when two letters work together and they keep their individual sounds such as "bl") and digraphs (when two letters work together and they make a new sound such as "ou"). Writing and reading are still mysteries for many of my students. Nothing comes automatically for them—it is all a struggle. The ability to generalize a rule is something the need to learn.

The way I just described off of the thoughts I had is a little misleading. I was not thinking about all of this in an abstract way. It was as if I was there, sitting next to her, making all of these crazy sounds. Teaching seems to work its way into my subconscious and it likes to come out while I sleep. The upside is now I know exactly what I want to teach her tomorrow. I just kind of wish these thoughts would come a little later in the morning of my day off.

Saturday morning (life)

Today, I had big plans for productivity. I was going to go to the gym, go to the library, do some type of major household maintenance, and, oh, rid myself of any less than ideal personality traits. All before noon. Sometimes I make lists like that--over ambitious and unrealistic.

Now, it's 6 minutes from noon. Since I woke up, I've reintroduced oatmeal to my life, made some very good coffee, talked to sisters, and that's about it. While mentally ambitious, my body is not willing. Why get up and run around crazy like when you can sit down and enjoy the day.

To make myself feel better (teaching)

When I have a tough day, sometimes I need to think about the funny stuff that happened in an effort to counteract the hard:
*While struggling to open a window, asked if I needed some muscle (he was referring to himself). I told him I was fine.
*When one of my students asked if my former co-teacher was my sister. My former co-teacher is a 50-something year old African-American woman. I'm a 20-something white girl. When he asked her, she said yes.
*When a student had a serious conversation with me about why she was not going to hit someone. She said it was because God knows. I had tried to convince her it was a bad idea for quite some time. Then, she made sense of it in her own mind.
*When another student fell as we were coming out of the door, all of my other students told stories about when they fell and/or walked into something. The one who fell moved from tears to laughing in just a few moments. Even the student who is having such a hard time today stories to make her feel better.

Oh good. I feel better now. Better.

wa'sup (teaching)

Today, I saw one of my old students. I was his teacher in kindergarten
and first grade. He is now a big second grader and has a new teacher.
For the two years he was in my class, I saw his language abilities
progress from almost all pantomime to using a sentence or two when he
had something to say.

As I was walking to my car, I ran into him on his block. I went over
because I thought he was not looking before he crossed the road. [He
assured me he wasn't, FYI]. As he and I talked about his new class, he
greeted several of his friends with a perfect boy wa'sup. He even
added a head nod. It was perfect. No hesitation. No thinking about it.
Just fluent speaking.

It was great. But, I didn't teach him that. It must be the new teachers.

Google fight (time waster)

This is about to be added to my list of time wasters. It's google fight. I fought blog vs. book. Blog won by more than 600,000,000.

P.S. This little bit of magic came into my life because I followed not one but two degrees of (link) separation. I'm turning over a new leaf.

95 North (life)

Yesterday, I ended my long weekend of wedding. My DC friends , who had been so committed to maintaining their status as freedom friends, practically ran down the aisle and exchanged their vows in whispers. It was a very happy day.

The weekend was fun. We played HORSE--I made a very nice bounce-in shot that ended the game and let us eat the pesto pasta I'd been waiting for all night. We gave a whole lot of love to the dog (specifically those who do not have direct access to pets). We tied napkins, stickered up jams, set up some flowers. And, dance-kicked our way to happiness for more than a few hours at the wedding. Good. So good.

On the drive back, I ran into some trouble. Turns out, while moving my car for the game of HORSE, I ran over a curb and knocked my muffler pipe off of the manifold (which is very bad). I didn't realize I had caused this problem until the horrid noise of pipe scraping on street at 70 miles an hour at the Delaware/New Jersey border began. The nice man at the service stationed jimmied it up with a coat hanger. Then the Honda sounded like a muscle car for the remaining 150 miles.

After I dropped my friend off at Penn Station, I was less than 10 miles from home. After 6 hours in the car, I was ready to be done. But then, Polska pride got in my way. The Polish Day Parade was making its way down 5th Avenue. With a little shout of, "Perogi Power" once I made my way past the street, I pulled up to my apartment 7 hours after I left NOVA.

My computer was turned on again. My world is very close to returning to the world I have become quite attached. It's always good to be home.