Thanksgiving weekend at home in Nebraska.
Nov 30, 2013
Nov 23, 2013
$5.00 and Peanut M&M's
November tidbits from high-school student-teaching:
Going to my high-schoolers' volleyball game:
I march up to to the gym door to get my ticket and am told it costs $5.00. What? It costs money to go to games?? Why yes, this is my first volleyball game ever. No, I have no cash with me whatsoever. Yes, I am a college student. I dig out my cell phone and call Dad: "Daddy, can you pleeaase come bring me some money?" (He did. Thank you, Dad.)
Helping a student with homework -- with Algebra homework:
At first I say, "Oh -- math? Don't ask me." Then, "Wait a minute, I think I can do that." Yep. I could. I couldn't wait to go home and tell Mom.
Naming the students in my class to prove I learned them all:
I like to make the most out of my connections. To one student I say, "Do you remember taking piano lessons together way back like ten years ago?" To another: "I found out your dad's favorite candy is peanut-butter M&M's. Or was it just plain peanut M&M's?" (He shrugs, shifts.) Poor guys. They just became the coolest kids in class.
Going back to visit fifth grade for my birthday:
I tell the kids, "I really like high school, but there's something about fifth grade..." Student: "Fifth grade is GOODER!" (Mrs. D groans...)
Going to my high-schoolers' volleyball game:
I march up to to the gym door to get my ticket and am told it costs $5.00. What? It costs money to go to games?? Why yes, this is my first volleyball game ever. No, I have no cash with me whatsoever. Yes, I am a college student. I dig out my cell phone and call Dad: "Daddy, can you pleeaase come bring me some money?" (He did. Thank you, Dad.)
Helping a student with homework -- with Algebra homework:
At first I say, "Oh -- math? Don't ask me." Then, "Wait a minute, I think I can do that." Yep. I could. I couldn't wait to go home and tell Mom.
Naming the students in my class to prove I learned them all:
I like to make the most out of my connections. To one student I say, "Do you remember taking piano lessons together way back like ten years ago?" To another: "I found out your dad's favorite candy is peanut-butter M&M's. Or was it just plain peanut M&M's?" (He shrugs, shifts.) Poor guys. They just became the coolest kids in class.
Going back to visit fifth grade for my birthday:
I tell the kids, "I really like high school, but there's something about fifth grade..." Student: "Fifth grade is GOODER!" (Mrs. D groans...)
Nov 18, 2013
Nov 15, 2013
Question 1: A, B, or C?
This week I have been grading dozens of senior paragraph-essays on The Iliad. I was up till an unnamed hour trying to get them done (on a week night - unforgivable). My dreams were a mumbled blur of AchillesdraggedHector'sdeadbodyfor9daysbutHectorshouldn'thavefoughtforParisinthefirstplacebecausePariswasawimp!andhedidn'tneedHelenanyway.IwouldratherhavemykidsturnoutlikeHectorbutAchillesisstillprettysweet.
When I finished the last one, I blearily cracked open my Bible for 30 seconds before turning out the lamp. Ecclesiastes 12:12-13: "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard."
Multiple-choice tests begin to radiate new beauty as I become acutely aware of the correlation between them and sleep.
[To clarify: I was proud of my seniors. I liked reading what they wrote.]
Oh, and I'm still eating my Brussels-sprouts lunches. Even though I now eat in the teachers' lounge they still generate questions: "What are those things, anyway?"
Also, I need to eat bigger breakfasts. More than once this week I have been making my rounds among the desks when my stomach has growled. It's all the worse because it happens in dead silence when they're taking a quiz or something. (Imagine it: You're listing adjectives when your teacher's stomach growls right in your ear. Just thinking about it is awkward.)
Anyway:
The end of the matter; all has been heard: It's Friday.
When I finished the last one, I blearily cracked open my Bible for 30 seconds before turning out the lamp. Ecclesiastes 12:12-13: "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard."
Multiple-choice tests begin to radiate new beauty as I become acutely aware of the correlation between them and sleep.
[To clarify: I was proud of my seniors. I liked reading what they wrote.]
Oh, and I'm still eating my Brussels-sprouts lunches. Even though I now eat in the teachers' lounge they still generate questions: "What are those things, anyway?"
Also, I need to eat bigger breakfasts. More than once this week I have been making my rounds among the desks when my stomach has growled. It's all the worse because it happens in dead silence when they're taking a quiz or something. (Imagine it: You're listing adjectives when your teacher's stomach growls right in your ear. Just thinking about it is awkward.)
Anyway:
The end of the matter; all has been heard: It's Friday.
Nov 9, 2013
Nov 4, 2013
And do NOT say STUFF.
The other day Miss G. was handing back essays. "Sophomores, please define the word stuff."
Silence. A cricket chirped somewhere.
"Then please eliminate it from your vocabulary. 'Johnny went to learn about life 'n' stuff.' NO."
Also, one time she was lecturing on a short story. One of the characters in the story was being moody. Miss G. stopped and remarked: "I get along better with males than females. Uuuuhh -- Females! You have a mercurial gene in your bodies I think. Guys don't get so worked up about things." (This does seem fair in high school.)
So far in high school I have been mostly watching. I have been trying to learn all the 90-plus names of my students in my six different class periods. I sit in my back-row desk with my seating chart and stare at the backs of their heads and practice. Sometimes they glance back and we make eye contact accidentally. I wonder if they think I'm creepy. Then when I see them face-to-face in the hall I don't recognize them because I know the backs of their heads better than the fronts.
Silence. A cricket chirped somewhere.
"Then please eliminate it from your vocabulary. 'Johnny went to learn about life 'n' stuff.' NO."
Also, one time she was lecturing on a short story. One of the characters in the story was being moody. Miss G. stopped and remarked: "I get along better with males than females. Uuuuhh -- Females! You have a mercurial gene in your bodies I think. Guys don't get so worked up about things." (This does seem fair in high school.)
So far in high school I have been mostly watching. I have been trying to learn all the 90-plus names of my students in my six different class periods. I sit in my back-row desk with my seating chart and stare at the backs of their heads and practice. Sometimes they glance back and we make eye contact accidentally. I wonder if they think I'm creepy. Then when I see them face-to-face in the hall I don't recognize them because I know the backs of their heads better than the fronts.
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