Sunday, May 23, 2004
I may want to be a teacher again.
America Reads is so much fun. I love my kids. I pull six of them out, two at a time, to work with them separately on math or reading (ie counting to twelve and recognizing letters). They’re the kids who are the most at risk for falling significantly behind, but of course getting to go play games in the other room with me ends up being a badge of honor. Friday, my little Cam, who tells me every time I go that I’m “beauuuuutiful” and that he loves me, started crying because he never gets to go play with me. Poor! So my last week I’m going to spend more time with the whole class again, which will be more fun for me too. They’re so easily affectionate. Hugs, kisses, hand holding, blowing kisses, and sitting in laps just comes so naturally to them before they start worrying what other people will think, and deciding if things are socially appropriate. So much love for other people, each other, and themselves. I think being so naturally loving is something we should all think about working for—identifying when you’re not acting the way you want to because of silly societal hang-ups might be really interesting.
And I saw “To Be or To Have” with Brian and Jameson. A lovely movie set in a one-room schoolhouse in the South of France, it documents a year in a teacher’s life living in his school and teaching a classroom that ranged from kindergarten to middle school. I can’t even imagine the difficulty!!!
I just can’t figure out what to do with myself.
Now it’s raining and so cold…
Went to formal yesterday. It was awesome; the ladies all took boys from freshman year Smith, so we all knew each other and had a blast. It was so nice to have everyone know each other; conversation flowed easily, dancing was fun, and it was all very low-key. Missa and Brian, Bright and Brian, Lis and 07 Mike, and Mike and I had a lovely evening.
Although, with all my friends getting it on together, I feel like I’m on General Hospital or one of those!
Hahahahahahaha. Drama, drama.
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America Reads is so much fun. I love my kids. I pull six of them out, two at a time, to work with them separately on math or reading (ie counting to twelve and recognizing letters). They’re the kids who are the most at risk for falling significantly behind, but of course getting to go play games in the other room with me ends up being a badge of honor. Friday, my little Cam, who tells me every time I go that I’m “beauuuuutiful” and that he loves me, started crying because he never gets to go play with me. Poor! So my last week I’m going to spend more time with the whole class again, which will be more fun for me too. They’re so easily affectionate. Hugs, kisses, hand holding, blowing kisses, and sitting in laps just comes so naturally to them before they start worrying what other people will think, and deciding if things are socially appropriate. So much love for other people, each other, and themselves. I think being so naturally loving is something we should all think about working for—identifying when you’re not acting the way you want to because of silly societal hang-ups might be really interesting.
And I saw “To Be or To Have” with Brian and Jameson. A lovely movie set in a one-room schoolhouse in the South of France, it documents a year in a teacher’s life living in his school and teaching a classroom that ranged from kindergarten to middle school. I can’t even imagine the difficulty!!!
I just can’t figure out what to do with myself.
Now it’s raining and so cold…
Went to formal yesterday. It was awesome; the ladies all took boys from freshman year Smith, so we all knew each other and had a blast. It was so nice to have everyone know each other; conversation flowed easily, dancing was fun, and it was all very low-key. Missa and Brian, Bright and Brian, Lis and 07 Mike, and Mike and I had a lovely evening.
Although, with all my friends getting it on together, I feel like I’m on General Hospital or one of those!
Hahahahahahaha. Drama, drama.
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Quotes that have made my week:
"Brian, I'm stimulated!" Jags, after I kissed her stomach. She thought I wouldn't be able to turn her on. Goosebumps, excitement, and the whole shebang. Woot.
"Bright, help me find my groove!" Me, sucking in the darkroom. Thank goodness my lovely lady was there!
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"Brian, I'm stimulated!" Jags, after I kissed her stomach. She thought I wouldn't be able to turn her on. Goosebumps, excitement, and the whole shebang. Woot.
"Bright, help me find my groove!" Me, sucking in the darkroom. Thank goodness my lovely lady was there!
Just darkroomed with Bright for some time. Up there on the list of most frustrating activities I've done in a while. Luckily, the end results look like they may be worth something, so I'll have to go back and print and play with them soon. Esp since my last class is Tuesday...
Today she and I went for a drive. Our mission was to stay next to the river, which was a more difficult mission than you'd guess! But it was an hour and a half of almost being frantic with how beautiful the world looked. It was so bright and sunny, the river was sparkling, everything is so GREEN. We decided that we're buying a house on the river with a wrap-around porch, a cow, a donkey, cat and dog, and living here in the spring. Fall in Italy, Winter in California/Islands somewhere, Summer at home...that would be pretty nice. So we got all these great pics of each other, of daffodils, cows, calves, barns, yards, mountains, river, trees, and bridges. I can't wait to print them and see how they come out. This is an expensive hobby! But driving around with the mindset that you're *only* looking for beauty, singing some country tunes, talking aimlessly about life, was so wonderful I may make it a biweekly habit.
Looks like Jags is winning the I suck at life contest this week. Damn. I thought I had it wrapped up by sucking and making someone I really like and have started to care about a lot sad, but our judges decided (and I reluctantly agree) that she wins.
For a self esteem boost, at any time, go play with little kids. I was wearing a skirt today, so all I heard was, "Christine you look beautiful" and "I think she looks beautiful AND pretty" and "you only said you liked her skirt but I like her skirt AND her shirt AND her necklace," etc. I think I know about 75% of their names now. I'm in love. It almost makes me want to be an elementary school teacher. I thought I knew that it wouldn't be intellectually stimulating enough. But the teacher is facing a new curveball they're throwing at her every second, and she deals with it so well, and the kids adore her so much, that I'm really thinking about it again. Those few great teachers are so important. So impossibly important, almost. Think about the GREAT teachers you had. I think I had two really great teachers, and lots of good ones. But the great ones shaped my personality so much, that it seems like nothing (other than parenting) could really be nearly as important.
Uncle Bill flew into town today and can only see me at 7:15 in the morning. This is serious familial love going on here...so I'm going to go to bed.
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Today she and I went for a drive. Our mission was to stay next to the river, which was a more difficult mission than you'd guess! But it was an hour and a half of almost being frantic with how beautiful the world looked. It was so bright and sunny, the river was sparkling, everything is so GREEN. We decided that we're buying a house on the river with a wrap-around porch, a cow, a donkey, cat and dog, and living here in the spring. Fall in Italy, Winter in California/Islands somewhere, Summer at home...that would be pretty nice. So we got all these great pics of each other, of daffodils, cows, calves, barns, yards, mountains, river, trees, and bridges. I can't wait to print them and see how they come out. This is an expensive hobby! But driving around with the mindset that you're *only* looking for beauty, singing some country tunes, talking aimlessly about life, was so wonderful I may make it a biweekly habit.
Looks like Jags is winning the I suck at life contest this week. Damn. I thought I had it wrapped up by sucking and making someone I really like and have started to care about a lot sad, but our judges decided (and I reluctantly agree) that she wins.
For a self esteem boost, at any time, go play with little kids. I was wearing a skirt today, so all I heard was, "Christine you look beautiful" and "I think she looks beautiful AND pretty" and "you only said you liked her skirt but I like her skirt AND her shirt AND her necklace," etc. I think I know about 75% of their names now. I'm in love. It almost makes me want to be an elementary school teacher. I thought I knew that it wouldn't be intellectually stimulating enough. But the teacher is facing a new curveball they're throwing at her every second, and she deals with it so well, and the kids adore her so much, that I'm really thinking about it again. Those few great teachers are so important. So impossibly important, almost. Think about the GREAT teachers you had. I think I had two really great teachers, and lots of good ones. But the great ones shaped my personality so much, that it seems like nothing (other than parenting) could really be nearly as important.
Uncle Bill flew into town today and can only see me at 7:15 in the morning. This is serious familial love going on here...so I'm going to go to bed.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
“The sea is calm tonight…” Matthew Arnold
Jameson is so cool! I love smart thoughtful people.
Today I went and played with my kindergarten again. My name is now up on their class list, so I’m really part of the group! I’m learning lots of names, and I love spending time with them. We made caterpillars as part of a counting lesson today. It’s AMAZING how quickly they tire me out! Just an hour with them and I’m bushed!
It’s also such a lesson in good teaching. Their teacher is one of those rare individuals who’s aware of everything going on in the room. A look, a hand movement, a touch, and they fall into line immediately. Do you know how hard it is to keep control of two kindergarteners at the same time? Much less a CLASS FULL of them?? They have no idea how lucky they are to have such a good teacher. I am learning so much just from watching her a few hours a week.
In other news, Mich is the coolest person I know this week. WOOT!
And Hippo Birdie to Alissa (21! SMAT!), Uncle Jimmy, and Uncle Bill.
And Brian, Jags, and I are competing for the “I suck at life award.” It’s going to be a weekly thing. I hope to get prizes.
Actually, I spent every minute I wasn’t in class or at meetings or eating (k, not that much time) in bed today. I am so damn angry about the Abu Ghraib pictures. What did we think would happen? Honestly. Let’s send a group of medium trained kids over there, give them little or no instruction and training about how to deal with guarding people, and tell them that there is an Axis of Evil, they are the good guys, and everyone else is bad and out to get them. Then let’s give them weapons, a facility that used to be a torture prison, not nearly enough regulation or supervision, and a slap on the wrist if they do something awful. Oh yeah, let’s also call the people they’re guarding detainees instead of POWs, so we can do whatever we want and not technically be under Geneva (although we don’t follow that anyway, obviously), even if that just means we have no proof that they’ve done something wrong. We’d better chuck a camera into the mix too, for good measure.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/plaidder/04/21.html
And then we act all surprised when we see the dirty truth. Doesn’t anyone remember Milgram? Remember in psych, seeing videos of people shocking the shit out of another human being? The prison guard experiment? (Both talked about in above article.) I tend to believe most people are good—if you can meet them on an equal footing and look them in the eye. But WHY did no one stand up and say this is WRONG, knock it the fuck off. Don’t say people didn’t know. Even the bigwigs who might not have known details (cough Bush cough Rumsfeld) HAD to know that they had created an environment in which this could occur, and didn’t do enough to stop it. And there should have been some people with a spine, anyone who was there would do, to say STOP. What did we learn in elementary school? When someone STANDS UP to the bully, he’ll knock it off. But someone’s gotta do the brave thing, the hard thing, the outside thing, even if it usually means ending up supported by everyone else.
So I spent the day fuming. I’m not done yet, either. I wish we could count on people to do the right thing…but we can so rarely…
On that note, I’m going to finish my work and sleep. Feel free to blitz if you too are horrified and want to bitch.
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Jameson is so cool! I love smart thoughtful people.
Today I went and played with my kindergarten again. My name is now up on their class list, so I’m really part of the group! I’m learning lots of names, and I love spending time with them. We made caterpillars as part of a counting lesson today. It’s AMAZING how quickly they tire me out! Just an hour with them and I’m bushed!
It’s also such a lesson in good teaching. Their teacher is one of those rare individuals who’s aware of everything going on in the room. A look, a hand movement, a touch, and they fall into line immediately. Do you know how hard it is to keep control of two kindergarteners at the same time? Much less a CLASS FULL of them?? They have no idea how lucky they are to have such a good teacher. I am learning so much just from watching her a few hours a week.
In other news, Mich is the coolest person I know this week. WOOT!
And Hippo Birdie to Alissa (21! SMAT!), Uncle Jimmy, and Uncle Bill.
And Brian, Jags, and I are competing for the “I suck at life award.” It’s going to be a weekly thing. I hope to get prizes.
Actually, I spent every minute I wasn’t in class or at meetings or eating (k, not that much time) in bed today. I am so damn angry about the Abu Ghraib pictures. What did we think would happen? Honestly. Let’s send a group of medium trained kids over there, give them little or no instruction and training about how to deal with guarding people, and tell them that there is an Axis of Evil, they are the good guys, and everyone else is bad and out to get them. Then let’s give them weapons, a facility that used to be a torture prison, not nearly enough regulation or supervision, and a slap on the wrist if they do something awful. Oh yeah, let’s also call the people they’re guarding detainees instead of POWs, so we can do whatever we want and not technically be under Geneva (although we don’t follow that anyway, obviously), even if that just means we have no proof that they’ve done something wrong. We’d better chuck a camera into the mix too, for good measure.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/plaidder/04/21.html
And then we act all surprised when we see the dirty truth. Doesn’t anyone remember Milgram? Remember in psych, seeing videos of people shocking the shit out of another human being? The prison guard experiment? (Both talked about in above article.) I tend to believe most people are good—if you can meet them on an equal footing and look them in the eye. But WHY did no one stand up and say this is WRONG, knock it the fuck off. Don’t say people didn’t know. Even the bigwigs who might not have known details (cough Bush cough Rumsfeld) HAD to know that they had created an environment in which this could occur, and didn’t do enough to stop it. And there should have been some people with a spine, anyone who was there would do, to say STOP. What did we learn in elementary school? When someone STANDS UP to the bully, he’ll knock it off. But someone’s gotta do the brave thing, the hard thing, the outside thing, even if it usually means ending up supported by everyone else.
So I spent the day fuming. I’m not done yet, either. I wish we could count on people to do the right thing…but we can so rarely…
On that note, I’m going to finish my work and sleep. Feel free to blitz if you too are horrified and want to bitch.
