Friday, September 19, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Significant Gains
Hello!!!
How are all you beautiful peeps doing? I hope all is well in whatever place you may be right now. SO much stuff has happened in this last month. That first day, when all my kiddos came in that door sweaty and stinky from running around in the playground after breakfast, my life forever changed. Seriously. I know it sounds super corny, but it seriously changed.
I am now a teacher. I teach two 1st grade classes, with about twenty students in each. What's more, not only do I teach them content, but I do it through language immersion, so that by the time they are in 4th and 5th grade, they are well on their way to becoming bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish. The program is really great, but extremely challenging. It builds off of what the students already knows, and implements language use in order to add to their knowledge. Over this past month, I've really started to understand very clearly the difference between Bilingual education and Dual Language immersion. The first kind, thought to be a compensatory program, is actually illegal now in the state of Arizona. The latter, on the other hand, is considered a bit controversial, yet promises many good things to those kids. I'm loving every minute of it. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now.
I live in Phoenix, a city that keeps getting crazier and crazier by the minute. The particular area I live in used to be known for its controversial nightlife in the 70s. Not exactly the nicest part of town, but people say it has cleaned up since then. We were going to live in Tempe, but the commute and prices of the apartments there posed too many inconveniences. Instead, we settled for a cute little apartment that is by a few homeless shelters. It used to be that we'd see lots of homeless people walking around at very odd times of the day. Now, because it's getting cooler, they seem to be retreating. I would thought it would be the other way around, right? But that's Phoenix for you. There are pockets of coolness everywhere. Loads of art galleries, vintage shops, record stores, parks, and restaurants to choose from. You can find the poshest of the posh, the hippest of the hip, and plenty more. And I mean loads of those. Everyone here has tattoos. And, as you all know, next to beards, tattoos drive me crazy. Ohhhh.
ASU classes are frustrating. Working and being a full-time grad students sucks. May this finally be a lesson to me to not bite off more than I can chew. The classes themselves are great and helpful, but I'm in a class with a bunch of other teachers that moan and groan... kinda like I am right now. AND, none of the vending machines in the student lounge work. Bah!
I had vistors! Many, many beautiful visitors! First came my beautiful Kate Gillen. She came out and took care of me and helped set up my classroom. I couldn't have done it without her. I mean literally. My room was a disgusting mess, and she took time out of her vacation to make it look spiffy and cozy for my students. We did some shopping, eating, lounging, and much, much talking. Kate Gillen, marry me.
Next, my dad. Now, if you have already met my dad, you have a pretty good idea of how this visit went down. He came on a Friday and we went and had dinner and did some grocery shopping. The man stole my brother's iPod nano and doesn't go anywhere without it. Even if he's with a client or hanging out with friends/family, he doesn't put the damn thing away. He proceeded to tell me how he found this Russian website where he gets to download songs for only 9cents each. He was oh-so-proud of himself. He also told me that he loved reggaeton, Alicia Keys, and User. And to top it all off, he has no shame in singing it like he 'just don't care' in front of everyone. We were at a teacher store and I was looking at some posters, when all of a sudden I hear this really low voice singing " I don't thing you're ready for this jelly, I don't thing you're ready for this jelly..." Yep, the man likes to get down and dirty. On Saturday we went to a casino and he kicked some bootay at poker. Won me an entire's month worth of rent, even. Finally, Sunday we went and ate out and I took him to the airport. I cried for a really long time after that. The days that Kate and my dad left reminded me how much I missed being around people that already knew me and that I cared for so much.
After that, Sethers from Webster's came and hung out for a couple days. He made Jacquelyn (the amazing roomie) and I some delicious dinner and kept me company.
The gorgeous Elody and Eric came after that. It was glorious seeing them! At that poing I was really having a hard time - not much sleeping or eating going on, and a lot of crying. I'm talking two or three times a day. But Elody and Eric made it all better. We lounged around and watched a lot of Weeds and ate vegan, no-bake cookies. My idea of an amazing time, indeed.
Then, Nick came! And that was probably the one to finish off such a wonderful line of visitors. It was around the time when I started to regain lots of strength and confidence in what I was doing out here. Plus, Nick cleaned and cooked for me.
All in all, it has been a fun ride. The best part is that it's just starting. I have to teach these kids how to read and write, as well as how to be civil with one another. I have to do that using a language they don't know ( I forgot to mention that a lot of my kids are hispanic, but know now Spanish - whole purpose of the DL program. Crazy, but so exciting!) and make sure that I differentiate and scaffold enough so that everyone, or at least mostly everyone stays on board. Sometime I get so scared that I become paralized. I literally will stay where I am and just freak out to the point where I veg out for a bit. And then I get back to it. It's all I can do right now.
I miss all of you a whole bunch. I hope that you are all safe and enjoying whatever it is you're doing. I'll update again sometime next month. Until then, lots of lovin'.
Peace.
How are all you beautiful peeps doing? I hope all is well in whatever place you may be right now. SO much stuff has happened in this last month. That first day, when all my kiddos came in that door sweaty and stinky from running around in the playground after breakfast, my life forever changed. Seriously. I know it sounds super corny, but it seriously changed.
I am now a teacher. I teach two 1st grade classes, with about twenty students in each. What's more, not only do I teach them content, but I do it through language immersion, so that by the time they are in 4th and 5th grade, they are well on their way to becoming bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish. The program is really great, but extremely challenging. It builds off of what the students already knows, and implements language use in order to add to their knowledge. Over this past month, I've really started to understand very clearly the difference between Bilingual education and Dual Language immersion. The first kind, thought to be a compensatory program, is actually illegal now in the state of Arizona. The latter, on the other hand, is considered a bit controversial, yet promises many good things to those kids. I'm loving every minute of it. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now.
I live in Phoenix, a city that keeps getting crazier and crazier by the minute. The particular area I live in used to be known for its controversial nightlife in the 70s. Not exactly the nicest part of town, but people say it has cleaned up since then. We were going to live in Tempe, but the commute and prices of the apartments there posed too many inconveniences. Instead, we settled for a cute little apartment that is by a few homeless shelters. It used to be that we'd see lots of homeless people walking around at very odd times of the day. Now, because it's getting cooler, they seem to be retreating. I would thought it would be the other way around, right? But that's Phoenix for you. There are pockets of coolness everywhere. Loads of art galleries, vintage shops, record stores, parks, and restaurants to choose from. You can find the poshest of the posh, the hippest of the hip, and plenty more. And I mean loads of those. Everyone here has tattoos. And, as you all know, next to beards, tattoos drive me crazy. Ohhhh.
ASU classes are frustrating. Working and being a full-time grad students sucks. May this finally be a lesson to me to not bite off more than I can chew. The classes themselves are great and helpful, but I'm in a class with a bunch of other teachers that moan and groan... kinda like I am right now. AND, none of the vending machines in the student lounge work. Bah!
I had vistors! Many, many beautiful visitors! First came my beautiful Kate Gillen. She came out and took care of me and helped set up my classroom. I couldn't have done it without her. I mean literally. My room was a disgusting mess, and she took time out of her vacation to make it look spiffy and cozy for my students. We did some shopping, eating, lounging, and much, much talking. Kate Gillen, marry me.
Next, my dad. Now, if you have already met my dad, you have a pretty good idea of how this visit went down. He came on a Friday and we went and had dinner and did some grocery shopping. The man stole my brother's iPod nano and doesn't go anywhere without it. Even if he's with a client or hanging out with friends/family, he doesn't put the damn thing away. He proceeded to tell me how he found this Russian website where he gets to download songs for only 9cents each. He was oh-so-proud of himself. He also told me that he loved reggaeton, Alicia Keys, and User. And to top it all off, he has no shame in singing it like he 'just don't care' in front of everyone. We were at a teacher store and I was looking at some posters, when all of a sudden I hear this really low voice singing " I don't thing you're ready for this jelly, I don't thing you're ready for this jelly..." Yep, the man likes to get down and dirty. On Saturday we went to a casino and he kicked some bootay at poker. Won me an entire's month worth of rent, even. Finally, Sunday we went and ate out and I took him to the airport. I cried for a really long time after that. The days that Kate and my dad left reminded me how much I missed being around people that already knew me and that I cared for so much.
After that, Sethers from Webster's came and hung out for a couple days. He made Jacquelyn (the amazing roomie) and I some delicious dinner and kept me company.
The gorgeous Elody and Eric came after that. It was glorious seeing them! At that poing I was really having a hard time - not much sleeping or eating going on, and a lot of crying. I'm talking two or three times a day. But Elody and Eric made it all better. We lounged around and watched a lot of Weeds and ate vegan, no-bake cookies. My idea of an amazing time, indeed.
Then, Nick came! And that was probably the one to finish off such a wonderful line of visitors. It was around the time when I started to regain lots of strength and confidence in what I was doing out here. Plus, Nick cleaned and cooked for me.
All in all, it has been a fun ride. The best part is that it's just starting. I have to teach these kids how to read and write, as well as how to be civil with one another. I have to do that using a language they don't know ( I forgot to mention that a lot of my kids are hispanic, but know now Spanish - whole purpose of the DL program. Crazy, but so exciting!) and make sure that I differentiate and scaffold enough so that everyone, or at least mostly everyone stays on board. Sometime I get so scared that I become paralized. I literally will stay where I am and just freak out to the point where I veg out for a bit. And then I get back to it. It's all I can do right now.
I miss all of you a whole bunch. I hope that you are all safe and enjoying whatever it is you're doing. I'll update again sometime next month. Until then, lots of lovin'.
Peace.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Update coming this weekend.... promise.
Geeeez. I have failed with keeping up with this thing. But, after a long swarm of visitors and a job that surprises me more and more everyday, I have plenty to write about. Stay tuned, update this weekend.
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