19 January 2006

Small world alert

I was driving in to school with one of the school directors this morning, like we do every morning, because I lack a car. She turned to me and said that she needed to reassure me about the school having a future, i.e., it will be around next year. Apparently the other director had a meeting with the curriculum committee last night, and one member of the committee said that I was worried about the continued existence of the school. I drew a major blank, and then it hit me: One of the people on the committee is the person who came in to sub for me on Friday, and as I was writing up and giving her the plans on Thursday after school, I made a passing comment about how I hope the school will still be around next year because I'll have finally gotten used to everything. (I was not feeling well and apparently not thinking straight. And unable to censor my comments. Option #2: I've been in Germany for too long and can't do the diplomatic American habit of saying one thing with a smile and thinking something else.)

So apparently the word got out to the committee which then traveled to one school director which then got around to the other school director. Who knows how much farther this will go. And it's not that I'm losing sleep over the fate of the school; I think about it occasionally, but I generally just keep my head down and do the best that I can with the kids that I have.

Moral of the story: Say nothing that you aren't prepared to have repeated to everyone else.

18 January 2006

Two short notes

I have got to go finish preparing stuff for tomorrow (just got home), but I just wanted to share two observations with the world at large:

(1) Report cards suck. 20 minutes per kid X 22 kids = WAY TOO FREAKING LONG.

(2) Ritalin is a wonder drug. Seriously.

That is all.

15 January 2006

If you don't like cookies, you're a communist

...and other topics discussed during a 45-minute conversation with moose:
  • Googling "witch + Timmy"
  • spinoff of a popular Fox drama with brooding teenagers set in Canada: "The BC"
  • *gobbling turkeys*
  • stalkeresque = nailing a dead woodchuck to someone's door
  • would a cross between a gerbil and a hamster be called a gerbster or a germster?
  • is Canada a joke?
  • pirates
  • scurvy
  • children's television programming
  • there's a new frat on campus: Phi Beta Omicron = Piss Brendan Off
  • *Michael Jackson imitations*
  • laughtracks

The real challenge is to figure out who brought up which subjects. Cookies to anyone who wants to try...unless, of course, you're a communist.

12 January 2006

Small children: one day, you love them; the next day, they'll give you the plague

**edited due to random company spam -- that's right, this blog merits spam comments from a company. I've really hit the big time now. **

Perhaps 'the plague' is a slight exaggeration, but it sure doesn't feel like one. I've got the sore throat from hell and half a voice. So deep, in fact, that when someone called earlier, she asked if she could speak to me. I thought about making some crack about a secret boyfriend/male secretary but couldn't think fast enough.

So after teaching for the entire day today (because both directors were going to be gone and what kind of sub am I supposed to get), I have finally got tomorrow off. And for those of you who are somewhat familiar with my work ethic (damn Puritans), you know it's got to be pretty bad if I'm taking off work.

But first: sleep. Lots and lots of tea and sleep. Good night.

11 January 2006

Jamie and Heather are now amused

You scored as English. You should be an English major! Your passion lies in writing and expressing yourself creatively, and you hate it when you are inhibited from doing so. Pursue that interest of yours!

Dance

75%

English

75%

Engineering

58%

Journalism

58%

Psychology

58%

Sociology

58%

Philosophy

50%

Linguistics

50%

Mathematics

50%

Theater

42%

Chemistry

25%

Biology

25%

Anthropology

17%

Art

17%

What is your Perfect Major?
created with QuizFarm.com

Not sure I agree with that (Linguistics = only 50%??), but interesting nonetheless. Take that, Finucane.

Future movie stars/writers/producers/directors

Craziness in kindergarten today. It's funny how you can spend ages and ages trying to beat an idea into their heads (i.e., how to walk in the hallways), but something innocent can just balloon into this gigantic activity.

Case in point: I've been introducing costumes, one by one, to both classes. They love them and are always so excited to see the next one. Today's costumes were two knight helmets (Ritter; R is the letter of the week) and three princess dresses. Gender-biased, I know, but the parents brought them in; I better use them. Anyway, the kids think these are the coolest things ever, and then someone wants to put on a play with them. Suddenly all eleven kids want to put on a play; one is 'practicing' in costume, three are rehearsing for a battle among knights, two are making a list (with a little prompting from the teacher) of stuff they want to bring from home, one is drawing the costumes, two are pretending to be seamstresses, and two are discussing what kind of background to have on stage. One of the kids gets the idea in his head that we're going to do this on a weekend and all the parents are going to come, and it'll be great.

And then I think: The school is putting on a Karneval on February, and we said there'd be student performances... So I run this by the kids, and they're all for it. We now have four weeks, and a plot and characters to hack out, scripts to write and learn (in German, of course), a backdrop to make, and costumes and props to figure out.

But the best part is that this is all student-generated. Zero of it is my idea. Pretty amazing.

As for PM kindergarten: They were great during a tour of prospective parents that came by; they were engaged and on-task and everything! Who knew that this Werkstatt system could actually work?

08 January 2006

Irish dancing is a contact sport

...with the floor. I've got to finalize some lesson plans but have to share quickly about my triumphant return to Irish dance! I had my first class today in about 6 years and it was a bit frightening to see how much I've degenerated. (endurance = nil) However, it was also encouraging to see I haven't lost it all.

Anyway, story: We do some warm-ups and then start working on the actual steps. The teacher wants me to show her what/how much I can do, so I cross my fingers, hope I can remember what I learned ages ago, and start off...to end up 10 seconds later on the floor. That's right, I wipe out less than four bars into the reel.

What an auspicious start to my revived Irish dancing career.

05 January 2006

Just FYI

Never ever wear the same contacts for over 4 months.

Because now (ow ow OW) my left eyeball is approximately the color of a tomato and about to fall out of my head.

Just thought I'd let you know. Please return to your scheduled Internet surfing.

PS- But apparently some people like my glasses. :)

03 January 2006

Sudden paranoia

So another teacher at school was giving me a ride home today after the staff meeting, and somehow in the midst of talking about problem kids (because this is what teachers do) we landed on the topic of the fragility of the school. We've been and still are under pressure to up the enrollment for next year; in effect, if we don't fill all the classes we need to fill, the school is done.

Other Teacher: 'So, what will you do if the school goes under?'

Me: 'Uh, good question.'

OT: 'Would you stay here or go back to New York?'

M: 'I have no idea. That would really suck.'

And it would. I'll have had one year of experience in a situation that's not exactly marketable (honestly, how many schools of this type are there?), six months left on a lease, unending student loan payments, and quite possibly a car. Not to mention all the effort it takes me to get out of my shell and get to know people. As well as the fact that I like it here, more than I ever thought I would.

So the pressure's on to enroll 30 more kindergarteners and 20 more first-graders for next year, by March 1st. I don't generally go in for putting up posters and advertising all over town, but hi, I need a job for next year. Looks like I'll be asking various businesses if they have bulletin boards.

On a related note, I found out today that one of my kids may not be back for the second semester. This would make my life so much easier in so many ways, but this makes the fourth kindergartener who'd have dropped out. Four out of 27...that's a fairly large percent. No one from first grade has left. I realize that each one of these four kids has his/her own personal, compelling reasons which are all very valid...but I can't shake the feeling that I can't hang onto the students. What am I doing or not doing?

01 January 2006

Christmas=love=bacon

The above pearl of wisdom is brought to you by moose (who else?). The kid needs to write a book...or create a t-shirt design company, I'm not sure which.

And now: Things I Have (Not) Brought Back From Home!

I've returned with:
  • an iDog
  • fleece
  • a sweater
  • a tool kit
  • Italian shoes! (originally $200, marked down to $30! completely impractical, but who could turn them down?)
  • The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt
  • boots and snow pants for playing with the kiddies... I mean, taking them on educational outdoor field trips
  • a George Foreman grill
  • stubs from 'King Kong'
  • sponge candy
  • Christmas cookies
  • frozen hors d'oevres in a lunchbox + Party In A Box = instant New Year's Eve party!
  • maple sugar
  • a newfound knowledge of knitting
  • scrapbooking supplies
  • a haircut
  • ant traps for my ant-infested kitchen
  • frustration with a certain airline, which will remain nameless

I do not/no longer have:

  • Christmas cards
  • gifts for people
  • an account at Key
  • the new GBS CD -- blast you, Borders
  • purple circles under my eyes
  • lesson plans

I heart vacations.

24 December 2005

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

'Cause I'm leeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaviiiiiiing on a jet plane...

I'm taking off for the airport in about an hour, and may or may not post anything next week. It all depends on how exciting life at home is. So have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus (don't forget that aluminum pole!), or whatever it is that you celebrate.

Und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr...because that sounds much better than simply 'Happy New Year'. :) See you in 2006!

22 December 2005

Map of European Countries I Have Visited (And Not Just Driven Through)

Because I miss traveling...



create your personalized map of europe

Randomly, I'm going out tonight with a classroom assistant (and recent college grad) and his friends. I feel like I should somehow be too old for this, but we'll see how it goes.

PS- I'm on vacation!!

21 December 2005

Back after (forced) hiatus!

Guess what? I now have Internet at home! Wireless! Here's the story: I finally got around to sending a note to other people in the building, semi-introducing myself but more asking if anyone had wifi they'd be willing to share. Of course, I offered to pay half the monthly fee and mentioned that it would be very useful for lesson planning for this overworked, underpaid first-year teacher. I got a note today under my door, including the following: "Because you are a teacher, you can jump on my wireless network. ... PS- No charge!" That's right, my wonderful neighbor is letting me use his wireless Internet access for free! Minnesotans rock, seriously.

In other news: Tomorrow is the last day of school for the semester...and I don't have anything to plan! It's like Christmas has come early this year!

And I'm flying home in 3 days. Life is good.

More frequent updates in the future, now that I have wireless Internet. :)

17 November 2005

To quote Heather:

Shoot me in the face. Seriously. I am going to snap at those kids one day and scar them all for life.

By the way, in case I haven't mentioned this before, the morning and afternoon kids have now switched places in my esteem: Afternoon is generally great and morning is rough. But today, they were both a bunch of winners. At the end of AM kindergarten, we sat there for literally 8 minutes waiting for the kids to shut up. I usually just wait for them and other kids will tell the ones who are talking to be quiet or else we can't go home. But seriously, eight minutes. Doesn't sound terribly long, but when you are waiting for them to STOP THE HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER AND SHUT THE HELL UP, it's rather a long time. And they would have gone on longer, except that it was then really time to go, so we had to rush out of there. I yelled at them in English, gave them the whole 'I am very disappointed in you and I hope this never happens again' speech. I literally was like, go home, I can't deal with you guys anymore today. Argh.

And then came Round Two. Including the three Kids Who Don't Listen To A Word I Say. They get 'breaks' (or 'time-outs' or whatever you want to call it) and they continue to talk. And hide under the table. And get up and just walk out of the classroom. And then there were kids who just wanted to take a break just for fun. At one point, there were only three or four kids doing what they were supposed to. Seriously, I am going to just start sending kids down to the office after one warning. There are very few things that really tick me off, but not listening (when I know for a fact that they understand) is one of them. (two of the others are intolerance and people who need to search through their entire car for change at the toll booth)

And then we hear at the staff meeting that some parents are complaining that their little darlings aren't making it out of the building as soon as the clock hits 3.45. Well, maybe they can come in next time and help, since there's only one of me and thirteen 5-year-olds putting their papers, lunchboxes and water bottles in their backpacks, changing into snow boots, and putting on snow pants, jackets, oh wait where's my [fill in the blank] I forgot it upstairs, gloves and hats, and zip this (no please) I can't do it with mittens on, and I swear I didn't come to school with a coat today even though it's ten degrees outside.

Thank God tomorrow's Friday. And next week has only two days! Yaaaaay Turkey Day!

PS- Mad props (ha!) go to moose, who performed four solo cello pieces at his concert on Tuesday. And he had a matching hat for each piece. You rock, o my brother.

16 November 2005

What have I gotten myself into?

Weather forecast courtesy local news station:

'Forecast for today Wednesday November 16, 2005: ** WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL NOON for blowing snow and cold temperatures...Highs today will be in the low to mid 20s but the strong Northwest winds at 14 to 28 mph will keep wind-chills in the 5 to 10 degree range all day. Winds will decrease this evening ...and skies will be clear with a full moon - lows will drop to near +9 degrees by sunrise Thursday with wind-chills from 0 to -5 below.'

This whole walking-to-school thing is getting old real quick.

13 November 2005

In which there are an inordinate amount of links

Amazing how the weekend flies by, isn't it? Here it is, Sunday again, and here I am, procrastinating again. Some things never change. Although, I guess I am being sort of productive: My laundry's going at the moment. (ha...I'll take whatever excuse I can get)

Anyway. After two weeks of madness, report cards, parent conferences, and rehearsing for our Grand Opening, it's back to normal for a while. And let me just say that 'normal' feels so relaxed and low-key compared to what had been going on. The biggest event coming up in the near future is Moving Day, next weekend, and then Thanksgiving after that. Then, of course, everyone will either be (a) in a good mood due to the holidays or (b) completely stressed out due to the holidays. Hopefully, I'll be in the former category. Actually, I'll probably be in a good mood, looking forward to going home. The only downside is that I'll have to find a way to go Christmas shopping before going home, since I don't get in until the evening of the 24th. Oh well... they don't make a light-rail line to the Mall of America for nothing. (hellooo, Harry and David!)

So about this weekend: Friday was Martinstag (or link here for German speakers), and we had the big opening ceremony at school, complete with German consul and all sorts of speeches...none of which I heard, since I was too busy corralling 5-year-olds. No big loss there, though; I'm not all about speechifying. The kids had made lanterns in honor of Martinstag, and they had a couple of songs prepared, all of which went off much better than expected. Nothing like a little stage fright to get everyone doing what they're supposed to! The kids were all so cute, and we had a little parade around the neighborhood with our lanterns after everything was over. It was excellent, and I'm sure the music teacher is especially relieved.

Last night, I went to an exhibition opening at the Walker Art Center, during which I felt very cultured. Nothing like hors d'oevres and Andy Warhol. (seriously, do i sound like a snob yet?) No really, it was fun; my favorite pieces were two involving electric chairs. Now what does that say about my subconscious?

Off to either plan some lessons or read some more of my book. Let's see which happens first.

(incidentally to lj users: i can't seem to comment on anyone's lj. it blocks me each time i try. so it's nothing personal, i have been trying, and i do check up on you. just FYI.)

10 November 2005

Hello, my name is Bridget and I am intimidated by quotation marks

You are a hyphen!


You scored 46% Sociability and 58% Sophistication.

You are comfortable around others. While you don't have to go out every night, yet you take pride in being easy to get along with. This should not, however, be misconstrued as believing (as many do) that you are without subtlety. In fact, you have the power to inform the anal retentive that, indeed, they are discussing an anal-retentive issue. Who else can do that? Quotation marks intimidate you a little bit.





Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Err...okay? Frankly, I thought I was less social (and more anal-retentive) than that; maybe kindergarten is softening me up a bit?

08 November 2005

Lesson plans? What lesson plans?

Your Birthdate: June 9
You are a born idealist, with more pet causes than you can count.You prefer be around others, both when working and while relaxing.Generous and giving, you believe you can change the world one person at a time.You're open minded and tolerant. People feel like they can tell you anything.
Your strength: Your go-with-the-flow flexibility
Your weakness: Your flair for the over dramatic
Your power color: Pine green
Your power symbol: Circle
Your power month: September

07 November 2005

Heard on the radio this weekend:

  • 'Winter Wonderland'
  • 'Home for the Holidays'
  • 'Have a Holly Jolly Christmas'
  • 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring' (thanks Dr. Clare's 7th grade music for helping me recognize that one)

What the....?! It's the first weekend in November.

Speaking of the most wonderful time of the year, I bought plane tickets for Christmas break! Only I'd better have all my shopping done ahead of time, since I'm flying in at 6pm on the 24th. Looks like someone's going to be making a trip to the Mall of America.

Just over 2 weeks until Thanksgiving!

01 November 2005

A reason why I teach

Since yesterday was Halloween, we made a big deal out of everything dealing with monsters, costumes, and candy. One of our activities was talking about and making a class graph of our favorite candy. Of course, to introduce some of this new vocab, I had to demonstrate it and exaggerate a lot (e.g.: Meine Lieblingssuessigkeit ist Kit-Kat. Ich liebe Kit-Kats!) But they understood pretty well, even though paying attention was difficult. Standard lesson; it went fine.

Fast forward to this morning: One of the kids came in with a little Halloween treat bag and handed it to me. I was pleasantly surprised and said thank you, and then I opened it: There was a Kit-Kat inside! I said something like, 'Kit-Kat! That's my favorite Halloween candy!'

Then this huge grin spreads over this little boy's face and he says, 'I know.'