Geschafft!

The week is over! Woo! Survival was a question at certain points; today was not so stellar, but who cares because it's Friday. All those report cards and lesson plans and laundry can wait until tomorrow, since I'm drained and not doing a thing tonight. That, and because procrastination is my religion.

Curriculum Night was yesterday, and I was (obviously) terrified. Dealing with kids is one thing; dealing with parents is another. My boss was making a big deal of this, since this is the school's first year and all the parents (especially the kindergarten parents) are really REALLY into their kids' education and want to know what's going on every minute of the day. Their kids aren't telling them anything and they haven't been in the classroom at all, so they've been on our backs pretty much nonstop. And by 'our', I mean 'her', because the parents don't come to me with any questions. Of course, that would be too easy! Instead, they ask everyone else involved in the school (admittedly, three people) what we're doing and why.

Anyway. I was nervous and had everything written on index cards and all that. To make a long story short, it was a success! Everyone left fairly satisfied, I could answer all the questions, and one parent even told me this morning that her husband said I did a great job. Yay! Plus, it's now over and one less thing I need to prepare.

Also, I've found an apartment! Basic one bedroom, hardwood floors, built-in cabinetry, on the third floor, in a great neighborhood. There's a grocery store down the street, a bar about two blocks in the other direction, and a movie theater about 4 blocks away. I'm going to sign papers tomorrow morning. A bit scary and very adult-like (I still don't feel quite old enough to have a real job and a real place of my own), but how exciting! Pictures to come, as soon as I move in (mid-November) and have a chance to take and post some.

See Spot fly

Dude, I am so tired. Does this ever get any better? At the moment, I've got lesson plans to do (standard), plus preparing a talk and handouts for Curriculum Night, plus figuring out how to set up my room so (a) it looks nice and (b) 25 grown adults fit on the circle time rug, plus report cards to start filling out, plus conferences to start preparing for. Gah. I just want to go to bed and sleep for a week...and it's only Tuesday!

So I'm keeping it short tonight, but have to share a great kid story: Two girls had found a ladybug and brought it into class. We put it into one of those jars with a magnifying lens on top. Everyone had a chance to look at the ladybug and then we put it on the windowsill for the duration of class. At the end, one girl wanted to keep it as a class pet, but I suggested letting it go outside (don't want to be held responsible for killing the ladybug). So as I let it out the window, two girls said 'Bye, Spot! Tschuess, Spot!'
And then one of them goes, 'Tschuess, Fleck!' ('spot' in German)

How cute and hilarious is that?

Phlegm-fueled post

Lovely, eh? I sound like Darth Vader and feel like I've got a grapefruit lodged in my trachea. Curse those germy kids. This all falls into the category of 'more than you needed to know', but if I can't get sympathy from you folks, who can I get it from?

The family's gone this weekend, so it's just the dog and me. Chilling out, watching Bravo. That's to make up for my training from 8 to 4 today, so I had to get up at 6.30 on a Saturday...heinous. What I do for this job, seriously. Tomorrow's dedicated to planning out the next unit: fall. If anyone has any great fall projects/games/activities/songs, let me know...you can earn my undying gratitude and a cookie.

I was attempting to post some photos from Salem here, but there seems to be no love between the camera and the computer. Guess it'll just have to wait until I have the energy to find the instruction manual.

And now back to our regular schedule of sitting around...

Weekend update

Did you miss me? Surely you did, since my consistently witty posts are the only thing worth getting on the Internet.

Right.

Anyway, I'm back! After a fabulous time in Salem and a looong work week, there's probably too much to write in one post, so I'll just do this randomly in bullet form:

• Salem was great! I've always wanted to go, and the four days there reminded me how much I would really like to live in New England. Just the history-filled atmosphere, the ocean, the excellent 17th- and 18th-century houses... okay, all of those sound like lame reasons but it's true.
• Salem is also a rather interesting little town; quite the mix of historical monuments and museums (Puritans, witch museums, old town hall) with new age-type stores (tarot readings, psychic places, handbooks on wicca). It also reminds me a bit of Wittenberg: cute small town that gets tons of tourists for one season out of the year but must be pretty dead otherwise.
• The Witching Hour conference was so fun! I actually didn't get to quite as many panels and discussions as I wanted to, due to sleeping late, but the ones that I did go to were interesting. But I felt kind of out of place, not having wizard robes or a Ravenclaw scarf (yes, I was sorted into Ravenclaw) or my own theories about who should hook up with whom in the books and what is going to happen in Book 7. People there were hard-core fans. It was great fun, but I don't think I'm going to the one in Vegas in 2006; don't have the money, and apparently an HP conference is not something that you just casually attend.
• Things that I bought in Salem: 'Save Ginny!' t-shirt from Harry and the Potters (band that played at the conference.. hilarious!); Gibraltars (America's oldest candy from America's first candy store); butter crunch; an umbrella (it rained nearly every day), admission to the Pirate Museum (arr!), the Witch Dungeon Museum, and the Witch History Museum; a pumpkin ale; and a Reuben.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, and it's time for lunch, so I'm off. How was your week?

Who's not going to school tomorrow?

Or Friday? Or Monday? Because she will be here? Oh happy day!

I've been taking lots of teasing for this, not to mention staying at school until almost 7.30 tonight, writing up lesson plans for a sub, but it'll be worth it. I get to see Heather and learn lots of stuff about Harry Potter and go to Salem.

Bring it on! (But not people in capes or wizard hats or things. That's a bit weird and scary.)

See you Monday or Tuesday, kids!

Phrases to put on a future resume

My laptop's battery is about to die, so I'll just share the ridiculous Advertising Slogan Generator with you. Idea shamelessly stolen from Heather, who shamelessly stole it from Jess. Thanks, you two!

Because So Much Is Riding On Your Bridget.
Today's Bridget, Since 1903.
Every Bridget Helps.
A Bridget Works Wonders.
Come See the Softer Side of Bridget.
The Joy of Bridget.
Moving at the Speed of Bridget.
Loves the Bridget You Hate. (err...what?)
Wear Bridget.
Bridget - The Freshmaker! (my personal favorite)
The Right Bridget at the Right Time.
Pardon Me, Do You Have Any Grey Bridget?
Strong and Beautiful, Just Like Bridget. (most flattering)

Things I saw at the Mall of America today

• H&M (pronounced the German way, of course) - How I missed you! Decent clothing and yet affordable...just wait till I get paid again.
• NY & Co. - the only place where I can buy jeans!
• An amusement park
• DSW - the biggest one I've ever seen
• A woman beating her husband/boyfriend/male companion with a Gap bag
• Legoland
• River of Life (or similarly-titled) church
• A wedding chapel - not related to the above-mentioned church
• Urban Outfitters - made me realize how un-trendy I really am. (shocking! hope you were sitting down for that observation)

Just the ground floor of two wings of the mall took me over two hours...nothing like buying stuff to counteract a stressful few days.

Ways to upset me in one sentence:

Tell me your child is anxious to come to school every day.
Tell me that I made you call your kid a liar.
Tell me that your child thinks I don't like him.

Sentence #3 is surely the worst thing you could possibly say to me. For one, it's not true. Some of the kids are hard to deal with at times, but I honestly like all of them. Secondly, that I could even project such an attitude is incredibly distressing.

I can't talk about this right now. Suffice it to say that, for the first day in our short school career, I have absolutely zero desire to go to school tomorrow.

Allemand right and swing your partner

'What do you do on the weekends?' you might ask? Well, let me share my exciting and incredibly trendy night-life experience: Last night, I went contradancing! One of the parents at school invited an intern (also 24) and me to this random folk dancing place...and none of us had any idea what to expect. It really could have been anything from Native American ritual dance to bellydancing; I had no idea. Luckily, contradance is neither; it's based in New England and is rather like square dancing. Which makes it semi-close to ceilis in Irish dancing. Which made it easier for me to learn.

Oddly enough, it was so much fun! I think I danced every dance, except for the waltz (I don't waltz well) and was grinning like mad the whole time. The experienced people there seemed amused. I probably enjoyed myself the most out of the group I came with; they were all ready to leave by 10, and I could have stayed longer. So fun! The only downside was a few people there...some kind of creepy guys. (as in, er, you don't have to hold me that close; back off.) So I would probably be better off finding a partner to go with if I went again...but how do you find a guy who's willing to contradance?

Moral: Those phys.ed. square dance lessons in elementary school really do come in handy.

Swedish-speaking genius warrior from Bolivia who played bass for The Barnyard Ladies

You Should Learn Swedish

Fantastisk! You're laid back about learning a language - and about life in general.Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you... And you won't even have to speak perfect Swedish to get around!

What Language Should You Learn?

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Genius Warrior. Where You Lived: Boliva. How You Died: Natural causes.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

Your Band Name is:

The Barnyard Ladies

Band Name Generator

Apparently this website knows more about me than I know about me. Either that or my subconscious is screaming to get out.

Who uses the word 'cockles' in a sentence?

Only Moose. Good to hear from you, o my brother. How's that Cockney coming?

Speaking of dialects: Arr, I missed Talk Like A Pirate Day! Every time I think of that (admittedly not often), I think of the time we went out for coffee in Berlin and discussed how one would talk like a German pirate. Matt has an impeccable German-pirate accent, just for the record.

So this week has been an interesting one... My coteacher has been out sick for the past four days; teaching by yourself when you're used to sharing the responsibility is quite the Umstellung. (sorry non-German speakers; can't think of the word right now) Tuesday was hell on a stick, rather like a corn dog. (name that inside joke!) I managed to break down twice, once almost in front of the afternoon kids. Thank goodness my director had arranged for me to observe a kindergarten class at her daughter's school on Wednesday, which subscribes to the same classroom management theory as our school. It was nice to actually see theory in practice; it does, in fact, work. However, it made me realize how much easier things are in English: The kids all listen when they're supposed to! And they follow directions on the first (or second) try! And you can talk with them about things like choices and how they are distracting other kids and they'll understand! Whereas it's all I can do to teach my kids 'please' and 'thank you'. Though they do have Toilette pretty much down.

Anyway. Thursday was great; Problem Child (Who Shall Remain Nameless) was not there and it was amazing how well the class worked. Unfortunately, he was back today and class involved a wrestling session on the floor and people being sent to the office. The kid has a real problem with authority and he honestly does not care a bit about other people, including how his behavior affects them. It's a bit scary, actually; I hope he's not the next psychopath.

But let's end with a cute kid story. When I returned to class on Thursday, the afternoon group seemed to be very glad I was back, and one of them was semi-attached to me for the rest of the day. Aww, my kids love me.

Reason #2471 why I am psychologically screwed up

Said by my dad to me just now on the phone: 'So are these first-graders you're teaching?'

Two weeks of school = total exhaustion

You know it's a bad week when you have to refrain from bursting into tears in front of your (school's) director. We had a staff meeting on Thursday which was supposed to be a half-hour long but turned into about two hours. And by the end of it, I was literally falling asleep in my chair. When we finally finished, I had a new list of stuff to do and stuff to work on, and I still had to plan for the next day. Thank goodness my coteacher took pity on me and walked me (quickly) through everything. It was a very bad day... when I finally got home, I was so tired that all I did was have a bowl of cereal, watch a half-hour of 'Scrubs' and go to bed.

I've been criticized so much this week that it's depressing. Of course, it's all been in the 'constructive criticism' sense, and clearly I need some work as a teacher (hello, it has only been two weeks), but it's starting to get a bit much. Apparently I need to work on my stage presence, posture, and facial expressions. Also, I can't forget to send more info home to the parents, do two evaluations on my kids, keep anecdotals on the students (which I haven't started yet), split them up into small groups more often, plan more rigorous lessons, move through the curriculum faster, do some more assessments, and choose things from a catalogue to order for the classroom.

Oh yeah, and one kid punched another in the face yesterday. I mean, he purposefully drew his fist back and smacked this other kid in the cheekbone. For no good reason.

Is it too late for a career change?

Newspaper article

Just noticed that my school has a fairly decent website on which you can find that newspaper article that I mentioned a while back. See if you can find the part about the 'kindergarten teacher' who 'lacks experience!'

Monday night randomness

Today we sat down and did The Rules in English. And let me just say that speaking through a puppet is harder than you might think. My coteacher had the brilliant idea that would let us get around the 'no English' rule: bring in Offizier Regel, Hand Puppet Extraordinaire Who Also Happens To Speak English. With both groups, we went through how to behave in school, what it looks like to be respectful and a good listener, and how to use the 'Denkpausestuhl.' The afternoon group seemed to understand better than the morning kids, surprisingly enough, especially since the afternoon kids drive me crazy. Must be something about not getting their afternoon naps.

Annoying Parent Anecdote: The mom of our youngest student (4 years old) asked me today if there is anything I can do to especially challenge her child. The little girl is incredibly cute and apparently really wanted to start school, and she also speaks three languages. So she's a bright one, but she's only four. Mom was saying today that she was thinking about entering her daughter into the first grade...where one of the students is nearly eight. Not a great idea. I told her I'd see what I could do to find some extra activities or something but thought, let this girl just be a kid, why don't you? School is not just about learning how to decode texts. She obviously has a pretty good time in class, now that she's loosened up, and besides, it's kindergarten. At this point, we're lucky if we get everyone lined up and ready to go in less than 10 minutes. Phonics is a little bit farther down the road, right after learning how to flush the toilet.

Besides, I learned how to read when I was three and didn't jump any grades. And look how I turned out. (ha.)

I found out today that there is a flu going around; two first-graders went home with fevers and a preschooler threw up. We proceeded to wash down every visible surface with bleach. Ah, the joys of teaching elementary school.

Side note: I just completed the New York Times crossword puzzle. In ink. Ka-ching!

You know you're a huge dork when...

... you actually tell people, 'Yeah, I posted about [current discussion topic] on my blog the other day and my friends said...'
... you covertly steal the WiFi connection from the seminary across the street
... you actually use the word 'WiFi' in a sentence
... you get very excited when your new cell phone arrives and the first thing you do is play around with the ringtones and read the owner's manual

Regarding that last point: Yay for cell phones! Or at least having a phone number of my own! Guess I just need to work on memorizing the number now.

Also, thank goodness the week is over. During the past four days, I've spent about 43 hours in school. Why yes, that does average to nearly 11 hours a day. With a supposedly 'duty-free' half-hour lunch during which I have to vacuum the mess left by the morning kids, wipe down the tables, set up for the afternoon, and decide with my coteacher how we should adapt our morning activities for the timing/antics of the afternoon session. Actually eating lunch is not part of the program.

The whole immersion thing is not quite working out as well as we had thought, either. In theory, it's a great idea; there are all sorts of studies that prove it. But for kindergarten, where the kids don't even know what school is all about or how to behave in a large group, giving all directions and setting rules in a foreign language is not terribly effective. How can you expect them to behave well when they don't even know what the rules are? I think I'm going to have to break into English for a bit next week, so at least I know that the kids know what is expected of them. (Don't tell my principal.)

Anyway, let's end on a good note, shall we? Cute kid anecdote of the week: A non-German-speaking five-year-old said to me, on Friday: 'Englisch sprechen?' Of course I said no, in German, but this made me laugh and shows that maybe the kids are learning something.

First day of school

My knees are red and sore from kneeling all day, my feet are killing me, I can't speak either English or German right now, and I was in school today for 11 hours without a lunch...but we all made it through the first day! No one cried, was homesick, had a bathroom accident or was wounded; I'd call that a pretty successful day. It didn't go nearly as smoothly as I had hoped, though...we really only got through one or two lessons today. Apparently getting school pictures taken and learning how to walk in a line (which they'll all have forgotten by tomorrow) and quieting down take a really long time to learn, so we didn't get to other fun things like reading stories or touring the entire school. But at least that's one less thing to plan for tomorrow.

Also: it was all I could do not to reprimand the kids in English by the end of the day. They were little space cadets, not paying attention at all, and once I had the attention of three kids, I had to catch a few more, and by the time the second group was listening, the first had already wandered off. And the afternoon group, in particular, seemed to have the opinion: 'If I don't understand what the teacher is saying, well, I just don't need to pay attention anymore and I definitely don't need to watch what she's doing so that I could figure out the instructions by myself.' Quite the loooooong day.

I think everything for tomorrow is planned, so I'm off to watch 'Queer Eye' (thank god for cable!) and to bed early. Sounds like a good precedent for the rest of the year, or at least the post-school-day part.

Getting my act somewhat together

My life revolves around school. I don't think they pay me enough for this. (come to think of it, when do I get paid? one of those questions I really should ask...) I was at school for another 8 hours today and managed to get the first and second days of school planned. On one hand, yay for having written plans! On the other hand, if it takes me four hours to plan each of the rest of the school days, I will shoot myself in the face. It's great working with a co-teacher, since she has a lot of ideas and it's nice to be able to talk to someone about this sort of thing, but it takes us an eternity to get anything down in writing. She and I also seem to be fairly different personality types (she: chatty, friendly, experienced teacher, outgoing, prone to brainstorming and tangents... I: want to get stuff done, not so talkative or experienced, logical and sequential). It's hard to say whether it would be faster if I worked by myself, but I suppose I'll be doing it all on my own soon enough.

Also, our school made the paper! I was going to link to it but apparently need to be a subscriber to the online newspaper. I hate to sign up for tons and tons of online things, not to mention the fact that I don't have an address yet. But perhaps when I get a chance, I'll copy down the section of the article that refers to me and post it here. (Hint: It doesn't mention my name and is not particularly flattering.)

Hey, today's post is rather self-centered. Enough about me, let's talk about me! Go ahead and write some comments about me! Seriously, though, once I get the classroom up and running, I'll hopefully have the chance to think a little bit about the outside world; I feel that school is sucking the life out of me right now.

Some rainy Saturday

It is so nice not to be in the school building. I was originally thinking about going in today but then decided I needed a break from the cinderblocks for a while. So the classroom can stay a disaster for a little while longer...I'll be in tomorrow and Monday anyway. (Nothing says 'Labor Day' like some labor!) On the agenda: cleanup, organizing everything, making labels and nametags and bulletin boards. Woo hoo.

Instead, I've spent the day so far driving around town with the family with whom I'm staying (make sense?), searching for apartments. Actually, getting the grand tour, opening a bank account and searching for apartments. Rather takes my mind off the fact that lesson plans for the first day aren't quite together yet. In the meantime, I am very tempted to fall asleep for a bit before going to a colleague's birthday party later. Probably not the best idea, but it's gray and raining outside and this couch is really comfortable and I'm so tired...

Now officially under contract

Well, I made it. Two entire days at school are now under my belt, as it were (ha!)...and when I say 'entire days', I mean '12 hours yesterday and 8 hours today.' Needless to say, this post will be rather short, since my brain is done for the moment. So, in summary:

• Tuesday: Arrived in the afternoon, went over to school, gave parents the grand tour, went over to the family's house where I will be staying until I find a place, returned to hotel.
• Wednesday: Got dropped off by parents, rearranged and cleaned up classroom*, had 2 hours of blood-borne pathogen and medication training, continued arrangement and cleaning of classroom, ran home to change, met parents and kids at open house, discussed curriculum/general stuff with co-teacher and school director, finally got back at 10.
• Today: training, discussion of rules and regulations, generally discussing everything to death...all in German.

* Apparently some parents had come in to paint the room. It looks much nicer now, prison gray having been replaced by standard institutional white, but they moved all the furniture to the center of the room and neglected to put a tarp over it or the carpet. So I had to vacuum, scrub at the carpet to get out all the remnants of paint dust, and then vacuum the paint dust. And dust the furniture and all the stuff. Good times.

On a non-school-related note, send Heather some happy thoughts! She will be returning to the US on Sunday (?) after having spent over a year in Germany. Welcome back, Heidi!