December has been pretty crazy. The title of this post, "Teacher, are you young enough that you still have to worry about child molesters???" was a for real question Oasting and Juan asked me on one of their kicks to try to figure out how old I am. They always manage to keep me on my toes!
Finals started the first week of December and continued for two full weeks. The kids had an hour and a half of testing, then a 45 minute break, then three 45 minute review sessions for upcoming tests and then were done at 12:30. Seemed straight forward enough.... Until I realized the day before Thanksgiving, that I was going to fly home the next Wednesday for a week. (Yes, I booked tickets one week before flying out!) I had an interview at the University of Minnesota, the Twin Cities campus, for medical school. I won't hear back from them until the end of January, which is when I'll probably try to make my decision about where to go. Anyways, things got a little crazy with trying to get everything lined up for being gone for a week during finals. It all worked out ok for the most part though. Well, at least the trip home did! I got to see my family, my grandparents, aunt Tiffany, and cousins Jake and Alex. I made it to Mankato for two days to get to see all my friends as well as Aunt Linda and Uncle Vance and some of my favorite professors down there. I had my interview, and then just got to relax at home. It was really, really nice!
I got back a week after I left, excited to be back and see my kids. Until I got a phone call from Micah, one of the teachers that had covered most of my classes for me, informing me that Juan had taken the answer key to my biology final when he briefly left the room. Ugh! So, to deal with the fact that he probably saw at least the first page, possibly the first two of my answer key, I changed the first two pages of multiple choice to oral short answer since I didn't have time to get anything else printed. Problem solved, right? Or so I thought..... Until I collected the note cards I had allowed my kids to use on the final and realized that three of them (Juan, the one who took the key to "count the pages only!", was not one of them) had the answers to page two and three of my test written on them. Grr! So, I figured they had to have gotten more of the test than I realized and decided to fail the three with the answer on their cards, Juan, and Oasting, who had ripped his note card up and thrown it away after I specifically asked for it. Unfortunately, in the Dominican system, the final is automatically weighted as 30% of their final grade, and passing is a 70%, so if you get a 0 on the final, unless you had a 100% going in to the final, you can't pass the class. So, I had a really long chat with the principal about all of this, and we decided to make the entire class retake the multiple choice and matching sections again (the parts that had letter answers, which is what the cheaters had gotten a hold of), and to make the five that were more directly involved in cheating retake the entire final without a note card their first real day of Christmas break. Anyways, needless to say, I had five furious kids on my hands, but we got it worked out. Unfortunately, I found out that the day Juan took the test from Micah was NOT the day they had gotten access to the answers. They had actually gotten them the week before by walking up behind me and copying them over my shoulder one day when I had taken them outside to review since their room was so hot. So, that was frustrating for me, because they told me who did it, and thinking back on it, it makes sense, but I can't prove anything, so I can't do anything about it besides still fail the five I had originally decided to fail. Anysays,Jennie, the principal, called all the parents on Monday and explained the situation. And, then on Tuesday of this week, all five had to come in and retake the final. Monday, when all the parents got called about it, four of the five were at school, so I just took care of getting them their books back, and finding their notebooks and study guides and stuff. Gilbert however, wasn't at school.
So, I wasn't really sure what to do about that, until after school, when I was standing out in the parking lot with two of my kids, when I noticed that there was a grown up man walking out with a biology book... who looked like he could have a 14 year old... who looks like his 14 year old... who had Gilbert's little sister with him. So, I asked him if he had Gilbert's notebook too, since that would help him as much as the book, and he just glared at me. So, I switched to Spanish, knowing full well he speaks English, and asked again. He kept glaring at me, so sticking with Spanish, I asked him if he wanted me to go look for it, and he started yelling at me in Spanish about how nothing at the school was every kept quiet, and how some people were in to everyone's business. So, I ignored him, and walked inside to look for the notebook. And it would just happen that the keys to the ninth grade room were missing that day... But the room is really, really easy to break in to, so I just popped the lock... And then realized that he had followed me inside. He proceeded to yell at me because I didn't have permission to be in the room. I was so confused and he kept ranting... Until he asked me how I know about all this. And I was like, Umm.... How would I not, still slightly confused. All of the sudden his jaw just dropped, and he's like "WAIT! Are you a teacher???" He thought I was some random kid... And at least stopped yelling when he realized that I was Gilbert's biology teacher. Ugh!
Anyways, my retake kids did well. All scored 1 to 2 percentage points lower on the retake but one, who actually scored 4 points higher. So, that was good. And I argued with the principal for a long time over it, but she finally gave in, and is letting me count it as if it was the first time they took the test so it doesn't show up on their permanent records. Because I really feel that a really bad decision you made when you were 14 shouldn't show up when you are applying to colleges. So, everything is worked out there.
This week, we also had Christmas parties, the Christmas program, which wasn't very Christmas-y at all and involved belly dancing, and parent teacher conferences where I got yelled at by another dad whose kid failed four class (none of which was mine, by the way!) Now, we are officially on Christmas break. All my roommates flew home today, so I'm here by myself until Tuesday when my family gets here. Yay! It should be a fun break with them all here! Hope everything is well with everyone! Feliz Navidad a Todos. Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Or in very strange cases, from animals
Wow! It’s been a long time since I’ve had a chance to write. Sorry about that! Life has been pretty crazy around here lately. School is going pretty well for the most part. Living in general is going well. I’m learning a lot of Spanish, which is great! I love it when I can carry on a whole conversation in Spanish. It really helps out a lot especially with my kids that don’t speak much English because I’m able to help them out in Spanish.
Ninth grade is going well. They are crazy as always. They are the chattiest bunch of high schoolers. This week, they started finals. On Monday, Rosanna, the Spanish math teacher, was sick so they asked if I could give the ninth grade their test. No problem, right? Wrong! School starts at 8:00. Jennie had all the tests… And she didn’t show up until almost 9:00. Which makes controlling 24 crazy ninth graders for an hour with nothing to do just hunky dory. Oh wait, 25 ninth graders! There is a new ninth grader, who apparently they decided it was best for him to start finals week. It seems like it would make sense to me to have him wait until January, but that would be too easy. Anyways, the ninth graders are pretty out of control, when all of the sudden, all the girls start screaming and jumping on their chairs. It’s about then that I realize that Frankie is kicking a dead mouse at me. Obviously since I was the only female in the room not standing on a chair shrieking, the only logical thing to do with a dead mouse would be to kick it at me… Haha! They are way too crazy!
Tenth grade is a little crazy too. Although, they are getting much better! However, they are still crazy. Chris tells me all kinds of interesting stories and about things that he wants to do when he grows up. In homework room one day, Luis, one of my kids that really struggles in math, asked me what I was doing all afternoon. I was like, “I was correcting ninth grade biology tests all day. I’m kind of a nerd like that ” He looks at me funny and is like, “Miss Scislow, you are not a nerd. You are hot!” So, the hitting on me never ceases.
Eleventh grade is good. They are probably my favorite class. They are very smart and very motivated as a whole. They are fun to work with, willing to try anything, and like to have fun while learning. We have a good time. We had a little bit of a scare the past couple weeks though. Federico told me on Monday of the week before last that he didn’t feel good. He asked if we could close the windows because it was so bright his head hurt. He looked just awful, but Jennie wouldn’t let him go home, so I let him pretty much sleep through my classes. Anyways, he wasn’t at school the next two days, but was back on Thursday, looking just about as sick as he had on Monday. On Friday, his little sister Alondra asked for his homework because he was in the hospital with dengue. Dengue is basically like West Nile Virus, but it can be a lot more severe, especially if it’s not caught early. Anyways, he had a rough time for a while, and didn’t get out of the hospital until Wednesday morning of last week. He’s doing much better now though, thankfully, and seems to be on the mend!
The seniors are a handful. The boys are just not motivated as a whole. Three have yet to turn in a single thing from this grading period. I don’t know what to do with them sometimes. Fortunately, they behave for me and listen in class. They are just terrible for other teachers, but apparently since they think I’m “hot”, they don’t sleep in my class and don’t try to disrupt things. I’ve heard them in other people’s classes though, and I wonder how some of the teachers get anything done with them! The girls in that class are a lot of fun to work with along with Chris and German. They are all very dedicated, hard working, and motivated.
Anyways, my kids are crazy, generally slightly inappropriate, totally in love with me, but a lot of fun to work with usually. However, I am very thankful for a much needed break. I’m flying home tomorrow for a week to interview at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. So, I’ll get to see my family and friends and relax a little before coming back for a crazy last week and a half of school before Christmas break and my family coming down! It should definitely be fun!
Ninth grade is going well. They are crazy as always. They are the chattiest bunch of high schoolers. This week, they started finals. On Monday, Rosanna, the Spanish math teacher, was sick so they asked if I could give the ninth grade their test. No problem, right? Wrong! School starts at 8:00. Jennie had all the tests… And she didn’t show up until almost 9:00. Which makes controlling 24 crazy ninth graders for an hour with nothing to do just hunky dory. Oh wait, 25 ninth graders! There is a new ninth grader, who apparently they decided it was best for him to start finals week. It seems like it would make sense to me to have him wait until January, but that would be too easy. Anyways, the ninth graders are pretty out of control, when all of the sudden, all the girls start screaming and jumping on their chairs. It’s about then that I realize that Frankie is kicking a dead mouse at me. Obviously since I was the only female in the room not standing on a chair shrieking, the only logical thing to do with a dead mouse would be to kick it at me… Haha! They are way too crazy!
Tenth grade is a little crazy too. Although, they are getting much better! However, they are still crazy. Chris tells me all kinds of interesting stories and about things that he wants to do when he grows up. In homework room one day, Luis, one of my kids that really struggles in math, asked me what I was doing all afternoon. I was like, “I was correcting ninth grade biology tests all day. I’m kind of a nerd like that ” He looks at me funny and is like, “Miss Scislow, you are not a nerd. You are hot!” So, the hitting on me never ceases.
Eleventh grade is good. They are probably my favorite class. They are very smart and very motivated as a whole. They are fun to work with, willing to try anything, and like to have fun while learning. We have a good time. We had a little bit of a scare the past couple weeks though. Federico told me on Monday of the week before last that he didn’t feel good. He asked if we could close the windows because it was so bright his head hurt. He looked just awful, but Jennie wouldn’t let him go home, so I let him pretty much sleep through my classes. Anyways, he wasn’t at school the next two days, but was back on Thursday, looking just about as sick as he had on Monday. On Friday, his little sister Alondra asked for his homework because he was in the hospital with dengue. Dengue is basically like West Nile Virus, but it can be a lot more severe, especially if it’s not caught early. Anyways, he had a rough time for a while, and didn’t get out of the hospital until Wednesday morning of last week. He’s doing much better now though, thankfully, and seems to be on the mend!
The seniors are a handful. The boys are just not motivated as a whole. Three have yet to turn in a single thing from this grading period. I don’t know what to do with them sometimes. Fortunately, they behave for me and listen in class. They are just terrible for other teachers, but apparently since they think I’m “hot”, they don’t sleep in my class and don’t try to disrupt things. I’ve heard them in other people’s classes though, and I wonder how some of the teachers get anything done with them! The girls in that class are a lot of fun to work with along with Chris and German. They are all very dedicated, hard working, and motivated.
Anyways, my kids are crazy, generally slightly inappropriate, totally in love with me, but a lot of fun to work with usually. However, I am very thankful for a much needed break. I’m flying home tomorrow for a week to interview at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. So, I’ll get to see my family and friends and relax a little before coming back for a crazy last week and a half of school before Christmas break and my family coming down! It should definitely be fun!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
DON’T TALK TO STRANGE CREEPY MEN!
So, last week Friday was Halloween. Halloween is not a widely celebrated holiday here, but at school, since there are so many kids that have lived in the States, and then American teachers, they decided to make it be a “Rainbow Day”, meaning the kids didn’t have to wear uniforms, but were encouraged to wear orange, black, or purple. The seniors had a haunted house in their classroom, which, conveniently for them, meant no class. So, I spent the morning helping them decorate their haunted house, and then the rest of the morning being in charge of the lights for them in the haunted house. For the materials they had, they did an excellent job! Seeing some of my big tough ninth grade boys scream and hug their friends in it was probably the highlight of the day. It was very funny. You can check out pictures of Halloween at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008578&l=7968a&id=88400178.
That night, we decided to have a Halloween party at our apartment. Danielle, Lauren, and I went to the colmado (a little grocery store) that has a live-in cat to get some snacks for our party. As we were walking there, it was a really rough “hit on the Americans” kind of night. Cars slowed down so they could look at us for longer, we got whistled at, a car full of about ten year old boys told us “We love you!”, you get the picture. When we stopped to buy empanadas at the corner a creeper there asked us where we lived, for our phone number, and if he could come home with us. Even in the colmado, we got hit on by the workers, who see us like twice a week, so you’d think they’d be used to the fact that we are young and white. Anyways, we were royally annoyed by the time we started home. Walking down our dark street, someone drove up one what sounded like a motorcycle very slowly behind us, and we were like, great! So, we decided to ignore the guy even though he was like “Excuse me! Excuse me!” We were annoyed and totally ignored the guy. He kept going though, “Excuse me, excuse me, please! Excuse me!” And we kept ignoring him, refusing to even look at him. “Please, can you tell me where Jose lives?” That’d be like driving down a street in the United States that had a bunch of apartment buildings and asking someone, do you know where John lives? So, we keep ignoring. And he asks again, “Please, please, can you tell me where Jose lives?” And he sounded so pitiful, I finally gave in and turned and looked. The guy was on a four-wheeler and immediately flashed me his adorable smile and said, “Hey Miss! How are you?” And I just started laughing and was like “Good, you?” And Danielle was like, “WAIT! YOU DON’T KNOW THIS GUY! DON’T TALK TO STRANGE CREEPY MEN!” Well, we actually had lucked out… It wasn’t a strange creepy man. It was George, one of my ninth graders, looking for Jose (one of my tenth graders) who lives by us and was having people over for his birthday. How crazy is that! Then a little later, we saw another one of my tenth graders in a car with his mom going to the same place. Crazy! Anyways, we got home, dressed up, and had a pretty fun Halloween party!
This week has been a little rough at school. I think I’ve had to deal with more cheating this week than any other since I’ve been here. Four of my ninth graders had cheated on a biology lab, so I pulled them out of class, talked to them about it, gave them a 0 on the assignment, and made them call their parents to tell them that they had cheated. Two, almost three, of them started crying when they were talking to their parents. Hopefully they learn a lesson. I’ve also caught three others cheating for other teacher’s classes this week. It’s so frustrating. If any of you have any great, no cheating, ideas, let me know! In ninth grade on Monday, I also almost had a fight break out. I was talking to the girls, and all of the sudden, Juan calls my name. I turn around to see him and Sebastian shoving Jose, and I was like, what an idiot, if you are going to start a fight, getting your teacher attention before it is probably the smartest thing to do. Then, I realized that Rony had Oasting from behind in basically a wrestling hold, but somehow he had Oasting’s arms pinned to his sides. Yang Gi and Frankie were standing between Oasting and Rony and the other group yelling. Apparently, what had happened, was that Oasting had gotten mad at Jose (over what, I’m still not sure) and was ready to take a swing at him, when my other boys broke it up. Kind of ironic considering like a two weeks ago, Marcel and Juan had told me, “Teeeeacher! You are VERY small. If there is ever a fight, we would break it up for you because you are so small.” So, I guess Juan followed through. (Marcel was home sick with pink eye, so he couldn’t be the hero.) School is definitely never, ever dull!
Today, I’m not teaching because I either 1. have conjuctuvicus (aka: pink eye) or 2. had another allergic reaction to whatever the heck I’m allergic to here. So, I’m hanging out at home and taking it easy. Hope all is well at home! I miss everyone! Let me know what you are all up to!
That night, we decided to have a Halloween party at our apartment. Danielle, Lauren, and I went to the colmado (a little grocery store) that has a live-in cat to get some snacks for our party. As we were walking there, it was a really rough “hit on the Americans” kind of night. Cars slowed down so they could look at us for longer, we got whistled at, a car full of about ten year old boys told us “We love you!”, you get the picture. When we stopped to buy empanadas at the corner a creeper there asked us where we lived, for our phone number, and if he could come home with us. Even in the colmado, we got hit on by the workers, who see us like twice a week, so you’d think they’d be used to the fact that we are young and white. Anyways, we were royally annoyed by the time we started home. Walking down our dark street, someone drove up one what sounded like a motorcycle very slowly behind us, and we were like, great! So, we decided to ignore the guy even though he was like “Excuse me! Excuse me!” We were annoyed and totally ignored the guy. He kept going though, “Excuse me, excuse me, please! Excuse me!” And we kept ignoring him, refusing to even look at him. “Please, can you tell me where Jose lives?” That’d be like driving down a street in the United States that had a bunch of apartment buildings and asking someone, do you know where John lives? So, we keep ignoring. And he asks again, “Please, please, can you tell me where Jose lives?” And he sounded so pitiful, I finally gave in and turned and looked. The guy was on a four-wheeler and immediately flashed me his adorable smile and said, “Hey Miss! How are you?” And I just started laughing and was like “Good, you?” And Danielle was like, “WAIT! YOU DON’T KNOW THIS GUY! DON’T TALK TO STRANGE CREEPY MEN!” Well, we actually had lucked out… It wasn’t a strange creepy man. It was George, one of my ninth graders, looking for Jose (one of my tenth graders) who lives by us and was having people over for his birthday. How crazy is that! Then a little later, we saw another one of my tenth graders in a car with his mom going to the same place. Crazy! Anyways, we got home, dressed up, and had a pretty fun Halloween party!
This week has been a little rough at school. I think I’ve had to deal with more cheating this week than any other since I’ve been here. Four of my ninth graders had cheated on a biology lab, so I pulled them out of class, talked to them about it, gave them a 0 on the assignment, and made them call their parents to tell them that they had cheated. Two, almost three, of them started crying when they were talking to their parents. Hopefully they learn a lesson. I’ve also caught three others cheating for other teacher’s classes this week. It’s so frustrating. If any of you have any great, no cheating, ideas, let me know! In ninth grade on Monday, I also almost had a fight break out. I was talking to the girls, and all of the sudden, Juan calls my name. I turn around to see him and Sebastian shoving Jose, and I was like, what an idiot, if you are going to start a fight, getting your teacher attention before it is probably the smartest thing to do. Then, I realized that Rony had Oasting from behind in basically a wrestling hold, but somehow he had Oasting’s arms pinned to his sides. Yang Gi and Frankie were standing between Oasting and Rony and the other group yelling. Apparently, what had happened, was that Oasting had gotten mad at Jose (over what, I’m still not sure) and was ready to take a swing at him, when my other boys broke it up. Kind of ironic considering like a two weeks ago, Marcel and Juan had told me, “Teeeeacher! You are VERY small. If there is ever a fight, we would break it up for you because you are so small.” So, I guess Juan followed through. (Marcel was home sick with pink eye, so he couldn’t be the hero.) School is definitely never, ever dull!
Today, I’m not teaching because I either 1. have conjuctuvicus (aka: pink eye) or 2. had another allergic reaction to whatever the heck I’m allergic to here. So, I’m hanging out at home and taking it easy. Hope all is well at home! I miss everyone! Let me know what you are all up to!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
"C" is not always right! "C" could read: "Miss Scislow's reaction when someone flips Sebastian's desk over."
Kids are crazy I've decided. Like, I knew that before, but seriously, they just get crazier every day it seems like! The past week and a half have been good for the most part though. Crazy nonetheless however.
So, last week, we are having a nice quiet biology class. The kids are being really good, they are taking notes, no one is hitting each other... And I turn to write stuff on the board because since for a lot of them, English is a second language, I help them out by putting all the notes on the board. I suddenly hear Sebastian angrily exclaim, "What the heck?!? TEACHER!" I turn around, and realize that Oasting, and an accomplice who I wasn't sure who it was, had taken Sebastian's entire desk when he got up to grab something and flipped it upside down. Deciding what they were going for was a reaction, I decided to completely ignore it. Sebastian eventually went and found another desk, and class continued smoothly. However, thinking it was quite amusing, it became a multiple choice answer on their biology test. In the middle of the test, Frankie jumps out of his desk and yells, "Miss Scislow! You put me on your test!!!" And I'm sitting there thinking..... "uhh.... no, I didn't...." And he's like, "You put on there were Oasting and I flipped Sebastian's desk over!!" I had put as an answer to nuclear membrane: "Miss Scislow's reaction when someone flips Sebastian's desk over." So, I guess I inadvertently discovered the other culprit. Haha!
Then, another day, I was doing a demonstration of diffusion, so I showed how red food coloring diffused through water, and then how molecules can diffuse through air. To show this, I sprayed my body spray in one corner of the room, and then had the students say when they could smell it so they could “see” it move across the room. Well, Marcel, as soon as he could smell it, loudly exclaimed, “Teacher! It smells like girl!!!” Then Juan decides to join in with, “Teacher, it smells like you!” Those boys!
In the Dominican, when they greet one another, they kind of half touch, half kiss cheeks. Well, my ninth grade boys love this way of greeting people, especially when those people are me. So, this morning, I was a little stressed, trying to figure out what to do about my pre-calc test since the copier was broken, attempting to re-print all my lesson plans for when the secretary of education comes, and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my ninth graders since I wasn’t supposed to really have them, but then ended up having “lab” with them even though the lab was not available because there is a book fair in the lab at the moment. So, I was a little stressed, walking around with a cup of coffee, when I turn the corner and almost crash into George, one of my ninth graders. So he’s like, “Good morning Miss Scislow!” And I try to smile and be cheerful because he’s genuinely happy to see me. So, I’m like, “good morning”, and he leans in to do the check greeting thing and almost spills my coffee in the process. But I manage to not get coffee all over everything as he plants a huge kiss on my cheek and says, “Miss Scislow, you have very soft skin.” Talk about awkward! Haha :) I’m getting used to awkward situations though, remember… So, at recess, Marcel comes up to me and says, “Teacher, I had a dream about you last night.” Oh, boy! Apparently, he had a dream that I was giving Juan (Marcel’s best friend and my self-declared favorite student) lots of presents because I liked him best, and he (Marcel) was very jealous. So, I guess now my kids are dreaming about me too?
Other than that, school has been going well. In eleventh grade, we are talking about evolution. It’s a little hard to teach considering I don’t believe it. I brought in some of my pictures from the Galapagos Islands, which the kids loved, even though they told me I look like I was about 18 in the pictures. (Little do they know, it was last summer, and I was actually 19 in the pictures…. Haha!) One of my kids asked why I majored in biology and not in Lutheranism if I didn’t believe in evolution, but other than that, it’s been going smoothly.
Twelfth grade is always interesting as well. The girls in that class are so sweet. We started an SAT prep elective class since they really don’t know what to expect from a standardized test, and they are very dedicated to working hard on that. If you’ve got any ideas on motivating some very unmotivated senior boys though, I’m all ears. I’ve got basically three and a half that are senior sliding really bad, and I’m not sure how to pull them out of it enough to make sure they will actually graduate in May. So, I’m open to any suggestions!
Hope all is well at home. I haven’t heard anything back from med schools yet, but hopefully good news will be coming in that way pretty soon. Let me know what you all are up to and what’s going on with you. I miss everyone! Lots of love!
So, last week, we are having a nice quiet biology class. The kids are being really good, they are taking notes, no one is hitting each other... And I turn to write stuff on the board because since for a lot of them, English is a second language, I help them out by putting all the notes on the board. I suddenly hear Sebastian angrily exclaim, "What the heck?!? TEACHER!" I turn around, and realize that Oasting, and an accomplice who I wasn't sure who it was, had taken Sebastian's entire desk when he got up to grab something and flipped it upside down. Deciding what they were going for was a reaction, I decided to completely ignore it. Sebastian eventually went and found another desk, and class continued smoothly. However, thinking it was quite amusing, it became a multiple choice answer on their biology test. In the middle of the test, Frankie jumps out of his desk and yells, "Miss Scislow! You put me on your test!!!" And I'm sitting there thinking..... "uhh.... no, I didn't...." And he's like, "You put on there were Oasting and I flipped Sebastian's desk over!!" I had put as an answer to nuclear membrane: "Miss Scislow's reaction when someone flips Sebastian's desk over." So, I guess I inadvertently discovered the other culprit. Haha!
Then, another day, I was doing a demonstration of diffusion, so I showed how red food coloring diffused through water, and then how molecules can diffuse through air. To show this, I sprayed my body spray in one corner of the room, and then had the students say when they could smell it so they could “see” it move across the room. Well, Marcel, as soon as he could smell it, loudly exclaimed, “Teacher! It smells like girl!!!” Then Juan decides to join in with, “Teacher, it smells like you!” Those boys!
In the Dominican, when they greet one another, they kind of half touch, half kiss cheeks. Well, my ninth grade boys love this way of greeting people, especially when those people are me. So, this morning, I was a little stressed, trying to figure out what to do about my pre-calc test since the copier was broken, attempting to re-print all my lesson plans for when the secretary of education comes, and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my ninth graders since I wasn’t supposed to really have them, but then ended up having “lab” with them even though the lab was not available because there is a book fair in the lab at the moment. So, I was a little stressed, walking around with a cup of coffee, when I turn the corner and almost crash into George, one of my ninth graders. So he’s like, “Good morning Miss Scislow!” And I try to smile and be cheerful because he’s genuinely happy to see me. So, I’m like, “good morning”, and he leans in to do the check greeting thing and almost spills my coffee in the process. But I manage to not get coffee all over everything as he plants a huge kiss on my cheek and says, “Miss Scislow, you have very soft skin.” Talk about awkward! Haha :) I’m getting used to awkward situations though, remember… So, at recess, Marcel comes up to me and says, “Teacher, I had a dream about you last night.” Oh, boy! Apparently, he had a dream that I was giving Juan (Marcel’s best friend and my self-declared favorite student) lots of presents because I liked him best, and he (Marcel) was very jealous. So, I guess now my kids are dreaming about me too?
Other than that, school has been going well. In eleventh grade, we are talking about evolution. It’s a little hard to teach considering I don’t believe it. I brought in some of my pictures from the Galapagos Islands, which the kids loved, even though they told me I look like I was about 18 in the pictures. (Little do they know, it was last summer, and I was actually 19 in the pictures…. Haha!) One of my kids asked why I majored in biology and not in Lutheranism if I didn’t believe in evolution, but other than that, it’s been going smoothly.
Twelfth grade is always interesting as well. The girls in that class are so sweet. We started an SAT prep elective class since they really don’t know what to expect from a standardized test, and they are very dedicated to working hard on that. If you’ve got any ideas on motivating some very unmotivated senior boys though, I’m all ears. I’ve got basically three and a half that are senior sliding really bad, and I’m not sure how to pull them out of it enough to make sure they will actually graduate in May. So, I’m open to any suggestions!
Hope all is well at home. I haven’t heard anything back from med schools yet, but hopefully good news will be coming in that way pretty soon. Let me know what you all are up to and what’s going on with you. I miss everyone! Lots of love!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Seriously? I mean? Is it hit on Miss Scislow week or something?!?
After that nice trip home, it was back to “reality” in the Dominican Republic. I had to teach right away Monday morning. It was a slightly crazy week!
When I was gone, two computer monitors got stolen from the computer lab. So, now, school is full of a bunch of key Nazi’s. On Monday, we couldn’t get into the teachers room until well after school had started. So, I had to teach my first couple classes with no books and no notes. Then, on Wednesday, the science lab was locked, and the keys were missing. So, I couldn’t teach chemistry lab that day since I didn’t have time to prepare anything before hand. Then, on Friday, they lost the one set of keys there are to the science lab/ ninth grade room, which made for another great day.
Everything else was pretty crazy too. I’m not sure what the deal with the kids was, but apparently it was national hit on Miss Scislow week. On Monday, Henry and German almost started a fight with another kid in my class because that student was “being mean” to me, and they “wouldn’t tolerate anyone being mean to their favorite teacher.” Later on, Juan gave me a hug and told me that he missed me tons when I was gone and was so glad I was back. Henry came running over to make sure Juan wasn’t being mean to his favorite teacher. (Juan is my self-declared favorite student.) On Thursday, the day before graders were due, I made some of my kids stay in from elective to work with me to finish some stuff up so they could pass. One ended up staying until almost 5:00, and then hung around until I had entered my grades so he could drive me home. On Friday, Alexandra, one of the pre-school teachers who had just had a baby, brought him in for everyone to see. I was holding him, and Jose told me I “looked very good holding that baby.” On Friday, I got whistled at very loudly and royally embarrassed at lunch. Then, I got invited to a party. I politely declined, giving my typical, “I can’t go to parties with students” answer, and then the, “I don’t go out with people I make call me Miss Scislow.” They told me I could just “happen” to run into them at this party, and then it would be ok, obviously. And I was like… “Uhh… still no!” They told me that I told them I couldn’t go to parties with them, and then pointed out saying that I never said I couldn’t leave parties with them. It was pretty funny! Then, I gave the eleventh graders a work day in math, and was walking around to see how they were doing. I asked Federico how he was doing, and he told me with a smile, “I was doing great until you came over.” Since I could tell he was joking, I pretended like I was really made and stomped away, and he jumped up and gave me a big hug making a big deal about how he would never say something like that for real. It was funny. Overall, it was a really long week since I was so tired from my crazy, un-relaxing trip home. But, it wasn’t too bad! Miss you all!
When I was gone, two computer monitors got stolen from the computer lab. So, now, school is full of a bunch of key Nazi’s. On Monday, we couldn’t get into the teachers room until well after school had started. So, I had to teach my first couple classes with no books and no notes. Then, on Wednesday, the science lab was locked, and the keys were missing. So, I couldn’t teach chemistry lab that day since I didn’t have time to prepare anything before hand. Then, on Friday, they lost the one set of keys there are to the science lab/ ninth grade room, which made for another great day.
Everything else was pretty crazy too. I’m not sure what the deal with the kids was, but apparently it was national hit on Miss Scislow week. On Monday, Henry and German almost started a fight with another kid in my class because that student was “being mean” to me, and they “wouldn’t tolerate anyone being mean to their favorite teacher.” Later on, Juan gave me a hug and told me that he missed me tons when I was gone and was so glad I was back. Henry came running over to make sure Juan wasn’t being mean to his favorite teacher. (Juan is my self-declared favorite student.) On Thursday, the day before graders were due, I made some of my kids stay in from elective to work with me to finish some stuff up so they could pass. One ended up staying until almost 5:00, and then hung around until I had entered my grades so he could drive me home. On Friday, Alexandra, one of the pre-school teachers who had just had a baby, brought him in for everyone to see. I was holding him, and Jose told me I “looked very good holding that baby.” On Friday, I got whistled at very loudly and royally embarrassed at lunch. Then, I got invited to a party. I politely declined, giving my typical, “I can’t go to parties with students” answer, and then the, “I don’t go out with people I make call me Miss Scislow.” They told me I could just “happen” to run into them at this party, and then it would be ok, obviously. And I was like… “Uhh… still no!” They told me that I told them I couldn’t go to parties with them, and then pointed out saying that I never said I couldn’t leave parties with them. It was pretty funny! Then, I gave the eleventh graders a work day in math, and was walking around to see how they were doing. I asked Federico how he was doing, and he told me with a smile, “I was doing great until you came over.” Since I could tell he was joking, I pretended like I was really made and stomped away, and he jumped up and gave me a big hug making a big deal about how he would never say something like that for real. It was funny. Overall, it was a really long week since I was so tired from my crazy, un-relaxing trip home. But, it wasn’t too bad! Miss you all!
My Week Home
Life has been pretty busy lately! Two weeks ago Monday, I was almost done with the day, almost free for the week since I was leaving for the United States on Tuesday morning. I was just ready to start my last class when Chris (one of my tenth graders) runs up to me yelling, “Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow!!! Arlenys bit me!” He pulls up his shirt sleeve and on his shoulder are HUGE teeth marks. Ugh! Seriously, you’d think I was teaching two year olds at the time, not tenth graders! Haha!
Tuesday, October 12th, I flew back to the States. I had to leave super early in the morning, but was back in Chicago around 1:00. Dad was there one a business trip and talked the people into giving him a pass to get through so he got to meet me at the gate!!!! I was so excited to see him! It was really nice too because I didn’t have a phone, so I really had no idea how I’d find him. We got some delicious lunch and then started the long drive home. We made it home a little after nine where I was greeted by a very excited Mom, Kathryn, and Jennie. Buddy just went crazy too! He was tearing around as fast as he could so happy to see me! I also got to meet Rubie, the foreign exchange student from China who is living in my room. She is really nice, and I was excited to finally get to meet her. Dad and I baked chocolate chip cookies, we all visited for a while, and then I went to bed.
On Wednesday, Mom and I left early and drove up to Duluth for my medical school interview there. I think it went well…. My first interviewer there was crazy! He asked me how tall my high heels were and told me he thought women looked best in 3 ½ to 4 ½ inch heels. Then, he asked me if I had met any cannibals in the Dominican Republic. I told him that one of my tenth graders had bit another one of my tenth graders on Monday, but I didn’t think that she was trying to eat him. He laughed really hard. After the interview, Mom and I drove back to the Cities and went to St. Croix’s playoff soccer game against Humboldt. It was really fun because I got to see both my little sister’s score goals! I also got to see Hannah, Michelle, and JR, three of my players from the summer team I coached, play. It was really fun to get to watch them all!
On Thursday, I got to hang out with Mom all day. We did some shopping, got some shirts, a season of The Office, and some other stuff I wanted to bring back, including candy for my hooligans. Dad came home, and we had a delicious lunch. Grandma Scislow stopped by quick, so I got to see her too! It was fun. That night, I flew to Denver, and then to Omaha. I got into Omaha at like 11:30pm where I was picked up by a current Creighton University medical student. We went back to her house and went to bed. In the morning, she brought me to where I needed to get to for the interview day at Creighton. It was a long day, but it went well. I really liked the school and felt like my interviews went well. Now, it’s just a waiting game until I hear anything back. Keep it in your prayers! After the interviews, she picked me up again, we went back to her house to change, then went to the Old Market area and wandered around before heading back to the airport. I flew to Chicago that night and Dad met me and we went back to the hotel they were staying at for Jennie’s soccer tournament.
Saturday, we hung out, and went to Jennie’s soccer games. They won one and tied one. It was fun to get to see her play and to get to hang out with her and Dad.
On Sunday, I flew back to the Dominican Republic! Amazingly, there were no problems with any of my flights. Everything was pretty on time for the most part, and there were really no problems. Yay! (That’s pretty amazing for me…. Haha!)
Then Monday, back to work!
Tuesday, October 12th, I flew back to the States. I had to leave super early in the morning, but was back in Chicago around 1:00. Dad was there one a business trip and talked the people into giving him a pass to get through so he got to meet me at the gate!!!! I was so excited to see him! It was really nice too because I didn’t have a phone, so I really had no idea how I’d find him. We got some delicious lunch and then started the long drive home. We made it home a little after nine where I was greeted by a very excited Mom, Kathryn, and Jennie. Buddy just went crazy too! He was tearing around as fast as he could so happy to see me! I also got to meet Rubie, the foreign exchange student from China who is living in my room. She is really nice, and I was excited to finally get to meet her. Dad and I baked chocolate chip cookies, we all visited for a while, and then I went to bed.
On Wednesday, Mom and I left early and drove up to Duluth for my medical school interview there. I think it went well…. My first interviewer there was crazy! He asked me how tall my high heels were and told me he thought women looked best in 3 ½ to 4 ½ inch heels. Then, he asked me if I had met any cannibals in the Dominican Republic. I told him that one of my tenth graders had bit another one of my tenth graders on Monday, but I didn’t think that she was trying to eat him. He laughed really hard. After the interview, Mom and I drove back to the Cities and went to St. Croix’s playoff soccer game against Humboldt. It was really fun because I got to see both my little sister’s score goals! I also got to see Hannah, Michelle, and JR, three of my players from the summer team I coached, play. It was really fun to get to watch them all!
On Thursday, I got to hang out with Mom all day. We did some shopping, got some shirts, a season of The Office, and some other stuff I wanted to bring back, including candy for my hooligans. Dad came home, and we had a delicious lunch. Grandma Scislow stopped by quick, so I got to see her too! It was fun. That night, I flew to Denver, and then to Omaha. I got into Omaha at like 11:30pm where I was picked up by a current Creighton University medical student. We went back to her house and went to bed. In the morning, she brought me to where I needed to get to for the interview day at Creighton. It was a long day, but it went well. I really liked the school and felt like my interviews went well. Now, it’s just a waiting game until I hear anything back. Keep it in your prayers! After the interviews, she picked me up again, we went back to her house to change, then went to the Old Market area and wandered around before heading back to the airport. I flew to Chicago that night and Dad met me and we went back to the hotel they were staying at for Jennie’s soccer tournament.
Saturday, we hung out, and went to Jennie’s soccer games. They won one and tied one. It was fun to get to see her play and to get to hang out with her and Dad.
On Sunday, I flew back to the Dominican Republic! Amazingly, there were no problems with any of my flights. Everything was pretty on time for the most part, and there were really no problems. Yay! (That’s pretty amazing for me…. Haha!)
Then Monday, back to work!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Reproduction: "is like that thing you do... you know..." (True biology test answer)
Once again, I don't think I'll ever have a dull week here! On Monday, I almost had to break up a fight. That was interesting. It was between class time, so the eleventh graders were out in the hallway getting their books, and one of them popped his head in the room and Jamie, one of my seniors, said something to him, but I wasn't really paying much attention because I was answering questions. And, all of the sudden, Federico (the 11th grader) slammed the door open into the wall as hard as he could, so I whipped around to see what was going on. Federico asks if I heard what Jamie called him, and I said I didn't, and calmly asked Federico to go back to his class. He proceeded to tell me what Jamie said, which was a very derogatory thing to say to someone, as Jamie just laughed and shrugged, confirming he had said it and telling me it was true. At this Federico started at Jamie and Jamie jumped out of his chair. I looked at Jamie and yelled for the first time I've actually yelled while teaching, "Sit back in that chair, right now!!!" Which, fortunately, he did. And then I grabbed Federico by the arm and dragged him out of the room. So, thank goodness, problem averted. Other than that, 12th grade has been a little frustrating this week. They were in a big huge fight over something, that I'm still not sure exactly what it was, but I didn't have a full class until yesterday because half of them were always pulled out trying to get their issues resolved. So, I think things are fine now.... Today went well with them. They worked hard on math. Henry told me at recess he hopes that some day he will date a woman that is just like me... Then proceeded to ask if I have any sisters... (Don't worry Kathryn and Jennie, I told him you were much too young for him and that we have a very mean brother. I'm glad for you Cute Lips!)
My eleventh graders have been really good lately. I really like that class of kids a lot. They are, for the most part, a hard-working, smart bunch of students. They are really fun to work with because they get really into learning and are super participative in class. This week I had them draw me picture of the processes of DNA replication and transcription and got great work from every one of them. I'm going to hang them up in their room. I really like teaching them math, because they get it, and they are my one class that doesn't really dislike math. There are a lot of kids that really enjoy math, so that makes it more fun to teach too. And kids like Federico really make teaching worth it. Apparently, he was just awful last year, causing all kinds of problem, failing classes, getting kicked out of class all the time.... And he got a 95% on our math test. The other teachers and I also picked him for the 11th grade student of the month for September. I don't think I've ever seen a kid as excited when he came and told me that (even though I already knew, which he didn't know). And the girls in that class are really fun to work with too. I can tell that they could get really catty with each other and with me, but they are really good. Jennifer is really smart and has been working really hard. Angela also really gets into math. And Nairamys who is terrible at math, puts in a lot of effort, and is great at biology. It's such a fun bunch.
Ninth grade has been really good for me this week too. I'm having a lot more fun with them. We played a review game in class on Wednesday, and they got so into it. It was pretty funny. I gave them a review guide for the test since we've been going over a lot of stuff and doing it since the beginning of the year, and amazingly, all but 1 turned it in completed before the test today. I was so proud of how they did on the test! 13 out of 24 scored above a 90%! Even George, my tongue ring boy, got a 90%, and I didn't think it was an easy test at all. I like to give them some silly question to get some easy points, and I give them a point for their name. It was pretty funny. Juan, after class, told me he knew he got at least one right because of his name, and I told him that I only would give points to the kids who didn't have dumb names. He looked at me completely shocked before realizing I was kidding. It was cute. (He didn't get his name wrong, and ended up with a 94%, so that's good.) He tells everyone he's my favorite student and that I'm his favorite teacher. Four of my girls asked me to eat lunch with them to help them study, and they pulled out 2 98% and 2 100% between them, so that was super nice too. So, just when you are fed up with them, they pull out a stellar test basically across the board, which is always nice.
This weekend I'm going to be doing lots of planning since I'm not going to be here Tuesday through Friday to teach. I think I'm going to the beach tomorrow though to relax a little before my crazy, hectic trip home. Keep my med school interviews in your prayers. I miss you all!
My eleventh graders have been really good lately. I really like that class of kids a lot. They are, for the most part, a hard-working, smart bunch of students. They are really fun to work with because they get really into learning and are super participative in class. This week I had them draw me picture of the processes of DNA replication and transcription and got great work from every one of them. I'm going to hang them up in their room. I really like teaching them math, because they get it, and they are my one class that doesn't really dislike math. There are a lot of kids that really enjoy math, so that makes it more fun to teach too. And kids like Federico really make teaching worth it. Apparently, he was just awful last year, causing all kinds of problem, failing classes, getting kicked out of class all the time.... And he got a 95% on our math test. The other teachers and I also picked him for the 11th grade student of the month for September. I don't think I've ever seen a kid as excited when he came and told me that (even though I already knew, which he didn't know). And the girls in that class are really fun to work with too. I can tell that they could get really catty with each other and with me, but they are really good. Jennifer is really smart and has been working really hard. Angela also really gets into math. And Nairamys who is terrible at math, puts in a lot of effort, and is great at biology. It's such a fun bunch.
Ninth grade has been really good for me this week too. I'm having a lot more fun with them. We played a review game in class on Wednesday, and they got so into it. It was pretty funny. I gave them a review guide for the test since we've been going over a lot of stuff and doing it since the beginning of the year, and amazingly, all but 1 turned it in completed before the test today. I was so proud of how they did on the test! 13 out of 24 scored above a 90%! Even George, my tongue ring boy, got a 90%, and I didn't think it was an easy test at all. I like to give them some silly question to get some easy points, and I give them a point for their name. It was pretty funny. Juan, after class, told me he knew he got at least one right because of his name, and I told him that I only would give points to the kids who didn't have dumb names. He looked at me completely shocked before realizing I was kidding. It was cute. (He didn't get his name wrong, and ended up with a 94%, so that's good.) He tells everyone he's my favorite student and that I'm his favorite teacher. Four of my girls asked me to eat lunch with them to help them study, and they pulled out 2 98% and 2 100% between them, so that was super nice too. So, just when you are fed up with them, they pull out a stellar test basically across the board, which is always nice.
This weekend I'm going to be doing lots of planning since I'm not going to be here Tuesday through Friday to teach. I think I'm going to the beach tomorrow though to relax a little before my crazy, hectic trip home. Keep my med school interviews in your prayers. I miss you all!
Friday, September 26, 2008
No School Sept. 24! Why? Because it's the 392nd anniversary of the proclamation of la virgen de las mercedes as the patron saint of Hispaniola!
Wow! There really is never a dull moment teaching. I feel like life is crazy here all the time. Not even just at school, just living in a foreign country is always full of challenges. Walking down the street is an adventure even! You have to make sure you don’t fall in potholes, don’t get hit by cars or run down by motorcycles, avoid getting hit on too much, and watch out for the occasional donkey.
The new high school building is finished. It’s really nice! (Well, compared to something in the States, maybe not, but by standards here, it’s really good!) We moved over about two weeks ago. 10th through 12th grade have classes there, and 9th grade moved into the old 11th grade room and out of the science lab. It’s so nice to have some more space!
I taught my first science lab on Tuesday this week. It went really, really well actually, despite like everything else being an adventure. First, I had to go to the grocery store to get some yeast for this experiment. Trying to explain to a worker that you need yeast when you don’t know the word for it is quite interesting. He kept giving me baking powder and telling me it does the same thing. Eventually he got one of his buddies to find it, so that was good. Then, I had to figure out what to do since I don’t really have much equipment at all. I ended up kind of making things up as I went, but got the yeast cells broken up enough that the enzymes were released and activated, which is what I needed for my lab. Everything else we actually had at school, including Benedict’s reagent, which surprised me. I tested the lab twice before we did it with good results, so I was pretty pumped. Doing it with 25 ninth graders was a little more challenging. Especially things like measuring 1.5 mL for example with a 50 mL graduated cylinder. Fortunately precision was not vital in this lab. All the kids got really good results which was good! It’s a pretty cool lab with really neat color changes if everything goes as planned. So, it was pretty fun to have a successful first lab.
Cheating is a huge problem here. It’s so frustrating to have to deal with it nearly every day. So if anyone has any good suggestions as to how to deal with it, let me know! I caught one of my seniors cheating on a chemistry quiz a while back. One of my ninth graders came and found me after school last week and told me, “Miss Scislow, I want to tell you something before Mr. Hernandez does. I was copying someone’s biology workbook, and he saw me…” Then, I’ve caught quite a few other kids cheating for other teachers classes. It gets really frustrating because I don’t go out of my way to look for cheating, yet when they are dumb enough to do it right in front of me, it obviously needs to be deal with. So like I said, any suggestions? Let me know!
On the plus side, my ninth graders are really starting to come around. Juan, my little trouble maker that HATED me at the beginning of the year because I “got him in trouble” over something he wrote, is one of my favorite students. He does his work, participates in class, listens well, answers questions, and is really good for me. I know he still causes problems for other teachers, but he’s really helping turn ninth grade around for me. They are still loud and talkative, but are doing much better. Eduardo, my senior tutoring charge, I figured out is not as dumb as he tries to make people think he is. He’s actually really smart, just lazy. He got an 89% on my pre-calc test today though, so that’s exciting! And definitely promising! My eleventh graders also told me I’m their favorite teacher today and that they really like my classes, so that’s always nice to hear! One of my senior girls, Alana, brought me an apple on Thursday for being a good teacher, which was super cute. I thought only happened in make-believe! Haha! Anyways, even though it's a constant challenge, I'm loving teaching!
Oh, I’ve got two interesting stories that are slightly connected. First, my ninth graders were giving group presentations last week. At recess, Oasting and Marcel come up to me and angrily tell me that George (their other group member) was refusing to present because he said his braces hurt too much to talk. So, I asked if they could do it without him, and they said that of course they could since George hadn’t done anything anyways. So, they presented without George, who mumbled something to me about how his braces hurt. I told him when I handed back grades later that I couldn’t give him a grade because it appeared to me he didn’t help his group much (I didn’t include the fact that both his group members, who are friends with him, and separately given him a 0 out of 10 for group participation.) This was Friday, so I told him he had to present on Monday, by himself, to me at recess and that he better be ready. So, later that day, when I don’t actually have a chance to talk to him, I notice something a little weird…. That doesn’t quite fit with his not-believable braces excuse... So, I decided to call him out on it on Monday. At recess, we went to the lab so he would present, and I was like, “Ok George, I really don’t appreciate getting lied to.” And he responds with, “I don’t know what you are talking about…..” as he can’t make eye contact. So I told him that generally, I’m pretty easy going when I know what is actually going on, but that I know his braces weren’t the problem. The reason he couldn’t talk all week was because he had just gotten his tongue pierced. Smart kid, huh? He did his presentation well though at least! So the next day, I was chewing on a paper clip while my tenth graders were working on geometry activities. I was walking around helping, and like always, I was chewing on something. That day it just happened to be a paper clip. And Chris was like, “Miss Scislow, you have your tongue pierced?!?” And I was like, “No, what are you talking about???” Apparently, the whole class thought I did because the paperclip in my mouth apparently looked like a tongue stud. How funny is that?
So, like I said, life is never dull here! I fly back for medical school interviews on October 7th (October 8th: University of Minnesota-Duluth; October 10th: Creighton, Omaha, Nebraska), so wish me luck and say some prayers that they go well!
The new high school building is finished. It’s really nice! (Well, compared to something in the States, maybe not, but by standards here, it’s really good!) We moved over about two weeks ago. 10th through 12th grade have classes there, and 9th grade moved into the old 11th grade room and out of the science lab. It’s so nice to have some more space!
I taught my first science lab on Tuesday this week. It went really, really well actually, despite like everything else being an adventure. First, I had to go to the grocery store to get some yeast for this experiment. Trying to explain to a worker that you need yeast when you don’t know the word for it is quite interesting. He kept giving me baking powder and telling me it does the same thing. Eventually he got one of his buddies to find it, so that was good. Then, I had to figure out what to do since I don’t really have much equipment at all. I ended up kind of making things up as I went, but got the yeast cells broken up enough that the enzymes were released and activated, which is what I needed for my lab. Everything else we actually had at school, including Benedict’s reagent, which surprised me. I tested the lab twice before we did it with good results, so I was pretty pumped. Doing it with 25 ninth graders was a little more challenging. Especially things like measuring 1.5 mL for example with a 50 mL graduated cylinder. Fortunately precision was not vital in this lab. All the kids got really good results which was good! It’s a pretty cool lab with really neat color changes if everything goes as planned. So, it was pretty fun to have a successful first lab.
Cheating is a huge problem here. It’s so frustrating to have to deal with it nearly every day. So if anyone has any good suggestions as to how to deal with it, let me know! I caught one of my seniors cheating on a chemistry quiz a while back. One of my ninth graders came and found me after school last week and told me, “Miss Scislow, I want to tell you something before Mr. Hernandez does. I was copying someone’s biology workbook, and he saw me…” Then, I’ve caught quite a few other kids cheating for other teachers classes. It gets really frustrating because I don’t go out of my way to look for cheating, yet when they are dumb enough to do it right in front of me, it obviously needs to be deal with. So like I said, any suggestions? Let me know!
On the plus side, my ninth graders are really starting to come around. Juan, my little trouble maker that HATED me at the beginning of the year because I “got him in trouble” over something he wrote, is one of my favorite students. He does his work, participates in class, listens well, answers questions, and is really good for me. I know he still causes problems for other teachers, but he’s really helping turn ninth grade around for me. They are still loud and talkative, but are doing much better. Eduardo, my senior tutoring charge, I figured out is not as dumb as he tries to make people think he is. He’s actually really smart, just lazy. He got an 89% on my pre-calc test today though, so that’s exciting! And definitely promising! My eleventh graders also told me I’m their favorite teacher today and that they really like my classes, so that’s always nice to hear! One of my senior girls, Alana, brought me an apple on Thursday for being a good teacher, which was super cute. I thought only happened in make-believe! Haha! Anyways, even though it's a constant challenge, I'm loving teaching!
Oh, I’ve got two interesting stories that are slightly connected. First, my ninth graders were giving group presentations last week. At recess, Oasting and Marcel come up to me and angrily tell me that George (their other group member) was refusing to present because he said his braces hurt too much to talk. So, I asked if they could do it without him, and they said that of course they could since George hadn’t done anything anyways. So, they presented without George, who mumbled something to me about how his braces hurt. I told him when I handed back grades later that I couldn’t give him a grade because it appeared to me he didn’t help his group much (I didn’t include the fact that both his group members, who are friends with him, and separately given him a 0 out of 10 for group participation.) This was Friday, so I told him he had to present on Monday, by himself, to me at recess and that he better be ready. So, later that day, when I don’t actually have a chance to talk to him, I notice something a little weird…. That doesn’t quite fit with his not-believable braces excuse... So, I decided to call him out on it on Monday. At recess, we went to the lab so he would present, and I was like, “Ok George, I really don’t appreciate getting lied to.” And he responds with, “I don’t know what you are talking about…..” as he can’t make eye contact. So I told him that generally, I’m pretty easy going when I know what is actually going on, but that I know his braces weren’t the problem. The reason he couldn’t talk all week was because he had just gotten his tongue pierced. Smart kid, huh? He did his presentation well though at least! So the next day, I was chewing on a paper clip while my tenth graders were working on geometry activities. I was walking around helping, and like always, I was chewing on something. That day it just happened to be a paper clip. And Chris was like, “Miss Scislow, you have your tongue pierced?!?” And I was like, “No, what are you talking about???” Apparently, the whole class thought I did because the paperclip in my mouth apparently looked like a tongue stud. How funny is that?
So, like I said, life is never dull here! I fly back for medical school interviews on October 7th (October 8th: University of Minnesota-Duluth; October 10th: Creighton, Omaha, Nebraska), so wish me luck and say some prayers that they go well!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
"If you don't stop hitting on me, you might have to sit in the hallway!"
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated people on what’s going on here. School has been keeping me super busy lately, but hopefully I’ll get settled into a better routine pretty soon. I teach all four levels of high school, each that have their own rewards and challenges.
I have biology with ninth graders this semester. My ninth grade is probably my most difficult class at the moment. There are twenty five of them, and we have class in the science lab right now since the high school classrooms aren’t finished, and it’s just way too small of a space for them. You can hardly walk up and down the rows which means they are so close to each other that they just have to poke each other and touch each other and hit each other and throw stuff at the people sitting next to them…. I mean, what else can you do? They get very loud, very fast, and it’s very hard to get them quieted down. So, it’s a little challenging at times, but they are a nice group of kids except when they cheat, which is another whole issue there. I had a chat with Juan, the ring leader of the naughtiness, the other day. That seemed to help things a little, so I think I’ll keep working on that one and figure things will only get better if I can get some of the naughty ones on my side!
Next come my tenth graders. I have geometry class with them. To start with, they were my least favorite class, but they are really starting to grow on me. They are another pretty big class, but listen better than ninth graders. They are a nice group of kids, and there are definitely characters in that class. Chris, for example, told me he is a professional skater. Mike is a quiet one that sits in the back, but always has a smile. JP is the chubby kid who likes to play soccer and is just a general goof in class. Little Eduardo doesn’t speak much English but works really hard and is just so eager to learn. It will be fun to keep getting to know those kids.
My eleventh graders are a bunch of characters. I teach them algebra 2 and biology. They are for the most part, a very smart group, and at least so far have been pretty motivated. The girls seem like they could get really catty with each other, but so far seem to be ok. There are 11 kids in that class, and only three boys. The new boy, Michael, has blue eyes, and all the sophomore girls think he’s dreamy. It’s pretty funny.
My seniors are another bunch of characters. I have chemistry and pre-calculus with them. The girls in that class are very smart and very motivated. They work hard, ask questions, and always do what they are supposed to. They are genuinely nice girls and always tell me they like my clothes. Christie is probably the smartest one out of the bunch. She is very intelligent and applies herself, but yet she’s not nerdy at all. Alana is just a genuinely nice girl, and you can tell all the younger girls seem to look up to her. The boys are good kids too, but a handful. I have to tutor Eduardo every day after school in algebra 2 and junior chemistry both of which he failed last year, while at the same time trying to teach him pre-calculus and senior chemistry. It’s a little difficult, but we are making it work. Henry tries to hit on my call the time. In the middle of class yesterday while I was doing examples of pH calculations on the board, he raised his hand and says, “Miss Scislow, I have a question. Can you please smile? We were just discussing what a beautiful smile you have.” Awkward! German is another character. He is just a big flirt in general, but not quite as blatant as Henry. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s the next Rico Suave or something.
So, like I said, each class is very unique and has it’s good points, yet also it’s challenges. I think it will be a really difficult year at time, but also a really rewarding one. I’ll try to update more about what I’m up to. Send me e-mails to let me know what you are all up to too!
Also, if you didn’t get it, I have new Facebook pictures up that show my daily “walk to school” basically. The link is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008132&l=d78c1&id=88400178.
I have biology with ninth graders this semester. My ninth grade is probably my most difficult class at the moment. There are twenty five of them, and we have class in the science lab right now since the high school classrooms aren’t finished, and it’s just way too small of a space for them. You can hardly walk up and down the rows which means they are so close to each other that they just have to poke each other and touch each other and hit each other and throw stuff at the people sitting next to them…. I mean, what else can you do? They get very loud, very fast, and it’s very hard to get them quieted down. So, it’s a little challenging at times, but they are a nice group of kids except when they cheat, which is another whole issue there. I had a chat with Juan, the ring leader of the naughtiness, the other day. That seemed to help things a little, so I think I’ll keep working on that one and figure things will only get better if I can get some of the naughty ones on my side!
Next come my tenth graders. I have geometry class with them. To start with, they were my least favorite class, but they are really starting to grow on me. They are another pretty big class, but listen better than ninth graders. They are a nice group of kids, and there are definitely characters in that class. Chris, for example, told me he is a professional skater. Mike is a quiet one that sits in the back, but always has a smile. JP is the chubby kid who likes to play soccer and is just a general goof in class. Little Eduardo doesn’t speak much English but works really hard and is just so eager to learn. It will be fun to keep getting to know those kids.
My eleventh graders are a bunch of characters. I teach them algebra 2 and biology. They are for the most part, a very smart group, and at least so far have been pretty motivated. The girls seem like they could get really catty with each other, but so far seem to be ok. There are 11 kids in that class, and only three boys. The new boy, Michael, has blue eyes, and all the sophomore girls think he’s dreamy. It’s pretty funny.
My seniors are another bunch of characters. I have chemistry and pre-calculus with them. The girls in that class are very smart and very motivated. They work hard, ask questions, and always do what they are supposed to. They are genuinely nice girls and always tell me they like my clothes. Christie is probably the smartest one out of the bunch. She is very intelligent and applies herself, but yet she’s not nerdy at all. Alana is just a genuinely nice girl, and you can tell all the younger girls seem to look up to her. The boys are good kids too, but a handful. I have to tutor Eduardo every day after school in algebra 2 and junior chemistry both of which he failed last year, while at the same time trying to teach him pre-calculus and senior chemistry. It’s a little difficult, but we are making it work. Henry tries to hit on my call the time. In the middle of class yesterday while I was doing examples of pH calculations on the board, he raised his hand and says, “Miss Scislow, I have a question. Can you please smile? We were just discussing what a beautiful smile you have.” Awkward! German is another character. He is just a big flirt in general, but not quite as blatant as Henry. I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s the next Rico Suave or something.
So, like I said, each class is very unique and has it’s good points, yet also it’s challenges. I think it will be a really difficult year at time, but also a really rewarding one. I’ll try to update more about what I’m up to. Send me e-mails to let me know what you are all up to too!
Also, if you didn’t get it, I have new Facebook pictures up that show my daily “walk to school” basically. The link is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008132&l=d78c1&id=88400178.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
School Starts
This past week has been super busy! On Saturday, our seventh (that's right, seventh) roommate got here. Jessie is going to be student teaching first semester and is living with us. Fortunately, she's really cool and fun, so that's good. We were worried.... Haha :) So, Jackie and I took Jessie around a little last Saturday when she got here, showed her The Monument and Calle del Sol.
On Sunday, Kaitlyn and I went to church in Moca. I absolutely love it there. Pastor Alex is really nice and gives really good sermons. They are in Spanish obviously, but he speaks very clearly and is easy to understand. His family is really nice too. They are in the process of moving, but he told us once they get settled in, they will have us all over for dinner. For the most part, Moca is going to be our "home" church when we are here.
Then on Monday, we had an open house during which students and parents could come in and meet the teachers. Since I don't have a classroom, I kind of wandered around and met as many of the high schoolers as I could. Then, the rest of the week, the students were at school for half days for "Orientation Week." It was kind of a nice way to get to meet the kids, play some getting to know you and team building games with them, and start getting into the school routine without having to teach. I think I am going to have some really good days and some really challenging ones. The students seem like typical high schoolers. The ninth graders are super excited to be in high school but still very squirley and loud. (And there are about 25 of them!) The tenth graders think they are super cool, way too cool to participate voluntarily in stuff, but decent kids. The eleventh and twelfth graders seem like they will be the most fun to teach. They are old enough that they don't have to prove their coolness anymore, have their friendships established, and and also a good bunch of kids. A lot of the kids don't really have typical family situations, so that will be interesting to work with. A lot of them have parents that live in the States and are living down here with grandparents or aunts and uncles, stuff like that. So, it will be interesting to see how the year all pans out. I start real teaching on Monday with ALL six classes so say some prayers it goes well and wish me luck!
Last night, Jackie, Danielle, Jessie, and I went out with Keith, Rosanna, Lissette and her husband, and Gleyvis to a dance club. I really enjoy dancing merengue and bachata, probably because they are pretty easy yet fun to do! It was a good time. Now, I'm off to Selina and Nalia's house. I know them from when I was here in high school and they invited me over for the day and to spend the night. So, hopefully I'll get some good food, some Spanish practice, and hopefully get it set up to volunteer at a hospital here because Selina works at one! I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Oh, for those of you who don't know yet, I got offered a med school interview at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, which is one of my top choices in schools so I will be flying home the end of September or the beginning of October for that! Say some prayers that it goes well and that I get accepted! Miss you all tons!
On Sunday, Kaitlyn and I went to church in Moca. I absolutely love it there. Pastor Alex is really nice and gives really good sermons. They are in Spanish obviously, but he speaks very clearly and is easy to understand. His family is really nice too. They are in the process of moving, but he told us once they get settled in, they will have us all over for dinner. For the most part, Moca is going to be our "home" church when we are here.
Then on Monday, we had an open house during which students and parents could come in and meet the teachers. Since I don't have a classroom, I kind of wandered around and met as many of the high schoolers as I could. Then, the rest of the week, the students were at school for half days for "Orientation Week." It was kind of a nice way to get to meet the kids, play some getting to know you and team building games with them, and start getting into the school routine without having to teach. I think I am going to have some really good days and some really challenging ones. The students seem like typical high schoolers. The ninth graders are super excited to be in high school but still very squirley and loud. (And there are about 25 of them!) The tenth graders think they are super cool, way too cool to participate voluntarily in stuff, but decent kids. The eleventh and twelfth graders seem like they will be the most fun to teach. They are old enough that they don't have to prove their coolness anymore, have their friendships established, and and also a good bunch of kids. A lot of the kids don't really have typical family situations, so that will be interesting to work with. A lot of them have parents that live in the States and are living down here with grandparents or aunts and uncles, stuff like that. So, it will be interesting to see how the year all pans out. I start real teaching on Monday with ALL six classes so say some prayers it goes well and wish me luck!
Last night, Jackie, Danielle, Jessie, and I went out with Keith, Rosanna, Lissette and her husband, and Gleyvis to a dance club. I really enjoy dancing merengue and bachata, probably because they are pretty easy yet fun to do! It was a good time. Now, I'm off to Selina and Nalia's house. I know them from when I was here in high school and they invited me over for the day and to spend the night. So, hopefully I'll get some good food, some Spanish practice, and hopefully get it set up to volunteer at a hospital here because Selina works at one! I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
Oh, for those of you who don't know yet, I got offered a med school interview at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, which is one of my top choices in schools so I will be flying home the end of September or the beginning of October for that! Say some prayers that it goes well and that I get accepted! Miss you all tons!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Chicken Ambush
The Dominican never ceases to unveil new surprises. On Sunday, we went to church in Moca. Moca is about twenty minutes or so outside of
Today, walking home from school, a man turned the corner in front of us on his motorcycle. Now, this is a pretty normal site. Tons of people drive around crazily on motorcycles. Except this man, was holding something with one arm while steering with the other. And that something, happened to be a washing machine. Then, after going running, Kaitlyn and I were walking to the colmado (A colmado is basically the equivalence of a convenience store doesn’t have the gas station part. Most are very small, but this one has pretty much what you need for daily grocery runs.) The walk there and back was pretty uneventful for the most part, the usual catcalls, garbage all over the streets, making sure you don’t get hit by one of the crazy drivers since pedestrians have no right of way, until we walked by a garbage can and out jumped a chicken which royally scared us. The chickens run all over here and cluck loudly. But that’s ok, it was pretty hilarious to get ambushed by a chicken.
So, things never cease to surprise you here. We have the rest of this week to plan, and then next week is orientation week. The kids have half days of school and then we get to plan for the afternoon. Then, a week from Monday, real school starts. Say some prayers that everything goes well! Also, please keep the mission in your prayers. The
Friday, August 15, 2008
Which side of the donkey do you pick?!?
Every day here seems to present new challenges, experiences, and adventures. I really like it here, although it’s kind of hard sometimes too. Here is a brief re-cap of my week.
On Monday, we were rearranging desks in the classrooms. (I still don’t have classrooms yet although they are coming along much better! We will be in make-shift classrooms like the lab, the teachers’ lounge, and the library until they are done.) So, we were carrying desks up to the second floor, and I was wearing a skirt and really slippery flip flops. So, I’m carrying two desks up the stairs, and Manuel, the Spanish phy ed teacher was behind me. And me, being incredibly coordinated as I am, totally wiped out and started falling down the stairs holding two desks. It was pretty smooth…. After he made sure I was ok and carried all the desks to the top of the stairs, he laughed at me really hard. It was ok though because I wasn’t actually very hurt, just a little scraped up, and it was pretty funny. Monday was also laundry day… In case you missed it, see the previous post.
Yesterday, was quite an eventful day. Walking to school, the road is fairly narrow and there is no sidewalk. So, answer this question for me… When there are cars coming and also a donkey, which side of the donkey do you walk on? If you walk on the ditch side, you could fall in and risk injury… If you walk on the street side, you might get run over by a motoconcho (one of the motorcycles that tear around and are very dangerous)… So, it’s kind of a toss up. Kaitlyn and I picked the road side which turned out to be a fine decision that time around. Then later, Rosanna, the Spanish math and science teacher, and I were cleaning and organizing the science lab. I opened up a box full of magnifying glasses and got a little more than I bargained for. Out of the box came TONS of cockroaches that ran all over the lab. We had to run all over the room stomping on them. It was pretty gross. Fortunately, we’ve only found a few in our apartment. Just so you know, no matter how clean you keep things here, cockroaches and ants seem to find a way in. But, it’s all part of the experience I guess J Keith, one of the American teachers who is an aerobics teacher at a gym here too had a kickboxing class for us after school. It was actually pretty fun! I was pretty proud of all us Americans. We made it through the whole kickboxing “class” just fine and the PE teacher, Manuel, had to quit about half way through. Now I guess I have something I can laugh at him about! After dinner, two of my roommates and I went over to fellow American teachers Micah and Kaitlin’s apartment and watched the Olympics, had snacks, and played cards. So, it was nice to be able to get out a little bit!
Today, we were walking to school with our paraguas. That is one of my favorite Spanish words by the way because it just makes so much sense. “Para” in this case means “for” and “agua” means water. So, it’s a “for water” aka an umbrella. So, Kaitlyn and I were walking to school with our paraguas and ended up talking to these two cute ladies. One was really old and was wearing house slippers and was shuffling down the road. The other I believe was her daughter. They were very friendly and didn’t try hitting on us once! PS: We get cat-called at all the time. Some interesting things we’ve heard are “I love your mommy!” “Mi amor” “Que bonitas americanas”, etc. Its ok though, we are getting used to it. At school, one of the Spanish teacher’s brothers-in-law came in. He is the principle of a high school in
Tonight, we are going to one of the missionary’s houses for pizza and a welcome to the DR get-together. So, that should be pretty fun!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Laundry
So, doing laundry here is pretty much the greatest. It's so easy and convenient. Once you've read my description of how our washing machine works, I'm sure you will all be insanely jealous and wish you had one just the same.
So, to get started, you pour your laundry detergent into the left side of the washer and add your clothes and water. To add the water, there is a hose that comes out of our wall. You stick it in the washing machine and hold it in there. If you don't hold it, it can come spraying out all over. That would not be good. Then, you shut the washing machine and set the timer for 15 minutes. There is a spinner in the bottom that spins the clothes for about ten seconds then lets them sit for about ten seconds. This continues for about 15 minutes. Then, you switch a little dial on the front to drain and take another hose that is on the side of the washer into a five gallon pail and allow the water to drain out. There is no drain for it, so we have to drain it by hand. Then, you take the bucket that is full of filthy water and dump it into the tub. You have to take out about three bucketfulls until it is empty. The last one, you have to tip the bucket sideways because otherwise the water won't drain. If you forget this, you might end up bailing out the washing machine with cups. That's what happened to my roommate Kaitlyn when she was doing laundry last week. Anyways, so after you drain the water, you have to turn the know back. If you forget this, water leaks all over the floor, and you have to mop it up. So, you have to fill the washing machine back up with water from the hose coming out of the wall and let it "wash" for another 15 minutes so you get your clothes unsoapy. After this, you follow the same procedure to drain the washing machine. Then, you take your sopping wet clothes out of the left side of the washer and transfer them to this spinner thing on the right side. You pack them in tightly and hope the weight is balanced. Then, you close it up and let it spin super fast for 5 minutes. This gets most of the water out of your clothes. After this, you need to drain the machine again because of the water that game out of your clothes. After this, you are done with the washing machine and just have to go hang your clothes on the porch area on the lines we have out there so it will dry. It's pretty much fun and amazing to get to do laundry!
Are you all super jealous of me know? I hope so :)
So, to get started, you pour your laundry detergent into the left side of the washer and add your clothes and water. To add the water, there is a hose that comes out of our wall. You stick it in the washing machine and hold it in there. If you don't hold it, it can come spraying out all over. That would not be good. Then, you shut the washing machine and set the timer for 15 minutes. There is a spinner in the bottom that spins the clothes for about ten seconds then lets them sit for about ten seconds. This continues for about 15 minutes. Then, you switch a little dial on the front to drain and take another hose that is on the side of the washer into a five gallon pail and allow the water to drain out. There is no drain for it, so we have to drain it by hand. Then, you take the bucket that is full of filthy water and dump it into the tub. You have to take out about three bucketfulls until it is empty. The last one, you have to tip the bucket sideways because otherwise the water won't drain. If you forget this, you might end up bailing out the washing machine with cups. That's what happened to my roommate Kaitlyn when she was doing laundry last week. Anyways, so after you drain the water, you have to turn the know back. If you forget this, water leaks all over the floor, and you have to mop it up. So, you have to fill the washing machine back up with water from the hose coming out of the wall and let it "wash" for another 15 minutes so you get your clothes unsoapy. After this, you follow the same procedure to drain the washing machine. Then, you take your sopping wet clothes out of the left side of the washer and transfer them to this spinner thing on the right side. You pack them in tightly and hope the weight is balanced. Then, you close it up and let it spin super fast for 5 minutes. This gets most of the water out of your clothes. After this, you need to drain the machine again because of the water that game out of your clothes. After this, you are done with the washing machine and just have to go hang your clothes on the porch area on the lines we have out there so it will dry. It's pretty much fun and amazing to get to do laundry!
Are you all super jealous of me know? I hope so :)
Saturday, August 9, 2008
School, Facutly Party, and the Beach
Well, this week has sure been busy! At school all week, we've just been having meetings and planning for our year. My classroom is starting to get some more walls, which is a good thing. The high school is an addition to the cafeteria/ kitchen and is not yet done, so I'm not quite sure where I will be teaching in two weeks because I don't know that it will be done.... So, it could be interesting when school starts!
School from the front
The new addition part.... The second floor where there aren't finished walls yet? That's where I'll be teaching.
Where my classes will be
The science lab
The science lab again
On Friday night, we had a faculty party at Eva's (one of the preschool teachers) house. It was really fun. We sat around and visited, drank some Presidente, and danced. I know how to dance merengue some, but I also learned the basic step to the bachata as well. Some of the teachers are amazing dancers! It was really a fun night!
Dancing with fellow American teaching Keith.
Today, we went to the beach in Sosua. It was absolutely gorgeous and really relaxing. We hung out, swam, drank pina coladas, and swam some more all day long. It was about a two hour bus ride from Santiago, so we were able to spend basically the whole day at the beach, which was pretty amazing.
The beautiful beach at Sosua.
The beautiful Atlantic Ocean
The Americans on the beach :)
Me and Danielle, one of my roommates
I hope things are going well with everyone back home! E-mail me at KLSoccer57@aol.com if you have any questions. Or even, just let me know what you are up to! I love hearing from people.
School from the front
The new addition part.... The second floor where there aren't finished walls yet? That's where I'll be teaching.
Where my classes will be
The science lab
The science lab again
Me, Natalie (a fourth grader at school and Alexandra's daughter), Danielle, Kaitlyn, Alexandra, Dahianna, and Noemy (in front) at our faculty party.
Dancing with fellow American teaching Keith.
Today, we went to the beach in Sosua. It was absolutely gorgeous and really relaxing. We hung out, swam, drank pina coladas, and swam some more all day long. It was about a two hour bus ride from Santiago, so we were able to spend basically the whole day at the beach, which was pretty amazing.
The beautiful beach at Sosua.
The beautiful Atlantic Ocean
The Americans on the beach :)
Me and Danielle, one of my roommatesI hope things are going well with everyone back home! E-mail me at KLSoccer57@aol.com if you have any questions. Or even, just let me know what you are up to! I love hearing from people.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Adventure Continues
Well, my third day in the Dominican Republic was just as eventful as the first two. We only had one set of keys for all six of us, and you can't leave without keys because you have to unlock a padlock on the gate to get out. So, Danielle, Jackie, and I were leaving and unlocked the gate and Jackie went to throw the keys back up to Kaitlyn... Except Jackie had a very bad aim and threw them into the neighbors' porch below us... Whoops! Especially since the neighbors didn't answer when we knocked on their door. So, we decided all we could do was go to work and deal with it later. After an initial meeting, we had a "math and science meeting" with me, Jennie (our boss), Micah (the 6th grade and physics teacher), and Keith (the middle school math and science teacher). I was supposed to teach high school chemistry (three levels), algebra 1, and geometry. But when I got down here, she informed me that they didn't have anyone to teach the rest of high school math and biology, so we had to work stuff out. We did a lot of figuring out and this fall I will be teaching 9th and 11th grade biology, 10th grade geometry, 12th grade chemistry, 11th grade algebra 2, and 12th grade pre-calculus. In the spring I will teach, 9th grade chemistry, 11th grade chemistry, 9th and 10th grade geometry, 11th grade algebra 2, and 12thpre-calculus. Keith is taking 10th grade biology, and Micah is taking 9th grade algebra 1. So, instead of what I planned, I'm now teaching chemistry, biology, algebra 2, geometry, and pre-calc. So it will be a busy year! During our lunch hour, Jennie (boss lady) ran to our apartment since she and Raul have a spare set of keys and got ours back from our neighbor and then copied them so we each have our own set. This afternoon we went to Centro Leon which is supposedly one of the best museums in the country. We went to the Dominican Anthropology exhibit and the Dominican art exhibit and then saw cigar rollers. It was pretty interesting. We got back to our apartment and found out we don't have running water at the moment. So, that is slightly annoying.... But it's all part of the adventure!
My bedroom
Our First Living Room
Patio off the first living room
On the patio
View out our window
Another view out our window
Our dining room table
Our kitchen
Our second living room
Our Apartment Building
My bedroom
Our First Living Room
Patio off the first living room
On the patio
View out our window
Another view out our window
Our dining room table
Our kitchen
Our second living room
Our washing machine... Apparently it's a beast to use...
Monday, August 4, 2008
So, today was officially my first day of "work". We essentially have three weeks of planning and orientation before we actually start teaching. The school is about a five to ten minute walk from our apartment. So, it's really not bad at all. We started off the morning just hanging around and talking to the Dominican staff. They seem really nice and friendly, so it should be a fun group to work with. Rosanna is who I will probably be working with the most as she teaches high school math and science in Spanish, and I will be the English math and science teacher. I kind of have to say it like that now... Originally, I was going to teach three grades of chemistry, algebra 1, and geometry. But now, apparently they don't have a pre-calc teacher or a biology teacher. So guess who is probably going to get some more classes? So, until further meetings are held, I don't really know what I'll be teaching. Hopefully I'll find out more tomorrow!
The school seems nice, although very different from an American school. The hallways basically open up into the outside in places, and the rooms are all cement block and concrete. I'll have to figure out a fun way to decorate my room.... but that will probably have to wait until I know what I'm teaching!
After school, we went to the grocery store and then stopped at a cute little bar by our apartment for a Presidente Lite, the Dominican beer everyone drinks here. Then tonight, we just hung out. I made friends with my roommate Kaitlyn. That sounds super nerdy, but we hadn't talked much really before tonight, but I think we are going to end up being really good friends and doing stuff together lots! I'm pretty pumped. All my roommates are really cool, so I think it should be a fun year!
If you want to see pictures of my apartment and first day in Santiago, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007835&l=58b30&id=88400178
The school seems nice, although very different from an American school. The hallways basically open up into the outside in places, and the rooms are all cement block and concrete. I'll have to figure out a fun way to decorate my room.... but that will probably have to wait until I know what I'm teaching!
After school, we went to the grocery store and then stopped at a cute little bar by our apartment for a Presidente Lite, the Dominican beer everyone drinks here. Then tonight, we just hung out. I made friends with my roommate Kaitlyn. That sounds super nerdy, but we hadn't talked much really before tonight, but I think we are going to end up being really good friends and doing stuff together lots! I'm pretty pumped. All my roommates are really cool, so I think it should be a fun year!
If you want to see pictures of my apartment and first day in Santiago, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007835&l=58b30&id=88400178
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Start of the Adventure
So, I never seem to have a nice, normal, uneventful flying experience and going to the Dominican was no exception. To begin with, my name was spelled wrong on the ticket they bought me, so I was a little bit worried about that, but I called Northwest several times and was told it would be fine. So, we get to the airport, and Mom comes in with me just in case there are any problems.... Well.... The flight I was supposed to be on to JFK in New York was canceled because of bad weather. So, they told us that they re-booked my ticket on a flight going out Sunday night (the original flight was for Saturday). This was a problem because I was flying a different airline from New York to Santiago. So, the lady trying to explain this can't really speak English and keeps saying she can't help us, so she directs us to "purchasing" where we find this lady who seems really crabby. But, Mom starts joking around with her and she re-books me on a flight into LaGuardia instead of JFK that was supposed to get in with five hours to spare between flights... That is until that flight got delayed two hours... Well, anyways, the ticket lady I believe thought I was about 15 and Mom told her I was leaving for a year, so she gave her a "Mom Pass", so she could come through security with me and sit until the flight left. So, we got some lunch and then visited until the flight left. During this time, we realized that she had booked me in first class! So, that was pretty sweet :) We got food and drinks and everything, so that was pretty snazzy too! Well, I had very little time between flights by the time I finally get in, but I make it on a shuttle, get to JFK, get checked in right before they closed the check in, got through security, and got to the gate just as the plane was starting to board. So, pretty crazy! And then I go sit down and someone starts calling my name... So, I look around, and one of the guys that is teaching at my school was sitting across the aisle from me, so that was pretty neat. So, we got into Santiago at like 2 in the morning, did all the immigration/ customs stuff, and got picked up by Jennie and Raul who are the directors of our school.
So, today was my first "real" day in the DR. I got up and got to see our apartment which is soooo big! It is way, way nicer than I was expecting. I'll put up pictures soon. There are three bedrooms and six of us that are living here. So, I have five roommates who all seem super cool. I'm pretty pumped for the year! We went exploring today. We walked a really, really long time to get to the monument, hung out there for a while, tried to find the grocery store and got helped by a creepy man, and finally came back to our apartment and relaxed a little. Keith came over about 4:30 and we headed out for 5:30 church at the WELS mission in Santiago. The service was all in Spanish, but I understood it all! So, that was pretty cool. I also got to use my Spanish tons today when we were slightly lost trying to find the monument and then our way back to our apartment. So, all in all, it was a busy first day!
I'll put up pictures soon, and please send me e-mails letting me know what you are all up to! I miss everyone lots!
PS: If you want to come visit a warm, beautiful Caribbean country sometime when it is nasty and cold at home.......
So, today was my first "real" day in the DR. I got up and got to see our apartment which is soooo big! It is way, way nicer than I was expecting. I'll put up pictures soon. There are three bedrooms and six of us that are living here. So, I have five roommates who all seem super cool. I'm pretty pumped for the year! We went exploring today. We walked a really, really long time to get to the monument, hung out there for a while, tried to find the grocery store and got helped by a creepy man, and finally came back to our apartment and relaxed a little. Keith came over about 4:30 and we headed out for 5:30 church at the WELS mission in Santiago. The service was all in Spanish, but I understood it all! So, that was pretty cool. I also got to use my Spanish tons today when we were slightly lost trying to find the monument and then our way back to our apartment. So, all in all, it was a busy first day!
I'll put up pictures soon, and please send me e-mails letting me know what you are all up to! I miss everyone lots!
PS: If you want to come visit a warm, beautiful Caribbean country sometime when it is nasty and cold at home.......
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