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!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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!
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