Here are my latest pictures from the DR. The first two links are from my family's visit for two weeks over Christmas. The third link is to pictures from the past few months at school. Hope you enjoy them. If this makes anyone else want to come visit me, let me know! Haha! Hope all is well back home. Miss you all!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009343&l=d0956&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009344&l=0a778&id=88400178
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009263&l=4c5d6&id=88400178
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Will you PLEASE put down your hair so I can teach!
Interesting Quotes from the first two weeks back:
“Miss Scislow! You look... very clean!”
“Miss Scislow, you look like you are about 22 or maybe 23.” “Why do you think that?” “Because you look like a girl!”
“Miss Scislow, you look good. Your clothes always match!”
“Miss Scislow, can I call you Kaitlyn?”
Wendy (a fellow teacher): "Kristen, you know what Camilo (one of the ninth grade boys) asked me? He said 'Who do you think is prettier, my girlfriend or Miss Scislow? Because I'm thinking about breaking up with my girlfriend!'"
It’s been an interesting week and a half getting back in the swing of school. My schedule switched around a little. I have ninth grade for two classes now: math and chemistry. It’s really a challenge to have eight classes a week with them because they’ve been pretty bad since coming back from break. Hopefully they get back into the swing of school quick! I still have tenth grade for geometry. Then, in eleventh grade I’m teaching algebra 2 still and chemistry. And since I picked up a class with ninth grade, I dropped one in twelfth grade, so I only have them for pre-calculus. I’m also teaching an SAT prep class for about half the eleventh and twelfth graders during elective time (so it’s one 2 hour block a week). If you have any suggestions at all as to how to do that, I’m all ears!
It’s kind of nice to start getting back into a routine again, but at the same time, it’s hard to have to work all the time again! It’s a lot of correcting to deal with now that I have four math classes! At least with the older kids (aka: NOT ninth grade!), I can correct in class with them. In ninth grade it just kind of turns into a free for all, and they really can’t handle it. So, I’ve got to re-figure out how to balance all my time so I get planning and correcting done at school instead of having to bring it home, but hopefully getting back into the swing of things won’t be too bad!
I think I’ve started a Twilight craze at St. David School. The high schoolers are all borrowing my Twilight books. Haha! And then they all want to go see the movie. I got invited to go to it with Oasting and Yang-Gi this weekend. They’ve already seen it and thought it was probably one of their favorite movies. Oasting told me he wanted to be a vampire. Haha! Anyways, I just think it’s funny that my boys seem as much into it at the girls! That’s all for now! Hope everything is well back at home!
“Miss Scislow! You look... very clean!”
“Miss Scislow, you look like you are about 22 or maybe 23.” “Why do you think that?” “Because you look like a girl!”
“Miss Scislow, you look good. Your clothes always match!”
“Miss Scislow, can I call you Kaitlyn?”
Wendy (a fellow teacher): "Kristen, you know what Camilo (one of the ninth grade boys) asked me? He said 'Who do you think is prettier, my girlfriend or Miss Scislow? Because I'm thinking about breaking up with my girlfriend!'"
It’s been an interesting week and a half getting back in the swing of school. My schedule switched around a little. I have ninth grade for two classes now: math and chemistry. It’s really a challenge to have eight classes a week with them because they’ve been pretty bad since coming back from break. Hopefully they get back into the swing of school quick! I still have tenth grade for geometry. Then, in eleventh grade I’m teaching algebra 2 still and chemistry. And since I picked up a class with ninth grade, I dropped one in twelfth grade, so I only have them for pre-calculus. I’m also teaching an SAT prep class for about half the eleventh and twelfth graders during elective time (so it’s one 2 hour block a week). If you have any suggestions at all as to how to do that, I’m all ears!
It’s kind of nice to start getting back into a routine again, but at the same time, it’s hard to have to work all the time again! It’s a lot of correcting to deal with now that I have four math classes! At least with the older kids (aka: NOT ninth grade!), I can correct in class with them. In ninth grade it just kind of turns into a free for all, and they really can’t handle it. So, I’ve got to re-figure out how to balance all my time so I get planning and correcting done at school instead of having to bring it home, but hopefully getting back into the swing of things won’t be too bad!
I think I’ve started a Twilight craze at St. David School. The high schoolers are all borrowing my Twilight books. Haha! And then they all want to go see the movie. I got invited to go to it with Oasting and Yang-Gi this weekend. They’ve already seen it and thought it was probably one of their favorite movies. Oasting told me he wanted to be a vampire. Haha! Anyways, I just think it’s funny that my boys seem as much into it at the girls! That’s all for now! Hope everything is well back at home!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
"Is that a prison?" "No, Dad, that's a school." =)
I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and New Year’s. I know I had a great time. My family flew in on December 23rd, and Wendy (one of my teacher friends) and her husband Milvio brought me to the airport to meet them. That night, we went out to a great little Dominican restaurant that one of my kids recommended, so my family got to try locrio con guandules (rice cooked with meat and spices, one of my favorite things here!), chicken, beef, tostones (which are fried plantains, a relative of the banana, and which the closest taste comparison is French fries), and yucca (which was baked and served with butter and tasted sort of like a mashed potato). We were all stuffed by the end of the dinner, and I think they were a little shocked by the bill! It was 600 pesos which is the equivalent of about $18 American. For six people to eat out, that’s pretty impressive! And the food was all delicious!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we just spent hanging out. For lunch of Christmas Eve, I tried my hand at Dominican cooking and made mangu, which is mashed plantains served with fried Dominican salami and fried onions. We had a turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner, opened presents, read the Christmas story in English and Spanish, and sang Christmas carols. On Christmas Day, we went to Phil and Kathy’s house. (They are the American missionaries.) We had a Christmas Bible study, sang carols, and had dinner with them. It was a very nice Christmas.
On Friday, I took my family in to see my school. Then we went to a museum called Centro Leon which is a Dominican anthropology and art museum. We got a guided tour in English which was nice for them, but my Spanish did help out a lot when the guide didn’t know how to translate things! That afternoon we went to the Monument, a big, huge monument really that was built by Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican in about the 1950s and renamed after his assassination to honor the heroes that restored liberty to the Dominican. We also went shopping on Calle del Sol, which is a very crazy street full of little stores and vendors.
On Saturday, following another recommendation by my students, we went to a place called Veintisiete Charcos, which loosely translates to Twenty-seven Waterfalls. With guides, we hiked across a river, and up to the first 12 waterfalls. Sometimes, we had to swim across the river and then climb up the waterfall as it rushed down. Then, to come back down, we got to slide down some waterfalls, jump over others, and jump over some about 25 foot cliffs into the river. It was sooooo much fun! Our guides were really funny, and since we had a big enough group, it was just them and our family. It was an excellent day!
The next day, Sunday, we headed to Playa Cofresi for a week. We rented a house on the beach that came with maids who did all the cooking (delicious Dominican food!) and cleaning. It was so relaxing! We spent most of the days lounging around by our private pool, strolling down the beach or just relaxing and reading in the sand, and swimming in the water. The ocean here is pretty warm pretty much all the time. We had great weather the entire time! On New Years’ Eve, we went snorkeling, which was pretty cool and welcomed the new year watching fireworks over the ocean from the beach.
Coming back from the beach the next Sunday, our driver stopped at a tobacco plantation and we got to see some cigar rolling. That night, we ordered pizza and relaxed and everyone packed since they left the next day.
Tobacco Drying
Rolling Cigars
Family picture in the mountains in front of a tobacco plantation
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone after the amazing two weeks we had. I hope my family had as good of a time as I did here! Hope everyone had a great Christmas as well, and I wish you all a blessed new year!
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we just spent hanging out. For lunch of Christmas Eve, I tried my hand at Dominican cooking and made mangu, which is mashed plantains served with fried Dominican salami and fried onions. We had a turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner, opened presents, read the Christmas story in English and Spanish, and sang Christmas carols. On Christmas Day, we went to Phil and Kathy’s house. (They are the American missionaries.) We had a Christmas Bible study, sang carols, and had dinner with them. It was a very nice Christmas.
On Friday, I took my family in to see my school. Then we went to a museum called Centro Leon which is a Dominican anthropology and art museum. We got a guided tour in English which was nice for them, but my Spanish did help out a lot when the guide didn’t know how to translate things! That afternoon we went to the Monument, a big, huge monument really that was built by Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican in about the 1950s and renamed after his assassination to honor the heroes that restored liberty to the Dominican. We also went shopping on Calle del Sol, which is a very crazy street full of little stores and vendors.
On Saturday, following another recommendation by my students, we went to a place called Veintisiete Charcos, which loosely translates to Twenty-seven Waterfalls. With guides, we hiked across a river, and up to the first 12 waterfalls. Sometimes, we had to swim across the river and then climb up the waterfall as it rushed down. Then, to come back down, we got to slide down some waterfalls, jump over others, and jump over some about 25 foot cliffs into the river. It was sooooo much fun! Our guides were really funny, and since we had a big enough group, it was just them and our family. It was an excellent day!
The next day, Sunday, we headed to Playa Cofresi for a week. We rented a house on the beach that came with maids who did all the cooking (delicious Dominican food!) and cleaning. It was so relaxing! We spent most of the days lounging around by our private pool, strolling down the beach or just relaxing and reading in the sand, and swimming in the water. The ocean here is pretty warm pretty much all the time. We had great weather the entire time! On New Years’ Eve, we went snorkeling, which was pretty cool and welcomed the new year watching fireworks over the ocean from the beach.
Coming back from the beach the next Sunday, our driver stopped at a tobacco plantation and we got to see some cigar rolling. That night, we ordered pizza and relaxed and everyone packed since they left the next day.
Tobacco Drying
Rolling Cigars
Family picture in the mountains in front of a tobacco plantation
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone after the amazing two weeks we had. I hope my family had as good of a time as I did here! Hope everyone had a great Christmas as well, and I wish you all a blessed new year!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Teacher, are you young enough that you still have to worry about child molesters???
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!
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!
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!
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