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!
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