Life has been crazy around here lately! It is definitely never dull at Saint David School. I've got quite the stories from the past two weeks or so! Last week was not a good teaching week. This week has been really good though. Crazy none-the-less, but really good!
Last week, like I said, was not a good teaching week. I had to deal with breaking up three fights. On Monday, I walk into ninth grade and it's chaotic because the Dominican teacher finished late and didn't have the kids ready, and they are walking around, trying to find their stuff, and it's crazy. And all of the sudden I hear Frankie scream the f-word. So, I drop my books and turn to see what is going on. And his pants, and boxers are around his ankles, and he's screaming at Alex while trying to pull his pants back up. Meanwhile, everyone in the entire room can see everything because Alex totally pantsed him, boxers and all. The next thing I know, Frankie's got his pants up and takes a swing at Alex. Alex kind of ducked out of the way and so Frankie missed. That gave me enough time to step in between them. I shoved Frankie really hard in the chest, which gave Marcel enough time to grab him from behind for me. Fortunately, Alex thought this was hilarious, because if he was mad too, I don't know that I could have stepped between them. Anyways, Marcel had Frankie from behind. And Frankie is little. He's like my height maybe and super skinny. And Marcel is really tall and strong-ish so he held Frankie until I got Alex out of the room and to the office. I told him he could go tell Jennie what he did. So, I finally get class settled down enough to start when Alex walks back in and says she's in a meeting. I told him he could go to the office and sit and wait for her to finish. So, like halfway through the class Jennie walks in and is like, "What happened in your class?" in her British accent. And so, I walked out in the hall and was like, "Didn't Alex tell you?" And she's like, "All he'll tell me is 'It was an accident. They just fell!'" And I was like.... "Well, Alex pantsed Frankie." And Jennie was like, "What does that term mean?" And I was like.... "Well, it means Alex pulled down Frankie's pants. And he pulled down his boxers too..." And Jennie in her thick British accent was like, "Are you telling me that Frankie was EXPOSED in your classroom???" And I was like, "Umm.... yeah....That's exactly what I'm trying to tell you." Lucky I didn't lose my job right then an there! Haha!
On Wednesday between classes, Jose was apparently picking on Gilbert. Jose said they were "just playing", but George said he was being mean. The rest of the ninth graders would agree with George about Jose being mean. So, George asked Gilbert, why don't you just punch him in the face and get it over with already! And Jose got mad and turned to George and was like, "You always talk about fighting George, but you never do! Let's go right now!" And George told him, "No, I don't fight little kids." And apparently Jose got up in his face and started pushing him, and George shoved him back and tried to walk away, but Jose wouldn't let him and pushed him as hard as he could into the lockers. So, George got mad and just decked him in the face. He decked him good and hard; Jose was super dizzy and out of it. Marcel ran over and was like, "Come on George, let's go to class." Logical thing to do after you just punched someone, right? (Marcel is actually really good about breaking up or diffusing fights.) So he grabs George around the shoulder and brings him into the classroom away from Jose. And by now, Jose is kinda coming back around and punches a locker since George isn't there to punch anymore. Well, school being incredibly logical as they are decided that Jose shouldn't be allowed back in class the rest of the day, but George should since "Jose provoked him". Now, I honestly believe Jose did provoke him, but that doesn't really justify decking someone. Even tho Jose probably deserved it. Then on Thursday, Juan and Chris almost got in a fight over something that happened when they were playing basketball. These boys!
This week has been good though. Tuesday was a slightly crazy day, but good none the less. I had chemistry lab with ninth grade. Monday night I still hadn't found a lab to do. So, I was researching easy, but cool labs online. The one I found that sounded cool tested the boiling points of various mixtures of water and alcohol. The practice was meant to be done with rubbing alcohol, but I couldn't find any here. I didn't look super hard, but I did try at the close colmados. Anyways, I was like, well.... I could substitute rum in here. Then I was like, it's school though... Hmm.... So, Kaitlyn was like, just call Jennie and ask her. So, I did. I was just like, "Umm.... Jennie, can I use rum in chemistry lab tomorrow?" And she was like, "Oh, of course! Let me run downstairs to see if I have a bottle you can use!" Never once did she ask what I would be doing with said rum. Anyways, she brought me a bottle of rum, which led to a slightly awkward handoff. Haha, she made me wrap it in a towel to carry it to lab, with honestly probably made it more conspicuous! Haha! Anyways, I had the first two hours free, so I decided to test it. Juan and Jose were in in-school suspension for a board punching and the George fighting incidents respectively, so I made them come test it with me rather than set everything up for them again another day. Anyways, everything was going smoothly, they were getting good data, everything was working how I planned when Jose was like, "Umm.... Miss Scislow? MISS SCISLOW!!!!" The entire beaker of ethanol had started on fire. It was a pretty cool looking fire, and I let Juan take pictures of it with his cell phone before I put it out. It happened once more with them before I made the necessary adjustments that I figured out avoid fires. Anyways, later that day when I did it with the rest of my class, Rony started his groups on fire. This one was also a pretty cool fire, and slightly more stressful, since I had a room full of like 25 ninth graders. So, I got them out of the way, grabbed the flaming beaker with heat resistant gloves and brought it to the sink to put it out. Well, it spilled in the sink and filled the entire sink with flames. The kids thought it was amazingly cool, and since it was just rum, I wasn't too worried about it being a really dangerous fire. I guess I'm glad everything here is cement block though! Haha! But wow, three fires in lab in one day! That's pretty impressive! They all thought it was a really cool lab though, which was good :) And only George and Rony pretended to drink any of it.
Today was a really good day. Maybe because I don't teach ninth grade on Thursdays? Haha! It was a good day all around! Teaching went well, and I had a couple kids just make my day. My senior boys gave me Hershey's kisses at lunch and asked if I would be their Valentine. After school, I ran to the office to check on grades for one of my kids, and Alex was in the office. And he's like, "Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow, Miss Scislow!!!!" so I was like, "Alex, Alex, Alex!" with a goofy smile before I realized there was a grown up with him. And Alex is like, "Miss Scislow, this is my dad!" So, I was like, "Oh, hi! Nice to meet you!" It's always a little awkward because I never know if I should use English or Spanish, but I knew they had just moved down from New York, so I figured I'd start in English since Alex had introduced me to his dad in English. And Alex was like, "Dad, Miss Scislow is the nicest, coolest, best teacher I've ever had! She's the best!" And I'm kinda blushing, and his dad was like, "That means a lot coming from Alex because he's very picky about his teachers. He hardly ever likes them!" And I was like, "Aww, thanks Alex!" And Alex was like, "Yeah, I've never had a teacher that was as cool!" And his dad was like, "I bet you've never had a teacher who is as pretty either!" Ugh! Even at school, haha! And Alex was like, "Yeah! If I was 10 years older, I'd marry you! Maybe I'll just have to wait ten years!" Lol, I like Alex. He's a little stinker, but he's a good kid.
Then, after homework room, Oasting gave me a huge hug and was like, "Miss Scislow! You are the only teacher that I can hug!" And I was like, "What? Why's that?" And he's like, "Because every other teacher, I'd probably just want to break their neck. But I love you!" Aww! Even my naught boys like me!
After school, I was walking home when someone across the street started jumping up and down and waving at me. And I was like, ugh! Because I hate getting hit on on the street. So, I ignored this person until he was like, "Miss Scislow!" So, I looked over and realized it was Arnold, one of my kids who lives kinda close to us. So, he ran across the street and I was like, "Hey Arnold!" And he was like, "You are going home very late!" And I was like, "It's because I was correcting your guys' math homework!" And he was like, "Oh, Miss Schumacher isn't going to correct our homework tonight because she has a Spanish test tomorrow." So, I laughed and was like, "So, what are you up to?" And he's like, "Stalking you of course!" (He always tells me he's going to stalk me. He's not a creepy kid, don't worry!) He was actually on his way to an internet place so he could do 'Miss Schumacher's' homework.
Anyways, as you can see, life is never dull here. I'm sure if you actually managed to read all this, you are incredibly bored by now, but hopefully you got at least one laugh out of it all! Hope all is well at home! Let me know how you are doing! I miss everyone lots!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Pictures
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
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
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
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