I definitely got a dose of 2 extremes this week: Wednesday felt like the epitome of a wasted day, but today I felt like I was actively helping in every class period. Part of the problem with Wednesday was that it was an "early release" day, meaning students get to leave at 1:15 so teachers can "collaborate." Problem with that is, I'm not a student, and I'm not really a teacher, so that left me with nothing to do. At all. And up until 1:15, high school classes were cut short, and since I've noticed that it takes many teachers a good 10-15 minutes to get started anyway, there was really nothing to get done, and no real help I felt that I could give. The elementary ESL class was cancelled, leaving me to have to search for another class I could help with. That left me with a geometry class at the junior high, but of course, I showed up and the kids were sitting in the hall. For 15 minutes. While the teacher chatted with another teacher. So I left.
However, today was the complete opposite. I think the ESL kids are starting to see me as a real resource for them. One girl who rarely talks to me in Spanish, let alone English, confided in me (in English) that she had a poster presentation today in Science and she was really nervous and embarrassed about talking in front of the class. I went to the teacher and arranged for her to give her presentation to him alone, which I hope made a difference in her confidence. She also said that she had a history test coming up, and she has NO idea what's going on. I learned that the test is Tuesday, about the Civil War, and I don't know how much I can help her between now and then. That's a lot of material. And it seems like these kids really need to learn it in both languages: Spanish so that they really understand what's going on, and English so that they can identify questions and write on the tests. It's a hard knock life.
Outside of school, I finally got in to join the gym. Healthy Visions is Morton's number one fitness facility, complete with step classes for old people, equipment I'm sure I've seen on infomercials, and a vibrating table. I figured the table would be a low vibration that would be somewhat relaxing. However, turns out it was more like a violent rocking motion--I would've been a sight to see, in the back of the gym rocking back and forth. I decided I did NOT want to be seen and cut the 5 minute vibrating table session down to 30 seconds. Apparently that rocking motion is supposed to rock your flab off or something. I think I'll pass from here on out. The trainer there is definitely not much compared with the ones I've worked with in the past, but once I'm done with my orientation with her, I can get huge all by myself.
High School quotes of the day:
Series of random questions for the math teacher, fired in rapid succession by different people:
"Mr. Young, do you, like, ever have any other expression on your face?"
"Yeah Mr. Young, do you ever smile?"
"Why do you wear a vest EVERY day?"
"He's just a vest kind of guy, shut up!"
No comments:
Post a Comment