So THAT'S what a book is for...

Today is a MOY (middle of the year) testing day aka Benchmark testing.  It's so the school knows how the kids are doing and whether or not they need to place the students in a remedial class--that kind of thing.

It follows pretty strict guidelines similar to TAKS.  It's taken pretty seriously.  After they are done testing, they're allowed to do 1 of 2 things:

1.  Read a book OR
2.  Put your head on your desk.

NOTHING ELSE.

No homework, no studying.  Even if it seems like it would be productive, they are not allowed to do anything else at all.  A lot of them were unprepared for this.  Thankfully the classroom I was in had a full class set of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and I was able to give it to many of the kids who were sitting staring off into space.  There were some other kids (a set of twins I like to call the Weasleys despite their lack of red hair) who just flat out refused and instead enjoyed staring at their classmates.  There was another set of books... something about The 7 Healthy Habits of Successful Teenagers... or something like that.  I handed them that book :)

30 minutes later (and I really can't blame them, it is 30 minutes later)... I saw how they were putting the Lewis Carroll books to use...

they were trying to balance it on the back of the head of one of the kids who were sleeping.

Oh 8th graders...

Thank you Google Translator

Today and yesterday I've been subbing for one of the Special Ed TAs.  This usually puts me in a regular classroom setting as support to the teacher... mostly helping with the sped kids that are in the class, like an inclusion specialist.

I don't only offer my services to the sped kids though, I'm often helping the other kids as well... pretty much whoever seems to be struggling and needs help.

Yesterday I met an adorable little girl named Thao (yes, she's made even more adorable for having my name).  Another Vietnamese student (who adorably calls me "Co Nguyen"--accent and all--everytime she sees me) was letting Thao know that I was Vietnamese and she should ask me if she had any questions.

It was obvious Thao had no intention of asking me any questions, despite the fact that she speaks little to no English.  She'd rather copy down the notes in gibberish (with letters that look like her alphabet, minus different vowels and their accents and a d with a funny line through it) and figure it out later.

So I tried my best.  They were going over a warm up on density.  She had the D=M/V formula down, and she even did the problem, because she recognized what she should do... she just didn't know why she should do it.

Imagine explaining density to a kid... and then imagine trying to dig down really deep to explain it to them in a language you can barely speak because you have the vocabulary of a 3rd grader (if even that...)

Kids Care!

Subbed for a teacher's who's house was damaged due to the Bastrop fires.

I let them make her cards during their movie-watching time.

Overheard in the Classroom

A Terrifying Truth of America's Youth

Student: Miss, weren't you the choir teacher?

Me: Yes.

Student: Why aren't you doing that anymore?

Me: I was just subbing for one of the teachers who was out.

Student: Why was she gone for so long?

Me: She was on maternity leave. She had a baby.

Student: Why?

Me: [Jokingly] You see, when a man and a woman love each other... just kidding, we're not having that conversation.

Student: Oh no miss, I don't want to have that talk again.

Me: Oh, so you've already had "The Talk"?

Student: Yeah, my parents talked to me about it. Well, some of it. Everything else, I learned from Glee.

Oh Glee.

Last Day Subbing

It was a good day. I only cried a teensy bit during 4th period when I was reading some of our Varsity choir's letters/cards. Our sub coordinator (who has 2 sons in choir) came in and gave me some flowers and told me how appreciated I was.

I've gotten potted flowers (freesias--which reminds me, if you can't hold yourselves up, how about not be so top heavy?), a bamboo plant in the shape of a heart, and tons and tons and tons of cards and letters.

It was really sweet. I love them. I'll miss them, but it wasn't as devastating as the time before. I was definitely prepared for this and they were too, so the fact that we got to say goodbye was really sweet.

Anyway, good kids.

Oh yeah, the principal said she wanted me to be their 3rd chaperone on the choir trip! :) Done!

I Get Why Arlie Hated LC

No offense LC, I think this is really a post on why I get that Arlie hated us as a class in general. I just like to remember how much Arlie specifically hated you... haha

Choir students never want to stand when they're asked to and they never sit quietly when they're asked to. They rarely hold up their music the way they're supposed to and in turn do not sing out like they should with great posture. Choir students are chatty and think that it's social hour. Choir students try to USE THEIR CELL PHONE in the middle of class when they obviously shouldn't have it out. Choir students think they know better than their teacher and argue about little changes that the director may make.

The only difference between my choirs and the choirs I've been in (and the one that creates a HUGE LINE between loving and hating something) is that MY choir students are 10-14 years old... and... we were 18-22. We should've known better. Like, seriously.

I think back to all those times when Arlie just stared at us in disbelief that we were still talking and I literally can't get my mind around it. Here we were, adults, young adults, but adults nevertheless, blatantly disrespecting someone that (whether we liked him/her or not) deserved our respect if we wanted to be a successful choir. I have to spout this rhetoric to my students all the time but I understand that they're young and they don't quite understand the consequences of their actions. We definitely were NOT too young to know that if we waste a whole class period talking, we end up having terrible songs like... Spinning Wheel, Neutron Dance, or Walking on Sunshine. I'm about 101% positive there are more, but those are just songs that I remember really REALLY hating.

I remember one class when Arlie just walked out and said she was leaving after trying to warm us up (and we didn't shut up). We all cried foul, shook our fists, and didn't understand why she was being a drama queen. We decided that we would get work done without her (after all, we DID have Jack). But now I totally get it. We were total jerks. Seriously. Who did we think we were?

Had a rough day with the 6th grade boys today. Excuses, excuses, excuses. I guess I'm just thinking out loud on paper on screen. (?)

One of my favorite students from our top boys' choir never ever ever has his jacket. If he does have his jacket, it's shoved in his locker. I'm constantly teasing him for being... a crazy person. Anyway, today is particularly cold. It's 32 degrees right now. Anyway, every morning, after the pledge of allegiance, the person on the announcements ask the students to remain standing until their teacher tells them to sit. This is usually done in order to check dress code.

Diana jokingly said to the kids, "I'm giving the office the names of every student who is wearing shorts or has no jacket." Because, again, that is crazy. The kid who never has a jacket, of course, still didn't have one... AND he was wearing shorts. After I teased him some more about this, which is more of a running joke between us than anything else, he says, "Yeah, I don't have a jacket. I also just realized I'm wearing plaid shorts with stripes. What was I thinking?" This, coming from a 8th grader who couldn't tell me the difference between a dress and a skirt. (To be fair, I think only ONE of the kids in this choir knew.)

When the Going Gets Tough... Well it Sucks.

Yes, I realize I never recapped my holidays. I have a saved draft, I just haven't posted it yet because... I usually do really bad at big updates. I think I become overwhelmed with trying to get all the info in, that I just... don't. Anyway...

This past weekend was a roller coaster of emotions for me. First of all, let me start by saying that my first week back to school was awesome! It was slightly hard to get up on Tuesday (I had Monday off since it was a professional development day for teachers only) and get back into the 7:45 routine, but it worked out okay! The kids were just as hyper as ever, but I love-love-love them! Anyway, it was great seeing Diana again and we caught up with our walks to Starbucks and yada yada good times.

Friday rolls around. In the morning, Diana mentioned to me that Shana (the teacher I'm subbing for) had called her the day before and mentioned something about having to come back sooner than later. Long story short--her baby (beautiful beautiful baby girl) had to go back into the NICU. Since the baby was now fairly stable, and since Shana kind of had no other choice--she needed to get back to work or her time at home w/o baby would mean less maternity leave when the time came for the baby to actually come home.

So, it didn't seem that big a deal because I figured I'd just be able to come back when the baby did come home for about 6 weeks and it'd be all good. Either way, we'd talk about it, and it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Unfortunately, we found out later on that day that she was for sure coming back on Monday, after all, the sooner she got back, the less it would eat up her maternity leave time. Completely understandable.

Unfortunately that meant it was Friday and I wouldn't be able to see the kids (4/5 classes) and tell them I was leaving. And thinking back now, maybe it was a little ridiculous how much I cried when I said bye to the last class of the day (I at least got to say goodbye to one of the classes!), because odds are I will be back. But I guess I just hadn't had time to process it at the time and I was just overwhelmed with emotions. I just really really love those kids. The thought of not waking up too-early on Monday morning to see them almost made me feel sick to my stomach. I mean, I know eventually it had to stop, because I was only temporarily there, but I guess I just hadn't prepared myself for the goodbye yet. Anyway, for lack of a better way to explain my feelings that day, I was really really sad.

When I got home, with the permission of Thomas and Schutte, I ate my one emergency ramen. It was delicious. SO SO SO SO SO DELICIOUS. Then we went to Red House to meet up Buddy, JJ, and that crew. Aberdeen came out which was nice because I don't think I've seen her since she and I went on our little walk-date. :) When I got home, I had a surprise from Thomas (see the post that is likely to follow this one).

The next day I had to open at anthro which automatically put me in a bad mood. I don't really know why I dread going to work, because when I get there, I enjoy it--thoroughly! :) Anyway, then I went home for a bit, then Mandola's with Kristi and Eshe. I've never been wow-ed by that place, in fact, it's usually fairly mediocre. But, I figured I should give it another try and it was convenient for the girl's day we were having. We were going back to Cafe Monet and making more things! So, I tried the Spaghetti Carbonara (because Buddy said Nick made it the day before or something and it sounded SO GOOD). It was... okay. I'm going to say something, and y'all probably won't believe this. It was kind of too salty. TOO SALTY! Oh well, I ate the leftovers with Sriracha all up ons it, and it was good! Anyway, Eshe brought Nia. OMG TOO CUTE! We need to have another get together and Eshe can bring Nia and I'll bring Johnny for a playdate.

When I got home, my spirits had been lifted. But I was pooped. Then I got a phone call from Shana and we talked and it was a good talk. I was definitely mostly over it by then. It was nice getting to talk to her about it, and I was definitely more optimistic after that. Nevertheless, I think it put me in a funk. I slept a lot that night. The next morning I woke up refreshed. Although I couldn't tell you what I did at all. Eventually Thomas and I went to go play Tennis. I was kicking his butt at 4-0, and then... he won 4 in a row to tie, and then we each kept going back and forth until it was 6-6, and since I couldn't remember how to play a tie-breaker, we just ended it there.

Then Thomas and I went over to Diana and Stephen's. They have such a nice apartment! We hung out for quite some time. The boys played video games and Diana and I talked Weddings a whole lot. We had a really good time :) I think they inspired Thomas and I to get a record player. It's rare that you're hanging out with friends and you're like "Hey, put on some music." But if there are records around, it's like "Hey, let's put this record on." And it's very natural and non-pretentious and I think I'm way into it. So... that's gonna happen. Also, they had the Sufjan Stevens "Come On Feel the Illinoise" album. SOOO GOOD.

So today went by. No school. No kids. No sweat, that's for sure :) but I did miss them. Unfortunately my discipline for working when I don't necessarily have to (i.e. forcing myself to spend a full day at the doc's office so I actually make money) has waned. I'll have to kick it up a notch though This money tree is becoming less and less fruitful. :)

Alright, enough for now.

2011: Light Fuse and Get Away

This New Years, my family and I went crazy with the fireworks (details to come later).

On the instructions for almost any firework (the non-sparkler ones, anyway) ended with the words, "light fuse and get away."

I've decided to adopt that instruction for this coming up year. I haven't exactly pinpointed just how I plan to metaphorically "light the fuse" and I definitely don't know exactly what I'm going to "get away" from, but it just sounds like a good plan. For now, I've decided that my long-term subbing stint has been my form of lighting the fuse. Once I'm done, I'm going to blast out some resumes and get away, that is, step back and see what happens.

Dear God I hope something happens!

Posts to look forward to:

1. Brief Holiday Recap

2. Last.fm 2010 Stats

3. More BSC book blogs!

4. 2010 Recap

5. 2011 Goals

You Reap What You Sow, Right?

In this case, it's been a good thing. These past few days, I've gotten tons and tons of shtuff from my students. Mostly sweets (there's currently a package of assorted Ghirardelli chocolates staring me in the face), a scarf (keeping my neck warm), multiple Starbucks gift cards (boy, do I need them), a candle, and a painting of a musical Christmas tree ornament... just to name a few. I've written thank you cards for about 1/3 of the students (all the ones who gave me something prior to today), but there was a giant influx of items today and I haven't been able to keep up.

I'm taking this as a sign that the kids really do maybe actually like me, or that, at least, their parents think I'm worthy of showing appreciation for the holidays. I'll try to snap a picture of my mound of student goodies, and maybe even a photo of myself today. I look kind of awesome... just saying. Schutte and I went shopping last night and I bought a cute ugly/tacky Christmas sweater. There was one really really ugly Christmas vest, but I had already drawn the line. I belted it (it was kind of big), side pony-tailed my hair, put on a headband with antlers on it, and has since been told by a couple of students that I look like a teenager. GOOD. Cause that's what I was going for. :)

Tonight: CPI Christmas Party--Charter Bus to Salt Lick!

Tomorrow: Third Annual Christmas Potluck with The Gang

Saturday: Dallas! :)

I'm Just a Big Puffy Marshmallow

A few weeks ago, one of my students lied to me. A big lie, too. It affected another teacher and that teacher in turn wrote a referral for her and instructed me to do the same. As I am a sub, I am not privy to the proper channels of writing up a student with a referral, so Diana had to e-mail one of our assistant principals to figure out what to do. We had not yet heard back from the principal, and I became unsure if this is even worth looking into anymore since the time had kind of passed, and she was already getting in trouble for it.

Since the student lied to me, she hasn't spoken to me at all and has avoided all eye contact with me. Today, the student came up to me and said "Miss Nguyen, I need to talk to you." Picture a student about 8 inches taller than me, looking at me like I might shoot daggers from my eyes. She was looking uber sheepish. I just nodded and said, "Okay, what's up?" And then she said, "I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for that day, and it's all been taken care of, and... I'm just really sorry I did that to you." And then she leaned down and gave me a hug. I feel like I could've been a hardass and said something "I hope you learned your lesson"-y, but instead, I just went with, "Well, I really appreciate that." Because I did. She didn't have to say anything to me ever again, but she came to me on her own volition and apologized.

Moving on Up!

Dear God,

Thanks! :)

It's been quite a challenge and I'm still not there, but I think you're giving me baby steps, and I think I actually prefer it this way. Thanks for knowing what's best--or, at least, I hope you do! ;)

Love,

Mel

Did I just wink at God? Anyway, for some of you who do not already know, for the past two and a half weeks or so, I've been subbing for the choir at Murchison. Coincidentally, I've been subbing with Diana Brown, an old LHS classmate! It was kind of a trip when I realized that I was subbing FOR her one day, and then I've been subbing along with her (for the other choir director who just had a baby) ever since! I'm now officially the long-term sub here and I will be until at least January 31st! I'm at a great school and I'll be working with the age group that I hope to be working with full-time soon (hopefully)! Things are looking up and I am moving forward! :)

Now... how to make my blog private so those rascals don't go finding me on the interwebs...

LASA Students Make Me Feel Inadequate

I'm subbing for another class at LASA today. I'm not 100% sure what class this is. It was listed as english, but the classes are Intro to Human... (-ities? I'm not sure because this is all that printed out) and AP Psychology (Who took psychology in high school???) Anyway, some of them are just reading their books. One girl was reading the Iliad. I asked her if she's reading it for fun or for Latin (I was about to Latin nerd all over her). She said she's reading it for English, it's one of their required readings that the entire 10th grade had to read. ENTIRE 10th GRADE! THE ILIAD! I asked her what else they had to read and she said The Odyssey and Metamorphoses. I've never. I mean, as a Latin nerd, I of course know the basics of these books... but I've never SAT DOWN AND READ THEM. The books we had to read Sophomore year were Fahrenheit 451 (which we read in 8th grade), Lord of the Flies (stupid conch shell!), Silas Marner (I think I liked that one), The Crucible... not necessarily BAD, but it wasn't exactly The Iliad, The Odyssey or Metamorphoses!

I bought this dress! It's been about a month since I saw it in our store (and literally gasped) and so I finally allowed myself to buy it. It's been my first purchase in like, 3 weeks! I think that's pretty good... I wanted to wait even longer, but my size was becoming extinct. So... I had to jump on it... okay anyway, moving on.

A small portion of me wants to take a photo of my bedroom so you can see the sheer madness that it has become. And everything is kind of in it's place, so I don't really know why it always gets like this, but it does. Maybe I just need a bigger room :) I need to put more things on walls. I need more shelves. I'm gonna craigslist that.

Anyway, I need to clean my room.

I wonder how many blogs I've posted about cleaning my room. (Just 2 others, just checked!)

I need to at least put things where they need to and then decide what to do with the remaining riffraff.

OH! I just got a job to sub tomorrow at LASA again! YAY! And for social studies again! :) Exciiiiited! I'll get to introduce myself to the teacher that I subbed for last time! Yay! (Oh and that teacher asked me to sub for him 3 other days).

Okay yay bye!

P.S. Will someone force Anh Vinh's family to START BLOGGING?!

Modification of Teaching Plan

Get HQ for high school social studies.

I love government and I love history. Like, LOVE. I love the civil rights movement from the 50s and how it's so relevant today. I HATE that there are people in the world (US, more specifically--FLORIDA, I'm looking at YOU) that the burning of a sacred book of text, the Quran, is ok. I won't go on a tangent, because believe me, I can GO. But let's just say that the burning of the Quran will not HELP international relations and definitely will open wounds that have taken Muslims (especially American Muslims) years to heal after 9/11. I hope anyone who reads this agrees with me. Mostly because anyone who reads this is supposed to either be my friend or family member. Disagreements about an issue such as this though makes it pretty cut and dry to me whether or not I need to be associated with you. :)

Okay, back to my original reason for this post.

I'm subbing for a social studies teacher at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy here in Austin. These kids seem AWESOME. They're pretty well-behaved, but most importantly, they seem to WANT to learn. I LOVE THIS! I WANT THEM! FOR ME! I need to figure out a way to infiltrate this school.

:)

A Bunch Of Winners!

Kid: What's your name again?
Me: Ms. Nguyen, like, "All I Do Is Win!"
3 Girls Singing: All I do is win win win no matter what!

I can't say I wasn't hoping for the response!