In teaching there are sometimes life changing moments…
One such moment for me was when I first got sucked into teaching ESL.
Another such moment was when I sat in on an ESL kindergarten class…
I met my first little autistic student.
He was non-verbal and hated colors and loud noises.
His fixation was a car…but it was also me…oddly enough.
Direct eye contact and then a hug…
His teacher discouraged it… It was my first day there and she did not know me.
But I did not mind the hug…
From then on, every time he saw me, he’d rush over to hug me or show me something he worked on in class…
This is how I decided that my next Master’s degree will be in Special Education, one sweet boy who changed my life…
I was at a community college, panicking over my BA in English.
So I went for an associate’s in medical secretary.
I helped my friend learn her medical terminology, abbreviations, grammar, and anatomy.
I helped another friend learn about computers as we had to take Windows, Excel, and Access.
All three of us struggled comically over transcription.
The Puerto Rican said that the “Puerto Rican” doctor on the recording didn’t sound right.
The Caucasian said, “Where the heck do you find the ‘send’ key?!”
I felt like the smartest person in the room for the first time in my life.
So sorry…
I missed my post deadline…
I was in a lot of pain yesterday.
Anyway, I really must look up how to run Tumblr automatically.
But for now, I still have a praxis to study for…
And it’s making me so anxious that I am making myself ill…
It always happens…
My stomach is killing me and I can’t eat or drink certain things without making it worse.
Like dairy, anything spicy, caffeine, sugar, citrus, etc.
Half of my normal eating habits are now off limits.
And I get to endure a full week of this since the test is next Saturday…
Joy…
Three weeks just sitting in a library watching ELLs take the ACCESS test…
Oh great, Corona.
I’m banned from the school and go home.
Now, the school shuts down and the children seldom show.
I sit in my bedroom talking to the walls on Zoom.
YouTube stories…picture books and animations on environmental and wildlife conservation…
Stories lead to class discussions and simple assignments.
The edTPA is not going to happen.
Thankfully I don’t need it for institutional backing once I finally graduate.
Virtual classrooms where students are constantly interrupted by poor internet or having to watch younger siblings.
These kids are learning nothing yet being passed onto the next grade.
It’s such a disservice…
No energy
Still rather depressed at times
Creativity.
Bureaucracy is a tumor on society’s ass that will never go away…
Government…fueled by greed and money…one of the worst necessary evils…
All I wanted from Biden was student loan forgiveness for my admittedly incomplete education. Did I get my diploma? Yes.
Did I graduate feeling confident and ready? No.
My student teaching was interrupted by Corona.
This may not seem like such a big thing to you…
But when you have anxiety and are faced with a new experience, a new challenge, a new career… It is terrifying to feel ill prepared.
Teaching well behaved adults who want to learn English is one thing but teaching children who are a million times more hyper, sociable, and sneaky than you are is an entirely different matter. I am happy to say that I am finally on the right track to becoming a teacher…hopefully a GOOD teacher. But at the same time, I am very disheartened that it took so long and I had to jump through so many rings of fire to do so. You’d think that someone at some point in the educational food chain would know how to organize things better…streamline the process. Make things easier.
No.
First I get told that I need to have three different certifications…
Then I’m told that the school district that just hired me needs me to do yet another background check…
I’m working in the same State! Why do I need to get another background check when I just got one done last month?!
Sub psychotic rage
Blood pouring from sacred place
The pain of betrayal.
I sometimes wonder what parents are thinking when they shroud their children in ignorance…
Are they protecting themselves from having to explain the virus?
Are they bamboozled into thinking that there is no pandemic?
They vaccinate their son against the flu yet he has no idea what ‘corona’ or ‘covid-19’ is…
What does he think of these masks then? A sudden fashion trend?
At least he wasn’t told it was all an elaborate hoax…
Booger cookies are
A very thoughtful gift, dear
I think I’ll pass.
My very first day of teaching…
I taught paleontology.
I was six-years-old.
I had five students.
They were my Cabbage Patch Kids.
Breakthrough finally
Happiness can be real now
I have a new job.