24

I have finally gotten to the point where I can't just sit down and watch television. I have to multi-task. I wonder if that is why so many students struggle to sit still in class during direct instruction.

24 has been one of my favorite shows for the last 7 years. I was so excited for this season to start. I loved the season opener, but I realized that 24 has made me paranoid. Every character that has shown up on screen has made me question if they are trust worthy. Which character is going to be the deceitful one? I also miss Tony Almaeda's character. I'm still stunned from last seasons discovery of his turning EVIL!! But, this is why I love 24. No character is safe from radical character arcs or death (the reason I loved Harry Potter).

The other thing that 24 makes me think of is does this happen in reality and we are just blissfully unaware (did I mention i'm now paranoid). As we watch the terror alert go up and down on cable news shows should we be truly concerned because 24 is more realistic than fiction. Maybe there is a real life Jack Bauer, and we owe our safety to him.

I want to shout out to the technology that they were showing on the show tonight. If that is real, we have a slight reason to be frightened. We have always known that the government has the capability to monitor everything we do, but the upgraded technology shown makes it a tad more frightening because of the speed that computers are capable of (reading too much dystopian novels on my own).

Break

This is the first week of my "Summer Break." It's only going to be a week long because my kid goes back to school next week and I have Professional Development.

Still a week is nice. What have I been doing this week? Getting ready for next school year!!! I wonder if i'll ever be able to truly get away from being a teacher. Can I go on vacation and not think of my kids? I don't know, but I have to say that I love what I do!!!

Breakfast for the kiddies

Some teachers arrived early to make and serve pancakes and sausages for our kids before they finished the last part of the CAHSEE. It was actually fun. I usually don't deal with the other teachers, but today I got to see what we can be like when we band together for our kids. Some of us were there at 6 a.m. the first student to show up showed up at 6:20. As the kids trickled in they seemed to enjoy it. Most didn't show up until around 7:10, but I think they got the point of what we were willing to do for our kids.

Odd comment

Our school had threatened to go pick up absent 10th graders if they did not arrive to take the CAHSEE. We missed our goals last year because of the fact that we did not have the required amount of attendance. I thought no one is going to go pick up kids. WELL I was wrong. They did use our admin staff to go and pick up a few kids. Reminds me of that commercial where the delivery trucks are delivering the kids to school.

It's been a while

What have I been up to? I still teach, but now it's ESL that I teach. I still work in San Diego. What am I doing right now? I am watching a group of eight students attempt to take the English portion of the CAHSEE. A few students have already put their head down and did not attempt the essay. I'm looking at them and wondering why? One student I have know for the last two years. As much as I would like to think that all kids have a chance, this student is hopeless because he stopped caring. I have worked with him for two years trying to be his cheerleader and his warden. When he has good grades I acknowledge them and tell him how proud I am, when he blunders in other classes and his teachers notify me I sit and talk to him, so he knows that I am there for the good and the bad. However, the last few months have been draining with him. I no longer have him as a student and I am slightly relieved. He is hard to like, but I want so badly for him to succeed.

The second student I do not know. When I asked him about the essay, he gave me a blank stare. What am I to think? I don't have access to his student information. Hopefully he'll score highly on the multiple choice and the essay will be unnecessary.

What am I watching? I'm a couch potato. I know it and everyone else knows it. On Mondays I impatiently wait for How I Met Your Mother? Watching this show I am guaranteed to laugh. I also watch 24 which is addictively good. I began a new show at 10 on Mondays it is called Castle I must admit I started watching it because the star, Nathan Fillion, but I was surprised to find I like the writing. Writing on television shows is what makes me loyal. I have realized I don't like feature movies very much because the writing in them has gotten horrible. I have a long list of shows that I am watching Gossip Girl, Bones, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Dollhouse, Friday Night Lights, and Battlestar Galactica. Well maybe that isn't a lot of shows, but thinking of the list made me realize that I watch tv three nights a week. I want more scripted shows. On the nights that I don't have anything to watch I watch TV on DVD. Have plenty of DVDs and am a rewatcher.

I saw The Watchmen recently and did not understand the appeal. The story had no true plot, or maybe I just didn't understand it. For once it was too over my head. From what I understand those that have been fans of the comic find the movie appealing. Not me. I actually don't remember what was the last good movie that I saw. I don't rent anymore because it seems to be a waste of money. However, there are a few movies that I want to see Revolutionary Road and The Reader. I'm a Kate Winslet fan. I think she is wicked awesome. Plus I've read the book of one of those movies in my credential program.

Miscellaneous...My girl is five weeks from turning 16. I keep telling her we only have two years for me to be responsible for her and then she's on her own. What will I do without her? No clue, chances are she won't leave. Hopefully though she will continue with her education...Books!!!! How could I not have a section dedicated to books? I don't know. Maybe I am finally reaching the limit of what I will read. I have found that Young Adult novels are the books to read. But, a lot of them are just trying to fill a void that Harry Potter has left. I read the Twilight series and have to admit while I liked the first one, the rest of the series disappointed me. I mean the story is about two people who are totally obsessed with one another. Edward is a stalker in the first novel, and on first reading no one seems to notice this. For the rest of the series Bella is a pathetic excuse for a female. First, she can't live without Edward, then she has to have Jacob in her life no matter the pain that it causes all involved. As for the final book don't get me started. Meyer's chickened out. She had an opportunity to show that life is harsh, instead we get a happily ever after ending that isn't even worthy of Walt Disney. Letdown a lot. Meyer should have stopped at the first book. As for the Twilight fans, I'm sorry you want a true love story with a realistic ending read Shakespeare. My next guilty series is Vampire Academy by Richelle Meade. This series is only three novels in, and Meade has already ripped out my heart, stomped on, and ran a lawn mower over it. Meade is willing to annoy and upset her fans, which is something I appreciate. Happily ever afters are meant for Disney movies. In Vampire Academy I am seriously invested in the characters. I am impatiently counting down the days to the next novel, which I hope and believe is May. I already plan on taking the day off, so I can read the book in peace. But, between then and know is City of Glass for some reason I can not think of the author right now, but this book comes out next Tuesday, and I think I'm taking the day off. I have been rereading the first two books and utterly enjoying myself. The trilogy is about a shadow world that lives parallel to our world. This world has all mythical creatures that go bump in the night, but the idea of good-vs-evil is not as clear. The other thing I like about these books is the references to other classical literature like Dante's The Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost.

Procrastinating and Ranting.

As usual I am procrastinating. I should be doing BTSA, homework, planning, grading, or working on my action research, but I'm not doing any of those things. Well I kink of am planning. I'm reviewing what we are going to do this week. My kids are going to start reading Anne Frank. This is a bit ambitious seeing how my kids are ESL. However, I know my kids can do it with a lot of scaffolding and structure.

As usual i'm watching television on my computer. I'm checking out Roswell. I just finished watching the first season of Jericho, which is a really good show. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Friday Night Lights will get picked up for a third season. Obviously i'm a little obsessed with television at the moment. I have just gotten to the point that I'm not interested in doing very much. I don't feel like reading even though I am reading. Movies are too predictable and that bores me, so i've become obsessed with television.

I have learned something about myself this last year. I love good stories. That is why I have read regularly since I was a child. That is why I love movies. That is why I loooove television. I also realize that I like that in people. Good storytellers are hard to come by. I don't think i'm a good storyteller, but I am a good listener. What is the point of saying this? To justify my love of television.

Anyways, my district is currently in the midst of budget cuts, meaning that I may be layed off next school year. I'm not worried for myself, but for my students who already do not receive the services that they are entitled to. Our district does not have a strong ESL department. There seems to be inadequate resources to address a population of students that can place a school in program improvement. Before anyone says "Well it shouldn't be that hard to learn a new language." Think about the fact that they have to learn a new language, adjust to a new culture, be ridiculed because of their native language and learn the necessary curriculum for them to be assessed and gain the credits for graduation. I think i'm annoyed with other countries that do not make compulsory education a priority. Basic reading and writing should be mandatory. Literacy in the native language guarantees the necessary skills to become literate in a foreign language. I'm also annoyed with a government that has difficulty comming to an agreement with a program that will benefit this population. I have read the research that shows the "sink or swim" method works. I have also read about how bilingual education is a better method. We are currently somewhere in between those two methods. And for whatever reason we assume that these students should be able to go into mainstream classes after one year of ESL instruction. If they can't then it is my faulty. I acknowledge that i'm a teacher who is learing how to teach in an ESL format, but I also work hard to make contenct accessible to my students. I work hard to use materials that students can use in other classes. I know that in my room my students feel comfortable practicing their English skills without the fear of ridicule. I make sure that they understand that how wonderful their native language is it is a necessity for them to learn English. Lawmakers are not truly concerned with ensuring education equality for all students, they are only concerned with pointing out the faults of all the work that teachers do.

Yes I procrastinate, but my mind is constantly on what i'm going to be doing with my students.

Updating

Okay, since last post in February the school I was at closed because of a brand new school being opened down the street. My school district mixed my paperwork with someone else's making it impossible for me to get a contract this year, but I did pick up a long-term sub job only to be offered a contract at that spankin' new school. I took the contract with great guilt over the students who I had promised I would be there for the entire year.

I teach ESL this year and feel overwhelmed by a group of beginners who lack the motivation to try and learn English. I am used to thinking about the impact of the CAHSEE on students and am wondering how are these students going to be able to pass it.

On the upside I am going to have technology to rival that of any school in CA. The only thing i'm currently missing is my class set of laptops, but i've been told i'll have them by second semester. I have only been at my new assignment for three weeks and have already had to go to professional development. Two days were for QTEL which is encouraging. The other day was for a text reader product by Kurzweil.

The little technogeek in me got excited with the Kurzweil product, Bernie if you still read this you should check it out if you haven't. It's cool because you can scan text in and the program reads it to students. It highlights the sentences and lowlights the actual word being read. If you don't know what a word means you can highlight and click on the dictionary icon for a definition. It also has the ability to allow the teacher to go in and add things to the reading. If you want your students to pause at a certain point to answer a question or any other thing you insert a sticky or have the ability to insert a question that has to be answere before the text will continue to read. The teacher can also highlight what you think is important. The students is also able to do all of these things. The great thing is that you can block some of the things that a student does while reading the text. The other cool thing is the text extractor. If you want students to high light main ideas they can and then all the highlighted points can be extracted and submitted. Or the text can be extracted and used as a study guide. Teaching made easy.

Another great thing about this program is the text writer. As students type they can hear what they are typing and hopefully it will help them to notice misspellings or any other errors.

The voices are not monotone robotic. There are two voices that sound more human than normal. I sound like a salesperson for this program, but I have to admit I can see it helping some of my most beginning students.

Tired and Overwhelmed

Okay for the last few weeks I have been doing the Master's program at a local university. Everything has been fine. Nothing has conflicted with my teaching life, until this past week. Teaching AVID sometimes requires me to go to training. This week I began tutor training and I was under the impression I had to only go to one session. I have to go to all three sessions which are on Tuesdays, the day I have class. I make it to class about 15 minutes late. The professor says it's okay. The kicker is I have homework from training and school tacked on with some BTSA work. Can we say give me a day off? Sure it's a three day weekend. But I started it by going to a different training on a new book that we will be using in the CAHSEE class, in which i'm the only teacher who teachers it. I have to update my resume. Begin posting for next school year and summer school. Get some grading done. Spend quality time with my daughter. Can we say overwhelmed. I'm already looking forward to the next three day weekend. I also have to plan for this school week.
On the plus side the AVID training will look good on my resume as will the masters degree. Hopefully this new text will be better than our current one. So long as I survive this week, i'll be fine. I think i'll just have to break up the next two days into chunks so i'll feel like i'm managing.