Meme December 18, 2007

A few days ago I was tagged by Ms Teacher. I am usually really hesitant to write personal memes. I don’t think anyone is really interested in reading about me, and I feel a bit awkward about spending a whole post just writing about me. But since Ms Teacher asked me to play, I am making an exeption. I am not tagging anybody else, so whoever feels like writing a personal meme and share 7 facts: go ahead and have fun!

~ Since I was young, I wanted to be a writer or a journalist. I wrote tons of stories (which I eventually threw away or deleted from the computer) and I published my own magazine. The only two subscribers (my sister and uncle) did bother to write a letter to the editor once in a while, but after some time I gave up. The fact that it was the pre-computer time, and all three magazines had to be copied by hand, didn’t help either. I still dream about writing a novel or historical biography one day (but then again, who doesn’t).

~ When I started teaching, I also started buying more pairs of shoes. I was never a person with a shoe addiction. But during teacher training I was interviewed for the school magazine and one of the questions was how many pairs of shoes I owned (since I always wore the same to class). I answered 4, although at the time I owned 2 Since then, I make sure to never wear the same clothes two days in a row, and I take care of wearing different shoes and accessories.

~ My favorite color is yellow. It’s a happy color. Plus many nice things (vanilla, bananas, the sun) are yellow. And yellow bell peppers are better than the red or green ones.

~ I love languages. In high school I learned English, German, French, Dutch, Greek and Latin, and I also know Hebrew and Yiddish. I can read a bit of Japanese too. I still hope I will one day learn Russian and Spanish. Learning a new language is a magic proces. It opens the door to an entirely new world.

~ When I was in high school, I hated gym class. I was afraid of my teacher and I was afraid of most sports too. One time I crashed into the wall of the gym, when my feet couldn’t stop running during a hockey match. The only game I liked was softball, because we played it outside in the summer and I usually managed to find a spot somewhere far away where no balls would reach me. Still today, when I enter the gym during exams, I get goosebumps when I smell the gymfloor, combined with the odour of the gymnastics apparatus, ropes and chalk powder.

~ We don’t own a tv. It’s amazing how much time it saves. I watch some programs online, and we have some dvd’s of shows we really enjoy. I like watching Seinfeld after a long day of work, and I also really love the Cosby Show. I can watch Bill Cosby again and again, and marvel at the way he knows how to work with children. It makes me sad to see how society has changed, and how today’s children seem much more stressed out and agitated than in the 80’s.

~ I don’t like flowers. No, let me rephrase that. I don’t like cut flowers. I love seeing flowers on a field. But flowers in a vase make me sad. Seeing the potential, cut off before it could really blossom, makes me want to cry. I am always happy when people visit and not bring me flowers.

The image is also part of this meme. Ever since I had a Japanese classmate in elementary school, I really like Japanese design and Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Keroppi.

Time for winterbreak meme December 10, 2007

Sorry for my absence. These past days we celebrated Hanuka. It was nice to spend the evenings at home, with family and friends and to watch the lights of the menora. Tomorrow we will light the last candle and like every year I am sad that it’s almost over.

I have been dragging myself through the past days. It’s time for winter break, so my energy levels have dropped. Last week I was tagged by Speechteach, so I decided to make this post into a ‘time for winterbreak meme’. I will stick to the format, but in stead post 7 things about the past week. I’m not tagging anyone, so whoever feels like writing a meme: enjoy!

1. One of my students has an illegible handwriting. We can’t read his tests, and he can hardly read his own notes. So now he is allowed to take his laptop to class and write notes on his Mac. Unfortunately, a Macbook is not a typewriter, and it has way too many gadgets that make it not ideal for classroom use. And that’s an understatement.

2. Today I asked one of my students to stay after class for a little conversation. I was not happy at all (to say the least) with her performance in my class. She told me that she won’t be doing anything this semester, because it will be her last semester in school because she won’t pass this year (like last year). I somehow expected it. I didn’t ask her to stay in order to lecture her, but because I was really concerned and wanted to know how she was doing. But I am apalled that the administration didn’t bother telling me that one of my students will not be coming back after winter break. What if I hadn’t asked her?

3. Recently, the first Starbucks shop in the city (and country!) opened. I am thrilled. We had a gingerbread latte and a chai latte last Friday and it made me really happy. I feel really bad for capitulating to consumerism (especially after reading Naomi Klein’s No Logo), but I did enjoy the latte.

4. I made some really nice assignments for my students to work on. As I mentioned before, my class from hell is devided into three groups, and every Monday one third of the class gets to work at home. I made a computer assignment that has them watch a documentary online, read an article and read the material from the text book. I felt really modern and techonologically advanced when I sent them the e-mail with their assignment, and I hope they will enjoy the work.

5. Today I didn’t have time to eat lunch. My lunch break was consumed (how ironical) by students that dropped in for a talk. One student had been sick and wanted to catch up on the material she had missed, another student was struggeling with a research project. It was nice to be able to help her out. The usual break between 5th and 7th period was taken by a talk with the administration about my functioning in the school. They were pretty positive. I don’t like such talks though. We agreed that I will observe veteran teachers’ classes to get more classroom management tricks that I can use with my class from hell (and the other classes…). I look forward to it, but I wonder whether my authority will be challenged when my students see me sitting in the back of the classroom.

6. The school is one big mess. All teachers are packing their stuff into boxes, that will be moved out next week. After winter break, we will be moving into the trailers until the new school builing is finished (in about two years from now). I am happy that I keep most of my stuff at home, so I have nothing to pack.

7. I was really satisfied with today’s Classical history class. I taught about the Greek philosophers. I introduced my students to Socrates and Plato. I told Plato’s cave parable and the way Socrates would walk through the city of Athens and challenge its inhabitants. I loved reading into Greek philosophy last night in one of my favorite books: Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World.

8 random facts about myself June 27, 2007

For the first time I was tagged. Since I am relatively new to the blogosphere, I was not yet participating in the social inter-blogger activities. I did notice that some bloggers tag each other with all sorts of assignments and quizes. Thanks to history is elementary I will now tell you 8 random things about myself.

1. In the past I worked with severely handicapped children for one year. Although the work was hard, especially the physical aspects, I believe this year taught me more than all years in university combined. Working with these children, who always seemed to be happy despite their condition, taught me to be more grateful for what I can and have.

2. When I started my master in history, I didn’t know what I wanted to be after graduation, I just knew for sure that I would never ever become a teacher. And look where I am now. I guess it started when during my studies I worked as a tourguide in a museum where for the first time I learned how to speak in front of groups.

3. I am sometimes afraid to go to the bakery or the supermarket because many of my students live in this area. I feel chased when I enter the shop and I hear “Hello Mrs __” from behind. Brrr. This social blockage has caused us to be without bread several times.

4. I love lentils, especially chickpeas. I love making chumus, lentil salads or soups.

5. When I was 8 years old I taught myself how to read and write Japanese. I only managed to learn the katakana and hiragana alphabets, not the complicated kanji, but nevertheless I managed to decipher packages and labels. Japanese visitors always enjoyed this ‘gig’.

6. I’ve kept a diary for 19 years, with little breaks. Blogging is a serious threat to my journalling, because when I don’t have much time I prefer to type something on the computer in stead of sitting down with my fountain pen. The same is true for penpalling, one of my hobbies that I hardly manage to find the time for nowadays.

7. I eat kosher. I like the fact that a simple thing as eating becomes a spiritual act. Shopping and cooking become more conscious activities since I always have to think about whether I’ll eat something meaty or dairy, and many ingredients can not be used. This said, I do feel eating kosher is a social handicap, because I can never join friends and collegues to nice ethnic restaurants.

8. When I was young I wanted to learn how to play the violin. A friend did play the violin and I always wanted to play on hers. Her mom didn’t let me. Back then I didn’t realise how expensive the instrument was. I did play the piano for ten years.

I hereby tag the next 8 bloggers to reveil 8 random things about themselves:

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Lime

Thursday Next

Midwest teacher

How a second year teacher lives

Success through play

What’s it like on the inside

NYC Educator

Teacher in disguise

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The rules are as follows:

1. Let others know who tagged you.

2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.

3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. 4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.