Joys of the Season

 

Gifts of the season

This year is tougher economically than last but this year I actually got gifts.  LOTS of gifts.  Not half-used bottles of lotion or dusty knick knacks swiped on the way out of the house and handed to me in wadded up newspaper (although I sorta like those more than anything else).  No, this year, the kids went shopping for me.  It is embarrassing.  I told them over and over I didn’t want them to get me anything.  DON’T GET ME ANYTHING, I said.  Surprise, surprise, they didn’t listen.

The gift that made me grin the most was the pair of “adjustable toenail clippers.” You know, the kind they use in a manicurist’s shop?  I asked the girl, “Are you trying to tell me something about my grooming?”  She made some odd comment about them, like perhaps she’d taken them from her mom without permission…I hope not!

My favorite things (as always) are the cards I got.  Here’s a good one:

Dear Ms. Whiz, thank you for always being there and for being my teacher.  I love you.  Graciela

and this one, made on construction paper, with lots of glitter:

Querida Whiz, quiero que tenga navidad, con amor, Jose

and my absolute favorite from my toughest nut (who also happens to be one of my best students):

Dear Ms. Whiz, I know that it’s kind of hard to work with me, but thanks for being one of the people who actually try to struggle through it.  Thanks for teaching me all that you can, as easily as you can.  You have made a lot of difficult things easier (like long division, Social Studies, Science, etc.).  Anyway thanks for everything.  Love, Silvia

To all of us who teach and inspire young minds, I wish much peace and joy in 2010.  Happy New Year, Everyone!

BOO-YA!

ALL my students turned in their literary essays today.  HA!    (It meant they all got to come to the party.  Yessshh!)

It’s that time: Winter School Concert…

or cats being tumbled in a dryer’s spin cycle. 

All I can say is I’m glad the orchestra goes first.

I loved every single delightful second of it!

I AIN’T DOIN’ IT!

Yet another cultural difference for me.  JAMAS EN MI VIDA would I ever DREAM of saying this to a teacher.  EVER.  At ANY time.   And I would HIDE my children if they ever did it.  In my world, it just isn’t done.  And yet, it’s something I get ALL the time in my teaching world.  I used to get mad.  Now, I just shake my head.  It’s still so weird.

We’ve been working on literary essay for three weeks.  I’ve been teaching my lessons ever so carefully.  I’ve been going step by step and trying to teach the children what to do.  We’ve read texts, used organizers, had mini-lessons and conferences.  Many of my students have picked it up beautifully and have been sailing right along.  (I CAN teach.)  Some, though, have been farting around and wasting time.  Our end-of-year party is tomorrow and I told the whole class on Monday that the essay is due on Wednesday.  Some of the students turned them in today.

I also mentioned on Monday what would happen if it wasn’t done.  The consequence for not having it done?  No party.  If it’s not done, they go to another classroom to work on it.  It’s a simple, logical consequence. 

The response?  One of my little darlings wadded her paper up into a ball (after I ignored her shredding it with her pen) and yelled, “I AIN’T DOIN’ IT!!!”  I refuse to engage.  I just said, “Hmmm, choices, choices.”  We’ll see what she brings in tomorrow, but her attitude boggles my mind.

Sigh.

Update on Current Reads: The Lacuna

Ambivalent about this book. 

The ending surprised me!  Yeah!  (One of the things I kind of like about the Kindle is that it’s too much work to try and read the end, so I don’t do that like I do with physical books…I know, I know, I’m bad…but I’m also a control freak and like to know how things are going to turn out before I waste time reading a book…I know, I know…I’m trying to change.)

I liked the ending.  A lot.  However, I don’t think reading the book was worth it to get to the ending.  (Btw, I looked it up on Amazon, it’s 528 pages long.)  I didn’t hate this book.  That’s too strong a word.  Mostly, I just didn’t care about the characters or the story as I was reading it.   There were parts of it that were interesting and that I liked because of my personal history with the DF and the Yucatan, but even in those the writing felt forced.  Throughout the book I kept thinking, “Ok, she’s building background here…”  After 50% of the book, I began thinking, “Um, ok, background built, WHEN is something going to HAPPEN???”  After 80% I was just mad.  But by then, I figured I’d already come this far, might as well keep going to see how it ends.  Something DID happen, but if it’s going to happen after 95% of the book, WHY NOT JUST READ THAT PART? 

Ironic, huh?  If I’d read the ending, I WOULD have read this book.  And probably still not liked it.

If any of the above, appeals to you, go for it.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.  I won’t recommend this book to friends.

The Holocaust…ever heard of it?

Or, El Holocausto, in Spanish, for those of you keeping track.  I had planned to talk about Elie Wiesel’s “Night” yesterday in Writer’s Workshop (we’re doing literary essay) and how reading this book changed my life.  First, however, I introduced the Holocaust.  Blank looks.  You know, THE Holocaust?  Nothing.  Joaquin said, “Never heard of it.”  Oh.  My.  God.  Ok, well, let’s just take a detour here…

I told them about the Holocaust: the madmad Hitler, his plan to dominate the world, the fact that he rounded up millions of innocent people, men, women and children, put them on cattle cars, shipped them to places like Auschwitz and Dachau and killed them in showers.  The kids were HORRIFIED.  (Thank god.  Sometimes I worry that they’ve been too desensitized to violence and things like this won’t affect them.)

“But, Ms. Whiz, WHY???”  (Oh, kids, I love you so.)

Well, because Hitler hated them. 

“Enough to KILL them???  WHY???   What did they DO?”

They didn’t do anything.  It’s because they were Jewish.  (I’ll get to the other things they were later.)

One kid, Eduardo, said, “Oh, well, then.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now it was my turn to be horrified.  To be fair, so were some of the other students.

I said, Ok, well, what would you think if you knew that Hitler also hated Latinos and wanted to kill ALL of them/you?

THAT got their attention.  They all got SO MAD.  Especially Eduardo.  I let them talk about it for a while.  Joaquin kept looking at me and looking at me and finally he said, “YOU’RE Jewish, arent’ you Ms. Whiz?”  I said, I won’t discuss my religious beliefs in school.  “But you said YOUR mom came from Germany, that she escaped as a war refugee.”  (Smart kid, that Joaquin.)  Like I said, I don’t discuss my religious views.  “Well,” said Eduardo, “*I* am Christian.”  So was Hitler, I replied.  “Oh my goodness,” said Silvia “And yet he KILLED people, just because they were DIFFERENT from him?”  (At least SHE gets it.)  One little girl, Daniela, finally nailed it.  She said, “You know, Ms. Whiz, it really doesn’t matter.  We’re ALL different somehow.  But we’re all seres humanos.  We all deserve to be respected.”

God, I love these kids.

You May Be Held Back…

this is what sent this year’s “bad girl,” Britney into paroxysms.  She had lunch detention with the Assistant Principal, and apparently, the AP told her that if she didn’t shape up, she’d flunk.  She came back to class crying (a first) and was telling her tale of woe to her friend, Gloria.  Gloria was trying to console her when Sonya chimed in and said, “But that will be terrible!  She’s gonna be the wrong age when she grows up!!!”

It is a miracle I managed to suppress the guffaw!

Better to keep your mouth closed…

and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.  (Mark Twain)

I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be on the committees I’m on at school.

~sigh~

Ain’t You His Teacher?

As I was walking into school today, I heard yelling.  It’s not an uncommon occurence in the neighborhood, but as I got closer to the school, I was surprised to see our secretary standing in the doorway, vigorously waving and calling out to a mom.  Mom had dropped her son off AN HOUR AND A HALF EARLY.  Apparently, it was her plan to just let him sit there, coolin’ his jets (literally, it was 35 degrees when I got to school this morning) ’til school opened.  She was hightailin’ it down the sidewalk when the secretary stepped out of the office to tell her (kindly, yet firmly) that school didn’t open for 90 minutes and she couldn’t just leave him sitting there outside and there was no one to supervise him.  (Yet another parent who thinks school is daycare and teachers are babysitters, no doubt.  Grrrrrrrr.)

So, Mom goes back and drags her son to the car, muttering under her breath the whole way.  I was coming up the walk as she was eyeballing me.  I was wondering what she would say.  When I got close enough, she said, “Hey, ain’t you his teacher?”  I WANTED to say Are you KIDDING me???  It’s DECEMBER FIRST!  We’ve been in school for TWELVE WEEKS now!  Shouldn’t you KNOW who your kid’s teacher is?!?!?!?!?  Instead, I just chirped, No, Ma’am! and continued on my way.

Good grief.  Another candidate for parent of the year.

Current Reads: November 2009

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  A few weeks ago, our Girl Scout troop met in the library.  While the girls were looking for something, I found a magazine about recommending books.  Of course, now I’ve forgotten the title (that’s the first to go, according to Billy Collins), but one of the books that a librarian said was a must-read was this one.  An acquaintance had recommended it before, but I picked it up and couldn’t get into it in the first few pages, so I wrote it off.  Well.  The librarian said, “This is a book about Hilter’s Germany and it’s narrated by, of all characters, Death.”  Um…WHY did this not grab me???  (I was obsessed with two things in the fifth grade: Greek Mythology and the Holocaust—they still hold huge sway over me.)  I started reading this book and COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.  It is young adult fiction and is WONDERFUL.  I read it on my Kindle, but then ordered a copy of it for my library.  My oldest daughter is reading it now and I’ve suggested it as this month’s book for our teacher’s reading group.  I am still thinking of the characters and missing them.  I love Liesel (the book thief), the girl who arrives at her foster family’s home after the death of her brother.  Her foster mother, Rosa, has a PhD in swearing and is rough on the outside, but proves to be a devoted and loving mother for Liesel.  Her foster father, Hans is a special, kind person, with silver eyes and a penchant for playing the accordian.  I love this man.  Liesel’s best friend, Rudy, is dying for a kiss.  Together, the two of them develop a friendship that involves many adventures; many of them include petit larceny.  Death is a gentle narrator and I came to be sympathetic (!) to him as well.  Liesel’s family eventually hides a Jew as well.  I’m not going to give any more details because you just have to read this jewel of a book for yourself.  It’s truly worth it.

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak.  I enjoyed The Book Thief so much I chose this book because Zusak wrote it.  He has a way of bringing his characters to life that I love.  I haven’t gotten very far in the book, but I am enjoying the fact that it’s completely different, but well-developed.  It’s set in Australia and so far I’ve read the first scene, were Ed (a young cabbie) stops a bank robbery.  The conversations that take place during the robbery are hysterically funny.  I know this book is a mystery (NOT my favorite genre), so I’m trusting Zusak to help me out with this one.

What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell.  I love Malcolm Gladwell.  He’s so smart and so intersting and his books make me sit back and go, “Huh.  I hadn’t ever thought about it like that before.”  I still tell my students, “To get good at something, you have to put in TEN THOUSAND hours.”  (That’s from Outliers.)  My rocket science husband scoffs at Gladwell (he HATES pop psychology stuff), but I say, as long as you don’t believe EVERYTHING he says, what’s wrong with a provocative book?  My favorite thing about Gladwell is how he comes up with his goofy ideas—stuff no one else thinks about—well, *I* think about it, but I don’t write it down.  It might not matter to the rest of the world, but it matters to me, and I’m so glad Mr. Gladwell is out there, thinking about it and writing it down.  He fills in a good backstory and that’s what makes most of what he says so interesting.  This is a fun read, if you don’t take it too seriously.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.  Ok.  So, this is the book that is REALLY getting under my skin this month.  I hated it for about the first 60% (I don’t know how many pages that is, cuz I’m reading it on my Kindle).  I mean, I was completely annoyed by most of what I was reading.  And yet…there was something about this book that kept me going and now, with only 20% to go, I’m so curious to see how it ends.  She’d better not let me down!  Part of the reason more than the first half of the book seems so tedious is that she had to spend a LONG time building up the back-story.  It’s about a boy (Harrison Shepherd) who is a witness to revolutionaries, communists and artists (including Kahlo, Rivera and Trotsky).  He later becomes one of Trotsky’s secretaries and is there when Trotsky is assassinated.  I guess this book piques my curiosity because she writes about all the places where I lived/visited when I lived in Mexico.  I visited all those houses, spent lots of time in the Yucatán, the DF, etc.  I’m enjoying visiting again, even if it’s vicariously.  (In fact, I want to take my kids to see all these things now.)  But I keep waiting for something to HAPPEN.  I’ll let you know how it turns out next month.  For now, all I can say is, it’s no Poisonwood Bible.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.  I read this one because it’s one of the books that keeps Harrison Shepherd afloat while he’s in Mexico.  (Also because I have a big hole where all the “classics I SHOULD have read” reside.)  I just remembered a third obsession of mine in elementary school: Grimmes’ Fairy Tales.  Who can resist this tale of betrayal, obsession, revenge and forgiveness?  I love that the main character (Dantes) is able to come back from jail (where he has spent time for being wrongly accused) and uses disguises to exact his revenge on those who wronged him.  It’s sort of infantile, but it appealed to my sense of “THAT’S NOT FAIR.”

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo.  I’m re-reading this one because of La Lacuna AND a story on NPR.  I remember trying to fight my way through this book as a college student in Mexico.  I think the class was on “Revolutionary Literature” or something like that.  All I know is I was new to the country, new to the school and barely spoke any Spanish.  This book about did me in (it goes back and forth between present and past, the narrators switch back and forth from real people to dead people to omniscient…).  I never did make it all the way through.  However, I love, love, LOVE magic realism, so, I’m trying it again.  So far, so good. I’m also going to look into El llano en llamas next month.

La Tregua by Mario Benedetti.  Another book that appeals to my sense of “OMG, I couldn’t get through this in college, let’s try again.”  This story is set in Uruguay in the late 1950s.  A widower (Martín Santomé) is keeping a diary about his last few months in the office before his retirement.  A young woman, 24-year-old Laura Avellaneda comes to the office and he is her boss.  He falls in love with her and they begin a romance.  I’m just at the beginning of the romance.  I can’t remember how this one ends (because, let’s face it, I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND SPANISH the first time I read it).  I’ll let you know.  I am very much enjoying it this time around.  It’s true what all the reading teachers say; you have to be able to comprehend 95% of the words to make sense of the text.  It’s a good reminder for me, as a teacher of ELL students.  I’m also laughing as I read this book because of all the words I circled the first time around.  When did I learn all those words?  I don’t remember.

Billy Hooten: Owl Boy by Tom Sniegoski.  Not liking this book so much.  It’s got a great premise: nerdy boy who adores comic books realizes he is the hero in a parallel comic-book universe.  I think reluctant readers MIGHT like this one, but so far, *I* have not been hooked (after The Lightning Thief, I have VERY high standards for magic-realism adventure stories).  We’re reading this one in our after school book club (a club for gifted students).  I wanted to read it because it looked interesting, even though my group won’t be reading it.  I’m sort of glad I don’t have to lead this one.  If I cant’ get excited about it, it’s hard to sell it to my students.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr.  This is the book my after-school reading group will be doing.  I love this book, even though it’s a tough one.  Basically, if you haven’t read the story, it’s about a little girl who gets sick with leukemia after the US drops the A-bomb not too far from her village.  She must spend a long time in the hospital and hears a legend about the person who can fold 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish.  The themes are worthy (war is cruel/horrible, bravery, loyalty) and it’s a good way to introduce Japanese history to students (which I will be doing).  Not to mention, we get to fold paper cranes (you KNEW there would be origami involved) and talk about peace.  I’m also thinking after we read this, I might show the kids the movie “Totoro.”  Totally unrelated, but I like the drawings of the Japanese countryside…