Students @ MindSay

This is the week of the New Experiment ... revisited.  No, not another economic plan, but a re-arrangement of the students at the Child Development Center where I am now employed.  I was hired to teach the "young" 2's ... an ominous task!  The first two weeks of my employ (and most of the recent past), the class of 12 two yr olds have been taught as one class by one teacher with one aide.  Starting tomorrow, there will be an "older" 2's AND a "younger" 2's class.  I am really looking forward to the experiment, and think it will prove successful on several levels.  We will still join together for outside playtime and walks, and probably for their blessed nap-time, too!  ;) The hardest thing, at least at the beginning, will be the separation from former classmates. I'm sure I'll hear ... “Where's Joey? Or Lauren?” a few times, but they'll see each other at various times most days.  

 

Drawing up lesson plans for a "young" 2's class is a bit different than for a high school lit class.  (I know ... that 's a big surprise, hmmm?)  In a high school classroom, the lesson plan, at least for me, helped me to stay on track, focused, and organized.  Although it wasn't exactly chiseled in stone as unalterable, it was not often we strayed far from it.  In the classroom of 2 yr olds, the lesson plan is simply a general guideline ... almost a "wish list" or prophetic vision of where I think the various questions or stories might take us.  We do have some structure so the children know generally what to expect, although it will change now that the class is smaller and more intimate.  With only 6 students at the most, I should have more time to observe and work with each child individually ... at least that is my expectation.  Free play is the best way to assess and observe their development, so that will continue to be a big part of the day.  These students all love story-time, though, too, and are used to having several small books read to them at one time.  Many of the books we have are nursery rhymes or finger play songs like "Eansy-Weansy Spider", "Baa Baa Black Sheep,"  “5 Little Monkeys,” "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" etc ... a cool thing because they then can look at the books later and sing along to themselves in individual play.  (The books really take a beating, too!) 

 

Our Spring theme is "Our Bloomin' Garden," and the plan is to build a garden-esque bulletin board with the daily art projects of the students that demonstrates, at least to some degree, their personal growth.  One of the books I will be using is called, “I Am a Seed.” It's a cute little book about how different seeds grow up differently depending on what kind of seed they are.” Fun, concepts, hmmm?  

There is a marked difference, though, between this class and the class I left behind at my former center ... a huge difference!  In the old center, out of the 8 students I had, only one could really carry on a conversation.  It made her stand out miles above the others, but in reality, she is normal.  In this center, every one of them has enough language to have a simple conversation or repeat sentences and phrases that they hear.  It's an interesting comparison because it is not just an economic issue, but that's for another post ... :)

 

~ B

Please note: This post is about kids in general, not just the ones in Japan. All of my examples will be Japanese kids because I'm kind of want for non-Japanese students.

Jr. High School kids are a strange lot. I feel sorry for the ones who are having trouble fitting in, because I just know how awkward and strange they feel all the time and how much they get picked on. I feel bad for the popular ones, because for the most part they are probably peaking now and it's going to be a rough ride down into early and middle adulthood. I even feel sorry for those middle of the road kids because, despite being well adjusted, they are not really allowed to explore their own personal interests in lieu of strict rote learning.

But there seems to be one connecting factor between all these kids. Yes, from the lowliest nerd to the coolest pop-star looking kids, Jr. High School kids smell bad. Very bad. Not just "no deodorant" bad, but full on "I haven't bathed in at least three days" bad. I find it amazing that my girls who expertly apply their make-up each day smell like they just swam through a combination of onions and vinegar.

Now, I don't just go around smelling my kids. It's when they come up to the head of the class and I catch a whiff of them as they write something on the board or turn in completed papers. My grade school kids are thankfully free of body oder, but anyone who's ever had or worked with kids know that they find ways to compensate for their inability to make their own stench.

I love my kids tho, stench or not. I'm really hoping I get to stay at the same schools until I go home so I can watch them grow and become more mature. With all the schools and classes I have each week I'm only now starting to know some of my students personally. Of course, they are just now warming up to me as well, so it's nice that we are mutually making efforts to get to know each other now. Besides, now that I'm getting to know names better, I can keep a better list of the ones I should breathe through my mouth around.

-Maru!

So I went down to activate my old Samsung flip phone because I haven't seen hide or tail of my razor in weeks. They charged me twenty dollars for a new SIM. Naturally, it wasn't three hours later that the razor showed up. My dad just kind of laughed, and said that if it made me feel any better, he'd forgive the twenty dollar debt for late ACT registration. I hate Murphy SO BAD!

 

Therefore, I have cell phone!

 

In other news, we're splitting martial arts into three seperate classes again. Yay for me! More hours and a much more favorable teacher-student ratio...especially since I'm the only teacher most days. Even Mrs. West is so busy with other studio affairs that she can't halp me some days. And nobody else comes in and helps. I always helped when I was a red/black belt. I'm just excited to have more students.

 

Rachel, Bethany, and Anna Marie. I think I've got them down now. If only I could keep the dozen or so Rebens straight. The only thing harder to remember than all my bloody forms are the names.

Yay that is a sarcastic statement there!  Yet again we have something to say thank you to our US gov't for screwing us, the citizens again!

 

To the point that even the IRS is prety pist also!

 

For those of you who haven't been reading the news lately last month, it was brought to everyone's attention by the IRS, that the gov't screwed us for next years taxes and when we can file and the tax laws!

 

All because they have some stupid ass ppl who can't budget in our federal gov't!

 

And now that it is offical by not only the IRS but our gov't all the main news sorces have it out........you can NOT file your taxes till Febuary 11th if you are using these 5 forms:

 

• Form 8863, Education Credits.
• Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits.
• Form 1040A’s Schedule 2, Child and Dependent Care Expenses for Form 1040A Filers.
• Form 8396, Mortgage Interest Credit and
• Form 8859, District of Columbia First-Time Homebuyer Credit.

Guess what..........the middle class folks get screwed again!  Parents get screwed again.  College students and private school parents get screwed again.  Home owners get screwed again.

 

If you want the full story check it out here:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22409868/

 

I am soooooooooo farking pist.  I always file my taxes in January so I am not stressing over it, I can get back bills paid off or almost off, and do something nice for my kids and hubby.  But no thanks to our none budgeting over spending, taking care of every other farking country but our own gov't..........we are getting screwed again.

 

THANKS BUSH AND HIS PUPPETS!

As a parent, I hate dealing with the public school system.  Like most, my family and I are without educational choices.  Affording private school tuition is out of the question.  Not that it would matter if I could afford the tuition.  I remember my own parochial school days and KNOW one environment is little better than the other.

I've volunteered, made phone calls, attended meetings, sent emails and snail mails all with little success.  It takes half a school year just to obtain the smallest hint of cooperation between school and home.  Teachers are overwhelmed, administrators are buried under legislation, parents are left in the dark, and the students are lost in the shuffle.  'No child left behind' should not be a code for 'Push them through and shove them out'! 

Over the years I have watched my children's education suffer under massive state education program changes.  "Whole Language Reading" programs along with the so called "New Math" are beyond ridiculous.  Such educational tools are ridiculous attempts to improve children's test scores.  The idea of teaching to test would have been called CHEATING in my day.  Education is not about passing tests! 

Damn money to hell.  It's all about funding. 

Screw funding!  Teachers need to return to teaching students how to learn.  Useless trivia will not create well educated, intelligent adults!  The popular game "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" is an excellent example of the failure of our education system.  Useless information is forgotten in the real world.  Comprehension is a million times more important than the memorization of trivial facts. 

If a person does not understand the how and why behind the trivial facts of history; history will simply repeat itself under the guise of new names, dates, places, and things.  Nothing changes! 

I'm almost ready to believe that the current state of public school education has only one goal... "The Dumbing Down of America".  After all, the masses are easier to control if they lack the ability to comprehend the current state of affairs.  "Government for the people, by the people..."  With the current state of our educational system being the dismal failure it is; how can anyone question why our economy is so dangerously unstable?  Oh, that's right... our economy is 'just fine'.  We should go out and do our patriotic duty and SPEND THOSE DOLLARS!  We deserve the chaotic state of affairs we exist within today.

Damn money.  Damn funding.  I'd say 'damn the dollar', but it is already damned to failure.

Education is not the only thing suffering from our nation's overwhelming greed.  It is my focus because I am a parent of school age children.  I've always made it a point to be an advocate for my children in school without being an opponent of my children's teachers.  It takes teamwork between school and home for any child to obtain a well rounded education.  This teamwork has become nearly impossible to find thanks to what I can only call "burn out".

Teachers are burnt out from seeing 80 percent of their class fail on a daily basis.  Parents are burnt out from failing to successfully obtain communication between school and home.  Students are burnt out from the chaos of our current education programs.  No one is happy with the current state of our education system.  Worse, no one is finding success within the system.  Our students are entering the world unable to function as competent adults.  Teachers are switching careers instead of retiring with the knowledge they successfully changed lives.  Parents are giving up on their children.  Children are giving up on themselves.

Hell, after all these years of knowing my own education was well-rounded and designed for a lifetime of continual learning, I find myself failing to observe simple grammar and punctuation rules. 

Who cares?  Most of those reading won't even notice.  After all... they read the same newspapers I read today.  Editors seem to have forgotten to apply the rules of the English language.  Their main focus is ensuring the paper is read.  Keep it dumb and keep it sensational.  The main goal is to sell those papers!  You can't sell a paper to a person without the educational skill to read and comprehend the written news.  U no wut i meenz?  U doo?  Awww... I <3 u to!  ;^)

It's all about money. 

My God, what have we done to ourselves?