"Are you guys ready to go swimming?"
Half the four year olds sitting on the side of the pool respond with an enthusiastic "YES!" or "NO!" while the other half don't respond at all.
"Alright well I'm excited! Go ahead and get in the water safely the way I showed you."
The kids proceed to roll on to their little bellies and scoot their little bums down into the water.
"Now that we're in the water what comes next? What do we do now?"
Crickets...
"We've got to get our hair wet! Like this..." I make an exaggerated show of holding my breath, submerging, and jumping out of the water with wet hair and a smile on my face.
"What's that called? What do you guys need to do?"
We've done the same thing in the same order for the past five days. The kids know what they're supposed to do. They even know the name of it the move. They are just being shy.
"What's this called?" I show the kids the skill again.
I think of all the ways I could prompt an older audience to give me the name of the skill I just demonstrated...
We do it with apples at Halloween...
Danny Tanner of Full House: ______ Saggett
Hairstyle worn by Flapper girls in the roaring 20's
Lorena _____it
Finally Adam who is bigger than the other kids but is generally pretty timid gets brave and yells
"KEBABS!"
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Dear Cleveland,
I'm really sorry about the Cav's loss. I know you had a lot of hope riding on them what with the disappointment that the Browns and the Indians are.
Let me be so bold as to make a suggestion...that you fill that void, that emptiness and disappointment, with something much more lasting and powerful than Lebron James could ever be...something that will never abandon you or let you down, or trade owner's hands...
Come be a part of a team that will never lose...
www.mormon.org
(rolls eyes at self) For reals though, if Clevelanders have a common deity it is athletics. And the amount of faith they show in teams that fail them is staggering. I know there is a better bank to invest in so to speak...
I'll stop before I get going.
Luv.
Let me be so bold as to make a suggestion...that you fill that void, that emptiness and disappointment, with something much more lasting and powerful than Lebron James could ever be...something that will never abandon you or let you down, or trade owner's hands...
Come be a part of a team that will never lose...
www.mormon.org
(rolls eyes at self) For reals though, if Clevelanders have a common deity it is athletics. And the amount of faith they show in teams that fail them is staggering. I know there is a better bank to invest in so to speak...
I'll stop before I get going.
Luv.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Earth Day
First up I'm home and so is Ryan and its awesome.
Secondly, yesterday was Earth Day. I subbed for a social studies class and the teacher left a video on global warming. In a few of the more mature classes I started a discussion on global warming and what they thought about it. Typical of teenagers there was a wide range of opinions all of them super dramatic...
some had no concern for any of it real or not...
some didn't believe it was happening at all...
some believed that it will soon destroy our earth and our lives...
some believed that it was a hopeless situation and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.
I asked the class how they personally could help reduce global warming and when I suggested walking, or riding the bus instead of driving everywhere they scoffed...how lame...when I suggested a bike one girl pointed out that bikes were made in factories and that factories cause lots of pollution (good point)....I countered by telling her that once a bike is made there are no emissions when you use it...smart aleck (but clever) girl says:
"Well don't we emit carbon dioxide when we exhale?"
Me hesitantly, "Yes,,,"
"If I rode a bike everywhere I'd breath heavier, that'd be bad for the environment."
10 points for that girl.
So all that thinking and talking got me thinking about my own solution for global warming and I think I came up with a pretty solid one that will make the maximum amount of people happy.
Complete annihilation of the human race.
Its a quick and efficient solution to our problem...Conservatives will be happy because they'll go straight to heaven because they were right all along. Liberals will be happy because its dramatic and lasting and a complete departure from traditional methods. With humans gone the environment wins.
Polar bears will rule the earth.
So simple. I bet you're embarrassed you didn't think of it.
Secondly, yesterday was Earth Day. I subbed for a social studies class and the teacher left a video on global warming. In a few of the more mature classes I started a discussion on global warming and what they thought about it. Typical of teenagers there was a wide range of opinions all of them super dramatic...
some had no concern for any of it real or not...
some didn't believe it was happening at all...
some believed that it will soon destroy our earth and our lives...
some believed that it was a hopeless situation and there was nothing that could be done to stop it.
I asked the class how they personally could help reduce global warming and when I suggested walking, or riding the bus instead of driving everywhere they scoffed...how lame...when I suggested a bike one girl pointed out that bikes were made in factories and that factories cause lots of pollution (good point)....I countered by telling her that once a bike is made there are no emissions when you use it...smart aleck (but clever) girl says:
"Well don't we emit carbon dioxide when we exhale?"
Me hesitantly, "Yes,,,"
"If I rode a bike everywhere I'd breath heavier, that'd be bad for the environment."
10 points for that girl.
So all that thinking and talking got me thinking about my own solution for global warming and I think I came up with a pretty solid one that will make the maximum amount of people happy.
Complete annihilation of the human race.
Its a quick and efficient solution to our problem...Conservatives will be happy because they'll go straight to heaven because they were right all along. Liberals will be happy because its dramatic and lasting and a complete departure from traditional methods. With humans gone the environment wins.
Polar bears will rule the earth.
So simple. I bet you're embarrassed you didn't think of it.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Best of Substitute Teaching
Here's some highlights and low lights of my time working as a sub in the Lakewood City School District:
1. 2nd grader coming into class and gasping, "A sub!? She's beautiful." And then running and giving me a hug.
2. Having a high schooler ask me if I was white.
3. An elementary school folk dancing assembly which ended with me in a chain of fourth graders doing the bunny hop.
4. Playing catch with a severely autistic student with one of the those big plastic grocery store balls.
5. Being caught off guard by another severely autistic student when he emerged from his napping space completely naked from the waist down after having peed everywhere.
6. Playing the piano for a choral class. (smithishot@hotmail.com)
7. Disappointing a Spanish class by actually speaking Spanish.
8. Boring a history class with a discussion on Communism vs. Capitolism when all they want to do is get to the assignment their teacher left them.
9. Watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air with a class of under achievers.
10. Having angel classes with awesome plans and being able to read ALL day.
11.Knowing probably 50% of the 7th grade students names at Harding Middle School and having them be excited to see me.
12. Being totally ignored by off task High schoolers.
13. Students recognizing me and saying hello around town.
14. Using the same activity with 7th graders that I did the day before with 2nd graders and having them both be excited and engaged in it.
My biggest complaint with substitute teaching is the inconsistency. Except for that its not a bad gig. I still get to feel kind of like a teacher but without all the work and responsibility. On good days its like teaching. On bad days its like extreme babysitting. I don't want to have to do it for too much longer (I can't afford to really) but it hasn't been all bad..
"Hey teacher leave those kids alone!" -- Pink Floyd
1. 2nd grader coming into class and gasping, "A sub!? She's beautiful." And then running and giving me a hug.
2. Having a high schooler ask me if I was white.
3. An elementary school folk dancing assembly which ended with me in a chain of fourth graders doing the bunny hop.
4. Playing catch with a severely autistic student with one of the those big plastic grocery store balls.
5. Being caught off guard by another severely autistic student when he emerged from his napping space completely naked from the waist down after having peed everywhere.
6. Playing the piano for a choral class. (smithishot@hotmail.com)
7. Disappointing a Spanish class by actually speaking Spanish.
8. Boring a history class with a discussion on Communism vs. Capitolism when all they want to do is get to the assignment their teacher left them.
9. Watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air with a class of under achievers.
10. Having angel classes with awesome plans and being able to read ALL day.
11.Knowing probably 50% of the 7th grade students names at Harding Middle School and having them be excited to see me.
12. Being totally ignored by off task High schoolers.
13. Students recognizing me and saying hello around town.
14. Using the same activity with 7th graders that I did the day before with 2nd graders and having them both be excited and engaged in it.
My biggest complaint with substitute teaching is the inconsistency. Except for that its not a bad gig. I still get to feel kind of like a teacher but without all the work and responsibility. On good days its like teaching. On bad days its like extreme babysitting. I don't want to have to do it for too much longer (I can't afford to really) but it hasn't been all bad..
"Hey teacher leave those kids alone!" -- Pink Floyd
Saturday, March 28, 2009
The Shins
I might have to take back what I said in my last post about the bad music in Gilmore Girls because the last episode I watched featured The Shins!!!!! Not just their music...they were in the episode playing! I heart them.
"Cuz this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas Moore we've got another failed attempt."
And in response to Sadie's comment on my last post: Yes it is very scripted but like I said the emotion feels real. That's what keeps me coming back.
Love you.
HH
"Cuz this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas Moore we've got another failed attempt."
And in response to Sadie's comment on my last post: Yes it is very scripted but like I said the emotion feels real. That's what keeps me coming back.
Love you.
HH
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
What the Inside of My Head Looks Like
I have so many things that I REALLY want to write about. I'm kind of happy about this because I haven't felt this way in a long time...I'll try not to do it all at once...just vomit every thought in one blog...if I was smart and patient I'd spend the time to really, appropriately clear my head but it may just all have to come out now...
1. Gilmore Girls...This show and I haven't always been friends. For a long long time I just thought it was a silly girly show where the women talk way too fast guaranteeing a headache for any viewer. Through a series of events I don't want to take the time to describe I've become a pretty serious follower of Lorelei and Rory. Here's what I think: This show is much better than I originally gave it credit for. Yes they talk fast and make the most obscure references in almost every sentence (does anybody get ALL of them??? If you do call me. You're the smartest person I know. I only get about half) and the music is abominable (except Carol King in the opening credits) but at least once an episode at least one of the characters exhibits a depth and complexity I don't think I've seen anywhere else on television. You get the feeling that these are real people with real human responses to the slightly unreal situations the writers put them in. If you watch House or Grey's Anatomy or some trauma drama show like that the amount of tragedy one character endures in one episode is so enormous and so over the top it would put a normal person in the ground for sure. And they have such unnatural responses to it. But these Gilmore girls and the people in there lives have problems you can believe and responses to them you can believe. I mean its still television...the scenarios are still over the top but its better than I gave it credit for. Thanks Rachelle for watching with me.
2. I've been reading kind of accidentally a lot of books about African colonialism lately. I really want to write about that but its not time yet. What I do want to write about is the men in these books. Lately the male figures in the books I've been reading have frustrated me. Causing me to redefine my view on feminism. I don't subscribe to traditional feminism its much to severve for me, but I do support individual women getting the love and respect they deserve in their individual lives. Whatever that means for them. Now the new idea brought on by my reading: I don't want to be equal to a man (why would I want to be like a man?)...I want a man to ACT (not be) equal to me. I'm talking about sharing...sacrafice...service...This may seem backwards. Maybe it is. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about...The men in the books for the most part are collectively LAZY, and to some degree abusive...Obviously not all men are like this but when I think of most monogamous relationships I know of , whether the woman works outside the home or not, she carries most the load on the home front. Again not true for everyone. This is a little true too in the single/dating world I've experienced. The men that I've been reading about would only participate in what they felt like was "man's work" which mostly consisted of heavy lifting, higher thinking, killing something and drinking on the porch with their friends. This meant that EVERYTHING else was left to the women. If you consider all it takes to keep a family and home running especially if their are children involved this is not an equal share of labor.
So let me back up...I'm not coming down on dudes. You know I love you right dudes? These are fictionaly dudes I'm talking about. I'm just saying that for me...in whatever sort of situation I'm currently in or end up in I want there to be a sharing of work and responsibility...a feeling of "I've got your back" or "I'm on your team". That sounds so romantic to me. This goes the other way too. If I need to work outside the home I'll work outside the home. Its a team effort.
Is this feminism?
3. Along those lines I was struck by the thought today that we are affected and in some way changed by every relationship we have with another person. Obviously it stands to reason the more significant the relationship the more significant the change. This happens because when we are in a relationship (friendship, romance, familial, work etc.) we are offering some part of ourselves to that person. If its a mutually successful and healthy relationship the other person is offering some part of themselves back. Thus by giving of ourselves and recieving (the trust?) of someone else we are changed. If you feel that you are unchanged by your relationship with someone it is because you are only taking from the relationship and not giving back. In a word I believe it is called selfishness, and behind that word is probably another ugly one like fear, hate, sadness.
Imagine if you will two people who give 100% of themselves 100% of the time to the other. The force, the energy, and power that this...there is no other word for it...love would create would be huge, unimaginable...I don't know if the world could contain it. (Oh geez I just rolled my eyes at myself) but seriously, I do think that the level that we humans do manage to give to each other provides enough energy that it is what makes the world rotate...the sun to rise in the morning and people to get out of bed and live their lives. I know that when I only have myself to think about in a day its harder to get out of bed. When I was little I asked my mom why so many of the songs on the radio were about love. She replied that it was because love makes the world go round. Like she is with so many things...she was right.
I have a bunch of stuff to say about Ohio but I'll write it later.
I apologize to those that made it this far. Sometimes I should just write a journal entry and save everyone the trouble.
1. Gilmore Girls...This show and I haven't always been friends. For a long long time I just thought it was a silly girly show where the women talk way too fast guaranteeing a headache for any viewer. Through a series of events I don't want to take the time to describe I've become a pretty serious follower of Lorelei and Rory. Here's what I think: This show is much better than I originally gave it credit for. Yes they talk fast and make the most obscure references in almost every sentence (does anybody get ALL of them??? If you do call me. You're the smartest person I know. I only get about half) and the music is abominable (except Carol King in the opening credits) but at least once an episode at least one of the characters exhibits a depth and complexity I don't think I've seen anywhere else on television. You get the feeling that these are real people with real human responses to the slightly unreal situations the writers put them in. If you watch House or Grey's Anatomy or some trauma drama show like that the amount of tragedy one character endures in one episode is so enormous and so over the top it would put a normal person in the ground for sure. And they have such unnatural responses to it. But these Gilmore girls and the people in there lives have problems you can believe and responses to them you can believe. I mean its still television...the scenarios are still over the top but its better than I gave it credit for. Thanks Rachelle for watching with me.
2. I've been reading kind of accidentally a lot of books about African colonialism lately. I really want to write about that but its not time yet. What I do want to write about is the men in these books. Lately the male figures in the books I've been reading have frustrated me. Causing me to redefine my view on feminism. I don't subscribe to traditional feminism its much to severve for me, but I do support individual women getting the love and respect they deserve in their individual lives. Whatever that means for them. Now the new idea brought on by my reading: I don't want to be equal to a man (why would I want to be like a man?)...I want a man to ACT (not be) equal to me. I'm talking about sharing...sacrafice...service...This may seem backwards. Maybe it is. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about...The men in the books for the most part are collectively LAZY, and to some degree abusive...Obviously not all men are like this but when I think of most monogamous relationships I know of , whether the woman works outside the home or not, she carries most the load on the home front. Again not true for everyone. This is a little true too in the single/dating world I've experienced. The men that I've been reading about would only participate in what they felt like was "man's work" which mostly consisted of heavy lifting, higher thinking, killing something and drinking on the porch with their friends. This meant that EVERYTHING else was left to the women. If you consider all it takes to keep a family and home running especially if their are children involved this is not an equal share of labor.
So let me back up...I'm not coming down on dudes. You know I love you right dudes? These are fictionaly dudes I'm talking about. I'm just saying that for me...in whatever sort of situation I'm currently in or end up in I want there to be a sharing of work and responsibility...a feeling of "I've got your back" or "I'm on your team". That sounds so romantic to me. This goes the other way too. If I need to work outside the home I'll work outside the home. Its a team effort.
Is this feminism?
3. Along those lines I was struck by the thought today that we are affected and in some way changed by every relationship we have with another person. Obviously it stands to reason the more significant the relationship the more significant the change. This happens because when we are in a relationship (friendship, romance, familial, work etc.) we are offering some part of ourselves to that person. If its a mutually successful and healthy relationship the other person is offering some part of themselves back. Thus by giving of ourselves and recieving (the trust?) of someone else we are changed. If you feel that you are unchanged by your relationship with someone it is because you are only taking from the relationship and not giving back. In a word I believe it is called selfishness, and behind that word is probably another ugly one like fear, hate, sadness.
Imagine if you will two people who give 100% of themselves 100% of the time to the other. The force, the energy, and power that this...there is no other word for it...love would create would be huge, unimaginable...I don't know if the world could contain it. (Oh geez I just rolled my eyes at myself) but seriously, I do think that the level that we humans do manage to give to each other provides enough energy that it is what makes the world rotate...the sun to rise in the morning and people to get out of bed and live their lives. I know that when I only have myself to think about in a day its harder to get out of bed. When I was little I asked my mom why so many of the songs on the radio were about love. She replied that it was because love makes the world go round. Like she is with so many things...she was right.
I have a bunch of stuff to say about Ohio but I'll write it later.
I apologize to those that made it this far. Sometimes I should just write a journal entry and save everyone the trouble.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
February
This month I've had more of a chance than I've ever taken for myself to think about Black History Month.
A friend shared this article with me:
http://www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2009/02/black_history_month_is_outlivi.html
I encourage you to read it and to really consider it.
If by chance you do not take the time to read it, it essentially asks the question of whether or not a Black history month is still needed.
My first reaction was no. Of course not. As long as we still separate ourselves by class or race or sex or religion in any way we cannot achieve equality. When are we just Americans? When will Obama not be my black president but my president? When is Woman's history month? When is Native American history month? When is Mormon history month? When does black history become American history?
The author of the article asks that with the election and inauguration of our first black president are we mature enough to accept our histories as one? When does this "pointless exercise of racial chest-bumping" become obsolete?
At first I agreed with him.
Then I was offered an alternate point of view.
Is black (or lets say any minority) history given as much time in an American classroom as white american (majority) history? As a history teacher I guiltily have been a witness to (even the reason) that no its not. Are black inventors and writers, activists and athletes revered and taught about as frequently? No they are not.
Until they are, maybe we still need a black history month.
I think though as we've been witnessing in our own time important and lasting milestones in black history that black history, more than ever is American history. As years pass and today is written in history books there will be less and less distinguishment over who's history is being taught and we will accept and understand that whether we are discussing the achievements of blacks, women, jews, gays it is OUR history.
Someday, I hope every month will be black history month...cuz my mom says "Once you go black you never go back" :)
A friend shared this article with me:
http://www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2009/02/black_history_month_is_outlivi.html
I encourage you to read it and to really consider it.
If by chance you do not take the time to read it, it essentially asks the question of whether or not a Black history month is still needed.
My first reaction was no. Of course not. As long as we still separate ourselves by class or race or sex or religion in any way we cannot achieve equality. When are we just Americans? When will Obama not be my black president but my president? When is Woman's history month? When is Native American history month? When is Mormon history month? When does black history become American history?
The author of the article asks that with the election and inauguration of our first black president are we mature enough to accept our histories as one? When does this "pointless exercise of racial chest-bumping" become obsolete?
At first I agreed with him.
Then I was offered an alternate point of view.
Is black (or lets say any minority) history given as much time in an American classroom as white american (majority) history? As a history teacher I guiltily have been a witness to (even the reason) that no its not. Are black inventors and writers, activists and athletes revered and taught about as frequently? No they are not.
Until they are, maybe we still need a black history month.
I think though as we've been witnessing in our own time important and lasting milestones in black history that black history, more than ever is American history. As years pass and today is written in history books there will be less and less distinguishment over who's history is being taught and we will accept and understand that whether we are discussing the achievements of blacks, women, jews, gays it is OUR history.
Someday, I hope every month will be black history month...cuz my mom says "Once you go black you never go back" :)
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