In my first college English class my professor presented us with a list of what he called "Worst Analogies Ever Written In High School Essays". Most were pretty pathetic, but one of them caught my attention:
"Her date was pleasant enough, but Kate knew that if her life were a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like 'Second Tall Man.'"
I disagreed with my professor then as I do now about the merit of this analogy, because I find it extremely insightful. Maybe it is a sentiment more often felt by the females of our species, because we do tend (at least my sisters and I do) to jump to conclusions about relationships and watch the credits before letting the film play out. But to this point I would have to honestly say that most of my dates have left me with similar musings. Although "Fiftieth Tall Man" would be more accurate, along with "Third Musical Man", "Seventh Pre-Law Student", "Nineteenth Blind Date", and "First (and Last) Poli-Sci Major".
The problem, I know, lies with me more than with the men in the credits. I am not sure what I am looking for, and that is probably why I haven't found it yet. The best friend, the gentlemanly rascal, the mature caretaker, and the comedian are just some of the personalities that have attracted me in the past, but somehow I think it will require a combination of these to make it as the starring male in my personal production.
Maybe I am just getting more picky in my old age? I hope not, but I have discovered that there are some characteristics about which I cannot compromise. Aside from the obviously important things like having the same values, core beliefs, and goals, being a hard worker, etc., I have decided that it is imperative that I be with someone who makes me laugh. (It isn't really that hard; I do it all the time!) Also, it is important that he appreciates music, especially mine, because that is such a central part of who I am that he couldn't know me otherwise. Now that doesn't mean that he has to be musical himself, mostly he just has to enjoy listening to me play piano on occasion. Haha, and of course he has to think I am amazing, especially on the days that I don't think so.
Lest you think me completely selfish, I can assure you that I will think my husband is the most amazing, handsome, and romantic person in the world. I look forward to devoting my days to making him happy, and yes, I have already picked out some names for our future children. :)
And I look forward to seeing his name in the credits of the movie of life, because it will be right at the top, just after the Director's.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Happy Days
Today was beautiful! 60 degrees of paradisiacal sunshine, the blessed anticipation of a long weekend, and the discovery of a new running trail were enough to make it a great day. Add to that the fact that I got a slight tint of sunburn, I sampled cheesecake at Costco (among other delicacies), and our dwelling now rivals the white house for cleanliness and let me tell you, today has been WONDERFUL! I haven't actually done any planning yet, but there are still a few hours in which to be productive. And who knows, the lack of planning lessons may have been a significant factor in the awesomeness of the day.
Today is a good day to be grateful. Most days probably are, but this one made me feel especially blessed. For one, I have a body that is capable of doing so much! And while I have often chided it for not being willing or able to do things like backflips, wakeboarding, hip hop, etc., I realized again today how wonderful it is just to be able to run! My body has been quite good to me. I used to be so frustrated that I was "cursed" with a gene that gave me decidedly large and muscular limbs, but now I just smile and say "I love my legs. They get me places!"
Another thing that I am grateful for is fruit. Those who know me, laugh if you must, but I really don't know what I would do without it. It has been a motivator, preserver, comfort, and reward in all of my travels and trials, and it is a constant source of awe to me that our Creator would provide fruits for every season of the year. Isn't it amazing that we get citrus in the winter, apples, pears, and melons in the fall, and berries, peaches, apricots in spring and summer?? That, along with marriage, is one of the daily miracles that keeps me in wonder.
And let's not forget sunshine! I have often joked that in my perfect world I would have constant sunshine combined with cool breezes, NO snow, and rain only at night. But I would be sad if I ever took sunshine for granted, so really I am happy that it comes as it does to brighten up my weeks and remind me of good things.
So those were some of my thoughts today. Happy days. :)
Today is a good day to be grateful. Most days probably are, but this one made me feel especially blessed. For one, I have a body that is capable of doing so much! And while I have often chided it for not being willing or able to do things like backflips, wakeboarding, hip hop, etc., I realized again today how wonderful it is just to be able to run! My body has been quite good to me. I used to be so frustrated that I was "cursed" with a gene that gave me decidedly large and muscular limbs, but now I just smile and say "I love my legs. They get me places!"
Another thing that I am grateful for is fruit. Those who know me, laugh if you must, but I really don't know what I would do without it. It has been a motivator, preserver, comfort, and reward in all of my travels and trials, and it is a constant source of awe to me that our Creator would provide fruits for every season of the year. Isn't it amazing that we get citrus in the winter, apples, pears, and melons in the fall, and berries, peaches, apricots in spring and summer?? That, along with marriage, is one of the daily miracles that keeps me in wonder.
And let's not forget sunshine! I have often joked that in my perfect world I would have constant sunshine combined with cool breezes, NO snow, and rain only at night. But I would be sad if I ever took sunshine for granted, so really I am happy that it comes as it does to brighten up my weeks and remind me of good things.
So those were some of my thoughts today. Happy days. :)
Friday, February 10, 2012
The Best Successes
I am learning to redefine success in the classroom, because it isn't always reflected in test scores. In fact, in this particular school it is easy to get discouraged if formal assessments are the only indicator. There are so many things that kids learn at school (most that the teacher doesn't ever create a lesson plan for) and today I wanted to write some of the best achievements.
#1 - MQ said "Thank you". MQ (name changed) is a student whose background I don't know much about, but if his behavior is any guide it isn't too hard to fill in the blanks. He comes in every day without smiling (I have only ever seen him smile once - no exaggeration), he is constantly muttering to himself ("If he do that again I gonna beat his head" and "I ain't gonna do nothin'. Y'all can't make me do nothin'"), and he rebels at the slightest correction from authority figures. He is an amazingly good student academically, but his volatile nature makes it hard for him to work with partners or in teams. My co-teacher and I try to praise every ounce of positive that we can, and we pick our battles carefully when it comes to correction, but before today I had never heard MQ respond in a positive way. It was a really simple thing: he asked for a juice and I handed him one. But he said "Thank you"!!!
#2 - TR gave me a high five. TR is a special ed student because he has extreme difficulty focusing, sitting still, being quiet, etc. Not only that, he is often defiant and last week he threw a tantrum that merited a call to security. The guard spent an hour with him before he was ready to come back into the classroom. As for his home life, I can only guess from his mother's responses to our calls ("He ain't my problem now") that there isn't a lot of support from that angle. But today my co-teacher asked him to help put the leftover milk from breakfast in the mini-fridge, and he and I spent about 5 minutes organizing it so that everything would fit. We finally arranged it so that every last milk carton had a place, and when I held out my hand for a high five he smiled and gave me one.
#3 - KS understood a math problem! We have been working on the same mathematical concept (fractional parts of a set) for an entire week, and while the concept isn't a difficult one, there are about 5 students in the class that still struggle with it. KS is one that has been extremely challenging to teach math to because she only takes in about 20% of what the teacher says, she can't read the word problems, and the pictorial representations don't make sense to her on their own. But today she solved a problem on her own, and showed correct reasoning in her problem-solving process! She was the last one to finish the math test, but she didn't give up and in the end her 3 out of 8 problems correct was a huge victory.
#4 - KV talked! KV is a good student, but the kind that you never hear. He is shy and doesn't ask questions in class, and especially with me he won't talk other than simple "yes" or "no" answers. I met his mother, a wonderfully sweet lady who is refreshingly calm in this loud and verbal environment. I have also heard a little about his father, who is in prison out of state. KV is the oldest of three boys in his family, which I would usually expect would make him more outgoing, but he keeps to himself and is definitely non-confrontational. (Note: last week the crazy French teacher whose accent, although real, reminds me of Steve Martin's in Pink Panther, wrongfully accused KV of trying to hit him during class. This teacher yelled at him in the hallway, threatening him with bodily harm if he ever tried anything again, and even threw out a threatening "I know Kung Fu!" in a way that made me want to laugh, except that I was too enraged for KV's sake. KV was shaking like a leaf and couldn't even stutter out an explanation, but we found later that the French teacher had confused him with another notorious troublemaker in the class. The French teacher never apologized.) Anyhow, today at the end of class KV asked me a question about our point system, and I was so happy and pleased to answer! He talked!!!
So those are the little successes of today. They help me at times when I am struggling to remember why on earth I ever wanted to be a teacher, because teachers don't get much pay, praise, or sleep. They help me when I am grading papers and see that 15 out of 20 students score consistently below 50%. They help me to hope for these students when hope is hard to come by.
But there is so much to hope for!
#1 - MQ said "Thank you". MQ (name changed) is a student whose background I don't know much about, but if his behavior is any guide it isn't too hard to fill in the blanks. He comes in every day without smiling (I have only ever seen him smile once - no exaggeration), he is constantly muttering to himself ("If he do that again I gonna beat his head" and "I ain't gonna do nothin'. Y'all can't make me do nothin'"), and he rebels at the slightest correction from authority figures. He is an amazingly good student academically, but his volatile nature makes it hard for him to work with partners or in teams. My co-teacher and I try to praise every ounce of positive that we can, and we pick our battles carefully when it comes to correction, but before today I had never heard MQ respond in a positive way. It was a really simple thing: he asked for a juice and I handed him one. But he said "Thank you"!!!
#2 - TR gave me a high five. TR is a special ed student because he has extreme difficulty focusing, sitting still, being quiet, etc. Not only that, he is often defiant and last week he threw a tantrum that merited a call to security. The guard spent an hour with him before he was ready to come back into the classroom. As for his home life, I can only guess from his mother's responses to our calls ("He ain't my problem now") that there isn't a lot of support from that angle. But today my co-teacher asked him to help put the leftover milk from breakfast in the mini-fridge, and he and I spent about 5 minutes organizing it so that everything would fit. We finally arranged it so that every last milk carton had a place, and when I held out my hand for a high five he smiled and gave me one.
#3 - KS understood a math problem! We have been working on the same mathematical concept (fractional parts of a set) for an entire week, and while the concept isn't a difficult one, there are about 5 students in the class that still struggle with it. KS is one that has been extremely challenging to teach math to because she only takes in about 20% of what the teacher says, she can't read the word problems, and the pictorial representations don't make sense to her on their own. But today she solved a problem on her own, and showed correct reasoning in her problem-solving process! She was the last one to finish the math test, but she didn't give up and in the end her 3 out of 8 problems correct was a huge victory.
#4 - KV talked! KV is a good student, but the kind that you never hear. He is shy and doesn't ask questions in class, and especially with me he won't talk other than simple "yes" or "no" answers. I met his mother, a wonderfully sweet lady who is refreshingly calm in this loud and verbal environment. I have also heard a little about his father, who is in prison out of state. KV is the oldest of three boys in his family, which I would usually expect would make him more outgoing, but he keeps to himself and is definitely non-confrontational. (Note: last week the crazy French teacher whose accent, although real, reminds me of Steve Martin's in Pink Panther, wrongfully accused KV of trying to hit him during class. This teacher yelled at him in the hallway, threatening him with bodily harm if he ever tried anything again, and even threw out a threatening "I know Kung Fu!" in a way that made me want to laugh, except that I was too enraged for KV's sake. KV was shaking like a leaf and couldn't even stutter out an explanation, but we found later that the French teacher had confused him with another notorious troublemaker in the class. The French teacher never apologized.) Anyhow, today at the end of class KV asked me a question about our point system, and I was so happy and pleased to answer! He talked!!!
So those are the little successes of today. They help me at times when I am struggling to remember why on earth I ever wanted to be a teacher, because teachers don't get much pay, praise, or sleep. They help me when I am grading papers and see that 15 out of 20 students score consistently below 50%. They help me to hope for these students when hope is hard to come by.
But there is so much to hope for!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Scrabble and Me
I have a new past time, similar to my Dad playing solitaire as a nightly ritual before going to bed. His activity was slightly wiser, since solitaire lasted maybe 5 minutes on the computer, while my obsession wants at least an hour. Nevertheless, I feel justified by the fact that every time I play I learn a new word, and if I ever learn what these words mean and how to use them in real conversation then it will indeed have been time well spent.
So yes, Scrabble is my new passion. With the state of technology being such that I can carry the game with me and play it on the metro, on long walks, and even at the gym, I am now constantly on the lookout for 8-letter words (did you know you get a 50-point bonus if you use all your letters at the same time??), long-forgotten digraphs, and strange new vowel combinations. I get ridiculously excited when I get a Q or X, and I would rather give my opponent the Triple Word spot than waste it on an unworthy, one-syllabled exhibition like "pout" or "tent". I have nearly memorized the list of two-letter words provided by the Scrabble dictionary, and I spend an unreasonable amount of time looking up possibilities like "bitox" and "sourwit" (neither of which are real words).
My opponent for the first few weeks was the computer, under the pleasant alias of Norm1. We played daily and had a pretty good relationship, since I always won. He rivaled your average 10th-grader in skills, but I didn't almost graduate from college for nothing. I beat him soundly every time, with the closest margin being something like 50 points.
But even a girl gets tired of having her way all the time, so I switched Norm1 out for a foe by the name of Hard1. Our first match was grueling. I agonized over every word choice, while in seconds Hard1 came out with words I had never even heard of before that accrued him 80, 90, 100 points in a single turn. Words like "opercula" and "outjuts" mocked my intelligence, and at first I was certain that Hard1 was actually writing the Scrabble dictionary as he played. In our first match he beat me by over 100 points. The next five games ("wars" would be a better word choice in this case) were similar, and I started to miss my old companion Norm1. But I persisted, knowing that only cowards play where they are confident of victory. And one very late night my victory came.
It had been a long day at school, and a longer evening of lesson planning. After sapping every ounce of elementary-level creativity for my 4th grade classroom, I turned to Hard1 for the rejuvenation of a higher challenge. We played for an hour and a half, him pulling out words like "rostrate" and "yuga" while I trusted in well-placed classics such as "waged" and "zipper". It was getting down to the wire when I found myself in possession of "unwoven", already spelled nearly perfectly in the letters given to me. I found an ideal placement for it and the match was soon sealed in my favor! 395 to 326! I was so pleased I nearly texted my dear father to tell him of my triumph, but fortunately I chanced to look at the clock first. It was 2 am. On a school night. Curse you Hard1! It seems I can't win either way.
So after many late nights followed by many earlier mornings, Hard1 and I have settled for a more casual relationship. Instead of a desperate rivalry we are now occasional sparring partners, and I win about one time in four. My next goal is to have a dictionary app handy, so that I can discover what "betels" actually means.
So yes, Scrabble is my new passion. With the state of technology being such that I can carry the game with me and play it on the metro, on long walks, and even at the gym, I am now constantly on the lookout for 8-letter words (did you know you get a 50-point bonus if you use all your letters at the same time??), long-forgotten digraphs, and strange new vowel combinations. I get ridiculously excited when I get a Q or X, and I would rather give my opponent the Triple Word spot than waste it on an unworthy, one-syllabled exhibition like "pout" or "tent". I have nearly memorized the list of two-letter words provided by the Scrabble dictionary, and I spend an unreasonable amount of time looking up possibilities like "bitox" and "sourwit" (neither of which are real words).
My opponent for the first few weeks was the computer, under the pleasant alias of Norm1. We played daily and had a pretty good relationship, since I always won. He rivaled your average 10th-grader in skills, but I didn't almost graduate from college for nothing. I beat him soundly every time, with the closest margin being something like 50 points.
But even a girl gets tired of having her way all the time, so I switched Norm1 out for a foe by the name of Hard1. Our first match was grueling. I agonized over every word choice, while in seconds Hard1 came out with words I had never even heard of before that accrued him 80, 90, 100 points in a single turn. Words like "opercula" and "outjuts" mocked my intelligence, and at first I was certain that Hard1 was actually writing the Scrabble dictionary as he played. In our first match he beat me by over 100 points. The next five games ("wars" would be a better word choice in this case) were similar, and I started to miss my old companion Norm1. But I persisted, knowing that only cowards play where they are confident of victory. And one very late night my victory came.
It had been a long day at school, and a longer evening of lesson planning. After sapping every ounce of elementary-level creativity for my 4th grade classroom, I turned to Hard1 for the rejuvenation of a higher challenge. We played for an hour and a half, him pulling out words like "rostrate" and "yuga" while I trusted in well-placed classics such as "waged" and "zipper". It was getting down to the wire when I found myself in possession of "unwoven", already spelled nearly perfectly in the letters given to me. I found an ideal placement for it and the match was soon sealed in my favor! 395 to 326! I was so pleased I nearly texted my dear father to tell him of my triumph, but fortunately I chanced to look at the clock first. It was 2 am. On a school night. Curse you Hard1! It seems I can't win either way.
So after many late nights followed by many earlier mornings, Hard1 and I have settled for a more casual relationship. Instead of a desperate rivalry we are now occasional sparring partners, and I win about one time in four. My next goal is to have a dictionary app handy, so that I can discover what "betels" actually means.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)