Ticking...

I'm not really enjoying language arts. Grammar rules do not excite me so much.

The past few days we've been moving to studying the writing of short stories. 6th grade had "They're Made out of Meat," 7th grade had "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," and 8th grade had "The Cask of Amontillado." All I got from the students was "I don't understand this" and "This story is dumb." Then, once I explained it, they thought it was pretty cool.

Next we'll begin writing stories. This should be fun. The imagination of these kids is so limited. They get bored at every moment. Even when we took a field trip to the zoo, some kids were playing PSP rather than looking at everything. They had to tear me away from the gorilla cage; I was having so much fun.

I'm still counting the days until blast off. Preparations are underway.

Dua (supplication) of 'Omar ( ra)

اَللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنِيْ صَبُوْرًا

وَّ اجْعَلْنِيْ شَكُوْرًا

وَّ اجْعَلْنِيْ فِيْ عَيْنِيْ صَغِيْرًا

وَّ فِيْ أَعْيُنِ النَّاسِ كَبِيْرًا

Oh Allah, make me patient

and make me thankful

and make me in my eyes small

and in the eyes of mankind great.

Counting the days...

SubhanAllah

I was just looking at this blog, and I noticed the date of the last entry. I haven't updated in over a month. How did the time fly by so quickly that I didn't even realize it? I've been busy with moving, and working, and working, and working. What else? Nasty ice storm, car full of stuff, 60% humidity in my apartment, and we're already halfway through 2nd quarter. This year is flying by, but the days tick by slowly until they're gone. I don't even have time for a regular post, just this little rant. And a poem that captures some of my frustrations when teaching poetry.

Introduction To Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

-Billy Collins

When I came to the school I'm currently at, I was replacing a former teacher they call Mr. B. He taught P.E. class and some other subjects, and I don't think the kids especially liked him, except his lack of structure and discipline.

They ask me, "Are you just going to let us play basketball like Mr. B did?" or they say, "Mr. B never made us run." and so forth.


Anyway, today we were walking to the field to play kickball with the 2nd graders. I was carrying one of the new soft kickballs that the school purchased with our Go-Girls-Go grant money. I thought this ball would work much better than the soccer ball or the volleyball we had been using. I told the students to walk behind me, and they kept yelling about all sorts of things. Above the steady white noise that is the 2nd graders I heard:

"Mr. K, you have way more balls than Mr. B ever had."

I told the kid, "Thank you, but please don't ever say that again."

grammar = boring

Rather than beating around the bush, I decided to confront a student whom I know is extremely lazy and unmotivated to do her grammar homework (who would have thought?).

Me: I read your first paper, and I understand you have some real talent for writing.

Her: Yeah, I really like to write.

Me: You are just very lazy. You don't like to do homework.

Her: I'll be honest. I am really lazy.

Me: You are not the kind of person who does grammar homework. I don't want you to fail my class because of not turning in homework. That's dumb. You are good at writing. I'm not sure what to do. How can I get you to do your homework.

:crickets chirp:

Me: I'll let you turn in your homework with 75% credit [I'm too nice], but you have to do the rest of your homework.

Her: Insha'Allah (God willing)

She stayed by me for a while. I think she wasn't sure if we were finished talking. I finally told her to leave, and she went off to play soccer. We haven't had too much homework yet, so I think it's safe to allow her to turn in (really) late work. Normally I'm not this lax, but I see a lot of potential in this student. I saw some of her grades for the previous year. C. I know she is talented but not motivated. I hope this will help her.

Growing old and staying young

There is an adorable kid in my 1st grade class. He is missing his two top front teeth, and he loves to smile. At recess, there was a girl standing next to him who was also missing her two top front teeth.

"Are you two related?" I asked.

"No, we're just friends," she replied.

"Are you friends because you're both missing teeth?"

"Noooooo!"

And with that, they both ran away. I turned to another girl who was watching the whole thing.

"You've got plenty of teeth," I said to her.

"I've got four," she responded. "And my grandfather has two."

I started laughing so hard. I could just imagine her poor grandfather and all of his missing teeth. It reminds me of one time last year when I was sitting in the teachers lounge working on some lessons, and another teacher's daughter was sitting there too. She said:

"Sometimes, my mom and dad kiss on the lips."

Waaay too much information!