Tag: school

Learning SOMEthing

Context: As a way to help them behave, we did a bad word/phrase of the day two years ago in one class. The words and phrases weren’t actually very bad, but most of them were quite useful for the kids – they were things that they said to each other all the time in English, anyway. Now they could use them in French.
…..

In class this week, a student asked, after finishing the test, if he and another kid could go study in the hall. I told him to ask in French. He said, “N—— et moi pouvons… casse-toi?”

The first part was right… “Can N—— and I…”

The second part means either the command, “Get out of here!” or, even, “GTF out!”

Most of the class, after a momentary pause for all to process and draw breath, burst out laughing as his well-intended effort of unintentionally forcefully telling the teacher to leave class immediately.

At least he remembered something from sophomore year! 😛

Post-a-day 2023

Late Start

Whenever the school has events in the evening, they always have a late start the next day. But it is only an hour and a quarter later than usual. And most people still have to drop off their own kids and whatnot, so they still get up at the same time the next morning. Even if they don’t have all those, it is very difficult just to sleep a little bit longer in the morning than what one days every single day consistently. The body usually just wakes us up at the regular time, anyway. What’s more, traffic is worse later in the morning, so we still have to leave at almost the same time in order to get to school on time. And most students have parents with typical jobs, and so they still have to be dropped off at the usual time at school. What’s more, by starting late, the school eliminates the hour of open time we all usually get mid-morning, a time used for office hours, getting things done, eating a late or second breakfast, running around to play, or, even, napping – a valuable time for all each day. But it goes away for late starts.

So, basically, late start is annoying and doesn’t actually help anything. And everyone is tired and ready to go home…

Which leads me to the better idea that many of us mentioned today: Let us go home early instead. We all have to get up and going at the same time already. Sure, we don’t get that hour of free time mid-morning, but we get to go home an extra hour and a quarter sooner than usual. That also means we get to head home before traffic starts up, even the coaches with after-school practice. Then we can have the chance to go to bed early that night, to help make up for the lost sleep the night before.

Anyway, my two cents…

Post-a-day 2023

A first for the first day of school

For the first time in my life, I slept well the night before the first day of school. I went to school today rested and ready for the day, and I was, at one point, amazed when I realized just how rested and easy-feeling I was. I had a peaceful, easy feeling, and it was mostly due to a good night of sleep last night.

What a great first to experience.

Dear God, thank you for my sleep last night. Please, help me always to sleep well, that sounds have the full and easy energy to pursue and fulfill your will always. Thank you for this life and this work – they are both blessed. In your name, I pray in gratitude. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Day one

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I am simultaneously not really worried at all and somewhat freaking out (mostly because I am so ‘no big deal’ about it all). Sure, I want to make a good impression and do a good job and all that jazz. But I also… it’s not that I don’t care about it all. Perhaps it is that the first day, in my mind, is just a day now. It didn’t used to be. But it seems to be for me now, anyway. I can’t get much done in terms of lesson-planning until I start meeting with students. So, I’d like to go ahead and meet with them in order to find out where they all are with everything. Language courses are kind of like that. Yes, we have specific goals for the year, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be able to start right away with new material. Most of them are new learners of the language, and most only have exposure during the school year and in the classroom. So, two months of no class means massive recession of their abilities in the language. And I didn’t teach these particular students last year, so I don’t even know what they truly covered, nor how well they mastered what they did cover. So, my first unit of the year, except for French I, is always a review unit to get everyone on the same page.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to it, I guess. I think it has the potential to be a really great year.

Thank you, God. Please, give me your perfect words this year. Help me to be your servant in my teaching especially. Help me always to pursue and fulfill your will. In your name, I pray in gratitude. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Sleepy

I need to sleep hard tonight, as I have a sort of long day tomorrow that starts early. But there is a chance it might be a very interesting time, as well as educational. So, that gives it a chance of being great, despite my likely being tired and kind of generally wiped from this week’s work stuff.

I didn’t get any lesson stuff done today, though I’d hoped to have at least my framework for making lessons set up today. But it didn’t happen either. Technology changed, so I couldn’t connect my external hard drive to the new laptop that only had USB-C ports on it. But IT said I can easily come pick up an adapter on Monday, so I’ll do that then, and get down to some business. Some very important business called, “What on Earth I am doing in classes for the start of school.”

Dear God, help me to be a great teacher this year especially. I look forward to fulfilling your will and to being your servant in this fulfilling role. Guide me always, please, and help me always to have the right words. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Progress

I wasn’t as stressed today as yesterday. I was clearly still stressed, though, because I actually started to cry a little bit when I discovered that my “office” is a former storage room and is the only office that has no window at all. And it has no built-in shelving or storage like everyone else has… because it was a storage room.

Nonetheless, I went to the bathroom, and came back with the perspective of figuring out something workable. I turned the heavy (and dirty) desk to face the common area (that wall is glass, so it acts like a secondary window, you could say, getting natural light from the windows that lead into the rest of the office suite), and it fit just perfectly there. I then cleaned the desk.m and left it opened up to dry, so I could reevaluate if more cleaning would be needed tomorrow.

I then sat at the center table in the common area (which is filled with natural light), right outside my door, to handle the bit of computer work I had to do – well, wanted to have done – today before I went home. While there, I ended up meeting the rest of the residents of the office suite as they trickled in, and it was almost magical. This was truly the place for me to be this year. It is downstairs and the next building over from where all my classes will be (versus down the hall from the classroom on the same floor).

I was initially okay with the idea, though, because it would mean my own space instead of four cubicles in a single room, and my own locking door for keeping things safe at my own discretion. The lack of window, as I mentioned, put me over an edge of stress, though, and made me cry a bit. But I shared a photo with my brother, who is very high up in his company and recently ran into the problem of having no office at all to himself, due to a hiring surge. He had said repeatedly that he didn’t care if he only got a closet – he just needed his own space to work privately. He laughed at my photo and offer for him to take my storage shed office, and sent me a photo of his recently-found closet. He said I had him beat on space, and that he didn’t even have one of the adjustable standing desks he usually has. His photo cracked me up. Sure, the one wall was painted like the outdoors beautifully, but his office truly was like a closet. He said he can barely wheel out his chair to sit down in it, and he definitely cannot do any advanced yoga poses (his words, not mine). So, we both have former storage closets for offices now. But we are both glad to have them to ourselves, especially since I turned the desk and it made all the difference(!).

Now, to dive right into the real work tomorrow: preparing for actual teaching.

God, guide me to do a wonderful job at school and always to do your will. Thank you for this job and this call. In your name, I pray. Amen.

P.S. I totally forgot to mention that, when I went to leave for the day, and I locked the office door, it didn’t actually lock…. That is to say that the lock is broken… the irony. Haha. But, we submitted a repair request and it likely will be fixed before school starts next week. So, yay! Haha

Post-a-day 2023

Productive again

Today, my body woke me at my 4:30-ish hour. I got up and went the bathroom, fully intending to go back to sleep. As I got back to bed, I considered that I might just want to stay up and go work out at the 5:15am class, instead of the 6:30am class, since I was already awake. But I didn’t want to take away sleep if I could still sleep well.

So, I agreed that I would lie down and see what happened. If I fell asleep, I needed the sleep. If I didn’t, then the rest would do me good, and I could get up in another 20 minutes to get ready for and go to the gym.

Sure enough, I was awake 20 minutes later, and so got up and got ready and headed to the gym. It was a great workout, and I was glad I had gone so early. I came home and ate protein and showered in the guest bathroom, then I went back to bed. I slept another four and a half hours – clearly, I still needed sleep, but just not anymore at 4:30 this morning.

And I slept hard. When I finally got up later, my man asked if I was going to the noon workout (in five minutes). He hadn’t even realized that I’d gone this morning. 😛

All that being said, I still had an extremely productive day, and am going to bed satisfied with my accomplishments.

I got a good amount done with my current project in my computer programming course, though not as much as I would have preferred. However, I am still so new to it all, I can’t expect to have it all figured out so quickly. These projects get me every time, the ones that are fully self-led, with no guidance whatsoever.

I ended up hitting a point where I knew I just needed to ask someone for some explanations, so I reached out to the meager few contacts I have in the world of computer programming. One of them told me to come on over to the house, so he could take a look and also show me some fun new stuff in the industry. I did, and the conversation was super helpful for me. It was only minimally helpful regarding the project itself, because he doesn’t do that work in particular (though, he was still helpful there, nonetheless). However, it was extremely helpful for me in terms of the mental doubts and struggles I’ve had about what I’m doing in general. He looked over the course syllabus and said it all looked really good. He agreed that I was on a good path and said that what I was doing was all right, that I had all the right instincts, and that he knew I would do very well in this industry. He mentioned, not for the first time, today that there are even people who go to school for this and get a full bachelor’s degree in it, but still can’t code – their brains just don’t have whatever it takes, don’t function in quite the right way. When I sent him a message of thanks later on, he replied, “Glad to hear it. I don’t know what it is, but you’ve got it.”

It was a very encouraging meeting. He genuinely believes that I won’t even have to wait six months to find work. “You can code!” And he was right – I can code. I just need to find the right place that will let me start where I am and continue to learn, because most people don’t start working in the industry, I think, with so little education in it as I currently have. But I am learning quickly and well – my brain truly is made for this kind of stuff – and that can make all the difference.

Anyway, not quite 9pm and I’m about to go finish my stretched and go to bed. It feels good.

Dear God, please, help me to follow the right path with all of this. Make my way clear for me, that I may pursue and fulfill your will in all that I do and that I may keep you present in all of my steps and in all of my successes. Help me to be the person I can be and want to be. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

A drink in New York

We went to the school black box musical tonight. It was cute. But it also showed how people tend to ‘deal’ with problems with alcohol. That sort of thing seems to make me even more upset than before. Well, okay, it doesn’t send me up in a fuss or anything like that. But it does make something less appealing to me when that is part of it. Alcohol only heals issues with bacteria. everything else is like turning to look the other way, and pretending the problem is solved. And I despise that so much of society finds it acceptable and not st all sad that people turn to alcohol for stress-relief and courage and all these other things that don’t include harming the body in their idea. But that’s what alcohol does, harm the body. And lives. We all would do much better to remember that.

P.S. Happy October, y’all!!

Post-a-day 2022

Tuesday

You know, I think I might end up really liking this golf thing. Not sure I’ll love playing golf, but I think I might always enjoy going to the driving range and just hitting golf balls. We had a parent night at school tonight, so we had to be at school for roughly 5:30-8:15pm. Therefore, since I didn’t work out today anyway, and couldn’t unless I’d done the morning, due to timing, I went to the driving range for an hour and hit balls.

And I had a great time.

When I got there, I asked a nice older man about the number of balls for each size of the buckets – we had to pick between M, L, and XL, I believe, but with no numbers or estimates listed for each size. He asked me how many I wanted. I said that I wasn’t sure, but that I only could stay an hour, and I only just had my first lesson the other day, so maybe around 50 would be plenty. As I was saying this, he scanned a fob and selected the XL button, telling me that XL would fill the buckets all the way. He asked with whom I had had my lesson. I told him. He said the guy was a great guy. Typical older man talk style, if you know what I mean. It was cute.

As the balls slowly filled his little bucket basket, he grabbed another bucket and swapped it with the one that had already started filling. “Well, you can just share with me. You can have some of these,” he said.

I asked for confirmation, he gave it, and I thanked him. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’m a volunteer. Don’t worry about it.’ I thanked him some more, and we both went our separate ways, he back to a cart and I over to the driving range.

I went to the upper level, and poured out the balls. He’s given me 63 balls! Pretty good guesstimate for that 50 I’d mentioned! Anyway, I had a blast hitting them. I tend to be quite consistent, but I don’t know how to fix certain things yet. And that’s okay. I need to stay low with this all, so I don’t overwhelm myself. Baby steps and only casual ones at that. Low intensity progress here, please.

Roughly the first 40 balls went great. Nine out of ten were decent hits, and three to four of those nine were good, straight or almost-straight-forward hits that went far. After about 40 balls, however, I noticed I was tired. My hands started to hurt. I started having decent balls only about half the time, with maybe only one or no straight and far hits per ten swings. So, today I confirmed that I am consistent in any given day and that I can only comfortably handle about 40 swings/balls right now. Good information.

I also videoed myself and saw that I was hunching my shoulders. Once I fixed that, the hits were much better.

Anyway… yeah… golf…(!!!) And I even get to look the part in all these cute tennis-type skirts I now have. Next step is to be able to perform well every time in those adorable outfits – to look the part and to play it.

Thank you, God and my man, for this blessing. And thank you, God, for golf and for my man. In your name I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

P.S. When this is posted, it will be my man’s birthday! Happy, Happy Birthday, Love. May God fill you with gratitude, confidence, and love this year. Amen.

Weeping Wednesday?

I cried at least three times at work today, because of work. Talk about being overwhelmed, and you’re talking about me today. But I managed to let it out as it came up, and then get down to business again and again throughout the day. I spoke a couple times with the teacher for whom I am teaching the first quarter – she’s on maternity leave – and what she had to share with me helped immensely with my stress. I now know somewhat decently what specifically is expected of me regarding content and presentation for class, and I have my next steps clearly in place for tomorrow (and the future classes as a whole). There is much for me to learn regarding the subject matter – Sacred Scripture and Catholicism – and I want to learn it all. But it will take time. And I have a clear plan as to how to do that now. Phew.

I want to do a good job here, as with everything I do. That’s why I’m stressed – because I care so much. But I definitely sat under the desk and cried hard at one point near midday today. So, today was a lot in a lot of ways. I wonder if tomorrow will be quite so emotional…

Dear God, grant me the grace and perseverance to do the amazing job I know you have called me to do here. Help me to fulfill your will fully and wholeheartedly. And help me to see clearly where you want me and need me to go. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022