Wednesday, October 19, 2005
by Amanda.
I cannot ever complain about my cushy AIS job. Never mind that I don’t have a classroom or that I have to be flexible. I don’t feel sick every morning when I have to go to work! Today was a good day. I did a read aloud in Mr. M’s class and just walked around and helped out in classes. On top of that, the one Special Ed class I teach on my own on Wednesdays had a guest speaker. Now all my classes will at least be on the same track by Friday. My spurned classes didn’t moan as much for me to come back when they saw me in the halls. Instead, most of them were just really sweet. But “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late,” isn’t just a Johnny Mathis song, you know.
Posted in: Teaching in Harlem, NYC.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
by Amanda.
I have six thoughts for you.
1. Today I had to do my “push in, pull out” tutoring work in Mr. Butler’s class. Bobby and I call him The Model, because he thinks he’s dead sexy with his long, flowing locks and chiseled jaw. I think his hair is actually kind of limp and he always looks surprised. He has eyes like Joan Rivers. Anyhow, Mr. Butler has a weird habit of enunciating unusual words in his speech. He also misspells words like “suicide.” (Why was he writing the word “suicide” on the board? It’s on the mind of most of the faculty of I.S. 666, but besides that, it’s the topic of a book he’s reading to the class). And…Mr. Butler made a poster in his classroom about common mistakes students make. One point on his poster was to not use double negatives. It’s good to model concepts for students, so he used the example no-no sentence “He don’t know nothing.” That Model instructor then showed two ways to write that sentence correctly - “He knows nothing,” and “He don’t know anything.”
Posted in: Everyday, Overbooked, Teaching in Harlem, NYC.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
by Amanda.
So…I’m back. I called in sick to work on Friday, because 1) I was the kind of sick of the pounds o’ phlegm and a voice like a mafiosa variety, 2) I had a tutoring interview that I had already postponed once that week wayyyy in Brooklyn that I had to get to at 3, and 3) my parents were in town. I I had to get up really early and call in sick, but no one at the school would answer the phone. Once I left my message with a polite administrator (that doesn’t have to be an oxymoron), I dozed a few more hours. My parents and I met up, ate breakfast at West Way Cafe, and I changed into my grownup uniform. It was still raining buckets. I told my parents I really didn’t need to be escorted to the interview site, but I’m glad they were around for the ride. It was a long one. We waited FOR the Q, then ON the Q, and then we walked blocks and blocks…in the wrong direction…TOGETHER. Quality time, if you ask me. I’m not all that familiar with Brooklyn, so I don’t know what the charming neighborhood I went to was called, but it was very Jewish. At one point, all the signs were English and Yiddish. I felt like the Aryan outsider schlepping around in my stilettoes. (Yes, in rain! All because I thought this would keep the hem of my pants from getting wet[ter]. I was wrong).
Posted in: Everyday, Ties that bind...and gag.
Friday, October 14, 2005
by Amanda.
After a delay in Houston and having to fly in circles in Baltimore, my parents arrived in NYC around 4:00. They’re staying at a hotel on my street, so the proximity is nice. All we did today was eat at Deluxe (blah), walk around 145th Street to show my mom my first apartment, and then walk around Times Square a bit. I need to be a better tour guide, but I’m still sick and I was so tired today. I’m looking for a good museum for my parents and I to see - something off the beaten path. I’d love to go to the Tenement Museum, but reservations are required and I don’t know if it’s open on weekends. Plus, my dad would make so many jokes, like “Gee, this place looks like your first apartment, ha, ha.”
Posted in: Everyday.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
by Amanda.
Tomorrow afternoon the man responsible for my shapely (okay skinny, but muscular) legs and the woman responsible for my full German face are coming to New York. I’m hoping to meet my parents at La Guardia, so long as torrential rains don’t interfere. If they do, then I still might dog-paddle to Queens.
Posted in: Ties that bind...and gag.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
by Amanda.
Howdy.
I said goodbye to my students today. Mind you, I’ll still work with my classes once a week, but they’re not my sole responsibility anymore. Woo hoo! Students took it fairly well that I am taking on another position at the school. I first told the news to Hicks’s homeroom. Some students broke out into very rude applause, which made me feel a bit bad. I can be honest about it, and I know I was not demanding anything from them that they couldn’t and shouldn’t deliver. It’s not my fault that some of them were so angry, disruptive, and apathetic. I know very well that I didn’t positively reinforce any of this behavior. My girl students were the ones who were most taken aback. Some asked me not to leave. One girl - a student it seems that only liked and did work in my class - stormed out of the room, was gone for twenty minutes, returned quietly to finish her work, and then told me she would never speak to me again. Hmmm….okay.
Posted in: I Live NY, Teaching in Harlem, NYC.
Monday, October 10, 2005
by Amanda.
Today was a long day. I woke up, typed a blog entry, talked to Chen, and plodded about in far too few clothes. I’ve officially shut both windows in my room, which is of important meteorological significance Texans cannot fathom. Fall is here and winter isn’t far behind! It’s exciting, but I know I’m going to shiver like crazy for the rest of the year.
Posted in: Everyday, Teaching in Harlem, NYC.
Monday, October 10, 2005
by Amanda.
It’s cold in here! The rain has stopped, but now it’s cold and gray. Of course, it’s probably cold because I have a window open and I am only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. After last night’s cold medicine, I woke up throughout the night talking to myself in a weird haze. Great… I haven’t been able to accomplish anything since waking, because honestly, I don’t want to get dressed.
Posted in: Everyday, Teaching in Harlem, NYC.
Sunday, October 9, 2005
by Amanda.
I’ve heard the warnings about student germs from the very beginning. Students are icky and all their little maladies are contagious. The apathy and rudeness have obviously spread to my school’s administration. Even I can become uncharacteristically snippy and angry at the end of the day. Not always at anything in particular, either.
Posted in: Teaching in Harlem, NYC.
