The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad...

Monday, December 24, 2012

Delayed Post

I think this was from September, but of course I lost it... on my desk. I can finally see my desk because I spent all day listening to Les Mis and cleaning. Anyway, this was after the opening day of Intrams:

I watched a basketball game today. Normally, I couldn't care less about sports. This time I yelled like crazy, had several heart-pounding moments, and stayed for the whole 2 hours of the game. It's different watching sports when you know each of your team's players very well. You've spent hours with them, you've invested in them, you've watched their mood swings and habits. Watching my boys out there made me realize that I better not have my own children in sports or I'll end up like one of those soccer moms.

I didn't just watch the game. I watched the faces and actions of my boys. I watched the boy who slouches in his seat in English class tear down that court like a speeding bullet, stealing the ball from kids way bigger than him, shooting and making it nearly every time. I watched the boys who struggle with self-control and class teamwork fumble the ball, foul, hog the ball, and grow very frustrated and angry in the game. I watched the varsity player who throws himself wholeheartedly into his work, takes initiative in projects, tries to get me to eat lunch with him and the boys in his class (because they have a "positive influence" on me) apply his wholehearted effort into the game and admit his fouls readily. I watched the rest of Jordan scream themselves hoarse for their team, hopping up and down waving banners.

This batch is definitely sporty for the most part. My homeroom is highly competitive. Jordan B in particular is known for being loud and enthusiastic with everything except serious schoolwork. They can memorize the lyrics to their favorite band's latest song but they can't remember their vocabulary. They can show up early to a sports game but they can't turn in a research paper on time. It just makes me wonder how I can relate sports to my subject. Their enthusiasm and energy are there, but they're not channeled properly. I want to try an inter-class competition relating to English, but I don't know if I'll have time to pull it off.

Anyway, that was a few months ago. It's now Dec. 24th and the school year is over for them. They come back for graduation rehearsals, Grade 6 Retreat, and then they start 7th Grade on January 21st. The time was too short and sometimes too long. My homeroom class continued to have major issues. Drama, friend problems, crushes -- it was all contained in my homeroom class. Each section became so uniquely different from each other. Jordan B was the stressful class, but they think they were the best. They keep talking about how they're just so united. They thought the world revolved around them. There were tears and an overdose of Facebook pictures after the last day of classes. Jordan A is the hilarious class. The students I got closest to were in that class. I even have an adopted "daughter" from that class. She really calls me Mommy. They were a nice mix of crazy but smart and mostly responsible. They had the best fractured fairy tales of all the classes. There are 3 boys in that class who became my 3 Stooges. They're entirely different from each other, but together they're both the funniest and most annoying boys in the class. Without them, the class is boring. Jordan C is full of the smart kids and they're fun to teach. They soak up everything and they actually follow instructions. They're also crazy and funny and kids (and teacher) laughed their heads off all year long. We also accomplished the most because they're just so much easier to teach than the other 2 sections. I'm looking forward to Grade 6 Retreat with them. This year was so much more fun because I really got to know the students. They relate very differently at that age. I also appreciated them texting me with their questions instead of parents asking for their kid. It was much easier! I still got on much better with the boys than the girls (the girls were always sneaking around trying to hide things) and without them, my life would be a lot saner but a lot more boring. I already miss seeing them every day and it's only Monday. :)

I cleaned my room today. It's amazing. I can see my desk and chair now. I still have to finish inputting grades and stuff. I also have a bunch of stuff to prepare for Graduation. Jenn is coming up from Davao tomorrow night. The Maramaras and Chins are coming over for our traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner on Wednesday. We're also going camping with the Maramara "kids" this week. We're going to Corregidor which should be fun! For New Year's Eve, we got invited to the Arcibal's house which will definitely be fun. Thankfully we got a few extra days off and we don't have to be back to school until the 7th. Happy Workation indeed! :) All the teachers really need these 2 weeks. One kid even commented about all his teachers having "eyebags" and I even got too sick to go to school one day last week and I broke my perfect attendance. :P

Here are some pictures:

Ivy (on the right) is back! Been 7 years since I saw her!

Sunday School buddies

Singles' Christmas Fellowship... Joash is the thorn among the roses.

Last day of classes - Homeroom class

The crazy section

The crazy but intellectual section

Cell group

My homeroom boy buddies

After their Math class, I got dragged into their picture

The 3 Stooges: the most annoying, most crazy, most lovable boys of Grade 6. Without them, Grade 6 would have been easier. Without them, I would have less to look forward to every morning when I stepped into school. They pretty much waited for me in the hallway every morning. The day I came back after I got sick, the 3 of them showed up to hang out at my desk when I was trying to do work and proceeded to tell me all their dumb jokes that they had saved up for me while I was absent. I kicked them out of the faculty room with the threat that I'd deduct points from their last quiz if they didn't leave me alone. :) Teaching 12 year old boys is definitely a whole lot of fun.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Graham Cracker Houses

We made graham cracker houses in English last Monday. They have a writing project they're working on now, but I needed something that they could all experience together so they knew what to write about.

6th graders are a lot more creative than I ever was. I was amazed by some of the creations. A lot of other teachers stopped in to see the display too. Good thing we don't do this regularly because the amount of sugar high children was way too much to handle. :)

Everything fell apart, so they dumped gummy bears all around and put Marcos on a platform to represent People Power 1.

"Diabetic Epic Fail"

"Poverty Bears"

Monday, October 22, 2012

Hello, I teach 6th Grade Drama

Last year was utterly exhausting. I dreaded going to school every morning. I felt like I taught nothing because I had such bad classroom management. Apparently, though, the kids learned a lot. In retrospect, it wasn’t so bad last year. The first year of teaching is always the hardest. The kids were physically exhausting, the material was new, the culture was different, and I was adjusting to not being able to integrate the language arts within other subject areas.

This year started out great. The kids were older. They didn’t come tearing into the teachers’ room yelling their little heads off because some boy pulled down the pants of another boy. They didn’t come tattling about whatever their classmate did. It seemed like it would be more of a breeze to teach them this year.

Then bang! I got the emotional homeroom class. Of all the sections, it’s the most hormonal. We could have our own TV show. It would be the Jordan B Soap Opera. We could also have the Jordan B Circus Show (for showcasing the talents of fitting one’s body into a cubby hole, tossing pencil cases up at the electric fan because boys can be brainless, etc.). These kids are absolutely hilarious and creative, annoying to teach (they’re too chatty), and super duper emotional and think their lives couldn’t possibly get more complicated than they are now. Last year the kids were physically exhausting. This year, they’re emotionally exhausting. My poor kids also get the most unsympathetic, unemotional homeroom teacher. So far I have not laughed to their faces about their issues, but I laugh at them inside.

Each day brings new drama. This is the age where friends and secrets (whether real or imagined) are the most important things in their lives. The girls are secretive about it. The boys emote loudly and publicly. The girls run in and out of the classroom hyperventilating and crying and fanning their faces as if that somehow stops them from crying. The boys stare dumbly at each other in the hallway and wonder what the girls are up to. The girls chase after the crying girls and yell things like, “I don’t know what’s going on but I MUST KNOW!!!” The boys hold hands in a circle and chant, “Cherish! Cherish!” because they’re mourning the near end of 6^th grade and life as they know it. The girls pass around a little notebook of secrets and having secret meetings. The boys try to steal the notebook and they have public meetings. The girls band together, ostracize the girls who aren’t cool enough, and sit in front of me and have a debate back and forth about what they should tell me and what they shouldn’t. The boys just beg to talk to me and then pour their hearts out about why they’re so confused about the girls. The girls cry because they’re empathizing with a boy who likes another girl but is about to “get his heart broken” because the girl likes another boy. The boys probably have no idea that their lives are on the brink of the biggest heartbreak in the history of 6^th graders. The girls and boys might be very different in how they live dramatic lives, but both sides are just as dramatic and hilarious. Some of them do have real reasons to act dramatically about life. Some kids have homes that are breaking apart and as a result, they fear change and are afraid of growing up and moving beyond the friendships they knew in grade school. Their classmates and teachers are their securities and now their classmates are changing.

Their lives are changing. They are going to face a lot of new things once they start 7^th grade. Some of them are viewing life a lot older than they should because of the books that they read that contain content far too “mature” for their age. I have no control over what their parents allow them to read. The only thing I can do for them is love them and point them to the Unchanging One. There is so much more to teaching than giving them worksheets and tests. How inadequate I am and how vain will my words be if I am not founded upon the Rock, drawing from the Eternal Spring, feeding upon the Bread of Life. May I teach these precious children in view of eternity.

Epic Fail of the Day

ACSI conference this year is great! At least it was going great.... then I got called for an interview and it was video taped. It was an on the spot question: What makes an effective Christian teacher. They played the video later on and there was the principal watching the English teacher sound like a total idiot. My closing remark was totally idiotic: Teachers should treat individuals as individuals...individually.

I need a new career.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Happy Teacher's Day

Confucius say: Happy Teacher's Day.

We only had 2 days of classes today because Wednesday was Teacher's Day celebration. The Student Council had a program prepared for the morning and then we all went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. Thursday and Friday we didn't have classes because of our annual Teacher's Retreat which was held at Manila Hotel this time. It felt so historic, other than the fact that there was a fashion show in the lobby today. Should have taken pictures yesterday.