Progress (?)
Well, we collected the grandmother from the nursing center yesterday and promptly dragged her off to Coney Island, where she proceeded to eat two hot dogs with everything on them and a bag of chips. So far, she has not put up much of a fuss over living upstairs - a great miracle indeed, especially considering that she’s not a big fan of dark-colored rooms and the former den/her new room is dark green for the time being. She slept like a log last night; no big surprise there, since both the women she had as roommates were very restless and demanding. (The first refused to use her nurse-call button and so hollared and moaned all night, the second had Alzheimer’s and a broken sacrum and wailed constantly.) Even her little fuzzy dog has been okay so far living upstairs.
On the other hand, I am a total wreck. The week of intensive cleaning and furniture moving has taken quite the toll on my body. I’ll be curious to see if all that serious physical activity aided my diet much when I go to my weigh-in later. Emotionally, my assessment is equally grim. I’m very glad she can come home and be here for the foreseeable future; I’m also wondering how long it will take before all of us want to kill each other now that we’re all living in a very, very small section of the house. It’s going to be very weird. The visiting nurse just left and informed us that we’d have people coming in twice a week to see my grandmother; that really puts a crimp in my life, since I’ll have to build my work schedule around these visits and I desperately need the hours that they might have for me. Plus it’s added stress because we’ll have to have the house neat and clean and looking “safe.” I’m just waiting for some therapist to tell me that my dogs will have to go because they’re a safety hazard (which they are). [Sigh] My life is turned upside-down yet again. We’ll see.
I started my new ESL class last night. I actually did have students and a class list and all that good stuff. The site administrator, however, is a dick. I don’t care for him one bit. First of all, he gave me the once over of “you’re a teacher??” Then I was told that at Chandler Elementary, the class does not get a break. They end class 10 minutes early, at 8:20. And then he referred to my students as “kids.” Needless to say, none of this sat well with me. Anyone with half a brain and some knowledge of good instructional design KNOWS that you need to give students about 5-10 minutes of break time for every 1 hour that they spend in class. Lopping off time at the end does not fit that bill. And secondly, the youngest person in my class of 10 is 19 years old, the eldest is 65. I took very serious offense at him calling them “kids.” That’s disrespectful and unprofessional. And speaking of unprofessional, who the hell did he think he was marching all my students back into my room after I dismissed them at 7:40?? My teaching style and my philosophy of teaching makes my classes relevant; that is because I use the first class to assess my students and their interests, levels of expertise, and needs. I do not bring subject material to the first class because it’s pointless to force them to learn things they are not interested in, particularly if it is material they are already comfortable with. The first class is spent on introductions, the course outline, perhaps a getting-to-know-you activity that is also my personal assessment tool, and planning the rest of the course. I do not walk in with a syllabus for the entire ten-week period because I’d just have to completely overhaul it after meeting the students. The students are usually wound up and nervous about being back in “school,” making it doubly important for the first class to be relaxed and fun and not overly academic. So how dare that man undermine my authority as the teacher by herding them all right back and saying that I have to keep them until at least 8:15?? Again, unprofessional. I may not be an expert yet, but I’ve lived with one and learned from her my entire life, and I’ve got credentials of my own, gods damn it. I will be sending a little note to John Trainor, who is the HEAD of the Night Life program and who never ONCE complained if I let a class go early, particularly on the first night, while I was under his watch. GRR.
Time for pierogies, more cleaning, and syllabus-writing, then maybe to play with clay and make prototypes for my real job and the program I’m spearheading. And possibly go buy stuff for it. Maybe. [Sigh]
On the other hand, I am a total wreck. The week of intensive cleaning and furniture moving has taken quite the toll on my body. I’ll be curious to see if all that serious physical activity aided my diet much when I go to my weigh-in later. Emotionally, my assessment is equally grim. I’m very glad she can come home and be here for the foreseeable future; I’m also wondering how long it will take before all of us want to kill each other now that we’re all living in a very, very small section of the house. It’s going to be very weird. The visiting nurse just left and informed us that we’d have people coming in twice a week to see my grandmother; that really puts a crimp in my life, since I’ll have to build my work schedule around these visits and I desperately need the hours that they might have for me. Plus it’s added stress because we’ll have to have the house neat and clean and looking “safe.” I’m just waiting for some therapist to tell me that my dogs will have to go because they’re a safety hazard (which they are). [Sigh] My life is turned upside-down yet again. We’ll see.
I started my new ESL class last night. I actually did have students and a class list and all that good stuff. The site administrator, however, is a dick. I don’t care for him one bit. First of all, he gave me the once over of “you’re a teacher??” Then I was told that at Chandler Elementary, the class does not get a break. They end class 10 minutes early, at 8:20. And then he referred to my students as “kids.” Needless to say, none of this sat well with me. Anyone with half a brain and some knowledge of good instructional design KNOWS that you need to give students about 5-10 minutes of break time for every 1 hour that they spend in class. Lopping off time at the end does not fit that bill. And secondly, the youngest person in my class of 10 is 19 years old, the eldest is 65. I took very serious offense at him calling them “kids.” That’s disrespectful and unprofessional. And speaking of unprofessional, who the hell did he think he was marching all my students back into my room after I dismissed them at 7:40?? My teaching style and my philosophy of teaching makes my classes relevant; that is because I use the first class to assess my students and their interests, levels of expertise, and needs. I do not bring subject material to the first class because it’s pointless to force them to learn things they are not interested in, particularly if it is material they are already comfortable with. The first class is spent on introductions, the course outline, perhaps a getting-to-know-you activity that is also my personal assessment tool, and planning the rest of the course. I do not walk in with a syllabus for the entire ten-week period because I’d just have to completely overhaul it after meeting the students. The students are usually wound up and nervous about being back in “school,” making it doubly important for the first class to be relaxed and fun and not overly academic. So how dare that man undermine my authority as the teacher by herding them all right back and saying that I have to keep them until at least 8:15?? Again, unprofessional. I may not be an expert yet, but I’ve lived with one and learned from her my entire life, and I’ve got credentials of my own, gods damn it. I will be sending a little note to John Trainor, who is the HEAD of the Night Life program and who never ONCE complained if I let a class go early, particularly on the first night, while I was under his watch. GRR.
Time for pierogies, more cleaning, and syllabus-writing, then maybe to play with clay and make prototypes for my real job and the program I’m spearheading. And possibly go buy stuff for it. Maybe. [Sigh]