A few months ago my daughter's nursery class was learning about neighborhoods and modes of transportation. There were daily queries of which transportation option I took to get to work and what was my favorite way to get places. In addition, I was asked by a little interrogator if I went to the grocery store or the post office on my way to work.
In order to further cement the lesson, her class was planning a field trip. I decided to sign up to be a chaperone because:
1) It was something I could squeeze into an hour of my morning schedule without attending a full-day event.
2) I thought it would be fun. (Honestly, this was the biggest factor in my participation!)
After dropping the kids off at school and making sure they had all the bathroom department business completed, the other parents, who were also chaperoning, gathered at the class door to collect their field trip pair. Each parent had their own child and then another little munchkin. My daughter was exhilarated that I was involved in this activity. She grabbed onto my hand and decided to swing from it while her friend pulled my other hand and arm down the stairs. (If only they had pulled my legs a bit so I would grow a few inches.)
We made our way outside and the teacher instructed the children to point to and call out the modes of transportation they had learned. Immediately twenty 3-year-olds yelled out, "Taxi!", "Bus!", "Bicycle!" The boisterous nature of toddlers was magnified by 100 times due to this close proximity to them. I could not contain my laughter because it was hysterical to hear them jubilantly calling out everything on wheels.
We turned away from the main boulevard, around a corner and up a quiet residential street. The noise became a bit more manageable. We decided to examine the budding flowers blossoming near all the trees. This fascinated quite a number of the children particularly because they didn't know the names of the flowers (daffodils, lilacs, impatiens, etc.). We then looked in on a couple of the businesses, waved to the owners and patrons, and explained what the people inside those offices and shops did. One particular child, who incidentally is always late to school, pointed out where she lived. It was eye-opening to everyone and horrifying to the child's mother that she was being ratted out.
The best part of the whole field trip was my daughter. Not only because she's my cutie and I got to share this moment with her, but also because she's shamelessly in love with dogs. As we walked around the block, she must have stopped to put her hand out to every dog. She wanted them all to sniff her so she could pet them. She did this unabashedly. She didn't care that her friend was scared out of her mind by every dog. My daughter also did not notice that I had to switch pairs so that her partner would not have a panic attack. She just thought all the dogs were 'cute' or 'fuzzy' and she wanted to pet them.
When we finally returned to the school entrance, the parents and teacher attempted to take a group picture. This was quite a challenge. I alone had 25 pictures of the children and in each one, at least one of the children was either hiding, not smiling, crying or running away from the group. It made me appreciate the work that the teachers do every day. There are moments where I really can not handle one child and yet, these teachers work with at most 20 different personalities on a daily basis. And they do it effortlessly and often, with no complaints.
Although the trip lasted no more than a half hour, I know I will not forget it because:
1) My ears haven't yet recovered from all the screaming
2) It's a memory of a day at school with my daughter that I so frequently get to experience.
Showing posts with label teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teachers. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Student and Teacher
In recent months I have had a lot of nostalgia for my brief time teaching. I assisted a former student with a literature paper (see Blog Entry “Prince of Denmark”) and one of my students came to New York for the first time in 6 years. He sent me an email on facebook asking if I remembered him, which I thought was very sweet.
I replied saying that, of course, I remembered him (I had friended him on facebook after all which meant I liked him). He told me of his plans to come to New York and that he wanted to see if we could meet up. I was thrilled because he was my favorite student in one class. He told me the dates he would be in the city and we put out tentative plans to meet for lunch.
As the days to his visit got closer, we put together a date and time to meet up. We decided lunch was still easier to do because he wanted to be a tourist and was planning to see downtown. I told him he could do that in between meeting me for lunch.
We decided to meet in front of the NY Stock Exchange. However, I didn’t know if he looked any different because it had been 6 years and he was 18 the last time I saw him. He did in fact look different but I still recognized him. We went to lunch and he told me that he’s now working for a company after getting his Master’s in Sociology. He told me about his thesis and what he had been up to in the past 6 years. I told him that shortly after teaching him I returned to work in the bank. I explained what I do and that I had recently had a baby.
He then told me that he was always very thankful that I forced him to stay in my class. I was teaching advanced conversation and he was very quiet but I could see from his expressions that he understood everything I was saying. His homework was the best of everyone in his class – always showing me that he grasped grammar than even native speakers didn’t always understand. The only problem was that he didn’t talk very much – a problem that I completely understood because I often found myself in the same situation. One day he approached me after class and asked me if he should go to a level lower. In order to do so, he would need my permission. I spoke frankly with him and said that he demonstrated excellent understanding of English grammar in his writing. He had no problem keeping up with my normally fast pace of speaking and seemed to understand the meaning of vocabulary I was using based on the context. I said that he seemed to me one of the best students in the class. I said I wouldn’t allow him to move to a lower level. I thought it best for him to stick with the class. I insisted that he had to make an effort to talk because it was in fact advanced conversation. I told him that I would call on him at least once in class if he didn’t volunteer to speak. I think this scared him so the next day he offered to give his opinion to a topic we were discussing.
The next few weeks he made even bigger leaps and bounds in his English because he became far more comfortable speaking. Aside from his slight accent and his natural tendency to speak in a quiet manner, he gave great presentations on topics assigned. He eased up when we played quick thinking games and generally seemed more relaxed in class. When he left the class, I was sad because he was such a thoughtful and respectful student. But I was happy he stayed in touch and it was very nice to see him, especially since he made the effort to see me. It was touching. I miss those connections and knowing that you are making a difference in another person’s life. I can’t say that I feel that influence in what I do now-a-days.
I replied saying that, of course, I remembered him (I had friended him on facebook after all which meant I liked him). He told me of his plans to come to New York and that he wanted to see if we could meet up. I was thrilled because he was my favorite student in one class. He told me the dates he would be in the city and we put out tentative plans to meet for lunch.
As the days to his visit got closer, we put together a date and time to meet up. We decided lunch was still easier to do because he wanted to be a tourist and was planning to see downtown. I told him he could do that in between meeting me for lunch.
We decided to meet in front of the NY Stock Exchange. However, I didn’t know if he looked any different because it had been 6 years and he was 18 the last time I saw him. He did in fact look different but I still recognized him. We went to lunch and he told me that he’s now working for a company after getting his Master’s in Sociology. He told me about his thesis and what he had been up to in the past 6 years. I told him that shortly after teaching him I returned to work in the bank. I explained what I do and that I had recently had a baby.
He then told me that he was always very thankful that I forced him to stay in my class. I was teaching advanced conversation and he was very quiet but I could see from his expressions that he understood everything I was saying. His homework was the best of everyone in his class – always showing me that he grasped grammar than even native speakers didn’t always understand. The only problem was that he didn’t talk very much – a problem that I completely understood because I often found myself in the same situation. One day he approached me after class and asked me if he should go to a level lower. In order to do so, he would need my permission. I spoke frankly with him and said that he demonstrated excellent understanding of English grammar in his writing. He had no problem keeping up with my normally fast pace of speaking and seemed to understand the meaning of vocabulary I was using based on the context. I said that he seemed to me one of the best students in the class. I said I wouldn’t allow him to move to a lower level. I thought it best for him to stick with the class. I insisted that he had to make an effort to talk because it was in fact advanced conversation. I told him that I would call on him at least once in class if he didn’t volunteer to speak. I think this scared him so the next day he offered to give his opinion to a topic we were discussing.
The next few weeks he made even bigger leaps and bounds in his English because he became far more comfortable speaking. Aside from his slight accent and his natural tendency to speak in a quiet manner, he gave great presentations on topics assigned. He eased up when we played quick thinking games and generally seemed more relaxed in class. When he left the class, I was sad because he was such a thoughtful and respectful student. But I was happy he stayed in touch and it was very nice to see him, especially since he made the effort to see me. It was touching. I miss those connections and knowing that you are making a difference in another person’s life. I can’t say that I feel that influence in what I do now-a-days.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Characters
As I have mentioned in other entries, I really enjoyed my time in high school. Many people dreaded their high school experience but I have many fond memories that always bring a smile to my face even now. Much of my nostalgia is based on the teachers I had. They were quite a group of characters and their sense of humor appealed to me back in high school as it does now many years later.
Our biology and physics teacher was one of those people you didn’t quite know what to make of. He would occasionally spew off phrases to us in German thinking we understood him. When we looked at him quizzically, he would sometimes realize he wasn’t speaking English. After 4 years though, we all became pretty proficient at knowing what he was saying to us when he was speaking in German. He also had a bag full of ridiculous proverbs he would say to us. Sometimes they made sense and other times, they would lead to more puzzled stares.
Our freshman English teacher, who also taught us French for a year, once caught one of our classmates chewing gum in class and made her wear the piece of gum on her nose the rest of the day. As cruel as it sounds, I enjoyed the idea of it because the girl chewed like a cow.
The other teacher who taught us French was a total crazy loon. There were times when we would point out her mistakes to her. She was much older and lost her train of thought on many occasions. She also had a habit of burping in the middle of her lessons. After two years of that we couldn’t wait to get rid of her.
One of our religion teachers had a feminist streak in her and so she taught us how to interpret scriptures and other biblical texts with a pointed gaze of people who had been excluded from the stories – the women. She was a fascinating teacher because she was tough and intelligent and demanded a lot from us. At the same time, I think we all learned an immense amount from her – not only on a religious level but on a critical thinking path when looking at literature.
All our literature teachers were great because they appreciated and enjoyed the texts we were reading. They gave us all a heightened sense of appreciation for literature in its many forms and what could be learned from books and poems and plays. We were encouraged to question everything, not just literature and it prepared me for college in ways I never imagined while I was in high school.
Yes, so some of the teachers were characters but they definitely kept the classroom interesting. Overall they taught and prepared us for the real world.
Our biology and physics teacher was one of those people you didn’t quite know what to make of. He would occasionally spew off phrases to us in German thinking we understood him. When we looked at him quizzically, he would sometimes realize he wasn’t speaking English. After 4 years though, we all became pretty proficient at knowing what he was saying to us when he was speaking in German. He also had a bag full of ridiculous proverbs he would say to us. Sometimes they made sense and other times, they would lead to more puzzled stares.
Our freshman English teacher, who also taught us French for a year, once caught one of our classmates chewing gum in class and made her wear the piece of gum on her nose the rest of the day. As cruel as it sounds, I enjoyed the idea of it because the girl chewed like a cow.
The other teacher who taught us French was a total crazy loon. There were times when we would point out her mistakes to her. She was much older and lost her train of thought on many occasions. She also had a habit of burping in the middle of her lessons. After two years of that we couldn’t wait to get rid of her.
One of our religion teachers had a feminist streak in her and so she taught us how to interpret scriptures and other biblical texts with a pointed gaze of people who had been excluded from the stories – the women. She was a fascinating teacher because she was tough and intelligent and demanded a lot from us. At the same time, I think we all learned an immense amount from her – not only on a religious level but on a critical thinking path when looking at literature.
All our literature teachers were great because they appreciated and enjoyed the texts we were reading. They gave us all a heightened sense of appreciation for literature in its many forms and what could be learned from books and poems and plays. We were encouraged to question everything, not just literature and it prepared me for college in ways I never imagined while I was in high school.
Yes, so some of the teachers were characters but they definitely kept the classroom interesting. Overall they taught and prepared us for the real world.
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