with great thanx to my brother, my last day of school was a success. all kinds of things were going wrong beginning the night before friday. i won't go into it, but i actually started to feel very stressed out. the next day, more things were just not falling into place. technical difficulties with my slide show for the kids and their parents, anddd... just a whole lotta other shit was going on behind the scenes. but the "show" went well. =) parents came for the last class party of the year, bringing all kinds of delicious plates. my mom came and brought korean food, everyone helped set up and stuff. i played the DVD movie of the first half of first grade. then i showed a slide show of the second half of first grade. i was in and out taking care of a million things, and finishing up last minute things. i got everything done just in time. i read out loud my last letter to the students and parents, which kinda turned out to be a speech. i had a parent stand next to me and translate. then i gave out "valuable volunteer" awards to parents who were able to donate their time and efforts to our class. then i gave out certificates for completing first grade (which the school does not provide), and fun awards that were unique to each student. everyone got a kick out of those. =) then i gave out my very special, personal gifts to them, which were the all-star yearbooks. by then the school day was already over. i didn't have time to take it all in and watch them leave. i completely forgot about giving the last report cards, so i was frantically passing those out, and trying to clean up, and answer questions, and say good-bye... it was madness to the very end. immediately afterward, had to attend the staff luncheon. bid our farewells to some staff members and whatnot. of course, anyone would look nerdy when they get called up as the only one to get perfect attendance for the whole year. yes, that was me. i felt especially dumb when i had to go up there just to be up there. she could have at least handed me something so i would have gone up there for a reason, but no, i just went up there to be looked at. anyway, i ended up staying that nite until 9:15pm trying to pack up my room. it was all rush rush. it was all just so much happening that i really think i was stressed. i kept getting these sharp, piercing pains in my left ear... last year i got the chance to watch my kids leave and i got to cry it out. but one big difference is that with last year's kids, i wasn't sure if i'd get them back again or not. but with this year's kids, i knew they'd be coming back to me 3rd grade, so maybe that's why i knew it wouldn't be goodbye, just see u in third grade.

i hadn't had a chance to breathe yet even still! sat. nite i woke up early to play soccer. made a goal! then headed down to irvine, which i haven't been to in.. wow i don't even know how long. helped my buddy celebrate his daughter's first birthday. i'm glad i went and i'm glad i was able to help celebrate. =) i ended up staying longer than i had planned, rushed to my parent's home, made a quick visit, then headed back up to west l.a. didn't make it in time to carpool with benji to methodology. i drove myself, went early cuz not too many folks were gonna be there to help set up (actually a lot ended up coming), and i became quite inebriated as the night unfolded. in fact, i was unfit to drive. i was passed out during dinner, or whatever u would call it at 3am, then went back to chinatown, monty drove my car, benji was unfit to drive as well!, so nina drove his car.. someone else was unfit to drive their car so another person drove theirs... it was craziness. we all made it safely in the end and got home as the sun was rising. i haven't pulled one of those since college, i do believe. next methodology is my birthday party... i predict a somewhat similar, if not more interesting, night.

tomorrow i will be part of the interviewing team to hire new teachers at our school. i'll even be interviewing my very own APSA high school conference co-coordinator, steph aguon! how weird is that. i guess not so much, considering laurence and other folks i got to know were part of the interviewing team when i was applying to 99th. i'm taking the day off of literacy program training this week in order to do this. i think it's important in some of the changes i'm trying to influence at our school. i went monday and today, i'll miss tomorrow, but i'll finish the rest of the week. i'll have to make up wednesday during some other week of training. whoo whee.

i have five free dodgers tickets for this friday nite. i don't think i'm using them. anyone want em?

hAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER, FRED!!! =) he is a very youthful 26 today! and i'm right behind him....

last week of school... do report cards, close cumulative records, fill out final year-end attendance records, fill out countless award certificates, take down everything from the walls, pack up my entire room to move classrooms... it doesn't end. how is any sane individual to do all this in less than a week? all of this has to be done BEFORE friday. and in addition o what the school requires of me, i am doing things for my kids, which is also very time consuming. i'm working on the class slide show, class yearbook, printing dozens of photos so that my kids can have real pictures too, make my own certificates, not just the ones the school makes us give (i.e. perfect attendance, most improved, student of the month, etc.) but personalized ones, unique to each individual child. =) aiya~ just thinking about all the work that needs to be done this week is overwhelming me. furthermore, tomorrow after school i have a staff meeting for the high school program i'm teaching for at UCLA this summer. what's trippy is that i'll be teaching my classes in Moore Hall, which is the building where my classes for grad school were. i'm a lil intimidated, but excited, about teaching algebra/geometry this summer. =) i get to design my class entirely from scratch, however i want, whatever materials i need. watch out now...!

i'm a little bit frightened... on sunday morning i felt the quake. then today's quake near the end of the school day literally got me scared shitless. unfortunately for being a teacher of young ones, i had to pretend to appear totally calm and together so that they wouldn't freak out. i was just talking to a few of my students while the rest of the class was writing, when i began to feel the tremor. it took me about 2 seconds to process what was going on. (the first half a second i thought kids were running in the hallway and were shaking the second floor). then when i realized it was an earthquake i froze, and said "drop!". none of my kids wasted a second. they all dropped and did it well, too! protected the back of their necks with one hand and grabbed a table leg so the table would move away from them. a few were saying from the other side of the room that they were scared, and I, trying to make my trembly voice sound as cool as possible, replied to them to not worry. anyway, they were not in panic as i told them to line up. we made our way quickly and quietly outside.

the past two quakes made me realize that i apparently have this paranoia. both on sunday morning and today, i imagined being crushed to death from the collapse of the building i was in. sunday i was on the first floor of a 4 story complex. today i was on the second floor of a school building, wondering how we would make it downstairs should the building collapse. i don't know why i have these fears. kind of like whenever i fly and feel a slight turbulence, i imagine spiraling down into my death.

at any rate, i sense something major is going to come. two nearly back-to-back earthquakes this week... the earth that we're one is definitely shifting, and i think it will want to be shifting more. it's just starting to shift... it's only a matter of time before the plates will really move. that's how i interpret the close proximity of these two quakes. i'm scared!

ok, happy note. i planned my summer trip to mexico (oh yeah, did i mention i'm going to jalisco for 3 weeks with my buddy?). i'll be staying with a good friend of mine and her relatives in a small town an hour or two away from guadalajara. she's already forewarned me about just how small a town it is, in that i will get many strange looks for being asian, and more for being an asian who can really eat mexican food, and even more for being an asian who can understand and speak spanish. our flights are booked and things are set!

and on an even happier note, i had scheduled my mexico trip around a potential summer job of being a 9th-10th grade math instructor for an outreach program at UCLA. i had worked for GEAR-UP two summers ago also as a math instructor, but it was for a different GEAR-UP program. anyway, i had my interview today, for which i was 15 minutes late.. =/ but the interview felt more of a "let us fill you in on all the details" session. they only asked a few questions of me, and i asked them a LOT of questions. anyway, by then end they had given be paperwork and told me the items i needed to bring in for employment.. to which i asked hesistantly, "does this mean.. i'm hired?" and they were like, oh yeah! kind of like it was obvious. anyway i felt dumb about that, because i guess i needed to hear an explicit phrase saying i was on board. anyhow, i got the job! and for the amount i'll be making for the two short weeks, i must say i'm quite content. i look forward to working with high school youth again this summer! yay!

Survivor in the Classroom

Have you heard about the next planned SURVIVOR
show?
Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be
dropped in a public school classroom for 6 weeks.

Each business person will be provided with a copy of
his/her school district's curriculum, 5 classes of 28
students each, 25 desks, and 22 textbooks. Each class
will have five learning-disabled children, three with
ADHD, one gifted child, two twice-exceptional and three (or four)
who speak limited English. There will be one
identified with severe behavior problems, one who will
be on house arrest, and about half live who in single
parent homes.Each business person must complete lesson
plans at least three days in advance with annotations
for curriculum objectives and state standards, and
modify, adapt, organize, or create materials
accordingly.

They must maintain discipline and provide
an educationally stimulating environment at all times.
They will be required to thoroughly cover the content,
individually assess each student's needs and progress,
handle misconduct, implement technology, catch up new
students, be interrupted for assemblies, picture day,
announcements, and fund raisers. They must document
attendance, write referrals, provide make-up work,
correct homework, locate (beg for) books and
resources, collaborate with their department and
teams, compute grades, complete report cards, document
benchmarks, and communicate with parents. And their
planning period? If the above is all completed, and IF
the copier is operational, they may make copies of
necessary! materia ls at this time.
Or, they may scrub the graffiti off the desks.
Or, they may meet with parents, counselors, or administrators who want to
know why a certain child is not the center of their
universe .

They must also supervise lunches and monitor
hallways. In addition, they will complete drills for
fires, tornadoes, and shooting attacks. They must
attend workshops, faculty meetings, department
meetings, curriculum meetings, and IEP (individual
educational plan) meetings. They must also tutor the
students who are behind and strive to get their
non-English speaking children proficient to take the
Standards-Based Asessments.

If they are sick, they must create detailed lesson plans to accommodate a
substitute, leaving specific instructions on what
students in what periods may leave class for speech,
guidance, special programs, counseling, or the school
nurse for their medication. If they are having a bad
day, they must not let it show.

The business people will only have access to the golf course on the
weekends, but on their new salary they will not be
able to afford it anyway. There will be no access to
vendors who want to take them to lunch, and lunch will
be limited to 30 minutes. On days when they do not
have bus/lunch/hallway duty, the business people will
be permitted to use the staff restroom and one phone
for 80 people.

The business people must continually
advance their education on their own time and pay for
this advanced training themselves. This advancement
can be accomplished by moonlighting at a second job or
marrying someone with money.

Last, but certainly not least, they must make sure at every turn that they
Leave No Child Behind. The winner will be returned
to his or her own job.

well it's been a while since i've blogged. lotsa things happening. most importantly, the close of the school year is fast approaching. i get sadder and sadder in realizing how close that time is. i will really miss this year's class so much. but at the same time, i'm excited to get my last year's class back! =) ANDDD... as sad as it may be that my kids are leaving me this year, they will be back with me again when they get to third grade! oh joyous day! =)

in the meantime, time to get busy. i will be next year's UTLA (united teacher los angeles - the teacher union) chapter vice-chair, and i will be the GSAT (Grade-level Student Achievement Team) leader, will still serve on the school site council and probably the leadership council as well... and who knows what else. it's craziness. all of this just comes with the territory. reality is, around here if you're a third year teacher, you're already a veteran. i mean, just in my second year of teaching, i'm somewhere around the middle on the seniority list. that ain't right. in other schools/districts, i should be pretty near the bottom of that list. and by next year, i will be towards the top of that list. so sad...

as for my summer, it's still mostly up in the air. only some weeks are planned, what with teacher conferences and whatnot that i have to attend. got one week of literacy program training (i dread the most), one week of AEMP training, a weekend-long of teacher union chair training... still have to hear back on whether i'll be an instructor for the summer GEAR-UP high school program. and what i'm most looking forward to: vacationing in guadalajara, jalisco with one of my closest friends. get to work my spanish. =)