A mind at work

While reading this article, I was not surprised to hear how hard a waitress works. I have often wondered how they do it, especially since they get paid scraps. And the waitresses at the family style resteraunts like Perkins or Dennys get barely-there tips. You make tips by two or three dollars at a time, and they have to share their tips with hostesses and busboys in some places. But if you do it right, you can make a fortune. My cousin waitressed his way through Europe and Africa- from serving Guiness in Ireland to Turkish coffee in an Egyptian suk. He loved it.
So I can easily make the correlation from a waitress to a mind at work, but a waitress and a teacher? Do kids have to tip their teachers these days? :) I know that when I am doing my field work ( I can hardly call it observation, since I haven't observed once) I am always thinking from one four minute block to another (who's idea was it to have things start and stop at odd minutes?). Right now, my students are working in groups doing projects on Anne Frank and the Holocaust. I have been assigned two groups in each class I am in, and my job is to keep them on track, answer questions and give ideas, as well as give them a participation grade at the end of each class "mod". So I guess that my mind is busy busy, especially since I am also thinking about work, class and the weird sound my car makes when it idles.
I'd like to print out this piece and hand them out to waitresses as achknowledgement for the work they do, and also to remind myself that I don't ever want to be a waitress. I just don't have the patience and mind control. Snaps to all of them.

Tangerine Part 3

So now we all know who killed Luis, and we know why Paul is partially blind, and we know what a sociopath Erik is. I don't know about anyone else, but I am a little confused by Erik's reaction to his brother telling on him to the police. He seems not only to understand why Paul told, but he seems also to accept that he got his "just desserts", as it were. The old "what comes around". This seems out of character for Erik. It seems he would have denied it, would have promised Paul that he would get him back, would have become violent. But the family seems almost to just ignore what happened. Erik goes up to his room, his parents don't talk about it to Paul, even the grandparents stop by, hear what is happening to their family, and then decide to continue on with their vacation like it was not a big deal to hear that their grandson had had a man killed, after blinding their other grandson, defacing the neighborhood and generally terrorizing everyone they meet. I know in my family, we would have gathered forces together. My parents would be involved.
Other than that, my initial reaction of surprise carried through the entire book. I am surprised at what a sinister tone the book had. There was definitely a feeling of the macabre about the book, almost a feeling of hell (with the sink hole, the lightning, the "walled" community surrounded by constantly burning wasteland, the infestations). It is exactly the opposite of what I expected.

Tangerine Part 2

I think the first thing I noticed about part 2 of "Tangerine" was that Paul talked a lot about his soccer games- so much so that it almost lost me. He gave detailed accounts of each game, and how his relationship with the other kids on his team become strong. He got to know each of them personally. Yet it did not affect his home life at all. No one in his family seemed to know or care about these soccer games that were obviously so important to Paul. They did not attend any games or even ask Paul about the games. They were too caught up in community developement and about those koi fish and the football life of Erik. I just can't believe how little they pay attention to the things that are important in Paul's life. I also can't believe that a boy Paul's age would be so accepting and even wise (wiser than his parents) about life in Tangerine. Are all children that age like that? Is Paul dipicted or discribed accurretly for his age?
I liked the introduction of Luis and the tangerine farms, and the effect they have on Paul. It gives him a chance to see things from another perspective. I have had the same experiences myself. My best friend growing up had an Aunt who owned a horse farm. I loved going there because on the farm things were complicated (you really do need to know what you are doing to raise horses) and yet far more simple. You knew where you were with a horse. The horses, just like the tangerine trees, were a constant. Something you could count on- that if you gave everything to them, you would get everything back. In the book, I think they gave Paul a sense of grounding, and also a escape from his dysfunctional family. Luis represented everything that his family was not.
I also think that his move to Tangerine Middle was a good move for Paul, besides of the obvious (that he could play soccer). He was able to get out of the secluded world of the gated community he lived in to experience how other people live. It also gave him something else to think about other than his family, and it helped him to find himself and see what he was capable of.
I have a real bad habit of skipping ahead and reading the last chapter of a book, so I know what happens later on. But for anyone who still has Part 3 to go, you are in for a shock! Good Reading!

Tangerine Part 1

Hi all! I really thought that I wouldn't enjoy "Tangerine". I am normally not interested in sport stories, and the cover really turned me off to the book, what with the geeky looking kid and the soccer ball. But after I started reading it I just couldn't put it down! I finished the book in two days.
I thought the beginning was a little confusing. I thought there would be an element of the supernatural when Paul had that little flashback, and the scene of him being chased by the car was surprising, it was the first "hook" to get me into the book. I didn't sense right away that Paul's brother was bad (I would actually use rotten to the core, except we are only talking about the first part of the book!) I thought that the part where Paul's mother and the school principle talked about the IEP report for Paul because it tied into our class last semester.
I loved the part when the school was swallowed by a sink hole! It was so exciting I had to reread it a few times.
So far, I think that this book is a good demonstration of a dysfunctional family unit, and how one child can rise up out of that to be generally "normal" but particularly exceptional in soccer, yet is ignored. The fact that the parents are apparently oblivious to the behavior of their older son is unbelieveable to me! But sometimes parents can be blind to what is right in front of their face.
For younger readers reading this story, I think that it is a good example of how to rise up out of your family circumstances and be who you are, even if you do not receive any praise or acknowledgement. I also liked the journal style of writing. For those of you who have not finished the book, you are in for a surprise ending! Enjoy!

Textbooks

When I was in highschool we used these incredibly heavy English Literature Anthologies that weighed a real lot. More than 5lbs. My teacher, Mr. Klock would throw these books like discus if you forgot to bring them to class. Once, we threw one so hard that he smacked some kid (not the kid he was aiming at) with the book and it knocked him out cold. That is the epitome of why I do not like textbooks. They are too heavy, too cumbersome, too out dated and too intimidating for the average high schooler. At the same time, especially in English, they can be useful because they are a nice and neat condensed version of info. They also contain little bits of info that can be interesting and fun to read.
I have one question though. If we as teachers use textbooks, and these textbooks provide every bit of info on your subject, what is the point of the teacher? Why not use TV stand-ins, or internet chat rooms? Seriously, I feel that the use of textbooks negate the use of the teacher, and the knowledge they bring to the classroom. Why did I sit through Chaucer in old english (Whan that April with the shore's soot, the drought of march hath pierced thru the root) if I was never going to be able to bring that into the classroom? I just feel that a lot of education about education is about how to convey the info in books, not the info in our heads.
Anyway, I thought that the chapters about textbooks are going to be very useful later on. I especially liked the part about different ways you could use the textbook in the class room to make it more approachable to the students. I did not like the idea of splitting a book into parts and having each student read a chapter and share what was in that chapter with a group. I think that it is important for students to read literature in its entirety. I am convinced that you cannot grasp the idea of a story if you only read little bits of it. Anyway, is anyone else having trouble with posts? This is the second time I have posted this assignment- the first one I posted disappeared. Hopefully this one will stick- have a great night all!

What I really think of blogging

I think that I wouldn't want the whole world to know what I would write in a personal journal. What is the purpose of this? (Other than class- I mean in the world wide sense)