02/24/2007

East vs West

I am Sevilla today and had an interesting day. This morning was spent looking at Spanish tile and art that has been influence by the Moor. It was very interesting and those math video I had to watch in class about repeating patterns made sense. If my teachers had only TAKEN me to Sevilla during school, I would have enjoyed those videos more. It would have made more since to me.
The most interesting part of my day was when I was eating lunch. I just went to a grocery store and found a park to sit in. The park I found was full of kids and their parents. Even as a teacher of kindergarten, I have moments when I recoil from kids outside of work. Today though, I just sat and watched and realized the extent that Taiwan had creep into my system. There was a boy with his father playing soccer (or football) and getting dirty. In Taiwan the child would have been chastised for getting dirt on his or hers clothes. Kids were running around playing hide and seek. Little toddlers were waddling about and parents just followed behind. There was no extended lesson in the play time. There was no perfecting the sport technique. There was no science lesson involved. And there was no foreign teacher making the kids who didn't want to get dirty to go play in the sandbox. Kids were playing on a Saturday afternoon just to play. Today was the first nice day since I have traveled or I am sure I would have seen the same thing in other countries.
In Taiwan, children in kindergarten or older would be ushered to extra classes. There are English classes, music classes, art classes, computer classes, math classes or whatever else parents feel the need to get their kids in. Or they would be at a sports lesson to perfect their game so they will win. It is all about the competition and the number you get at the end of the day. I was enjoying the fact that kids are still able to be kids and enjoy a day at the park.
Then I read this article(If the link doesn´t work, go to Yahoo.com and read the article about extending school days). Because at the end of the day, it is all about the number that a child gets, right? That is the point of education now? Just be able to take that standardized test and regurgitate that information your teacher throw at you today. Smash that creativity, it isn't important at all. It is important to understand math, reading, and science. They are all very important subjects, but you have to know how to solve a problem as well. If the number is the most important outcome of school, why are Asians, with the highest standardized test scores in school, have such a small percentage of Nobel Laureates?I say this with 3.5 years of life in Taiwan behind me, because they are not taught to think, they are taught to reproduce the right answer. A score that is too low will result in a parent hitting or beating a child. Not just a spanking, but a couple of smacks across the face. Is that the way to motivate a child to work harder? And parents in Taiwan will not believe there is any chance that their child might have a learning disability as well.
I say this as a teacher and not a parent and sure as hell not as a politician. (I welcome any politician to take over my class for a week and then tell me how the hell to teach my class and what goals my students are suppose to achieve at the end of the year)  I love my job, I love being a teacher, and I love being in my classroom. But I don't want to end up a teacher who just teaches for the test at the end of the year. If that is the direction teaching in taking, I am going to have to change careers eventually. Teacher burnout will hit and then I hope I have enough sense to get out of the classroom and into a completely different field.
day.

17:10 Posted in Pissed off ranting , Travel | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this

06/14/2006

If you have a weak stomach, look away.

You have been properly warned, seriously. Living with three roommates in a three bedroom apartment can be interesting at times. Especially when you live with a possibly depressed OCD who apparently has tried to commit suicide before. Not happy that I been living with her for a year and am just finding this kind of stuff out. So this is what I live with. medium_100_1075.jpgShe really does have OCD tendencies as well. Every night I listen to her brush her teeth and she has to bang her toothbrush on the sink 8 times. But she leaves hair every where. I understand that 4 women in one apartment will leave a lot of hair, but this is just too much. WHAT IS WITH ALL THE HAIR EVERYWHERE?!?!??!?!?!?!?! And, sadly, my 6 year olds know how to clean up better than this. So can't wait to leave this all behind. I can at least keep my room clean. And I haven't even started on the clutter in the living room. I would be embarrassed to have anyone I know come by my apartment right now. medium_100_1082.jpgmedium_100_1077.jpgmedium_100_1084.jpg

23:00 Posted in Pissed off ranting | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this

12/20/2005

Hypothetically speaking here

Now, I would NEVER talk about work on this here blog, so all of this is just HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING, please keep that in mind while reading this. And just for clarification, I am a teacher and not a parent, so take it with a grain of salt. Suppose you have a child who just happens to be in the cutest class ever. (They are! Trying, frustrating, nerve racking cuteness, and the best huggers as well) And said child in said class has been practicing for almost a month to sing a Christmas carol in a hypothetical Christmas show, and this is the first performance this year. Wouldn't you make an effort to come see this hypothetical Christmas show, which might or might not be held on a Friday afternoon? Of said cutest class of the best huggers EVER, 3 students have parents who are not attending. I can't believe it. The excuse of one parent is that the school is too far away. FROM WHAT???? The moon? Sadly, said three students are so far ok with this and this lack of parent involvement seems to be the norm. Maybe this is a cultural difference that I have not come to understand, but I would think that at least one parent for every child would show up. I just don't understand. Maybe it is due to my lack of first hand knowledge of being a parent. Oh, well. Had to get it off my chest. And remember, it is all HYPOTHETICAL, because I wouldn't talk about work here.

CORRECTION, Miyuki emailed me and said that her baby is not due until January 17th, so I am not quite as panicky as I was the other day. Now, I may be wrong, and I know first babies are generally late, but I have a gut feeling that Baby Girl Brown (who is still in need of a first name, get with the program Dan! Gee! ) will be here by the 17th, I could be wrong though. And I do not want to be held responsible if she comes after the 17th. So in order that my first girl will have something hand-knit when she is born, I am going to knit some simple stuff and mail it off and then finish the sweater. I am making the sweater in a 6 months size, so she should be able to wear a few weeks after she is born. But everyone knows that babies go from newborn to size 12 months in about 2 weeks.

On the knitting front, the Pimp has agreed to bring yarn back from England for me when he goes home for Chinese New Year. He said as much as I want. Ok. "Are you sure?" I asked. What he doesn't know, and I am not going to tell him, is that there are currently 18 balls of yarn on their way to his parents' house. Got a little crazy, found some Rowan All-Season Cotton on sale. And bought my first skien of Noro. Excited, let me tell you. So I will have yarn for Tubey, the second Hourglass Sweater, and two scarves. Just have to see how everything works out. Got a little carried away with the credit card though, so I can't buy any more yarn for myself for a while. Only gift knitting until I finishing knitting everything up. Which, isn't a lot really.

06:25 Posted in Knitting , Life in Taiwan , Pissed off ranting | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this

11/15/2005

Blah, Blah, Blah.....

Which is just about how I have been feeling lately. I am behind on emails and pretty much everything else in life right now. I take the school bus home and didn't get off the bus until 6:30 tonight, so no yoga for me. Class starts at 6:40 and I need 10 minutes or so to get there.

I do have knitting news, no pictures yet. Will post them in a few days. I have offically completed my first sock. I am so happy. The experience was a lot easier than I ever expected. Sandie told me about a great beginners pattern and gave me encouragment the whole way. And the mate is on the needles as we speak. And I am finished about the first 6 inches on the hood of Mariah. Today was cool enough that I wore a scarf to work. I wore my Clapotis out for the first time this year. Very excited about it. Of course it is raining, which is the only reason the tempurature has dropped this low. So I have some extra motivation to finish her up quickly.

Roommates are good, sometimes. They help share the bills and are suppose to help with the cleaning and stuff. But then they decide to be 3 and you just want to slap them. Get home today after Open House day (parents are allowed to come in and watch part of a morning lesson). Go into my room to put stuff down and consider what to make for dinner. Here the buzzer ring and Elaine talks. Rings again, she talks. This happens about 5 times. Then she goes into her room, shuts the door, and turns the life off. And then the door bell starts ringing. I am in my room frogging the Tasha bag and not particularly interesting in answering the door as I am wrapping the yarn around my feet. Finally, I get up and answer the door. It is Elaine's boyfriend. He won't come in, but sits down on the hall steps and calls her. So I close the door and go back to frogging. Then he starts this, "lets see how long we can ring the door bell for" shit. I go out again, say "She not coming out so get over it" in a angry, teacher's voice. So then he just starts calling her on the phone. At least she had enough common sense to turn the damn ringer off. After I am finished completely frogging, she comes out of her room and says sorry. I should just smack her. If you want to act like you are 3, go ahead, but don't piss off the roommates.

07:36 Posted in Knitting , Life in Taiwan , Pissed off ranting | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this