And I worked three days, two of with were for high school science. I really like that subject, but it's obvious how much has changed since I was in school. We never learned about genetics or gene therapy and all the discoveries with chromosomes since then. I'm looking forward to my college-level biology course next semester just to get back into the mode.
But some basics never change. One of the requirements for one of the classes required that the students write an outline of what the chapter covered.
"What's an outline?" asked one boy.
And one girl, who never did want to stop chatting (without opening her book to the lesson) walked out of class because she refused to do any work. It's no surprise that later I learned she was one of those jock girls who demands respect from everyone, even teachers, and if she doesn't get it--telling her to be quiet is disrespect--she walks out. Her online name is "Ghetto Chick." Figures.
"That's just the way she is" said the teacher to me. Even her classmates were glad she had left the room.
I am slowly making my rounds back through the schools. Friday I was back at a middle school and one of the 7th graders remembered me. This was a math class but no class is going to be paying attention on a Friday afternoon. Many of the students were more concerned with what looked like rain outside. A few drops fell and the kids panicked.
I hiked with a group up Miller Peak yesterday. Now I've bagged two peaks right here in the neighborhood. Wildflowers are still in bloom.
But slowly, ever slowly, the nighttime temperatures are dropping. It was in the 50s this morning. The back garden already looks dead. Soon I can focus on the winter crop.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
My first day back in the classroom
Today was my first day back at the high school. I subbed for the theater department. Both the tech crew and the teacher were wonderful. I filled in for half a day.
One of the performing arts crew members, Mr Kline, proudly told me that his students have won many awards over the 30 years he's been with the district. "My students have been to China, in Europe, at Disneyworld..." The students called him "Coach."
The students were well behaved. Some recognized me from last year. "I like you!" "You're cool!" and a few other accolades came my way, although I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. The students were self-driven and worked on their tasks., whether it was setting up a stage or performing their lines. The first performance for the school acting club is next week.
I was rewarded in the end by watching the performance crew do a few improvisational skits during the last hour. Some of the acting was quite good. A few of the students stood out as creative artists, wearing ties with t-shirts and French caps.
I got to meet Mike again, and saw a few other familiar faces, but during lunch I ate alone and then hurried back to the theater room.
Mike and I briefly chatted about our summer break. He was recently in Mexico filming a nature film when he was surrounded by Mexican police holding automatic weapons toward his face. "That was the first time my legs shuck. That place (Mexico) has gotten weird" he added. Luckily he was able to find out that 11 people had been kidnapped and found hatcheted to death on the road he was held up. With his good Spanish he was able to convince the cops that he was not a drug runner. When Mike says that Mexico has gotten bad, then it's gotten bad!
A few changes were made over the summer with teachers' work schedules. Many no longer get a planning period and are expected to fill in for co-workers who have doctor appointments. (This saves on hiring subs for half-days) The school now hosts early Friday prayer meetings for the staff to "get us through these rough times." Teachers are still talking about the budget cut and more layoffs.
One of the performing arts crew members, Mr Kline, proudly told me that his students have won many awards over the 30 years he's been with the district. "My students have been to China, in Europe, at Disneyworld..." The students called him "Coach."
The students were well behaved. Some recognized me from last year. "I like you!" "You're cool!" and a few other accolades came my way, although I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. The students were self-driven and worked on their tasks., whether it was setting up a stage or performing their lines. The first performance for the school acting club is next week.
I was rewarded in the end by watching the performance crew do a few improvisational skits during the last hour. Some of the acting was quite good. A few of the students stood out as creative artists, wearing ties with t-shirts and French caps.
I got to meet Mike again, and saw a few other familiar faces, but during lunch I ate alone and then hurried back to the theater room.
Mike and I briefly chatted about our summer break. He was recently in Mexico filming a nature film when he was surrounded by Mexican police holding automatic weapons toward his face. "That was the first time my legs shuck. That place (Mexico) has gotten weird" he added. Luckily he was able to find out that 11 people had been kidnapped and found hatcheted to death on the road he was held up. With his good Spanish he was able to convince the cops that he was not a drug runner. When Mike says that Mexico has gotten bad, then it's gotten bad!
A few changes were made over the summer with teachers' work schedules. Many no longer get a planning period and are expected to fill in for co-workers who have doctor appointments. (This saves on hiring subs for half-days) The school now hosts early Friday prayer meetings for the staff to "get us through these rough times." Teachers are still talking about the budget cut and more layoffs.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Henry Heyman Hermann Remak
In my mailbox this afternoon was a 5x7 card from the Office of the Provost, Indiana University. That puzzled me. What did they want? And when I turned that red-and-white card over, I recognized the name right away. Professor Henry Heyman Hermann Remak, one of my favorite professors in the Germanic Department, had died at the age of 92 on 12 February. His memoriam will be 3 October and an RSVP is requested.
Prof Remak was already an older man when I had him in the early 1980s, a soft-spoken, balding gentleman with a quiet voice but strong mind. What I remember about him was his easy-going personality, his effervescent smile and his optimism. He was approachable, and often had his students at his home for gatherings. He is the only professor I visited at his private home. I must admit that I figured he had long passed on since I graduated in 1983, as I'm sure so many other of my professors have.
His eulogy read
Henry came to the United States in 1936, age 20, on a Sigman Alpha Mu Scholarship.
In San Francisco, he encountered Ingrid Grunfeld, the woman he was to marry;
she had also been brought up in Berlin. Their union was predestined. Ingridʼs house
had been on Stülerstrasse, opposite a statue of Theodor Fontane, one of Henryʼs favorite
authors. Henry fell in love not only with his future wife, but with his adopted country.
He marveled at its energy, its sense of wonder, its enterprise; he particularly admired its
enlightened rationalism: “The Declaration of Independence,” he would say, “is the most
humane document ever to come out of a Revolution.”
In San Francisco, he encountered Ingrid Grunfeld, the woman he was to marry;
she had also been brought up in Berlin. Their union was predestined. Ingridʼs house
had been on Stülerstrasse, opposite a statue of Theodor Fontane, one of Henryʼs favorite
authors. Henry fell in love not only with his future wife, but with his adopted country.
He marveled at its energy, its sense of wonder, its enterprise; he particularly admired its
enlightened rationalism: “The Declaration of Independence,” he would say, “is the most
humane document ever to come out of a Revolution.”
Henry would earn degrees from the Université de Montpellier, Indiana
University, the University of Chicago, and the Université de Lille. He taught at Indiana
University until and beyond his retirement, and he had visiting stints at the University of
Wisconsin, the University of Pennsylvania; he was a Director of the Middlebury German
Summer School for four years.
University, the University of Chicago, and the Université de Lille. He taught at Indiana
University until and beyond his retirement, and he had visiting stints at the University of
Wisconsin, the University of Pennsylvania; he was a Director of the Middlebury German
Summer School for four years.
Another eulogy mentioned that Prof Remak loved to travel, loved to speak in several languages and love so many cultures. Perhaps he was my mentor even back then and I didn't know it.
I wish now I had gotten to know him better. I was never close to any of my professors; I found them all so inapproachable, but Prof Remak was one who could have broken that image I had of my mentors. He spoke and wrote fluent German, French and English, something I wish I could do. If I had had the courage I could have asked him for advice earlier in my life, and he would have gladly given it to me.
There were a few other professors I had in the French and German departments that impressed me, but most were business-like and stoic. (One French professor who specialized in Frech--Canadian literature, died a year after I had him, at the tender age of 53, from a viral infection.)
Not Prof Remak. He did so much for Indiana University, opened up peoples' minds to literature and culture. If it hadn't been for him I could say that otherwise the Germanic department at the time I was there was lackluster. Remak added the sunshine.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Peace and quiet
The phone was silent today and it's going to be quiet from here on out. I loved it. I should have disconnected the landline a few years ago. I was able to read my assignments undisturbed, without annoying telemarketers calling for "Ms - - - -" with that long, drawn-out and befuddled sound. My printed last name is quite intimidating to Anglo-Saxons, and when people called asking me by my full name I knew they were callers I could gladly hang up on. They didn't know me, so why waste my time? A silent phone means I didn't have to jump up to answer the phone and I didn't have to conjure up some lie as to why I didn't want to listen to some marketing scheme.
Even the TV stays off for longer stretches of time during the day. I am calmer and more focused now. I am appreciating the sounds of silence.
But the silence is also disheartening. The school hasn't called me in two weeks. With my current class load I don't mind, quite honestly, as I can start each day concentrating on one subject. Mondays it's computer essentials, Wednesdays it's US History (taught by a Bisbeeite who's resembling George Carlin more and more), Thursdays it's English that is slowly warming up to me as well, but I am used to getting called in to work at least three days a week.
My one on-line class is also coming along, although my one concern is still getting my MoJo at starting my research papers. Even my computer class requires a research paper. That totals seven papers in three months.
I enjoy the mix of classes I am taking. But next semester I think I'm going to appreciate taking non-writing classes like Spanish or Biology for Non-Majors.
All my classmates are new this semester. None of them are familiar from my Education courses. I've come across Cecilia in the bookstore a few weeks ago. She's changed her major to Nursing. I ran into Rebecca last week in the computer lab. She, too, has switched to Nursing. Yesterday I met Kim at the library. We chatted a bit about our current class load, gave tips for good and not-so-good instructors here, and shared sentiments about the ever-growing drop-outs in the teaching field. She is taking her Elementary Ed course this semester and already seems overloaded, but Kim is simply a woman who takes all tasks seriously. She will do just fine.
One thing I know for sure: I can't waste time this semester reading recreational books, or spending long stretches on the internet perusing fun sites. Time is precious.
Hard to believe we are already in September. Soon fall will arrive and temperatures will get cooler. The rain we were supposed to get from Hurricane Jimena never came. In fact, Jimena died to a Cat2 and then to a Tropical Storm two days ago, veering west and then north, away from Baja California. That course was not predicted at all. I was looking forward to her coming north across the Sea of Cortez and hitting us today/tomorrow with rain. She never made it to the Gulf of California.
Even the TV stays off for longer stretches of time during the day. I am calmer and more focused now. I am appreciating the sounds of silence.
But the silence is also disheartening. The school hasn't called me in two weeks. With my current class load I don't mind, quite honestly, as I can start each day concentrating on one subject. Mondays it's computer essentials, Wednesdays it's US History (taught by a Bisbeeite who's resembling George Carlin more and more), Thursdays it's English that is slowly warming up to me as well, but I am used to getting called in to work at least three days a week.
My one on-line class is also coming along, although my one concern is still getting my MoJo at starting my research papers. Even my computer class requires a research paper. That totals seven papers in three months.
I enjoy the mix of classes I am taking. But next semester I think I'm going to appreciate taking non-writing classes like Spanish or Biology for Non-Majors.
All my classmates are new this semester. None of them are familiar from my Education courses. I've come across Cecilia in the bookstore a few weeks ago. She's changed her major to Nursing. I ran into Rebecca last week in the computer lab. She, too, has switched to Nursing. Yesterday I met Kim at the library. We chatted a bit about our current class load, gave tips for good and not-so-good instructors here, and shared sentiments about the ever-growing drop-outs in the teaching field. She is taking her Elementary Ed course this semester and already seems overloaded, but Kim is simply a woman who takes all tasks seriously. She will do just fine.
One thing I know for sure: I can't waste time this semester reading recreational books, or spending long stretches on the internet perusing fun sites. Time is precious.
Hard to believe we are already in September. Soon fall will arrive and temperatures will get cooler. The rain we were supposed to get from Hurricane Jimena never came. In fact, Jimena died to a Cat2 and then to a Tropical Storm two days ago, veering west and then north, away from Baja California. That course was not predicted at all. I was looking forward to her coming north across the Sea of Cortez and hitting us today/tomorrow with rain. She never made it to the Gulf of California.
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