Monsters, little annoying ones.

May 14, 2009

Okay, so the bike might not be such a good idea for someone as ungraceful as I.  LOL.  This morning I wore these dumb shoes and they got caught on my pedal and I totally ran into a trash can (the big dumpster type) and then I tried to jump off the bike before it fell on me but my shoe got caught so I just ended up spilling over onto the street.  Luckily it was just a little country road and it was early so there weren’t any cars around and I didn’t get run over.  And luckily I have a huge butt so I have lots of padding!  Then the other day I accidently went down the wrong way on this one way street so I tried to ride on the side walk but it was too small and while trying to avoid someone’s parked car I went SPLAT into a wall that ran along the sidewalk.  It was funny because I was wearing this white sweater and the only part that got dirty was the one boob that got caught in the action.  Then the OTHER day I was trying to pedal and my shoe lace was come untied so it got caught in my pedal and just kept wrapping around until I couldn’t pedal anymore and I was on a pretty busy street small street so I didn’t really have anywhere to stop and get off.  I just sort of pulled over on the edge and while still on the bike, bent over and unraveled my shoelace.  Of course this got me lots of honks from the passing cars because my butt was sort of just sticking out.  Anyway, sometimes these things make me laugh so hard to myself because they are so embarrassing. 

So I made it to school without dying and the first class that we taught was a 3^rd class.  Professor M. started off right away again with the sonnets.  The students still didn’t know the content and he just yelled at them the hold class.  One of the students that got interrogated today got it pretty bad.  I feel so badly for them!  It’s so sad to watch because it’s like a little kid getting a beating.  I think that if I were in their place I would probably cry because the teacher just yells and its kind of scary.  This one student is especially scatter brained.  I think its hard for him to string the words together but Professor M. said that he’s like that in other subjects also.  I think he just needs help with learning how to focus and concentrate so he can get his ideas across but he seems to be somewhat of a lazy student.  He could be lazy because it’s just too hard for him so he gives up.  Hm…  Also during the interrogation Professor M. started asking about a lot of different things outside of what they had been assigned for the day.  Again and again I can see how important it is to make sure that you teach something before you test on it or demand your students to know it. 

The next class that we taught was the 2^nd G class.  They had an interrogation of the troubles in Ireland and terrorism…AGAIN!  This is like the 4^th time that he talks about this in this class.  Today the students that he called on were a little more prepared but not much.  Then the teacher had them translate sentences from Italian into English.  I liked this exercise because it was good for me too so I can get better at Italian. 

The next class that we taught was the 2^nd A class.  We met in the Language Lab that has all the computers.  Two of the students had missed the test that he gave last week so they made it up today.  As soon as they started their test those little monsters started trying to cheat so I went and sat between them so they couldn’t mouth out answers to each other.  The one on my left was pretty good after that but then the one on my right was still looking around to see if other students would give him the answer.  The other students were reading parts of ‘the catcher and the rye’  with Prof. M.  One student that was sitting behind the little monster on my right passed him something.  The little monsters are soooo stupid because I was sitting right there.  I walked up next to the little monster and I asked him to give me his little answer sheet.  He acted innocent so I gave him this impatient look and I asked him to give it to me again.  He was like, “No, because then you’ll tell the professor!”  I wanted to be like, “Duh, cause you’re an idiot!”  But finally, after I asked for it like 5 times he handed me this little piece of paper that had the answers for some of the questions.  I was all nervous after that because I really hate confrontation and even if I wasn’t the one doing something wrong the little “nerve alarms” go off in my head.  Things like this make me feel like I probably wouldn’t be a very good teacher.  After the class was over I told Professor M. about it he was like, “Yeah, these kids of tests are really easy to cheat on.”  And that’s it!!  Even after I gave him the little monster’s cheat sheet he just said, “yeah, its quite common that the students cheat.  I think its sort of part of our culture nowadays, I mean look at our government!!”  I was STUNNED!!!  Man, this school never ceases to surprise me, I swear, there is something new every day. 

The next class we the 4^th class.  The whole class had an exam today on Daniel Defoe.  They had separated their desks for the exam, I think that it must be something they always do for exams because they were ready like that before we walked in.  So as soon as Professor M. started handing out the test, and I mean AS SOON, the two little monsters right in the front skimmed it quickly and started talking answers on all of the true/ false and multiple choice.  Of course the teacher didn’t see because he was finishing passing out the test to the rest of the class but I was shocked to see at how these kids have such a strategic plan!  I was like, “woah, woah, woah, what are you guys doing?!  The two little monsters just looked at me innocently.  Since I had already played this dumb game the last class I just grabbed my chair and put it right in between their two desks, just made myself comfortable and smiled at them while they gave me this shocked look.  The little monster on my left looks sort of like Harry Potter. He was like, “No, no, no, you’re not really going to sit there are you?!”  I just smiled at him.  Then he complained and said, “Prof, can’t you ask her to move, I can’t work with her breathing down my neck!”  Professor M. just ignored him.  So I just sat there for a while but I could still hear other kids whispering behind me.  They had this strategy going where one student would walk up to the teacher’s desk and ask a question so while the teacher was distracted they would all copy off of each other.  And it wasn’t just one or two of the little monsters…it was ALL OF THEM!!  So the harry potter kid complained to me when I stopped him from looking around, “Come on, everyone else is cheating!!”  Mamma mia!  So I just stood up and faced the whole class and just surveyed the class like a hawk.  I couldn’t even walk around or anything because the little monsters are so quick and I would have missed some of them.  So after I stood there for a while they still kept looking up and whispering so I was like, “Guys, you’re smart, you don’t need help!”  I said this in English and the ones I was talking too were like, “huh, what did she say?”  So I said in Italian while tapping my temple with my finger, “Sei intelligente, non hai bisogno del suo aiuto!”  They just looked at me innocently.  Uh-huh, that’s right, you heard me!  Gosh, I was so annoyed, and I think the Professor was a bit embarrassed so he actually spoke up and told them to all stop talking and just do their own work.  But seriously…the whole time was like this.  I just kept telling them to stop and stop and stop.  Over and over again.  And they just kept cheating!!  Professor M. actually accepted this as a test?!  What a joke, seriously.  He might as well just let them have pulled all their desks together and had them do it as group work.  After the class I asked Professor M. “Can’t you do something about it?”  And he just shrugged and said, “yeah, they’ll always find a way to cheat, so…”    Mamma mia!

That was the last class of the day but I had agreed to help some students prepare for their interrogations so I waited for an hour in the teacher’s lounge.  I read up on the passage that they were going to be interrogated on.  I asked Professor M. if he had some sort of grading rubric for the grades that he gives them on their interrogations but he said not really.  So I just asked him right there to list off some things that he looks for.  So when I went to go help the two students prepare for their interrogations I was able to tell them some of the things that he was looking for and how they could prepare.  I suggested they do a sort of spider web brainstorming thing so they could get all the facts out on paper and be able to stay on topic more easily.  I think this will also help them prepare and be ready for the questions that Professor M. might shoot out at them.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out tomorrow. 

Tomorrow right after school, Hillary and I leaving for the weekend.  We’re going to the Amalfi coast and Pompeii.  Wish me fun!!  J