Amy's Teaching Career

Last Friday was the Christmas faire at school, which I was required to attend. A few things happened over the course of the evening that I thought were funny or interesting enough to share.

Story 1:

This story requires just a bit of backstory. Thanksgiving day I (of course) had to work, and I was slated to present an assembly about Thanksgiving and what it means to the entire school. I was slightly weepey and missing family that morning, but I thought I was ok. I WAS ok through the story about the Mayflower, and the starvation, and the Indians. I was OK all the way until the story started to talk about how everyone doesn't work and instead drives thousands of miles to spend Thanksgiving with their families. Then I just... lost it a bit. *cough-a lot-cough* I tried so hard not to cry in front of the WHOLE SCHOOL, but failed miserably.

So The Christmas faire has every child and their parents show up. I, being in love with cake and expected to part with some of my hard earned money, made my way to the bake sale and began a conversation with the ladies manning it.

Amy: Oooo! Cake! I'd like that one and that one and that one, no wait, that one - is that blueberries on top?!

Lady behind the Cake Stand: Your accent doesn't sound too familiar - where are you... (insert long dramatic pause here, with expanding ring of silence) Wait - you must be Ms. H - you're the teacher that CRIED AT THE THANKSGIVING ASSEMBLY!!!!!!!!!!!

Other Lady behind the Cake Stand: Oh! Little Suzie* came home and told me all about how you were missing your family and cried in front OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL!

Yet Another Lady behind the Cake Stand: Oh! My Brett* came home and told me all about that too! He didn't know what to do - that's why he doesn't talk to you anymore. Poor dear... aw, bless ** ...

Amy: *sputter, stammer* um...

1st Lady: I cry all the time too, you know (thinking: What kind of baby cries at an assembly? Unheard of!)

2nd Lady: Yes, dearie (patting my hand) we have great big sob gatherings where we just go on and LET IT ALL OUT (thinking: Shocking! What about the stiff upper lip?)

3rd Lady: Oh, and they are so good - we just all gather round and cry and cry and we feel so much better after - and my family is only down Hastings way! (thinking: wonder if my little Brett* can be moved to a less whingey teacher?)

Amy: gulp... *runs away*

*not the child's real name
**bless=something you say about someone who is absolutely so pathetic there really is nothing else you can say. i.e. Little Scooter was an absolute nightmare in class today - he cut Rachel's hair and threw knives at me....bless.

Story 2:

Earlier, I was conversing with a colleague as we sold the goods our children had made, when a man came up to her and started talking to her about buying her orange juice. I had never seen this man before, but owing to the level of intimacy in the conversation, I hazarded a guess and asked her, "Is he your'n?" She looked at me strangely and didn't answer, and I decided that perhaps she was sensitive about it and dropped the subject. Later, after the fateful Bake sale incident, I was again at my booth when one of my students came up to me, so very excited. She wanted me to meet her mum, who was working in the kitchen. I had seen and partially overheard (my name anyway) this person murmer about me as I had passed by on the way to my fateful Bake sale encounter, so I was a bit anxious to meet her as well. The little girl walks me over to the kitchen window, and as we get there, this is the scenario.

Amy: (asking the little girl while pointing at her mum) "Is she your'n?"

Mum: (gasping and getting a horrified look on her face) "Urine? why are you calling me urine? Do you have a problem with me?!?"

Little Girl: Mummy, no, she means are you mine!

Amy: (bright red) Oh, my....

Needless to say, when I asked my colleague, she had thought the same thing. That explains SO much. Urine. Your'n. That's my teaching career in a snapshot.

Drumroll please.....

I got the call this evening offering me a job in response to the interview I had yesterday.

I don't yet know anything more than that. Don't know what year I'll be teaching or anything. I'll post a longer blog very soon giving you all the gory details.

Yay for being gainfully employed!

A small, still thing...

Sometimes things happen that remind you of the things that you do that make a difference to someone's life, somewhere. And it humbles you.

This is a video made by one of my students. I taught him from when he was 12 until he was 16. He is now in his early twenties. He was my biggest challenge, the student who broke my heart and hurt my feelings and crawled under my skin until I could not let him go. He is the student to whom I meant something, though I had to prove that I wasn't going to give up on him, and who meant a whole lot to me as well.

I can't really tell him that I am so proud of him that I could burst with it. But I am. And he continues to twist my heart, just as he always has. This is Andrew, amazing musician, amazing person. And he changed me. He is one of the reasons that I am the kind of teacher that I am. Thank you, Andrew. And I love you.

Calling All Teachers! (and sap lovers)

Dar sent me this in an email chain letter last night. I'm sharing, and there is a story afterwards.
































While I don't really like sending on chain letters, and I don't tend to buy into the sappy email-that-makes-you-cry thing; this particular one struck me. Not because of the saving of the boy at the end, but because of the fact that this may have been some teacher's idea, and it was definitely illustrated in the midst of some teacher's classroom. How brilliant! Even though the people who took the pictures were not the original authors of the chain email (according to Snopes.com the original began circulating in 2005, while the picture version is new this year and is still being researched), what an awesome multi-media project for kids in school. Now, of course I'm speculating, because I have no way of knowing if it really was some teacher that used this as a lesson: but it is something I could absolutely see myself doing. (Though I don't think I would turn it purposefully into a chain letter.) I thought my fellow teacher-y types, and those who enjoy a good sappy email would enjoy it.

It reminds me of a little funny.

Someone sent me an email about a 'dangerous file' in 2002. I fell for it, deleted said file (which turned out to be needed), and emailed it onto everyone that I cared about... including Stephen. At the time it had been a year or so since we had last talked, and so he sent me an email back. A mild chastisement for sending on an unresearched email, and a nice love note at the same time. He also helped me to fix the damage I had caused by deleting the file in the first place. That was the last time I have ever sent anything on, and the first time that I used Snopes.com. All because of Stephen.

I remember that the computer I was using at the time has stickers of things in a garden on it. Little carrots and rabbits and baskets and trowels and such. I remember being ashamed at doing something silly and being called on it, but being so happy to have gotten an email back from him at the same time. I saved those emails. I still have them. The funny thing? So did he.

Magical Recipes that Kids Want!

I have a big post coming as soon as Ash gets me pictures... but in the meantime I have been pressed for copies of these recipes. These were the goodies that I took to the kids and staff at the school that I was doing a placement at, and since I have been typing it up for 50 bazillion emails to them, I figured I might as well share with you too. This is the British-ised version. I'll highlight the American translation. (Warning... this is the Amy-translated British-ised version. It probably is a very poor quality translation into British English. They, poor souls, are probably staring at these recipes completely lost and confused. Oh well. I did my best.)

Multi-grain Snickerdoodles

Yield: 38 cookies
Baking temperature: 177 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
Baking time: 12 to 14 minutes

Dough:
6 oz (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
10 1/2 oz (1 1/2 cup) demerara sugar (raw sugar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 large eggs
4 5/8 oz (1 1/3 cup) whole rolled oats (not porridge oats) ground in a food processor
4 oz (1 cup) whole barley flour
3 oz (3/4 cup) strong wholemeal flour (stoneground 100 % whole wheat flour)

Coating:
2 3/8 oz (1/3 cup) caster sugar (regular white sugar)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 177 degrees Celsius . Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment (or use a baking stone.) Cream the butter, demerara sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the orange juice and eggs, scraping the bowl, then add the oats, barley flour, and wholemeal flour, beating until well combined. Refrigerate the dough, covered, overnight.

To prepare the coating, combine the caster sugar and the cinnamon in a large plastic bag.

Roll the very cold dough, by the tablespoon, into balls. Drop the balls, 6 or so at a time, into the plastic bag. Gather the bag closed at the top, trapping some air inside. Shake gently to coat the balls with sugar. Place them on the prepared cookie sheets and flatter to about 1/2 inch thick, using the bottom of a clean, dry glass. Repeat until you have used all the dough.

Bake the cookies, reversing the pans midway through (top to bottom and bottom to top) until they are beginning to brown around the edges, about 12 to 14 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a rack to cool.

NUTRITION INFORMATION (1 cookie, 27 grams):
9 g whole grains, 109 calories, 4 g fat, 2 g protein, 6 g complex carbohydrates, 11 g sugar, 1 g dietary fiber, 21 mg cholesterol, 66 mg sodium, 33 mg potassium, 34RE vitamin A, 26 mg calcium, 57 mg phosphorus.

Multi-grain Sailor Jacks

Yield: 1 dozen muffins
Baking temperature: 191 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit)
Baking time: 20 to 23 minutes

Raisin and spice mixture:
3 1/2 oz (1/2 cup) demerara sugar (raw sugar)
3 3/4 oz (1/2 cup) packed muscovado sugar (brown sugar)
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
8 oz (1 cup) water
3 oz (1/2 cup ) currents (raisins)
1 1/2 oz (2 tablespoons) treacle (black strap molasses)

Muffin Batter:
4 oz (1 cup) strong wholemeal flour (stoneground 100% whole wheat flour)
1 5/8 oz (1/2 cup) oat flour
1 3/4 oz (1/2 cup) whole rolled oats (not porridge oats)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 3/8 oz (1/8 cup) olive oil
1 large egg

Glaze:
2 oz(1/2 cup ) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon or sour orange juice
1 teaspoon milk

Preheat the oven to 191 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a muffin tin or line it with papers. Coat the papers with nonstick baking spray.

TO MAKE THE RAISIN AND SPICE MIXTURE
Place the ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat, until the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and let cool, overnight if desired.

TO MAKE THE BATTER
Which together the flours, oats, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl. Add the cooled raisin and spice mixture, oil, and egg. Stir just to combine. (Don't beat the batter or it will turn tough.)

TO BAKE THE MUFFINS
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake the muffins until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 23 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.

FOR THE GLAZE
Mix all ingredients until smooth, and drizzle over the cooled muffins.

Nutrition Information: (1 glazed muffin, 85 grams):
18 g whole grains, 245 calories, 7 g fat, 3 g protein, 19 g complex carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, 18 mg cholesterol, 329 mg sodium, 183 mg potassium, 9RE vitamin A, 1 mg vitamin C, 2 mg iron, 64 mg calcium, 131 mg phosphorus.

The Grand Ol' Potty...

Kelli sent me the most wonderful gift... video. And they are just so cute that I want to share them with you. Kelli, THANK YOU for the videos. Each one feels a little more like I'm involved in their lives. I can't wait to spend time with them in the summer.

Kiera talks to Mamie... (that's me!)

Katy reads "Goodnight Moon" to Mamie...

On a completely different note, This Sunday last was Mother's Day here in the UK. No, don't worry, you didn't miss it in the US. That day comes in May. So I officially get 2 days in 1 year to commemorate being a mother... and let me just say that I worked hard enough for it, thank you!

Dan the Man, in case any of you are wondering, will be in London in a little under 3 weeks. He will be the first person that I will see from home. I keep wondering if I should ask him to smuggle things in for me... a big pack of paper-stick Q-tips, perhaps, or a box of malt-o-meal. Or corn masa preparada. Or green chile. Or anything. But it is rude to just ask randomly. I'll be sending treats home with him. I am already hording things to send back with him . (teateateateatea) The goal is to convince him that he and Christie need NEED NEED to move here. And soon too.

What else, what else... I haven't done laundry in 2 weeks, but my lesson plans and all my grading are caught up. Complements on my behaviour management at school today (I was so disappointed; they were terrible. But apparantly terrible is better than they behave with their EVERYDAY teacher. Yay, me!) but those don't make me stop wishing that I were done. I don't like this school. I have been thinking a lot about that, actually... as much as I disagree with the concept of a private school, I am not sure that I am going to be able (or want to) teach the way the schools want. It is all to the tests. So maybe I need to keep an open mind about teaching in a private school. I have hooked myself up with some addresses. Perhaps I'll fill you in on /that/ story another time.

Stephen is happy at his job. He is SO busy all the time. People to help, model airplanes to test drive. Last week I went to his work with the intention of less distractions to get more done. What actually occured was lots of watching British TV commercials, and led directly into the last blog. Did Amy get stuff done? I don't think so.

Ash is doing much better in school. Her science GCSE classes are going fabulously. She has been getting A's and B's in her mock tests, and today she came home with an A* (absolutely highest score) in her mock exam. Wednesday is the next set of REAL tests, and I think she is ready. Every good mark boosts her confidence. Good prep for her A levels. She has tentatively decided to take an A level in Biology (and Stephen-the-Biologist is so proud.) and possibly another A level in Geography or something else. She just needed time to adjust.

Oh my... It's already February?

When Gramy sends a comment that says I need to post more, that tells me something doesn't it?

It has been busy in this here house, and I am sure that you all want to hear all about it. I am in the midst of a 6 week student teaching placement... and I have distinctly mixed feelings. I am in a year 6 class (6th grade) and it is a particularly interesting place to be. Years 2 and 6 are the years of the SATS, which are significantly high pressure tests for both the kids and the schools. Year 2 they try quite hard to hide the tests, but Year 6 it is right there in the open. The kids know about them, know they will be judged, and most, actually, are told often that they will be found lacking.

At first I couldn't figure out why they placed me in a Year 6 classroom, as it was pretty obvious that they really didn't want me there. The administration has made it clear on more than one occasion that I am only to be teaching groups, and that the teacher needs to be responsible for things like lesson planning and whole group instruction. That doesn't work, though, since there are university requirements that must be met. That, and papers that I need to write afterwards that are based entirely on the process of planning, delivering, assessing, then planning from assessment.

While I could go on for quite a while... and I may still do, I want to give other things their fair shot to be spoken of.

Ashley is in the midst of a work placement thing, and is spending some time at the art store on the High Street. She spent yesterday running the till (that's the cash register), calculating change in her head, and unpacking canvases. She now knows more about canvases that anyone else I know. She will be there for another 2 days, and says she likes it. This morning, though, we ended up waking her. She had turned off her alarm for being too tired. Flashed me back to my much younger days when work was not nearly as important as things like hanging out with friends and going out and sleep. Made me feel surprisingly old.

Stephen has shaved his beard. It was lovely while it lasted. He is almost 2 different people. With the beard, he looks older, more dignified, more like the stereotypical Englishman, I think. Clean shaven, you can really see his baby face and he looks years younger than he actually is. Both ways, I had to take a few days to get used to it. He just didn't look like himself. I think he was glad to have shaved, though. His mum definitely likes him better clean shaven. I am happy either way, which I suppose it a good thing, as it is HIS face.

Quite a while ago, Dan and others asked me some questions, which I have yet to answer, So, because i have put them off for so long, I'll do it now.


1) What are you homesick for (besides Tristan)?

Hmm... this is a tough one. There are food items... green chile most especially, and corn tortillas, elk meat, and malt o meal. I miss the cactus. I miss the sunshine. I miss knowing my way around the town and larger grocery stores with familiar items in. I miss quarters. (They have 20p pieces, which seem just silly. I learned that 4 25's is 100 by using quarters. 20 p just seems like a waste.) [I learned that five 20s are 100 - Stephen] I miss my animals. I miss my family. More than missing my family is missing the ability I had to drop everything and go and see them. I have gone longer without seeing them, but the simple fact that I CANT go and see them if I wanted to makes it that much harder. I miss my friends. I am so cautious about making friends here. I am not comfortable opening up. So we do have friends, but they are Stephen's friends, or university colleagues. Not the same.

2) Are you feeling comfortable living in the UK? Are the cultural quirks working themselves out?

I have come to discover that Americans are prudes. I did not consider myself prudish in the States, as a matter of fact, I think I was quite the opposite... risqué, even. But here... commercials make me blush. Comments make me blush. People say things and I am offended, and it is no big deal to them. Sex is taboo in the US. Here it is something that is much more ok to tease people about. So... I am a prude. Knowing this means that I have to be very aware of the cultural lens that I look at things through, and often have to pick apart my response before sharing it with anyone else.

As far as comfort, I don't think that I can yet say that I am comfortable. I know my way around much better than I used to. I feel at home in my house. I don't notice the accents any more (there are even times when I cant tell the difference in a TV program between an American and a British accent.) But I absolutely feel like a foreigner. I actually have a new understanding of how it must feel for immigrants in the US. Sometimes it is downright unintentionally hostile. All the talk about immigrants stealing British jobs, how immigrants should be kicked out, how no one wants immigrants, immigrants should pay more taxes, more tuition, have less pay... all things I heard in the US, but now I am on the other side of the fence. It is not that people are intentionally unwelcoming. They don't see how the rhetoric affects the atmosphere. I wonder if Mexican immigrants in El Paso feel as uncomfortable and lesser.

3) Have you had to go to the doctor yet? If so, was it easy to get in (RE: Sicko).

I have been to the doctor, but not because I was sick. When you register with the NHS, you have an appointment with the nurse for a history, etc. That went smoothly. I had piles and piles of medical records, since I brought copies of EVERYTHING with me (all right, I hear the "Obsessive-Compulsive!" shouts from the peanut gallery... hush!) I have not been sick enough to go to the doctor. Neither has Ash. There is much less an environment of go to the doctor. Most people don't, unless they are VERY ill. It is frowned on. You don't need a doctors note to leave work sick, unless you are out for more than 5 days. Herbs are a bit easier to get, though the raw unprocessed ones are harder to find. I feel very lucky that I brought all mine and they made it through customs ok.

4) How did you do your first semester?

The school year is not divided into semesters here. And the grading system is messy. So bear with me. This degree that I am doing is a 3 year degree. However, none of the grades from the first year are worth anything. But the second and third year, each piece of assessed work is actually a percentage of my final degree grade. Classes are the entire year long, and each class has between 1 and 3 pieces of assessed work. My classes this year are Professional Studies (2 pieces), Science (2 pieces), English (1 piece), Maths (3 pieces), Art (2 pieces), and Inclusion (2 pieces). So, 50% of my final degree grade is in these pieces of work (all of which are really really huge, 8-15 (and some even larger) page papers with appendices and 10-20 researched cited sources.) So, 6 classes, each class is worth 8 1/3 % of my final grade. Divide that into the number of pieces of assessed work and you have how much each piece is worth.

Like I said, grading is messy. Degrees have value. A first degree is the best you can get, then a 2-1, then a 2-2, then a third. [Actually there is a grade that sits under a third, there's a level that is just called a pass. If an honours degree is being studied, a pass may lose the honours label. - Stephen] (I know, it makes no sense. I still am not entirely clear on it.) Assessed work follows the same type of scale. Technically, I could get up to a 100, but no one EVER gets anything above an 80. EVER. A 70 to 80 is a first. 60 to 70 is a 2-1. A 50 to a 60 is a 2-2. 40 to 50 is a third, and below that is a fail. Most people end up with a 2-2. That is average. 2-1 is really good, and it is nigh-on impossible to get a first degree. It happens, but it is always to those ephemeral people who have no lives. (And quite possibly to a colleague named Cleander, who has 2 small children and apparently never sleeps. Or so she says. We still cant figure out what she is doing to get those grades.)

Before I actually answer the question, I have to point out that I have really struggled. The writing style is completely different here. I remember being taught how to write a 5 paragraph essay... 1 paragraph introduction with topic sentence and 3 main points. 1 paragraph for each point, with evidence. Conclusion states topic and 3 points again. I remember being taught this and then told to NEVER WRITE LIKE THAT AGAIN. That's how they write here. And there can be absolutely no independent thought or opinion in the realm of academic writing at my level. EVERYTHING must be backed up with evidence. Someone else must say everything that I want to say. No one has taught me what is expected, I have just been assumed to know. So this whole time has been a process of figuring out exactly what it is that they want. And it has been tough. and I am not sure that I like it. I am a good writer, but it hasn't seemed like it lately.

Ok, my grades. Professional Studies, I have turned in 1 assignment, but have not gotten it back. Science, I have turned in 1, and got a 60. English, none turned in. Maths, 2 turned in. 1 a 56 (that was the first paper I've turned in) and the other a 78. Art, 1 turned in, got a 73. Inclusion, 1 turned in, got a 66. So I do some figuring, and right now I am looking at a 66.84%. That is a 2-1. This is not final, it will depend on how well I do in the rest of my assessed work. But I seem to be on an upward trend.

The hardest part of it all has been combating my own feeling of having poor grades. A 58 % looks terrible when you are used to that being a failing grade.

5) What language differences have you found?

Tons. Just for ease, the first word will be American English, and the second British English. And Ill provide the more daring of you a link to an American/British English dictionary. Whoever said that we speak the same language is WRONG.

• period - full stop
• quotation marks - speech marks
• parenthesis - brackets
• gas - petrol
• big rig - lorry
• tylenol or acetaminophen - paracetamol
• pants - trousers
• underwear - pants
• trash can - rubbish bin

There are so many, I almost don't know where to start. And this doesn't touch on words we spell differently (fetus/foetus or center/centre, for two) or words that we spell the same but say differently. (herb and route, off the top of my head.)

For far more than I can or will give, check out here. If you want to know the slang terms and see the site I use most often, then check out here. And for a website that points out cultural differences, go here.

In Which Amy Goes Back to School... (Myspace Blog)

So, today was the first day of a week that I get to spend teaching in my daughter's Freshman English class. This is very exciting to me. And I walked away very impressed. We started off the class with introductions. Part of which was my statement of teaching philosophy. I was met with blank stares when I said that I believed in teaching people to be critically concious (which I expected), so we began a conversation about the definition of the word 'critical'. I encouraged them to build their own definition, while making hypothesis about the type of teacher I was. Ideas included a teacher of law, a philosopher, a psychologist, and a 'free-thinking scientor'. These kids did an amazing job of building a definition of critical thought... and then we moved into trickier territory... culture. The point is to move on towards an understanding of cultural relevance, but you have to have a basic understanding of culture to be able to understand its relevance. And, many are aware of the fact that culture is a sticky word that tends to be hard to define. It is still a work in progress, but by the time they left class we had filled up chalkboards of ideas they had gleaned from academic definitions and they had the beginnings of a workable definition. I was amazed - I had planned to cover a whole lot more, because I had not expected them to be able or willing to go so deeply. So, tomorrow we go at it again. And I am more excited about it than I was today. There is hope... that these kids, taught in sitdownandshutup classrooms since Kindergarten, can catch on and dig the idea of being critically concious means that they can still grow to be critically concious adults. What a wonderful thing.