kennings and more

Today I discussed riddles and kennings with my seniors as we zip through Holt's abridged Beowulf. I asked them to solve the following riddle:

“I am a wonderful help to women
The hope of something good to come
I harm only my slayer
I grow very tall, erect in a bed
I am shaggy down below
The lovely girl grabs my body, rubs my red skin
Holds me hard, claims my head.
That girl will feel our meeting!
I bring tears to her eyes!
What am I?”

(answer at the footof this post)

Anyway, it's Friday and I'm thrilled. I've been administering the CELDT for the last couple of days and have to continue with it next week, but hopefully when it's done I'll have some students during 4th/5th (that's the plan at least). Also, my ELD books finally came in, so when I do get students, I'll have something to teach them. Things are working out nicely indeed.

Annie and I will be moving into our new place on Monday morning and I'm totally stoked. Our apartment is just so cute and new and clean and, maybe this is weird, but I'm excited about paying my own rent. Ask me if I feel the same way in a year, I guess.

Tonight marks the official beginning of junior high small groups as all the eighth grade girls gather with their fantastic leaders, Bethany and Megan, for a fun-filled and sleepless sleep-over! Probably not the best idea since I have my first MA meeting tomorrow morning and haven't finished my research, but you know. I'm trying to keep my schedule as open as possible, but with MA stuff, and BTSA, and jr high, and TEACHING it's not been easy. I've turned down not one, not two, but three requests to coach soccer again this fall and even though it makes me feel crummy, there's just no way I'd have any time for it.

And, because several people have asked, if you have books you would like to donate to my classroom and don't live in the Davis/Woodland area where I can just swing by and pick them up from you, feel free to send them to:

Megan Garcia
c/o Woodland High School
21 N. West Street
Woodland, CA 95695

I've been so incredibly blessed by everyone's generosity and desire to help and my library looks amazing. Thank you so much!!


Answer: An onion. Get your mind out of the gutter!

just a little too late

This is a little late, but here's an update on teaching as of last Friday. Life is certifiably crazy right now as I'm officially homeless until Monday and have a ton of work to do for BTSA and my MA, plus my classes have changed some, etc etc, but this should give you a taste of what I'm up against this year :)

First Period
English 9

I have about 24 (now 18)kids in this class but it feels like 5, since that's about how many speak during the course of the hour. I know from my other classes that it's not because of me, but just because it's 8 in the morning and kids don't guzzle coffee like I do. (They're much better now) I song and dance my way through the hour regardless and get a few laughs. For the most part they are really sweet kids, I only have one student who may pose an actual problem, and it's more an issue of insolence than misbehavior. It's a nice slow start to my day, but it makes me really look forward to second period.

Second Period
Senior Lit & Comp.

I have 30 (now 32)exuberant seniors in this class (3 are varsity football players so we talk a lot of trash about Davis High), and I love each and every one of them more than the next. These kids are awesome; funny, thoughtful, mellow, respectful, and appropriately curious about my personal life (see period 6 for inappropriate curiosity about my personal life!). Today we wrote "I am From" poems in all of my classes. I told the seniors that they could sit with their friends and turn on the radio as long as they kept working. And they did! It was incredible! I've never seen anything like it! Teaching outside of the city is amazing!

Third Period
Prep
Another teacher uses my room during my prep, which stinks, but it's amazing how much photocopying and lesson planning you get done without a computer sitting on your desk to distract you!

Fourth & Fifth Period
English 2

Well, this is an interesting story. I have 7 kids enrolled in this class. Yesterday, after a disastrous 2 hours, I called my Bilingual Ed supervisor and asked if she could review the curriculum with me. I was concerned that either the text we are adopting will be too advanced for the students, or that the students had been placed in my class erroneously. And I was right. All of them were designated CELDT Level 1s so all but one of them have been moved to the English 1 class. Which, of course, leaves me with only one student for two whole hours. I'm not sure what's going to happen with her, or what will happen if they close my class because then I'll be short two classes, but we'll have to wait until next week when all the CELDT testing is finished. Whew!

Period 6
English 9

I originally had 27 (!) kids in this class, but it's down to about 22 now (and now 16!), so that's more manageable (especially since there aren't supposed to be more than 20 kids in any English 9 class this year). These kids are my stars. They are hilarious, bouncing off the walls after 6 hours of class, and almost inappropriately interested in my personal life (this is the class that has no qualms or embarrassments about telling me how pretty I am and asking if I need their home phone numbers for something OTHER than calling their parents, winkwink, nudgenudge). But they are also well-behaved and, again, just all around great kids. (although they're getting a little too squirrely and "not doing their homework-y" for my tastes these days)

I know I should not be amazed that the kids are nice. I also know I should not be fooled into thinking that they are perfect. One look at my 12th graders discipline records will tell you that. However, it's still such a huge difference from teaching in "the city" and I'm so thrilled I decided to take this job.

Two absolutely amazing things happened to me today. During my prep, I went down to the office because I was told that there was a box for me and Katie had sent me a 50 pound box of books! As I struggled to carry this enormous and unwieldy box back to my office, a student coming out of the counselors' office asked if I needed help, and then took the box from me and carried it to my office, all the while making polite conversation and telling me about all of his teachers. Unbelievable! At my old school, I think my students would have watched me be crushed under the weight of the box, and then they would have laughed at me. Truth be told, these kids are probably pretty normal, but to me they are just angels compared to what I dealt with last year.

More later - I'm a real teacher now with real papers to grade and really not enough time to blog!

history of rock

Meant to post this some time ago, but it must have gotten lost in the blog draft archives...

"I appreciate that I'm not in teaching credential courses, which always require active participation and frequently feature Type-A people who are way too enthusiastic about lesson plans." -SuperGirl Katie

you are the one

I've been busy setting up my classroom, sitting in long meetings, and (of course) drinking a lot of coffee as I get anxious about the new school year. I just can't believe classes start on Wednesday, it feels like I have so much left to do.

Here are some pictures of my classroom as of Friday afternoon. I have a few more things to finish up, but this is my little (tiny) space on campus (except during my prep period, where the Speech teacher uses my room for speech class and I have to move to a cubicle but... you know):


You can also see our pictures from Disneyland here. We had so much fun!

Thursday Thirteen

Here's a Thursday Thirteen from Jennie, since I'm freaking out about school starting:

Thirteen Things I Plan to Do on the First Day of School:
1. arrive ridiculously early
2. drink far too much coffee
3. find Christina and freak out together
4. greet my ELD students in Spanish (I've been practicing!)
5. probably screw up our online attendence program
6. forget to bring my lunch and starve for half the day
7. be amazed at how old my 12th graders look
8. be amazed at how young my 9th graders look
9. learn the names of at least 3/4 of my students (I'm pretty good at that)
10. tell no one that it's my first year of teaching, only that it's my first year at this school
11. pray for each class before they walk in
12. get literally nothing done because I've never taught 50 minute periods before
13. take a nap when I get home

I tag:
Jessica
Lindy

expert on shakespeare

I got my credential today! (Yeah, I was a little late with the paperwork...) I'm official! I'm a real teacher! I'm officially freaking out as a real teacher because school starts in 21 flipping days and I haven't done anything! Yikes!

who are you

It's possible I've been working at the grocery store for FAR too long, but lately I've been more irritated than usual. In particular, there are three "customer profiles" who have really been on my last nerve lately:

1. The 8:00am Sandwich
I will never understand the customers who come in just moments after we open and ask for a sandwich. What is the thought process behind these orders? Does one wake up in the morning and think, "Hmmm, I think a pepper turkey sandwich with honey mustard and avocado would be the perfect companion to my cappucinno to really start this day off right"? Why in God's name do you need a hot pastrami sandwich on a sourdough roll in order to read the New York Times? What's wrong with just a croissant? We sell those too, you know.

2. The Food Critic
Things I hear almost every day:
"Your tuna salad is too sweet."
"Your oven roasted turkey is too dry."
"Your curry chicken salad needs more curry."
"Your curry chicken salad has too much curry."
"Your roast beef is too rare."
"Your ham is too fatty." etc, etc ad naseum.

Listen up, folks. If you don't like our food, don't buy our food. Get your potato salad at Andronico's where they don't put celery in it. I'm not going to stop putting bacon in our pesto chicken pasta just because you don't eat pork. If you're going to be so damn picky, brown bag your lunch and leave me alone.

3. Homo Impatientus
OK, this one really gets me. Imagine me making a sandwich for a customer who is standing right there. I'm wearing gloves, slathering mayo, slicing corned beef. And then I hear, "Excuse me? I need a BBQ brisket sandwich". I turn around. Surely, the brisket customer is not talking to me as I am obviously helping someone else. No, no they are definitely talking to me. What is it about the sandwich half-made in front of me that makes this customer think I am free to help them right this very minute? Do they think I am bored and therefore just making sandwiches to pass the time? Do they really anticipate me abandoning the customer I am helping at the moment to tend to their beck and call? Yes, as a matter of fact, they do.

Ah, Palo Alto....

wind in your hair

I just found out I'm being given zero dollars to set up my classroom this year. This is a serious bummer because I need books for my students in a major way. I can't very well teach an English class with no freaking books in my room, can I? Gosh, money sucks.

If you have any young adult novels you can donate to my cause, I would seriously appreciate it and would probably bake you cookies. No books but you have some extra cash? Consider adopting my classroom so I can buy some much needed supplies.

dream me a dream

A literary update, if you will.

Vacation Readings So Far:

• The Confessions of Max Tivoli - Andrew Sean Greer
• Water for Elephants - Sarah Gruen
• The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue
• The Road - Cormac McCarthy
• The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

Up Next:

• Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• A Long Way Gone: Memiors of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah

I've mostly done a lot of beach lounging and jewelry stall perusing and have been thinking in broad, vague terms about my classes this year and things I need to include on my syllabi and so, really, this vacation has been just splendid. I managed to convince my parents to leave the sanctuary of the pool and venture into the Iao Valley yesterday and we took some incredible pictures of the Iao Needle and wandered through the Heritage Gardens.

I'll try to get all of the pictures up on Picasa this afternoon.

Back to reality tomorrow night and then back to Davis before I know it. Crazy summer, indeed.

ready to be

Vacation is going well. Back on Saturday!

taciturn

I've had a few things I want to write about lately, including bad fashion at the gym, all things Harry Potter, my new boss at UCC (!!!) and word association games at work, but I'm just so tired. And I'm sort of sick of blogging. I don't know. Maybe later?

driving the darkness away

I love teaching with all of my heart, but it's really hard sometimes. Maybe that's why I picked it?

I titled my blog The Daily Grind because I felt it represented the mundane aspects of what we do. The movies love to show teachers winning the battle against poverty, low expectations, and hopelessness. I knew going in that teaching is far less about cinematic presentations than about the daily grinding towards a goal. The Apostle Paul encouraged us to press on towards that goal, and by press on, I suppose he meant take it one moment at a time... -Mr. McNamar @ The Daily Grind

i aint got the time

By popular demand, here is a brief list of some good books I can recommend just off the top of my head. Most of my library is actually packed up in Davis, so this is, of course, not extensive. But if you're looking for some good poolside reading this summer, it's not a bad place to start.

• The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
• The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffeneger
• Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
• Wicked, Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire
• Memiors of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
• Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
• The Namesake - Jhumpra Lahiri
• Brick Lane - Monica Ali
• Song of the Cuckoo Bird - Amulya Malladi
• The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
• The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough
• The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett
• The Glass House: A Memior - Jeannette Walls
• Old School - Tobias Wolff
• The Secret History - Donna Tartt
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, & Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde

I, of course, have an enormous stack of books to read in Hawaii, which I'll report on when I get back home.

the roof is on fire

As though the recent fires in Tahoe and Palo Alto and the terrorist attacks in London aren't bad enough, The Simple Way Community Center in Philadephia (home of Shane Claiborne's ministry) was destroyed in a major fire earlier last week as well. They're slowly rebuilding with the help of the communtiy as well as the eight families whose homes were also destroyed in the fire, but a lot of damage was done and a lot of loss occured.

You can donate to the Rebuilding Fund and the Kensington Families Fun here, but your prayers will do just as much good. The Simple Way is an incredible ministry doing unbelievable work in downtown Philadephia with the mission "To love God. To love people. To follow Jesus". Already, in the midst of rebuilding their homes, they have convinced the city to transform part of the H Street Lot (where the fire originated in an abandoned warehouse) into open space for a much needed park and recreation space.

If you're unfamiliar with Shane and his work at The Simple Way, check out his book The Irresistable Revolution. It will probably change your life.

on my list

A summer reading list is forthcoming (before Hawaii, I promise), but for now, here are some blogs that I especially enjoy:

• Back of the Cereal Box
• baby daddy / The Reflective Teacher
• The Pensieve
• The Bad Baby Names Blog
• Huff English
• Engaged and Underage (the blog might even be better than the show!)
• Beyond Hogwarts
• Paperclipppy
• Lifehacker
• Magnificent Monotony
• The Cake Blog

somehow here again

Daniel leaves for Japan tomorrow.

I'm experiencing some serious déjà vu here. I swear, hasn't this happened before? Hopefully this one will come back...

nothing but a summer jam

Well, it's officially summertime. I know this because my dad has been doing a lot of grilling and I've been doing a lot of... nothing! Finally!

My little summer school class is just awesome. I have about 12 kids and we have been reading books and doing art projects and telling riddles and just having a super time every morning. I've been working a few 4-hour shifts for my dad as well (our business has boomed ever since we recieved the Tall Tree award for Outstanding Business not too long ago), but overall it's just nice to relax, lay out by the pool, read some good books, and not worry about much of anything aside from packing for Hawaii in three weeks (I'm already dreaming of Mai Tais and fresh pineapple, believe me).

I cruised up to Davis yesterday for a meeting with WJUSD to finish up some paperwork and get all of my health insurance stuff figured out. I also swung by WHS to pick up my books for next year. I'm teaching 2 periods of English 9, 1 period of Senior Literature & Composition, and a 2 hour ELD block. I'm super excited about Senior English, which focuses on British and World Lit. The anthology is awesome and includes excerpts from Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, the Decameron, tons of great poetry, and a lot of really great Holocaust material too. I can't wait to start planning!

But right now, it's dinnertime. I've missed my mom's cooking.

to take me away

I walked out the front doors of Hiram Johnson High School for the very last time today. I might not be exaggerating when I say I did a little dance as I got into my car.

Because I won't be in class on Thursday to give students their final grades, I emailed the student from the previous post to let him know about his final grade and tell him how proud I was of him. Today, I got this in response:

You just made my day. I'm glad i was able to have the chance to be your student for the second semester and I have not problem at all keeping in touch i think that is a wonderful idea. Maybe i'll send you some of my 10th grade english work i complete next year and you can let me know wat you think. Well Ms. Garcia its been a honor.

Awesome.

I graduate tomorrow and will probably take a little blogging break as I move back home and start my new teaching gig. Here's to summer (finally)!!

impossible things are happening everyday

Things are really winding down now! Tonight we had an English cohort party at Val's place and I'm giving my last final tomorrow morning. Then... graduation! I can't believe I'm actually done.

I have such incredible news I just can't contain myself. I have one student in my English 9 class who I have just totally fallen in love with. If you remember, he is the one who did very poorly last semester, but got really into Romeo & Juliet back in February. He's been hovering just below a D- all semester and I've really been encouraging him to get his work done and study hard for the final. Well, he completed an incredible project when we finished reading the Odyssey and got a 90% on his final today, bringing his grade in my class up to a C-. I'm so proud of him and just feel so... fulfilled, I guess is the best word to describe it. Like, I made a difference. A real difference. That's awesome.

what i got

I'm stoked to see that my boy Kelley Jimenez is doing well, coming out with a new album, and generally making awesome music all over Southern Cali.

I'm even more stoked to see that he's still playing "Save Tonight" at almost every single show, the very first song we ever performed together way back in the day during our junior year at St. Francis in the Little Theater, of all places. It served us well then and I'm pleased to see it's still doing it's job.

Man, that's such a good song.




Edit: And what do you know, I actually still have the original recording here (with the incomparable Greg VanBuskirk on drums, of course). Whoah.