Pain demands to be felt

I can't believe I haven't made a TFIOS reference AT ALL in this blog. What's wrong with me?!

Though I suppose TECHNICALLY the title is a nod to An Imperial Affliction and NOT The Fault in Our Stars buuuuuuuuuuuuut..... details.

If you have not read The Fault in Our Stars yet,

No I'm kidding COMMMEE BAACKKK  (for the three people that actually read this blog)

I realize I've used this gif before but she's appropriate in a lot of different situations.

ANYWAY......

On to the actual blogstpost. blogpost? post? blog? blogst?

Also writing blogs over a few days' time, isn't helpful in sticking to one subject per post.  Though at the start of this post I had just watched The Fault in Our Stars for the second time since I'm now able to download everything again without getting my mother put on the WANTED criminals list. (ask myself or her for THAT story)

This weekened.

FRIDAY NIGHT: came home from school, conked out for 3 hours, downloaded TFIOS and ate cookies for dinner.

SATURDAY: Awoke, watched some GOT, skyped 2 people, graded some journals and projects, went out to get dinner and then laid around until getting out at night for a VERY full celebration of a teachers' birthday.

Me, Jaime, Brittney, Jess the bday girl, Abby, Morgan

Some friends standing outside our second stop of the night

SUNDAY: woke up completely exhausted and hurting from the night before.

A pretty accurate picture of me every morning as I wake up.

Then another Skype session with a recently engaged friend! And cleaning of the apartment! And going to the grocery store with the 6 million other people that live in Yantai and their closest friends. Then I made enchiladas for a Mexican night as continuation of birthday weekend.

Ok well that was probably a pretty boring play-by-play of my weekend. Sorry for those of you that don't particularly care. #sorrynotsorry

Now onto the actual Thoughts from My Head:  Pain demands to be felt.  Everyone feels pain. Everyone expresses it in different ways.  Some people don't know how to express it.  Many times I have expressed pain on this blog.  And through gifs.

 I also enjoy crying to express pain. In the first grade, I was a crybaby and cried everyday when I dropped a pencil on the floor or when another child talked to me.  Because I was socially inept. Then my second grade teacher, Ms. Shaff, basically taught me how to get in control of my emotions since she was a wipe-your-face-get-a-drink-stop-crying-and-sit-down woman which is what I needed.  The pain of having no friends demanded to be felt.

My students feel pain and they think that no one notices. That I don't notice.  Many times they subconsciously try to hid since this is a very private-keep-yourself-to-yourself culture.  So many times I follow the rule I've heard that Disney Princess actresses follow: When you hug a child, never be the first to let go; you never know how long they need it.  Now obviously, there are precautions and limits one has to set, especially being a school teacher and keeping a student-teacher line in place, but with all honestly, the Lord only knows what my students go home to. Academies? ayis? no dad at home? no mom at home? Family dinner? Youth group?  This is not to say I don't know my students because I do but only at a school level.  We as teachers never really know what happens to our students at home that affect their life at school.  We don't know what happens to our coworkers or friends or even people we see on the street on a daily basis.  Though I don't know how good I am telling this to other people, I always tell my students they can come talk to me even if it's about my class, other school, friends, stuff at home.  Many kids are too scared to approach anyone, much less a teacher, to talk to them about things but sometimes all they need is an invitation.

 "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." -Atticus Finch

(Yet another shout-out to the wonderful Miller of teaching this book in the ninth grade)

Hurrah for the PIRATE KING!

In the experimental class of Middle School Exploratory Music, we are currently learning about and studying the topic of musical theatre.  I was actually really surprised because the kids chose this as a topic they wanted to learn about which was fine with me since I am actually an expert on the modern musical. (HA)

Anyway, today we were learning about the early forms of musical theatre which include the comic opera/operetta.  A fine example of this is Pirates of the Penzance.  For those unfamiliar the entire production it's basically people parading around making fun of serious opera singers and acting like swashbuckling fools.  Think Mel Brooks style parody with a pirate theme except written in the 1880s by the genius of Gilbert and Sullivan.  Personally I didn't really learn to appreciate the humor until later but these kids were cracking up over the Pirate King singing and proclaiming his manliness to Frederic and the crew.

Other hopeful showings will include West Side Story and perhaps Les Miserables because education, duh.  Music is not all kpop and Gagnam style and alternative sound.

Also I have discovered that teaching middle school is actually a lot of fun because most of the time, they are still pretty active and participate and plus you can treat them like secondary students.  The only thing is, they still have only the attention span of a kindergartner and you have to literally spell out and spoon food any and all information to them.

 Granted, this is in the culture of where students have been taught to memorize and regurgitate rather than think or come up with their own ideas so critical thinking is something that has to be taught.

I got caught up on some grading and attendance updates tonight, so that's good.

There's a blog I read periodically, Single Dad Laughing, that has Free-Write Mondays where all he does is just start typing and not edit his entry at all.

I don't like writing formal lesson plans.  I can't stand students who don't try (though I was always that kid in school where if something was too hard, I just would stop until someone held my hand through the whole thing).  Parents who complain about homework being too hard or who think we should treat their child special are...a bit... NOT SPECIAL!!!

Ok that's it...I need to get some pictures up or something.  For now I'm just writing.

Are you new here?

I have some really good gifs that I want to use in upcoming blogsts including a Big Bang Theory and Sherlock one but I don't know if they'll fit the mood of this one.

Ok so I've been running around like a mad woman ever since I got back in Yantai.  There were a few struggles and setbacks at the beginning that I quickly got over and now am starting to get into a routine.

The beginning of my second year of teaching is VASTLY different from first year. (obviously)  I know most of the students now and they know me.  I now have a middle school music class and high school music class.  I'm definitely taking those in some different directions than years past.  Some new students know very, VERY little English and sometimes I wonder if anything I'm saying is getting through to them.  New teachers are wading through the muck of learning names, learning personalities, learning about living in China, and learning to teach.  I've gotten the pleasure of seeing how many things stuck over the summer with the kids that I taught last year. And then I have my new 4th grader Oliver, brand new to YAS, who already knows all the names of the notes/rests/staff in ENGLISH and my middle/high school kids who I have taught for a year can't remember what a treble clef is.

Makes ya wanna SHAKE a chil'!!!

I have a few new kindy students.  One is Martin, who is little red-haired Emilie's brother.  He is a bundle of energy.  With hair as red as his sisters'.  One day he wouldn't sit still or listen at all so teachery-Ms. McClure came out.  He became very sullen and serene and in a pouty voice said, "I only speak a little bit English."  Then there is Clara who I'm still not sure actually knows her name yet, and Christina and Sean who's speaking voices I have yet to hear but who will sing to their new friend Rocky Raccoon.

Rachmaninoff aka ROCKY

Kindys are able to suspend the disbelief of Rocky as are first graders (most of the time). Second graders struggle to just have fun with Rocky and point out every thirty seconds they know it's my hand moving around.  THANKS A LOT FOR RUINING IT KID!!
I have only 5 girls in my high school music class but they listen and participate and can sing on pitch. I can already tell we're going to have some good times together as the girls are all very different and in a variety of friend circles but come and sing together everyday.

Friday was a game night for the secondary students.  I know I had fun.  My legs can still feel the repercussions and aches of running back and forth in Shipwrecked and picking up a fellow teacher every thirty seconds in Coconuts and Palm Trees. I think the kids enjoyed Amoeba, or the box game, a wonderful little game I learned my senior year of high school at Fall Retreat.  By the end of the evening, even the high school boys' eyes were drooping.

Saturday, I spent 3 hours talking a to and catching up with a friend from university.  Interesting to see how many things have changed for us over the year and a half since graduation.

Then Sunday, was grocery shopping day and lesson planning day where my roommate, Jaime, and I spent roughly eight hours planning. And by planning I mean played around on facebook for two hours, wasted time ordering honey bread and coffee, wechatted some people, then finally got around to actual planning and writing down notes.

I feel like there's a lot more to tell but for now that'll be good.

"Hey! THIS looks good!"

I have honestly felt like Cory the last few days of school seeing some students.  I mean, I understand making a statement now that we have uniforms set in place and I KNOW I am certainly not the best dressed or a fashion expert in any sense but please, looking in a mirror will do wonders for one's dignity.

I will write a blogst later of more adventures of the whole first week back.