Like...What is Like...College or Whatever?

I am intrigued about why college recruiters don't explain college lingo to students they entice to further their education. Seemingly, the simple search for the right college can be hard if you don't know college jargon. What's room and board? What are credit hours? They expect that college has a flat rate for classes and meals for each student and that is not the case. I have to explain that like cars and credit cards, there are hidden fees. I really don't remember learning about college like kids do these days. It was more about leaving home than anything-freedom. Ofcourse as an educator, I should say that I was truly guided and founded in education at an early age. This is my blog and the truth is, I didn't really appreciate the information being presented to me until graduate school. Up until then, everything but choir class was just about getting by. Some classes were easier to get by in than others(English vs. Trig). As long as I could sing, life was good. I can imagine that some students may feel similar. I can dedicate myself to graduate school because I only have to take classes that feed my passion. College is like high school away from home to a certain extent. Students don't all realize that they will still have to take classes they care nothing about. Somebody better tell 'em, before they get there please.

Going to the Cornfield

Today may be far more interesting than Wednesday. For starters, I placed bug foggers in my basement and outdoor shed before leaving home today. However sick it may sound, I am eager to see dead spiders on the floors when I return. Why are basements, garages, and outdoor facilities so infested with spiders anyway. One fogging system had the audacity to say "...will not kill black widows and brown recluse." Uh okay, why not just advertise that your product doesn't work on "The Poisonous, Deadly Spiders?" I mean who wants to kill those anyway? Hello, animal poison-maker people! It's not the nonpoisonous insects I'm worried about! I just don't understand why they love these places. I know I'm not alone in this, but what do the people without these pests do to prevent them? I know...they gas the little boogers to death, as have I. Believe it or not, apart of me is actually saddened by the thought that theses creepy crawlers could have had some sort of family or community that I have now destroyed with toxic gases. Do they have gas masks and safe evacuation procedures like you see on bug cartoons i.e. Antz and A Bug's Life? Well, if not, I'll add them to my prayer list. For those of you who think these intruders should be protected by the All God's Creatures Clause, I apologize.
Anyway, I am currently awaiting entry into another sub job. Whoopie! This school is literally in the middle of a cornfield and I am only familiar with the dirt and coffee-colored lounge room tables. Where do scary movies occur people? In the woods, abandoned building, and dat-gum cornfields! I mean Cloverfield or Cornfield-they both sound scary to me. Nevertheless, I am and I am excited. Jumping about the country with my family offers me so many new experiences and great opportunities for written expression. It's time to go into the classroom so let's see how it goes...
The kids are great. I have no complaints. Get this, they don't have any complaints either. And what's the one thing the student is always supposed to say to the sub they've known for all of 2 seconds? "You should be our teacher." These are the decision -makers of the future ladies and gentlemen. They know nothing of what they are asking. I just laugh to myself and say, "That's not what my former students would tell you." Seriously, subbing is like keeping other people's kids. You keep them alive, admire how cute and well-behaved they are, and you send them home with their parents. No worries. I could actually grow to like this. I know----instead of Nanny 911, I could be like Teach 101! lololololololol

Subbing vs. Teaching

From Journal: September 29.2010
I'm a sub today. At one time I considered subbing to mean that I couldn't cut it as a real teacher. I thought it meant I was in limbo and was somehow inadequate as an educator. The substitutes I usually saw as a child were unstable and strange. I could even go so far as to say that some of them even smelled funny. Should I consider it a true test of my teaching ability-you know, showing just how versatile I can be?
Today is my first day back in the classroom since I left El Paso High last year, lingering at my classroom door like it was the final episode of Friends. What I find most interesting about my current substitute assignment is that it's ELL(English Language Learners).Ha!I left El Paso, where we complained about students not practicing speaking English enough, only to find myself subbing in an ELL classroom in Moline, IL. This only made me miss EL Paso even more than I already did. Is this a sign? Should I be an ELL teacher? Was I destined to be fluent en espanol (sorry no tilde)? Or are there simply more opportunities for me as a bilingual professional of any kind? "I'll take Bilingual Professional for $600 Alex."
Seemingly, there is much less stress associated with substitute teaching. When I teach, for example, I feel responsible for correcting issues of the past, directing the present, and preparing for the future. When I'm a sub, I simply need to survive that day. Once the final bell rings, the students' are someone else's past, present, and future. Who am I kidding? I wanna teach! What is it about walking into a classroom day after day that feels so rewarding? I can walk in proudly everyday, even after feeling defeated the day before. I return excited and ready for more. Hey America, you don't have to enlist in the Armed Forces to be a soldier! Teachers fight battles day after day-sometimes hour by hour, child by child, and skill by skill. Hoorah true educators! Hoorah!