Siddhartha

Siddhartha listened. He was now listening intently, completely absorbed, quite empty, taking in everything. He felt that he had now completely learned the art of listening. He had often heard all this before, all these numerous voices in the river, but today they sounded different. He could no longer distinguish the different voices-the merry voice from the weeping voice, the childish voice from the manly voice. They all belonged to each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the wise, the cry of indignation and the groan of dying. They were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand ways. And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life. When Siddhartha listened attentively to this river, to this song of a thousand voices; when he did not listen to the sorrow or laughter, when he did not bind his soul to any one particular voice and absorb it in his Self, but heard them all, the whole, the unity; then the great song of a thousand voices consisted of one word: Om-perfection.

(Siddhartha, Herman Hesse)

Rules For Teachers 1872

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean Chimneys.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's session.

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Music in the classroom

I got a beautiful new smartboard in my classroom a few weeks back, and it has completely revolutionized my school day. Not only can I now show awesome videos, newspaper clips, and other awesome multimedia resources to enhance student learning, but, it has made MUSIC an integral part of our day, which make me and all my kids much calmer and happier.

With pandora stations pre-created for different moods, the kids start the day with the Miles Davis station, and quietly shuffle in, eat breakfast, put their things away, and copy down their homework. During independent reading, I go with some Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, or Ani Difranco. During focusing sessions, Chopin is a favorite. And, depending on my moods, sometimes I'll throw in some Keller Williams, afro-funk or thievery corporation. Lisa Hannigan has been this week's addition.

Today, during silent reading time, after I had turned on the music, J.U came up to me and said, "Ms. Sadek? Can you play Tracy Chapman's "talking bout a revolution? I'm reading an Obama book and I think it would get me into it." This made my heart swell just a little.

Not only is the class calmer and happier, but they are connecting their music to their reading in unexpected ways. I mean, who doesn't want music integrated into their everyday lives?

Finding the Hilarity

I've noticed that my blogs have become...lazy. My favorite type of blog post to write is when I attempt to capture awkward life moments because, let's face it, we all know these situations happen to me more often than the norm.

I did a little reading of my blog over the years and the dwindling of quality entries about ridiculous situations became quite apparent. Perhaps I stopped finding the hilarity in life in the same way I used to? Truth be told, I'm pretty sure I lost the ability to laugh at the absurdity of it all during the soul-sucking year of 2008, but, now that my life is not falling apart and my soul has been conveniently returned in near tip-top shape, I'm pretty sure that is no longer the problem. I have miraculously returned to finding moments of hilarity, insanity, and ridiculousness in my everyday life.

I'm just not writing about it.

Maybe I'm just being lazy. Maybe the amount of ridiculous incidents in and out of the classroom are just too many to capture via blog. ¿Quién sabe?

Regardless, capturing these moments needs to happen, so that I can refer back to them and chuckle at myself all over again.

Oh, Guerilla Theatre

This makes my life.

Skinny Jeans

As the year has progressed, the jeans in my classroom on my tween girls have gotten tighter and tighter, and less and less appropriate. They can't sit on the rug because their booties hang out, and their shirts are to short to cover potentially exposed arenas.


So today, I busted out some blunt one on one convos about the appropriateness of 5th grade clothing with a handful of my students. The conversations went something like this:

So, I've become really worried about the way some of you girls are dressing in school. Skinny jeans are not appropriate clothing for a 5th grader, especially in school. You are all starting to grow up and it's not appropriate or safe to attract attention to yourself by dressing the way you do. You can't even sit on the rug because your jeans hang so low! I'm hoping you decide to stop dressing like this outside of school too, but whenever you're anywhere around me, I want you dressing differently from now on. And yes, that means I'll call you out if I run into you dressed like this on the weekends. And yes, I'll continue to call you out for dressing like this until you're 18.

Each girl flashed me a variation of incredulous looks at the start of the convo, But, as my speech progressed, they slowly reverted back to their innocent, child-like selves, nodded their embarrassed heads in understanding, and vowed to the end of skinny jeans in my classroom.

Good riddance.

At a Loss

As an elementary school teacher, I am the single adult responsible for 24 children for the majority of their day. In that, I have the responsibility for reporting alarming behavior that may warrant further intervention.

When a child displays alarming behavior that causes a teacher to seek further intervention, you expect that the child will then get the services they need and deserve. In higher income school districts, that would happen. But, in a lower-income school, what happens when the child's insurance doesn't cover the services that the current situation requires? If all the red flags and warning signs are there, it is all clearly documented, but the child cannot receive the necessary interventions, what happens? Are there no emergency intervention resources available to these students?

It seems like nobody knows the answer, or there simply isn't an answer. All we're left with, then,is a really large, frightening flaw in the services available to these students.

This is exactly how scary situations happen in schools, and only after they happen, people ask: Why didn't anyone stop this? All the warning signs were there!

Strong

That's how I'm feeling.
It's pretty groovy.

To de-stress...

I like to cook meals that look pretty. This is:

1. Lentils with zucchini, squash, yellow and red peppers
2. Tilapia with curry spice, tomatoes, spinach, and portabella mushrooms.
3. Asparagus.

Almost makes up for nearly getting run over by a car today. Oh, and the shingles.

Today's Realization:

I need to slow the F*** down.

Thank Yous

So 3 doctors, 3 different antibiotic prescription, 1 anti-inflammatory prescription, and 2 very large percocets later...my ear is still a large red balloon and I can't really turn my neck because my glands are so swollen.

But, I am very grateful to friends accompanying me to the ER at very inconvenient hours, co-workers covering my class so that I could catch a last-minute doctors appointment, and the constant flow of phone calls from my wonderful colleagues and friends at PS/MS 161.

Now, here's hoping my ear deflates!

My favorite thing of all time

Is when spring creeps upon us.

Cooking Skillz

So I'm really proud of myself right now. Usually...okay all the time, I cook pasta. I'm pretty good at varying up pasta sauces, but that's pretty much it.

But, lately my roommate and I have been pushing our cooking boundaries. Lentils, fava beans, eggplant, etc.

Well, this is my newest creation, and probably the best meal I've ever cooked (which may not be saying much, but honestly it was pretty awesome).

Eggplant, ground beef, fresh mozzarella, spinach, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, olives, spices...soooo good.

And doesn't it look pretty?

Comin' Home

New York to Madison

Thursday April 9th
Depart 9:05 am
Arrive 10:58 am


Madison to New York

Friday April 17th
Depart 11:40 am
Arrive 3:00 pm

It's my birthday...week!

I'm mentally preparing for this weekend.

Birthday love from my kids

My kids are orchestrating and extravagant birthday celebration for me tomorrow. They've made decorations, assigned the class food to bring, and talked to my principal about calling me in for a "meeting" so that they can set up. Clearly, they're not so subtle about their little plans, but I humor them.

So, I just got a call from one of my kiddies saying:

F: Miss Sadek...?
Me: Hi F.
F: Ms. Sadek I just wanted to tell you I'm going to be a littttttle late tomorrow.
Me: Why are you going to be late?
F: Well the place we ordered the cake from doesn't open until 7:30.
Me: (crack a smile) You didn't have to get me a cake F_, but thank you. I'll see you tomorrow.
click
Click.

I kind of love them.
When did that happen?

Una Pregunta

My girls come upstairs to have lunch with me today, just because they felt like hanging out. I was amused so I let them hang out. We sat around the round table as they fought for their turn to talk and tell me stories of boys, clothes, and hobos. But, the most surprising part of the conversation went something like this:

N: Ms. Sadek I have a question

Me: Ya?

N: (hesitates) Do you go to the gym so that you can watch boys with their shirts off?

Me: WHAT?

Other girls: (Fits of laughter)

N: No, I mean one time, my mom made me go to the gym and there was this guy that was sweaty and gross but then he took his shirt off and he looked good.

Me: No, N. I do not go to the gym to watch boys take their shirts off.

Today, I got hit on by a puppet

The 40 year old, large, balding gym teacher was walking around with a firefighter puppet on his hand today. Don't ask me why. I have no answers.

As I was walking my children up the stairs, the gym teacher and his puppet proceed to wave at my children. I awkwardly walk past him and the puppet, ready to go up the next flight of stairs, when the little firefighter puppet on the balding man's hand looked me up and down and said, "Mr. ____, who is that?"

The balding large man responded to his firefighter puppet, "That's Ms. Sadék, she's a new teacher at our school." The kids giggled. I was mortified, and of course, extremely awkward.

The puppet responded, "Oooh! Do you like firemen Ms. Sadék?" The bald fat man flashed creepy smile. Giggle giggle giggle, went the fifth graders as they watched their teacher melt into the ground. "Eeeer no?" I finally spat out. I quickly mumbled a goodbye and my giggling kids and I proceeded back to our classroom.

I never thought I'd say this, but today, I'm pretty sure I got hit on by a puppet.

Math Test Day 1

The end is near for standardized tests. Tomorrow is my last day of testing for this school year. My kids rocked it today. Hopefully they'll do just as well tomorrow.

Oh, and...I was the translator for the math test for my two Arabic speaking boys today. I saw the test for the first time at 8:45, administered the test for my 11 English Language Learning students, then tested the two boys separately and translated every question for them verbally from English to Arabic. That was a crazy experience.

Pinch Me

There's nothing quite like the feeling of being a first year teacher and waking up on Monday morning at 6:00 AM to a text that says: STAY HOME! NO SCHOOL!

I don't know if it's more exciting to have a snow day as a teacher or as a student. I'm going to go ahead and say it's more exciting as a teacher.

I love my life.