A fifth grader called you a what?

Ok, I thought I had the best job in the world, and then a fifth grader called me a “bitch”. Maybe he missed the memo, but my job is to ensure recess is fun and safe. That’s the opposite of a bitch. I’m like the literal interpretation of the fun police. (Side note, when I have to tell residents at the dorm to be quiet or I have to break up a party, they often make snotty comments like, “What are you, like the Fun Police?” This always confuses me because if I were in fact the Fun Police, wouldn’t I be mandating fun? Forcing it upon them? Stupid college freshmen…). Anyway, how did this fifth grader misunderstand? Ugh. Perhaps organizing games isn’t going to be as easy as I thought. This particular school doesn’t have the funds for Physical Education so these recess games are the student’s first taste of team centered, organize sports. I think we (the volunteers and me) have to really consider that we are in essence teaching Physical Education. I am truly understanding the meaning of socialized cooperative play.

Strappy sandals or pointy slingbacks?

Ugh, after being woken up twice at 4 in the morning (I swear, the kid across from me must be one popular frat kid….he has visitors at all sorts of hours), I slid out of bed and into the shower at 7 AM. I looked over my lesson plans on my way to the Nationalities Services Center. I grabbed an overly priced skinny, vanilla late and got to class a little before 9 AM. Using handpicked props from my wardrobe, we practiced using the singular and plural modifiers “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those”. “Shall I wear these strappy sandals or those pointy slingbacks?” Truly mind blowing.

At about 12 noon, I scrambled to meet my volunteers at second lunch for recess support. Here, I headed up a game of kickball. Man, is it hard to play kickball without pinnies! I cannot keep track of which kid is on what team and there is a solid group of five or six kids who seem to always be in the kicking line-up and never in the outfield.

After breaking up a fight between two fourth graders where I did endure one surprising hard punch in the stomach, I hopped on a bus to head to another elementary school. Twice a week, I mentor a sixth grade ESOL student. Lucy is amazing. I really enjoy working with her one-on-one. I coordinate mentoring placements for my 26 undergrads so being able to mentor too and establish a relationship that encourages academics as well as emotional support is really important to me. We worked on her project on African geography and climates.

I swung by the cafeteria on my way to the trolley and scarfed down a barely edible station served falafel. The trolley dropped me off right in front of the Graduate School of Education just in time for my 3 PM class. I love Dr. Rymes. I’m not sure if it’s wise to declare my love for a professor on my public blog, but Betsy Rymes embodies all that is right in Teacher Education. She teaches EDUC 517 Classroom Discourse which studies how teachers frame opportunities (or fail to frame opportunities) for student participation.

After class, I hit the library to get some reading done before my house meeting.
About every two weeks, all of the Residential Advisors and Graduate Associates get together for dinner to discuss house activities. I love these meetings because there are some RAs/GAs that I NEVER see despite living fifteen feet from them. Living with people from all of the twelve schools (well, actually, I don’t live with medical, dental, or veterinary students) that comprise the University of Pennsylvania, connects me to campus in a way simply attending classes never could. They are such creative and socially inviting individuals. I am very blessed. Plus, since we are RAs/GAs, there is never a shortage of freshly baked cookies.

I finally headed back to my room around 9 PM to finish some reading. This of course was interrupted numerous times by my loving, yet completely self-involved freshmen who need guidance on all sorts of important topics such as, “Should I wear these strappy sandals or those point slingbacks?" And it all came full circle.

Best New Job EVER

There is totally something to be said for reading those GSE wide email newsletters because I just got the best new job on the face of the planet. So I am working on a joint grant project between the department of public health and GSE to study/implement socialized recess in urban, underfunded Philadelphia elementary schools. Basically, the program uses volunteers to organize cooperative play through sports and games during recess time to increase physical activity and reduce fight related injuries. The schools involved in this project typically have two or three aids per 120 students therefore there is little opportunity to organize a game. Generally the aids aren’t paid very well and they have to spend most of their time surveying the crowded lunchroom room or play yard rather than engaging with the students. This program hopes to provide the support needed in order to make recess and lunch an enjoyable, productive, and healthy experience.

So basically, I will be working with incredible leaders in child development to develop positive behavior incentives, and brilliant public health officials who hope to evaluate student experience, while my job will be to play with the students. I am getting paid to go to recess. It is the best job in the world! Who doesn’t want to play dodgeball and kickball and mash?

They merely freshmen....

My freshmen are going a little nuts. Rush week just ended and now some of them are pledging. As the coordinator of a residential community service program, part of my job is to encourage/maintain their commitment to the elementary school where they tutor. This encouragement usually comes in the form of study breaks and other hall events, basically any situation with baked goods and company. I haven’t had anyone become delinquent in their commitment to the program, which has less to do with any event and more to do with the quality of people in the program. But now(!), I am fighting for my life in a battle against the GREEKS.

The Greeks are wooing them with shiny gifts and trendy hipster parties. They come armed with the fake small talk from upper classman and the glitzy networking opportunities. How can I compete? I’m ninety-nine percent positive that I can’t offer them the same caliber (or any caliber) of alcoholic beverages or themed exotic dancers. There aren’t enough brownies in the world to make me cooler than the Greeks.

It’s hard being a freshman at a big university like the University of Pennsylvania. Most of my adorably brilliant and charming residents are coming from the top of their game in their respective hometowns. They are used to be student leaders, la crème de la crème, but now found themselves struggling to find identity among a slew of equally talented co-eds. This complex struggle is fueled by the regular garden-variety of 18 year old hormones.

In short, they are under some serious stress. And now, on top of competitive academics and all of their other clubs on campus, they are forced to buddy up and perform for a group of upperclassman. I have residents that are only allowed to wear a certain color, every day for the next 3 weeks. I have residents that have dressed up in random animal costumes and had to parade around campus. I was even mooned by three of my boys as some sort of pledge dare.

Anyway, as busy and exciting as my life is, I come home to a group of equally busy, albeit with bizarre, and self-inflicted, tasks pressurized undergrads. I’m fortunate to have my freshman posse to complain to, and stress-eat with. Tonight, I dined with five of them, who for some reason had to wear colored feather boas and tiaras, at our favorite guilty eating joint, good ole Taco Bell. And despite the cholesterol, saturated fat, and sodium, I feel better that I ate it with them.

From 2nd Grade to Adults: a new semester

So much has changed this semester; I hardly know where to begin. First of all, I have a new teaching site. I am a volunteer instructor at a nonprofit that supports immigrants and refugees in Philadelphia. This is my first experience teaching English as a second or other language to adults and so far I am loving it! The center is amazing. It provides social, educational and legal support to over 4,000 immigrants in the Philadelphia area. I am instantly inspired and energized when I walk in the building. There are so many people walking around speaking all sorts of languages interacting with instructors, lawyers, social workers or other students. There’s always a food, clothing or furniture drive going on so the goods are constantly coming in and out of the building. There is just such a sense of community, responsibility and synergy. I’m co-teaching with three other teachers. Two are from Taiwan and the other is from China. They are amazing! Since English is their second language, they have an invaluable perspective on how to teach it. I am so lucky to work with such talented teachers.

Teacher Voice, A Linguistic Register

It’s inevitable. Sometimes my teacher voice slips into conversation with regular adults and sometimes they get offended. Like asking someone, “do you really think that’s a good idea?” or saying, “I need you to use your words,” doesn’t always elicit a positive response. In fact, saying “use your words” to a disgruntled adult may invite them to use their fists….

Anyway, I am lucky. Usually when my teacher voice slips into conversation it’s directed towards some rowdy freshman on my floor. For instance, on Thursday of last week, I went to bed at 11:30 PM; a respectable time for adults but just plain unheard of in a freshman dorm. I woke up at 1 AM to some frat boy yelling, “Stuart” (the name of one of my residents) repeatedly. I laid there for a couple of seconds hoping that Frat Kid would realize that he was being an UN-neighborly jerk and stop yelling but unfortunately, he didn’t.

So, I stumbled out of bed to confront Frat Kid. My hair was a mess. My voice was all sounding like sleep. And I was wearing boxers that said, “I partied my BUTT off at Rachel’s Bat Mitzvah”. I was in no condition to be communicating. I opened the door and said, “You need to SHUT your mouth.”

Unfortunately for Frat Kid, he failed to realize I am the Grad Associate for the floor. So, he flipped me off. I was STEAMING. I mean, I understand that maybe I shouldn’t have taken that tone, at least without identifying myself as a person of authority, but still. He was being an A-hole. My immediate inclination to was say, “Well it looks like I’ll be calling mom.” THANKFULLY, I stopped myself. Instead, I said, “Ok, great, I’m going to need your Penn Card,” which I need in order to file a report. Frat Kid looked embarrassed, probably not because he was remorseful in anyway, but because he looked like a schmuck in front of his friends.

Maybe I needed the teacher voice after all.

My Language vs My Students' Language

Ok, let's say I want to teach English is Thailand. Is it important for me to speak Thai? Would it make me a better teacher? When I studied French, my teacher was French, but she was also proficient in English. A lot of countries recruit native English speakers to teach. Some countries do not require language proficiency in the country's official language and some do not even require prior teaching experience or training! The fact that one is a native English speaker is qualification enough. How effective could I be, as a teacher, in Thailand without being able to understand my student in their native language? Must teachers be bilingual in order to teach English as a foreign, second or other language?

On the flip side, do native English speakers make better English teachers than non-native, but highly proficient English speakers? Non-native yet highly proficient English speakers had to learn English as a foreign, second or other language therefore one could argue that they understand the structure and organization of English better than a native speaker could. Of course, English is a particularly complex language full of homonyms, grammatical exceptions, idioms, etc. Is it possible to achieve native-like proficiency as a non-native English speaker?

As I think about where I want to teach next year, I cannot help but think about the language barriers between me and my future students. If I am interested in teaching abroad, should I only look at countries that I have at least some degree of proficiency in their language? If I choose to stay in the states and work in a K through 12 setting, should the language of the local populous immigrant groups play a factor in my decision?