Teach For America
Yesterday was the Teach for American Alumni Induction, which marks the end of our two year teaching commitment. It was quite an emotional night, with slide shows and award presentations. Direct quote from one of my students about me:

Ms. Yang is nice because she reads books. She gives us candy from the grab bag. She is mean and funny.

And a new chapter opens, when I go to Houston this summer and also I will be the kindergarten Learning Team Leader as well. So it's more of a leadership role. Anyway, the end of the school year is here, the planning/cleaning is almost done and then I will be off to Maryland for a few days then off to Houston for a few weeks, then back in Atlanta for just one more year.

Graduation Day

Tomorrow is the kindergarten graduation. When I think of all the work we've done this year, all the wonderful things our class has accomplished, I get quite weepy. These kids were so wonderful and fun and awesome to work with, they're really the teacher's dream. It makes me thing, wow, I'm so glad I did this or else I would never have met these kids and changed their lives and changed my life! This whole experience was pretty awesome, even the first year which was god-awful. Soon to post--pictures of graduation, and maybe even a short (soundless) movie of the kids performing! sniffle sniffle, I get sad just thinking about it!

News, Exciting News Here!

So many exciting things to share, dear readers. I have received a copy of The Crimson Petal and The White, a quite interesting book you should check out if you're interested in late 19th century prostitutes or if you were a fan of Manor House, this is a relevant read.

In more exciting news I bought a game cube, so I can play the new Legends of Zelda game on it. Yes I am a big fat loser, OK, I understand this now lemme alone so I can work the buttons right... Well it hasn't actually gotten here yet. I bought it on Amazon and you'll know when I've received it by another long absence.

And if you are a faithful reader you may know that long long ago I applied for a job to work as a corps member advisor at the Houston Institute for Teach for America. I did not, sadly, receive the position and so I put it out of my mind and decided to work on planning for the summer. Lo and behold, someone dropped out and who will it be to come to the rescue, none but your stupendous heroine herself, namely, me. So I will be in Houston all summer hopefully not too busy to continue to entertain with stories such as the one I am about to tell:

Kindergarten is at an end and we are busily preparing for our graduation this Thursday. Each teacher shall prepare her or his class with a poem and a song to be recited before the diplomas and awards are handed out. Our class' poem is quite cute, it goes like this:

Now I know my ABC's, colors shapes and days.
I sang some songs, learned some poems, rhymes and fingerplays.
I played outside on sunny days and inside when it rained.
My little hands and feet were busy every day.
My teacher was Ms. Yang, I kept her on her toes.
She tied my shoes, combed my hair and even wiped my nose.
But now it's time to say goodbye to all my kindergarten friends.
School is over, summer's here, but learning never ends!

Ah, but cruel and cunning Ms. SAT is back in the picture folks. It has been confirmed she is not returning next year, so we all assumed she is out of the picture. But her merciless ways never cease to amaze me. Her class has not really practiced at all for the long and complicated graduation ceremony as attested when we practice together in the afternoons. Up until last week her class had barely memorized their poem or song, much less the ones we recited as a group. One day I went to use the phone in the office next to her class to call a parent; wasn't I surprised to hear her class reciting their poem, just as usual, but with a new addition that goes: Ms. Williams was my teacher, she tried her very best, and so on and so on. The nerve! The sheer audacity!! Isn't it bad enough she created all of the "student" work displayed in her room? Isn't it bad enough that her children cannot recognize numbers past ten? Isn't it awful enough that she steals supplies, portfolios, even observations from fellow teachers from which to plagiarize? Oh the humanity! I fear that too many stories like this one seep out however, while the good ones remain quietly, uninterestingly abandoned in the corner.

Which is why I'm proud to announce that my OTHER fellow kindergarten teacher Ms. EEL (extremely efficient lead teacher with the acronymicly-unfortunate pseudonym) has just won the Master Teacher Award for our school and our School won the Trailblazer Award out of half the schools in Atlanta. So go us!

What have I been doing?

I adopted another cat, who came up to the door and said, can I be your cat please? and we said, Yes! And we named her Esme and she is a cutie.

School is almost over, only two more weeks to go, and while I'm very very sad because I love my babies this year, I'm also very very happy to have a break!

Speaking of which, I slept in when someone (we won't name names) did not set the alarm and was very late for school Thursday. The same unnamed someone left the television blaring so I did not hear the numerous phone calls from the school to reach me and in fact I only woke up thanks to sunlight streaming in. That same school day we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which was nice, however, it was quite HOT and quite TIRING for the poor babies, not to mention me :P

The next week will be INSANE with meetings and concerts and dinners and brunches.

I read The Dive From Clausen's Pier which I will speak more on later. I need something else to read now...hmm, what could it be? Any suggestions?

Also to those of you who are being transplanted to DC, check out Cakelove on U Street; it's bound to make your transition sweet, or at least provide a treat to reward for the hell that is moving! Banana Legs Crunchy Feet sound too good to be true. I'm going to have to head over there myself.

shows chris is obsessed with and which i enjoy also

pete and pete--we get digital cable and reruns of pete and pete every day at least twice a day come on noggin, which also airs daria and clarissa explains it all
family guy/futurama--yay to animation that pushes the boundaries of all decency and pulls me back from the cloying normality shield that is kindergarten.

king of the hill--i never thought a show by the guy who created beavis and butthead could be remotely entertaining--especially a show about four conservative dumbass "rednecks." it's super funny.

on a side note, i like to take tea breaks in the afternoon and have been eating tuna chipotle dip from whole foods on crackers. i highly recommend it.