I thought I wanted to go to The Go! Team concert, but I couldn't find anyone to go with and the tickets were sold out. I thought to myself "you know what this is going to big a big dance party, you love that stuff," so I tried to see what I could find on craigslist, which most of the tickets were double face value, but one guy said he would sell me a ticket or face value so I figured I'd go. "dancedancedancefunfun" was the was the way the concert was described to me by Kevin. For a better review that I can probably write see The Go! Team. I got there early and went around the corner to Whole Foods to get some eats, and I did, but I got ripped off, another reason why I hate Whole Foods. Great show, good opening acts including the Beatards, which from the looks of them I thought I might want to shoot myself, but their DJ threw down so good old school beats. When The Go! Team finally went on at 11:30, even though doors opened at 8, it was a kick ass show. The only mistake Kevin made was it was more like DANCEDANCEDANCEFUNFUN. I was front and center for the whole show and danced my pants off right in front of and along with Ninja. It was also great venue. The Bowery Ballroom which is owned by the same people from Terminal 5 really knows what their doing. I think this is the smallest of their venues and it is like a very old ballroom with a small balcony over the bar in the back and the stage up front. I'm not sure what my next show will be, but so far I'm 2 for 2 here, so it better be another good one
So I had every intention of blogging during the past 12 days or so, but I didn't. I have plenty to talk about and couldn't decide exactly what I wanted to write to I might just save some, especially the part about me being disappointed in Bilingual Ed. I'm sure that will continue after I get a job an everything.
Last week I headed to the M.I.A. show at Terminal 5. According to the bartender it had only been open 8 days or so. It's really a great venue. Three levels, a large, reasonably, priced bar on each level, a pit/floor on the bottom, lounge-type seating and standing room on the top two. I asked for a Tanqueray on the rocks before the show and the bartender started to pour me Bombay Sapphire, she caught herself halfway through the difficult order, but I didn't mind. Sayjal and i were on the top so we could sit down. The opening act, who I don't know was ok. The DJ had some great mixes/beats, but he shouldn't have sung, the girl was an amazing dancer, the second MC was garbage. Then M.I.A. came on, first of all she's beautiful and her outfit was great. The show was amazing! High energy, played all the songs the crowd wanted to hear, filled the stage with fans dancing with her, and kept the show going into the wee hours of the night. I had a great time and am definitely heading back to the venue, it was great!
I had a bunch of homework last weekend too, so I didn't do much exploring, but I hung out with Phoebe which was nice. I miss home a bit, but only because its familiar, but I know I would get as bored as I do hear sometimes, and I would probably just stay in rather then go for a walk or explore around like I do here.
Tonight I went to the Schoenberg Center this evening for a screening of James Brown: The Man, The Music & The Message which was great to see, especially just up the street from The Apollo, it made me wish I had made it out to the memorial early this year, but I'm glad I saw him last year. The best parts of the doc were the scenes about James' dancing, which was throughout the film, when Little Richard whipped his mullet back, and when James offered an explanation of the chase and his arrest in the late 80s. He said he was scared and took off, a bunch of cops came up to his truck and one emptied his gun on his tires and then reloaded, he took off because he knew that "if someone shoots at you that many times and doesn't kill you and then reloads you got to get out."
I'm heading to The Go! Team show tomorrow, and I'm excited, I imagine it as a larger dance party.
My last week of student teaching is this week and I have to buckle down and look for a job.
I'm getting a little sick, the 1 kiddo started coughing tuesday, by the afternoon there were 3, and by thursday it was like half the class, I avoided it pretty well until friday, but I'm trying to tackle it before it really gets me. Good news, I don't have TB, I don't know what but for some reason I got super paranoid that I had it, not that the test got bad or anything, I just got paranoid. Ok well I'm out.
I went to Atlantic City, my hopes were high, my losses minimal, in comparison to the past, and I left unsatisfied. Not enough free drinks, minimums that are far too high ($25!!!!). Luckily I found an $11 dollar table ($10 plus a mandatory $1 side bet), but when the pit boss said next boot was going to $15 I booked it.
I was yelled at on the train on the way back. I was waiting for the restroom and an elderly couple drinking budweiser and cuddling was nearby. The guy got up to go to the restroom and I told him someone was in there (a mistake I already made) and the woman yelled "excuse me!" from her seat, I looked at her, confused, and she yelled louder "I SAID EXCUSE ME!" I looked to another nearby passenger and shrugged, they went back to cuddling and drinking.
My Cooperating Teacher says "libary."
Someone peed in the hall last week, thankfully I didn't have to deal with it.
Today someone threw up, in the class, gross. I think she made herself the little brat, one girl spit into the trash, the other girl looked in the the trash can and then spewed, and missed the trash can.
In the interest of food, let me say this. I seem to have lost touch with grapes the past year or so, and today I rekindled a romance with them today, they are delicious. Do yourself a favor and have some delicious grapes.
I've found the important things in life now (in no particular order): a liquor store that carries Bushmills, a fine grocery store, a laundromat steps from my apt, a coffee place steps from my apt, a place with a decent burrito (though very little meat) around the corner, a place with pozole, and the fire escape to sip cocktails on. The view is quite nice:
School went well for my 1st week. I hate tattle-tails, but it reminded me of a good way my 2nd grade teacher dealt with them, the gripe box. There were no tattles, you had to write them down (good practice for writing), which discouraged some because most kids don't think their tattles are important enough to write down, and you don't have to deal with it till the end of the day. That's definitely going to be implemented in my class if I teach kids that young.
Some of the best things that happened were 1. helping the kid who is the farthest behind read a book and then seeing him run to the teacher and exclaim that he read me a book. And 2. Getting this note from a little girl about halfway through the week, you may notice there is even a little ponytail/bun on the stick figure, how cute is that?
This week I'm getting evaluated on a reading in front of the class. I had to come up with 2 Goals for the class I will have once I officially started. Our Fellow Adviser told us about it for a week, but of course I gave myself 2 hrs (oh time management skills), but she was quite happy with what I came up with. I just want to get my kids writing, it'll help them out in everything they do, so I said I would create a Hollywood Board (to incorporate where I'm from, CA) into the class and have the kids write reviews of movies, tv, and music. It was a little more in depth than that, of course, but thats the basic gist of it. Well this week is shortened with tomorrow off, which is nice, but I'm already 1/3 of the way through training which is kind of scary, 2/3 more and I should be a teacher in a classroom.
So today was my first day student teaching. This week, technically, I'm only supposed to be "observing" and that is mostly what I did today. I slacked in jumping right in and getting the 4th grade class, since I do want to do a little more writing, so I ended up with Sra. Alvarado and her Dual Language classes. Bilingual Ed. works a couple of different ways here; Dual Language the program I'm observing is taught with two classes switching between two teachers. 1 class is more proficient in English the other more in Spanish, one teacher does all English, the other all Spanish. Sra. Alvarado does all Spanish. I think, for myself at least, I'd rather do Transitional Bilingual Ed. where kids start out younger with like 75% Spanish and continue on through school with less Spanish and more English across all their subjects, but we'll see what's available when I actually begin my job search. The main critique I have of the Dual Language Program I observed was I think that its a bit too much movement for 2nd graders, they are moving every hour to hour and a half, and I think they need to just sit down and settle for a couple of hours, maybe the teachers could rotate, or alternate days, these kids definitely need to settle. I've been reading a bit about "classroom management" in the books the program provided for us, but Sra. Alvarado needs a little bit of that. Kids need to know that they don't talk when she talks, or during a test. They were all chatting away all through they're math test, I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but that just won't fly when I get my class. I think there needs to be a little more consistency too, at times she just let them talk away, others she called them out. I think coming in mid-year I'm going to have to establish some rules and stick to them, and then maybe ease up and start to smile and laugh a little later on. I do have to admit that it was one of the cutest things when I heard "yay!"s when the students heard I would be around for a whole month, but I'm not gonna let that phase me. I have to do a reading lesson next Tuesday, and they are going to listen; I'm not going to be reading for no reason. I have some ideas to engage them and ask questions though, but we'll see how well it works. I was a little disappointed by the recess situation they only get recess with their lunch, nothing else. I was hoping for some Red Rover action, but I'll live. The scary part about lunch was when they were released out into the yard a large contingency of students headed for the fence where street vendors sold them icees, snow cones, popsicles, hot dogs, etc. I realize this is an urban city, but I can only imagine what would have happened if some creep was selling stuff to kids through the fence in my elementary school yard. It's going to be a lot different from my experience though. Well I'm exhausted and have to wake up early again tomorrow to do it all again.
