Every year of my child hood our family took a road trip to Utah. Maybe summer or winter, or both, but the 10 hour drive between Northern Utah and Southern California has and will always be a part of my life. My mother always gave us comics or books to read on the drive up. None of us ever got car sick, cause we were raised reading in cars. This was beneficial for many many reasons. Here are a few:
1. My mother always wanted us to love reading. Yep, that totally worked. Most people in my family are pretty avid readers. Granted, the last book I read was a comic book, but I still think she succeeded.
2. We all have steel stomachs. None of us get carsick. Way to go mom.
3. Mom was smart enough to know that if we were occupied, she had full control of the radio. So, I was raised listening to a lot of her music without thinking about it too much.
I think my Mother's favorite music was the Carpenters. As in Karen and co. The reason I say that is because she played Carpenter music (which will be called 'Cusic' from here on) ALL THE TIME. Ok, that's an overstatement, but she listened to it quite a bit. Music is in my Mom's blood. My sister used to always say she knew when Mom was coming up the stairs because my sister could hear a song on my mother's breath. I think something about Cusic really resonated with my mom. They were good songs. They had positive lyrics, they were in her range, and they were catchy, even for me. I never sang along though. Not because I couldn't, but because I enjoyed more listening to my mom express herself. I don't think she thought about it a lot, it was just part of who she was (and is).
Now many of you are thinking, 'great story Sam, but what does this have to do with China?'
If you are thinking that, good job, that's a splendid question.
Here's the answer.
I was sitting next to a young Chinese business man at a dinner place on the street tonight. (And I mean literally on the street, that's where they set up shop in the evenings, on the side of the street) He was probably about 30 give or take a few years. I was eating my meal peacefully and he was humming to himself. After a bar of music I caught myself humming along with him. I then thought, 'how the heck do I know the song this Chinese guy is humming. That's impossible. I don't know that much Chinese music.' And then it dawned on me. It's because he was humming Cusic.
China is a really interesting place, very few American artists are big here. A lot of people know a few of the big current names in America, but for the most part people don't know a whole lot about american music. However, some how Cusic made it through the America-->China filter, and came through big. Many people may not know the Carpenters by name, but all Chinese people know the music. I find my self smiling every once in a while when a motorcycle or moped drives by me and I can hear them listening to the Carpenters.
To make a long story short, one of the things I love about China is that it reminds me of my mother.
Disclaimer
The author of this article in no way claims his writings to be the final authority on the famous Sandi Griffiths and her views and tastes in music. (or Cusic). In other words, Mom, feel free to let me know if I'm off on any of this.
Yep,
I made a kid cry. I still feel bad. So here's the story, I've spent most of my week having discussions with my classes on whether phones, video games, and mp3 players are good or not. The purpose was to tell them I don't want to see them on the phone anymore in class, ya some kids were on phones, some would listen to music, some would play video games.
It's hard to discipline a class when you're students don't have to worry about a grade. Since we only can teach each class once a week there's no testing or no grade for my students for my class. I got sick of kids saying they thought it would be ok to listen to music on their headphones in my class. I figure if I'm a good teacher, my kids will be learning english. So the lesson was meant to help kids understand I like phones and such, just not in my class. I told them that if I saw a phone from then on, or an mp3 player, or anything they played games on, I would take it for 3 days. I figure that's a good punishment, enough to help them know they shouldn't have it in my class. I figure it's nice since phones aren't permitted and i think most teachers here would either break the students phone or confiscate it permanently.
As of today, I have taken three phones and a dictionary/mp3 player. In the class I just taught a kid was very slyly listening to music and showing his friend. He had a headphone sticking out the end of his sleeve and when i asked him for his mp3 player, he acted like I didn't know what he was talking about. I pointed to the headphone sticking out of his sleeve and then he knew he was caught. He gave me the mp3 player and class resumed. Over all actually a good class.
After class the kid approaches me, his name is Duke (actually a nice kid, most of mine are, they're just punks sometimes), and tells me he's sorry and he'd like it back. Now he knew the punishment, so I told him I was sorry and I'd give it back on Monday (today is Friday). Then i left. He catches up with me and asks for it again. I say no. He then tells me that it's his friends and to please give him another chance. I say, we talked about this for a half hour, that's your chance. I'm not mad, I just want him to understand that this is not ok in class. I start to walk up my stairs, and the poor kid starts to cry. He's a bigger kid, my height, but easily has 40 pounds on me, and it's probably muscle. I was really surprised. He asked me for another punishment. Any student of mine that cries in my opinion has learned his lesson. I felt pretty bad. So I gave it back (first one I've given back since my new policy) and told him to write me 1/4 of a page in english about why he is sorry.
Man, being a teacher is crazy. I feel like I haven't been challenged like this in a long time. I can't get away with crappy lessons or half effort. I like it. I feel the need to become something more. I also think that if I do, my students will reap the rewards, and that's good. Most of my classes now aren't good or bad because of themselves, they're behavior is almost directly linked to my lesson. If I have a great lesson, usually I'll have a great class. If I have a bum lesson, it's pretty rough. There's nothing quite like a clear indicator of how well you're doing your job. Anyways, here's to being a teacher, and the lessons of life.
I made a kid cry. I still feel bad. So here's the story, I've spent most of my week having discussions with my classes on whether phones, video games, and mp3 players are good or not. The purpose was to tell them I don't want to see them on the phone anymore in class, ya some kids were on phones, some would listen to music, some would play video games.
It's hard to discipline a class when you're students don't have to worry about a grade. Since we only can teach each class once a week there's no testing or no grade for my students for my class. I got sick of kids saying they thought it would be ok to listen to music on their headphones in my class. I figure if I'm a good teacher, my kids will be learning english. So the lesson was meant to help kids understand I like phones and such, just not in my class. I told them that if I saw a phone from then on, or an mp3 player, or anything they played games on, I would take it for 3 days. I figure that's a good punishment, enough to help them know they shouldn't have it in my class. I figure it's nice since phones aren't permitted and i think most teachers here would either break the students phone or confiscate it permanently.
As of today, I have taken three phones and a dictionary/mp3 player. In the class I just taught a kid was very slyly listening to music and showing his friend. He had a headphone sticking out the end of his sleeve and when i asked him for his mp3 player, he acted like I didn't know what he was talking about. I pointed to the headphone sticking out of his sleeve and then he knew he was caught. He gave me the mp3 player and class resumed. Over all actually a good class.
After class the kid approaches me, his name is Duke (actually a nice kid, most of mine are, they're just punks sometimes), and tells me he's sorry and he'd like it back. Now he knew the punishment, so I told him I was sorry and I'd give it back on Monday (today is Friday). Then i left. He catches up with me and asks for it again. I say no. He then tells me that it's his friends and to please give him another chance. I say, we talked about this for a half hour, that's your chance. I'm not mad, I just want him to understand that this is not ok in class. I start to walk up my stairs, and the poor kid starts to cry. He's a bigger kid, my height, but easily has 40 pounds on me, and it's probably muscle. I was really surprised. He asked me for another punishment. Any student of mine that cries in my opinion has learned his lesson. I felt pretty bad. So I gave it back (first one I've given back since my new policy) and told him to write me 1/4 of a page in english about why he is sorry.
Man, being a teacher is crazy. I feel like I haven't been challenged like this in a long time. I can't get away with crappy lessons or half effort. I like it. I feel the need to become something more. I also think that if I do, my students will reap the rewards, and that's good. Most of my classes now aren't good or bad because of themselves, they're behavior is almost directly linked to my lesson. If I have a great lesson, usually I'll have a great class. If I have a bum lesson, it's pretty rough. There's nothing quite like a clear indicator of how well you're doing your job. Anyways, here's to being a teacher, and the lessons of life.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
