Becky's Blog

Community support

2012-02-16T03:15:00.002-08:00

I´m sure at some point you've heard the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child." This means that parents, teachers and other adults in a child's life need to help. But it also means that their peers have to help.

I'm reading this interesting thread in the ProTeacher forums by a teacher based in Japan, saying that the 4 year olds already know all the kana and the roman alphabet, in addition to being able to swim and tie their shoes. Why? Because they have to learn this on this own BUT they get group encouragement. When children are trying to climb out of the pool, their classmates are cheering them on.

This reminded me of what I learned about the Finnish schools (another country with lots of community support for their children and teachers) last weekend-- If a child is struggling, the others help him or her. They foster the idea that a classroom works best as a team, not as individual competitors. Solidarity instead of competition.

Unfortunately in the US and also Spain, classes are often based on competition rather than solidarity.

Is there any way we can change this to improve the educational system? How do you teach students to cheer each other on rather than point and laugh? Maybe there's something we can do at least on a small scale to start building up to this...

Follow-up on the Compass Experiment

2012-02-10T14:07:00.000-08:00

I had both the 6th grade classes today do the make your own compass experiment. I put them into groups of about 4 students, having them take turns rubbing the needle on the magnet and then writing about their results.

How did it go? Well, in the moment, it was frustrating sometimes because the students were a bit crazy- when you have these kids do anything other than the traditional lecture form, they tend to go wild. So at first I was a bit down about that, how we couldn't run an experiment while maintaining a managed class.

But afterwards upon reflection, I realized that actually the experiments went well. One girl stopped me in the hall during recess and told me she really liked the experiment and would do it at home. In general, they all thought the experiment was pretty interesting.

They thought it was pretty cool too to see a magnet apparently sticking to my fingers, when really I had another one behind my fingers. They couldn't believe it- one even commented, "'¡Habrá una cuerda entre sus dedos!" I said, "Nope, no strings," and just mentioned that the magnet I had behind my fingers simply had a magnetic field thicker than my fingers!

If we can do anything to make our youth feel inspired, then we should do it. Do science experiments, even if you're worried about a little bit of class chaos! As Ms. Frizzle says in The Magic School Bus, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!"

I love teaching.

2012-02-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

It took me three and a half years to be able to say this: "I love teaching."

It feels so great that I am finally beginning to master this art. What a great profession.

Today I was trying to explain to my fifth grade students the difference between "atoms" and "molecules"- to add to the difficulty, it was in English, and their level of English isn't so high. So I have to be more dynamic to get them to pay attention and not zone out.

"Hydrogen is a very EXPLOSIVE GAS," I said in a raised voice as I made a grand gesture with my arms and a dramatic face- suddenly I had the attention of 10 or 15 more children who had been looking sleepy a bit earlier, then all of a sudden they were interested in the fact that Hydrogen combined with Oxygen form a molecule with completely different properties.

I'm liking teaching science more and more. I'm starting to consider teaching science in middle school- ideally a bilingual one in the US so that I may continue to use my Spanish!

Though then there's the question of, what do I do with my music? I had decided at the end of last year that I would become a music teacher so that I could spend more time working on my music. But I do enjoy teaching science. And speaking Spanish.

Even teaching English (and foreign language in general) has its fun moments. It's an excuse to talk about any subject that interests your students. I explained to my 2ESO students today how to use the verb "to need". I loved when I was at the board and they had questions and I explained the answers, and I could sense that they understood. Yesterday in another 2ESO class, one of my students told me, "Teacher, you explain really well!" I was flattered but said, "Hey, it's what I'm here to do, so I'm glad!"

This is so much fun.

We're now recorded!

2012-02-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

Jesus, feels like I haven't even had a weekend! Both today and yesterday I had to get up in the morning and go out for the day. Not to work, but to record. I'm exhausted.

Don't misunderstand me though-- I had a good experience. I would say that it was even good practice to have to re-record the same 5 bars just to get a solo nailed! I was lucky on one occasion and honked out a good solo on the first run. The recordings are going to sound great- already they do! Just need to be assembled, so stay tuned to find out when the Pompettes are releasing their first album!

Luckily for me I now have Monday off. Still, this is both a curse and a blessing- since I don't have to go to work, it feels like a vacation day, and what do I normally do on a day off? NOTHING! I put off all my uni work, lesson plans, etc. I wonder if writing down a schedule for myself would help- like, 9am-10am plan classes; 10am-12pm Uni work; etc. I guess I could try it.

Anyway, it's nearly 9pm, which is dinner time in Spain. Maybe I'll make pasta... it's going to be hard to top the goat cheese salad from last night!!

Heated Goat Cheese

2012-02-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday night, but I don't feel like going out 'cause I'm in the middle of recording with my group. Instead, I stayed in and treated myself to a fancy dinner.

I made this really grade salad with heated goat cheese. This is something I'd only had before in those pijo restaurants where your meal alone might cost at minimum 50 bucks. I made this for both me and my roommate, who was impressed with my cooking skills. But I do have to give credit to the food network, since I based this off their recipe. Though I didn't entirely follow it- I skilled the egg yolk in the salad dressing (no salmonella please!) as well as the champagne vinegar (who the hell carries that in their cabinet?). I just used apple vinegar, olive oil, pepper, salt, garlic powder, and basil. All mixed directly with the mixed greens. Just devine, and even better with that fried rodaja of goat cheese.

This, with red wine, bread and butter, and then poached pears for dessert.

Yep, a perfect Saturday night in on a cooooold night!

Try this at home: Make your own Compass

2012-02-03T16:46:00.001-08:00

Materials needed:
a magnet (know which end is the north pole)
a needle or sewing pin
a non-metal bowl of water
a cork or soda bottle cap (anything that floats really).

Procedures:
1. Take the needle and rub it various times on the North end of the magnet
2. Lay the needle on the cap/cork/whatever flotation device chosen
3. Place floaty device with needle on the water

Results:
The pin will now be pointing north and you have made your own compass right in the comfort of your own home.

Why? When you rubbed the needle on the magnet, it picked up magnetic charge- it will also attract other needles now! Letting it float on water allows it to be pulled by Earth's magnetic field. If you try turning it away, it will just turn right back to where it was pointing before- to magnetic north.

---------------

It's really cool. I just showed this to my roommate and a friend of mine who'd never seen this before, and they both thought it was pretty great- yeah, we're not geeks at all, spending a Friday night in making a compass! haha Well it was a quiet evening, and we all thought it was pretty neat.

What's interesting is that it should be obvious what would happen since regular store-bought compasses work the same way! But it is still pretty neat! Why? I can't quite explain, but something about buying a compass at the store, which you just assume is going to point north... but then you take a plain ol' sewing needle, rub it on a plain ol' magnet, put it in some plain ol' water, and it works just like that fancy compass! It's pretty cool! And it shows Earth's magnetic field- a force greater than ourselves. Whereas a compass, well, it's *supposed* to point north! Nothing special there!

That's the beauty of science experiments in teaching...

Sadly in Spain, Science experiments are not that common in the classrooms! I have various theories as to why but mostly it's speculation on my part. It's really a shame because science is the perfect hands-on subject, and EVEN MORE SO when you're studying it in a foreign language, as my students here in Spain are taking science in English!

I'm really liking teaching Science to 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. Especially 6th grade, because it's the most advanced, so I have to actually go back and research all this material I knew well back in school and then in my adult life forgot about it until now. For me it's fun, and I enjoy explaining what I've re-learned to my 6th-graders. It's material that even a lot of adults don't understand unless they're working in that field, so I can explain things that I know aren't obvious or intuitive. Not like teaching English language, where I have to abstractly guess how much my students understand of what I'm telling them!

Roommate Ramble

2010-11-12T01:04:00.000-08:00

I'm in my room having oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, studying some guitar, and my roommate knocks on my door just to say, "Becky, don't touch the blue dishes. All the white dishes are fine, but not the blue dishes." I explained to him, "Fine, but I made oatmeal this morning, and I needed a bowl but I decided not to use the large cup since your gf wanted to use it to make coffee for the both of you." He still said, "Yes, but next time only touch the white dishes, not the blue ones." So to satisfy him I said, "Fine, never, ever again." and he seemed happy with that, so then I closed the door to my room and muttered, "Douche bag..."

Not that it matters- I move out tomorrow! So I don't care. But really, if you don't want your roommate to touch the blue dishes, then get some fucking bowls! To explain a bit- he only has plates, a salad bowl, two cups, and various glasses in the kitchen. I usually use one of the cups, which is a really large cup and works as a bowl, but as I mentioned above, his gf is over here now and was in the kitchen at the same time as me and wanted to use the cup, so I figured I'd be kind and let her use it. Pfff so much for that.

Again, I'm moving out in little over 24 hours to my very own flat :) Elena doesn't move in until December. Of course, the big downside to all this is that I'm spending money out the wazoo this month, but still, I get an entire apartment to myself for a couple weeks! And then when Elena moves in it'll be nice to have someone else in the apartment- especially since she's a friend, an artist, and most importantly (in terms of roommates) will share the apartment equally with me. Whereas right now, yeah, I'm paying cheap rent but I feel like I guest in this apartment- it's *his* place, he bought the apartment- the rent money I give him is extra cash for him to use to fix his car. Back in October he had the nerve to ask me to pay November's rent early just for that purpose and of course I said no.... But all that to say, soon I'll be sharing a place with someone else who's renting just as equally as I am!

Latest Read

2008-07-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

Currently Reading
Fast Food Nation
By Eric Schlosser
see related

I'm reading Fast Food Nation, as suggested by above. I also ordered The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm more and more interested in food + sustainable development these days. I think it started when I came home from Germany. In Europe, I really did not diet or count calories or exercise a lot (other than walking a bit more than usual of course), yet I lost weight. Of course, when I continued this technique here in the US, I gained about 30 pounds over the past 10 months, and now I am struggling to lose weight as I run on the elliptical about 45 min. almost every day, count calories, keep a food diary, etc. Through out this year, I have wondered, WHY??!! So I thought about it.

I thought, if I kept my habits the same in two different countries yet gained weight in only one of them, there must be more to diet than just the individual's choice, genetics, or lifestyle. Environmental factors are certainly at work. Which is interesting, because in the US, as an individualistic society, a lot of blame is placed on the individual. You see this when the media portrays obese individuals as gluttonous, lazy bums.

I recognize that the American lifestyle has two general categories that cover contributing factors to the obesity epidemic:

Lack of physical movement Most of us live in areas that require driving and walking or biking is not a realistic option if you work about 15 miles away from where you live and there are mostly bike-unfriendly routes to get everywhere.

Food This is an even more extensive category, encompassing issues with both quantity and quality. I think everyone knows that our restaurants seriously distort our idea of proper portioning, and everyone hears "portion control" thrown around by diet programs like Weight Watchers. This is true, but I think that food quality is very much overlooked.

So, I am now on an adventure to read as much as I can about this issue.

Another reason not to support McCain....

2008-06-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

The Truth About John McCain

For the past 25 years, John McCain has consistently voted against women's health. From opposing funding for family planning programs to voting against requiring insurance coverage of birth control, McCain has taken extreme positions. He has voted against women's health and has not supported legislation that would help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion. This has earned him a zero rating the lowest rating we give in the U.S. Senate.

I always find it ironic that people who are vehemently pro-life are usually (not always, but MOST of the time) also against birth control and better sex education. If you feel so strongly that having an abortion = murder, wouldn't you want people to have access to the tools that will help them minimize the risk of pregnancy as much as possible???

I know, I know-- most of the time, the reasoning is that abstinence is the answer, because the people who are both pro-life and anti-birth-control live in an idealist world where people wait until marriage to have sex.

People feel very strongly about their views on abortion on both sides of the debate, which is understandable. (If you're wondering, I'm pro-choice, but that's not what this post is to discuss-- that shall be another time.) As much as I very much disagree with the pro-life stance, it's a valid opinion, and I respect that. But when it comes to birth control options and sex education, this is something that everyone needs to be concerned about! If you're so against abortion, then you need to make it so the *need* for abortion decreases, not to just simply make it illegal. I'm pro-choice, but not pro-abortion... both men and women should be responsible when participating in sexual acts, and abortion should be a very last resort or used for medical complications (I think a lot of pro-lifers forget about the fact that all sorts of things can go wrong during pregnancy that require an abortion!). So to also deny birth control is absurd!!

So yeah... another reason not to vote for McCain. Not that this helped people to not vote for George Bush, but hey, if McCain has been marketed as the "conservative liberals can live with," this helps debunk that!!!

The Bucket List

2008-06-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

I just saw the movie The Bucket List, staring Jack Nickolson and Morgan Freeman. I loved it. I was hesitant to watch it at first, not liking the idea of another cliche "carpe diem" flick. But I think what gave it texture was the classic (maybe also cliche, but whatever) duo-- the man rich in money but poor in love and the man rich in love but poor in money.

Something about watching it was gratifying, though. Watching them travel various parts of the world.... I think I'll make my own bucket list, now. One thing I want to do is scuba dive in the great barrier reef.... that would be wicked. I have my scuba certification, but I haven't dived since 2004, when I went to Belize. Anyway, it also makes me feel validated in my decision to participate in CIEE Teach in Spain. I'm gonna live in Spain for the better part of a year, teaching English!!! My boyfriend doesn't like that I am again going to live abroad for a few months (I studied abroad in Germany for a semester last year), of course, so making this decision wasn't as easy as it would have been if I had been single. On top of his reluctance, my experience in Germany wasn't as great as I thought it would be, so I am nervous that this will happen too in Spain. However, I believe it will be different. I'm very excited about it, and Brian agrees that if I want it, I should go for it.

Moving on from that... tomorrow is father's day! yay! I'm so going to make waffles... from scratch, too, not the crappy frozen ones!!! Although, I admit, I did not grow the wheat for the flour.... Oh, and REAL Vermont Maple Syrup.

Gas...

2008-06-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

I just saw an old friend of mine when Brian and I were filling up at the gas station, which was exciting because I hadn't seen her for quite awhile!! She drives a Jeep Wrangler, so I saw it pull up and thought, "I bet that's her..." and it was. So she was telling us about how with the $4/gal gas prices, she's trading in her Jeep for a Toyota Corolla.

I have to say, I don't like paying more for gas (makes me more hesitant to hang out with my friend who lives all the way in north Burlington :( ), but I do appreciate that it's making Americans more conscious of conserving resources (and as a side effect, emitting less greenhouse gases!).

I'm also worried, though, because the way our country's infrastructure has developed is not very sustainable, nor is it very friendly for alternatives to cars (whether it be travel by foot, bike, or public transportation). Gas can get really expensive, and there's not much people can do about it, besides just trying to limit driving. It annoys me to walk around Church Street in downtown Burlington and think, "You know, it's nice to have this hoppin' pedestrian street full of shops... but gosh, I miss European towns and cities where they had this kind of set up with CONVENIENT stores!"

What I mean is, you can *gasp* WALK to get your groceries!! Then walk to the 1 and 2 euro store to buy random doo-dads. Whereas on Church Street, you're just walking between stores selling useless trinkets and restaurants. The only grocery store you can walk to there is City Market. While I do appreciate their products, it's still an elitist organic food store (can we say, Whole Foods?), and if you don't make much money, you cannot afford to shop there for all your groceries. Then places like Shaws and Price Chopper, you need to drive to. Even if you do live walking distance from a grocery store like that, the walk is not friendly to pedestrians-- you need to walk across a huge parking lot.

One of my favorite things about living in Europe was when I suddenly ran out of milk, or needed some ingredient for a recipe, I only had to walk across the street to grab it!!!! If you want to live somewhere like that in the US, you have to move to a huge city, which some people like, but not everyone. Having grown up in Vermont, I dislike the idea of living in New York City. It took some self-convincing to agree with Brian's move to NY. I hope to end up in Vermont again one day, though. But anyway, about Vermont-- here, if I suddenly need milk, I have to drive. There goes about $1 of gas! Could be worse I guess... at least I'm not in the real boonies of Vermont! But still....

Anyway, I'm rambling here. But basically, I wonder what kinds of changes will happen with gas at $4 a gallon.

First Entry

2008-06-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

I had initially created a blog on live journal here, but decided that having an actually blogger blog would be better. Live Journal just has a different dynamic. The purpose of this blog is to be a public one. I used to have a political blog, which you may check out here. With all the election business these days, I really am tempted to revive my political blog!

Anyway, a little bit about my situation today.

I just graduated Mount Holyoke College with the class of 2008. My next endeavor will be to teach English in Spain this upcoming academic year. Right now I'm just doing activities like cleaning my room and working out a lot. I could get a job and earn money, but I have so much junk in my room that I'm drowning in it, so I need to take care of that. Plus, I'm kinda gonna be all over the place this summer. My boyfriend just got a job in New York and will move down there at some point. I'm hoping to move with him.

OK, that's enough for now.