Despite the fact that it's been so long since my last post, I'm still alive! I haven't really had much time to sit down and be a wordsmith in quite a while and it feels good to be back behind the proverbial wheel. It's been a busy time here in the Big Apple. Where to begin?
Well, I survived the New York state tests but only just; it was brutal slog for the most part. First we had to prepare all of the classrooms by taking down or covering up every poster and then use sticky notes, blue masking tape, and plastic tarps to cover literally every letter and number, nothing could be visible. I was also "fortunate" enough to get slotted to proctor the 6th grade accommodations room for students who get time-and-a-half for each day of the tests. That means each time the rest of the school tested for 90 minutes I was one of 4 other smaller groups that tests for 2 hours and 15 minutes, for 6 days in total over two weeks. That's 810 total minutes of hardcore room pacing, posture fixing, tissue bringing, boredom fighting insanity.
Spring break couldn't come fast enough.
Thankfully we had a week off after the tests concluded and I had a nice little stay-cation in the City. I got out to Coney Island during that lovely week off and finally ate some Nathans and moseyed around on the boardwalk for a while. This was the end of April so it was still too cold to swim but it was still nice to get that sea breeze in my face.
It was nice to come back to school and watch some actual lessons, because really all I'd seen at Harlem West was endless test preparation (6 weeks or so) and it was much more interesting to watch the kids tackle The Tempest, which they absolutely crushed.
At this point, it was pretty tough to keep the kids invested because they could smell the end of the year coming and a lot of the started checking out, but we kept them going as best we could. Our lead Math teacher had to step out during the week a few times for leadership training and I got tapped to fill in for him, much to the mildly-confused delight of the kids.
Students: "But, Mr. Weiss...you told us you don't Math!"
Me: "I don't, so buckle up this is going to get interesting."
I did okay, overall and had a couple great lessons on triangles and other Geometry stuff (not so hard), and was really happy I didn't have to teach anything algebraic (oh god, my brain). Classroom management was really be a struggle with some kids and there were a few classes where I felt like I'd been put through a meat grinder; I think my record was 7 detentions in one class. But hey, that comes with the territory. Onward and upward, and all that. I punched through it and learned some hard lessons and still have some stuff to reflect on. Is that glass-is-half-full enough?
Other news: I'm still living in Queens and really enjoying it. It's cheaper than Manhattan and Brooklyn but it's only 15 minutes from the city and my commute to work is pretty painless despite the horrendous time of day. I also finally got off the air mattress struggle bus and invested in a queen sized Sealy posturepedic and that shit has changed my life. Not worrying about my bed deflating while I sleep has been a big step up. I feel so adult-like.
As for work, apparently leadership at my school has seen potential in my abilities as an assistant teacher and the way I mostly fumbled through the few occasions I was really teaching over the last few months. I had a few meetings with my principal and they want me to come back as an ELA lead teacher in the fall. More money, more responsibility, more stress, less free time. A lot less free time. Then again, I'll be the center of my classroom's culture and be able to have a lot more chances to have an impact. Being honest, I'm rather intimidated of the prospect but there's that weird part of me buried somewhere in my brain that is already relishing the challenge, so we'll have to see how things go in September when school fires up again.
We finished school for the summer last Thursday and already not getting up at 4:30 in the morning has been a welcome change. My first two graduate school classes also finished up and theywent pretty well, I got an A in both of them despite a rocky start. In case I haven't covered this already, I'm in a specialized program through Touro College where (theoretically) I'll have my Master's in Education/Special Education Grade 1-6. It's specialized because Success pays my tuition and it's quite accelerated and should only take 18 months or so to complete. All of my classes are online, which is pretty nice, but it's still a lot of work. About every 9 days I have to write 6 initial posts that answer guided questions about the reading as well as 24 responses to other people's posts (over the course of 5 days), on top of projects and case studies and the like. I will say that it's been rather nice to have a lot more time to put into my posts and readings because during school I was working 12 hour days and then doing 3 hours of studying afterwards and occasionally sleeping more than 5 hours a night. Now, I'm usually on the computer for a few hours a day and my roommate looks surprised when I'm not in my usual spot at the kitchen table. Hooray.
For the summer I don't have many plans besides trying to save a few bucks (already not going so well), spending time outside if I can, and making some time to do all the touristy stuff I couldn't do because I haven't been able to do because I was either too busy or it was too damn cold. I did get a chance to check out a Muay Thai gym just a few blocks from my house and I went through a trial class to try it out. I solidly proved to myself that I was a rubbery sack of garbage and was horrendously sore for three full days.
It wasn't that we beat each other up, there wasn't actually any sparring, but it was just so damn relentless. 60 straight minutes of punishing cardio with endless sit ups, push ups, and drills. It would have been awesome if I my lack of conditioning didn't make me feel like Mr. Potato Head. A few of the guys I met there said they'd trained at other gyms but Sitan was the best place in the city and I'm inclined to agree. Today I had my second class and it was super fun, even though I know my body is going to continue to hate me all week (and all month). One of the trainers has a brother who is fighting in Manhattan on Friday and I think I'll make my way down there and cheer him on. The Lady Banks and her footman The Stimp have recently gone to Thailand and send me photos/video of some real fights they saw and I'm itching to see the real thing.
Anyway, it's about time I finished this post and crawled into bed to enjoy a few more hours of mobility before all the lactic acid I made today pisses off the rest of my body. Keep those peepers peeled for more of my adventures in the coming weeks, I'm thinking about a day trip to Philly or possibly making a pilgrimage to Burlington, VT for the Vermont Brewer's Festival.
See you next time, chumps.