Day 34: Fine, I Miss it!!

So I've been doing ok with the whole no-Facebook thing until the past few days... I miss posting quick stuff (an anecdote, a joke, a photo, whatever).  I miss the regular contact with friends and families overseas... (I thought we'd be in touch more personally now, but that hasn't proven to be the case yet.)  Also, I get a little jealous when friends come up to me and show me a photo from Facebook, or tell me about someone's post.. I also feel like I'm "cheating" if they show me parts of their Fb profile.  Weird, huh?  Let's not forget that I miss the political interactions I'd had on Fb regularly.  It's sad, but I actually find myself reading LESS news and FEWER articles since I've been off the 'book.  December can't come fast enough...

Anyway, I've been on Memrise for almost an hour every night... Eek.  What am I studying, you may (not) be inclined to ask... Mostly world flags and GRE vocabulary to keep my mind sharp.  Well, tonight I (nerdily) merged interests and did a flag challenge on Sporcle.  (See previous posts for links to these sites, or just Google 'em!)  The results?  I was able to name 181/197 world flags!! Guess my studying's been paying off!  :)  (That's almost 92% accuracy, thankyouverymuch.)  Want proof?  Here it is!

So there!  (That's just the first part...)  I missed Sudan and Gabon, for which I kicked myself later!! :P  Overall, though, I'm happy with my progress, thanks to Memrise!

Ok... So to wrap this up: 1.) I'm a total nerd, 2.) I found some (not-as-good) substitutes for Fb, and 3.) I miss virtual friends!!!!

Cheers! 

Day 29: A Reminder (to Myself)...

There are always days when we have to do things we don't want to... but there are also days when things fall into place, and today (so far) has been one of those days.*

As a 6th-year teacher, I've always struggled with time management of classes, lesson planning, and other facets of teaching.  However, sometimes a lesson just works (for no clear reason)!  To this day, I don't understand why some well-planned lessons fail and some off-the-cuff lessons are awesome.

Anyway, this is just a reminder to me why I teach (and has nothing to do with my Fb detox, so feel free to disregard).   I feel I did a nice job differentiating today (which is time-consuming but worth the effort)... I separated the kids into 3 vocabulary groups, determined by each student's score on a pretest.  I gave the groups 15 minutes to work together on their vocab, and it went pretty well. I think the kids were relieved that their words are now at their level, and not too difficult or easy, as was the case last term.

Second, we did a whole-class vocabulary activity on context clues, and I think it went pretty well.  I tried to make sure each student was engaged and that they understood.  After that, I implemented my new "super bonus challenge" cards, that are really just index cards with a task written on them.  (For example, they say things like, "Show me your English notebook," or "What percent of your grade is participation?" or "Spell the word 'soldier'" or "What's the meaning of the word 'kamikaze'?"  and so forth.  I choose students randomly, and they have to complete the task within 30 seconds.  For some reason, they get really into this.

Next, we talked about the Six Traits of Writing, which was actually pretty fun (especially giving bad examples!).  Finally, the students wrote a brief reflection on WWII (which is our topic this term), and tomorrow we'll "grade" them on the Six Traits rubric, and then each student will "grade" a partner's work, followed by a reflection.

The point is: this was all potentially dry material, but for some reason, we just "flowed" today.  We laughed and smiled a lot, the kids were engaged, and we ended the class feeling pretty good as a group (I hope!).   Why can't all lessons being like this??? (Oh, and having just 11 kids in the class is DEFINITELY a huge part of our cohesion!)

Ok, that's it for now.  Random post, but hopefully this'll be a reminder of why I chose the profession I did.  Cheers! :)



*This feeling reminds me of the beginning of Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, which we're reading in 5th grade English class.  It opens: "When I left my office that beautiful spring day, I had no idea what was in store for me.  To begin with, everything was too perfect for anything unusual to happen. It was one of those days when a man feels good, feels like speaking to his neighbor, is glad to live in a country like ours, and proud of his government.  You know what I mean, one of those rare days when everything is right and nothing is wrong."    (I obviously do not share his sentiments about country or government, but the mood is reminiscent!)  

Day 25: What Else I Do on the Internet...

So lately, absent my Facebook community, I've been quite active on memrise.com, learning/refreshing myself on country flags and GRE vocabulary.  Now, for kicks, I'm back on sporcle.com, trying to name all the elements on the periodic table (for chemistry).  I've gotten 29/118 so far, and that's 10 minutes in.  Pathetic.  (Though... how many elements can YOU name?)

Here are the proper plugs for these two fun educational sites, should you be interested in expanding your world (and your brain!) a bit:

Memrise: 

Sporcle: 

Day 20: Part II: Back in Korea, there are still a gazillion photos...

Here are some more from recent times... It's modern-day Seoul/Incheon from a foreigner's perspective!  :)

 Korea vs. Brazil friendly match, Saturday, 10/12!  (Korea lost, 2-0.)

 The World Cup Stadium subway station, near the end of the Korea-Brazil game. Yowza.

 Well, look who we have here...

 A handout from an AMAZING seminar I attended this weekend.  If you can get those QR codes to work, more power to ya!  Otherwise, check out some of those links... Good stuff! :) 

 Watching ice cream being made instantly... with liquid nitrogen, I'm told.  Wild!

 Found an eerily empty classroom at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul... in the middle of a conference that thousands of people attended.

 A freakishly lovely rock! 

 Typical Seoul street scene on a weekend day!

 Ibid.

The ARex (Airport Express) line on a Sunday night! :) 

Day 20: Meantime, Back in Korea... (or: Holy Photo-happy Post, Batman!!)

Today is Day 20 of my Facebook Detox project, and I really can't complain much... I feel more productive (if cut off from faraway friends and family)... I really don't miss seeing the mundane/banal/uninteresting posts that would bring the quality of my newsfeed (even though I'd "unfollowed" a lot of my less-interesting acquaintances). The only major downside at this point is, well, photos!  I miss sharing photos, but not enough to get a different account on a separately-hosted site, so.... here we are.  

First photo journal topic o' the day: My school!  Well, more accurately, my class/classroom!! :D  I've been trying to be more proactive in getting their work up on the walls, and to recognize amazing work... Anyway, feast your eyes on the work of some great 5th and 6th graders! :)  

(The nerdy and horribly-colored sign above my door.  Yes, I colored it.  That's why I don't teach elementary school, kids...)

This is the newest addition this year: a wall of great work... in the hallway!  I love hearing kids comment on the work as they walk by in admiration.  :D 

Ok, yes, the wall looks a little grody, but it's from tape that held up last year's projects.  Don't worry, it'll be pretty again in no time!  For now, it houses several important competitions for my students, and showcases great tests and creative work! 

And now for some of the work itself: 

 This one comes from a book report of a particularly hilarious kid.  He's hilarious because he's very cynical, a little jaded, and very creative.  One of the criteria for the report was that the students had to write something they learned from reading the book.  This student's response: "I realized that all the fictional books I've read had been sugar coating most stuff from this book.  I learned the real epicness."  He went on later to explain how regular fiction isn't interesting because it's predictable and happy, but this book (from the Game of Thrones series) was far superior because of its grim spontaneity.  :) 

~

This next work and the two below it come from the same student.  The first one is mixed media, with cloth for the Japanese flag; magazine or printed cut-outs of metal, cloathes [sic], rice, family, 한글 (Korean) for languadge [sic] trees, and a Korean woman; hand drawing of the Korean flag.  Our project was based on the book we read this term: When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park.  It's about the Japanese occupation of Korea, told from the perspective of two young adults.  The kids were generally captivated by the book, and their final projects shone! 

(Before you read on, know that my goal here was NOT for the kids to have any animosity toward Japan; there's enough of that in Korea already.  I simply went through the book with them and discussed the pretty terrible things the Japanese did to Koreans from 1910-1945.  Our next term, we will be studying the book Hiroshima by John Hersey, which obviously follows the aftermath of the bombing and the end of World War II.  Hopefully after that, the kids will have a bit more sympathy for what Japan's been through as well.)  

Caption (from the student): "The Japanese took over Korea and started taking things away from the Korean people.  In this artwork, the Japanese flag means the Japanese the things on the flag are some things that were taken away from the Koreans.  The girl is crying because she wants them back and she is also mad because she can't do anything about her things taken away.  The forest represents the Korean land.  The green forest is before the Japanese came and the dark forest is after the Japanese came." 

 Caption (from the student; errors corrected by me): "The owner of the eye is a soldier... a soldier with the wrong uniform on.  In the iris is the Japanese circle, but it still has the Korean curvy line in the middle of the pupil.  It means that he is acting to be like a Japanese soldier, but he is a true Korean."  

 Caption (from the student, errors corrected by me): "The two trees represent Japan and Korea fighting.  I painted the blood so that it looks like they are fighting.  The Koreans are losing at the moment.  This painting has a lot of madness in it.  The cherry blossom tree wants to break the rose of Sharon's branch and replace it with its own. The branch stands for culture.  That is why there is so much blood."  

So, yeah... WOW!  They did an amazing job! :)  Just FYI, the cherry tree is the national tree of Japan, while Korea's is the rose of Sharon tree.  (I did not know the latter until I read this book!)  

Hmmm... Ok, I'll put some more photos on another post, since this one's getting a bit lengthy.  Cheers! 

Day 13: Using My Time... Wisely?

So tonight, I remembered a site I used to visit a lot when I first worked in Korea: Memrise!  :)

I decided to give the ol' brain a little workout, so I focused on GRE vocabulary and world flags, just for kicks.  (I used to use this every day for Korean vocabulary.)  Anyway, great (free!) site with an adorable theme and effective memorization techniques/practice.  Check it out, if you haven't already.

Now that I'm on European Union flags III, I find the stupid Nordic countries confusing... I mean, look:

(Way to stick to one pattern, guys....)  So I'm trying to get these all right, and Ryan was intrigued as I was shouting out country names as we worked on our computers.  Now we're having a flag-off, and it's gonna be a close match!

Ok, I'm a nerd.  Time for one more round o' flags, then bedtime! 

(Day 12 Interlude: Resources and Random Stuff)

This post is kind of an aside...  First, I'll list some cool educational resources I've found (again) since cleaning out my e-mail.  Second, I'll post some random stuff I've been reading lately.  I suppose in this way, I'm using Blogger as a bit of a surrogate for Facebook.  (Where else can I post this stuff??)

Educational resources:

1.) Education World

2.) Middle Web, for middle school teachers

3.) Fred Jones, for classroom management resources

And now for something (not completely) different...

First, this is a site I've visited for years.  I've introduced students to it at various schools, and am kicking myself that I haven't yet shown my students *here*!! Tomorrow, in my current events/documentary club, I will definitely show the kids this wonderful place: 

This is The Hunger Site, which links to other good causes, too!  Each click from a different computer provides donations to various causes (e.g., hunger, breast cancer research, animals, U.S. veterans, autism, literacy, rainforest, and others).   It also has a store of ethically-produced items, and most proceeds go to these causes as well!! I highly recommend checking it out!  :)

Next, I found this from a friend in a really, really old e-mail... It's about the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  (Don't know FSM?  Read up on him here or here!)  :)

Tee hee.  The website, if you're interested, is here.  :)


Next, my good friend, Erika, sent me this crazy link about North Korea... from an American who visited the Hermit State:

The article/blog post, which was hilariously written (and somewhat tongue-in-cheek at times), is here.

And, of course, my shameless plug for the *other* love of my life, Jeremy Scahill:

(His post can be found here.)  

Finally, since I was perusing The Nation, I found this article and am (again) saddened by what lawmakers in my home state of Ohio are trying to do.

If this bill passes (and isn't quickly repealed), I doubt I'll want to live in Ohio ever again.  If you'd like to read this article, you may find it here.

That's it for now, kids.  Time to catch up on another favorite show: "The Newsroom"!  :) 

Day 12: This isn't so bad...

So it's been 12 days, and I'm not nearly in the Facebook-withdrawal state I thought I'd be in... I've been able to do the following:

• Read more books!
• Find good resources for my classes
• Spend time with friends/significant other
• Exercise more
• Watch more news/documentaries/movies
• Go see Avenue Q! :)  
• Clean out my e-mail... This was the most substantial one for me this week!  I cleaned out over 20,000 messages from my inbox!! :)  (I've had my account for about 8 years, so that was a LOT of e-mails to sort through! All the messages I've wanted to keep are filed into about 20 folders.)  Here's what my inbox presently looks like: 

(For those of you who don't speak Spanish, it says "No hay ningún mensaje nuevo" above, which means "There are no new messages."  Wooooo!!!)  

As for Avenue Q, I thought it was hilarious, even if my viewing companions were somewhat lukewarm on the show.  Today's the show's last performance in Korea, but if you have the chance to see it, I highly recommend it! 

In other news, Ry and I have finished watching "Dexter."  After YEARS of faithfully viewing the series, I sadly feel I've lost a friend.  The ending wasn't what I expected, but I don't feel cheated (as other fans do).  If you haven't seen the show, I think it's a good investment for escapism! 

Ok... The next post, I think, shall handle more serious stuff, so stay tuned!!