Teaching, Boredom, and Libraries

January 20, 2011

GChat

8:15 PM William: hey dad
8:16 PM Bill: Hi William, how are you?
William: good, you?
8:17 PM Bill: Pretty good, how the weather still raining?
William: its actually very nice today
8:18 PM Bill: Great, what shape is the school in?
William: its amazing
8:19 PM how absorbent the ground is
8:20 PM Bill: Good drainage, drying out quickly?
But much damage at the school?
8:21 PM William: no damage really
actually the drainage here is horrible
that's one of the problems
but apparently what caused the flood was mining
8:23 PM Bill: How's Ernie?
No kidding, how is that?
Strip mining?
William: yeah
so at the mountain
the ground absorbs no water
and just creates runoff
that carries a ton of sediment
8:24 PM Bill: Is there a problem with mud slides?
Did it do much property damage?
William: no mudslides luckily
at least not in town
8:25 PM we\re far enough away from the mountain
Bill: Good to hear
William: things are pretty much back to normal here
how are things at home?
Bill: So you are teaching today?
William: there are periodical tests today
so no
8:26 PM but Monday we start teaching essays
which is dumb
because we should teach grammar
and the assigned essays are not on the internet
or in any books we have
so now I’m looking for substitute essays
8:27 PM Bill: What are they on?
8:28 PM William: the Philippines
by postwar Filipino authors
I’m sorry
8:29 PM but Filipinos make for almost sickeningly ornate writers
anyways, even if i could find them
the students wouldn't be able to understand them
the Filipinos that do know English often use impressive words so that the Filipinos who sort of know English cant understand what they're talking about
8:31 PM Bill: How about wiki?
William: yeah, I’m trying What’ new at home ?
8:33 PM Bill: We are suppose to get a little snow tonight - I'm still riding everyday.
8:34 PM Mom and I saw a couple of movies 'The King's Speech' and 'True grit.'
8:37 PM Work is very busy - I'll have to hire another employee
8:38 PM Otherwise things are the same.
8:41 PM So how's Ernie?
William: oh, he's well
he and spark (the other dog) are always getting into trouble
they're still very small
8:44 PM Bill: Ha-ha, remember when Mike was young and chewing the table legs?
8:46 PM Mom (Marilyn) here sweetie. Whaddya mean by trouble? Chasing chickens?:)
William: they're scared of the chickens
just being under every ones feet all the time
8:47 PM Marilyn: It’s been in the 40s last few days but going back to the deep freeze tomorrow
8:48 PM William: yikes cold winter so far?
8:49 PM Marilyn: I was talking to an older man today walking his black lab named Patrick. Looked so much like Mike. Very cold winter but very little snow unlike Jeannie up north
8:51 PM They have had tons
William: so i hear
8:52 PM well we deserve a reprieve after last winter
Marilyn: No kidding, no complaints from me
8:53 PM How is the teaching? Anything we can get?
8:55 PM William: not really
today and yesterday is testing
so classes on Monday
I’m at the school though
looking for appropriate essays to teach
the next unit is essays
which is ill-conceived to begin with, if you ask me
but then the essays that they assign aren't on the internet
so I’m looking for other ones
8:56 PM Marilyn: I am still going to basketball games. They beat army last nite alto barely William: oh wow!
good for them
Marilyn: Are there certain criteria? Subject matter?
8:57 PM I expect they should be short to begin with?
8:58 PM William: yes, preferably by Filipino authors
but the Filipino authors write in English with way too many big words
Marilyn: Hmmmm
William: the students wouldn’t be able to understand, paradoxically
9:00 PM Marilyn: Maybe after this semester you can talk to them about curriculum? Any fkexibility?
William: there is some and they're been relatively open to suggestions from me
Marilyn: Flexibility
9:01 PM William: my co teacher agrees that teaching grammar is more appropriate
Marilyn: That's great
9:03 PM R u doing this in the library? R we interrupting?
9:06 PM We can talk to u later if that's better
9:10 PM William: no sorry I was talking to a teacher about a trip he wants to go on
9:11 PM Bill: Np, anything else new?
9:13 PM William: nothing at all
9:14 PM Bill: Bored?
9:19 PM William: often but not too bad I just read a lot
9:20 PM Bill: Try writing
9:21 PM Make a game of it write in a0 different style everyday
William: i have been writing a bit
9:22 PM Bill: Good, it's tiring but you can get absorbed in it
9:24 PM William: yeah I like it when i have the energy but usually its at the end of the day and I’m tired I want to do more on the weekends
9:25 PM Bill: Teaching is very draining; you are always on
9:31 PM William: yeah no kidding
and i hate shifting all the time between teachers
the most draining is trying to plan for so many different things they kind of jerk me around
the peace corps can be the worst with that kind of thing
9:32 PM they encourage you to bring problems to them
but flexibility is the answer to everything
and i understand that
Bill: It will get easier
William: but then don’t pretend that you're availing yourself to help us with our problems because that’s not help
9:34 PM Bill: You are pretty much on your own, frustrating but it with pay off
William: right i just don’t like they're attitude
9:35 PM its a tough love with a touchy-feely face
that just comes off as passive-aggressive, ugh
Bill: I understand but try and find something to distract you
William: yeah, just venting
9:36 PM Bill: Hippies on steroids
William: yeah, they're the worst
9:38 PM Bill: But maybe you have to adjust your goals and expectations of what can be accomplished in a given period of time.
9:44 PM William: this doesn’t have much to do with my expectations I think they're sort of low its just some of the things they do are really bad and aren't hard to change
9:46 PM Bill: I understand that it can get to you
William: i mean of course
9:47 PM but whatever
I’m not even sure what I’m complaining about anymore
Bill: I guess I'm not helping much, sorry
William: no, its ok
9:48 PM you just need to vent sometime and not have your problems be explained or given solutions I remember one time during a trip to Manila I was sharing a room with my friend Shashank and this other guy Steve
9:49 PM Bill: You're right
William: and Shashank and i were kind of fed up with the Philippines and complaining about different cultural things and Steve was just disagreeing with everything we were saying and wasn't giving an inch it became a pretty intense discussion not because he didn’t agree with us
9:50 PM but because he disagreed with us when we were just trying to vent
9:51 PM Bill: Ok, I understand, no more feeble attempts at solutions just listening
William: right but I’m making things sound much worse than they are!
9:52 PM in more positive news
I’m starting to think about building the school's library and ways to get donated books from the u.s. and would appreciate any ideas. I’m already thinking of appealing to the Asia Foundation
Bill: I know
William: Einstein
American University
Boy Scouts of America
9:53 PM I'd appreciate any ideas you have
Bill: Maybe we ca do something with The Fiends of the library
William: oh! great idea
9:54 PM Bill: The books are probably the easy part of the problem - the shipping cost is the tough part
9:55 PM William: right, thats going to be very expensive
9:56 PM Bill: Maybe through the AP military system, I'll talk to Scott
William: oh wow thanks
Bill: Maybe Einstein would be interested in being a sister school
9:57 PM William: right, I would need to raise money for shipping in addition to books what courier did you use to ship my box?
9:58 PM Bill: You could set up exchanges and maybe one of their projects could be to raise funds for sending the books.
9:59 PM I used the post office; but there are alternatives. Also an eagle project might be about to help
William: oh great idea
10:00 PM Bill: Start small and go from there
10:01 PM I can talk to the shippers we do a lot of business with and see if they can help
10:02 PM Also ORBIS has a deal with FedEx maybe I can call in a favor
10:03 PM Think about the types of books
10:04 PM William: right
thanks so much
i think maybe
fiction and reference
well non-fiction too
10:05 PM mostly fiction
they have internet
Bill: But what about reading level
William: so have access to all sorts of reference material
right
I ideally want to make this library available to all but think young adult
and also high school level literature
10:06 PM Bill: What about audio books on cassette?
William: not really they wont listen I don’t think they have trouble making it all the way through a Justin Bieber song
Bill: Listening to stories in English could be a big help in teaching
10:07 PM Ok
!0:08 PM I'll make some calls
10:09 PM William: wow dad
i really appreciate it
10:10 PM Bill: Maybe one of the military guys0at CNAS could help to get the military to assist with transport
10:11 PM You might think about writing the people you know at CNAS and see what they think William: that’s a good idea
10:13 PM Bill: They all have high level connections and given the pr thrust of military relations and the high Muslim pop. of Palawan.
William: that’s a good point I'll see if i can track them down
10:14 PM Bill: And they know you, that's a big deal, they know what they do will not be a waste
Start with you old boss see if you can get her to talk it up
10:15 PM Write a blog about your idea for Tom Ricks
10:16 PM If he put it in as part of an apple that in itself could raise enough funds to get things going. Appeal not apple
10:17 PM Write to Nicholas Kristof at the WPost he's specializes in development issues10:18 PM William: oh good idea he's just the sort of bleeding heart i need
10:19 PM Bill: There are a few around
10:20 PM William: I just got Mike Sala to set up a book drive at Chinatown this is so easy! but the shipping will be very hard
10:21 PM Bill: Persistence will be the key
William: right
10:22 PM i have to go eat
very excited now though
love you
thank you
10:24 PM Bill: Love you too, I'm talking to AU see if they are interested in helping