ang mga isip ko

Monday, January 31, 2005

Partly cloudy

until the weekend. That means shades of blue will herald over us all week! woohoo :)

This morning, one my students inquired about my weekend. After a bit of reflection, I smiled and responded, "Great. Really great, thank you."

For indeed the weekend was great. It was a weekend of family and friends.

Thursday night, we visited our friends Rich and Tracey, who gave birth to their second child, Emma Fernandez.

Friday, I spent the day with Isaac as Tina went out to Appleone for a bit of job hunting. I had a ball hanging out with the little guy. I gave him a bath, played with him, put him down for a feeding and a nap, played with him some more, and took him out to Border's book store. Meanwhile, Mommy came home with a job! I'll let her elaborate on all of that.

Friday night was rondalla night. So once again I spent time with Likha family.

On Saturday, I helped my cousin move from San Jose into a new condo in Dublin. That was a cool family affair, with four or five families helping. It was very bayanihan! We hauled enough furniture and boxes to fill up two 14' Uhaul trucks.

Saturday night, we slept over at my sister's place in Mountain house. My parent's slept over as well, so we had a bit of a camp out. My pops brought a big bottle of wine and some pulutan (corn chips and peanuts).

Sunday morning, my parents got up early to cook us some tosilog. yuummmmy! We then drove back home, where I had a few hours to kill before Likha practice. So, I used that time to pull weeds in the front yard. It was a little tough at first, but then I really started getting into it. Bluebird skies, crisp morning air, the smell of rich, moist soil...gardening in the morning is almost meditative.

After Likha practice, we ate with a few friends at Red Robin near Tanforan Shopping Center.

As busy as we were this weekend, what made it ten times better was spending it with Mrs. Cruz. thanks babe ;)

Read more!

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Hardball

Life isn't "black or white". As much as I would like to narrow down opinions or decisions to two sides, I usually find that there's often a (or even many) gray areas in between the two sides. Yesterday, a former student came in pleading that I change her grade from an F to a D. She's taking the class over again this semester, but is afraid that her grade from last semester will affect her current applications for financial aid and scholarships. She argued that a D would be less detrimental to her chances with these applications. She understands that she didn't do well (though I know that she put in a valient effort) and that is why she wants to take the class again. But argue as she might, I told her that I wouldn't change her grade.

But it wasn't an easy decision for me. My ultimate goal is to push forth students who understand the material. So, I try to maintain high expectations coupled with a teaching ethic that says students get what they earn. So going by the traditional 100-90 is an A, 89-80 is a B, etc, my student earned an overall 57%. This falls below the 60% mark and thus is an F. So that's why I stuck to my guns.

Yet, I must confess that this situation has me revisiting the concept of grades. Really, what is the difference between a D and an F? Both mean you didn't earn enough to for a C or Satisfactory grade. I suppose I can argue that F means you showed very little or practically no clue as to what was going on. Whereas a D means you showed some clue, but not enough for a Satisfactory. Well if that's the case, then where does this student fall? Well, sometimes she showed no clue, but sometimes she did show some comprehension. I guess that's why her grade came "close" to a D. (some students had a really really strong F which I have no doubts about)

But when it comes down to affecting peoples ability to pay for school, which means access to education, is that difference between a D and an F really that important?

Read more!

Monday, January 24, 2005

Monday Update

Family and Home
Tina, Isaac, and I spent the weekend mall hopping. We had a few gift cards that we wanted to use up and took advantage of the sunny weather to do so. We started off at Valley Fair and Santana Row on Friday. We had a Container Store gift card and walked the aisles to decide what to get. The Container Store is a bit over-priced, but if you're a gadget person, you'll enjoy all the different gadgets. There were a few things that we liked, but we didn't have the necessary measurements. So, we decided to come back on Saturday after getting the measurements at home.

On Saturday, we once again hit up the Container Store at Santana Row and ended up buying a few different items, including a few slide-out baskets for our cabinets. We have deep cabinets in the kitchen, and it can be a pain to pull out pots and pans just to get to a something in the back. The slide-out basket gives us a nice drawer-type system in the cabinets.

The house itself is coming along. We're still living in the Bonus Room, waiting for ur carpet to come in. We should pick that out this week cuz I'm itchin to move into the master bedroom.

LIKHA
On Sunday, we trekked out to SF State to audition for the Ethnic Dance Festival. We've been fortunate to have been chosen the past few years. Hopefully the trend sticks! This was the very first year that we tried out using string pieces. We performed Paseo and Jota Manilena. All prior auditions were percussion pieces. I think we have a good shot at getting it.

At the end of rehearsal yesterday, Kuya Rudi announced some of our upcoming gigs. It's going to be a busy busy year!

Major Shows
Contra Costa College in April
Canada in June
Brazil in August
Winter show in December

Side gigs
There are always pending side gigs, including a PCN in the works.

It doesn't look like too much, but given that we only rehearse dance on Sundays, it's going to be a tight season. Add to that all of the music rehearsals that musicians committ too and we get a busy busy season.

Work
Work is going great. I still enjoy and look forward to working with the students at Contra Costa College. The diversity of students here makes teaching each class a unique experience. Last semester, one of my intermediate algebra students was highly visually impaired. Imagine trying to learn math when you can't see the board! I put in extra effort to make sure that my statements were clear and concise, without using too many pronouns. I repeated everything that I wrote on the board, twice. I preprinted my lecture examples in large type (48pt) for her to refer to. Having her in my class really made me a better teacher. How exciting too that she consistently kept the highest grade in the class all semester! The human spirit can be so strong.

I found out today that she wrote a letter to the college president commending me on my teaching and requesting that I be recognized as an exemplary teacher. She also gave me a $20 gift certificate to the movies for Tina and I (after I submitted grades of course!) But of course, the real gift for me is seeing her enjoy and excel at what I was teaching.

Read more!

Friday, January 07, 2005

The New Year

It's a new year. I have't blogged since last month (or "last year" for you glass half empty folks.) The holidays have been good. My best gift was great quality time with Tina and Isaac. We spent about 2.5 weeks in Canada visiting Tina's family and friends.

The next few days are gonna be busy as I try to take care of some home projects before work begins next week. On my to do list are:

Finish painting the master bedroom.
Clean out the garage.
Install new floorboards into the master.
Pick and arrange installation of new flooring for the upstairs.

Read more!