2ndclepunkbuddha

I was given my assignment for Practicum, a middle school in Northeast Ohio (whose name and location I will not reveal because I AIN'T CRAZY!).  A language arts class with 7th graders.  It's been rather stressful, but I did not expect this to be easy.  One cannot expect 7th graders to be easy, as their hormones are raging and their brains are still developing and their synaptic pruning processes are still going on (or whatever they told us in adolescent psych).  But still, when I was asked as to why it is that I wanted to be with this age group, I think it was because I am concerned about their emotional growth as well as their academic.  This is where we begin as adults, because it was where I began as an adult.  Challenging?  Of course it is.  But, if you don't want to accept certain challenges in life, then you may as well just give up completely.  I cannot help but think of a very depressing conversation I had with someone years ago who wa...

Today I returned to CSU for their Practicum orientation.  My name did not appear on the registration forms.  Every time I tried calling the Office of Field Services, I got a snarky response from the receptionist or was forwarded to a voice mail message that no one returned.  But I wrote my name by hand on the attendance forms.  I was going to be informed of the assignment via email, but I never got that in my regular email.  When I checked my CSU email (that I get general information, like about parking and the opening of the new coffee shops on campus), I had not received a new one since 2010.  Even in the future nothing works.  Ha ha ha ... The purpose of today was two fold: to get the assignment (wherever that may be), and to go through some safety lectures.  My assignment was given to me (but I will not reveal the location publicly here, I will simply refer to it as Middle School A) and the grades I will be with (6th, 7th and 8th graders, bo...

In continuation with the previous blog posts on a new outlook and attitude, they are many adjustments that need to be made.  There seem to be two types of people in the world : those who are allowed to do and say whatever they want and expect others to bow down before them, and those who are not allowed to do said things.  Which category am I in?  The first, not the second.  The reason that I am in the first is that when I talk to people (either face to face or on the phone), I am perceived as having an above average intelligence.  Is that the only factor?  Yes, it is.  Once another senses that they are talking to an intelligent being, they believe that you are not allowed to do and say what you want.  They even like to abuse you because they think that they can get away with abusing a person who has intelligence, verbally or physically.  Hence if you fall into the second category, the one who is allowed to do and say anything they want, you ...