End of Fall Semester

This semester has been one of the hardest and fastest. Last semester was challenging physically because I had to start student teaching three weeks ahead of schedule. It was the first time I was in charge of a class and I was so nervous. This semester I did not do as much teaching, but I worked with a student in Scottsdale with reading once a week and another student in Kyrene with math, also once a week. I was placed in a first grade classroom for my interning at the same school I was at last semester. It has been fun seeing some of the kids I had last spring who are now in kindergarten. This semester I had to work harder in my classes, especially since I had dislocated my shoulder. I ended up being out of work for two months, but that extra time helped and proved beneficial in my studies.

Here are 2 stories about this semester:

While listening to a man give a presentation at ASU's Planetarium, he gave his theory on the stars, planets, and constellations. Basically he said that if you think of Orion as a goddess rather than a warrior, all the other constellations make sense. You have the bull which people say the warrior is hunting, yet in all the books and all the research he did, nothing said anything about Orion hunting. Then you have the dog, which people say is his hunting dog. The man’s theory is that Orion is a goddess who balances nature, which is why you have a bull, a sign of life, and a dog, said to be the dog that guards the gates of hell. Then on each side of the bull there are things about death and on each side of the dog there are things about life. Therefore making everything balanced. It was a very interesting lecture and he was a very interesting man; very knowledgeable.

Then he said that the nursery rhyme about Jack and Jill is really about the sun and the moon and their positions in the night sky during certain times of the year. He said that the sun and the moon are at their highest positions in the sky on June 21st, which is the first day of summer and when the monsoons come, which bring rain. So Jack and Jill go up the hill (sky), to fetch a pail of water (the monsoons), and then they fall down, which causes the rain to fall and the sun and the moon to be at their lowest in the sky by December 21st. He even had an explanation for Hans and Gretel. The main argument between the stepmother and the father was that there was not enough food to feed the children and so they had to leave, but the father kept saying that there were things out there in the world that could hurt them, or they could be eaten by a bear. The stepmother keeps saying that there is no food and the children have to leave. The witch’s house is actually from a story about a witch that would come outside if you called her name three times and then children were never to be seen again. The reason why they were never seen again is because she would take them inside and for three days and three nights she would fed them the knowledge they needed to know to make the transformation from a child to an adult. Therefore when they would leave they were adults ready to take their place in their community. The bones in the corner of her house were left by those who could not make the transformation, not because she ate them. So when Hans and Gretel came to this house in their story, and she tried to fatten them up, it was not to eat them; she was fattening them up with the knowledge they needed to know to become adults, and the stepmother knew this and that is why she said they had to leave despite the dangers they could have come across.

I was blown away by his lecture. We all pretty much left there speechless and wowed. He had this thing about the meaning of words too. He explained the reason why we have a month named March is because if you follow the root of it, it is the same root as the planet Mars, which can be seen at its best during the month of March. Also for the direction East, it comes from yeast which is put into bread to make it rise and therefore the sun rises in the East. He kind of reminded me of the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding with his “Give me a word…Any word and I will prove to you the root of that word is Greek.”

9/11 story:
This happened during one of my observation days in a fifth grade classroom.

As I was sitting there one morning, barely staying awake, a group of boys sitting at a cluster of tables near me quickly started whispering and turned their head towards one of the walls of the classroom. As I leaned to see what they were looking at, I could only see a wall filled with shelves and clock above them. When I looked back at the boys their heads were tilted down and their hats were off and hugged against their chests. They sat there silent for a minute and then as if time started over, they put their hats back on their heads and began working again. I leaned over to the boy closest to me and asked him why they took their hats off. He replied, “It was 9:11.” Curious, I thought I would play dumb and ask what that meant. He explained to me, “We did that because of 9/11. You know September 11th. That’s when the towers fell. So everyday we watch the clock and at 9:11 we take our hats off out of respect of those who died.” I nodded my head and the boy went back to work.

I thought this to be inspirational, especially during the holiday.

Finals:
I cannot express how happy I am that this semester is over. I got sick the day before my final and spent the whole day trying to get better. The morning of my final I was so tired that I could barely think and speak. I ended up being the last one to finish, and really did not finish completely. As I walked out to my car a wave of emotions hit me and I began to bawl so hard that I could not see. I was happy and sad, and well emotional. In the end after checking my grades everyday of the week to follow, I finally realized that I did better than I originally thought. Now all I have to do is survive Spring of 2009.