Rinnaldo

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:39:38 GMT

This is a best approximation, as this was from the other side of a divider wall.

Overheard as the kids in one of my groups were entering - from my coworker's group:

Kid1: *racist noises with accompanying hand gestures, from the sound* Woo woo woo! Look, I'm an Indian!
Kid2: That's not true. Indians don't sound like that. I'm an Indian, so I know.
Kid1: Nuh uh, I thought you were Navajo.
Coworker: Well, that's just one Indian tribe.
Kid1: *confused silence*

Uh... Gotta love the Southwest? Uh.. Or something?

'Along the Lines of' Professional

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:18 GMT

So, for the last week and for a bunch of times earlier this year, I've been subbing for various teachers in the LMB Room at Manaugh Elementary. That basically is reading intervention for kids who are waaaay behind their grade level in reading. Small groups of about five kids, for 45 minutes or so at a time - not too bad.

Anyway, I knew one of those teachers already through Josie, and the others got to know me a little bit. They kept requesting me because I've already learned the the fundamentals of what they do (last year and this year), and know the general tricks and the ideas to review during each group; and, importantly, how to improvise even when they need to me sub on no notice without a sub plan.

I gradually learned that while one of those reading intervention teachers is an actual, certified teacher, the others don't have teaching certificates (like me), and are classified as "Paraprofessionals."

Shortly before winter break, I learned that they were possibly looking to hire a new para-, and figured there was no reason I shouldn't apply. I quietly filled out the form online job form that lets you enter the system even if there's no job that you qualify for at the moment. The jobs I saw were not ones that matched what I'd heard about, but I figured, "what the hell - a job may open up and then I'll already be in the system as being interested."

For the past few days (I've subbed in that room all this week for three different people) the teachers in the LMB Room (stands for Lindamood Bell, after the women who founded the particular reading program that is used) kept saying that I'd be a good person to hire to fill in for this one woman whose job is changing because of a grant. She told me that she'd like me to be able to fill in for her the half-days she does LMB stuff, and maybe I could do something else for the second half of the day - like help out the others - if they could make it a full-time gig.

I soon found out that the specific area she covers falls into a category where you need a teaching cert. Oh well, it sounded like they might also be making another para- position, if the principal could find the grant money to fund it. It sounded unlikely.

The woman who is in charge of running the LMB Room said she'd mention me to the principal anyway, as someone who was interested, and that I should mention it to him also. The other day, I let him know that I'd be interested, should such a position open up.

Today, after school, the principal offered me a job. :) He managed to rework the position so that this one, which was meant to be a half-time certified teacher position is now a full-time paraprofessional position. So, once his recommendation and the paperwork and all go through, I shall have a new job. It is only funded through the end of this year, with no guarantees after that, but I'll take it! Anything's gonna pay more than subbing. Plus, benefits!

(Plus, I can continue to look for a job - museum-type in SF or whatever - without feeling bad, because I can always say my possible start date would be in June.)

Obama Elected!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:07:55 GMT

Holy fuck! We just elected the first black president! Yes!

Presidential Election '08

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:47:21 GMT

I voted for Obama today on my lunch break. Yay! Go, Obama!

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:10:07 GMT

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:30:54 GMT

Because I just got back from the dentist, and had an appointment approximately one month ago, as well - and for Julia, who's soon to get a root (which I believe she pronounces, "ruht") canal, here's my favorite performance by Steve Martin:

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:33:09 GMT

As I just posted in a comment on hellosarah's latest entry about her interview, I just got an interview! Yay!

Furthermore, it's with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. This seems like quite a feat to me, because I have applied to them for job after job since 2004, and this is the first I've heard from them (no rejection emails, no word whatsoever). That suggests to me that they like me, right off. Also, in the email, the person actually said they were "impressed by [my] qualifications." I am quite pleased.

Maybe Sarah and I can soon be paying exorbitant rent not too far from each other! :)

Here's the job post if you're curious.

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 03:25:53 GMT

I just got back from caucusing, and boy are my arms tired!

...Actually I only had to raise the one arm twice. But, whatever.

Caucusing was neat. People there actually had some well-thought-out things to say. I still wish I could have caucused for Edwards, but Obama will have to do.

My precinct: 61% Obama, 39% Clinton.

Snow Dog

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:22:49 GMT

We've got about a foot and half of snow on the ground, and Josie and I took Darwin out to play in it. We took some videos of him with our new camera. Have a look.

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:47:59 GMT

Gah! Another rejection. Granted, I wasn't totally stoked for this job, but.. eh, it's still disappointing. :(

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:56:53 GMT

You know that feeling when you've got a plumber drilling through your kitchen floor? It's a kind of whining in your ears that doesn't go away until there is a big enough gap to make a crawl space to try and fix the water heater. Yeah. I hate that feeling.

Also, when I first attempted to write plumber next to a phone number earlier, it came out "plummer." Thanks a lot, Julia!

When you dream, what do you dream about?

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:59:09 GMT

Here's a really interesting article about why we dream; postulating dreams are threat simulations that prepare us for real life.

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:04:12 GMT

Just had another phone interview. :)

This one was for this job at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. The job sounds pretty awesome, and in many regards is similar to my old job. Since the duties are all things that I've done before, I had a lot of good answers to give. I felt like it went really well. She asked if I'd be able to come out for an interview in person, and I told her that, actually, I was planning to be in the area in the next few weeks (Josie and I are taking a road trip out to SF, anyway - and this place is in Walnut Creek, a suburb of SF). So, we made a tentative agreement on the week, and I told her I'd call or email her when I work out the details. She said she'd like to be able to show me around the museum and introduce me to the education staff, etc. Yay! It's nice to feel like I've been invited out there, you know? :)

It's also nice to feel like my resume has some weight to it - the substitute teaching actually makes me feel like I come off as more well-rounded.

Anyway, good interview - afer several of my answers, I was thinking, Nailed it!; really nice interviewer (again); and lots of good vibes (again). Hopefully I'll actually nail the job down this time, though. :)

Articles

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:11:43 GMT

Two cool science articles for your perusing pleasure: The first about dinosaurs (of course), and the second about chimpanzees (who are essentially playing Brain Age, hehe).

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:02:20 GMT

Oh, and I just got back from the doctor. I do have bronchitis.

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:26:17 GMT

The interview was kind of a light pre-interview, I would say. The lady said she'd be passing on the notes from our interview to the director of ed. and if she's interested, she'll call me about a more thorough interview.

It sounds like the museum is small, not unlike the Exhibit Museum, and that their staff largely collaborates when designing new programs. Sounds nice, and sounds like the area is beautiful, but I'm not totally sold on whether or not I want to work there. Again, nice to be not so invested in a potential job sometimes. Oh, and the pay starts at a decent rate. A little above decent, actually, but not astronomical. [insert pun about whether or not Julia's pay is astronomical]

So anyway, that's that.

Back in the Saddle?

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:25:41 GMT

So, after the initial disappointment of not getting the last SF job, I updated my resume and Josie and I began job-searching anew. One of the jobs she found for me to apply to was the first one listed here (more specific info in pdf format here). It is weirdly surprising, because I only applied for it a few days ago - okay, I guess it was nearly a week ago - and I didn't really expect to hear anything. I got a stock, two-sentence response with "Thank you for your resume and your interest" and "We are reviewing resumes and will contact you soon if you are selected for an interview," but thought little of it. Today, I got an email from the same person asking to set up a phone interview. I called her and set it up for tomorrow afternoon.

Weird. I don't have a particular interest in Santa Barbara, except that it's in California and it's warm there. Whereas, I had a lot invested in the idea of going to San Francisco, so this is strange. We'll see if anything comes of it, I guess.

I wonder how much it pays...

Phone Interview

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:35:39 GMT

Just finished my phone interview with the director and assistant director of education at LHS. It went well. They will still be interviewing people for about two weeks, so I may not know much more until then.

The assistant director still seemed really positive about me and said that she'd been telling the director about me and our previous interview, etc. (She described it as "how good it was to meet me" or something to that effect, but I forget exactly what she said. Very positive, at any rate.) It sounds to me like she's really pulling for me. That's the same sense I got from her when I was there.

The director also seemed nice, and talking to her and answering her interview questions was fine. When I asked about the other people who are in similar positions to the one(s) they're considering me for, she mentioned that they come from a wide variety of backgrounds; some from purely teacher backgrounds, including specialists in pre-K, and others from purely scientific backgrounds (sounds cool to me, 'cos that's a good mix to have on staff). I was thinking while she said that, though, that I've had both (well, informal teaching + a bit of formal subbing, anyway), and I'm sure she realized it, too. That, and their general attitudes and responses make me think they want me to work there. Erica (the assistant director), also suggested that I peruse the web site to see more specific details of the programs that they offer and call or email her if I had any questions or saw something there that I were excited about, etc. So, that's yet another thing that, to me, hints at me getting this job... They also answered my questions about the pay and benefits and housing in the area very frankly and asked about how long, if I were offered the job, that I thought it would take me to start (in other words, to get housing, move, and start). I told them that, if necessary, I could do that in about two weeks. They were impressed with that, and I told them that I'd done it before in that time when my wife got her job here. It was painful, but could be done, and of course, more time would be preferable/easy, but, yeah, two weeks. So, take their asking that to mean what you will.

All in all, I'm pleased and hopeful.

And impatient. TWO WEEKS?!?!!! Argh.

Job Stuff

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:42:25 GMT

Subbing this week has gone really well. After having 7th graders full of suckitude last week, I was feeling like I didn't want to bother with this anymore. However, after having this pretty awesome group of kids (4th grade) this week, it almost makes me want to teach for real. Well, almost. I have them again tomorrow. When I came in this afternoon (only needed to teach PM today, for some reason), a bunch of the kids said something to the effect of "Yeah!" :) Also, at least one of them did the "Bump buh-da-bump bump" (the tune of "Shave and a haircut" that I do to get the kids' attention) right after that, hehe. It was sweet. I also heard some of the kids say randomly in the hallway (to other kids) that they like me. And, at the end of the day, one of the kids told me I was an "awesome teacher." Hee hee. :)

As for real jobs, I got an email just now from one of the people at LHS asking if I can do a phone (follow-up) interview on Thursday. Basically, the asst. director of ed. was taking me around when I was there, and the only person I didn't get to meet was the director. So, now I'm going to speak with her over the phone. The asst. dir. said this might be the case. So: Yay! One step closer... :)

career quiz

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:16:58 GMT

As seen on hellosarah and plummer's journals:

Go to www.careercruising.com.
Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
Take the 'Career Matchmaker' questions at the upper left corner
Post the top 10 results.

I must say, a lot of these are right on target. Ah, number 20, when will you finally happen? ;) Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't explicitly point out what came up at number 4. Weird, wild stuff.

1.High School Teacher
2.Elementary School Teacher
3.Early Childhood Educator
4.Taxidermist
5.Music Teacher / Instructor
6.Website Designer
7.Historian
8.Foreign Language Instructor
9.ESL Teacher
10.Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator

11.Fashion Designer
12.Computer Programmer
13.Computer Trainer
14.Ecologist
15.Set Designer
16.Costume Designer
17.Professor
18.Conservator
19.Physical Education Teacher
20.Video Game Developer
21.Teacher Assistant
22.Multimedia Developer
23.Veterinarian
24.Marine Biologist
25.Business Systems Analyst
26.Database Developer
27.Medical Illustrator
28.Web Developer
29.Special Education Teacher
30.Computer Support Person
31.Zoologist
32.Veterinary Technician
33.Archivist
34.Industrial Designer
35.Desktop Publisher
36.Computer Animator
37.Artist
38.Graphic Designer
39.Biologist
40.Interior Designer

Upon reflection...

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 06:42:36 GMT

I think that if my one and only day (so far) of subbing has taught me anything, it is to trust my own instincts. Instead of trying to stick so much to the lesson plan, I should have instead done what I'd normally do with a group I'd just met: introduce myself to them, and them to me, in a fun way (and, as a bonus, a way which happens to help me remember their names). Next, even before plunging into any of the assigned material, I should have taught them a group game - which does have some educational merit (the one I'm thinking of right now involves keeping track of counting - not bad for, in this case, 3rd graders). This would help endear me to them - kids love learning new games - and that will often translate to respect.

That's what I'd like to have done if I could replay the day and do it over again. Part of this was impossible though, because as soon as the day started, kids got into reading groups - meaning some left my room, others joined mine from other rooms - to do specific reading assignments in certain period of time before they went back to their own classrooms. So, I couldn't exactly abuse that time for fun introductions. That morning reading session was actually the best part of the day, despite one kid in the reading group (from another classroom) who was bouncing off the freaking walls. The kids did their assignment with little fuss, and mostly paid attention to my teaching. Then, after their recess or whatever break after that, I got to read the actual class some of Charlotte's Web. Not a bad way to continue, though they certainly could have been paying more attention. The rest of the day... Ugh. Not so much with the good...

Alas, I will instead have to remember it as a pretty terrible day of attempting to teach a group of 18 kids - at least four of which had ADD or special needs problems - largely unsuccessfully.

I had to gain and regain their attention, literally a dozen times or more over the course of the afternoon. When I did hold their attention, it was not for long, and they simply would NOT fucking listen to what I was teaching. Even when I was merely trying to engage them in conversation. Even when I used their teacher's own set of rewards and punishments, which they take quite seriously. I'm talking kids actually crawling around on the floor, and having to be told to return to their seats multiple times. Had I gone with my initial instincts instead of listening to their teacher's recommendations, I would have just sent the damn kids to the office instead of using their reward/punishment system which didn't seem to work without their teacher present. Had I sent the first misbehaving jerk kid to the office, it may have also instilled a sense of seriousness into the others. I definitely also waited too long to use their teacher's system, and that, I'm sure, did not help. I'm richer for the experience, of course, but god damn was it painful. Fucking terrible god damn kids. (Okay, there were like three really goods ones, but it's hard to focus on that when the rest of class is derailed.)

And, you know, it's not like this is the first time I've taught or anything. I've had much larger (and many times, older, and more into the rebellious phase) groups that I was able to teach successfully and happily. So... I figure it's not just me, as I'm fairly experienced with this sort of thing. Not exactly this setting, mind you. It was definitely partly my fault, but those kids were to blame for a lot of it, too. Next time, I'll need to be firmer and take less crap. Especially at the outset. Ugh. What a day.

Denied.

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 08:58:40 GMT

I have spent the last few months waiting to hear something final about the job at the museum at UC Berkeley. This included waiting for the contact person to get back from his three week vacation.

I'd received an email before he left for it, asking for my references, etc. So, after he'd been back for a week and I hadn't heard from him (and a few more days for good measure), I sent a polite, casual email just saying I wanted to touch base and see how far along they were in the selection process. He responded (after three anxiety-filled days) saying that they were still concluding interviews that week, and that they'd choose by the end of the next week. Sheesh.

So, I patiently - I am NOT a patient man, as many of you know. Waiting is something I freaking loathe - waited some more. The "selection" week went by and, no response. No call, no email. I thought they'd do one or the other even had I not been chosen, because of all of the previous contact. I waited another week before sending an email, just for the sake of not looking desperate (nevermind the obvious: I am desperate for a job). But since I still hadn't heard one way or the other, I sent said email, asking if the position had been filled and noting that I was still interested and that anything they could tell me would be helpful. That was Monday.

Today, Friday - I'm up late, so it's technically Saturday now, but you all know how time works* - I finally received this email:

Hi Ronnie,

My sincere apologies for taking so long to get back to you. We had made an offer to another applicant and were awaiting confirmation. That has now occurred. Even though we did not select you as our top candidate, you were definitely in the running. I really appreciate your interest.

*sigh*

Slightly less depressing is the fact that I fucking finally got my substitute teacher certification. It took them four months to process my god-damned fingerprints. Four months! What the fuck, Colorado Bureau of Investigation??! In March, I found out they were backed up to processing fingerprints from January. Anyway. I got my authorization, and that means I can substitute teach. The problem: school is currently out. I went and filled out all the paperwork at the administration building for the schools in the area, though. This was painfully the same as filling out forms for starting a real job, right down to the W2 and photocopying the social security card and weird unnecessary bureaucratic forms.

So anyhow, this means that if I still haven't found a job by late August, at least I'll have something to fall back on**. It gives one Peace of Mind***, I suppose. I feel a little more at ease knowing that I'll be able to do that, if nothing else comes along. At least, it feels better than Hopeless Bleak Despair****. Plus, formal teaching experience would be a bonus for the resume.

They said I'd definitely be busy once the school season starts, too, so that's something. I'll keep looking for a real job in the meantime, though. And Josie can keep enjoying her job and stop worrying (for the moment) about whether I'm gonna pack up and move and take the dog with me and how long she'd want to keep working here with us being apart, et cetera. ...At least until I get another interview. ;)

* "Time is an illusion. Lunch time, doubly so." - The Hitchhiker's Guide

** Get it? Fall back on. Late August? Start of the school year? Fall! It's a pun.

*** My next journal entry is likely going to be an in-depth evaluation of that phrase.

**** Hopeless bleak despair
It was always there
And then, one day, it disappeared
In a puff of smoke
In an unceremonious way
One day, it disappeared

Hopeless bleak despair

For years and years I wandered the earth
Until I died and went to hell
But my despair had ascended to heaven
That's how I finally got rid of it

- Hopeless Bleak Despair, They Might Be Giants

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 06:57:47 GMT

You are a
Social Liberal
(76% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(16% permissive)

You are best described as a:

(16e/76s)

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

</lj>

Mon, 21 May 2007 19:24:29 GMT

This is awesome. It's a slew of Disney clips spliced together to explain (while mocking) Fair Use. What a great idea!

Wed, 02 May 2007 07:16:40 GMT

Apparently, deprivation of oxygen isn't necessarily what kills cells after 4 to 5 minutes. Cells can live for hours after the heart stops pumping, but resuming the flow of oxygen to those cells after they've been deprived for more than a few minutes is what kills them. Neato.