tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57572222026-03-24T03:55:54.774-04:00The adventures of a science teacher in a small public middle school in the Bronx. Apologies to Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, creators of the <EM>Magic School Bus</EM> series and the original Ms. Frizzle.ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.comBlogger1316125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1158601362277077592006-09-18T13:40:00.000-04:002006-09-18T13:42:42.380-04:00

please visit Öğretmen.

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1151534790678738572006-06-28T18:30:00.000-04:002006-06-28T18:51:51.786-04:00

Student reflections...My favorite parts of science class this year was the experiments we did. Usually in science we just read from the textbook. In this science class we're hands on.Things that Ms. Frizzle did to help me were explaining the things I didn't get. When I needed something she got it. Gave me words to use.I wish Ms. Frizzle had a class of chemistry like when you mixe liquids and

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com90tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1151466950374870352006-06-27T23:40:00.000-04:002006-06-27T23:55:50.393-04:00

it's the end of a long day, and I need a few minutes to just sit on my bed and wind down. So I may as well write something. I'm still sick. But the fever is under control and the body aches are (mostly) gone and I know what it is and have Cipro to treat it, and so I was back at work today. I'm not sure if it was disorientation from having been in so much pain for four days and then

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1151248693478861472006-06-25T11:10:00.000-04:002006-06-25T12:31:58.996-04:00

1. I'm sick as a dog. It was over 90 degrees in our classrooms on Friday, so hot that no one believed me when I told them I thought I had a fever. Then I went home, lay down, took my temperature: 102.5. I've had to run around all weekend looking for an apartment. I missed the 8th grade graduation because the trains were all messed up and I was late to my first apartment visit earlier that

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1151013730120915962006-06-22T17:29:00.000-04:002006-06-22T18:05:51.063-04:00

There are a lot of ends in my life right now, and nearly all of them are loose.*****This is the first day in - I literally don't know how long - that I have been home before six on a weekday. Dinner has transformed from a meal often cooked at home to the question, Do I eat out the expensive way or the cheap way? And so, despite the 90 degree, you-can-nearly-swim-it's-so-humid weather, I think

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1150948923907985762006-06-21T23:58:00.000-04:002006-06-22T00:03:20.620-04:00

From Tom Brokaw's commencement address to the Stanford class of 2006:The memorable people for me represent that vast population of young and old of every hue and origin who gave up comforts and convention to answer their conscience, who are guided by their moral compass to difficult challenges and who are determined to make a difference. They lived in the real world and they took responsibility

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1150863232439370102006-06-21T00:03:00.000-04:002006-06-21T00:46:22.636-04:00

I've been in California at my brother's graduation from Stanford, where I had lunch by the bay with phc and met the cute, sleepy, and extremely easy-to-get-along-with Olivia. Graduation events with my family - my brother graduated with a major in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, a thesis about labor history at Stanford, and a minor in Spanish and might be going into teaching - and a

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1150161804135787522006-06-12T21:19:00.000-04:002006-06-12T21:38:42.576-04:00

Threadless shirts are cool but tend to shrink a little weird... but d*mn, do I wish I knew a geologist to buy this for. Especially 'cause it's only $10 right now. This one's pretty geeky fun, too. No, I don't know why I always like the brown ones best.

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1150058069293697842006-06-11T16:23:00.000-04:002006-06-11T16:34:29.356-04:00

My principal just forwarded me a link to this grant application: DCAT "Making a Difference" Award. It's for $2500 to expand a successful middle school science program. You have to describe your program and prove that it has been successful. I think it would be a relatively easy grant to write, and that we might have a shot at getting it. We have the test scores as a starting point for proving

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149953247496360522006-06-10T11:18:00.000-04:002006-06-10T12:37:46.430-04:00

The field trip went off... not without a hitch, because there were hitches (a few kids got seasick, some problems with the subway, etc.)... but really, really well. On the train downtown, one girl was already telling me this was the "best field trip ever." Uh-oh, I thought, those are some high expectations to live up to... But the trip was already exceeding my own expectations, because despite

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149818248646240982006-06-08T21:55:00.000-04:002006-06-08T22:04:43.426-04:00

The Bow Bridge, Central Park. I wandered through on my way from the Indian Consulate to the doctor's office today. I love the East Village, but I lived three blocks from the northern part of the park for three years, and it truly was the best backyard ever.

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149775772136111552006-06-08T10:06:00.000-04:002006-06-08T10:09:32.143-04:00

so, head over to his place for some news from the Colbert Report on the state of science education in the United States. (And at the start of the clip, it becomes clear that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could use a little timeline of technological history...). Oy.

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149774694220553292006-06-08T09:37:00.000-04:002006-06-08T09:53:41.523-04:00

This is how I imagine my attempts at Türkçe are going to go:Nasılsın? (How are you?)............(5 minutes later...)Az hastayım. (A little sick. This is why I'm home... the kids have the day off today, and I'm staying home to try to kick my bad cold before our sailing trip tomorrow.)Neredesin? (Where are you?)...okay, I'm at the train station......tiren istasyon......except that's a noun

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149645798428715042006-06-06T21:59:00.000-04:002006-06-06T22:04:00.543-04:00

I'm not feeling well and am immersed in finalizing the details of Friday's sailing field trip, but here's something I hope never happens on any of my trips...In other news, some of our seventh graders lit a book on fire in the classroom during social studies class. The teacher was in the doorway, speaking privately to another student. By "fire," I mean actual flames, not just a singed corner of

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149563317327688112006-06-05T23:06:00.000-04:002006-06-05T23:08:37.350-04:00

The closer we get to Friday, the-day-we-take-80-pre-adolescents-all-the-way-downtown-to-go-sailing, the worse the weather forecast. Cross everything you can cross, donate any weather karma you might have stashed somewhere, pray, do whatever it takes, but please, please make Friday sunny. Hell, I'd take misty or even partly cloudy. Just... no thunderstorms.

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149282863760404542006-06-02T16:46:00.000-04:002006-06-02T17:19:59.553-04:00

The stage in our building's auditorium is only a few feet off the ground, flanked by a blue curtain, with no backdrops of any kind. The words, "Anything Is Possible," are stenciled onto the back wall, white on black, and from nearly anywhere in the audience, you can see the door to backstage propped open with an orange traffic cone, our school aide sitting on a piano in the "wings," coaching the

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149280838253971752006-06-02T16:31:00.000-04:002006-06-02T17:15:31.676-04:00

Walking home through the East Village. Crossing the street against the light, a little old lady walks slowly, bent over her cane. A young guy on a bike comes screaming around the corner, just missing the little old lady and just making the light: Waaaaaaaaatcccccccchhhhhhhhh ooooooouuuuuuuuttttttt!!!!!!! A few minutes later, the sky goes yellow-green and opens up, raindrops the size of

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149202881980643482006-06-01T19:00:00.000-04:002006-06-01T19:38:11.666-04:00

I will send cheesy NYC postcards to two winners: one for the answer the most closely matches reality and one for the funniest/most creative answer:Say you're working at a supermarket check-out at 7 am on a Wednesday. A young woman unloads the following from her basket: a bottle of white vinegar, a box of sugar cubes, a box of super-fine sugar, 3 bottles of Pepsi (all the same size), a bottle of

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149202804866892952006-06-01T18:49:00.000-04:002006-06-01T19:17:27.703-04:00

I was walking home through Tompkins Square Park today and happened upon a small stage, like you'd set up at a small-town Fourth of July celebration, festooned with balloons that spelled out, "Kulpick* Wings Eating Contest." A small group of ordinary people stood directly in front of the stage, clapping raucously, yet oddly almost in rhythm, slightly too-smiling, it seemed to me. A couple of

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149200272755697392006-06-01T18:17:00.000-04:002006-06-01T18:42:03.286-04:00

I finally did my state-required two-hour violence prevention workshop, yesterday. Before you ask, no, I don't know how it took me this long to get around to it. It was... interesting.I had somehow acquired the misconception that this was going to be a workshop about preventing violence between students. Turns out, it was about preventing students from being violent towards me! I've never felt

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149118746719615982006-05-31T19:38:00.000-04:002006-05-31T19:39:06.740-04:00

Question: Why do icebergs float?Answer: So they can stay cool.

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1149035143652287052006-05-30T20:20:00.000-04:002006-05-30T22:05:28.850-04:00

plus $3.99 overnight shipping from Amazon.comto get that rate I had to sign up for a trial of something called "Amazon Prime" which I am quite likely to forget to cancel after my three months run out, but it was worth it, because damn it, I need a fan, this weekthe air conditioner, known as klima in Turkish, is a rare sight in the NYC public schoolstemperatures in the high 80's and higher

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1148948521238362632006-05-29T20:03:00.000-04:002006-05-29T21:25:22.740-04:00

I replied to the student whose email I quoted yesterday. Here is his response; doesn't it speak for itself?that is so awesome Istanbul? wow, that is really exciting we are very happy and excited for you(take me with you lol) ... i guess maybe you should learn some turkish i had a friend from north Cyprus and he spoke turkish. you prabably already know this but:Monhabat= hello (not sure if

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1148848181208522022006-05-28T16:23:00.000-04:002006-05-29T20:38:04.160-04:00

This is an excerpt from an email I received today, from a former student (both he and his twin brother were in our first class of students, and are high school freshmen now). They were always great kids, but there's something about this email that just sounds so mature:my brother and i have some exciting news. we both have been chosen along with about 18 other students from my school to go to

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5757222.post-1148527525353687552006-05-24T23:22:00.000-04:002006-05-24T23:34:56.916-04:00

There's no teacher in the room? Said with surprise. I'm doing my best to learn useful phrases. ö is said like an o with sort of pursed lips. ğ is silent, and stretches the vowel preceding it a bit.The rest of that sentence is pretty much the way it looks.English has so many words to say this! Türkçe only needs one!Um... maybe because that one word includes fifteen different suffixes added to

ms. v.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16032352563527935021noreply@blogger.com1