200 pounds of beauty

Through the urging of my good friend Shella, I watched this film in Youtube.

This film is about a woman who went through plastic surgery. I was skeptical at first as I didn't know what the movie was trying to do. Is it trying to denounce or advocate cosmetic surgery? By the looks of the girl in the fatsuit, she wans't happy and through a series of events, she was able to undergo the procedures.

It talked about ideas of beauty and identity. Is beauty involves only having a pretty face and body? They seem to take this issue in a nonjudgemental way, which is not what I expect.

The ending was good too, the girl didn't get the guy, but it was in her own terms. It's still not clear if the guy loved her when she was fat, but it seemed like he did care.

At the end I think this movie is saying it's OK to have cosmetic surgery as long one is open about it doesn't claim to be naturally endowed.

Watch it if you are into Korean films.

Polaris Pax Deux

(This is not the Polaris. This is Shia Lebeouf, a talented actor.)


Four years ago I had a dream about a guy I’d like to call the Polaris. In this dream I found myself in a situation, that lead to a bizarre meeting where I felt like I joined “The Bachelor Show” and he was the Bachelor. At the end of the dream I was on the phone with a close friend demanding her to tell me who signed me up in the ridiculous show. She said I shouldn’t get mad because it was the current trend for men of his status, and I was already included in top three finalists. Even on that dream I did not have any interest in participating in such a weird dating game.
Who is this Polaris, you might ask. I had a crush on him when I was eleven years old. It was with him that I first started to rationalize my infatuations. Before I met him, I used to like boys based solely on their attractiveness; I was too shy to get to know them and to even come near them. When I met Polaris I instantly like him, but I also decided it’s better if I know why.
He is the first minister’s kid whom I’ve met who is the same ages as me. He is friendly, calls everyone older than him “kuya” and “Ate”, looks after his younger siblings and hold doors open for women. They were in our locale during a drought and he still brought cold water out for us kids right after our choir practice. I think those are the reasons I liked him, because he is a nice person and it showed in his actions and demeanor.
I remembered the time I asked him to fill out my autograph book. It was one of those small notebooks that only asked for Name, phone, address, favorite food, sports, likes and dislikes. I think I was afraid that if he filled out one that asked for his crush or love, it would not be me, because even at that time I was very sensitive about rejection. He filled it out after 10 minutes and even though I’ve since burned that autograph book along with other relics of my childhood, I can still remember that his favorite food was spaghetti and fried chicken, his favorite sport is basketball and he was born seven months before me. I can still remember how that little note with his handwriting made me feel butterflies in my stomach every time I read it.
When they transferred I thought I’d never see him again but I did, because we went to the same high school, although we were never classmates. I still admired him from a far even though up close I was borderline rude and uncouth. Yet he went out of his way to say hello to me, ask me how I was doing wedged in between the bushes near Aydes Eatery. Somehow he must have realized I often stalked him, but he is such a nice guy that he never told me in my face how creepy I was.
I only wish that in the seventeen years I've known him, I took the chance to know him as a person. He was always this larger than life ideal, statuesque entity whom I admired and feared at the same time. Which is silly because he wasn't really a celebrity, we went to the same school, ate at the same cafeteria (although different schedules), had the same teachers and knew the same people. I think maybe, because I idealized him so much, I was content with looking at him and admiring him from afar. Maybe I was afraid that if I talked to him more and I discovered more things about him, he would cease to be the ideal man. In this way I think I have succeeded, as my image of him remains as untainted and pristine as it was seventeen years ago.
This is why I never considered him as my first love. I admired him from afar and what I felt for him may just as well be what I felt for Matt Damon or Joseph Gordon Levitt. I was just his fan, happy to bask in his glorious awesomeness once in a while, happy to find out that he still knows me after not seeing each other for the past ten years. I said I wish I knew him as a person, yet I wonder, if given a chance, if I would have done things differently.

[500] Days of Summer

I really liked the movie, I don’t care what critics say about their “lack of Chemistry”. It’s supposed to be like that, geez, did they really watch the films they reviewed in its entirety?
I really don’t know how to categorize this movie. I don’t think it’s a romantic-comedy, it’s a coming of age, tragic, comedy. It is told in a non-linear fashion which challenges the idea on how stories need to be told. It is about a relationship that didn’t work. And the interesting thing is that most people I’ve polled identified with Tom’s character, even the ones who are have obviously pulled a “summer”. The reason for this, in my humble opinion, is that we remember the times our heart were broken and we try to forget the times we broke other people’s hearts. Sometimes we even break hearts without even knowing it.
Another aspect of this film I enjoyed is the architecture. It showcased Los Angeles is a different light. When I think of L.A. visions of Disneyland and the Chinese Theatre comes to my mind and not the buildings, park, and streets that I saw in the film. This is very refreshing and it made a little sad to find out that they considered San Francisco first for the movie. The change was probably made due to the increasingly unfavorable regulations in filming in the city.
If you have a heart, I think you should watch this film

Happy Fathers’ Day!

Most people know my father as “Ka Gideon” the choir organist and teacher who makes them laugh with his comments and frequent references to basketball when trying to teach ideas about singing. At work he is the funny accountant who greets you with, “I have been waiting for you all day!”, always ready to help and solve problems whatever they may be. But to me, he is Papa, my father, friend and hero.
This weekend marks my father’s 29th Father’s Day celebration as well as his 56th birthday. I have to say that if there are awards for best fathers, my father should win a prize. He has always been there for my brother and me, even though he had to work abroad for many years. He always called us, brought us treats and worry about us incessantly, even until now that my brother and I are in our twenties.
When I was a child, I look forward to Saturdays nights because it was the only time we were allowed to eat in the living room because my mother would be in meetings at Church. My brother and I would take our baths at around seven in the evening, while my father cooked dinner. Then I would get our make-shift table, set it in front of the TV, and eat with him and brother while watching reruns of A-team and McGuyver. I remember pretending to sleep on the sofa so that my father would carry me to my bed. On Sunday afternoons I would read with him before we take our nap or sometimes I would braid his short hair and clasp them with my small colorful clips, then laugh about it when he wakes up.
My mother taught me how to read but my father introduced me to the joys of language. My earliest memories included reciting and guessing riddles with him even before I was old enough to go to school. Syntax and Semantics to us are an endless source of laughter and amusement. He introduced me to Reader’s Digest which we subscribe to until now. I fell in love with the solar system at age seven through the colorful pictures and descriptions we read together at night. He showed me the map of the world, the globe, and the Atlas and told me about places my grandfather visited in his voyages as a crew in a ship. I loved those maps too, and the thought of many different people and places to see in the future. I was amazed to learn that there are so many different languages and someday I might learn another one aside from Tagalog and English.
My father is my source of strength and inspiration. When I decided to go back to college and become a teacher, he gave me his full support and told me that I should pursue a career that would make me happy. This year when I panicked about my papers and doubted my ability to teach, he is the first person I called and he would always tell me to pray and lay all my cares to God. When I got into an accident, I was afraid he would scold me but what I heard was his genuine care and concern and thankfulness that I was not hurt.
Papa, thank you for everything. The best compliment I got from you was when you told me you are lucky to have a daughter like me. Actually I don’t feel worthy, because in my eyes, I am the lucky one.

An 8 year old's philosphical argument

"I am Superman, I am Spiderman. I like Chicken Nuggets."

I took a picture of this while the students were reviewing for their CSTs. They had to stay on Mondays and Wednesdays to review until 4pm for six weeks. Here is result of the boredom of an eight-year-old. You just had to meet this kid to understand how profound this is.
I miss them already!

Five Good Ideas – What, Why, and How

Five Good Ideas – What, Why, and How
1. Using movies in the classroom – I believe this is a good idea to incorporate in the classroom, because students watch T.V. and movies all the time. This would be a great way to use something familiar as a vehicle for learning. This would encourage them to step out of their usual viewing schedule, and possibly enjoy educational shows and movies. I believe historical films will benefit the students who have difficulty with reading, as it will give them access to the content without the agony of reading several pages from the textbook. Using clips and parts of a movie to clarify ideas that the students read about in their research or textbook will also be beneficial in their learning. When I have my own classroom I will make sure to use appropriate film clips that would help the students watch access the content that I am teaching, not only in Social Studies but also in other subjects. I have tried this with my second graders during the birthday of Cesar Chavez. I showed them a cartoon video from Brainpop.com that talked about the life of Cesar Chavez. I also invited the second graders in another classroom to watch the cartoon video. I believe this helped my students understand the importance of the efforts of Cesar Chavez although we have talked about it in previous lessons.
2. Pictures and Art as a vehicle for a conversation about history – This idea reminds me of a friend’s thesis on using posters to help in learning languages. I think using paintings and pictures in the classroom is important in Social Studies too because elementary students can really benefit from visual representations. Professor Mitchell suggested that we should show the picture in the projector so that everyone can see it, as well as provide each student, pair or group with an eight by eleven size copy of what we are trying to analyze. This is a great way of developing art appreciation with the students as well. Another good idea that Professor Mitchell told us is to divide the picture in segments. I took pictures of Anton Refreiger’s paintings of the History of California at the Rincon Annex in San Francisco and when I have my own classroom, I will find a way to show this to the students because his pictures show a different view of California History. I think comparing pictures with the same or similar title is another good idea to show the students and teach them about different perspectives. Textbooks often show only one narrative or view of what happened. I believe if the students are allowed to see another perspective, they will have a richer understanding of history.
3. Using stories,plays, readers’ theatre, and anecdotes – What is a story? We are the story we tell ourselves, according to Shekhar Kapur in 2009 at TED India. Shekhar Kapur is a movie director from India/Pakistan. He directed the movie Elizabeth and in his Ted talk he explained how one scene tells the story in different levels. Stories are powerful vehicles that inform as well as inspire the reader or listeners. It gives hope and examples for people to emulate or avoid. I really believe this and I’ve experienced it when I was writing my story for our Writers’ Workshop in Language Arts Methods class, because no matter how fictionalize I try to make my stories, I can’t take pieces of myself out of it. I think telling stories and anecdotes to students is something we cannot avoid to do. In the context of Social Studies, the issue is making the stories meaningful and rich that the students are not only getting the content of knowing what happened and when, but also why it happened and what are results of those events that can even go as far as the effects on our lives now. The play that we read together in class is great because the students are not only listening to the story, they are also telling the story. To be able to act or read fluently the students must understand why the characters act or say the things they do. In this way they are not only learning about history, they are also practicing how to speak clearly and expressively. I hope that I will be able to write something like that for my students too.
4. Playing catch with an Inflatable globe – I like the idea of getting an inflatable globe and throwing it across the room and asking questions to the student who catches it. For my second graders, I will first ask them of their right or left hand touches a body of water or body of land. Before this activity I will review first how to know which is land or water. Then the following day we do this, I will tell them about the continents and then they should be able to tell me which continent their hand is on. I like the idea of this activity being a form of assessment as well as a rainy day game. For older students, I can even ask them which country their thumb falls on and which capital if we have studied it already. I think this activity is very flexible and can be used from Kinder to high school.
5. A tour – I have always enjoyed going on tours of places that are close by. I think this is a cheaper alternative to fieldtrips. There is something about touring a familiar place and having someone explain how things are built and why. These days it gets harder to go to historical places and museums because of budget constraints. I think as teachers we need to be more creative in showing to our students that history is everywhere. There are times when I doubt if my students will appreciate touring a nearby place, yet when I watch them during recess, they make up stories about the school or a house close to the school. They have theories on how and why those buildings or houses are built, so it is natural and only fitting to take them on tours because most of them would enjoy it and benefit from it.

Illustrations in Children's Books: Useful or Harmful?

A great number of what we call "Children's Books" contains illustrations. It is preferred by children and adults because the pictures attract the children and it has been proven that to keep their attention in the story.
There are some theories that support the usefulness of Illustrations in Children's books. Some suggest that pictures make the reader more interested in the book because it is more attractive, some say that the pictures enhance memory and comprehension, and others say that Children are more engaged with the material because it allows them to interact with it through hearing and seeing.
In a study conducted in 2000 on K-3 students, researchers, Andrews, Schariff, and Moses found out that pictures or illustrations can enhance the comprehension of the story. Their data also shows that pictures or illustrations are very useful when presenting children with a new story and it can influence a child's approach to the book. Children's response to pictures or illustration is something that should be noted by Publishers when choosing illustrations for textbooks and even story books.
There are also some theories that suggest illustrations are harmful for children in understanding the stories. In Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment, he criticizes the use of illustrations in fairytales because "the illustrations direct the child's imagination away from how [a child], on his own, would experience the story." (Bettelheim, p.60) He further asserts that the child is "robbed" of the opportunity to imagine the landscape and the situations himself because the illustrations had done it for him.
Another issue about pictures in books is that it could perpetuate stereotypes and tokenism. In most children's illustrated books, the characters are usually white Caucasian with blonde hair and the villains are ugly and deformed. Children of a different race or color may feel that they cannot identify with the main characters of the stories and thus feel left out or undesirable. A certain group of people are sometimes portrayed as inferior, and the risk that it could affect a child's confidence if he or she is a member of that group. This could specially be the case for African Americans, American Indians and other minority groups. There are very strong evidence that the illustrators’ biases and opinions could be picked up by the child and influence his or her sense of who he or she is.
I believe that Illustrations are very useful in telling stories to children. Because it catches their attention and it helps with figures and concepts that they may not be familiar to them. Children's imagination can still flourish if they are told these stories using illustrated books, because stories, such as fairytales are imaginative in themselves and provide plenty of room for a child to imagine many things. There are many new illustrated books emerging that are sensitive to the physical, cultural and developmental differences of children. I believe that it is the parent or educator's responsibility to be sensitive in choosing illustrated books for children so that it only enhances their learning experience.

References
Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The meaning and Importance of Fairytales, (Knopf,1975)
Jamye Andrews, Lauren Scharff and Laurie Moses, "The influence of Illustration in Children's Storybooks", American Journal of Psychological Research (2002) P. 323-339
In Time, Evaluating Children's Books for Bias
www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/children.htm

Lesson Plan: Writing a Thank You Letter

Enduring understanding:
Students learn how to write at thank you letter.

Content Standards that are the target of Student Learning
(list the complete text of the relevant parts of each standard)
Language Arts
1.2 Create readable documents with legible handwriting.
2.2 Write a friendly letter complete with the date, salutation, body, closing, and signature.

Learning Objectives (both content and language)
By the end of this lesson, students will be able reflect on the efforts of their Teacher to ensure that they receive the good education in second grade.

Procedure
Gather the students to the carpet.
Tell the students that we are going to write a thank you letter to Your Classroom Teacher.
(Mrs._____ is currently on Maternity Leave)
Ask students, “What are the things that Mrs. ____ taught us”?
Gather up their ideas on the white board.
After 5-7 ideas, explain to them that they will have to write a letter to Mrs. ____
Provide an example letter on butcher paper.
Explain to the students that we will write this letter first as a draft, then after I edit with them they will write this letter in a stationary or letter writing paper.

Refresh the students’ memory about letter writing by writing own thank you letter to Mrs.____. Ask the students if they remember the parts of a letter and call on those who raise their hands. Emphasize the parts of the letters: Date, Greeting, Body, Closing and Signature.

Remind the students about capitalization and abbreviation refer to the chart they have created a few weeks ago.

Formal and Informal Assessments:
As the students are writing, walk around and guide them as they write the letters.

Instructional Strategies and learning tasks to support Student learning (what you and the students will be doing)
The students will be working on their drafts in their writing journals. Then I will walk around the classroom conferencing with them.

Assessment:
3 – Student was able to recall specific lessons they learned. They will also recall past events in the classroom that were particularly enjoyable for them.
Remembered the parts of a thank you letter. Used appropriate opening and closing remarks, used the proper capitalization and abbreviation rules.
2 – Able to recall details from their year with Mrs. ____. Used incorrect capitalization and did not use the proper capitalization rules.
1- Did not attempt tasks. Details recalled were inappropriate.

Change...is good!

I've been thinking about change these past few weeks based on conversations I've had with the Rat, which should not be confused with a character in Haruki Murakami's novel, A Wild Sheep Chase. He made me think about change in a deeper level, not just identifying what needs to be changed or how to change them, but also why I should change them.

I was complaining to him as usual about how I am always the one organizing to get together with friends always the one who calls someone to hang out. Which is probably not entirely true but at that point it's how I felt. In a dramatic statement I told him I will have to change this and see how much they all miss me when I stop calling.

He told me I was wrong and that I shouldn't change that about me because it's part of who I am and it's not a bad thing. Although he didn't say it, and we didn't expound on it anymore, I extended this idea to other things that makes me, well, me. If I change aspects of myself, would it make a better me, or a lesser me?

This became my guiding principle in making changes. Will this enrich my way of life? I decided to start with my writing, which eventually spills on this blog.

I decided to write more and edit things I've written that I thought could be better. Which meant that those labeled "fiction" might be deleted or overhauled and reposted. I might even translate the tagalog blogs to enrich my language switching abilities. Whatever catches my fancy.

You may have noticed some lesson plans. They are modified to fit the classrooms I've taught in the past two years. I'm going to post more soon. I just felt like I've been holed up in the comfort of my classmates, colleagues, teachers and students that I neglected to share bits of myself and what I've learned. The past school year was a whirlwind, enriching CRAzy experience.

I will continue to post things that interest me: quotes, pictures, videos, songs, poetry, stories, reviews and of course thoughts about LOVE and it's many manifestations.

With that I leave you an "Updated Version of Me" by KC Concepcion. After all, there is a song for my every move:-)

Two Sufi Prayers

Inspirer of my mind

Inspirer of my mind, consoler of my heart,
healer of my spirit,
Thy presence lifteth me from earth to heaven,
Thy words flow as the sacred river,
Thy thought riseth as a divine spring,
Thy tender feelings waken sympathy in my heart.
Beloved Teacher, Thy very being is forgiveness.
The clouds of doubt and fear
are scattered by Thy piercing glance.
All ignorance vanishes in Thy illuminating presence.
A new hope is born in my heart
by breathing Thy peaceful atmosphere.
O inspiring Guide through life’s puzzling ways,
in Thee I feel abundance of blessing.
Amen.

Prayer for Peace
Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting,
that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act,
and speak harmoniously.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may be contented
and thankful for Thy bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife
we may enjoy thy bliss.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all,
tolerate all in the thought of thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that our lives may become a
divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish. Send Thy peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we
Thy children on earth may all unite in one family.
Amen.

Dangerously Irrelevant

Our intelligence tends to produce technological and social change at a rate faster than our institutions and emotions can cope with. . . . We therefore find ourselves continually trying to accommodate new realities within inappropriate existing institutions, and trying to think about those new realities in traditional but sometimes dangerously irrelevant terms. (Dyer, War: The Lethal Custom, p. 441)

Changing how we teach Math Problem Solving according to Dan Meyer

Math Hurdles (and possible solutions)

1. lack of initiative (use multimedia)
2. lack of perseverance (encourage student intuition)
3. lack of retention (ask the shortest question you can)
4. aversion to word problems (let students build the problem)
5 eagerness for formula (be less helpful)

6 phases of a Project

1. Enthusiasm
2. Dissillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the Guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Praise and Honors for the Non Participants

Funny how this list was found in an office full of software engineers and I still find it relevant to CRA.