Tracey...and anyone else who wants to talk about teaching and teachers...

[Ramon de Ramon y Ramon]

Originally posted by Moni: I did not think you remembered me because you said, "i don't really know anything about you - but you seem to be a nice lady. fill me in!" I am not going into a counseling role for teenagers. That is the only role I would be able to handle with them. Sorry for that misunderstanding! I am hoping to become qualified for grades K-3, youngsters aged 5-8. As well as I get on with teenagers in the general public, I am not sure I would fare so well in a role as their teacher, being so little and all...most 12 year olds are bigger than me. My own son wanted to join the military from the time he was thirteen until the day before they were to ship him off to basic training at age 18. Who knows what changed his mind but if your son does become a policeman, I certainly hope he never has to haul his mother in! I think teaching would be a valuable experience for you and your students! Who knows, it just might be something you decide you want to stick with after you get a taste of what it is like. I am drawn to problem children myself. Having been one, I think I can relate to what kids have to deal with, even though everyone's personal situation is different. I can definitely relate to being written off as "bad" and "stupid" as a kid...I had one of the worst mothers on the planet and still can't relate to her on a friendly basis since she lives to produce hate in everyone she has contact with (some people are just evil). I do feel that I have a lot to offer in positive ways on a personal level with kids who have a hard time at home and allow it to disrupt their learning process. I was good at it as a kid, even though I never applied that knowledge to myself and eventually failed through a lack of desire to participate any more. I dropped out at age 17 and ran away from home but I returned to school, got a diploma and went on to college, where I excelled in the courses I took. I know even more now so I think I'll do well. Teaching such young children, I probably won't find myself in too many situations where I'll have to be overly stern which comforts me since I don't like conflict, esp with children, not to mention it makes my heart hurt (physically) and expends more energy than I can replenish in a short period of time. Tomorrow morning I am checking in for books and schedules so I imagine it will be fairly soon that my time will be consumed by study and my desire to succeed. Hugs, Moni

Nosiness alarm, Moni ! So, I'd certainly understand if you didn't answer the following: As firstly a while back you told us your age - I am gentleman enough not to tell it here - and as, secondly, one can easily derive from the above that your son is already a young grown-up man by now, anyone can easily conclude that you once must have been a teenage-mom. That must have been very difficult to deal with. Would you be ready to tell me/us about that experience ? See, I am 29 now, but still feel so immature and hardly able to look after myself that only the thought of having to take care of a baby scares me to death. Obviously then the notion that I'd have had to do that ten or even more years ago is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Teenage pregnancies are also generally much less frequent here than in the US. A very good friend told me last week that she is pregnant, but she will be the first of all the people of about my age group in my closer circle of friends and acquaintances who will have a child.

As I have already stated above I'd certainly understand if you refused to relate such personal matters from your past.


BTW, as I am just a big kid, wouldn't you want to, uh, "teach" me ?

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So long !

R³ - proud to be the official spokesman for the most noble Lady Bilqis, Desert Rose of Ironworks

Btw, the cow is queuing in the slaughterhouse right now !

[This message has been edited by Ramon de Ramon y Ramon (edited 07-24-2001).]

[tracey]

moni

how did it go? are you horribly excited? i know i will be in january. actually, i deciding at the moment whether to go back to uni and study or go into school and teach while studying at the same time. difficult choice, on the one hand study and teacher practice seems nice but will be very poor, on the other, teaching and learning to teach full time = richer (slightly) but much less time although the timetable is reduced. tricky decision to be made in next few weeks.

you must tell me about your past, it sounds like it may well be a useful experience for the future. strangely, my friend tamsin made me laugh today. she was sexually abused by her stepfather (not immediately a topic for laughter, i grant you) but she has a deadpan and matter of fact way of putting things and after i mentioned i thought it wise not to allow my 9 year son to sleep in my bed for much longer on occasion, she replied that she used to do it up until she was 12, 'but i was quite disturbed' she added. (well, it made me laugh). she did too, i hasten to add. she's 27 now and has sorted it all out in her own heart and mind. she's one of the ex-teachers who says 'no' to a teaching career.

are you about to embark on classroom teaching, or is there an induction period first? right. it's a quarter to one in the morning and i have to go to work again tomorrow - bum. still, off to brighton on friday to see my nice boyfriend and have fun with chums and birthday parties. i might go and visit my big sister who also lives in b'ton. (it's on the coast and is very 'happening' apparently. and we might have sunshine if we're very good!)

i was listening to a c.d. today that put me in mind of you. it's called 'women's work' and is produced by a company called 'putomayo'. i'm sure it's from america. i will check. anyway, it features lots of very thoughtful and thought provoking songs mainly written and sung by american women. it's wonderful. if you can get hold of a copy i would recommend it. yorick might like it too. what sort of music are you making yorick?

what does 'bump' mean? hello?

i want a special signature too like eveyone else (wimper) am i giving in to evil envy? yes. can someone with a knowledge of this sort of thing help?

thanking you in advance

Originally posted by Ramon de Ramon y Ramon: Nosiness alarm, Moni ! So, I'd certainly understand if you didn't answer the following: As firstly a while back you told us your age - I am gentleman enough not to tell it here - and as, secondly, one can easily derive from the above that your son is already a young grown-up man by now, anyone can easily conclude that you once must have been a teenage-mom. That must have been very difficult to deal with. Would you be ready to tell me/us about that experience ? See, I am 29 now, but still feel so immature and hardly able to look after myself that only the thought of having to take care of a baby scares me to death. Obviously then the notion that I'd have had to do that ten or even more years ago is absolutely mind-boggling to me. Teenage pregnancies are also generally much less frequent here than in the US. A very good friend told me last week that she is pregnant, but she will be the first of all the people of about my age group in my closer circle of friends and acquaintances who will have a child. As I have already stated above I'd certainly understand if you refused to relate such personal matters from your past. BTW, as I am just a big kid, wouldn't you want to, uh, "teach" me ?

I am 39 now. I had my son when I was 19, so yes, I was a teenage mom, but not nearly as young as most of the girls I went to school with who had kids as young as 15. I have no idea how they handled it and am glad that I was at least on the upper edge of becoming an "adult" lol.
By the time my son was a teen, we were such good friends that it was like having a younger best friend around than a son I needed to monitor and lead. He was/is a smart kid who fell into the habit of doing his homework before he would play and was/is against smoking and doing drugs.
He always called home when he was going to be late and asked permssion to go anywhere or do nearly anything. I was one of the lucky ones.
There was that early stage of being a teen where parent's, no matter how cool they are, they are embarassing to be around, which hurt my feelings, but it ended by the next year and (LMAO) I was voted by his crowd to be the coolest mom anyone had for the rest of their school years.

The hardest and scariest part of bringing him up, besides being a single income "family" and having to make every penny count, was when I sent him off to school for the first time, that sweet little five year old boy, going off to school and having to deal with classroom and playground bullies. He did well and I had worried for nothing. He was a lot like me in that he would not start crap, but he didn't take it either.

I always saw him as a person who was new to the world, one who needed positive guidance and love if he were to come through into adulthood as a happy and together person if you can understand that logic.
I think if we bring our children up as our friends, rather than our possessions, give them good direction, but let them be individuals early on and make some decisions on their own...helping them early on as as they grow up to learn from their mistakes, it all works out well for everyone.
Not to say my method is the word. Like I said, I was one of the lucky ones. I was blessed with an extremely intelligent child who was polite and well behaved of his own volition. My chin hit the floor more than once when he would call me from a friend's house and ask if he could have some candy because he had not had dinner yet.
Was this what you were looking for or are there details you are curious of that I left out. You will have to be specific with any questions I left unanswered, so don't be afraid to ask me anything.
(I did keep a Dr. Benjamin Spock's Guide to Child Rearing handy for the first two or three years and it taught me a lot about the individuality of all babies and the different habits/stages they all may go through.)


Moni



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Originally posted by tracey: moni how did it go? are you horribly excited? i know i will be in january. actually, i deciding at the moment whether to go back to uni and study or go into school and teach while studying at the same time. difficult choice, on the one hand study and teacher practice seems nice but will be very poor, on the other, teaching and learning to teach full time = richer (slightly) but much less time although the timetable is reduced. tricky decision to be made in next few weeks. you must tell me about your past, it sounds like it may well be a useful experience for the future. strangely, my friend tamsin made me laugh today. she was sexually abused by her stepfather (not immediately a topic for laughter, i grant you) but she has a deadpan and matter of fact way of putting things and after i mentioned i thought it wise not to allow my 9 year son to sleep in my bed for much longer on occasion, she replied that she used to do it up until she was 12, 'but i was quite disturbed' she added. (well, it made me laugh). she did too, i hasten to add. she's 27 now and has sorted it all out in her own heart and mind. she's one of the ex-teachers who says 'no' to a teaching career. are you about to embark on classroom teaching, or is there an induction period first? right. it's a quarter to one in the morning and i have to go to work again tomorrow - bum. still, off to brighton on friday to see my nice boyfriend and have fun with chums and birthday parties. i might go and visit my big sister who also lives in b'ton. (it's on the coast and is very 'happening' apparently. and we might have sunshine if we're very good!) i was listening to a c.d. today that put me in mind of you. it's called 'women's work' and is produced by a company called 'putomayo'. i'm sure it's from america. i will check. anyway, it features lots of very thoughtful and thought provoking songs mainly written and sung by american women. it's wonderful. if you can get hold of a copy i would recommend it. yorick might like it too. what sort of music are you making yorick? what does 'bump' mean? hello? i want a special signature too like eveyone else (wimper) am i giving in to evil envy? yes. can someone with a knowledge of this sort of thing help? thanking you in advance

Hi tracey,
It went very well, thank you!
I went to the campus and got all the paperwork required for registering for classes that start next month, or in Sept. It all depends on how soon I can get a copy of my GED from Arizona. I know exactly who to call so it should not be a problem getting registered by Sept. at the latest.
From what I understand from Rex's parents, Palo Alto (an affiliate of Texas A&M) is a two year school right now but may go to four year while I am there, enabling me to avoid a transfer to UTSA and that if I take a summer school, I can be finished in three years.
I am still kind of in the dark until I get that copy of my GED so that I can talk with a counselor and get it all in black and white.
(I edited this from an earlier post where I had been totally misinformed about the classes and any induction period. From what I understand right now, I will go straight from being a student to teaching them when all is said and done.)

I was so anxious I was almost sick this morning but once I got the paperwork in my hands and looked through it, I felt so right about it all that I am on the edge of being giddy LOL.
Classes are scheduled so that I should be able to attend school and still cover my responsibilities here at home.

What do you want to know about my past? My life experiences are pretty unique to most others but not nearly as horrendous as what can happen to hated and abused children. I don't have time to post my life history so I'll let you ask what it is you want to know.

I hope you have a good time this weekend! I have no definite plans made for anything beyond overdue landscaping projects that need started and others that need finished.

Right now I need to go find a way to occupy this crying kitten in my lap. I think I will take him to Rex's parent's for a while and let him become more adjusted to being there. I don't want him being so attached to me that he cannot have me out of his sight, especially since they are taking him permanently next month and I don't want him trying to come back here.

BTW, "bump" means moving a post up to the top of page one so that it does not get lost on page two or further back.

I'll work on a sig for you...what colors do you like and how would you like it to look? Any pa rticular kind of picture you would want in it?

Well I need to head out, this crying for attention is driving me nuts. This kitten has a real hang-up about being alone!


Moni

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[This message has been edited by Moni (edited 07-24-2001).]