TAKS week!!!

TAKS testing all this week, fun!!!  Not really, I think the people that work for the state should come in one day to any school and see what actually goes on in a classroom and see how tedious of a job is to have these entire tests. Teachers stop teaching their curriculum to teach to the test, what are kids learning then. To take a test and forget about it once the test is over.  Yes, I am against all these tests that the state now requires kids to take. It’s a waste of quality teaching time and kids are not learning anything, they are memorizing. I would imagine that they should have gotten the hint that something is wrong with our education system, with all of the research that is out there. Letting everyone know that the U.S. has a very low education system, yet we spend big amounts of money in it. I really do not understand it.

toddler school programs ???

Does anyone know about any pre-school programs around the Lake Worth area? My daughter will be four years old this November, therefore she will be behind a year when she starts school and I personally think that she is ready to start. We might start with something that is only half day, or a couple of days a week since she will be going from grandma’s house to a whole new place. Her grandparents think that she is too little to start school, but I want her to start socializing with other kids and get used to the idea that one day she will go to school all day. Also, I don’t think being exposed to different environments and learning new things will harm her, what do you think? Children learn so fast and the more exposed to different environments, ideas and persons the bigger and brighter their world will be.

Tree service :/

This past week with the storms and all, we noticed that one of our trees in the driveway had broken in half and was just hanging on branches ready to fall. We started looking around to see who can come and cut that tree down and remove it since it was dead already. Well we call several people and got quotes from them. Guess what? I never knew cutting trees was such an expensive thing to do, the cheapest quote we got was for $900. Yes, that is right. I was shocked when the gentleman said that, and that was not including taking all the debris. They were just going to cut it down and set everything aside for us to get rid of. That is crazy!!!!  So I mentioned it to my dad and he was also shocked, and told me I’ll go take care of it this Saturday….See I’m a little scared sometimes to ask my dad, because he thinks everything is easy and he can do it on his own. Which he can, but most of the time he does it without even thinking what if something happens, now what? So, I told him, it’s ok Dad, can you just look around see if we can find something cheaper, I don’t want you climbing trees and have part of it fall on the neighbor’s house…lol..

Of course, he said no and guess who was at my house at 8am on Saturday morning? My dad and my uncle ready to cut that huge tree..I cannot tell you how scared I was that the broken part would somehow fall on the neighbors house, then that was going to be more expensive that hiring those fancy tree people..anyways, thankfully we were able to get that whole tree cut in half and no accidents. It took us all day long, I was  so exhausted by that evening that as soon as I took a shower and ate dinner I fell asleep. I don’t know how my dad does it, but he can never be still, he is always up and down. I remember when we were younger, we used to pretend we were busy when he came in or else he will find something for us to do outside. But that’s my father and I love him.

So if anyone needs fire wood, we have enough for the whole year I think…  J

It's Baseball time!!!!!

I am soooo ready for 4 o’clock….My weekend will start and tomorrow it’s opening day for the Rangers…Yay!!!  Although, I don’t get to go with my husband, I get to go with some of the kids at school. They are super excited as well, we have a mentor program through the Texas Rangers and the kids will be volunteering tomorrow at the ball park for half of the game, them the rest we all get to enjoy. It will be a great time. On the other hand, I am so not ready for Easter, I have all my family coming over and I have not got a thing ready, yes that is bad, but I’ll get it done the day of…hehehehe

Hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoy!!!

I don’t know what to call this one…..

Yesterday, a classmate and I went over to TCC to do observation hours for one of our classes.  The class is an ESL class for adults, ages varied from 16-70, very interesting group. I have to say that I actually enjoyed working with the group; they are super friendly people and eager to learn everything about our language.  Although, we were both there to observe and somewhat help them with their tasks, I learned a lot from them.  I noticed that they pay attention to every detail in a reading and actually take the time to understand every word and phrase of the text. Unlike us, that we skim through everything or if we do read the entire text, we read it so fast or in a way that we have no idea what we just read.

On the other hand, I was very shocked to hear what some of the students had to say. They were asked to share some of their experiences when they first arrived in the country and most had bad stories to tell. I know that anyone would be out of place coming to a new country, not knowing the language and not knowing anyone, but it was very shocking to find that many people in this country are still very egocentric.  This student shared with us that in one occasion she was at the gym and was on a phone call talking to a friend in Portuguese, her native language. Well this lady came up to her and tap her in her shoulder and told her that this was America and she needed to speak English.  I thought that was so rude of that stranger to come and tell someone she does not know what she needs to do in this country.  I cannot imagine what she must have felt at that time, considering that she barely spoke any English, as she has only now been here 14 months.

Nonetheless, this incident made her think that all Americans are the same way and that is not correct. Not everyone is so self centered and rude to do that. We should all think twice before doing something similar, it is very inappropriate, it creates a stereotype for the whole country , and most important it makes that person feel so small and lost. We do not know if they are on vacation, to attend school or just recently arrived in this country. And aren’t we a country of multiculturalism why should everyone lose their roots and language when they arrive here or any other country, it is already a huge step to be willing to learn the language of an unfamiliar place; and actually that makes them a much more competitive individual for speaking more than one language and not just English because she is in the U.S.

:( spring break, where did you go?

It’s over!!!!!!  What a short week that was, although I did enjoy that week off, I did not get as much done as I had planned. Out of my to do list, only one thing was completed and another one started.  I did get to paint and finish up with my dining room, I had asked my uncle to knock down a wall to open up some space( which my husband had no idea that I asked him to do this until he came home that day and a wall was missing….hilarious). My uncle did a great job and only took three days (that’s why I asked him, because I know he is good at what he does and pays attention to detail). But anyways, other than that, I spent as much time with my daughter as I could. We did little stuff here and there and I really enjoyed it.  Took her to ride the train at the Trinity River, which she loved, went to the park and played, had lunch. We visited the library did little arts and crafts. It was truly very nice, I know the time where she no longer wants to do these things is coming very fast, so I enjoy every second I can. Well welcome to reality everyone and welcome again those late nights doing homework for me. So much fun!!!!

Happy International Woman's Day!!!!

Oh, how I wish that I would be able to stay at home with my daughter all day and be a stay at home mom.  But I guess we all want what we don’t have and what we have others wish they had. Today is international woman’s day and I was thinking how there are many that think being a homemaker is the easiest job in the world.  I thought about this because, when  you go somewhere and they ask where you work and you answer, oh I don’t I stay at home.  Mostly everyone’s reply is,  “lucky I wish I could stay home”.  Personally, I don’t see how you can call that lucky to “not have to work”. I would love the opportunity to be able to stay home and do all kinds of things with my daughter, instead of being stuck at work for 8 hrs then only spending a couple of hrs with her before going to bed.  But that doesn’t imply at all that I would stay home and do nothing. Being a homemaker is the  hardest, most demanding job work one can have and you are on call 24/7. I loved that my mom was able to stay at home with all of us and not have to go out and work, because that gave her more time to pay attention to us, she had breakfast, lunch and dinner ready for us everyday. We had clean clothes to wear, our house was never messy and most of all she had to be there when we needed her.  So even though it is hard work and you are never on break,  I would do anything to be home with my kids and give them all that attention that I received from a great woman.  And if I were ever asked what you do, I would say: I am a mom, wife, cook,  doctor, counselor,  secretary, hairdresser, maintenance person, coordinator,  life coach etc.

:D

Well it’s been a great week so far and it gets better as we get closer to Friday.. J Nothing out of the ordinary has happened, it just has been a good week. My daughter got a pair of parakeets this weekend , she was so excited to come home with them and of course with her purple cage that she chose for them. We got a girl and a boy, their names are Blue and Princess.. ,,Probably because she is in love with princesses right now and she has seen the movie Rio about a million times….She is growing up so fast, L this afternoon on our way to the store her song came on and she started singing as if she was the only person in the car. Kristian is 3, but some odd reason her favorite song is “moves like jagger”, I know, it’s hilarious.  She talks and talks all day long, although some thing you can barely understand, but she can sing her heart out when that song comes on, so of course I recorded her..It was the cutest thing!!!!!!

where is spring break??????

Hi everyone, today was  a busy busy day at work and at home, like always. We took kids from our High school to take their accuplacer at TCC, for the dual credit classes they will be taking next school year.  It’s a great opportunity that these kids have nowadays, they get to take college classes at TCC that count both as their regular high school class and as college credit, so by the time that they graduate high school if they might also graduate with at least 24 credit hours. That is a great start for any student and the parents, because those are classes that they might not have to pay for.  I hope they have this and other programs once my daughter gets older, of course that is a long way, but I really think that is a great help to the parents and students. …

On another note, this crazy Texas weather is killing me, my daughter has been sick since last Friday and thank God she is getting better. I’m not sure if anyone else’s kids have asthma, but is breaks my heart to see her coughing all day long and short of breath, we spent most of the day at the Dr’s office on Monday doing breathing treatments and also an ear infection…yuck!!! Does anyone know of any home remedies that can aid with the cough, I think I have tried everything and I hate giving her all this medicine.

Happy Friday!!

Hope everyone had a great week and ready for the weekend to come, I know I am. I am exhausted, with work, school and home I need a vacation, but that is far far away. Well, I wanted to share with everyone my valentines day, hope everyone had a good one also. I know is just another day and my husband and I don’t really do anything out of the ordinary, but my daughter for the first time made something for me. She was so excited to give it to me when I got home, it was priceless, and she really made my day. I mentioned before that she is 3 years old, so she made me this frog picture frame with our picture in it and had a little paper bag full of candies and a pair of socks. It was the best present I have ever received. Yes, I did get teary eyed, because that is what I love the most, is the little things that makes life a whole lot better. I also realized that this was her first out of many crafts hopefully that she will be making for me and one day I’m going to miss all of the good and bad things. Well have a great weekend, I know I still have tons of work to do at home, but it is always great to stay home and spend the day with my family... We mut remember to treasure those little things that make life amazing and not so much the material things!!

our future generation

Today i sat in my desk thinking about a little girl's situation, well not so little, since she is a senior in high school and expecting her second child, but nevertheless she is still a child. She gets beat up by her current boyfriend and some of her friends are concerned, but nothing can be done unless she says something or someone actually sees him doing it. I am a mom and a woman, and to think that my daughter could go through something like that broke my heart. I immediately thought to myself, well where are her parents, but who am I to blame them. Maybe they have to work a lot or maybe that is the environment that she grew up in so she doesn’t know to expect anything different. I am not sure how to express the feelings of anger, sadness and many more. I know that we all do the best we can as parents to provide our kids with the best and teach them to expect the same from everyone. But I don’t know if that is the same thing being taught to other kids that would be around mine. I just hope that she opens her eyes and realize that she had two little ones to think about, not just herself and that they are a lot of women that go through the same thing, but that she does not have to sit there and be treated in that manner. To all the parents I say, we need to teach our kids respect, respect for themselves and everyone else. They are the ones in charge of our future and I am not so optimistic that we are raising the best citizens.

A little disappointed

Today at work I came across several teachers in the break room, they were having a conversation about how students these days have it too easy. To me this was nothing out of the ordinary , I mean I saw both of my little sisters go through high school without any homework and they graduated with flying colors. I always questioned the fact that they never had homework, but today I learned that maybe it is us that have the problem and instead of helping our future leaders, we are setting them for failure. One of the teachers was telling us how, a new teacher went into the classroom and started his class intro at the beginning of the semester, set all his rules and how grading would be done, if you don’t do your job your will fail the class (or so he thought). As the semester went by, more and more of his students failed to turn in assignments, homework etc.  So he had a discussion with them and they all looked at him like he was crazy, meaning that they will pass no matter what. They were right;  towards the end of the semester, the principal told the teacher to drop those grades if that meant students not passing. I was shocked, when I was in school, you either did your job and passed or you failed and stayed behind plain and simple. Nowadays, students are not assigned homework, because kids will not do it and it will just keep them behind. What!! So what is the point of education then, if I can just go sit in a class and do the minimum and I still pass, why should I try harder. That is the reason I want to become a teacher, I know is not up to me to change the world, but if only we can start redirecting our kids in the proper direction and teaching them that hard work pays off maybe that generation will start to shape our education system.

Intro :) ENG 3310

Hello everyone,
My name is adriana cardona, I am a EC-6 Bilingual Education major at Tx Wesleyan. I have been married for 5 yrs already to my high school sweetheart, who i have a 3 yr old princess with. Her name is Kristian and she is the reason that i do all that i do and more. I am the oldest of 5, four girls and one boy. I love horses, my family has always been around that environment and even tough i rarely have time to ride, i do it everyonce in a while. It is very relaxing and that is my dads hobby you can say, that is his life, his horses. I came to this country at the age of 10 and have lived here ever since, obtaining a college education has always been in my plans, but life happens and it's taking me a little longer than i tought, but i will get there. This is my second online class, a little nervous because i am the type of student that needs to sit in class to get the material, but with work, home and school this is my option. Im hoping all goes well. Anyhow, i just wanted to introducde myself since we have to post a blog every week, that is my understanding. But please if i am wrong, let me know so that i can have a clue of what i am doing.