Saturday, September 26, 2009

3rd saturday of school

it's HC night. and i'm not lonely.

I've kept myself productive and to me, that's the best feeling in the world. Feeling productive and knowing that the work you're doing is going to pay off.... is what I strive to get every single day. But it doesn't happen very easily.

today is one of those days where I need to keep to my word, and manage my time, so everything I've done in the past and throughout this year will pay off in the end.

if you just manage your time and follow your promise that you made to yourself, then things will seem much easier. even the busiest person the world can manage to be on top of things. an example could be single mothers that work to feed mouths, and take care of their children. they're busy people, and probably have a lot to deal with alone. but they can do it. anyone can. it's about realizing what you need to do, and then being mature about keeping that promise.

Here's to the 3rd week of high school. but man..... it seems like it's october.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

first week of school

it feels like i've been at school for at least 2 weeks. school seemed so long this week.

we already got homework this week. but not biggie, it's very little compared to what we'll have probably.... in the next week or in the month. haha.

anyways, hope everyone started off great.

this week was filled with golf, violin and piano preparations, and my 16th birthday. a little busy, but fun. I wanted a good, happy start. man, i wish mrs. cate never told me to audition for all-state orchestra. i already have other competitions to practice for. oh well. just go with the flow.

back to school monday. and i still gotta do hw. haha.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Crazy.

been busy. man. but it's better than the last 2 months of summer.

teacher strike is not all about money. talk to the teachers and discuss with them. go read articles, research, and use all the sources provided on the internet, TV, and your community. at first i thought it was for the money, but it's not. Reality is, they want the best for the kids, more time/attention for us, less meetings that will cut teaching time and after/before school preparations, and etc. just so much more.

of course... there's going to be some teachers that secretly are striking because they want better pay. those individuals aren't considered teachers.

to be a true teacher, you not only want the best for your student's education, but you pass on everything you've known in life. You pass on your life stories, morals, opinions, and knowledge. It takes a lot of courage and emotional strength to be a teacher. It takes passion. Not just a brain, or scholarly achievements.

I do not wish for the strike to continue, yet some part of me would say that I would continue striking if I were a teacher, because the main problem that is to be resolved as of this moment, are the class sizes. To how I see it, that is a huge issue. I've seen the difference and effectiveness between teachers instructing in a smaller classes as opposed to larger classes. This is insane. I read in several articles that some high school classes in the KSD have over 45 students. Already 25-30 students is a lot for teachers to handle, when they have so many meetings, and substitutes to take over their classes. They lack attention, time, and lessons for their students. We're just lucky we're apart of the tech. academy, because we have a smaller learning community. But still, even in tech. academy, the number of students in some classes are far too large to be called a "smaller learning" community. the KSD really needs to learn how to balance things out, and the board of directors should make things more organized.

If kids or a large group of parents have thoughts, and propose something and get it approved from a group of teachers.... why shouldn't the district board have some kind interest towards the kind of students that really want the best for the whole district, instead of just their personal education? Whatever. that there was just nonsense. that wouldn't really make a difference to the district anyways, and it's too weak.

Well, that's that. I've had so much on my mind as well for the strike. This is as far as I know, and i'm just elaborating/venting. What I know may be out of date/incorrect due to my lack of checking up on the KSD updates/notifications lately.

I've talked to a few of the KM staff members and for what I know, the earliest we'll ever go back to school is this coming up monday. This will happen if the teachers decide to stop voting, so they will use the remainder days to prepare for classes. Otherwise, if the strike continues... who knows when school will start. Just today in the afternoon I got a call from Mrs. Cate [orchestra teacher] about the Washington All-State Orchestra audition information, and how I had to meet with her sometime in the end of september or the first few days of Octoboer to record my pieces, etudes, and etc. if school wouldn't start by then. I mean honestly when I heard those words from her, I got really worried. She briefly informed me about the strike as well, and so did another one of my KM instructors. What's weird is that sometimes, I feel like the teachers all know something and they are a few things they just can't tell their students, because it's just private matters between the district. :// I don't know, just my thoughts. Now I'm getting the idea that school really isn't going to start for a while. I've heard a lot of news from people that there would be a possibility about school not even starting until october.

This is very concerning. If school doesn't start by september 21st, which is the 3rd monday of this month [next, next monday], I don't think I could allow myself to just sit and waste time wishing for school to start. I will seriously try to do something about this with my own efforts, talk to the teachers, or something. But for now, nothing is clear and I don't want to look like a fool demanding school to start when it would actually start the day after. That'd be a little stupid and foolish of me to do.

Anyways, not going to waste this precious time just sleeping in and being lazy every single day. I'll relax, yet get my mind ready for school. I need mental and emotional strength for a new school year. same to everyone else.

Good luck, and hopefully we'll go back to school soon. Let's all work together and be strong, even if things get tough. Although our breaks will get cut shorter, we should just be thankful for being able to go to school. In fact, for those who love breaks... just be grateful because many countries in Asia have students go to school Saturday, with barely any breaks. They just have breaks after huge, competitive exams, and their summer breaks are very short. There's always something to be thankful for.

I really wish the best for our district, and I hope there is a change in motivation for our teachers as they're relieved with a new contract and fresh start. I hope there is a change in test scores, and results as teachers have more time with a class that isn't too large. Hopefully, all these things will become possible, eventually.

I think a lot of the new houses being constructed have played a huge role in class sizes. I mean, when I was in elementary school, [ I attended sunrise elementary school] and around our school, we used to have a lot of empty space. But when I entered the 6th grade, they started constructing houses all over the place, completely filling every bit of empty land. Now, there are so many families, meaning more kids, that have applied to the kent school district. More kids in elementary schools that go on middle school, and high school. And to think, a lot of them have siblings as well. I think they should've thinked twice over building so many houses. And even if they did, the district had every right to have a limit of kids they should allow to attend school in the district. I mean, my friend went to elementary school in Mercer Island, and their district didn't allow any more students to attend their school because they wanted a limit to their class sizes.

I don't know if the kent school district made a mistake, or whatever. Whatever their reasoning was, it's just caused a lot of problems lately.

Well..... this blog has gotten way too long. I'm starting to get on tangents, and I bet I have a bunch of spelling/grammatical errors here since I have not looked over what I wrote, and I've been typing very fast... due to all the thoughts that are spilling out right now. Please understand, even if all the errors will annoy some of you out there.

I wish the best of luck for everyone. I really hope they figure out an agreement or compromise in some kind of way, yet not take too much time... because it's also cutting out on the student's education.