Little Leaps

Field Trip

Last Wednesday I went on a field trip with two classes. The trip was going to a museum in Washington D.C. The museum was called, "Space and Air Museum." Good thing it was free for everybody to go to the museum.

I couldn't believe how crowded it was inside of the museum. I was afraid for some of the students who did not like being in crowded places. I think it was too distracting for them to pay attention to what they wanted to see. I wondered how much they would enjoy the trip if there were few people in the museum.

The staff had divided in groups so we could go to different places without worrying that one students might escape while going through the crowd. I ended up being with one assistant, Courtney, and three students (real names withheld). I thought we could handle those three students. The three students were: William, Ron, and Ned. Oh boy, my thoughts went to a small ticking time bomb. Ned gave up after fifteen minutes, after looking around at one place where they explained how airplanes work.

Ned wanted to sit down, but it was a good time to sit down, with many people walking around us. Ned decided to sit down without asking, of course, and Courtney pulled him up and kept going. I decided to use the stairs to go up to the second floor and hoped to find a place that the students would enjoy. That caused the big bomb to be throw ahead of us, and we didn't see it. Ned started to revel his famous bad behavior.

Ned did not want to walk anymore. All he wanted was to sit down, babbling, pretending he was a shark in the water. Oh no, I hoped he would not make an embarrassing scene. We let him rest for a few minutes, then it was time to go to another room. It turned out I had to let Courtney and Ned sit down for a bit. I took the boys to see the first airplane. I noticed that William and Ron showed NO INTEREST in anything around them. I tried to explain how it worked or what it was. Their eyes looked like they were in a white room and saw nothing in front of them. My compassion has increased for them but I admit I was a little frustrated. We had to return to the place where Courtney and Ned sat.

It was time for us to go in a different room with different planets, space things, and a little theater room. My eyeballs almost popped out of my skull when I saw there were lots of people crowding the small area. In my mind, "Oh no, we are going to be in big trouble because of Ned!" My eyes turned to take a look at William and Ron (they have mild autism). True enough, they were extremely tense and trying to follow us. I spotted a little theater and thought they might need to rest and watch a short film. They like to watch movies.

In no time, the short film was over. It was time to get our legs working and move away from the theater. That was when the atomic bomb hit. Oh yeah, it was a huge mistake, because Ned refused to move or obey either of us. He just sat and said, "no, no, no, stop, stop, stop.." Courtney tried to coax him to get up and get moving. After five minutes, nothing had improved. Suddenly Courtney had to pull Ned to get up. Ned decided to not use his legs and crashed on the floor. Of course, Ned decided it was a good time to use his high pitched yells. To top that, he started to cry. I'm not kidding, his voice was louder than all the other sounds in the room combined.

People around us stopped and stared at us. I will give you a picture of how I felt about this situation. Being naked. No, maybe a naked person with a lot of piercings all over their body, standing on their head, juggling kittens. Ned is thirteen years old, but he is shorter than I am. People thought we were crazy people. Some of the people gasped at his screaming, and some of the people started and their mouths fell on the floor to see this unexpected theatrical presentation. Honestly, I felt like my head was going to explode any minute.

It turned out I took William and Ron out of the theater and told them to stay where I could see them through the door. I went back into see how Courtney was doing with Ned. She ended up having to use CPI (holding his body) to pull him up and walk. I could not help, because I am not CPI trained, but I wanted to make sure he did not get hurt. Ned's legs swung above the ground while Courtney held him, waddling penguin style.

We finally found a place to sit. I was fed up with Ned, because he continued screaming. He knew what he was doing. He did on purpose, but I'm pretty sure he didn't understand HOW embarrassed it was for us. I told Ned that his trip was over. It was time for him to go back to the bus. He had had enough warnings. Ned finally stopped and decided to be quiet.

Courtney grabbed Ned's hand to go downstairs to the lobby. I took the other two boys to go with me, following Courtney and Ned. I told Ron to follow them when they got on the escalator. I wanted William to be in front of me so I could see where they went. Suddenly I saw William's black pupils get wide. His body became frozen stiff. He was SCARED to get on that thing. In my prayer, he would not make the same scene as Ned did. I decided to tell William that I would hold his arm and explain where to put his legs, etc. When I got on the escalator, he didn't! My arm and his arm became Elastigirl on the "Incredibles" movie. I had to pull him to move, and finally, he moved. He started to shrink his body like a turtle. His head bowed like a sad dog tucking his tail. My heart got afraid, imagining that he would fall down after getting off the escalator. I quickly explained to him that he had to jump when I told him to. Good thing, he did listen to my advice and he jumped successfully. He walked away from the escalator quickly, looking back to make sure it was not chasing him.

We ended up having an experience in the museum for only thirty minutes, when it was supposed to be two and a half hours. Yup, we stayed in the bus and waited for the other class to come. We ate our lunch in the bus. We left the museum wondering why it had happened. I realized this trip was too much for them because of the crowds, feeling of pressure, too much stimulation, and difficultly focusing on one thing at a time, etc. I hope I do not have to handle this situation again. I do not mind handling William's situation, but not Ned. He needed a lot of support and better preparation for this trip. Whew, I had to pinch myself to make sure I was still breathing.

Second Completed Project

No comments. Cindy probably know what's happen next... I already have third project but don't think I would get it finish until...ummmm... That's it.

First Completed Project

Oh my goodness, that project I started before I moved here Maryland. I believe before Christmas in Utah but of course, I was not able to finish it on time, so I put it away. It became forgotten. I know shame on me because it was a little project, but I couldn't. Restless.

I will take you back in my childhood. I remember I started with a new project specific cross stitch. I ALWAYS ended up unfinished project or had mom to finish it up for me. I believe I have started two or three projects but never go back again..

Until yesterday.. Annie was getting prepared for General Conference she always do cross stitch. She told me that she found my old project that I haven't finished it. I thought why not to work on this project during the General Conference. Gosh, that killed time so FAST. Killing the time is not important, the important is I FINISHED IT!!!! I couldn't believe that I got it done after two and half years later, eh, even for a little project.

Ironic part is that I start enjoy doing this project. Silly me.

Little Improvement

Last night Annie and I were watching a movie called Vitus. The movie was made in Germany and the spoken language was in German. I thought you guys might like this movie. Have you seen it?

Anyway, the movie have subtitle in English because people speak German, but when people speak English, it didn't show subtitle. In the middle of the movie Vitus's mother was speaking in German but few times she speak in English. I heard "Open up," I was not sure if I heard that because the mother was speaking in Germann and I asked Annie if the mother says open up in English. Annie's reaction with nod has surprised me. But I still wasn't sure if I got it or was it one of random of luck?

Annie thinks I have improved my hearing skills while I think I'm on different side. Annie wanted me to blog about it. I don't know if it's a big deal but it is for her. I hope she is right.

Regrets?

Yesterday was easy day at the school. The students were watching a movie and the movie was their reinforcement. My mentor asked me to go downstairs and make sure the students were behaving good while watching the movie, so I went. I sat down and play the game on my iPhone while other teacher trying to set up the movie for the students. (There were about four or three classes together to watch the movie.)

The movie was set and ready to start but the teacher was deaf and was not sure if the sounds from television were too loud or too quiet. She asked some of students who are hard of hearing if it was too loud. Unfortunately, the students were not paying attention to her because they were in a happy state and do not realized the teacher was trying to get their attention. My right arm goes in the air and said yes, the sounds were fine and it wasn't too loud. Teacher asked me if I'm hard of hearing and I said no but I do have cochlear implants.

That moment I felt the world stopped because the the teacher's mouth fell on the floor and stared me at few seconds. She was not sure if she believed me. I couldn't believe what she told me, "Proof." She walked toward me and told me that she wanted to see my cochlear implants. (Again, she was surprised I had two.) She touched my head to feel the magnets back of my head. She even touched the scars--both ears. I think it was weird for somebody touched my head and scars. She asked me if she can see my processors. She saw that I have two different colors: red and blue. I had to explained why I wanted to have two different colors. Her reactions were just blank but in shock and curious. Finally she asked me tons of questions related to cochlear implants. When did you get your cochlear implants? Both same time? Did you liked it? Any dizzy? Any headaches? Any problem with cochlear implants? Why two?

Oh boy! I had to explained why I wanted to have two and easier to balance and more loud than having one. If I wait longer to get second one, then my mind will takes long time to get both working together. Faster is better. Teacher's face showed that she was thinking hard.

My last sentence before the students got her attention was "I never had any regrets getting both cochlear implants, I loved it. Those are much better than hearing aids. I'm still learning and just developing enjoy for music. It was amazed to listen many sounds around me that I have never heard before with my hearing aids. Outside was not quiet as I thought!"

She stared me for a few seconds and left with lot things on her mind. I just realized what I have done in this room--there were several adults and I did not mind opening up my cochlear implants. It was a good move for me.

I told Annie what happened and she couldn't believe this because nobody noticed that I had cochlear implants during my first week of intern. On that week, I just got haircut and my hair was short. My cochlear implants were sort of obviously can see because of colors and coils bump on my head. Yes, both of us realized nobody knew about me having cochlear implants. I thought it was funny.

Driving on the Road

Three weeks ago, I was complaining to Annie that I got bored with music on CDs when I drive to school and home almost everyday. Annie took me to Best Buy and get me the wire that can hook from car to my ipod. I can put many songs on my ipod and pick what I want to listen while I am driving.

I was exciting to have my own wire for my car AND I can pick what I want to listen. After one week using this wire, I noticed myself to find what kind of music I want to listen in the morning and in the late afternoon. In the morning, I like to listen exciting and beat music. When I left school, the music was on. I did not want to listen this music and changed it to mellow songs such as classical or something smooth without choppy or lot of crazy with low and high frequencies that fly different directions.

Two days, I was driving on the high way to go home from school. I was exhausted and did not want to listen the crazy music. I decided to turn the player off and not to listen any music for today. After about a minute without any songs, I realized I did not like the quiet sounds.. In my head, I need music! Honestly, I don't know how to describe the feeling but I guess the simplest word in the world. Bored. My arm reached to turn the player on right away. Of course, I changed the songs to different songs that I haven't gave chance to listen.

While I was driving and I was amazing how much I have changed since I got the wire for my car to listen the music. I have developed the habit to listen the music while I'm driving. The funny thing was that I happened to drive quiet such as yesterday morning. I had tough night before because one naughty ice cream caused me to get thing out of my stomach that goes in a toilet. Oh boy.. Anyway I left little later than usually to school. I got in car and started the car--music started playing. I did not want to listen at all. Immediately I turned it off and drive in quiet. I did not mind at all. I think it was appropriate at that moment for me since I did not get some sleep, exhausted, lot of stress, and lot of things racing in my head. Quiet was good idea at this time.

Wow! I think it was very cool to develop some habits with my cochlear implants. I still enjoy some sounds and hate some sounds. I think it's natural to love and to hate something. La-la! Time for me to get going and listen the music!

Feel idiot

I couldn't believe this week was my third week of internship. It was fun and exhausted. Speak of being exhausted, I had to do a bulletin in the classroom. The lesson was about the Civil War, I have to teach for two weeks. It required a LOT of my energy to teach those boys to understand what it was about even though they are in sixth grade. They do not have great cognitive--that means they couldn't remember what they learned from yesterday. Maybe lucky if the topic was their favorite--then it will become repetitive. You know repetitive can be annoying.

More visual, less words. No problem but need to pull my hair out of my skull to find something to provide those boys to LEARN, UNDERSTAND, or EXPRESSED something--such as I asked the students to guess what confederacy is.. Seriously--the students just sit and stared at me. Nothing! Perhaps one boy would say something but it would be a WAY OFF! Or they will copy me if I said which no or yes? Honestly, it's depend on what topic to teach because one boy know history more than other students. Another student know math more than others, etc.

Anyway--I tried to think something simple for the bulletin. YES! I got an idea and discussed with Annie for some more idea. I was thinking to split in two top for Union and bottom for Confederacy. I thought it was good idea. It took me a few days finally to start do the bulletin. It took me two days to finish it because on that day the teacher had an emergency and left me the responsible to take care of the class all day. Yikes!

I got through this day. The next day I finished up and the bulletin. I took a picture and email it to Annie to show off my bulletin. Guess what she told me? "Wow! It looked great. I noticed wrong spelling on Confederay. You forgot c. It's Confederacy." That made me MAD because I thought I did it perfect! But I haven't had my chance to fix the problem until last Monday.

A group of visitors came and look around in our classroom. One lady saw the bulletin and said she liked it lot but (what else..) she said that word is wrong. GRRRR! The teacher said I need to fix it right away, so I did. Sighs. I feel very IDIOT on that day.

Anyway, this bulletin is not really finished. I still need to add the word under the pictures. Add a bit more for Confederacy. Sighs.. but that's my bulletin. I did fix the word but haven't take the picture yet.