 out loud. As I grabbed the book the weight of the moment almost made me pass out. I opened to the bookmarked page and the words on the paper blurred into one another and the ink on the page started to run like the tears that uncontrollably fell from my face. All I could see was the blank white pages staring at me along with the entire class. When reality went through my bones and it was clear that my secret was revealed, I threw the book to the ground and immediately ran out of the classroom.
To make matters worse at the end of the school year it was apparent that I did not grow academically enough to move up into the next grade level. The principal, teacher, and my mother met to discuss what options would be best and the principal felt that since the teacher I was with knew me the most it would be best if I repeat the third grade with the same teacher. When I heard the news, that was the day I decided that I wanted to quit school and put my guard up against all teachers.
I will never forget the way my third-grade teacher made me feel. I felt invisible, inept, insignificant, stupid, and out of place. The feeling of not belonging sends chills down my spine to this very day. The psychological isolation and invisible manipulation that happened in her classroom was borderline mental child abuse. Since that time, I have made it my life’s work to make sure that no other students experience what I experienced in her classroom. I also learned that great teaching is not just about knowing your specific content area well or creating a powerful lesson plan, but, being able to reach each student in an authentic way with love. The best teachers I ever had loved me, accepted me, and made me feel as if I was the most important student in their class.
Mei-Mei, do you feel that your teacher loves you? And with a stone cold look on her face without even thinking about it our 7- year old immediately looked me directly in the eyes and responded with a “no”!
If I was asked the same question when I was in the third grade my response would have been no as well; perhaps even hell no! As a parent, I felt hopeless and was not sure what my next course of action would be. We started to pay more attention to Mei and listening more than talking. I met with the teacher, principal, and even had a conversation with the superintendent about the situation but nothing really changed. By God’s grace, we made it through the end of the school year but our daughter was not the same and her love for school was gone. The most unfortunate part was that the teacher is still teaching at the same school and it turns my stomach that other students – year over year have to endure the same treatment Mei went through.
Needless to say, when Mei went into the second grade I was very particular on who her teacher would be. There was one teacher that stood out to me. His name was Mr. Inocencio but all the students called him Mr. I for short. In a very unassuming way, Mr. I exudes a love of teaching and caring for students. I wanted Mei to be around that type of teacher who would love her just as she is and encourage her to do better. Almost right away I could see the difference and Mei enjoyed going back to school each day. It was so apparent that I personally thanked him for embracing Mei like no other teacher ever had.
I dedicate this post to students past and present who have suffered through the pain, embarrassment, and disappointment of feeling invisible in the eyes of a teacher. To those who stayed back, were told that they have a learning disability and cannot learn. To those students who were singled out for behavior issues, or told that they were not college material; I want you to know that you are loved and continue to RISE!
PrevPreviousParenting in a COVID-19 Distance Learning Environment – How’s It Working For You?I was feeling pretty blue yesterday but my Mama came over and kept me company. She surprised me by bringing me a bunch of beautiful chartreuse chrysanthemums, knowing what a mum fanatic I am and how much I love green.
Aren't they gorgeous? This sweet gesture from my mother made me realize again how small things can really make a difference in a person's day. I tried to brighten my husband's day that day by actually having supper ready for him when he came in the door. (I'm going to try to do the same again today. We'll see).
What will you do to make someone's day better? Just remember, it doesn't have to be something big or costly.
Please keep your comments civil and free of profanity. If you know my daughter's name, please do not post it here. Just refer to her as The Precious. Thank you!Aylsham Road, Norwich, April 1942 and nearly now. There are two pictures of the area. Both I believe taken by George Swain. The top Blitz Ghost is the first one I ever did, and the bottom one is the last. A 500kg landed here, it blew the front out of all the houses in the second block on the row, remarkably nobody was killed, the Abel family crawled out of this. When I did these I was talking to one of the neighbours on the other side of the road to this. He;’d recently had some work done on his house, repointing mainly. One of the workmen came down from the scaffolding and handed him a few bit of metal they’d picked out of the mortar and brickwork, embedded there for seventy years. We in turn found newspapers stuffed into a gap when replacing skirting boards, the paper rotten and faded, brittle to the touch, the date 1949 discernible in the corner of one piece, from when who ever repaired our house had scrunched it up and stuffed it into a gap behind before hammering in cut clasp nails to hold the skirting in place. Done with such force he’d left a penny on the wood and bowed it into the void.
Both photos are interesting in that as well as the scale of blast damage that was caused they also show a telephone box in the midst of it. It is a curious tone in black and white, very light, a greenish yellow in fact painted with gas detector paint to aid the ARP Wardens in the event of a gas attack. The second also show one of the surface shelters. In the event of a raid if you were without an Anderson or Morrison shelter or were just caught in the open you dived for the nearest one of these. It didn’t always help and they wouldn’t survive a direct hit as seen on Heigham Street where one was obliterated and every poor soul inside went with it. There is no evidence of it on the grass, I’ve checked, they were broken up and dragged away, the concrete repurposed as hardcore in road-building as the city repaired itself and expanded.
It’s quite remarkable really, these little finds in the everyday that make time collapse for an instant. Where you touch something that hasn’t seen the light for so long, Distant and not at the same time.
Any plan to have full Photoshop apps for Android like ipad?
The problem is they have so far to go on the iPad. There are many, many missing features at this point in time. And it is easier to develop for iOS compared to Android. That said, it is good are letting them know. I know they keep track of customer interests.WIBTA if I quit my job by not showing up?

A little back story, I started serving at this restaurant in November, and going into I knew they had some issues there, employees left, there were rumors of closing down, etc. I still took it because it was easy hours, and I needed money quickly for a place to live.

The first couple of months were great, we only get a rush for a couple hours as we are next to a huge theater, so everyone needs to be out the door by show time. It was fast paced and fun. 

Then the problems started, being out of half the beers on draft, running out of half the menu during the rush, ice machine broken for weeks, grill broken for weeks, only two cooks for a fully seated restaurant, people not getting their food in time and screaming in my face about it...

Needless to say, the stress of working there is destroying me, I’m embarrassed to serve my tables, I have panic attacks before my shifts, and I’m constantly on high alert about what’s gonna go wrong next. Even our managers are quitting, and more employees quit every day.

I’ve given my notice and I have a great new job I’m training at, but at this point I don’t want to set foot in there and I don’t feel like I owe them anything, WIBTA if I just didn’t show up?  I took the advice to go in, and well, I had to tell two tables their dessert wouldn’t come out, and had to comp three tables who’s food took an hour. Made it through with a smile and I quit after cashing out. Thanks guys!Having access to the right knowledge and expertise is an essential part of successfully developing and commercialising new products and services for the health and care market. Key stakeholders need to be involved with medical product development, such as the beneficiary (patient), user (clinician) and buyer (NHS organisation), who often have different interests and requirements.
The MedTech NAVIGATOR Innovation Grants are designed to facilitate such bespoke interactions between SMEs and eligible Knowledge Providers, such