Day 31: The Pinay Teacher's ABCs of Spring Break

    I was inspired by many people to do an ABCs of spring break, especially since this is the last day of the Slice of Life Challenge. I want to thank everyone for supporting me throughout this challenge. This has been a great experience and I definitely would love to do it again next year!

Always getting more sleep 

Bingo night at the resort

Cherry blossoms!

Driving A LOT

Eating fresh crabs

Fredericksburg Visit

Getting more stickers for my collection 

History lessons in Virginia

I love Filipino food 

Just drinking wine by myself 

Kids not allowed, except at Bingo night

Listening to audiobooks

More and more walking 

Netflix binging

Organizing my room...again

Practicing my chopsticks skills

Quizzing myself on American history 

Reading a lot of books

Shenandoah Valley National Park

Taking lots of pictures 

Uniting with my favorite city, Washington D.C. 

Virginia Visit

Washington D.C. Visit

eXciting vacation

Yummy food

Zooming back home 

Day 30: The Pinay Teacher's Appreciations

    Today I just wanted to listed all the things that I appreciated today as I have now returned from my trip to Virginia. 

•  modern transportation, thank you for getting me back home safely
• my brother for keeping me sane
• my mom for making me laugh
• my dad for driving
• my friend texting me gossip to entertain myself during the road trip
• Panera Bread chipotle chicken avocado sandwich
• Panda Express orange chicken
• pillows
• Libby for audiobooks
• SLEEP

Day 29: The Pinay Teacher Gets a Historical Lesson

    As we continue our travels in Virginia, it was an absolute must to get some kind of history lesson in one of the original 13 colonies. We visited Fredericksburg, the boyhood home of George Washington and also the location of famous battles during the Civil War. As a teacher and a history buff, I always love learning new stories and facts about the United States. There was one point when I was kid that I wanted to be a historian or an anthropologist. It was a very short-lived dream since I did not want to be the one doing the dirty work when it comes to finding things and it seems kind of lonely being in a lab or sitting at a desk all day. I like interacting with people, especially young minds who are eager to learn more since I am always wanting to learn new things.

    Back to my visit in Fredericksburg, we visited the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. I learned about and visited the different battle sites from the Civil War. Some of the houses that were impacted during those battles still had the bullet holes on them! Even part of the stone wall that was used during the battle is still there! It's amazing to me how so much of our history has been preserved for this long. We also visited the Chatham Manor that was visited by many famous figures, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Clara Barton. It was a beautiful house that had a wonderful view of Downtown Fredericksburg and the Rappahannock River. Sadly, we didn't get to visit more places due to time but I would love to visit Fredericksburg again in the future!

Day 28: Pinay Teacher Conquering the Mountains

    Today's main stop was visiting the Shenandoah National Park. We got to do a scenic drive up the mountain. It made me think about how beautiful nature is. I know the way I said that sounded really cheesy, but it's true! Throughout all the overlooks, there was always something new I would see and I would admire the beauty it brought to nature. We did a short hiking trail where they said we might see a bear. We didn't see a bear...all we heard were bird calls and cars driving by hahaha. I didn't know we were going to be hiking during this trip, so I didn't bring the best shoes. Luckily this was the easier path, but sadly we couldn't go to the cooler paths that led to waterfalls. Oh well I just got to plan better next time!

Day 27: The Pinay Teacher is Wining Solo

    To continue on my spring break vacation, my family and I decided to stay in the area just so that we can recover from yesterday's super long trip. We stopped by the local vineyards since they were the main attractions in the area. At the first vineyard, we didn't do any wine tastings, but there was some crackers that looked really good that we ended up buying. The second vineyard had a pretty good deal for their wine tasting, so I decided to take part. I was the only one in my family that did the wine tasting though since my mom can't drink alcohol anymore and my dad was the designated driver. It was just me drinking solo today haha. Overall what I learned from my wine tasting experience is that I am definitely not a red wine person, and I still consider moscato the best wine. The alcohol didn't hit me after the 6th and final tasting which is good at least hahaha. 

Day 26: The Pinay Teacher and the Cherry Blossoms!

    Today I did another mini road trip to Washington D.C. I thought it was just going to be another ordinary trip to D.C., but to my surprise it is now cherry blossom season! I was so excited to see all the cherry blossoms blooming all over the city. I have always dreamt of going to Washington D.C. during this time of year and it turned out that today was the first day of the cherry blossom festival. There were so many people today since it was beautiful weather. There were people flying kites all over the Washington Monument and so many people taking pictures with the cherry blossoms. I think 90% of my pictures are of the cherry blossoms HAHAHA! As I was walking through the cherry blossom trees, it truly made me feel like either I was in Japan or in anime:)

Day 25: The Pinay Teacher's VERY Long Road Trip

    As I am writing this post a bit late, it is because I have just arrived to my vacation spot for spring break. The road trip was full of rain, wind, and motion sickness for me. I slept through all of Indiana because I hate driving through Indiana (no offense to anyone who lives in Indiana!). I woke up once we got to Ohio and that is always fun seeing the different stops on the Ohio Turnpike. Once we got to Pennsylvania, that was when the motion sickness started to kick in. The mountains are just not for me. All the twists, turns, ups, and downs just make me so dizzy and sick. I never had this problem until this year, so I don't know if it just came with age and time. We traveled for 15 hours, but we finally made it to Gordonsville, Virginia! We are glamping over here and staying at a yurt. I'm super excited for this trip! I think the plan tomorrow is visiting Washington D.C., so stay tune for more spring break updates!   

Day 24: Happy Spring Break from the Pinay Teacher!

Spring Break is here!

Time for me to vacation!

Hope you all get rest!

Day 23: A Proud Pinay Teacher

    I did progress monitoring for all of my students in my caseload yesterday. I gotta say I am super proud of each and every one of them! They all have made so much progress since the last time I progress monitored them. There were some kids I was worried about, but I was very surprised by how much they know. It is spring break next week, so I am a little worried that all the information we just learned is going to be gone after that one week. I have faith though that some information will stick and hopefully when the kids come back from spring break I don't have to reteach them everything!

Day 22: A Broke Pinay Teacher

    I try to save money. I really do! There are just some things in life where I get tempted to purchase or experience... Today my friend bought tickets for our whole friend group to watch TWICE in Chicago! I am of course excited to watch TWICE since I've been a fan for the past 5 years, but that means more money being taken away from my bank account. I like to reason with myself that since they are a K-Pop group that they won't always come to the United States for a concert. Nowadays though more and more K-Pop groups come to the US for their tours so my reasoning is start to sound unreasonable. So far this is the second concert ticket that I purchased this 2023, but the Lollapalooza lineup just got released yesterday... The lineup is SO GOOD! I really wanna go, but I have no idea how much those tickets will be. There are other artists that just released their tour dates that are also tempting to purchase. I have so far restrained myself from buying those tickets (haha such as Taylor Swift), but I don't know how much longer until I give in to buy more concert tickets! 

Day 21: The Pinay Teacher and the Long Hospital Visit

    Just to preface, I did not go to the hospital for myself. I went with my mom to the University of Iowa Hospital to get her on the list for a kidney transplant. She has been having kidney problems for the past 10 years and only got on the list where we live this past year. To help increase her chances, we have been going to surrounding states and adding her to the kidney transplant list. Today was just a full day of learning more about kidney transplants and my mom having to do all these medical tests. The doctors kept emphasizing how a living kidney donor is the best option. Sadly no one in our family can donate a kidney due to other health issues. We are starting the process of finding a living donor, but also hoping that we will get that phone call from any of the hospitals. 

Day 20: A Hard Day for the Pinay Teacher

    Today will be a short post since it was a very rough day. I try to do my best to support kids every day as a learning behavior specialist, but it can be a battle. Today felt like I lost the battle and it's difficult to get back up. I know I will still get back up because I will do anything for my kids. I will keep saying to myself things will get better. I will continue to grow from the experience and know what to do better next time. I will keep serving my kids and be the support that they need.  

Day 19: The Pinay Teacher and the Surprise 21st Birthday Party

    Today is one of my very close friend's 21st birthday! I helped plan her surprise birthday party with her mom, boyfriend, and some of our friends. We had the party at a nice Spanish restaurant in the city. My friend was surprised until she saw some of our faces on the mirrors that were in the restaurant hahaha! The food was amazing and they had very tasty sangria. It was a very memorable 21st birthday for my friend and a fun time for all of us to catch up on life. Some of the highlights that I found out from some friends I haven't seen in a while is one of them is planning on going to Denmark for her undergraduate studies, another friend is going to study abroad in Japan for two weeks this summer, and another friend is graduating with his associate's degree in May! Lots of laughs and celebrations today:)

Day 18: The Pinay Teacher, Three Asian Stooges, Three Course Roulette

    I reunited with my high school best friends also known as the Three Asian Stooges! We were given that friend group name by our high school history teacher because we would always be up to no good in the hallways. Whenever we meet up, we always struggle on what to do together that's new and exciting. My one friend suggested that we do three course roulette. This is where each of us will either choose where to eat our appetizer, entre, and dessert. My friend chose to get some cheese fries at Portillo's. I chose for us to get tacos at Burrito Parrilla, and my other friend chose to get a dessert at H-Mart. It ended up that all the places we wanted to go to were on the same street. We realized that the next time we all hang out we can do a three course roulette again but in other main streets that have a bunch of food places. It was a lot of fun to do and had us explore restaurants we each would want to go to. 

Day 17: Good Deals for the Pinay Teacher

    Something that I always love to do is finding a good deals. Whether it's groceries, clothes, or meals, it always makes my day a little bit better when I benefit from a good deal and save money. I'm currently trying to save up some money to move out of my parents' house, so I am always searching for those good deals. When my sister and I were out of the house today, my mom asked if we can go buy some milk and dijon mustard for today's dinner. We were planning on just buying those two things, but boy we were wrong. We went to our local Jewel-Osco and were surprised by all the great deals that surrounded us. The first thing we saw right at the door was a bag of clementines were only 99 cents! 99 CENTS! I love eating clementines but it's hard to find a good deal on them and here it was right in front of us! Then I looked to the right and found another great deal. A bag of avocados for 99 cents! 99 CENTS! I am always craving avocado toast so I was so excited to see that I can have a lot of avocados for one of my favorite breakfast meals. We also got a good deal on butter! We eventually found the milk and the mustard which was also on discount. When I checked out all of my groceries, everything turned out to just be $10! It was a great feeling coming out of Jewel to have saved money and find some good deals. 

Day 16: The Pinay Teacher Easter Dress Journey

    After a day of meetings and catching up on work, I decided to go on my journey to find a dress to wear for Easter. It's very important to find a nice Easter dress since I have to sing at Easter mass. I've been trying to find an Easter dress these past few weeks but had no luck. Today I went to TJ Maxx because I remembered that they restock on Thursdays. My original plan was to find a birthday gift for my friend, but that plan was forgotten once I saw all the new spring dresses. My sister and I explored all the dresses, but I was definitely doing most of the work since I was the one who kept putting dresses in the cart. The two of us split which dresses we would try on and headed to the dressing room. We each had 4 dresses to try on hahaha! The first dress I tried on was very simple and cute so that was a definite yes to buy. The second dress was my favorite dress and was very spring-like and perfect for Easter. The last two dresses did not look that good on me though since one was too close to my skin tone and the other one just did not look that good on me. I couldn't choose between the first two dresses, so I ended up getting both! I really thought I was just going to buy a birthday gift, but I ended up buying two dresses for myself hahaha. At least they will be useful for the upcoming holiday! 

Day 15: The Pinay Teacher and Mr. Potatohead

    With one of my 2nd graders, we are working on how-to writing. He was writing about how to make a Mr. Potatohead. Seeing that he was writing about Mr. Potatohead made me think about all the Toy Story movies. As I'm writing this blog, one of my coworkers and a student were also talking about Toy Story. I didn't really like the character of Mr. Potatohead since he was kind of rude to everyone. Even when he had Mrs. Potatohead, Mr. Potatohead just had such a negative attitude. The character that I always loved watching was Jessie the cowgirl. She always tried to stay positive and was such a strong female character to look up to. Her sad backstory would always make me cry though. This blog is kind of a random thoughts going on of my day, but Toy Story is just a great movie that is still being talked about in the workplace and beyond.  

Day 14: The Struggles of Adding for the Pinay Teacher

    As the 1st graders are learning a new strategy for adding in math, I am also learning this new strategy since I was never taught that way when I was in elementary school. Obviously as an adult, I caught on to the strategy fairly quickly. When I pulled my small group of kids who were really struggling with this new math concept, I thought that the smallness of the group and the less pressured environment would help. It was a struggle bus!! I had one kid who wanted to do it on his own but used the wrong strategy, another kid who kept crying and whining that they can't do it even though they didn't try yet, and another kid who was trying but was overall lost. The other coworkers that were in the room saw how much chaos was going on in the room and were also confused as I am by what was going on. When I checked in with the classroom teacher on how the rest of the kids did, she was also frustrated by how the kids kept asking questions and were struggling too. The problem was the kids were NOT TRYING! They kept asking for help even though there was no work on the paper. I was there for the mini lesson and it was taught very well, so the classroom teacher and I definitely saw the kids were just not trying. I hope tomorrow goes better as we continue to practice this frustrating addition strategy!  

Day 13: The Pinay Teacher's 1st Field Trip

    Today was my first field trip with the 1st and 2nd graders! We got to watch the stage version of Charlotte's Web which was super cute and interactive for the kids. I was a little bit nervous prior to the trip since I didn't know how any of my kids would react to sitting quietly for an hour. Surprisingly all my kids were pleasant audience members and were enjoying the show. I totally forgot about how Charlotte's Web is kind of a depressing story, especially with all the talk of a pig being slaughtered and the fact that one of the characters dies (haha didn't want to give a spoiler in case anyone hasn't read it yet)! The kids really enjoyed the field trip and were super excited about going on more field trips in the future. My least favorite part in the whole trip though was the bus ride...I definitely got motion sickness, but I also had to help so many kids so that didn't really help. Hopefully I get used to all these bus rides on field trips!

Day 12: The Pinay Teacher's Snuffed Torch

    On this relaxing and rebooting Sunday, I decided to catch up on some more reality TV. Rather than what I was talking about before with romance reality TV, this time around I was catching up on my competitive reality TV, Survivor. I started becoming a Survivor fan during the pandemic when they were showing the all winners season. From that moment on, I was hooked on Survivor! I have binge watched almost all the seasons and now I'm watching the current season, Survivor 44. In just these first two episodes, there have been so many medical issues ever in one season I think! I always wanted that sense of adventure and risk-taking which is why I like watching Survivor, but there also has to be some common sense when in an unknown jungle. I have always debated about auditioning for Survivor because it's always on my mind of how I would play the game. Would I be strategic and look for immunity idols? Would I be the social player just wanting to make new friends? Would I physically be capable to do all of the challenges? Am I smart enough to figure out these puzzles? It's just a thought that I've always had after watching Survivor, but I don't know if I will ever have the guts to actually get off the couch and join the game. 

Day 11: Color and Joy for the Pinay Teacher

    Today, my best friends from college visited me today! We got to spend the whole day in Chicago and had many adventures. My favorite thing we did was something that was new for all of us, the Color Factory in the Willis Tower. It was such a fun, interactive art exhibit that included free food, fun photo opportunities, and so much laughter. As I was going through the museum, I thought about the beauty of color. Color is an identifying factor for every thing you can see. I loved how the museum used color to broaden all our senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste). I would love to go back to the Color Factory again!

Day 10: Reality TV is taking over the Pinay Teacher's Life

 

   I don't know what it is this week, but for some reason I keep watching reality dating shows. It all started when my mom, sister, and I finally started watching Singles Inferno Season 2. We were hooked by all the chaos and beautiful people that are on this show. After watching Singles Inferno, I decided to get back to watching this season of the Bachelor. The Bachelor just has a different kind of chaos than Singles Inferno. Singles Inferno has wholesome chaos while the Bachelor just has dumb chaos. As I continue on this journey of watching romance reality TV, I hope that they find their people but also...do you really want to find your person for all the world to see?  

Day 9: Angels and Demons, a Pinay Teacher's 1st Grade's Tale

     Once upon a time, two little girls found two forks on the ground during their recess time. They felt an attachment to these forks and named them Angel and Demon. The one girl saw that Angel and Demon had a connection and wanted them to get married. The other girl saw that Angel was going to die and was planning her funeral. She even said that Angel will be going "up there". The two girls came up with a compromise of some sort. Angel will have her funeral and go "up there" and after she is "up there", Angel will be married to Demon. All was going to plan until Angel met another Demon. Instead of marrying the original Demon, she married a new Demon. These are the things that my students just share casually during our small group. 

Day 8: Affirmations and Defeats of a Pinay Teacher

    Today was just full of defeat, pain, and exhaustion. With everything that is going on at school and at home, I just wasn't feeling my best self. Last week, the special education team wrote affirmation letters to each other for us to read if we ever have a bad day. Today was definitely a day for me to read some encouragement from my co-workers. Reading that affirmation gave me the push I needed until the end of the day. Since the activity is called "Give-One, Get-One", I wrote an affirmation to one of my teammates that I definitely appreciated today. I am glad to be part of a team that supports each other and helps me grow as a new teacher. 

Day 7: Magic in the Air for Pinay Teacher

     As a teacher, I always need those times to relax after a long day of work. Today brought on one of my hobbies from college, trivia night. I was even more pumped about it because it was Harry Potter trivia. I went with my sister, some of her friends from college, and my best friend from high school, Bethany. Bethany and I were a team and my sister and her friends were another team. The questions were fairly easy, but it was more being around a great group of people that made trivia night fun. There was a mix of young adults, families, and teenagers that were just having fun together. There were dance breaks, trash talking, and laughter. It gave me so much joy to see this group of people having fun together on Tuesday at the local boba shop. It truly felt like there was magic in the air.

Day 6: The Pinay Teacher, John Cena, and the Rock take on Phonics

 

    I usually plan all my lessons ahead of time, but today I made a last minute change for my small group phonics lesson this afternoon. We were reviewing special vowel combinations, so I gave the two kids flyswatters for them to hit the different special vowel combinations that they hear in the words I told them. The game was going well with them hitting random answers to them actually thinking about the word that I was saying. All of a sudden, the two boys started to "trash talk" one another by saying that they were John Cena and the Rock! I tried to hold it in and did my best to help them refocus, but the other learning behavior specialist that shares a room with me could not stop laughing! Especially when the kid who was John Cena started doing the John Cena moves with his hands HAHAHA! Overall, the lesson itself went well, but the kids definitely got a little bit crazy at the end there. 

Day 5: A Fish, a Fisher, and a Pinay Teacher

     In today's slice, I got the chance to catch up with some friends that are still in undergrad. They were asking for advice on a dance that I used to choreograph. To give some background on this story, I used to be the president of the Filipino Student Association at the college I attended. We would always host a showcase near the end of the year that features traditional dances and performances. My best friend and I choreographed a dance called Pasigin. The story that is told in this dance is the fishers are trying to catch the fish. It's a lot of the fish playing around with the fishers and the fishers feeling frustrated throughout the dance. 

    Back to today, my friends were asking for advice on how to choreograph a dance and how to lead dance practices. It definitely felt weird to be the person with experience and giving the advice since as a 1st year teacher, I'm usually the one seeking out for advice. I had to really think back since it had been a while since I choreographed Pasigin. Something I do appreciate about my friends reaching out is that the traditions and legacy I brought to the club continues on. The gif above is a little bit of the dance I choreographed:) 

Day 4: A Pinay Teacher's Shopping Spree with No Shopping

     Have you ever had those days when you just want to leave the house and go to stores but not buy anything? Today was that kind of day for me. The way these shopping sprees with no shopping days go happens in these simple steps. First, travel to a store you want to go to. Second, look around the store and admire all the things you may want to buy. Third, realize that wow you're broke and I probably shouldn't buy anything. Finally, leave the store and think about all the things you could have if everything was free. I think I ended up going to 4 different stores and did not buy a single thing at any of them. At each of these stores though, there was always at least one thing I really wanted to buy. This is the life of someone who has to still pay loans and has a teacher salary, so it's hard for me to make those final purchases. Maybe when I marry the future King of a small country I will be able to buy all these nice things hahaha!

Day 3: The Institute Day of a Pinay Teacher

     As a 1st year teacher, there is still so much for me to learn. Today is one of the designated days for someone like me to hopefully become a better teacher. All of the special education team had the option to attend professional development seminars with other special education members in the county. I signed up for two seminars about Collaboration and Conflict Management and Using Academic Interventions and Evidence-Based Practices. Being a part of these seminars reminded me so much of what I learned in college just a few years ago. Even though a lot of the ideas shared at the seminar were things I learned before, it is a nice reminder for me and a way for me to reflect on the practices I use in the classroom. This made me think about how I need those daily reminders to help me grow as a teacher. Something I did in college was find different education videos on YouTube and just watch one each day. It keeps my brain going and keeps me reflecting on what I do each day in my teaching. These institute days can give people mixed feelings, but as a new teacher, I try to absorb as much information as I can to help me grow as a teacher. 

Day 2: The Pinay Teacher Takes On Pokemon

     As someone who grew up in the 21st century, there are some things that I can create common ground with the students that I teach. That is...the world of Pokemon. Pokemon has somehow got even more popular than it was in my elementary school days. Ever since I gave out Pokemon stickers and brought my Pokemon Funko Pops and Pokemon cards, my kids won't stop talking about Pokemon with me! What I decided 2 months ago was to start a Pokemon Club for 1st and 2nd graders. 

    It is now the second to last week of Pokemon Club and wow I am exhausted! It has been a process to figure out what the kids wanted to do in Pokemon Club, start trading Pokemon cards and then stop trading Pokemon cards (that is another story for another day), and managing the craziness kids feel after school. Something that has stuck and got kids super excited is Battle Day. Every Thursday, the kids battle each other with their Pokemon cards in order to win gym badges from me. I create the starting pairs and once they finish battling their starting opponent, they can battle whoever they want. 

    We have had almost 5 or 6 battle days and somehow the kids still don't remember the rules of the Pokemon trading card game. The amount of questions that I have to answer repeatedly is just never-ending like "How do I start the game?" or "Do we have to use Energy cards?". One question though that made my day was, "Can you help me build my deck?". It was the first time I saw a kid trying to utilize the strategies I taught them the previous weeks and seeking out for help to understand the game better. The even crazier thing about it is the kid who asked me. This kid has been giving me a hard time ever since the beginning, but today he seek me out to help him get better at Pokemon. Even though many days in Pokemon club can get tiring, I cherish the small moments when the kids want to learn more and are curious about what we do.    

Day 1: The First Slice of a Pinay Teacher

     Hey Slicers! So the first question you are probably asking as you see my blog title is "what is a Pinay?". Pinay is another way to say that I am a Filipino/a woman. Where I am from, it is rare to see Filipino teachers or other teachers of color. Coming from the stereotype of pursuing a career in the healthcare field (nursing!), I already knew that was something I did not want to pursue since science was not my strong suit. There is always that pressure to pursue a career in the healthcare field from family, friends, and especially teachers who believe in the stereotype. I was one of the lucky ones that had family who supported the career I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I always had this mindset when I first wanted to be a teacher that I wanted to inspire other children of color to pursue any career they want since I understand the pressure that society puts on children to pursue careers that they may not be as passionate about. 

    Besides the fact that I am Filipino, I am a 1st year learning behavior specialist that works mostly with Kindergarten-2nd graders and some 6th graders, so there will be a variety of stories that will be shared on this Slice of Life Journey. I am also a foodie, bookworm, and movies/TV shows enthusiast. 

    A challenge that I just finished in the month of February is to watch a romance movie for each day of the month of February. Romance movies are my favorite genre and watching these movies was such a great way to destress from the craziness of teaching in February (the worst month of the year). The last movie I finished was You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. This movie was definitely higher up on the list of good romance movies, so if you have not watched this movie yet, I would highly recommend. If my life were like these movies though, I think I would go crazy by the rollercoaster of emotions. As you read through my future blogs, I hope you don't think my life is as crazy as the movies!