Con-nerd is
about a twelve year old Chinese Australian boy called Conner who dreams of
being an artist. His mother thinks drawing is a waste of time and wants him to
study to become a doctor. Connor thinks all he does is study and wants to be
regular kid.
Connor is
concerned about being a nerd and wants to be accepted by his peers. His mother has a lot of control of his life,
from the friends he has, to the music he listens to and what he does in his
free time. I felt bad for him to have that helicopter mother. I could
understand from the mother’s perspective too. She wanted what was best for her
son after sacrificing to come to Australia.
I used to
work in a tutoring company and Connor reminded me of those kids. Most of my students were Chinese and their
parents worked very hard to give them a good start to life. A lot of them
wanted to go on to selective private schools. One of my students had an extracurricular
activities almost every day. She went to tutoring two times a week, piano
lessons, tennis lessons and Chinese lesson. The only day off she had was
Sunday. She had moved from China with her mother to continue her education
here.
Connor
faces typical preteen issues, such as wanting to fit in with peers, burgeoning
romantic feelings and fears about the future. I work as a teacher and this book
reminded me of being a preteen. There have been times that I have been
dismissive about things children face. However, I know that while something may
seem small to me, it may be a big concern for a child.
I also
loved the descriptions about Connor’s drawings. There are little sketches so
that you can flick through the pages like a flip book. I would have liked to
see more pictures but Phommavanh did a great job describing his character’s passion
and talent for drawing.
I am excited that there are books that have character’s
from different backgrounds. I wish that there had more books like this when I
was a child. I thought this book was cute and entertaining read. I look forward
to reading more of Phommavanh’s work.
As a music listener I'm not a huge popular music fan at this point in my life. While I have always been an alternative music fan I listened primarily to popular music throughout my teens and most of my twenties. These days my expose to popular music mostly comes via television commercials and my work place which always has music playing over our PA system.
I also get some minimal exposure to what's popular today through the websites that I visit. Sometimes those websites are not music related. I don't mean to besmirch popular music either. I think there are a lot of great songs and artists out there who create music in what amounts to the mainstream music scene. I simply do not have the time I did when I was younger to listen to the variety of music that I did back then, so I have to make some choices, which are choices that generally keep me in the dark with regards to some of the mainstream artists today.
I have mentioned before how Carlyn and I first became friends on an Emma Watson fan site and it's through my membership on that site that I also was first exposed to the music of Sia Furler. Sia is a very prominent player in many of the popular music hits of today.
Sia Furler is an Australian born musician who is less than a month older than myself and has become much more famous in the last several years since I first learned of her, not entirely out of her own performances, but for the music she has written for many of today's most talented popular music artists. So while there are several music fans who may be familiar with her because of her link as a writer for artists such as Britney Spears, Rihanna, Celine Dion and Christina Aguilera, I was first acquainted with her music about 5 and a half years ago through her own performances of her songs like Butterflies, Numb and Breathe Me. Many of Sia's songs were used on fan videos that I watched posted to Emma-Watson.net or youtube.
I've seen critical reviews from fans of Sia that consider her more talented vocally than many of the popular artists she writes for. I do not necceserally agree with that. Which is not to say that I don't consider Sia comparable to artists like Rihanna or Celine Dion or Christina Aguilera vocally. I do think there is a legitimate argument to be made and she can hold her own. With that said, I would personally consider her to be behind many of those artists in vocal talent with regards to range and purity of vocals.
What I will say on her behalf though is that her voice is very unique and this might sound contradictory to what I said about vocal talent but I like it a little bit better than Rihanna or Celine Dion or (much more than) Britney Spear's voices. I still prefer Christina Aguilera's voice and consider her range and vocal ability a bit better than Sia's.
What I will also say for Sia on her behalf is that as an all around musician I think she is among the best singer/writers in the business today. I've also enjoyed the tunes she has produced for herself more than many of the most popular songs she has written or produced for others.
Sia's most recent hit song that she sings is called Chandelier
The song that originally made me take notice of Sia and appreciate her music is a tune that does not seem to get it's rightful place among her best songs in my opinion, and it's called Numb.
One of the most popular songs that Sia has written for another artist is the song Diamonds as performed by Rihanna.
If you had either no knowledge or a general knowledge of Sia Furler before, I hope that perhaps my discussion of her here might bring her and her music even more new fans. She is obviously an extremely talented musician, song writer and performer who is getting some very deserved recognition and figures to play a big part in the future love of music for millions of music fans worldwide.
For the 4th of July weekend a couple of weeks back I visited with my family for a few days and mom and I decided to go to the movies and watch Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood's movie adaptation of the Broadway play about the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Jersey Boys the movie somewhat follows the tradition of a play translated to the big screen by having the characters speak in asides to the audience. So it tries as much as possible to stay true stylistically to a play, which I like. The movie chronicles the founding and rise to fame of The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. The story line is entertaining and easy to follow. It's not one of those movies where you have to figure stuff out, it is what it is. Frankie Valli as the lead singer with a unique vocal range has the star power that carries the group to success, but they must fight through the financial hardships brought on in large part by Tommy DeVito the band's lead guitarist.
The music is a sampling of many of the Four Seasons greatest hits (penned by Gaudio) including such songs as Ragdoll, Walk Like a Man, Dawn, Big Girls Don't Cry and December 1963 (Oh What a Night) as well as other hits. If the actors do their own singing then the singing is really quite good and far, far better than the singing in the movie adaptation of MaMa Mia for example. If you love the Four Season's music you might take a critical eye to the song performances, but if you are simply a movie-goer looking for a fun movie then the music performance is not an obstacle to your enjoyment.
The personalities, both their personal and professional dynamic are interesting and portrayed quite well. Tommy DeVito's character is both very likable and also very easy not to like at the same time. He is established as the driving force behind the band but comes off as someone who is looking out only for his own best interests, while veiling his monatary gambles under the guise of group management and marketing. I think all the characters are likable but faulted, falling victim to some of the pitfalls that many famous bands fall victim to, especially in regards to relationship fidelity.
Overall the movie is a good movie and worth the ticket price if you are a fan of plays. If you don't particularly enjoy plays then the style of the movie may not appeal to you, but I think it's still worth the Red Box rental on a rainy night or cold winter night.
I started working as substitute teacher last month as a way
to get into teaching. I am a qualified teacher and I’m still looking for
permanent work. I haven’t had much success in job hunting so I’m hoping subbing
will help me to build relationships with schools so that they think of me when
an opening comes up.
The Education Department in Queensland has a division called
Tracer which allocates substitute teachers in government schools. So in the
mornings, I wait to get a call from Tracer to tell me what school I’m subbing
for the day. Teachers can allocate school preferences and grades so I have a
bit of an idea of what to expect for the day.
Once I decide to accept a job, I quickly pack my lunch and
prepare for the grade that I have been assigned to teach. I’m still starting
out so I don’t know most of the classes at the schools so I plan general
lessons that revise what students from that grade would know. For example, I have students practice
handwriting, do an English piece and put up some sums on the board for
math. Usually, teachers leave some work
behind for the substitute teachers but sometimes I have to plan my own. If the
teacher leaves stuff to do then I make sure the children do that. If they
finish quickly they have to do my stuff as well.
The first thing I do when I arrive at the school is go to
the administration office. I introduce myself to the receptionist and they hand
me a schedule and tell me about the school. I find my classroom and scope it
out. I get ideas of what the children are like and what they are learning about
by looking around the room. I think of possible lesson I could teach them. I
also look for any notes that the teacher has left behind for me as well as the
phone. It’s important to know where the phone is and how to call the office in
case something happens.
I also meet the other teachers in the area and they give me
advice about what to do. Most of them tell me that I can call on them for help
and I’m glad that they are so nice. I smile at any child that peeps into the
window and say hello.
When the children come in, I introduce myself and tell them
how the day will run. I also explain what my expectations are and how they will
be rewarded. I give out stickers to reward good behavior and work. Most
students love to get the stickers and that motivates them to work well.
Every class has a trouble maker and their behavior is worse
than usual because I’m not their regular teacher. It can be challenging and
frustrating dealing with those students but nothing I can’t handle. I try to
talk to them, make them aware of the choices they make and the consequences. I
also send them out of class to be disciplined if I need to and I try to get
them to work. Sometimes, they can’t be reasoned with and they don’t want to
learn so when that happens I focus on supervision rather than learning. I give
the child some menial task to do that will keep them busy or I let them
continue their activity as long as they do not disturb others. I also let them
know that they will be doing the class work in detention if they choose to
continue playing around. I have twenty
four other children to look after so I can’t spend time dealing with one or two
unruly children.
Sometimes, the whole class can be hard to control. Working
with children when they are disruptive is like trying to put out fires. Once
you have put out one fire, there’s another fire you have to put out. I’ve had
classes where there were children running around the room, children touching
things they shouldn’t, one or two children asking me stuff, tattlers come to me
to tell me things, someone crying and it’s all happening all at once. It can be
overwhelming dealing with that kind of situation.
In that situation, I go about the room telling students to
go to their seats. If anyone talks to me, I’m like a broken record. I say, “Not
right now, go to your seat, “until they do it. If the children are still
talking, I put marks on the board which I explain represents all the minutes
that they will be spending in detention. I give them a big lecture and I get
them to stay quiet until I say they can talk again.
Warning- this film contains profanity.
When a class is out of control, safety becomes a priority
over learning. When a class is out of control, stuff gets damaged and people
get hurt so it’s important to shut down all activities until they under
control. When the children become more cooperative and respectful class resumes
again. I let go of any animosity after the punishment because the children need
to have a fresh start. I try to organize fun things that the children will
enjoy and end the day on a high note.
Some days all the children go home happy. Other days it’s
almost all of them except for a few naughty kids. The naughty kids usually go
home grumbling because they spent the whole day battling with me to let them
get away with doing nothing. At the end of the day, I make the class tidy up
their things and they go home when the bell rings. I write a letter to the
regular teacher which I leave in the room; it details what happened during the
day.
I find being a substitute teacher to be a good living. I
don’t want to do it forever and I wish for my own class. It has been a valuable
learning experience for me as I have taught different classes and schools. Before
I was terrified of the idea of subbing but now I know it’s not a big deal. To
be honest, I don’t really enjoy subbing because it’s like babysitting with a
bit of education thrown in (Sorry if I offended any subs out there). I’d rather
like my own class so I can watch them grow and help them to learn. I hope I didn't scare any aspiring teachers out there. Teaching is a rewarding career and like any career it has it's advantages and disadvantages.
