movies

Last night we say Gran Torino. Clint Eastwood played Walt, a recent widower. He has lived in the same neighborhood for a very long time, and has watched it change over the years. Now it is mostly populated by the Hmong, and having been in the Korean War, Walt has his own distorted prejudices about these people.
Thao is one of the young boys who lives next door to Walt. He is quiet and is a "good kid," but has a cousin who is involved in a gang. The gang wants to recruit Thao, so they tell him that in order to be initiated, he must steal Walt's vintage Gran Torino from his garage. Walt catches him in the act and chases the group away. Thao's family finds out about the break-in and in order to pay back the debt, Thao must work for Walt. Over time, Walt befriends Thao and his family, and becomes a positive influence in Thao's life. The ending was poignant. If you liked Crash, you will enjoy this one, as its themes are similar. It really forces you to think about the way we treat other people without getting to know them first.

In other news, I went to Yoga yesterday morning. My abs hurt today, but it's a good hurt, and over time I'm sure I'll tone up and it will get easier. I have step aerobics again Tuesday, and I am looking forward to it.

I got shafted at work on Friday as well. Earlier this year, around October, I spoke with my principal about developing curriculum for the ESOL department, as we didn't have one to speak of across the entire district. I had already written 10-12 pages of curriculum that I showed her at our meeting (and stupidly emailed her after the meeting). The response was good, and she told me that she had been talking to the associate superintendent about possibly having me do this as an ESOL Specialist instead of teaching, and asked me to come up with a vision (aka-job description). In early November I had the opportunity to travel to Richmond with this superintendent, and spoke with her about the job, and was told I still had to apply for the position once it was posted just for formality. The posting came up in early December so I applied right away and interviewed over my holiday break. I was basically told I was being considered for the Elementary ESOL Specialist position and to wait for a phone call in early January. This past Friday I got an urgent email asking to call the superintent "ASAP." I did so, only to find out THEY HIRED SOMEONE ELSE FOR THE POSITION!!!!!!!!! I was floored. The whole damn thng was my idea to begin with, and I'm positive that if I hadn't mentioned it, that the positon wouldn't even exist today. The person who got the position didn't even know it existed until it was posted, and slid right in without knowing a lick about it.
Lesson learned? Just write your own curriculum, shut up about it, and turn it in as your professional development plan. I swear, if they use the curriculum I've already written, I'm going after them with a big stick.