Xmas Gift 2014

Student Celine gave me this chocolate brownie on the day before Christmas break. I only had Celine for a few weeks in the beginning of the school year before she was switched to another teacher. She continues to stop by to talk to me on occasion.

PS - The sad reality was that this brownie was stolen from my desk later that day. I never found out who did it, I only found the wrapper in the trash can at the end of the day.

Thank you, Paul and Trish

This is a large hand-made wooden decor. It was made by the talented Mrs. C. for me as a Christmas gift (2013). Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Ciccoianni. I will try to keep it real (and rational).

School Pin

My private student, Erin, gave me a pin of her boarding school. Its mascot is a Teddy Bear.

Spirited

The crowd showed spirit and class in defeat.  Some students formed a large "G" using butcher paper from the stands.  Good luck to our football team for the rest of the season.

GHS vs. AHS

GHS vs. AHS
Oct. 18th, 2013
7pm @ Citrus College Stadium

New Water Bottle

Supporting our outstanding Dance Team. Are you like me and spend too much money buying items from students?

Apple Tree

In 2009, Maritza gave me this wonderful card.  It's still one of my favorites.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Two of my private students and their mom gave me a box of fresh moon cakes today in celebration of next week's Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (9/19/2013). Thank you, Katherine.
中秋節快樂!!!

More on the tradition...

Rediscovered Gift

I found this gift, a postcard-sized art work, while cleaning my classroom. It's from Paula (one of the Twins, c/o 2011). She gave it to me during the Chinese Year of the Tiger. The Twins and their gifts also include an Mexican turtle, an UNM jacket, and an cartoon version of my head from this Facebook album. Thank you again, Paula and Maria.

Keychain from Kyrgyzstan

This is truly one of the coolest gifts ever. I've had the pleasure of tutoring Tim for the past two years. He's currently taking Calculus AB. Tim is a well-rounded scholar athlete with a great sense of leadership. This summer, he led a missionary project for his church by volunteering his time to coach badminton - in KYRGYZSTAN!!! He told me that he stayed at a run-down apartment and coached two 3-hour sessions of badminton each day to 90 players. The group didn't always have enough equipment, but Tim said he had the experience of his life. Today, Tim gave me this model key chain of a traditional Kyrgyzstan hut. What an amazing young man!  Thank you, Tim.

From Boston

On August 20th, 2014: I enjoyed a wonderful first day of school. To top it off, I received a beautiful gift from teacher-friend Major Merz. He brought this back from his visit back home over the summer. Thank you so much Major Merz; I will add this to my classroom in 2014.

TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition

I just picked up a new tool for the 2013-2014 AP Statistics class. It's a graphing calculator with color/backlit display and a built-in rechargeable battery.

Link Crew 2013-2014

Link Leader shirt 2013-14. I designed the shirt this year. Again, Mr. C. led an amazing freshmen orientation this year. Our Link Leaders are the best!

Lucky Keychain

I'm fortunate to have been tutoring many great students this summer.  One of my newest students, Erin, was a national level figure skater from Beijing.  She gave me this elegant keychain that she brought back from Taipei. She said that the red symbolizes having good luck in finding love. The keychains also come in yellow (for money), brown (for inspiration), and orange (for wisdom). Erin said to me: "When you have lots of money, you'll also have love."  So funny.  Thanks, Erin.

A Surprise Gift from a Graduate

I am so grateful for this. What a wonderful way to close the school year. Jayleinna, thank you and congratulations.

Congrats to c/o 2013!

GHS Graduation for c/o 2013 will be Thursday, June 6th 2:30pm @ APU.

Senior Awards Night 2013

It's my honor to be in a room full of the best students, parents, and educators.  Senior Awards Night is one of my favorite events of the year.  This year, I awarded the Statistics Excellence Award to Adrian Magallanes.  He's an intelligent and mature student who will be attending the University of Washington in the fall.  He plans to study aerospace engineering.  My favorite memory of Adrian was on the day when he gave me a gift.  Adrian gave me a bottle of shampoo.  (Photo by Ms. A. Kwak).

Statistics Excellence Award:
2013 Adrian Magallanes
2012 Nabria Reeves
2011 Ke Wei

Teacher Appreciation Week 2013

Last week, in addition to receiving breakfast from the ASB, I also received a coffee gift card as a part of Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you!

Coincident Cupcake?

Friday after school, a student stopped by my classroom to submit some assignments. He gave me one of his birthday cupcakes. It's also the end of a grading period. Coincidence?

Gift from My Parents

My father, who recently retired, took my mom to Asia for a long and well deserved vacation.  They brought back this magnet for me.  It resembles the traditional street signs in Hong Kong.  "No. 1" means "number one" in Hong Kong's British English.  While I'm no "number one" teacher, it's reassuring that my parents know what I do as a profession.

More GHS T-Shirt

On a Friday, I bought my two helpful T.A.'s breakfast. They have been awesome all year, saving me many hours of work. At lunch, they came back and gave me this cool shirt - adding to my GHS shirt collection. Thanks Joe and Moises.

Lets Get Together

I just had dinner with my former high school badminton coach on Wednesday night of our spring break.  On Thursday night, the roles was reversed.  My former students and badminton players invited me to dinner.  It's such an honor.  All of these students are now attending college.  I had a great time.  Thanks Valerie, Itzel, Jocelyn, Kalene, Elida, and Tony (who set up the invite) for adding to my spring break fun.  My belly still hurts from eating and laughing so much.

GHS Dance Team

I'm a proud supporter of our awarding-winning GHS Dance Team. Just a group of kind, creative, and energetic kids who do what they love, and love what they do. They often steal the show at our school rallies.

Surprise Visitors

Two former students and badminton players paid me a surprise visit on a Friday afternoon. What a way to kick off spring break! Thank you, Elida Mendez and Tony Stark. You guys are so sweet.

Support Cheer Leaders

Showing some GHS pride! I display these ribbons to support our cheer leaders, who in turn support GHS sports!

Early Breakfast

William, a student in my 6th period, stopped by my room before school and gave me an apple this morning. The green sticker is from Daisy and Araceli.

Geometry Tool Set

An elegant and niffy geometry tool set, a gift from the talented our school's band director Mr. Yi Chen. Made in Japan, shipped from Hong Kong. Thanks Yi.

Easter Egg 2013

An early Easter gift from my students the Hsu's sisters. Jamie quickly suggested that I use the green confetti at the bottom as a wig. Thank you.

First Singles Title

This past weekend, I won my first singles title at the San Diego Dave Freeman Open.  I won four rounds in two days to capture the D-level mens singles draw.  In 2012, I've lost in the first round, lost in the semis, and lost in the finals.  Winning was very satisfying.  It wasn't easy.  In the final, I lost the first set, and was down two match points in the third set before winning 25-23.  It is the best result that I've had in singles.  I've very proud.  At the same time, I am humbled by the experience.  I know how fortunate I am in many regards.  There's much room for improvement, as evident by losses in the first round and in the consolation finals of the C-level mens singles draw.

For the past 18 months, I've been reshaping my body.  The two years of graduate school was hard on me physically.  I ate junk food and slept insufficiently for two years.  Just when I completed my masters program, a badminton club opened midway between my school and my home.  I rekindled my love for the sport.  With the help of my personal trainer/coach/friend Alistair Casey, who is a world-class singles player, I've trained hard to improve my singles game.  Although 18 months isn't a very long time, I felt that I've put in much work.  I've lost over 20 pounds and have improved my conditioning tremendously.  The training sessions were exhausting and grinding.  But I've enjoyed the process. Now, it's time to set new goals and work towards them.

I've shared this experience with my students.  They were very happy for me.  I've shared with them the power of writing down goals.  I hope that not only can I teach them math skills, but they can also learn other lessons from me.  Mainly, take care of your body and work hard towards pursuing your personal dreams.

Link: D-Level Bracket/Result

Link: C-Level Bracket/Result

Renaissance Rally 2013

On Feb. 20th, our school put together a Renaissance Rally celebrating students who achieved academic excellence.  I joined several other teachers in a flashmob dance.

Link: GHS Teachers/Students Flashmob Dance

A Neat Gift

I received this while tutoring after school. It's a Chinese New Year / Valentines Day combo gift. Very cool, very versatile. Thanks to Daisy and Sergio.

Not my first Hello Kitty gift, btw:
Gifts from my TAs.

Hand-Made Card

This totally made my day! On a Tuesday morning after a three-day weekend, I found Rebekah's beautiful hand-made card in my mailbox. Rebekah was in my Algebra 2 class last year. I remember her as a wonderful student and a very nice kid. She's also on our school's tennis team.  But I don't think I treated her any better than any other students. In fact, for bright kids like Rebekah, I often reflect and wonder if I've done enough to challenge them in the classroom. In any case, I'm so grateful for this treasure. (L-cover, R-inside)

Rebekah also gave me this card:
Xmas Card 2011 from Rebekah.

Year of the Snake

Yesterday was Chinese New Year. It's the Year of the Snake. I gave out some of these CNY ornaments to my private tutees and their parents. They contain traditional cultural symbolisms, yet neatly designed with a contemporary touch. My personal favorite is the fierce dancing lion.

Thank You for Your Thank You

Our fall semester ended three weeks ago. Each year a handful of seniors who only needed the first semester of a course will switch out of my class. I received a thank you card this week from one such senior. Uriel is kind and intelligent student. During the first semester, he was one of my students of the month. He wrote me a very touching note. I'm so grateful for his message, the gift card really isn't necessary. Thanks, Uriel!

2012 Olympic Rally

Our awesome science and video productions teacher did a great job at putting together this video for one of our rallies this year.  The students really enjoyed it.  I was honored to be ask to participate.  (2:33 marks me running across the baseball field).

 

Message Received

So this is why the 12 year old was so busy with my graphing calculator while I was tutoring her 14 year old sister! An example of the abuse that I endure for doing math with two precocious teens. =)

They are the girls that gave me the shirt from their New England tournament.

Salute to Coach Sanchez

Gladstone High's Albert Sanchez has been selected SGV Tribune's All-Area Football Coach of the Year (2012-2013).

Link to San Gabriel Tribune Article

AP Stats Shirts 2013

"We make a life by what we give." - Churchill.

Best Hair

I found this medal while cleaning my classroom. In 2010, one of the activities during the Renaissance Rally was for students to text and vote for "Teacher with the Best Hair". Naturally, I won during both rallies. Later, several badminton players/students told me that they texted over 30 times during the minute of voting. What amazing texting speed and not-so-amazing decision making abilities!

Happy New Year! Have a wonderful 2013!