Take the 'A' Train

My very first paying job was in Chicago.  After looking for a job at want ads and interviewing daily for a month, I landed one as a research technician at a laboratory located inside Wesley Memorial Hospital, now a part of Northwestern University Hospital System. That was August 8, 1961. My whole family moved to Chicago from Manila.  My father was sent as an attaché to the Philippine Consulate in Chicago and the rest of us came as his dependents.

Wide-eyed  yet unfamiliar with my new surroundings, I noticed that at around 4:00 PM, the radio was turned on.  Bill, a high -schooler who comes to wash our glassware, tunes the radio to the broadcast of the baseball game. Since I was not aware of what’s going on I focused on the musical theme that opens the show. It was lively, jazzy, a bit jumpy and very catchy to listen to.  After a few days I could hum it from memory.  I looked forward to the daily broadcast not to listen to the baseball game but to listen to the theme song.  At the end of the broadcast, I could not care less which team won or lost.  I only knew that the theme song would come on once more to close the show. As I listened to the tune I vowed that I would remember this tune and use it as landmark of my first job in America and my initiation to life in the U.S.A.

It never occurred to me that the theme song could have a name and that it could be a standard composition borrowed by the radio program.  I assumed it was composed for the radio program.  The melody rings inside my head.  I hear the blaring of the trumpets and feel the fast tempo set by the drum beats.  It was only years later that I found out that the tune is a composition by Duke Ellington called “Take the ‘A’ Train.”

The early years in Chicago were spent working and going to school, pursuing my master’s degree in chemistry. I took the “A” train of the Howard line to stop at Jarvis, an “A” station.    As a graduate student, I concentrated on getting “A’s” in my courses. Upon completing my degree, I worked at Abbott Laboratories, a workplace beginning with the letter “A.”

As I replay “Take the A Train” in my mind, the picture of a young girl wearing a white lab coat in Room 262 comes into view.  I had the task of analyzing the concentration of sodium and potassium in the plasma of patients with muscular dystrophy using flame photometer.  Three times a week in the evening, I walked through the connecting underground tunnel to attend classes at Northwestern University. Later on, I met a friend taking the same classes I took, Helen Chu, who invited me to run quickly to her apartment nearby to have a home - cooked meal before class.

At noon, I walked through the tunnel to come out on the sidewalk next to Lakeshore Drive to view Lake Michigan and the Navy Pier building nearby. The lake breeze gently blowing my face and hair felt refreshing. 

Once a month, all of the members of the research team would be required to come for a 6:00 AM breakfast and seminar.  Breakfast was served at the cafeteria and paid for by our research leader.  One or two of us would be assigned to give a presentation to the group which numbered about 16.  I was  asked to give a presentation on volumetric glass ware.

The days at the lab and at Northwestern University were enjoyable. I was introduced to the ordinary custom of greeting, smiling, helping and conversing. I picked up a few lyrics of songs sung by Bill von Eickman who sang songs between assays.  I also learned a few Christmas songs notably, “Sleigh Ride,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Silver Bells.”

I moved on to other phases of my life associated with other songs: –

“Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” – my days as a Montessori teacher at Near North Montessori School

“March of the Soldiers” from “The Nutcracker” – my days directing and teaching at my own school, Glencoe Montessori School

Songs of salsa, cha-cha, swing, rumba, bolero, merengue, waltz and fox trot -my days studying and enjoying the art of ballroom dancing.

I am not quite sure what songs will stand out as I begin my second career in teaching after a brief retirement.  Once again I will be teaching young children in a Montessori Charter School.  Perhaps I will revive the songs from “Hair” – “Good Morning Star Shine” and “Let the Sunshine In.”  I know I will keep on singing as I continue taking the “A” train and know that “This Train is Bound for Glory. “ Amen.

If Only They Had Montessori Education

      When we listen to how our students are doing in school we hear the following: they can’t read at grade level, they are deficient in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), bullying  is pervasive in schools. Looking at our global environment, we read that our actions are destroying the environment.  As I reflect on these challenges, I can’t help but say, “If only they  had Montessori education, these problems would be non-existent. “

      Through a multi-sensory and personalized approach to teaching phonemic awareness and phonics, reading is taught in seventy two lessons grouped into five big steps. Mastery of the 44 sounds of the English language along with the different ways these sounds may be represented gives the child the key to reading.  Once a child can read, one can read everything, not just first  grade or third grade books.  The underlying principle is that a child taught individually for short periods daily experiences success at every step which encourages one to want to learn some more.  These successes lead to what Montessori calls “the explosion to reading.”  A child who discovers reading will keep on reading for the love of it and for the feel of having achieved a monumental task.

       Science is taught in an integrated manner, weaving chemistry, physics, life science, geography, history, art, music, literature and culture with the view of understanding how the world works and one’s place in it as a steward of the earth and all its inhabitants.  One gains respect for the age of the earth and its slow transformation from its early beginnings to what it is now.  It is humbling to note that it took millions and billions of years for the earth to flourish to the point that life sustains itself and for mankind in a few hundred years to denude its forests, pollute the air and destroy life. A child steeped in the knowledge of the laws of the universe through hands-on experiments and research realizes that we are a part of the web of life,  not the weaver, only one of the strands.  What affects one, affects the whole web.  We try to conserve, protect and replenish the fruits we gather from the earth and keep the earth sustainable.  Life depends on cooperation and symbiotic relationships.  Peaceful resolution of conflicts can be taught and practiced on a daily basis so that there is no need for bullying to dominate others.

      Mathematics is the most highly developed part of the curriculum.  With specially designed hands-on materials to teach concepts from counting  to the  Pythagorean theorem, students using these tools truly take the journey from the concrete to the abstract  arriving at a full understanding of what math is and not just a bunch of memorized facts. Math anxiety is replaced with love of numbers and problem solving. A strong number sense which includes understanding of place value in our decimal system serves as a foundation for higher math exploration.

      Montessori is a social experience in a community of learners.  One learns to help each other because cooperation, not competition, is encouraged. One works to the best of one’s ability for the sake of learning, not for artificial rewards such as stickers or grades.  One is helped in understanding why one behaves in ways that may not be socially acceptable for the purpose of serving one’s mistaken goals of attention, power struggle, revenge or display of inadequacy.  Through discussions during class meetings one is shown alternative ways of behaving that meet one’s basic need for significance in the group while acting for the good of the whole class. Class unity is promoted through music, drama, cooking and eating together and just having fun as fellow learners in a Montessori environment.

The Montessori Method (Illustrated Edition)
Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius
Teaching Montessori in the Home: Pre-School Years: The Pre-School Years
Secret of Childhood
Montessori's Own Handbook (Carefully formatted by Timeless Classic Books)
The Essential Montessori: An Introduction to the Woman, the Writings, the Method, and the Movement
Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work
The Montessori Controversy

The Bible's Four Layers of Wrappings

The first graders received their own bibles today.  It will follow them through the grades. When they reach high school, they will receive another one.  To make this moment memorable, considerable care was taken to  prepare the  gift. 

The bible was wrapped  four times, each wrapping  denoting a special significance.  With children seated in a circle, each one was handed a brown-wrapped present.  Through interactive dialog, the children understood the significance of the brown paper wrapping.  Brown stands for being old or ancient.  The bible is very old.  The words in it have guided mankind for a very long time so that it is often called the ancient wisdom. The group was then instructed to unwrap the first layer, the brown wrapping to reveal a golden wrapping.

Children were asked what things are made of gold?  Jewelry was the first guess.  Gold stands for something valuable.  We value our very own bible.  The words in the bible are valuable like gold.  We treasure our bible for a lifetime.  The class then unwrapped the gold wrapping to reveal the next layer, the comic page from the newspaper.

The comic page entertains us with its stories.  The bible has a lot of stories.  There are stories about the beginning of the earth, how ordinary people lived, suffered and met their challenges.  They were led out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land with the parting of the Red Sea. This and other stories can be found in the bible. There are stories about kings and prophets and brave men and women who listened to God’s voice speaking to them to do the right thing.  The comic page wrapping was unwrapped to reveal the white tissue wrapping.

White stands for God or Light or Purity.  The bible wrapped in white  means that the bible is a gift from God.  Reading the bible is our way of finding out what God has in store for people.  From time to time messengers from God come to be born among us to remind us of God’s laws on how we should conduct our lives.  We get to know more about what the bible says as we study the special lesson for the week and work with the materials prepared for the lesson.

The bible is really made up of several books, sixty six books organized into the Old Testament and the New Testament.  We can look at the chart of the books of the bible.  We can match each model of each book to the chart every time we read from that particular book.  We can also look at the timeline that shows pictures of important events of the bible along with the names of the books.

We have had lessons with the very first book,  Genesis.

A child wanted to know what is the last book.  The teacher allowed the child to pick the last book from the scaled model of books and asked him to read its name.  With the help of classmates, he came up with the Book of Revolution.  Correction here, it is the Book of Revelation.  What does revelation mean?  When you reveal something, what have you done?  A child offered “discover.”

With the four layers of wrapping unwrapped, we reveal the heart, the substance of what was wrapped, the bible.  We also will learn that the same stories and scriptural readings will reveal more and more meaning to us as we revisit them every year. 

Take care of your very own bible and treasure it like gold, enjoy the stories and learn the word of God to guide you for the bible is God’s gift to you.

Christmas 2010

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Holiday greetings to you and your family. May you continue to enjoy blessings, riches, wisdom, power and strength from the Source of all. After nearly two years of renovation to bring the house we purchased up to code, it finally received the final approval from the City of Highland Park. Views of the trees from the front and back windows and the ravine nearby give the country feeling. The living room and adjoining dining room provides sufficient space for family get-togethers.

The Tulloss, Kuhlmann and Bonje families got together for Thanksgiving at the Red House, as we lovingly call the new Highland Park house. Susan Bonje, Neil’s sister-in-law, joined us. A sumptuous meal cooked by Mark and Kirsten was enhanced by four kinds of pie and the Philippine fruit salad brought by the Bonje family. Mark entertained us with viewing football footage he collated from the kids’ football season. Alex’s team won the Superbowl for his Division while Melanie’s team won the runner-up trophy for her division.

Tiyo Gabriel is now ninety.  He is in good health and attributes his health to doing calisthenics every day.  He then demonstrated the exercises.  Tiya Nen is also in good health and is 78.   Ilona, Kirsten’s mother, is also in good health at 76.

Mark is now Public Access Center Coordinator for the City of Highland Park. When I visited his place of work, it was obvious that he was well-liked and has his grandfather’s (my father, Congressman Luis T. Clarin) genes for making connections with people.

Carlos and Allison have now been married one year.  They play in gigs and teach at a school for rock, teaching adolescents how to play instruments and how to play as an ensemble in a recital or concert.

Jim is now on Chapter 8 of his memoirs.  Any day now, he will be hitting Chapter 10 and he will consider this work finished.  His goal in writing is for his family to know how it felt growing up Black in the South.  He has a good memory for details and dialogue. 

I began writing my blog, Writing About Life, as an exercise in writing short pieces last December.  You can access it at www.sirwisdom.blogspot.com. My article on the Fourth of July celebrations at Glencoe was published by Glencoe News last July. I am  thrilled at the idea of being a published author.  Send me your ideas for my writing agenda .

As the family self-appointed archivist, I dug up documents from the boxes previously kept by Manang Nany. I retyped my father’s account of his family during the war years and beyond and scanned pictures from my mother’s album. I am also scanning picture prints taken by Jim recording the early years of our sons and of the school.

We look forward to a bright and peaceful New Year, sharing the little that we have to those who even have less.  It is in giving that we are blessed.  It is in sharing that we are filled with abundance.  Holiday greetings and Happy New Year!

With love,

Ijya C. Tulloss

Phonics with Christmas

The holiday season brings an assortment of objects and activities. Objects depicting the Nativity story which include - Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, angels, shepherd, a manger, stable, donkey, sheep, star, wise men from the east - can be easily purchased at local department stores. 

We  celebrate the season of love, joy and peace by decorating our homes with evergreen trees decked with lights, bows, candy canes and tree ornaments. We deck the halls with boughs of holly while we enjoy the sights and sounds of winter: jingle bells, snow, sled, sleigh, snowman, ice. We make a gingerbread house. We send Christmas cards to friends while children write letters to Santa Claus. We give each other gifts wrapped in colorful papers tied with red, green, silver or gold ribbon.  We sing carols and recite the poems. On our dining tables we light candles while we enjoy cookies, plum pudding and fruitcake.

Christmas is in the air and Christmas is everywhere. Why not capitalize on the abundant supply of high interest sights and sounds to help students learn phonics? Most of us teach our students the phonic sounds of the 26 letters of the alphabet and how to build words with short vowels like man, cat, bed, cup, pin and pot. We often neglect to teach the rest of the 44 sounds of the English language represented by two-letter combinations. With these holiday objects within easy reach, lessons on the long vowels, phonograms, digraphs and silent letters follow spontaneously after introducing the object and talking about it.

                                                     gingerbread  house

We can start with any object.  The procedure is simple.  We take one object, say gingerbread house.  We name the object; match the word label to it, read the label while pointing with the finger from left to right. We bring to attention that gingerbread is a compound word made up of two words, ginger and bread. It is a house made of gingerbread.  We point out that the “g” in the word does not sound like “girl.” It has the sound of “j,” as in “gem,” (like a diamond) or  “gym” (place to play and exercise). An animal with a long neck is called a “giraffe.”  It is spelled with a “g” as in “j.” Another story we have read was about Jack and his encounter with the “giant.” We also had a story about a “gentle giant.” Word cards for each of the words presented are laid out in a vertical column.

gem

gym

giraffe

giant

gentle

The student then builds the word, “gingerbread” with the printed movable alphabet using red letters for “g” with the sound of “j” and blue for the rest of the word.  After recording the word in one’s copybook and drawing a simple gingerbread house, one returns everything to its proper place and find another work.  For art activity, a gingerbread house may be made out of Graham crackers glued together with a thick powdered sugar paste.

The following day, the student may be encouraged to continue the activity with other words containing “g”  with the sound of “j” like angel or manger.   Sentences containing these words may be prepared on sentence strips.  The student points out these words. The student may construct original sentences with these words. 

angel

manger

One word leads to another.  A chain of lessons follow.  Introducing  angel and manger as words with “g” with the sound of “j” leads to introducing the long vowel sound of “a.” The “a” in angel does not have the sound of “a” as in “apple.”  It has the long “a” sound as in “angel.”  We build  the word “angel” this time using  a red letter for ”a” and blue for the rest of the word. Similarly, we spell “manger” as noted below. We might use the dictionary at this point to find out the meaning of “manger,” eating trough for animals.

angel

manger

Three objects also have the long “a” sound similar to angel and  manger:   Mary,   baby and stable. 

Mary	baby	stable

Mary   had   a   baby.

Stable leads us to words ending in le where the e is silent. Table, cradle, candle, little jingle, twinkle and dimple are other examples.

stable	little
table	jingle
cradle	twinkle
candle	dimple

You will find a donkey in the stable. Mary rode the donkey in her journey to the city of Bethlehem.  The word chimney is spelled using the same pattern.

donkey

journey

chimney

Mary rode the donkey in her journey to the city of Bethlehem

      Mary and baby both end in “y” with the sound of “ee” as in candy cane.

 candy  cane.

We now build multi-syllable words ending in “y” using red letters for “y” and blue for the rest of the word.

merry	jolly
happy	holly
cherry	ivy

    

Nearby, in the same country, shepherds watched their flock of sheep by night. An angel told them good tidings of great joy, “Unto you a child is born in the city of David, our saviour.  You will find him wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.”   

shepherd

sheep

joy

sheep	see	joy
worship	sleep	boy
ship	street	toy
	green	enjoy
	tree	joyful

The word “wrap” introduces words with silent letters.

Silent w	Silent gh	Silent l	Silent t	Silent b
wrap	night	calm	whistle	lamb
write	bright	balm	thistle	dumb
wrong	highest	palm	Christmas	numb
wreathe	light	psalm	listen

Three wise (silent e) men from the east,(ea as in ee) guided by a star found the baby in the manger.  They worshipped him and brought him gifts of frankincense, (c as in s) gold (o with long o sound) and myrrh.

The word “wise” opens the door to words with the silent “e” marker giving the vowel a long vowel sound.  Thus we have a…e, (long “a”) e…e, (long e) i…e, (long i) o…e (long o) and u…e (long u).

Long a (a…e)	Long e (e…e)	Long i (i…e)	Long o (o…e)	Long u (u…e)
came	Pete	ride	hope	yuletide
bake	Eve	white	spoke	rule
cake	eve	yuletide	nose	tune

Wise Men from the east

star

incense

gold

Wise men from the east  ea as in ee	star ar as in car	incense c as in s	gold o long vowel
hear	far	face	old
near	hark	ice	cold
fear	harp	nice	hold
team	scarf	peace	told

We can continue building vocabulary in like manner using songs, poems, literature associated with winter, the Nativity and holiday celebration. Let us not forget Santa Claus in our study.  The “au” as in law or Paul is easy to remember when we associate it with the image of Santa Claus.

Santa Claus

Studying high interest words in this manner builds on the excitement of the season to strengthen phonics skill and word study skills.  When one sees a candy cane, one would first associate it with spelling words ending in “y” with the sound of  “ee.” Words thus studied will stay longer in one’s consciousness and would most likely be recognized in one’s reading and will be used in  speaking and writing.

Here’s hoping that this little lesson on building vocabulary and spelling through the holiday theme shed light on your path to give you love, joy and peace this Christmas and  the New Year.