Asian American Teacher – Balasbas Says

I quit teaching

Today marks my last summer vacation—the end of my teaching career. I honestly don’t know if I would go back even though I could. But I’m not sure how worth it the pay and treatment a teacher gets would be later on in life. The decision came down to a common motif I’m seeing inContinue reading “I quit teaching”

ALHS c/o 2022

“Who’s your favorite class?” One of my students would constantly ask me. I told him I didn’t have a favorite, but if I did, it wasn’t them. It was the class above them. He still asked me every day, for the next 2 years. Each class he was in lowkey pushed my buttons. It testedContinue reading “ALHS c/o 2022”

28

Prologue: I had planned to post this the week of my birthday. At least before the end of February, but I got sick after my trip to Seattle and Aya leaving. Luckily, I tested negative for COVID and didn’t get Aya sick either. But it’s more like a UTI turned bladder infection? My physician can’tContinue reading “28”

I need a better relationship with time

This has been an exhausting 24 days. And this last week alone feels like the most exhausting. 6:45AM. Raisin bread in the toaster for 2 minutes. Hygiene stuff. Change. Grab lunch out of the fridge. Start the car. Hour commute. Class. Meetings. Hour commute. 5-6PM. Try to relax. Dinner. Plan. Shower. Shit. Sleep. Do itContinue reading “I need a better relationship with time”

Saving face over saving students

This is ridiculous. Seeing the strain and pressure, COVID is putting on students. They all see that the system is failing them—prioritizing their dollar amount over their actual life. I thought that being a department chair I could help enact some change. But I realize I’m still too small. I only now have a titleContinue reading “Saving face over saving students”

It’s not as bad as I thought: Progress as Department Chair

It’s been about four months since this semester started—four months as department head. At the onset, I was pretty nervous. As soon as I got the position in the spring, I was ready to take on responsibility. Though the previous chair did not want to put anything on me since I was not getting paid—IContinue reading “It’s not as bad as I thought: Progress as Department Chair”

Shelter-in-Place Log #4

School has been closed since March 13th, 2020 and Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a Shelter-in-Place on March 17th, 2020. Despite other pandemics in recent decades (H1N1, SARS, Ebola, etc.) there hasn’t been a global pandemic or even state-wide shutdown during those times. And in accordance to SFUSD’s Continuity of Learning Protocol, all assignments at thisContinue reading “Shelter-in-Place Log #4”

Shelter-in-Place Log #3

March 25, 2020: Today the superintendent announced that six Bay Area school districts will extend the closure through May 1st and SFUSD being one of them. Like I mentioned in one of the previous logs— I am surprised and not surprised that they have extended the closure. I’m glad they did keeping in mind public safety, but now whatContinue reading “Shelter-in-Place Log #3”

Shelter-in-Place Log #2

Currently, SFUSD has put out what they define as the “Continuity of Learning” to address what [at least our district is doing, not so sure across the state] students could be doing and what teachers should be doing. Before the city-wide lockdown & shelter-in-place, I already anticipated that closure was upon us, especially with theContinue reading “Shelter-in-Place Log #2”

Shelter-in-Place Log #1

It’s been an interesting past few months for humanity and especially the past few weeks for California. Throughout January & February, more racially charged instances towards Asian Americans and Asians all over the world were springing up. At first, it was very distant, through Twitter or videos on Instagram. Then it turned into violence towardsContinue reading “Shelter-in-Place Log #1”