Taking part in the process

I'm sure that all of you have heard the mantra of "Contact your Senator etc." when you have issues with what they are doing. Today I did just that. While surfing on the web (and watching my son play Mater-National on the Wii, I found an easy way to contact our representatives and senators. So I decided to let my rep, Shelly Berkley, know how I felt about the health care plan currently in the house.

"I am writing to express my opposition to the health care plan currently put forth in the House of Representatives. I believe that it is nothing more than a government take over of the health care industry and will make things worse and not better. I am going to get to the point, if you vote for this bill not only will I not vote for you again, I will actively campaign to defeat you in every election until you leave office. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to discuss this further. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,

Desert Art Guy"

Now I don't know if she is going to respond, since she supports is and I oppose it, but at least she knows that if she supports it, she loses my vote.

PS Here is the link in case you need it. http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

1 Week

Yep, one week until school starts and I am totally overwhelmed. Now I do have my classroom 90% set up and I've met many of the other English teachers at my new school. But I have no unit plans, no teacher edition of the writing book for my room and the novels we use to teach may or may not actually exist on campus. Add in the fact that I don't yet have the template for the lesson plans, roster sheets and only a vague idea of what stories I can teach (so I don't mess up the other English classes) and you can see why sleep has been fleeting.

It's not like I don't have lesson plans either, but they are not in the right format and not in anything that resembles units yet. I'm not sure if 1 week is going to be enough time to really get everything together for the first day of school.

One of those days

I had this great plan for the day and well, it didn't quite go as planned. My plan was to sleep in, work on my room and then go to McDonald's before heading home to relax with the kids. Yea, that was the plan anyway! My son woke up at 6:30 because he had a bad dream, they were waxing the floor at the school so I could not get anything done and so in reality we went to McDonald's and then went home where I entertained my son while my daughter played Wizard 101. So much for my plans. I also heard that CCSD has banned refrigerators in the classroom so I don't know if I'll be able to bring up my mini fridge after all. I may just bring it anyway and put it in an out of the way area. I see so many fridges in classrooms that it may be one of the things that is 'illegal' but ignored.

I did take the literature book and writing book home with me to look through yesterday. It looks like I may actually get some use out of it. It had some stories that I knew and liked such as "The Most Dangerous Game" and "Two Kinds". It's a good thing I have a short story elements worksheet that I took with me from my old school last year. All I have to do is change the name of the story and print it out. I won't do it every time but it's a good way to teach things like conflict, plot elements, and the like. I just hope that I will be able to teach some of my favorite stories like "A Jury of Her Peers" and "The Yellow Wallpaper". It depends on the rest of the 9th Grade English teachers though.

It will be kind of strange coordinating everything with other teachers when I was at the charter school I had total freedom, and when I was just a student teacher, coordination was something that I didn't have to worry about. I was just there to observe and learn.

Red Eye

I am typing this in Detroit Michigan waiting for my connecting flight to Marquette where I will be on vacation for the next week. We took the redeye from Las Vegas and it is currently 6:03 AM I have now been up for about 23 hours so if I mess up some spelling or make a grammar error that's why. There were two wi-fi options here one was free and one was not guess which one I picked? Is Detroit so broke they charge for wi-fi now? Sheesh, Las Vegas is hurting and McCarran had free wi-fi there.

So tomorrow we celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday party and then we'll visit my grandmother later this week to celebrate her 90th birthday party. There must be something in the water up there that makes them live long lives. So for the next week it's relax, swim, and enjoy myself.

Diversity

It's the favorite word of the left, but while diversity of sex or skin color is important, what about intellectual diversity? How about a diversity of views and opinions? One of the problems with education is the fact that so many educators are left of center at best. Why so few moderates or conservatives? Is it because they have been scared away or simply driven out of their fields by the left? Is is because most people who are on the right side of the political side of the fence are in private industry? And education is not the only place where this lack of diversity exists, the media is overwhelmingly liberal and if you doubt me then why is Sarah Palin not defended by a supposedly impartial press when her AND her family is subject to constant abuse. I mean if a liberal had a child with Downs Syndrome and some attack was made on them could you imagine the firestorm?

I bring up ideological diversity because of an article I found on line talking about a student (who is a liberal) who is disturbed by the lack of intellectual diversity at their campus, and the nasty reaction they got when they published an article about this fact, and the comment I got in my previous post asking about giving both sides, in a way I'll be giving the other side and I may be the only conservative voice they hear this year. During the election last year there were only two teachers at the middle school where I taught out of 12 how voted for McCain and I have found that schools here are usually 75% liberal if not more so I know I am going to be in the minority.

Ah well, such is life.

I have an issue...

And it has to do with decorating my room. You see all English rooms look pretty much the same. Posters of famous writers, genre posters, writing traits, a spot for student's work (I'm OK with that) etc... The details change but you KNOW you're in an English room and that's the problem. I don't want just another English classroom. I plan on bringing in politics, current affairs, popular culture and more. If a student doesn't know by 9th grade the difference between a mystery and science fiction, Putting up this isn't going to help much:


If they've ignored it for the last 4 or 5 years why would they suddenly pay attention now, not to mention that it's just to juvenile for 9th graders, sheesh.

















I'd rather put up a poster more like this:


Che is something of a pop culture icon, but most kids have no idea about the real story of this murdering b*****d and the bloody legacy he left behind. This at least has the potential to make them think. Because the poster is made up of some (but not all) of the people that he executed in Cuba.













And I am definately going to have something like this in my room:

Many of my students will have some memories of this day but I want to remind them of what happened and why on 9/11/01. Again this type of poster will be there to make them use their brains. That is why they are in school after all. They'll be old enough to vote in a few years and I want them to be as informed as possible.














This one is also a must have for my room:


Need I say more? Actions do have consequences after all...











Needless to say the last thing I want is to have just another English room.

9th Grade English

That's what I'll be teaching come this fall. I apologize for not updating what was going on but life and the 4th got in the way. Today I signed my conditional (pass background check for the 800th time) acceptance of the offer to teach at a local HS. This school is urban and will be a Title 1 school in the near future. It's also one of the oldest HS in the area although they have done a nice job renovating it. I'll be teaching 4 regular sections and one honors section of English and I am very excited about it. It will be an interesting switch to go back to high school after spending the last year and a half at the middle school level.

I'm already thinking about how to decorate my room...

Job Hunt

So on my last post I had been waiting to confirm the teaching position that I was offered while on vacation in California. (PS go visit the Charles Schultz Museum!) The bad news is that I didn't get that job. The good news is that on the way home from California I got a call from an assistant principal asking me if I would be interested in teaching High School English so I made an appointment to interview while on the road home. The interview went very well and after the interview at a third school fell through I felt that it was time to pull the trigger. My next chore (pun intended) was to turn in my application for my license.

Easy right?

Not so fast... I needed a couple of things first before I could go down to the office and make everything official. I needed to get fingerprinted and I needed to get a money order for $161.00 for the license or so I thought. I also needed my transcripts of which I have plenty and I was off to the races. Now because I am cheap I went to one of those payday loan places that does not charge for money orders. There was one literally 3 minutes from my house so that's where I went first. Of course they moved their location down the street, about five miles from one end of Rancho to the other. So I track them down and then find out that you can no longer use your debit card for money orders so I head up the street to the bank pull out $180.00 and get my money order.

Only when she is counting the change that I realize that I should have pulled out $200.00 because the fee for the license is $161.00 so I am short a dollar for my fingerprinting. (which is why I teach English and not math) So I then head across town to the fingerprinting place aiming to hit the bank along the way to put in the $19.00 I have and withdraw $20.00 for the finger prints. Mind you the fingerprinting place is across the town from where I am and it's already 100 outside. I make my way across town find a bank and then get the proper amount for the fingerprints. Then I realize that I need gas and detour to make sure I don't have to spend the rest of the day walking. I finally (90 minutes later) hit the fingerprinting place and while waiting for my number to be called my daughter calls me up. Mind you she is watching my son so you can just imagine what's going through my mind when I see my home number pop up. I tell her I will call her back and when I finish my two sets of prints I call her back and breathe a sigh of relief when she wants to know how long to nuke a corn dog for my son.

So fingerprints in hand so to speak I hop into the mom-mobile (aka minivan) to drive across the valley again to the licensing office to get my license. I arrive at the location listed and don't see the office anywhere. After searching for a good 10 minutes I call them and find out they are on the second floor of the realty building (No there was no sign anywhere on the outside) park the mom-mobile and head up the stairs to the office. After a 20 minute wait it's my turn and I hand the clerk my paperwork, money order etc. She starts to type in my name and then stops when she sees that I still have a valid substitute license. She tells me that because I already have a license all I need to do is add the endorsement to that one and I am good to go. This was good news and bad news. The good news is that an additional endorsement costs a mere $50 and not $161. The bad news is that I have to get a money order for $50 not to mention the $20 I didn't need to spend on the fingerprinting. At that point I had already been on the road for 3 hours and I was at least 30 minutes from home so I decided to go home and finish up the next day.

So the next morning my son and I hop in the mom-mobile and drive to the bank for the cash (and deposit the $161 back in the bank) so we could then go get the money order so we could get my endorsement added to the license. That took about 2 hours so as a reward I took him to McDonald's for lunch.

Thank God that's over with!

Distance Blogging

This week my family and I are in Northern California visiting my in laws and getting a few days of time with just my wife. The kids are really enjoying themselves and it's nice to see the color green as in green grass, green trees etc. The kids get to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and spend the night at the Asilomar Campgrounds on the beach. My wife and I get to go to wine country and will probably visit the Peanuts Museum as well. If you ever visit that part of California make sure you visit the aquarium because it's an all day event.

On the job front I left a message for the principal of the middle school to call me back so I can tell her that I really want the job. I knew I would take the job because I had started to think about lessons and how to take advantage of the technology at the school while driving from Lost Wages to the Bay Area. The clincher was when I did some research on the school and found out it was a 2008 Title 1 Distinguished School in the State of Nevada as well as getting recognized as a high achieving school for closing the achievement gap.

A Wild Morning

So today started out as a normal day. My son and I were relaxing by playing Lego Star Wars II (OK I was playing and he was watching, the game was his idea) and my daughter was still sleeping. The only irritating thing was the phone would not stop ringing! My wife called which was cool, her and my son talked on the phone and put a smile on both of their faces, then it was call after call. Needless to say I was getting irritated and I was tempted to let the answering machine do it's thing, but I decided to answer it one last time. Good thing I did because it was a middle school principal asking if I was interested in an open position this fall and when could I come in for an interview. Now the interview part was the tricky part since I was the one staying at home. I relayed this to the principal who replied that it would be fine to bring them along, that this was an informal interview. So I then had 45 minutes to shower, get two kids dressed and get the three of us down to the school for this 'informal interview'.

Somehow I managed to arrive on campus right on time, kids dressed and on their best behavior even. The position is for 8th grade English at a Title 1 school in a mainly hispanic area of North Town. The school itself is old and has heating and A/C issues (what school does not?) but it also has plenty of technology and the class sizes will still be in the 30s because of it's Title 1 status (literally 99% of the school is on free and reduced lunch). I also got so see what a classroom looks like and I got to meet the librarian who was very nice and kept the library in very nice shape.

As far as the Title 1 goes, that does not bother me I spent the last quarter last school year subbing at a Title 1 school and really enjoyed it. The school is not too far away which is nice and I like the fact that they have ELMOs and Smartboards as well as LCD projectors. Plus the principal hates weekly spelling words. It's one thing to have a vocab list that is specific to your lesson etc., but another entirely to simply have them memorize 20 more words. Total waste of time if you ask me. What I might do is to see if there is a montage of Bill O Riley's word of the day and use that as a bell ringer of some sort since his words are fairly uncommon and it would certainly be a change of pace for them.

I must have said something right to her because she offered me the job at the end of the interview. She told me to think about it and to get back to her next week, she is going to be out of town on Friday for a long weekend. Looks like I may have a job in the fall after all.

Reading

One of the benefits of being at home is getting to read more than usual and I have taken advantage of that by finishing up four books in the last few days. Two of them were historical and the other two were political.

As for the histories, I read Patton a short but interesting biography of the colorful and brilliant general from WWII and I also read The Coldest Winter the story about The Battle of The Bulge from the point of a platoon that bought the allies precious time and surrendered only after they ran out of ammunition. Both books were surprisingly good and easy to read. They were not my first choices to read because they were checked out but I was glad I took a chance on them.

On the political front, I finally got to read Bamboozled and Arrogance, two books that had been on my reading list for many a moon but had not been able to get to for various reasons. Both books were well researched and very informative to read. When I get the money I will add them both to my collection.

That leaves just one book that I checked out from the library that I have not finished. It's from Ray Bradbury and it's called From The Dust Returned and if it's half as good as Something Wicked This Way Comes it should be a really good book.

Tomorrow it's back to the library to return books and get some more. My daughter blew through most of the 13 books she checked out and I need to return mine as well.

I could get used to summers off...

I swear I was going to leave this one alone...

But I can't! A student on another site posted this in her journal and I can't get this tripe out of my head. So I thought I would post this here and put in my comments and let all of you have a crack at it as well. If you have actual research to back your points up it would be helpful for my ultimate reply to her on the other website. Oh and if I'm wrong on something let me know would you?

1. Hitler and Stalin committed heinous crimes because they were atheists.
This statement assumes that (1) they were both atheists and (2) they committed mass murder and other horrible crimes BECAUSE they were atheists. Assumption 1 is false for Hitler; he was a Catholic who hated Jews!(Get it right, please) Since assumption 1 is false, then assumption 2 is false as well.
Assumption 1 is true for Stalin; however, assumption 2 is false for Stalin, so assumption 1 is irrelevant. What matters is not whether Hitler and Stalin were atheists, but whether atheism systematically INFLUENCES people to do bad things. There is not a slightest evidence that it does.

This one irritates me because she erroneously paints Hitler as a practicing Catholic which is false. I grew up Catholic and I know for sure that nowhere in their teachings did exterminating foes come into play. I find it fascinating that most of the mass murderers were atheists once they rose to power.


2. Founding Fathers were Christians. America is a Christian nation.
Lack of knowledge in history cannot reveal itself so blatantly in this statement.
The founding fathers were SECULARISTS/DEISTS, men of ENLIGHTENMENT. Thomas Jefferson would eat you for breakfast if you said such thing!
The 1796 treaty with Tripoli states that the United States was "in no sense founded on the Christian religion", This was not an idle statement, meant to satisfy Muslims-- they believed it and meant it. This treaty was written under the presidency of George Washington and signed under the presidency of John Adams.
"The priests of the different religious sects...dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight, and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subdivision of the duperies on which they live." - THOMAS JEFFERSON

Where to start with this one? Maybe that George Washington was the Chaplin for his troops for the French and Indian war and that he spent an 2 hours a day studying the Bible and praying to God. Of course the quote is taken out of context as well. It meant that there was no established state church in the USA, not that is was not a Christian nation. An odd statement considering that 99% of the people in the US were Christian. I also know that most of the founding fathers were either Christians or Diests and that even Thomas Jefferson attended church on a regular basis.

3. Many renowned scientists, like Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking, are religious.
Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking certainly do NOT believe in a personal god. Einstein was always irritated when people called him a theist or religious. He wrote a famous paper justifying his statements "I do not believe in a personal God." in 1940.

"I am a deeply religious nonbeliever. This is a somewhat of new kind of religion.
I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.
The idea of a personal God is quite alien to me and seems even naive." - ALBERT EINSTEIN

This one I am going to leave alone although I find it hard to believe. I do know that until the last few decades most scientists had religious faith.

4. Atheism is a Denial of God That Requires Faith:
The most common misunderstanding about atheism is the definition. Many insist that atheism is really the denial of the existence of God, but there are two errors here. First, it pretends that atheism is exclusively about their god, the god common to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Second, it focuses on a narrow sub-set of atheism and atheists to the exclusion of all others. Standard dictionary definitions list "denial of God or gods" second; first comes "disbelief in god or Gods." Disbelief is not the same as denial, it's either the absence of belief or the presence of skepticism.

Well, Atheists sure act like it's their religion they way they not only attack people of faith but try to convert people to their secular view. Secular Humanism is a belief system that acts like religion but is Atheist in nature.

5. Atheists Worship Satan, Themselves, Money, or Some Other God:
The claim that atheists replace worship of God with worship of something else ranges over man possible objects for worship: Satan, themselves, humanity, etc. In addition to being wrong, these myths share the belief that worship is somehow fundamental to human existence such that it simply isn't possible for a person to live a decent life without worshipping something. This is false, though. No matter how important religion or theism is to someone, this isn't a good reason to conclude that they are also important to everyone else, even those who deny having any god or religion.

Everyone worships something, it's human nature...

6. Atheists hate God/Christians and that is why they claim not to believe.

It's not a myth, has she actually read any of the books written by athiests? If they love believers they have a funny way of showing it!

7. More People Have Been Killed in the Name of Atheism & Secularism than Religion:
A common criticism raised by atheists against religion is how violent religion and religious believers have been in the past. People have slaughtered each other in large numbers because of differences in religious beliefs or because of other differences which are justified and intensified through religious rhetoric. Either way, religion has a lot of blood on its hands. Can the same be said for atheists and atheism? Haven't atheists killed more people in the name of atheism than religious theists have killed in the name of their religion? No: atheism isn't a philosophy or ideology.
"Imagine, with John Lennon, a world with no religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Indian partition, no Israeli/Palestinian wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no persecution of Jews as 'Christ-killers', no Northern Ireland 'troubles', no 'honor killings', no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money ('God wants you to give until it hurts'. Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheadings of blasphemers, no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it." - RICHARD DAWKINS

Go look at how many people Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Stalin etc killed vs. how many died because of religion. It's not even close...


8. Atheism is a Product of Rebellion & Pride:
There are many myths about atheism and atheists which claim that people are atheists due to some sort of rebellion (against god, religion, church, families, fathers, etc.) or pride. These myths come primarily from Christians whose religious mythology gives an important place to rebellion against divine rules as the origin of evil in the world (Satan is depicted as having rebelled against God). At most, these myths might be true of some but not all or even most atheists; even if true, however, none of these myths would have any implications for the truth or reasonableness of atheism itself.

This one may actually be correct in some way. Everyone comes to faith in different ways so I would assume that Athiests come to thier non-faith in various ways.

9. You cannot prove that God doesn't exist; therefore, atheism is based on faith

Is the existence of "God" a subject which science cannot answer? That depends entirely on how "God" is defined by believers. Some can be proven or disproven empirically or logically and some cannot — but those which cannot are defined in ways which are too vague or incoherent to properly evaluate. In such cases, it also isn't very reasonable to believe in them, and religious theists are only fooling themselves if they think this is a way to avoid providing rational defenses of their claims.
Any alleged deity which is claimed to interact with the world we live in is a deity which should have empirical effects — and that constitutes potential evidence for or against the existence of said deity. Only gods without any impact on our world are beyond empirical investigation, but such gods are also without any real relevance for us. Even if they are somehow not unreasonable to believe in, they certainly aren't worth basing an entire life around.

I'm not sure this even makes sense so for now I will leave it be. I will say I have seen enough evidence in my life to make me a Christian and nothing to make me turn away from my faith.

Never Forget

Let us remember why we get a three day weekend, and it's not for BBQs, trips to the YMCA to swim or to spend time with our families. It's to honor those people who paid the ultimate price in defense of our country. To any veteran who reads this post. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. To those who lost a loved one in the line of duty, you have my heartfelt sympathy and deepest thanks. And to those who currently serve or who have loved ones who are in the military, may the good Lord keep you safe and return home, and once again. Thank you for your service to this great country of ours.

That drawing is simply entitled "Memorial" and I did that in 2006 for a local art show commemorating the 5 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream

Now I'm not a chocolate fiend like my wife or my dad, but I make an exception for the chocolate dipped ice cream cone, something that I've enjoyed for as long as I can remember. It's also one of the few times that I order the same thing just about every time I go to DQ, I love them that much, especially in the summer when it's 100º F by 9am in the summer.

Today my four year old son had to get some cavities filled and after last week's debacle I decided to reward him if he was brave with his very own chocolate dipped ice cream cone. So after he got his fillings done with minimal tears and after the 30 minute (40+ actually) waiting period I took him and my daughter to DQ for a treat. And as promised he got his very own chocolate dipped ice cream cone which he devoured in about 4 minutes flat! He also helped me eat my cone and some of my daughter's Arctic Blast. All in all it was a good time for everyone.

In other news, my job search is progressing, I have one more reference to get back from my student teaching and my official transcripts from NSC and my application is complete. Hopefully I will be able to schedule some interviews and maybe even get me one of those job thingys by the fall, but first the flipping legislature has to get it's collective head out my wallet and pass something that approaches a budget first. But hey what do I know?

Finally, I really need to finish the books I checked out from the library, but I've been lazy which is too bad because 1776 is a really interesting book and I've barely gotten past the first couple of chapters.

And don't forget the real reason we have Memorial Day because some really did give all.

Real Christianity

Yea, I chose that title completely on purpose. You see there are two kinds of Christians, those that talk a good game and those who actually do. Today our church went and did. There is an apartment complex that houses refugees from around the world. Most of them came here with only the clothes on their backs to start a new life here in Las Vegas.

Our church held a block party for these refugees and anyone else who happened to live there. We provided all sorts of things like toiletries...
















Free haircuts...

















Lots and lots of food... LOTS of food...





It was just too much for some folks to take in...




We also gave away clothing, silverware, glasses, a microwave oven, furniture, shoes, snow-cones and balloon animals and more. That table you saw earlier was empty within about 60 minutes. Aside from showing up, my family helped with the balloon animals, clean up and my son started to give the kids who lived there balloons, but since he can be shy he would leave them next to them while they were eating, stealth generosity if you will. When people start banging on Christians, just show them those photos, because this is what real Christians do, help those in need without making a big deal out of it. There was no news conference, no press releases just Christians doing what they do best.

Mr. Mom and more

So this week I've been playing Mr. Mom, running the kids here and there, running errands, that sort of thing. I've also been busy with applications and trying to figure out what I am going to do for the summer for work etc.

The real joy today was taking my kids to the dentist where my son decided to throw up in the sink and all over his shirt. Oh, joy. We managed to finish the examination but will have to go back next week for the fillings, and I have a limit of one vomit per day per office visit. Tuna fish the second time around is not very appetizing if you know what I mean.

CCSD finally got two of my references where they are supposed to go, I'm working on the third one as well but the folks at NSC can't seem to figure out how to answer the phone. My tax dollars at work I suppose. Oh, joy. The good news is that I got my final grades and I finished my time at NSC with a 3.70 which is a nice reward although a teaching job would go further towords paying the bills.

NASA is repairing the Hubble Telescope as you read this, or was depending on your time zone. Keep those brave men and women in your thoughts as they literally risk their lives so we can get even cooler pics of the cosmos than we already do.

Finally, Nancy Pelosi has done a wonderful job of making a fool of herself with the whole 'torture memo/hearing/waterboarding thing'. It's been amusing to watch the latest developments as her version and the truth continue to miss each other by that much. Nancy, maybe next time you should start with the truth and not with your version of it, but what do I know?

Finished!

I thought I would NEVER finish college and actually get a degree but here I am simply counting down the days until commencement Saturday night. To think that I went back to school for the 5th time in January of 2003 and now all that work has paid off. My last official assignment was to do a presentation today about my education and student teaching at Nevada State College. I was volentold to go first by Karlana and Kristi, presumably because mine would be so bad theirs would look great by comparison. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! It feels wierd not worrying about summer classes, registering for the fall semester or stressing about tuiton.

Tomorrow I am keeping my 4 year old at home and we're going to spend the day together. I see a lunch at McDonald's in the future. Now I need to update my resume, call the flipping district to see why the references never got sent and try to find a job. Hopefully the id10ts in Carson City will agree on a budget so the id10ts at the district will know how many openings there will be come this fall. Good thing I am getting reinstated for substitute teaching. I also got to visit the school I subbed at last spring that went from 6 weeks to the rest of the school year. I got to say hi to the teacher who taught next to me as well as the staff. All of whom recognized me and were happy to see me. The attendence lady was so excited that she jumped up and gave me a big hug! Too bad she couldn't get me a job.

50 book challenge

I have almost completed the 50 book challenge. Here is the list of all 42 books I have read so far.

If By Sea
All Quiet On The Western Front
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Lord of The Flies
The Trial
I am Scout
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl
Robinson Crusoe
War of the Worlds

Crime and Punishment
To Kill a Mockingbird
American Lion
What's so great about Christianity
Ike, an American legend
"What we carry"
"The making of a poem"
Shade's Children
Speak
Kidnapped
Elfstones of Shannara
Pool of Radiance
Pools of Darkness
Silent Sea

These three I'm counting as one book
The Bottle Imp
The Body Snatcher
Markheim

Ranger's Apprentice Book 1
Flight of The White Horse
Old man and the sea
My Grandfather's Son
Sharks over China
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Screwtape Letters
Catcher in the Rye
The Coldest Winter
Mere Christianity
Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Arrow
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
The Great Gatsby
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Grapes of Wrath

A change of pace

While watching "Jack's Big Music Show" with my son, I was pleasantly surprised by a group called "Nuttin But Stringz" that mixed violins with hip-hip. Normally I only half watch the show but something made me put down my book and pay attention. Boy was I glad I did. The first clip is the one from the show itself.




And yes this is the group from "America's Got Talent", here is the clip from their initial performance.



Enjoy!

You gotta be kidding right?

Last week I sent a letter to the school district to get reinstated as a substitute teacher for the remainder of the school year as I was no longer at my apprentice teaching position and my student teaching assignment would be ending in early May. Today I received a letter from the district stating that I would have to do a few things. First I would have to complete on-line training and then I would have to get finger printed (again), bring down a copy of my sub license and then I could sub for the remainder of the year.

Now the first thing that irritated me was the fact that I would have to pay $50 I don't have for the finger printing, even though they have my records for student teaching, and the thing that really pisses me off is the fact that I have to pay another $12 for the on-line training. I would understand doing this if I were new to subbing, but I subbed all last school year and was in the classroom all this year teaching as well! Can you say money grab? I knew you could!

Can you effing believe this? Bad enough I gotta pay the fifty clams for the finger prints, but then I have to pay for on-line substitute teaching training on top of that? Seriously?

This is not the change I was hoping for, that's for damn sure.

Almost done

I am down to my last two big projects and then my time at Nevada State College will come to an end. It's hard to believe that just 6 years ago I went back to school to become a teacher, and I am just one paper and one presentation away from reaching that goal. And then it's up to the jackasses in Carson City to get their crap together and pass some sort of budget so the school district knows how much money they have for teachers.

But hey at least I'll have a degree in May!

This really p***es me off...

I have not done much political posting lately with all the great stories to relate from the classroom but I had to talk about something that really has me pissed off.

No, not my students, they're great (just don't tell them that), it's the report released by the KGB er Department of Homeland Security dealing with Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment so now instead of dealing with the actual threats facing this country, the KGB, er DHS will be dealing with such threats:

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." (pg. 2)

OK, so that's pretty much 90% of the conservatives in this country and includes everyone who participated in the 'tea parties' that took place today. And people thought that Bush was a dictator? In what flipping universe? Nothing that Bush did during his 8 years ever came close to this horse crap, and when they did issue reports like this they were very specific with group names and specific threats not this broad brushed jackbooted book burning Che loving hammer and sickle waving garbage.

And since I like to save the best for last, here is one more little gem for you to chew on.

"DHS/I&A will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months to ascertain with greater regional specificity the rise in rightwing extremist activity in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the political, economic, and social factors that drive rightwing extremist radicalization." (pg. 8)

Vast right wing conspiracy anyone? And we thought that died when Bill Clinton left office.

50 Book Challenge

Update #3 4/14/09: It's 38. I finished "The Trial" and "I Am Scout" today and forgot to add "Big Mouth and Ugly Girl" from last month. Only 12 more by July!

Update #2: It's 35, I finished Robinson Crusoe on Friday and I'm reading "The Trial" right now.
And Happy Easter everyone!

Update #1: It's 34 I finished War of the Worlds today and I'm half done with Robinson Crusoe...


So I have now finished 33 books out of the 50. Here is the list so far.

Crime and Punishment
To Kill a Mockingbird
American Lion

"What's so great about Christianity"
Ike, an American legend
"What we carry"
"The making of a poem"
Shade's Children
Speak
Kidnapped
Elfstones of Shannara
Pool of Radiance
Pools of Darkness
Silent Sea

These three I'm counting as one book
The Bottle Imp
The Body Snatcher
Markheim

Ranger's Apprentice Book 1
Flight of The White Horse
Old man and the sea
My Grandfather's Son
Sharks over China
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Screwtape Letters
Catcher in the Rye
The Coldest Winter
Mere Christianity
Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Arrow
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
The Great Gatsby
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Grapes of Wrath

To Kill A Mockingbird

At my new school my cooperating teacher had just started To Kill A Mockingbird so after spring break, that's what I'll be teaching as well. I had forgotten how good that book was until I picked it up again and the movie is not bad either. I mention this because I decided on a whim to do the novel for my literary theory class because I just was not interested in redoing my paper on Ursula LeGuin.

I'm glad I switched because I found out a very interesting thing. Lawyers use Atticus Finch as a role model in their law schools, and that one professor wrote an article in the Michigan Law Review that asked some hard questions, which were answered by other professors and lawyers. One of those responses came from Ann Althouse who has an excellent blog of her own.

Funny how things just kinda work out sometimes. Today I'll do my prewriting and the rough draft(s) and then tomorrow I'll finish it up.

Oh, and spring break is next week.

YEE-HAW!

8th Graders

I really like teaching 8th graders. They're more mature than 7th graders and I've been able to give them more challenging lessons successfully than 7th graders. Plus, they're not 7th graders. Don't get me wrong, Ive had some great 7th grade students and classes, but they're just wacked out as a rule. It's all those hormones raging through their bodies, they discover the opposite sex in a big way. They're happy one second and mad the next. Grown up one minute and a 3rd grader the next. And don't get me started on the drama, er D-R-A-M-A. It makes Desperate Housewives look like Dora The Explorer. Spare me, please.

Now 6th graders are just too immature for me, they're too clingy and needy. Plus it takes them pretty much a whole quarter before they even get the hang of middle school, and generally speaking you can't challenge them with lessons like you can 8th graders. Thanks but no thanks.

I'll take 8th graders any day of the week. The hormones have settled down some and they have a better sense of self, not to mention they really want to get out of middle school, especially here in NV where middle school is 6th-8th grade.

Next week I am going to start doing some teaching in my English classes. We're doing "To Kill A Mockingbird" and it's going pretty well so far. We'll see if it lasts.

Finally I got my confirmation from NSC for graduation. After 6 long years, I'll finally have a four year degree. And if I get an A in my Lit Theory class, I'll graduate Magna Cum Laude. Go me.

Finally!

After literally a week, I'm finally back in a classroom. I'll be dealing strictly with 8th graders this time which I can deal with. But here is the ironic part. Two of my new students know two of my old students, in fact one of my new students is related to an old one. Wait until I tell my friend at the old school that one!

There is one thing that I really miss though, and that's the laptop. It sucks not being able to sit in bed and work while my better half is relaxing, and it really sucks having to share a computer with the family.

But hopefully I'll be able to afford my own laptop this year.

The Waiting Game

So it's been almost a week since I've been inside a classroom interacting with kids, and I'm really ready to start teaching again. This enforced vacation that I have been on is not relaxing in the least. However, my professor told me that he was merely waiting on news as to which teacher I'd be pestering, er torturing, er working with for the next several weeks. The school is about the same distance from my house as my previous school although I have to backtrack a little bit due to the location of daycare but it's not a huge deal. At least I'll be teaching again and not sitting around the house feeling sorry for myself.

Also can someone please explain why 'Crime & Punishment' is considered to be such a great novel?

Please?

A Fresh Start

So I thought that last week was a challenge, boy was I wrong. Monday morning I had a verbal confrontation with a student that turned ugly. This student butted in where he was not wanted and totally lost his temper when I told him to go away. Eventually he managed to push the big red button and I lost my temper as well. I had a meeting later with my principal about what happened and figured that it was resolved as did the principal.

Tuesday afternoon I get a call from the chancellor of the school telling me that she had heard of the incident and that until her investigation was complete I was banned from the campus. So I go from getting ready to graduate and lesson planning and all that to looking at a teacher career that was about to come to a screeching halt. To say I was shocked would be the understatement of the year. And it wasn't just me, my cooperating teacher and the principal were both shocked and in the case of the principal, really angry that the chancellor felt the need to investigate what had happened. I think he was also angry that she was usurping his authority in what he thought was a private, not to mention closed matter.

So Wednesday passed and I found out that my inquisition er interview would take place Thursday at 1pm, at which point I would be able to tell my side of the story, then finally learn my fate.

So after a 2nd sleepness night, I arrived at the school to tell my tale and attempt to save 6 years of work. I arrived at the school and flanked by my principal (who fought very hard for me) and my adviser from Nevada State College, I told my side of the story as honestly and accurately as possible. I explained what led up to the incident and as much of the incident as I could, because most of it was a blur.

After that was over, I got a call from my advisor who explained that my career was not in jepordy and that I would finish my 'student' teaching at another school. I put the '' around student because in reality I had been teaching there since the first day of school, and in no way shape or form was I a typical student teacher because I took over a class that had no teacher until a replacement could be found so my 8 weeks was more like a semester and a half, literally. The reason that I am going to switch schools is to give me a frest start. To say I was stressed would be another large understatment, try teaching two subjects, go to school and try to be a dad and husband all at once. So going to a school were I could just observe and help out is going to be nice, even if it will be unpaid. We do have a bit of money saved up so we should (with God's help) be OK until the summer.

So today after school I went to turn in my laptop, badge, key, etc and collect my belongings. I arrived right after school let out to talk to the chancellor and get my fingerprint reports and I got mobbed by my (sadly) former students. They all came to say goodbye and to wish me luck at my new school. The chacellor was very nice and told me what a hard decision it was for her to make and that if there was anything she could do for me to let her know. She then told me she could see how much I cared for the kids and that my next school would be lucky to have me.

I also got to see some of my colleges on the way to my room. The principal and some of my students (funny how I can't bring myself to say former) had boxed up my belongings to make it easier for me. Some of my students also wrote me letters saying how unfair it was that I was leaving because they were misbehaving. (Hopefully that lesson will stick, mess with the good teachers enough and they may leave for greener pastures!) One asked me for my lava lamp (It's at home) and reading them brought tears to my eyes. They'll go on the wall by my computer with the letters from previous teaching stops.

What I could not believe was how much stuff I brought home with me. 1 packback, 1 office depot bag and 4 paper boxes worrth of books, lessons, posters, coffee cups and more. And that was just from the middle of August to today! I did leave a few books for three students who need to be reminded to put the books away until they finish their work. A good problem for an English teacher!

I will find out early next week were my next school will be. I'm sad that I won't be able to finish the year where I was but I am thankful I can still teach. Which brings me to why I won't finish at the same school. There are two reasons actually. The first is that I'd be second guessing myself everytime I try to correct a student's misbehavior. After all I'd been suspended once, the second time I'd be done both there and as a teacher. Secondly, for the rest of the year I'd be 'the teacher who got suspended'. And when there are only 190 middle school students everyone would know who I was and it would seriously inhibit my ability to teach.

BBL

Too many balls in the air, to many things going wrong at the same time, to many stupid mistakes on my part, be back later.

Worst. Day. Ever.

Somebody remind me why the f*** I became a teacher would you? It's a good thing I have a co-teacher because I would have gotten myself fired today because of the way I was treated by my students. I tried from 8:00 to 8:07 to get my first class settled down so they could watch a movie and they refused so I said no movie. Then they got all indignant and asked for a class discussion, which went nowhere. They were telling ME that I had to be more respectful to THEM, as if I were the student and they were the teacher. I did my best to answer them, but of course they reverted to form and it was so bad the principal had to come and talk to them. I am so sick of getting rescued by my principal I could throw up.

Plus the kids actually got a treat today, they got to watch a movie to celebrate the end of the CRT tests and they screwed that one up as well. I was so mad that I literally had to leave the room for about 20 minutes and vent.

I refuse REFUSE to kiss the backside of a seventh grader just to get them to sit down and shut the hell up. Boy are they in a for a surprise on Monday.

131 million and counting....

That's how much non gaming money my city has lost in the last 90 days. As the Las Vegas Review Journal reports "Forget apology-seeking letters. Maybe Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman should send President Barak Obama a bill."

A couple of notes to the 'enlightened' one:

1. Spitting in the face of a state that voted for you in the last election, especially one that relies heavily on tourism and the convention trade is very very stupid, especially considering that the same state voted for Bush the last two elections. You're costing the state jobs and once the GOP rightfully pins the blame on you for this, good luck in 2012...

2. Conventions help both businesses and customers, not to mention the cities and states that host them. I should know, I've been on all three sides of the equation and it's a great way for companies to get new products and services in front of customers.

Of course I'm sure it's much easier blaming Rush Limbaugh for your issues than looking in the mirror, but you may want to think about things like this before you speak without your teleprompter.

CRTs: AKA Uber High Stakes Tests

The CRTs (Criterion Referenced Tests) are what the Silver State uses to see if the schools are making AYP (adequate yearly progress) in regards to NCLB (No Child Left Behind). Today was our first of 4 days (6 for the 8th graders) of fun testing. Today and tomorrow are the math tests, Wednesday and Thursday are the English tests and next Monday and Tuesday are the science tests.

Now the nice thing was that our students didn't seem super stressed by them, probably because they've already taken so many tests similar to this one, and because although we've told them the CRTs were coming, we as a staff didn't freak out about the tests and this was passed on to our students. We did have them review one from 2006 so they would be used to the wording, and we did make sure our lessons applied to the standards the CRTs were going to be testing, but freaking out was not in the plans.

I have mixed feelings about NCLB. I like the fact that schools are accountable for all of their students regardless of grade or ability, but I don't like the all or nothing tone of the law, nor do I like the fact that eventually all schools will fail to make AYP, especially once you get a vast majority of your students making AYP, because there is no way 100% of your students will make AYP no matter how much the school rocks. Imagine being in a school were you have 75% or more of your students making AYP and yet getting put on the watch list because you didn't improve from the year before or that your scores went down a bit. And spare me the righteous BS about educating everyone. That assumes (a BIG assumption) that your students are ready and capable of learning, and that (an even bigger assumption) those parents are on board with you as well. I'm all for accountability but at some point reason has to prevail, but like so many other things the federal government does, reason never entered the equation.

I'll keep you posted on the rest of the week. Maybe I'll be able to finish my unit on Letter From a Birmingham Jail, now that the copier has toner AND staples. I swear the kids eat the handouts when I'm not looking. No wonder their backpacks weigh 800 pounds...

Calling home

It's one of my least favorite things to do as a teacher. I really dread the thought of ruining some kids week, but at the same time these same kids need to know that I am in charge and that when you don't do as I ask that consequences follow. So yesterday and today I made phone calls, lots of them. I hate to admit it but some of them are LONG overdue but hopefully the kids will show up on Monday with a better attitude, because I am sick and tired of the whole 'persecution complex' where the student thinks that they're somehow being persecuted because I asked them to face the front (gasp), tuck in their shirts (the horror!), and actually stop talking (OMG!) so I can conduct a lesson.

Now it was not all bad, I did get to make a few of the 'good calls' where I got to tell a parent how hard their kid was working on their behavior, or their missing work, or both. Those calls I love and I wish I could make them more often, my fear is that the kids will start to backslide and I'll have to get their TVs pulled from their room, their cell phones yanked and the switch pulled off the tree.

I just wish some of these kids were a bit faster on the uptake...

Making Changes

One thing that teachers do is to make changes to lessons that don't work. Yesterday I started the unit on "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" and it went over like a lead balloon. The students complained about the letter and said this was better suited for history than for English. So today before we continued the lesson I played a short video on the civil rights crusade from the 60's and got the desired result.




Once the students saw the photos and heard the eye witnesses, it was much easier to focus their attention on the task at hand. I knew I had them when I asked for a volunteer to read and had a plethora of volunteers. since the letter is 17 double spaced pages, everyone will get a chance to read.

We also do biographies on a daily basis of famous people. Today I did BB King and on a hunch found this video of "The Thrill is Gone" and played that for the students before they did the assignment. So today I was 2 for 2, not bad considering I have a nasty cold right now.

She Unnames Them

"She Unnames Them" is a fascinating short story from Ursula K. Le Guin. I read it last year for my American Literature class and thought it would be interesting to see how middle and high school students would react to such an interesting and open ended story, and today was my chance. We had just finished up the short story "A Jury of Her Peers", and I wanted to do a shorter story that was not like anything that my students had read before. I knew that the students would struggle a bit with the story because of the complexity of the text coupled with the Biblical and poetic references but I had confidence that they could work their way through the text and get something from it.

I taught the lesson to three different classes and got three totally different responses. My 1st block (7th graders) were very much into the story and seemed to enjoy it even though it was not an easy read. When I told them that they just did college level work they applauded themselves and I think it boosted some self esteem even if they would never admit it to anyone, especially to their teacher. I even had a student ask if the story was making fun of the Bible and had to assure them that it was not, it was merely asking a question about what would happen if...

My 8th graders (2nd block) were not so open to the story, but they did get through it for the most part and some of them seemed to enjoy the story as well. Interestingly enough, they laughed at the word ass (donkey) while the previous class didn't blink, although one student asked if they could write the word in an answer. I said yes they could.

Then there was my last class of 7th graders. They had no intention of doing any school work and I finally told them to read the story and answer the questions themselves. For the near term, they get the little kid treatment until they prove they can handle a class discussion and are willing to do some actual work. If I felt any better I'd be calling parents right now but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I feel like crap and have a paper to write...

Oh, and my math class really impressed me with their chapter test. Nobody failed and 7 of my 16 students had an A. Very good news for all involved.

One last thing, we start "A Letter From A Birmingham Jail" tomorrow. I'll keep all 12.1 of you informed of how it goes. We start with the clergy statement that prompted the letter and go from there.

Interesting

We're in the middle of the CRT (high stakes test) review for my math class and I am plesantly surprised by how the students are doing. For the 'do now' I've been having them do simple algebra problems ( X+3=15) to refresh their memories and they still remember how to do one step equations. This is cool because I have not really taught this in over a month, maybe longer and to see them remember how to do it means that I actually did teach them something. They're also doing pretty well with getting data from graphs and using it, but it's a skill that is hard to explain and it's just easier to have them do it than explain it to them.

The other nice thing is that the class grades are starting to go up, hopefully this will continue, but we'll see...

Fist Fight!

So now I have truly arrived, I got to break up my first fist fight after school today. I was walking to my car and just happened to look over at the play area and noticed two 8th grade girls about 5 feet from each other. Something was said and the next thing you know they're fighting and I'm jumping over the concrete wall to separate them. Fortunately for me the Principal's secretary was walking by and we were able to get them separated and to the office where their parents were called and they are now facing suspensions for their poor choices. This is the same day where I sent two students to the office for texting in class and one more for playing their i-Pod not once but twice in class. I have one more student who will probably suffer the same fate tomorrow because I didn't catch her texting today.

The other news is that unlike the Hindenburg lesson I taught two weeks ago, today my professor was picking nits when he came to observe me in the classroom. We started the short story "A Jury of Her Peers" which the 7th graders really started to enjoy. Hopefully this will continue as we get deeper into the story. We'll see but the signs are promising.

A Good Administrator

Is worth their weight in gold. Just about any teacher will tell you that as the administration goes, so goes the school. We're very lucky to have an excellent principal at the middle school who cares equally about the welfare of his staff and his students.

He has been helping me the last few days with the issues I've been having with classroom management. Today he sat in class and watched me operate as well as helping students understand the concepts I was trying to teach. He gave me some notes as well as advice to consequences with students who'd rather talk then learn. I can see that I didn't have clear consequences and that I have not been apply them consistently and that has wrought the destruction of a learning environment.

He's also allowing me to visit other classrooms to see how they do things with lessons, planning and management. My co-teacher is totally on board with this as well so I won't have to worry about leaving her in the lurch while I visit other rooms.

I am blessed to have a principal who is willing to take time out of his busy schedule to help me out with my classes, although I feel like I am a worse teacher today than I was in August. Right now I have no confidence in my management abilities and it's causing chaos in the classroom.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully I can get things under control...

If a picture is worth a 1000 words....

Then this video will tell you all you need to know about how my week went. I got observed this week and I didn't tell the students I was going to have a visitor so my professor got to see my students as they really are. My cooperating teacher was out for three days and didn't give me any lesson plans so I was making up as I went along, which got me into more trouble with the professor.
It was so bad that I really started to wonder why the **** I became a teacher in the first place and I said as much to my principal who promptly scheduled a meeting with me to help me out. He wants me to spend some time observing other classrooms to see how they handle things and he is going to sit in a couple of my math classes (I teach math and English) to send a message about how they should behave. He also gave me some ideas to make the classes more fun. We'll see how this week goes...

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Due to the short week, I have not finished the poetry unit with my students yet. That'll happen next week. In the meantime we've been working with the students on their writing and I've been working on a new unit dealing with Dr. King's "Letter From A Birmingham Jail", which I think is his most impressive work, including his speeches. Despite the fact that most of my students are black, very few know that he wrote a letter from jail, much less the content or even what prompted him to write it in the first place. I plan on fixing that lack of knowledge with this lesson. Now the letter is a long one, nine pages to be exact and it's a complex piece of literature, full of Biblical references and other imagery that take time to process properly.

At first this was going to be a four day lesson. The first day we were going to read the public statement written by Birmingham Clergy telling Dr. King that his activities were well intentioned but the wrong answer for the question of racial equality in Birmingham. It was this statement that prompted Dr. King to write his famous letter. The next three days we were going to go over the letter in three page chunks, answering questions and creating posters or power points about the letter and what it meant to them personally.

So I had finished the statement and the activities for the first 2/3 of the letter, and I wanted to get a second opinion on my questions that the students would answer so I gave it to my co-teacher to get her opinion. She was impressed with the questions which made my day and the pointed out that I was going waaaaaay to fast and that there was no way I could cover the material in just 4 days, now that didn't ruin my day but it did bring me back to earth.

Armed with this reality check I started to redo the lesson and my short unit is now two full weeks long. Now my plan is to do a page a day and mix in some group work along with answering questions and writing essays. The nice thing is that I don't have to start over, just slow the heck down. My goal for the unit is to give the students a real (as opposed to "I have a dream") insight into how Dr. King thought and why he took the actions he did, as well as give them real insight into the multitude of opposition that he faced from both blacks and whites.


Of course having a good lesson plan only goes so far. It'll be interesting to see how they react to the lesson and the work that is going to go along with truly understanding the letter and the author.

Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it.

Slow Start

I apologize for the light blogging. To be honest I have had a hard time getting back into the groove of teaching and everything that goes along with it. I didn't even feel like I was doing anything worthwhile until Wednesday even though the poetry units are going better than I had hoped. I have kids participating who never participate in a good way. The unit plan is not going as smoothly as I want but since this is my first go round with teaching poetry I'm pretty satisfied.

We had an interesting assembly Friday at the school. The principal had been hearing our students call each other nigger (or is it nigga?) while in the halls, at practice or in class and decided that something needed to be said. Keep in mind that the student population is 98 or 99% black so this is not an unusual occurrence. I've heard it myself a time or two and have let the students know how much I despise that word. So the principal starts talking about the use of the word and then says it himself, oh did I mention that he's white? Now he said it to show how ugly the word is and why it's not acceptable to use it on campus. Then three teachers, all of whom are black, all tell about how ugly that word is. One of our teachers was at the University of Alabama when the Governor made his famous segregation now and forever speech. The other who teaches history, told the students the real history of the word and how the meaning of that word can never be changed. He was so passionate that he had students and teachers misty eyed.

I of course had to throw in my two cents after the assembly and explained how the choices that they make impact their community. I tried to explain to them the damage that 'gansta' rap does to their community and that every time they buy that CD or see that video or go to that concert they are reinforcing all the stereotypes about blacks as thugs etc. I made a point of showing how women are treated in lyrics and videos and asked them if they wanted their mom's sister's cousin's etc called bitches, whores and sluts. I asked them if they wanted the ladies in their lives to be treated as an object to be used and discarded. I don't know if I changed any minds, but I do know that I made them think.

Finally, my student teaching 'starts' this semester. So I suppose all last semester was just 16 weeks of batting practice? The good thing is this is my last semester of school at Nevada State College. I plan on taking a couple of years off before I start working on my masters. I've been in school every semester (spring, summer and fall) since 2003 and I really need a break.

Holidays

They ended all right! Today was the first day of school after a badly needed two week break. For myself and Karlana it never seemed like it would get here because we were not only teaching full time but we were also full time college students. I had 4 classes and she had 5. To say we were badly in need of a break would be an under statment of gigantic proportions.

I was able to not only relax and recharge, but to do some serious reading as well. I finished three books over the break. Ike, What's so Great About Christianity, and The Haunted Mesa. And I started American Lion, a biography on Andrew Jackson. I also picked up several books at the used bookstore, many of them were for my students, but I did get a collection of poems by Emily Dickinson as well as a couple of Ray Bradbury books.

I didn't even crack my laptop until Sunday night when I finished my poetry unit for the 7th graders, so I stretched out my vacation as long as possible. I don't start my final semester until the end of the month so I still have a couple more college free weeks, which will be nice.

A bit of Christmas Cheer

I read this to my daughter and now to my son every year during the holidays. I actually have the first 12 lines memorized I've read it so many times. May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

by Clement Clarke Moore

or Henry Livingston


'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

50 Book Challenge Update

For those of you who may not remember, (or care) I took the 50 book challenge from Shelfari. The idea is to read 50 books in twelve months. I have not posted on this in a while so I thought this would be a good time to give all of you the 411 on my reading.

Here is the finished list so far.

Old man and the sea
My Grandfather's Son
Sharks over China
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Screwtape Letters
Catcher in the Rye
The Coldest Winter
Mere Christianity
Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Arrow
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
The Great Gatsby
The Black Arrow
Picture of Dorian Gray
Flight of the White Horse
The Bottle Imp
The Body Snatcher
Markheim (I am going to count them as 1 book)
Ranger's Apprentice book 1
Pools of Darkness
Pool of Radience
Shades Children
What We Carry
The Making of a Poem


So I've now read 26 books since July. I'm reading three books right now as well. "The Reagan Diaries", "Enter Three Witches" and a book on Haiku poetry.

I've also asked for three books for Christmas as well as a gift certificate to the used bookstore by my house, AND the super cool prep school gave me a $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble, so I will have plenty to read for the rest of this year and the first part of 2009.

Scribefire

Normally I don't plug products, even free ones but this is pretty cool. If you use Firefox and you blog, then you should check out Scribefire. It allows you to update your blog without having to actually log into it. Very handy if your employer decides to block blogs. In addition it will allow you to add youtube content, manage your ads and more.

In addition, my daughter just finished a 30 hour fast to combat hunger around the world. They did all sorts of things including feeding the homeless this morning. She said that she didn't notice she was hungry until about 3pm (27 hours in) and that the last few minutes when they could smell the food were the hardest. Needless to say we're very proud of her.

And I'm catching a cold... ick!

Poetry Units

So I finished creating the unit for my 8th graders to start when they come back from their vacation, and I'm currently working on one for the 7th graders. I'm using the same basic plan as the one for the 8th grade but with different poems and forms, so that when I teach the 8th grade unit next year, I won't have to hear the "We did this poem last year" complaint.

I just finished doing the lesson for the ode and thought I would throw in a Haiku to remind the students to use complete sentences since we do Haikus the day before.

A good grade at stake

Complete sentences were used,

No red ink needed!

I wonder how many of my students will realized that it's a haiku reminding them to use complete sentences!

Better than I thgouht

Well, I just got my last grade for the fall semester at the three colleges I attended. And yes I did type the number three... don't ask. And I did better than I thought I would considering I was teaching full time and going to school full time.

I received A's in my teaching methods class and my English literature class, a B+ in my journalism class and a B in my speech class. The nice part is that now I can concentrate on teaching and the two week poetry unit I am creating for my 8th graders, which will become a 1 week poetry unit for the 7th graders.

Finished!

Actually I was done last night, but you get the idea. I survived teaching 2 subjects and taking four classes. The big surprise was that I not only got an A in my Brit Lit class, but an A+ on my final paper. Now I figured I had written a pretty good paper but A+? Really? Either the paper is that good or the other students wrote really bad papers. Either way, I'll take the A and run with it. I also got an A in my teaching methods class. As for the other two classes I probably got C's in both of them, but I can live with that, although it will suck to break my streak of no C's at Nevada State College.

Now I can concentrate on teaching until the 20th of January when the circus starts again. The difference is that it's only two classes along with student teaching. Since I've been teaching all year, I'm not super nervous about 'student' teaching, I just need to make sure I dot the i's and cross the t's so I get my diploma in the spring.

Almost done!

I apologize for the light blogging but it's been really busy for me. Not only do I have the usual teaching and domestic thing going, but it's finals time for this desert rat. In the last two weeks I've had my final speech, my final project, my final paper and final articles for my college classes. I think I finally out procrastinated Karlana by working on my final paper during my daughter's birthday party.
The nice thing is now I can concentrate on my teaching for the next several weeks until the spring semester starts at the end of January. This means that I can redo seating charts, get caught up on my grading, lesson plans, thinking skills sheets and long range plans.