He gave me a dirty look

I asked an immature kid to leave the room because he was giving me dirty looks.

The rest of the class was near hysterical from laughter.

We tried to do zen stories. I think it got through to a few of them. Ahhh, I'm such a teacher. :)

I don't know if I'm good or not...but I am one. I get it done.

Now I'm watching MTV2 and it's surprisingly awful.

Who won the fight?

The counselor pleaded for order from the class. He demanded to know why his "role model" would ask such a question. In a presentation about the dangers of fighting, the only thing that counted was who won.

I'll renounce my moral indignation after I can accept it as a metaphor for mankind.

I think I know my world-view now. It's all ironic.

Alternative certification

I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I've learned at the alternative certification meetings.

Tonight's class about ESE students was awe inspiring.

Wishing I wrote more

I wish I could teach a class based on ALDAILY.COM. I am so sick of this "Teach, RE-Teach, Answer questions, Answer for a test and Forget." I am so sick of this educational system at times.

Just read Aldaily.com. That's all.

The chaos of sixth period 2003

Time passes. I'm facing 2006 instead of 2003. The students I had as freshmen will be facing college and adulthood and I'll be a fourth year teacher, assuming I can pass my certification requirements.

What they face will be largely the work of their surroundings and genetics. I don't know how much of a role I played in their future.

But I would love to look back on my first few years as a teacher in this blog.

On the first day of school a girl asked if she could use my seat. I was so bewildered. I had no sense of authority.

Now I've developed that...to a certain extent. But I'm still working on it.

Well this post was pointless.

Allowing them to talk

A new student from Brooklyn came into class today and the guys went wild. Testosterone was pumping.

I couldn't get them to shut up. But it's funny.

I can't get the type of intellectually stimulating discussions going like in my other regular classes. I've had some real characters. I shouldn't say to them, "Why can't you be more like the others?"

Damn...if I had some readers I would be more compelled to write on here...Then again if I wrote on here I might have some more readers.

I was walking into my school and a few of the girls saw me with a dying branch of tabebua. I told them I was going to give it to my girlfriend and we had a pretty funny conversation about it.
TTD:
I gotta get the chess club in order!

Tests of Fabled Archimedes Death Ray Fail - Yahoo! News

Tests of Fabled Archimedes Death Ray Fail - Yahoo! News

Email has entangled me

A student is suffering and email has brought that suffering a little closer to home. Perhaps I made an inappropriate comment. I hope everything is okay.

I don't write enough on here but that's okay :)

No, writing every day isn't easy. But I worry about the overflow of information if blogging were even easier. Every second of every day isn't worth recording. Sometimes the banality is treasured better in our memories than in hard drives. Sometimes visions and thoughts are best fleeting. We don't get a second life to go back and watch it all again. Would we want to?

Common-place: Talk of the Past

Common-place: Talk of the Past

I need my NYTimes!

I couldn't take it! I had to sign up for the NYTimes editorial special. I'm addicted to their liberal pronouncements!

Teacher work day

Teachers should focus on efficiency. Hitting your head against a wall doesn't make you a better teacher.

Writing for yourself

I've forgotten the importance of writing for yourself.

So from now on, I'm putting my thoughts on the web for myself. Audience be damned.

Starting this business has been quite exciting...More to follow.

Can't let go of youth...but you'll let go of life

Youth has promise and beauty. And it's sad to see doors closing in your face. But life is full of so many precluded possibilities as Hobbes (Calvin's friend) once explained.

Give me 10 more years and I'll take up painting...I think Voltaire said that. I'll probably find myself with similar sentiments. But we shall see.

Our end is coming. All these storms and wars and planes dropping and AIDs remind us that. "Us" being myself and you the ready. It's just the end of our own lives. There's really nothing special about people as a group.

Yet as I write that it seems false. There IS something unique about us and it would be a shame if our experiment ended. Maybe I'll die and you'll die but it would be a shame if we all died.

At least that's my opinion right now. We shall see.

Don't let grades define you

-Human gangs seem to fight for the same reasons animal gangs do. Bio-psych has lots of hidden answers for us...
-I wish I was part of the scientific community at times. But am I any good at it?
-I'm trying somewhat with my students but I can't say I'm trying my "hardest".
-Bush is a failure of a whole new level.
-Blogs are a great way to end the day.
-Don't let your grades define who you are.

PDIDDY HAS NO TALENT

Katrina was a distraction for Miami...seemingly deadly for NO.

Life of Pi was a good book.

Walker moves you

"All we can do is give the kids the tools to make the right decisions and support them when they do!"

--

Walker Texas Ranger when he saved Chesholm Middle School from the vatos

Classes are going great!!

I haven't been much of a blogger...at least blogging that doesn't pay. But classes are going great and I'm happy as anything.

Richard Feynman

When you read about the greatness of others it can be a little intimidating. But it's also inspiring :)

TV is so stupid

I just watched Home Improvement, Fraiser, Good Times, E! TV...

boy is this stupid. I can't believe it...but Walker Texas Ranger might be better than ALL of those shows.

i am the winner...

I am the best air hockey player in the world...the thrill of victory is mine!

LOL You gotta love the buicks...can't haul t

Posted: Oct 1, 2003 10:00 AM


Reply
Granny's '82 Buick LeSabre two door: a pig of a car, but never has 90 mph on the highway been more comfortable or roomy. Seats more like a favorite sofa or overstuffed recliner, an HVAC system that could roast a pig or cool a stadium and motor that wouldn't quit til it ran out of gear. I miss that car, the "SS Pork Roast."

What is worth blogging about?

StumbleUpon has brought me to some pretty cool spots online. But there's also a whole culture devoted to wasting time...

Sally Forth has a funny comic today. Ted is showing Sally his cell phone fotos of his ear which he wants to put in a gallery. Sadly there probably is a site devoted to such musings. ANd I'd probably find a rationale for its existence.

With a few clever captions I may enjoy it. But not enough to click that PayPal button.

===

In BestBuy there is a USB cord to transfer your programs from TIVO to your laptop. Wonderful! Now we can watch Matlock on our computers.

So what'll it be? Matlock or cell phone ear shots? Or writing about each?

I'd rather start my own business:

http://www.plantsfromparadise.blogspot.com

Link to me, won't you?

Good bye to all three of you. :)

Tirade against school

I've been too focused on my own projects this summer. WHich isn't a bad thing. I'm enjoying myself immensely.
==

I was wearing a GOOGLE shirt today when an excited teenager ran up to me and asked me where I got it. "I'm a big nerd!", he exclaimed.

Haha, I told him how he could get one and he seemed pleased.

Does school hold back the smart kids? I feel in a way it does. In a way it's a hinderance. I reminded myself in a monologue to my college students that I'm doing it for the kids who wouldn't learn anything. I'm trying not to hold back the kids in front but I'm really pushing the kids in the back. That's why I teach at a public school.

How effective am I?

I dunno. At times I feel I'm pretty effective. At times it feels monotonous.

10 Gallon Cardboard Palm Plant 

Kayaking in the open ocean. 

Showzen

Showzen is the most offensive, funniest show on tV.

It's so offensive I feel bad to be watching it.

Consider:

• A child dresses up as Hitler and interviews the man on the street.
• Mother Nature becomes a "Man".
• A child asks a zoo keeper to say "smash the state".
• A puppet asks a black man what he thinks of Jews after pretending to shut the camera off. The man says they have secret police to keep them in order.
  
• Cooties are sold to the world.
• The animal "dance". Enough said.

Watch it if you dare.

test

testing

My hero

He once wrote that he stopped studying economics as an undergraduate because economics, as it was and is taught, can "measure the giant's footsteps but not look into his eyes."

My hero, Arthur Miller.

Heaven's Gate - How and When It May Be Entered

Heaven's Gate - How and When It May Be Entered These guys still creep me out.

watching who's the boss?

When will Tony learn? He can't get special favors from Angela in the adult education class even if they do live together!

Integrated Learning: The Best GMAT, LSAT, GRE, and SAT Private Tutoring Anywhere!

Integrated Learning: The Best GMAT, LSAT, GRE, and SAT Private Tutoring Anywhere!

Scary...all that money for tutoring and Freakonomics says that it's all a waste...

To think they charge 90/hour and only pay their tutors 50/hour. Sad how they pocket all that money.

Could I use this on my students?

Legal?

Birds

I saw a bird on a tree outside my house and he looked very happy.

the light of the dawn

So many thoughts flood my mind as the morning comes. I feel young when I'm hungry and when I'm fighting for something. I'd hate to let a problem beat me even if it really doesn't matter.
Because when it's all said and done, does anything we do really matter?
But the emptiness seems a little less scary when you have work you find meaningful.
And for some reason lately I've found the idea of making money meaningful.
And look at this: www.thewebsimplified.com

My next idea? I'm thinking about a forum to talk about the FCAT...hmm a griping center where people can click on the google ads? But would anyone actually write about the FCAT? Do I even care about the FCAT? Are the people who are failing the FCAT actually looking for a website to WRITE about the concerns? Hmm maybe this isn't the best idea...but maybe some parents might care.

Maybe an AP and SAT forum along with an FCAT forum...hmm interesting. See the idea, dummy, is to bring traffic to look at google ads and 2.) give out my email address to do tutoring for fifty dollars. An hour.

Travel to Alaska

I've spent the past hour wrestling with myself whether to book a cruise to Alaska with my brother.

It seems I've talked myself out of it...

There's always next year!

Excited about businesses

I've been enjoying summer so much! It's such a treat to be able to explore the world without worrying about deadlines for a little!

I can't wait to be an adjunct professor!!

Life is great!

it wasn't easy

This blog isn't a success or a failure. It just is what is.

I put my thoughts and hopes and dreams and realities up here to reflect on later.

There are times of frustration.

But now I've got my own room and I'm excited as hell.

Next year is gonna be great with a Linux lab. Life is gonna be great with three classes.

I'm gonna be a third year teacher. I can't believe it.

this close to giving up

I was ready to walk out the door. I was going to apply to a number of web design companies.


Then I found out I'll have my own room next year.

When it ends

We send our attendance down by hand. Most teachers balk at the idea of entering grades into a computer. Strange machines they are.

But still something magic can happen inside a classroom. It give kids a chance to connect.

But you can give the top students free time and they'll be enriching each other. You can bring Nobel Prize winners to teach the remedial students and they'll still struggle.

A fellow teacher has been expounding on this for a while. Perhaps I've always believed it but we don't always act on our beliefs.

But if I truly thought some couldn't be taught I wouldn't be going in to proctor an exam in a few minutes.

It looks like one more year of teaching high school. This hasn't been a total disaster after all. But then again it isn't 12:30. The morning always brings hope.

water pistols

A kid flexing his biceps told me he'd put away his guns.

I told him he had water pistols.

We all shared a good laugh.

A tale of two countries

Class Matters - Social Class and Education in the United States of America - The New York Times - New York Times: "Only 41 percent of low-income students entering a four-year college managed to graduate within five years, the Department of Education found in a study last year, but 66 percent of high-income students did. That gap had grown over recent years. 'We need to recognize that the most serious domestic problem in the United States today is the widening gap between the children of the rich and the children of the poor,' Lawrence H. Summers, the president of Harvard, said last year when announcing that Harvard would give full scholarships to all its lowest-income students. 'And education is the most powerful weapon we have to address that problem.'"

We do NOT want to become a country of two classes.

Play acting like they are tough

I gave the most boring worthless test today. A beautiful Friday afternoon and the minutes just couldn't go by any slower. It's the secret to stopping time! The minute hand does NOT move! You just sit there watching it, hoping the kids don't do anything outrageous.

A little outburst here and there. Mostly they were under control.

My little hoodlums in fourth period (or an hour and a half lunch for some of them) were actually pretty good BEFORE we broke for lunch. I freaked out because this kid wouldn't put an old yearbook away and he was singing "Insane in the Membrane" and giving me pretty weak dirty looks.

I keep thinking FOUR days left. Four days left. I think I'm gonna invite the AP to stop by room on final day.

Another year. My biggest fear is next year will feel exactly as this one does. If I don't get my own room or more AOIT classes or computer science classes, I'm seriously thinking of entering the high tech world. High school can be so backward. A computer is viewed with fear and suspicion instead of a way to exchange knowledge. At least the principal is forward thinking...but there are some serious idiots on that faculty who think 1978 was the pinnacle of civilization.

Prospect - article_details

Prospect - article_details Why do Jews have a higher than average IQ? Why do they excel at chess? Is chess really a metaphor for the Cold War?

Chess has a long history but it's more fun to play than think about.

the home stretch

I'm so burned out with this job. I wait until the last possible second to leave and I'm weakly putting assignments on the board. Teaching regular world history is like a purgatory of sorts.

But I have a ticket out if I wanted. Some pretty decent degrees from a decent state school.

Some possibilities are up in the air: I could get some computer science classes next year, the technology program could expand...but teaching regular world history is bothersome.

Nothing too funny about this post :(

incomplete blogs

I've been busy building a "gaming computer" and it hasn't come easily. Something is configured wrong and I'm tempted to let my techie students take a look...I'm afraid if a IEEE engineer couldn't figure it out, they'd totally fuck it up.

But I'll act as a conduit for the tech support guys tomorrow and we'll see where it goes from there.

I'm looking forward to the end of the year so I can focus on my toys!

Just felt like writing

I finally got my server running. Opening ports, ensuring security. It feels so good. I'm supposed to be writing my finals but I'm just basking in the success. I watched the Daily Show, basketball is on...life is good.

Tomorrow is good.

May 21st I'm going to be taking the computer certification test. A history/computer teacher. Sounds good to me :)

What have I learned setting up a web server? Ports can be a bitch and tech support people are necessary and VALUABLE! There are good people out there.

blogging is a victory

Whew. I just got my class to start blogging- no small feat!

The things some people take for granted...

Wired 13.05: Dome Improvement

Wired 13.05: Dome Improvement. Are my students getting smarter? I have trouble accepting that on some levels but intelligence manifests itself differently with different people.

I'm sure some smart people worked on Napoleon Dynamite and some smart people liked it...but I couldn't stand it. If the IQ test is skewed I hope they don't use the Napoleon Dynamite Test instead.

Hitler needed a hug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler

What did you think of this article?

Answer:

Hitler needed a hug.

Do I count that answer or not?

Do you agree?

"There are no facts, only interpretations."

Nietzsche

Interesting!

THEY FOUND HER?

MSNBC says she was found alive? AMAZING! Hooray!

selling video of the pope's tour

Followed by a commercial for "Girls Gone Wild Spring Break 2005".

What a country.

I just watched a documentary about San Quinton.

Finished my historiography paper about "The Inquisition".

Lynndie England will face up to 11 years in England.

How can I make this any more depressing?

There's a beautiful, innocent girl who gives me great kisses...that makes me happy. :)

Amazon.com: Books: Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Amazon.com: Books: Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Regression analysis finds that Roe vs. Wade has contributed greatly to the downward spiral in crime.

Will all Jews and Christians go to hell?

Will all Jews and Christians go to hell? Take your chances infidels!

fleeting moments

I don't covet the transient. Every thought we have doesn't need to be recorded online...yet I'm strangely drawn to blogging.

Emails more damaging than cannabis - vnunet.com

Emails more damaging than cannabis - vnunet.com Distracting emails lowering our IQs by 10 points! Who would've guessed?

labs.google.com - Why Work at Google?

labs.google.com - Why Work at Google? What an awesome company...

What the Bleep Do We Know!?™ - The Movie

What the Bleep Do We Know!?™ - The Movie This is the movie I fell asleep watching tonight. It's a great idea and I think about stuff like that constatly. I loved the intelligent ideas but it was still a little slow.

Speaking of slow, I'm watching King of the Hill. I knew Bobby wasn't going to kill the deer. "Hold on to your boyhood Bobby. Well, you know what I mean."

Adolf Hitler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adolf Hitler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "o"

Look into those eyes and try not to shudder.

Factoid?

Today's fun fact!
Did you know Ghengis Khan had 500 wives and concubines?

Agree or disagree?

"Sermons were to the public of those days [16th century Spain] what television is to the 20th, the most direct control over opinion."

---Henry Kamen "Inquisition and Society in Spain"

page 205

What will be the answer to the 21st century?

Why Google bought Blogger....

The second link for "Blogger Google Acquisition" in Google took me here:

Though weblogs are often compared to the frequently introspective and self-focused personal web pages hosted by Geocities or Angelfire, most weblogs are far more interactive, actively commenting on and linking to other web content. This commentary and linking behavior offers several potential benefits to a search engine like Google.

Weblog entries are often concise, pithy abstracts of other web content. In that sense, they function as an enhanced directory listing, of sorts.

Currently, Google and all other search engines look at the text surrounding a link to infer content of the page the link points to. With weblogs this text is often much more "focused" and can offer much more context about a page that's pointed to.

watching explosions

The kids in my worst class are showing a little initiative. An extra credit project about "Weapons of World War One" wihch consisted of a little internet research and an oral presentation.

We got into a discussion about whether a 10 pound shell can destroy a tank. Instantly the focus turned to the web.

"Oh there's video of that online."

Without skipping a beat they showed me video of tanks firing, cars crashing, people dying and all out chaos. Silly me. While I was reading WHY those things were happening, they were watching them in all their glory.

The web is whatever you make it. If you want real-life footage from the A-Team, you got it.

Google Knows What You've Been Searching For

Google Knows What You've Been Searching For: "at http://labs.google.com, requires users to create a personal login with a"

Makes you think twice before you search...Not me though. Whew, at least I wasn't born paranoid.

Besides, governments have never hurt their own citizens, have they?

God Hates America -- A Warning to the USA!!!

God Hates America -- A Warning to the USA!!!: "Americans will eat their BABIES!!!"

I don't know if this is a joke or serious...but it's one of the creepiest websites I've ever seen.

A Few Lucky Students Who Don't Need AP (washingtonpost.com)

A Few Lucky Students Who Don't Need AP (washingtonpost.com)

AP courses can save students a lot of money and I'd love to teach the highly motivated students. On the other hand, making your lesson plans reading the Times is fun also. I could teach a pretty interesting course with ALDAILY.com.

thetruereligion.org - News

thetruereligion.org - News: "They assign no value to time as it slips by unnoticed
"

I was wondering what the one true religion was this beautiful morning. I typed "true religion" into google and found out it was Islam. Google doesn't lie...and the stock has been doing great :)

a view of progress

Harry Elmer Barnes in 1934 wrote a review of The Inquisition. by A. Hyatt Verrill in the The American Journal of Sociology that compared the negative view of Hitler’s Germany with the barbarity of the Inquisition.

“If, however, one turns for a moment to the Inquisition of the Middle Ages and early modern times, he discovers such a staggering record of savagery and blood lust as to give a decided impression that we have made headway toward tolerance and decency even in present-day Germany.”


Ah the idea of progress. Of course it was in a journal of sociology. I wonder how Harry Barnes felt when the images from the concentration camps reached America?

Shlock Jocks

One of my acquaintances from school is now a radio DJ for this Clear Channel radio station that sounds like any other Clear Channel rock station. When I was in elementary school he'd pester me with his big mouth and he once pushed me in high school because I made fun of his stupid laugh. So now I'm talking about the French Revolution and he's making fart jokes on the air. He's like Nelson and I'm like an underachieving Martin. His platform is so much bigger than mine and I think I'm angry about that.

I try to discuss genocide, religion, and culture. I'm holding up a mirror of our past to fifteen year old children literally dying to get away from thought. But my students really, really, really can be funnier than any Clear Channel DJ I've ever heard. Especially the guy I'm talking about...I wouldn't dare put the link up to "Listen Live"- you have better things to do than that.

I'll tell you one story from my students though :) Last year I had a period with only one "White" student. We'll call him Gonzalez and he looked nothing like me but the students one day were laughing hysterically because they had decided he was my unacknowledged son. I had to laugh a little because he really didn't look anything like me.

Anyways, later in the week there was more laughter surrounding Gonzalez and his broken arm. His arm in a cast, the first thing he announced to the class was that he broke it falling off his bike. Later on in the "lecture" (words just aren't always that precise- I need to invent a word for a lecture interspersed with 50% interruptions) a girl, we'll call her Lashunda, politely raised her hand and said that he wasn't being truthful about how he hurt his arm.

Why I inquired further is beyond me, but I asked, "How did he hurt his arm?"

Looking very dignified, she sat up in her chair and said, "He didn't fall off his bike. He was masturbating the whole night."

I couldn't hold back my laughter. Lol, when I started laughing the whole class went crazy laughing. Everyone except one teenager in a sling who sat there red-faced.

At the end of the day he came to my desk and said he really did fall of his bike and he could bring in friends to back up his story. LOL, like I wanted to call witnesses.

Still, I shouldn't have laughed. And I shouldn't be jealous of a Clear Channel radio station DJ reaching more people than I do at school. But I'll work on that :) Besides at the end of the year, Gonzalez came up to my desk without a sling and told me I was a great teacher. How often do you tell that to Clear Channel DJs?

smiling newscasters

This post falls under the "Society and technology" headings because it sure as hell isn't about teaching.

Why were the local newscasters smiling while they were showing us heliocopter footage of Faye Dunaway (who the fuck is that?) from Los Angeles? I am thousands of miles from there! IT DOESN'T CHANGE MY LIFE!

Who decides what's relevant and news-worthy? Will it be a better world when we only hear what we are interested in? Can I happily exist with a channel devoted exclusively to Crank Yankers and no idiotic local news "personalities"?

Writing historiography on a teacher's work day

I suppose I could be planning for the rest of the school year but instead I'm reading aldaily.com and lazily working on my historiography paper. Is this blogworthy?

Who cares anymore. What brought me to this site was the fact that the custodians used a beautiful "Pascal" programming book as a doorstop while clearing out my room. It has some significance, although I'm not exactly sure what.

My room has a corner with four outdated machines two of my students are "working on". It's such a delightful feeling to turn junk into treasures. I'm inspired when old computers are utilized for parallel computing tasks. Linux seems to be able to use resources more efficiently. It's very ideologically satisfying.

I hate blogging from the school. I feel like I'm exposing some school secrets indecently.

Maybe the Pascal book and the computer graveyard are appropriate for a public school. Aren't we behind the times? I am writing this on a wireless network. Although it is unsecured and open to hackers. We are working on it...consider most teachers don't know a CPU from HTML.

But we made a Fedora server from discarded parts. The little server that could. She had 30 students on at once but couldn't handle it. She seized up and I decided to buy a new 3 GHz Dell. I know. I can use the old Fedora server to post my blog and resume and random stuff like that. Lol. I'll never get enough activity to shut that down.

So now all the desks are out of the room. It's really large when empty. I imagined just letting the students come in and fight for an hour with nowhere to sit down. I kid, I kid.

Ah I will go grade some notebooks. Just not now.

How I filled my days

What's on my mind in a typical day?

I know I took on too much this year at times. But now that the results are streaming in it feels so damn good.

I taught one college class in person on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tonight I saw one of my students on the nightly news working the court in Broward. The case is interesting: the judge threw a juror in jail for not answering a question about his past correctly. My student is a bailiff. You can read about the case here . Anyways, my student is a very opinionated, and often wrong fellow, who looked like he was working hard on TV walking the accused to his seat. He was only lazy in my class, I guess. Paying for a degree seems pretty stupid, but that's what you get when there are no entrance requirements. Welcome to my world.

The two online classes I taught are over. The grades have been corrected and I have no email when I login. Oh man. That is such a relief to have NO emails when I log in there!! That might feel as good as not getting paid haha. I hated the computer applications course but the Networking course was really fun to teach. I might keep in contact with some of those students. Oh and I actually did fail a few students in the computer applications course.

My graduate course at the local university is wrapping up. I'm typing up a historiographical paper concerning the Spanish Inqusition. I've got Netanyahu's tome open next to me to page 843. If you want to look scholarly just walk around with a 1,200 page book about the Inquisition.

I even had a good day at the chess club...The best player in the school came back for our little "tournament" and now I've got to order the damn trophies!!! I can't let that go anymore...So I still have a little stress :)

In my "worst class" there was actually fighting about GRADES TODAY! Even though the vitriol and hate was directed at my grading scheme and the mistakes my girlfriend made in correcting their papers- they were still concerned about passing a course! I'm happy!!!

Before the end of the day I overheard a girl say that she loves my class and she told me that she met some other people from different periods who can tell "I really love history." If that's all they remember about me, I'd be a happy guy.

What else have I done this semester? Oh I finished that computer training at the high school. I'm installing Fedora on the server I bought from Dell...

Of course I'm just dabbling here and there and there's no profitablity in that. But I've got too many damn interests...Maybe I'd get less done if I took up social drinking. Lol, it'd probably do more for my bottom line in 10 years. But who knows what will come of anything? Maybe the server I'm dabbling with now will become my true passion?

Or maybe I don't have a true passion and I'll always just dabble in different areas.

Oh and the word I couldn't think of earlier came to me while I was reading a cereal box: putative.

:)

moving on up

My buddy the security guard asked me for some career advice today in the hallway. He said he is thinking of applying for the Department of Corrections. We agreed that a lot of the kids in our indoor suspension are basically waiting to be put into the adult jail. At least then he might only have to work one lousy job instead of two.

This kid in the worst class is giving me grief. I should say the whole class is giving me grief...I suppose I make an easy target with my love of books and all. They are so stupid they don't even know they are alive.

It's hard when your family tempts you with job offers for more money in different industries.

The biggest question I ask myself is whether I'm effective at what I do. Usually I feel I am but there are times I fail so miserably....

The Independent Florida Alligator tells it like it is

The Independent Florida Alligator. So this is the future of education in Florida? They want to legislate out "bias" because they are concerned their biased way of looking at the world isn't getting enough attention at the universities.

If there's one word I want every ninth grade student to know, it's 'bias'. I want them to recognize it, but I certainly don't want them to think you can eliminate it. Certainly you can't legislate it out of existence. Cuckooo...

WorkingForChange-This Modern World: Florida, cauldron of craziness!

WorkingForChange-This Modern World: Florida, cauldron of craziness! LOL. Imagine how it feels to teach here!

3rd grade worksheets

Ever since I discovered that the state mandated test declared I have ninth graders who read at a third grade level, I've given out very easy worksheets. I try to mix it up a bit more. At the beginning of my teaching career I was bringing in all sorts of difficult papers that no one could understand. But what I just witnessed was too much.

One question was "TRUE OR FALSE: Auschwitz is a very happy place." The answer circled was True.

Am I wasting my time doing this?

why teachers dont get paid

A cat with acrophobia is a very rare find.

Grandma has a sever case of acrophobia.

Leah's acrostic protrayed a mellow mood.

The ambiance of the beach is one of warmth.

I have a student who is ambidextrous.

Thank you fellow teachers for filling out "practice sentences" on a teacher website. You've reminded me why we don't get paid anything.

in an erotic fashion...

Every year new teachers around the country have to face incorrigible "students." Forget country- across the globe. Some of the teachers have heart attacks from caring too much and some bring a newspaper and just wait to be fired- if they even care.

We've got a strange bird this year. He actually broadcasts the happenings in his crazy room. "A kid spit on me!" "A kid sneezed on me!" He yells at the teachers who try to help him, "Get out of my room!"

Last week he came in with a referral for a student who gave him a titty twister. He wrote the student did it in an "erotic fashion."

There isn't a person yet who hasn't laughed at that one. One teacher said it's probably the most action he's gotten in a while.

Mozilla Firefox Start Page

Mozilla Firefox Start Page
If you aren't using Firefox...I don't know what your problem is!

They went to my high school

They went to my high school.

Too bad they dropped out. Six lives wasted for a few dollars. Life is cheap.

100th hit

Yeah! i just made 100 clicks on the little counter. Hooray! I get an A!

reality check

One of my most disruptive students is actually just crying out for help. Cliche of course, and now I've lost another random reader.

But it's true. How do you deal with their cries for help though?

I'm just glad our school psychologist isn't a pansy and can look a guy in the face and tell the truth:

"I don't like you. Now what are you gonna do?"

motivation

The biggest issue I'm having as a teacher is to get some work out of these kids. Until you see the strain on their faces to even take out a pencil, you have no idea what I'm dealing with.

poignant memories made...chaotic rambling?

The sun shining and students smiling. After school, the pressure is off and we relax by playing chess. We're an eclectic group: LD students who can't win if you TRY to let them to a guy so smart I had to check his record (IQ over 160).

We just enjoy a game of chess. I should do more to promote the club.

In other news I heard about one of my former students moving IN with a guy. Let's see, two pregnant in one period this year. Three of my honors students from last year were nabbed in a drug sting. Oh big fucking deal. It's no big deal.

In a funny note, I told my class about my hippie uncle and they seemed to get a big kick out of his lifestyle. No money, no responsibilities. They don't know it's hard.

Another peripatic essay. I could sit here all night and let my mind wander. The Internet is dangerous like that. Confucius says : Blogs make chaos-mind.

Writing for the sake of writing

It's sad. I'm up so late googling my old friends. I should be getting ready for the school day!

Oy vey.

im tired of their talking

I can't stand their yakking anymore. I can't stand it.

Criminals online

I wanted to show them you can check criminal backgrounds online.

I didn't want them to discover their mothers were criminals.

i hope I don't hear from angry mothers.

nostalgic for the past

I was in the warehouse and I was nostalgic for a simpler place and time. The radio was crackling with Ray Charles. There was no air conditioning on and the air was stuffy. No Internet. No TV. Just books.

And a beautiful girl who loves books too. We had a great time discovering.
ON the ride back, I looked at the new housing development that sprouted where last year they were growing tomato plants. But the houses looked sad. Even tomato plants have variety- some tomatos are big and some are rotten too soon. But these houses are all the same. Nature may abhor a vacuum but that's what's on all the tvs in all those houses.

True if everyone lived to read Bertrand Russell books, our modern economy would collapse.

But is that a bad thing? How much more can we sustain? We'll find out.

I suppose I enjoy using "corporate" technology to relay my experiences with you. But soon I'll be 100% Linux. :) I ordered a new server today. Doing things like that makes me yearn for the future. Is that possible?

Reading at the warehouse is the greatest thing ever. I'm going to have a school there called, "Turn off the constant distractions from the Internet and lose yourself in a book- you aren't as smart as you think."

intelligence

How much of our lives are controlled by our genetics? Can we raise our intelligence? Can we overcome our biology?

As we learn more about neurobiology we'll understand more and more:
read about it here.

On a different note, our high schools need the SPOTLIGHT. We need to get people involved and caring what goes on there!

a nasty ruckus

So much happens to me each day it's hard to decide what to write on here. I'll try to focus on one or two events each day. Maybe that way I'll be able to remember some of this one day.

Sixth period is one of my favorite classes because of the interesting discussions. They've been coming tardy and I shut the door so they couldn't sneak in late. One kid hit the door and I let him have it:
"YOU WILL RESPECT THIS SCHOOL AND YOU WILL WALK IN PROPERLY!" The yelling was so bad that one of the profoundly retarded teenagers wandering the hallway got upset. "Security? Security? Do you need security?" he started yelling.

Poor kid. At least I had their attention. If that's what I need to do- I will.

Fourth period nearly all failed their tests. Sad. They never study. Ever. Ever. Ever.

Now I'm depressed. Bye.

Bill Gates appraises our high schools

These are some of the reasons that Bill Gates, the Microsoft chairman, warned the governors' conference in a Feb. 26 speech that American high-school education is ''obsolete.'' As Gates put it: ''When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow. In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations. . . . The percentage of a population with a college degree is important, but so are sheer numbers. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind.''

Well said. As my student said in sixth period, "We'll do what we always do- play sports."

TURN OFF THE DAMN SPORTS AND OPEN THE MATH BOOK.

This is scary.

lol thats' how my student's write

Check out zug.com while you're at it. You laugh till it hurts.

they will stay quiet

No matter what else happens this year: that period will stay quiet.

They will keep working. The lights are on and I'm serious like a heart attack.

====

I decided to keep the chess club y yo quiero ensener la clase de historia del mundial.

The AOIT program is in existence next year. That is a good thing.

====

Most importantly: they will stay quiet. Maybe that's not what they should be learning but absolute chaos isn't the answer.

Is this?

Can't sleep

I've got the laptop positioned on my chest so I can try to see the letters I type. It's not fun when you can't find your glasses and it's too late to put the contacts back in. I'll just pour my heart out I suppose.

The security guard at my school I speak with regularly has had two dozen low paying jobs around the county. He claims to be averaging an hour of sleep a night and the dark circles make me think he's telling the truth. What can I learn from him? He's got a tough job and it takes three menial jobs just to make it in today.

I heard about some of his previous jobs and I thought he could write an expose of some his exploits. "Nah, too boring."

I suppose that's subjective. Oh well.

-------

One of my students was selected for a great honor and will be going to DC to receive the award. I hope I challenged her a tiny bit this year.

------

I got another email excuse from the same predictable student.


At least they care enough to write an email sometimes. It's the ones who dont care at all that depress you.

------

The heliocopter has been circling a few miles south all night. Students come from there. Then they go home there.

=====

I had a student suck a lollypop and look at me and play around nearly all period. I suppose the work isn't very challenging but I've got kids in that period struggling with GERMANY WAS A DEMOCRACY. RUSSIA WAS COMMUNIST. LIFE IN THE 1920s WAS HARD.

Time to Review:

What was Germany? ________

"This is too hard!"

---------

I had a student come back from the alternative ed school (for bad kids), He said it's full of gangs and the teachers don't do anything. Pure baby-sitting. Pathetic.

-------

We discussed T. Schiavo. A moving testamonial to a lost loved-one was given yesterday. I won't soon forget it. Dont forget how hard this is on the parents.

good bye

I said good bye to two students today. Both black from the same class. One quiet and one extra loud. I wish them the best of luck.

Before L left she joked that M was sleeping because "He was mad he got a girl pregnant."

I joked, "Well I guess you'll be getting married soon M."

L started laughing, "Not in our culture!!"

Pretty funny L. I'll miss your attitude. I remember the time you slapped a guy for saying the Virgin Mary wasn't a virgin. I hope you change your attitude in your new school.

I had a full day. Teaching, learning, doing. Watching "The Shield."

Research Project! I need your help!

Animal Project Ideas:


First Idea:
Observing How Pigeons respond to feeding (dominance)

Second Idea:
Go to zoo tomorrow and watch chimps (dominance/homosexuality)

Third Idea:
Mow lawn in Kendall count the number of birds that come to eat the worms after the grass is cut. Then try and "trick" the birds by driving around with the lawnmower's blade up! Do the birds come because of the sound or the smell of the cut grass? Repeat 10 times and charge the neighbors each time (30 dollars). Make 300 dollars and be happY!

Fourth Idea:
Ask a wise old owl how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.

Fifth Idea:
Observe coots in Florida Bay off Flamingo.

Sixth Idea:
Count the number of alligators along Shark Valley at three different times of day. See how the alligators respond to people on the trail.

Seventh Idea:
Go to Seaquarium and talk to wrestler/trainer from bus. Ask the wrestler/trainer for any ideas for a project!

Idea number Eight:
Find out why tigers and vicious animals hate black folks.

Ninth Idea:
Different bird sounds at different times of day. Have a symbol for each bird sound. Use a recorder to record the sound and then count the number of audible calls. Call an ornithologist to determine which birds make which sound. Have a chart.

Tenth Idea:
Count the number of fish which eat the bread thrown in the canal. Note the quantity of the fish surfacing.

Eleventh Idea:
Survey the number of manatees on the Miami River.

Twelvth Idea:
Release wild pirannas into canal system. Watch the funniness.

Thirteenth Idea:
Variation on number 1- Tempt pigeons/seagulls (pajaro chusmos) with food. Play Jason Mraz for an hour- see how many pajaros like it. Play heavy metal - see how pajaros respond.

Fourteenth Idea:
Go out on the bay around dusk. Throw lots of blood into the water and count the number of sharks you see!

Fifteenth Idea:


YOU TELL ME!! I am doing a very important research project and I need YOUR input. Please leave me comments or vote for your project.

shooting up the school

I've heard students say they are going to shoot up the school- yet they didn't. I know students who listen to Marilyn Manson and wear all black but don't kill anyone. All the experts on TV are wasting their breath.

Get the guns out of the hands of young people.

information overload

Searching through all these blogs online makes me realize: we are drowning in information! So what else can I do but add to the flood?

I'm trying out 'blogrolling.com' Let's see how it works.

Sparta or Athens?

Sparta or Athens?

Which would you pick?

My classroom is definitely Athens. Oh well, things turned out okay for Socrates didn't they?

Oh wait a minute.

links to class discussion.

We used the computers in the library to prognisticate student achievement by their previous performances on the FCAT (Florida's test for basick literacy). Scatter plots, bar graphs, individual analysis- I spent a good hour taking it all in.

The test seems to correlate nicely with student performance. I believe I could've guessed their scores but there were a few surprises. That doesn't, however, mean I agree with the ideology behind the test.

I don't want to make the test the reason for us to go to school.

I can't make this blog a radical dissection of our country's political future. I can't write about deconstructionist analysis or pontificate about the proper level of debt our nation should carry. To be honest, most bloggers haven't the slightest clue.

I'll write about the people I teach and the people I teach with. I'll discuss how the world influences my students and how my students influence the world. I'll link articles we read in class: 3 billion dollar hotel.

"But, why do all these countries with all this oil end up with so many poor people?"

Thomas Friedman would be proud of that sort of line of questioning.

We also read Terry Schiavo.

"But why do religious people claim to allow her to live out her life when she is kept alive by machines?"

The irony isn't lost on them.

Ah, sixth period you keep me teaching. Let's see you measure inquisitiveness with the FCAT. Oh, you can? Oh. Nevermind. Maybe bloggers from Florida should have their FCAT score plainly visible to ensure readers know what they are getting into.

Maybe the FCAT test is just an IQ test in disguise.

Maybe the fact that the links I put up here will expire makes me sad. Maybe I don't want to always focus on the ephemeral.

But what really lasts?

Look what made the news earlier on CNN.COM!

think you have control?

Just when everything seemed fine, after I gave them a "prison discussion" and they quietly took a quiz, it went wrong. They were taking student newspapers as they handed in their quizzes and I was giving make up work to a student who had been in outdoor suspension.

As I was telling him what assignment to do someone shut the lights off. This is a lecture hall without even a hint of light. Without emergency lights it was like being locked in a crypt. But how they howled! They were so loud you couldn't even imagine it!

An anonymous prankster got his wish because I got mad. They will NOT be standing up near the door anymore. I'll give them the "prison talk" every day of the year for all period if need be.

Why underachieve?

Read this.

Read this article. It's sad and it happens in England just as in America. I see it with my own eyes in a suburban school with motivated teachers and air conditioning.

inappropriate raiment?

"And, in conclusion, he wears shoes that don't match the belt and they are scuffed up!"

Thus concluded an email about the way I dress. You see, the fact that I don't wear expensive clothes is causing an uproar in my first period. I find it funny but also obnoxious.

We read "A Modest Proposal" today. Most kids looked horrified (a few rationalized it) tell me what you think. At least we all learned a new word today. Guess which?

My right ear is on strike. I haven't given it enough benefits and there have been a few q-tip incidents but all I hear is buzzing. It's really uncomfortable but what can I do? Medicine hasn't worked, nor has ignoring it.

Some days I hate this stupid job. Maybe "A Modest Proposal" WAS too dificult for them. I just hate that attitude. I can only hope I opened a few eyes today.

technology for all? for what purpose?

I am part of an honest-to-goodness focus group for technology at the high school where I teach. I asked a number of questions: Will the technology reach all of the students? Will the technology be relevant? How many students use computers at home?

It's enjoyable to get some input. I almost like feeling like I could influence the direction of things.

I sometimes wonder what anyone knows about education. Just take the trouble makers out of the equation and lock them up with some good books. Sound good? Use the technology to provide the food and water for their journey.

Taking money for the candy from babies

I am so tired of this "candy sale". I am tired of selling CANDY to TEENAGERS! This is not how I envisioned my life. The other club sponsor insisted I do this.

But now the end is near. I am paying for the deadbeats. They can pay me if they want.

I'm tired of being a bill collector. One girl has a mother in the hospital. Another father or boyfriend immediately hung up when I started speaking. Another had to leave her house. I'm dealing with children with problems. It's my issue now and I'm going to end it tomorrow. They can pay me when they can.

But I'll be creative before the next fund-raiser.

We read "White Man's Burden" by Kipling in World History. I enjoyed the discussion greatly. Fourth is still taking advantage of me. I'm tired of them. Took a quiz about the 1920s in American.

My "burden" as a white man collecting candy money is now over. And it's only costing me money. Maybe I learned a lesson in this somewhere?

kicked out of school; slapped silly

A student was kicked out of school for making fun of the administration in a PowerPoint presentation. I saw the presentation and it was offensive. Did the punishment fit the crime? Something for me to ponder.

The ROTC people "hit" the students. It really disgusts me. It's more of a distracting slap on the wrist for girls and a punch to the chest for guys. For the life of me I can't understand how they get away with it except maybe that no one important knows about it. Most likely they get away with it because it's the poorer students who end up in ROTC. Maybe education is going back to the good old days. When were they?

Of course everyone would deny that poorer students are more likely to be in regular classes and ROTC. No one studies such things and certainly no one discusses them! Equality is the rhetoric; inequality is the practice.

But look at me, I'm taking my regular class to a performance by the Air Force drill team. Personally I'm curious to see it myself. I'll give them a little message beforehand about propaganda and such. We'll see how it goes.

Another day in the history books. But no one reads books anymore so it's of no consequence.

Standardized Testing

When your duties are to count standardized tests and keep kids from talking, you aren't going to get any respect as a professional. That's on the one hand.

On the other hand, I get to read books.

So standardized testing is good for me and bad for them. Especially when they are norming a test and the kids know this. When they know it doesn't count they don't even try! At least they are keeping the tree population down.

Assignment 8: Managing a Local Area Network

Or a classroom. Same difference. Except for more collisions.

So what next? I started the day with a note and I ended it with a note.

The first was from a well-mannered young woman informing me her father had passed away. She'd need some assignments in a few days.

The last was from a girl who sincerely wants a second chance. "I wanted to ask for forgiveness. I'm truely sorry for the way I acted this year." That touched me a bit. There is a conscience somewhere down there.

Her attitude can only go up. She used to bring a fucking pillow to school. We always have hope.

In night-school news I tried to get them excited about blogs but the idea of giving out their email address seemed to produce apoplexy. They must be real important. I don't know. Another idea shot down. But you sometimes reel 'em in and sometimes they get away.

Black People Don't Read?

In my third period a black girl from Brooklyn said that black people don't read. Quite a bit of the class laughed, except her.

It is a serious problem. I'm glad she's being honest.

I made the stupidest mistake ever! She told the story about a tsunami victim who had a giant wave wash over him. I'm thinking, "Oh cool, what a great strategy. The wave will wash over and he will harmlessly drift out to sea."

Shows how stupid I can be! The whole class was laughing when they realized from my questions that I thought the man lived. She said, incredulous I could believe such a stupid thing, "No! He died in the water! The wave was too powerful!"

I had seen the video of the tsunami. I knew how powerful it was but I wasn't thinking.

Back to teaching at night...

Blood - real and fake

In the ER today my girlfriend saw a student from the high school where I teach. She was about to draw blood when the boy's father said, "You can't find the vein now. But you wave a hamburger in front of that vein and it'll come out."

Oh man. When your father is ragging on you it's gonna be a rough day. He wasn't my student though- she asked.

Anyone see the 60 Minutes report on Grand Theft Auto? I never got into the game much but I'm going to make it a point of discussion tomorrow. Of course the majority of kids will find the idea of suing a video game company ridiculous. But can a video game like that make kids more aggressive? If simulations had no value, would pilots really spend their time using them? But just aquiring the skills to "shoot" someone, doesn't mean you are going to actually use them, right?

I played Street Fighter II for a whole summer and I've never shot a fireball from my mouth or sent electricity from my skin into my opponents (or students). But Grand Theft Auto is more realistic...does that make the game makers any more culpable?
This will be the journal topic in class tomorrow. I will post a few results tomorrow.

This is too fun!

This blogging tool is so fun! A lot better than my other one...Hello makes it easy to publish pictures (like this one from my summer in Salamanca).

Well here's one more picture of all the states I've visited.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.


I learn so much from the Internet. Makes me wonder if it will render me obsolete (as a teacher). But there are some who don't like to use the Internet for anything more than pornography and gossip. Oh well. Who's to say that's not how they should spend every second of the day?

In my opinin though school is there to teach basic skills and social responsibilities to those who otherwise wouldn't.

Beautiful ladies from Spain. Cordoba, Spain.  

Mentally Alive

Nearly four years ago I started blogging with the hope that I could better understand the forces which control our lives. I'd write about politics and society. I've still got that blog but I want a new start. Perhaps a new perspective and new readers will stimulate me for the better.

I have been a teacher for the past two years. I started for a corporate test prep center, teaching the ACT, SAT, and GMAT. That wasn't too lucrative or rewarding but the thrill of standing in front of a room of students led to Miami Dade Public Schools. I've forced myself to wake up disgustingly early and find my way to the high school from which I graduated. Here I'll explore the racial, pedagogical, and managerial issues I've faced and continued to face.

In order to keep my master's degree in Decision and Information Science (it's like MIS) somewhat relevant I've been teaching at a local private college. That's been another eye-opening experience. My students have been prison guards, substitute teachers, deputies, and nursing aides.

Teaching has become my life. I use technology to help us learn as we look back. I try to give my students a shot at something better. We learn about history or computers but at the heart of it all is the ability to think/write (the two are interrelated in my opinion). Malcolm X summed it up for me, "I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive."

I've been taking graduate courses at a local public research university (FIU) and trying to spend my free time learning history as best as possible. But I don't want to overwhelm my students with massive amounts of facts or impress them with my ability to recall facts. But they are respected to do one thing: think about our history.

We confront bias constantly. We spend class periods debating whether anything at all can be learned from the study of history. We deviate from lesson plans. Sometimes they deviate too far and need to be reigned in. I won't take yelling or pushing. I don't have all the answers but I won't let the disinterested punks ruin the intellectual experience for the rest of them. At least I won't willingly let them do it.

Here's my introduction to blogspot. Other careers offer more money, respect, and longer lunches. But for now I'm terribly bitten by the teaching change. Of course it is the weekend and I had no screaming teenagers yelling outside my door. Through the successes and failures, these are my experiences trying to bring their minds to life. Any parallels to prison are purely incidental.

Of course learning takes place every second of every day but school is a good place to learn how to socialize without resorting to violence. It's my goal to create an atmosphere conducive to the free exchange of ideas. I'd rather have an interested class learning from each other than a file of 300 completed worksheets. Most learning of that sort is simply forgotten in a few hours, if not minutes. Getting the kids passionate about the subject has led to slapping (religion can do that to people) and chaos. But the second year has been more managed chaos than the first.

I've made mistakes and been told I'm lousy. Perhaps I would be better pursuing some doctorate study and finding a quiet place to read all day. Perhaps these kids need a drill instructor. Perhaps I have the wrong approach? Once again, here I'll confront such questions.

But I'm open to advice from fellow teachers and I know I've reached some of those kids. When I think about it, my job during the day is to teach about genocide and imperialism. History isn't a march of progress. But there are flashes of brilliance and inevitably they'll make me laugh.

Teachers need to be perpetual optimists, something I've never been labeled. But this is my journey.

Smoking kills. I ain't lion.