Listing Life

New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-04T21:45:00.003-06:00

They say it's better to write these down. Here they are:

Be more outgoing when I meet a person the first time.
Make one meal a week from scratch (between that and family night I'll have half the week!)
Trade clothes out (if I buy something new than something old has to go.

I think that takes care of things.

Post 100

2010-05-29T18:18:00.002-05:00

As I close out this school year, here are the things I'd like to have happen in the next school year:
1. Successfully administer the Spanish Language AP test. HUGE undertaking.
2. Not go crazy when teaching all 9th graders. All of the 9th graders in my small school in fact.
3. Get to stay at the same school! and get permanent status!
4. Finally develop that portfolio curriculum in a way that makes sense.
5. Actually help out some more with the theater dept.
6. Keep up with grades. Weekly.
7. Find an apt with a parking place.
8. Manage to keep said apt clean throughout the year. (And keep my school stuff at school.)
9. Make better decisions about public transportation. Especially with prices going up :( (1.50 per ride...)
10. Make it to yoga at least every two weeks.
Sometimes I wish my definition of a year weren't always a school year, but oh well!

Spring Break

2010-03-29T13:11:00.002-05:00

It's always important to do one of two things over spring break- 1. Party. 2. Get things done.
My intention is to do a bit of both. Here's a list of what is in store for my Spring Break:
1. My Laundry.
2. Return to working out. It's easier to make it to the gym when you're not at work until dark.
3. File my taxes (Cheating because this is done- just finished this morning.)
4. BTSA. Man I hate this.
5. Plan Shakespeare unit with my coteacher.
6. Plan "Working for the man" unit while planning "What is an individual worth" unit
7. Come up with brilliant idea for Harlem Renaissance Project. Ideas? (I have juniors)
8. Hit up different happy hour every day of the week.
9. Cook some stuff. Since I'll be around to eat it.
10. Finish the book I'm reading about beer. It's a really great book.
11. Finish at least one other book.
12. Order Zeitoun for end of the year project.
I think that's it. We'll see.

Lets see if I can start this again...

2010-03-13T11:25:00.002-06:00

Nope not yet.

Pink slipped again though.

Books about war that my kids will read...

2009-12-11T21:31:00.002-06:00

They will probably be picking from the following:
1. All Quiet on the Western Front
2. Band of Brothers
3. Slaughterhouse Five
4. In the Time of Butterflies

Now can I have a research paper for one of my classes be on the cost of war? Like they write about the actual cost of a war?

Cliche= This post

2009-11-26T12:47:00.002-06:00

But of course, as The Kite Runner points out, sometimes cliches are best.

Things I am thankful for:
1. Getting a chance to live near my brother and sister-in-law- two of the coolest people I know.
2. Friends who spend the large amounts of money/time out of their schedules to visit me in CA.
3. Having a job that frustrates me and excites me and brings out every other strong emotion I can have because I'm doing what I love.
4. Change which allows me to experience all sorts of things this midwestern girl never had before.
5. That I made awesome friends in high school and college that seem to just get better every time we hang out.
6. The chance to get to sing in a choir again. (also yay me taking time for hobbies each week- that can be hard to remember to do)
7. My parents that even other people find cool haha.
8. Marriages ahead! Mark and Jesse, Brady and Brit, Adam and Pam, Emily and David,

and so many more. Happy Thanksgiving!

Books that did not come up in my last list.

2009-11-18T00:17:00.002-06:00

Read the list below. Weigh in. I'd say I did better than this list. Here are books that I strictly stayed away from:
1. Harry Potter. The whole series. These characters are too family friendly.
2. Animal Farm. I'm not into bestiality.
3. Macbeth. Some characters are too fucked up to be fucked with.
4. Kite Runner. See above.
5. Any book by Toni Morrison. Yeah there is something to that she doesn't write very attractive males.
6. Memories of My Melancholy Whores. Don't really have a thing for 90 year old men.
7. Julia Alverez books. I like them for their portrayal of women. The men are there to cover what the women can't.
8. Romeo and Juliet. Some stories may be over told. (And over fantasized)
9. Twilight series. Vampires, no thanks, and wolves that can attach to 2 year old children they will eventually marry? gross.
10. Sun Also Rises. I'd say pretty self-explanatory.

To improve on my boring self

2009-11-17T23:14:00.003-06:00

Someone has pointed out my blog posts have taken a nosedive in the interesting category. True. Well I happened to also come across some blogger's list about what literary characters they'd like to get it on with, but I disagreed with the list (Macbeth, Heathcliff and Holden Caulfield were on the list... gross). He suggested I should make my own list SO here it is (and I don't include underage characters even when they're fictional. that is gross.)
In no particular order:
1. Edgar from King Lear: He's my Shakespeare choice. good guy, takes care of dad, and comes back to beat the crap out of evil brother. Many girls may go for the bad guys but deal. (Second choice- Benedick)
2. Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice: An overlap from the original list. Colin Firth's portrayal in the BBC made me love him forever.
3. Teacake from Their Eyes Were Watching God: My favorite book and one of the greatest love stories that manages to be not sappy and annoying. I want some of that.
4. Richard Mayhew from Neverwhere: The whole story gets started because he's the only person to notice a homeless girl. Hot.
5. Dave Eggers from A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Ok so this is an autobiography but man if he weren't married with a kid I'd be trying to find a way to get to SanFran fast.
6. John Proctor from The Crucible: HOTTTTness. Shady since he cheated on his wife with an underage psycho girl but whatever. He saw his flaws.
7. Phillip Marlow from The Big Sleep: Not from the movie. I'm not turned on by Humphrey Bogart. But the character in the book. I could do that.
8. The Fool from King Lear in the book Fool: He's a crazy do it with anyone guy in the book but he's smart and must be pretty good with all that practice.
9. T.S. Garp from The World According to Garp: One of my other favorite books because this main character fascinates me.
10. I'm going to leave this one open and get back to you. I'm having more trouble with this than I thought I would...

Things I have to grade...

2009-11-07T22:53:00.002-06:00

1. Reading journals for all 75 of my students.
2. Essays about the traits of a hero based on The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou
3. Persuasive essays on topics from global warming to gun control to abortion to domestic violence
4. Games, survival guides, postcards, comic books, soundtracks etc. for The Odyssey
5. Stories, speeches and analytical essays about Animal Farm.
6. One day of reading circles for Kite Runner
7. One day of reading circles for Hound of Baskerville

Good thing the end of the quarter is coming up.

Halloween Approaches...

2009-10-27T20:26:00.002-05:00

Yeah, school is keeping me very busy. It would keep me busy anyway, but doing a second first year of teaching make it definitely crazy. I've been using work on my current Halloween costume as a distraction. Here's a list of what I've been in the past:
1. Sleeping Beauty (mom made)
2. An Illini Cheerleader (store bought)
3. Evita (mom made)
4. Dorothy from Wizard of Oz (mom made very quickly)
5. Greek Goddess (when I figured out the college version of Halloween)
6. Ballerina (I needed something fast but comfy)
7. Pumpkin (Last year when I had to make a costume last minute)

I realize this is a pretty lousy list. in part because this seems to be all I remember and in part because the costume listed are pretty sad. Except Evita. (and of course the Illini Cheerleader)

My awesome 25th birthday

2009-10-04T18:08:00.002-05:00

It was a great weekend celebrating my 25th birthday and here is a list of highlights:
1. I got some very thoughtful cards from special people even deeper than your standard happy birthday card with no personal message. :)
2. Say what you will about facebook, but it's pretty great to receive e-mails all day letting you know that people have said happy birthday.
3. I get to watch the pilot of Sports Night!!!!
4. Nothing like getting 4 new pair of shoes.
5. Brand new real CDs are so rare these days ;)
6. Figuring out where to hang beautiful artwork is a good problem to have.
7. A class of tenth graders singing at the top of their lungs have a pretty great version of Happy Birthday
8. Phone calls with special people is always appreciated.
9. Toy Story and Toy Story II at the El Cap was a good laugh.
10. If you have to go to a class, having chocolate cake there makes it infinitely better.
11. I had an amazing party with lots of wonderful friends and shared with a great person (I do love shared birthday parties) plus about 1000 pictures to remember it by (hopefully some of them are decent.)

Books I'm teaching next

2009-09-28T18:36:00.001-05:00

1. The Odyssey
2. Fahrenheit 451
3. no idea....
Do we sense a problem?

In a dream world...

2009-09-20T10:37:00.002-05:00

Book rooms are a tricky thing. Luckily I've gotten funding that has allowed me to purchase books for my students but it requires a certain amount of leg work (well internet work and begging work). Here is a list of types of books that if I had my way would be in the book room when I arrived at the school.
1. Books by authors who are still alive. I know it's hard to pick which books will become classics but we have certain authors who are at the top of their game right now, buy their books!
2. Books by authors who aren't white, but who are dead. Generally if the book room does have books by authors who are still alive it'll be a Sherman Alexie or a Toni Morrison as if white authors used to write all the books but recently other races have discovered writing. That's a load of bs.
3. Books that are easy to read and worth reading for 9th graders. The stuff for a good Junior/Senior English class is usually easily sitting on the shelf and Sophomores you can push through that difficult stuff in order to get them used to it, but when a Freshman class first arrives, they need something they can read without thinking reading books is impossible.
4. A play that is not Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, or Shakespeare. Again you'd think there were only three playwrites who exist in the world with no mention of any other options. (Maybe an Antigone or Oedipus is in there).
5. Books of a variety of genres and purposes. Book rooms are mostly fictional sometimes with a bit of nonfiction as long as it's a narrative, but rarely will you see an informational text, a graphic novel, or a collection of articles someone may have written for a newspaper/blog- yet our students are expected to be able to read all of those. (ok so they don't have to read graphic novels, but they are expected to be able to talk coherently about political cartoons which can take many of the same skills)
6. Books of high interest (maybe low in canonical value- gasp!) that aren't just about gangs/ganglife. I get that a lot of students like books like Always Running and get really into them and that's fine, but our kids face a lot of issues beyond just gangs, but it seems that gangs are the only kinds of high interest, grab your attention books in book rooms. What about a Go Ask Alice to talk about drug culture, or a Jumping the Nail to talk about domestic abuse?

Soon I'll be at the donorschoose once again trying to get yet another copy of Maus. And this set will hopefully be the last one I have to go online to ask for.

Things that don't change about the first day of school

2009-09-10T20:32:00.003-05:00

I've switched schools which means that the first day of my second year teaching that should be an easier event because I'm used to the school but instead it's like having two first years of teaching! There are however some things that remain the same with any first day...
1. It's annoying that there are names you don't know. I feel pretty shitty about how long it can take me to learn names.
2. I always forget to drink water/take bathroom breaks. Working at a school these activities take maneuvering. I'm not there yet.
3. It's great that every kid walks in believing this is the time they kick it into high gear. Some kids this is true, other kids not so true, but that first day is great.
4. A few kids will act as caricatures of their actual selves and others will be complete dwarfs of what they are.
Happy first day of school! (Like a month after Illinois.)

Dreams I had last night

2009-09-08T08:54:00.003-05:00

I'm clearly a bit stressed:
1. Classic woke up in my dreams while it was actually like 12 pm rather than the 6:30 I meant to get up. Finally woke up in a start to find it was 3 am.
2. There was a massacre of Sudenese Refugees within the United States (yes I recently finished What is the What) and since I was apparently friends with the large network of the Lost Boys I went with them to DC (But we're talking very dangerous trip) and eventually saved the President from assassination.
3. I had to go to RIAP today (The first official day I need to show up although there won't be students) and afterwards got caught up spray painting props for a movie my friends were doing (they aren't making this movie). It required purple white and neon green and yellow on black pieces of clothing and shoes. I kept getting it on my clothes which was frustrating--especially when the others were all about 10.
4. I showed up at school late and the teachers were all sitting around a table (well ten of them) and one of them was handing out boxes of organic food and they had all brought food they had prepared (or were preparing there are the table) and were doing this as a part of the food movement. I hadn't brought anything.
Needless to say last night was not my best sleep night.

Return to the good ol' days?

2009-09-07T14:29:00.002-05:00

There are certain social norms that we accept today that leads to novels being approached with an "ewww gross" from many of today's students. Luckily these days those "eww gross" situations are coming back!

1. "Ruby and the Rocketts" on ABC Family where one of the main characters is in love with his cousin and not in an "Arrested Development" kind of hilariously awkward way.
2. "17 Again" Yes I get that part of the awkwardness is a mom being in love with a 17 year old kid who is actually her husband, but come on, if that were the other way around gender-wise people would be upset.
3. "Twilight" Domestic abuse anyone?

I'm going to use these the next time for a little compare contrast.

Things I have learned about my new school.

2009-08-31T18:05:00.002-05:00

1. They don't have the small school system very developed at all. We'll see how that works out.
2. I meet with the kids 84 minutes every day all year long. Hopefully this will make teaching novels easier!
3. The book room is limited. The school has been in existence for only two years so they haven't accumulated very much. Please give money!
4. They highly value professional development. We don't get out early for it weekly like at my last school but it will be much more structured and hopefully useful!
5. I should keep my mouth shut about district lessons/assessments. Some people at this school love 'em and some people hate 'em. Very different than my last school's passionate hatred.
6. I think I only have one class that another teacher teaches as well. Unfortunately they are very big on teacher independence, potentially to a fault.
7. IB is what humanitas was at my last school. Yay!
8. I should at max have 120 students! That's practically downright normal. (granted I'll have them in three classes.)

Job Received.

2009-08-25T12:10:00.002-05:00

And it's at a great school! Highlights that made me know this could be a great fit:
1. The school is a neighborhood school. They take the people from the area into the school and that's it.
2. When they formed they took democracy to the construction process. The community picked the name, the school colors, the mascot, the colors of the building, AND the students picked out the uniform.
3. They have the same small school model that my last school had. I'll be in the Science and Tech one.
4. They have a 1200 person theater. :)
5. Each teacher has an opportunity to apply for a $5000 grant for a project they want to do in their classroom.
6. This is a school that worked hard to keep their laid off teachers.
7. I can take public transportation to work. :)

Favorite Interview Questions

2009-08-22T17:49:00.002-05:00

I went to a really good interview the other day that reminded me of some of my favorite interview questions. They are favorites because they show the school knows a little something about what they believe in. (You'd be surprised at how many schools do "boxed" questions they pulled from the internet)
1. What did you learn last year as a teacher and what will you do differently? (this includes when they ask you about a specific unit that failed)
2. What specific types of strategies will you use to teach writing?
3. Our school is really pushing _____, how do you see yourself contributing to that effort?
4. We notice on your letters of rec that someone says you do _____. Tell us when and in what ways.

I'll let you know Monday how things went.

Top Ten Reasons to visit Lindsay in Nicaragua

2009-08-17T12:05:00.003-05:00

1. Public Transportation is cheap. For a couple of dollars you can ride a bus across the nation.
2. The Pitahaya fruit is amazingly delicious in fruit and ice cream form.
3. Nothing like showering with cold water in a bucket to make you appreciate the joys of running hot water.
4. Your Spanish will improve. Even if you currently don't speak any Spanish.
5. Did you play Amazon Trail as a kid? How much cooler is to actually be in a rainforest.
6. They grow Coffee, Sugar and Cacao. Now I don't like Coffee but those other two make up for it.
7. The way they grow corn will blow your mind.
8. There aren't many countries you can go to that had a major revolution just 30 years ago and are currently very safe to visit.
9.When you try to come up with questions for Lindsay, you can ask the ones relevant to her life rather than "um tell me anything at all?"
10. Lindsay's pretty great to hang out with.

TV shows I wish I could be a part of

2009-07-26T23:24:00.003-05:00

There are some tv shows I love to watch and others I really with I could live in. Here is a list of ones I wish I was a part of.
1. Sports Night (by far the one I wish to live in most)
2. The West Wing
3. Pushing Daisies
hmmm... I think that may be it. (Clearly dialogue is a major part of my desire... funny since I don't talk very quickly myself.)

Taking on TFA

2009-07-24T13:13:00.002-05:00

One of the causes I had no idea I would get so passionate about is teacher preparation. I do believe that if you want to draw the best and the brightest, the education it takes to become a teacher should reflect a challenging curriculum. Nobody thinks oh I could probably walk into surgery and do just fine but there are many people who hold teaching as something they could just do. I do acknowledge that there are many classrooms that people could walk into and just teach and be just fine, but doing just fine isn't really working for the state of education. If instead we required the level of education it took to be in the medical field or even to be certified to practice law, we could raise the level of discourse and achievement in education.
In order to move towards this I want to do some research about Teach for America, an organization whose hearts I believe are in the right place but whose practice seems out of line with my beliefs. Before I begin my research I thought I'd make a list of flaws/improvements I would make to the Teach for America program based just on my experience and the experience of my friends.

1. Teaching is temporary: I know there is a large amount of TFA grads who continue to stay in the profession, but I also have heard in recruiting material "Hey come be a teacher for a while!" Teaching is a profession and while I'm all for methods to recruit people who would normally go into higher paying jobs, I want to recruit them to chose this as an employment path not view it as something they can just pick up for a while. Plus, acknowledging that even people in the teaching profession cannot handle staying in low performing schools, our lowest performing schools need the stability of good leadership rather than a revolving door of teachers.

2. Smartest minds in their field into the worst performing schools: Our worst performing schools need our best education professionals. In my first year of teaching I rarely tapped the knowledge I picked up from 19th century British fiction BUT I constantly thought about the discussions we had in our education courses and the numerous articles I've read about democratic classrooms, ELL language acquisition etc. In fact I was much more likely to draw from my subject matter courses that were geared towards english ed majors (writing theory, history of language, descriptive grammar) than I was to draw on regular English classes. Put the brightest minds in the field in that field and bring them in as mentors for students who want to go into that field or guest speakers on those subjects.

3.Your teacher education comes with your real experience. Yes I learned infinite amounts of knowledge by being in the classroom. My first year of teaching I had so much to reflect on. Coming from a failing, high-need school I feel I can speak about this- these schools often do not have a solid support for teachers. Sometimes they're working on it, but regularly part of the failing high need part is that they lack the educational support for their teachers. When I go into a classroom I have a lot scaffolded (to use and education term) about educational practices etc. so even if I don't get the support standing right next to me, I've got my professors' voices ringing in my ear. I can't imagine trying to learn the research and be in front of a classroom. It sets people up for failure, burn-out etc. People who could be REALLY good at teaching may not be able to handle this sort of information overload. I would much rather opt for TFA being a nationwide teaching college than the sink or swim in the ocean that it's currently set up as.

4. What's wrong with being a classroom aide? or a co-teacher? Here is my dream for TFA- it's an nationwide accrediation process that teaches you the educational research while lining you up for one year of being a teacher's aide (and getting some GOOD teachers to be aides to... come on they should be able to do that.) and maybe then one year of being a co-teacher or student teacher before you ever walk into your own classroom. I hated having to observe a classroom once a week so my partners and I would very quickly take over the classroom for our one hour twice a week or whatever it was WHICH IS FINE because not only by then did I have some educational research, a professor to help walk us through our practices, and a cohort of people going through the same thing BUT there was also an experienced teacher there to help along the way, watch what we were doing and discuss it afterwards. My best observation times came at my very first observation where we taught one class period, watched our teacher for a class period and were able to discuss with a regular class teacher and a special education teacher what we should be doing to alter our practice. I still obsessively write things on the board because of that experience.

I'm going to start with that, see where the research takes me, and I'll get back to you.

On this day

2009-07-03T12:22:00.002-05:00

A list of events that happened on this, the day before the day we celebrate our independence:

1. Jim Morrison died.
2. Idaho became a state (Happy Birthday!)
3. George M Cohen (who wrote "You're a Grand Ole Flag" and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy") was born.
4. Quebec was founded (Bon Anniversaire!)
5. AND the Battle of Gettysburg ended today, considered by many a turning point in the war.

Happy 3rd of July

School's out for summer

2009-06-22T18:27:00.002-05:00

And now a list of the trips I'll be taking:
1. Rantoul to see my mom and dad. (and my dad's new job)
2. Springfield to celebrate engagements in my close group of friends
3. SanFran to see a couple of my closest MechE friends
4. Nicaragua to see Lindsay!!!!!!

Don't go into teaching if...

2009-06-21T16:29:00.002-05:00

1. You are anti-intellectual. You can't expect your students to do more (like go to college) if you can't even cut it.
2. You are willing to wait for the worst kids to drop out. There are some kids that are difficult to get motivated etc. but they have their reasons and you waiting for them to just drop out is a disservice to the time they do spend in school.
3. You think that age is equal to experience. Students have experience, many of them very different than the experience you probably have but a lot of experience none the less and every experience (or even apparent lack thereof) is an experience.

Ups and Downs

2009-06-11T20:54:00.003-05:00

Teaching has a lot of ups and downs. Today:
1. I had to deal with a teacher I had a confrontation with yesterday.
2. I had classrooms full of kids working on these awesome projects for the end of the year.
3. I thought I was going to miss tomorrow, our last day before finals, which rushed many things and created a sense of panic in me.
4. My students pulled through and I'm going to have some amazing skits on tape of some very powerful subject matter.
5. I got a letter in response to my complaint of having to miss school saying I didn't have to go AND that I was single handedly bringing down productive collaboration and teacher progress.
6. I had a student who has complained non-stop about his project that I've been bending over backwards to make sure it was complete and today he didn't complain once!
7. I found out that the letter saying I was a terrible asset to the teaching was also sent to one of my colleagues (who does understand my e-mail and not the response that came with it)
8. At the film festival, when they showed my drama students' trailer for the play their doing caused the people nearby to say "Now I want to see the whole thing"
AND
9. My SLC surprised me by giving me an award at the end of the evening. I was a blubbering mess at this point embarrassingly enough but it was very touching.

Similes better to describe the LAUSD cuts.

2009-05-21T00:37:00.002-05:00

California just failed at passing 6 measures that could have helped to save the budget crisis. Today on the coverage, many lawmakers (our governor included) described this as the people haven spoken (less than 25% of the people but you know). What are the people saying? Apparently that "People don't cut their food during these times, they cut their HBO" or "While people are selling their motorcycles, boats and second homes, California needs to do the same." As an employee of the hardest hit area in this budget crisis- education- I feel like I could make some better comparisons for the budget cuts coming.
1. These budget cuts will be like trying to feed a family of 1000 with food for 10.
2. These budget cuts are like having to make the choice between medicine to live or food to live.
3. The California budget is down to cutting all meat and dairy from the budget. Luckily produce grows year round here or it would be a long winter.
4. California has as much money as it has water.
5. California's education system will look like a jail by the time the new cuts come in- overcrowded and useless.
6. This round of cuts is like cutting the crotch out of your shorts.

Yeah, stop thinking that money is boundless California and realize you've truly screwed yourselves over.

Highlights from proms

2009-05-09T20:43:00.003-05:00

A list of the highlights of every prom I went to:
1. My mom and I made my dress Junior year. It was beautiful. Some of my favorite memories of that year actually come from trying to make that dress.
2. I got a date Junior year- I was completely caught off guard.
3. Senior year prom ended. Yup that was the best thing about it.
4. I had the most elegant decorations for last night's prom even if the other decorations were tacky.
5. Prom Court was full of amazing students, all of whom could have won and been well deserving.
6. Hanging out as a "chaperon" is boring but I had good people to hang out with.

So much to blog about

2009-05-04T22:57:00.002-05:00

There are some things I could be blogging about BUT I have reasons that none of them are happening. Here is a list of what I could have blogged about:
1. Things that were annoying/upsetting/maddening about the meeting I went to today.
2. My journey through the stages of grief over my job.
3. The heroes my students are going to be writing research papers about (Anyone real or imaginary that they know or not from 1950 or later)
4. Potential job sites in my very near future
5. Best forms of chocolate to be found in CA.
6. List of graduates I have to celebrate next weekend.

Instead you just get a list of my thoughts.

People who have visited my classroom while I've been teaching.

2009-04-27T18:25:00.002-05:00

1. My friend Kate, from Texas.
2. A group of people from the state trying to determine whether our school is following the plan they agreed to three years ago.
3. Superintendent Cortinez, who came today, just wandering into my classroom. I resisted the urge to tell him that he fired me but I think he figured that out when he asked me how long I'd been teaching.

I love most people who love Shakespeare.

2009-04-18T18:47:00.002-05:00

I love Shakespeare and I've been lucky to have some amazing teachers who love Shakespeare to interact with. I was very excited to stumble upon a whole program (Shakespeare Festival LA) focused on education and Shakespeare and even more thrilled to see they offered a two day teacher workshop to assist me in teaching it in the classroom (And even more thrilled to see it was about romeo and juliet, a book I teach, but by far not my favorite so I have a hard time getting into it.) As I was listening to one of the presentations I realized how much I like a certain type of Shakespeare lover. Here is what the person must have:
1. They recognize that what Shakespeare is awesome at is word-smithing rather than amazing plot lines.
2. They have a child-like fascination with the English language that is fueled by the green light to discuss even letter choices within a Shakespearean text.
3. They are fascinated by the hegemony inherent in the plot rather than the "oh no, Romeo killed himself!"
4. While they may be able to quote some Shakespeare, they can't quote it all (unless they were in the play) and they only quote it if they have to. Mostly they just read it from the text.
5. They have an appreciation for adaptations and purity, falling prey to neither extreme.
6. It's not about Shakespeare being the end all be all writer. It's just about him being really good.
7. They understand that Shakespeare is meant to be ACTed. Reading it is just something we came up with.
8. They are willing to call Shakespeare on the bullshit that he does putting women down or the colonized down without having to apologize.

I miss having a University affiliation to get my scholar fix, but today I got it from the best kind of Shakespeare lover.

All of the good things about UCLA

2009-03-28T11:58:00.002-05:00

Here is a list of ALL of the good things about UCLA:
1. There is a stretch of Sunset that you have to drive on to get there from here with no stop lights and curves that are big enough you don't really have to slow down. It may be my favorite part to drive in all of LA.

I've failed at writing this...

2009-03-25T20:09:00.002-05:00

Here's a list of reasons I've failed lately:
1. I got the layoff notice.
2. Simon came to visit.
3. I've been sick the last few days
4. When my friends post, I forget that I haven't.
5. Some days, when you finish at school, you just need to relax. There was a big fiasco surrounding a conference we were supposed to go to this weekend and then it was off and then on and back and forth SO because I'm still under the weather, and I already have sub plans AND a sub, I'm taking a day off that will hopefully get me back mentally.

List of options for next year

2009-03-07T15:22:00.002-06:00

There is a possibility that things will pretty much stay the same next year at school but there is an equally strong possibility that things will be VERY different. Here is a list of those options:
1. We'll start with the worst one: I get laid off. That would stink.
2. I continue teaching 3 of the 5 10th grade classes and 2 drama classes with the added 7th period Academic Decathlon.
3. I take the 3 11th grade classes that aren't AP and keep my two drama classes and the 7th period Academic Decathlon.
4. I teach 4 11th grade classes including the AP Language class and knock down to one drama class (and the 7th period you know)
5. I teach three 12th grade classes including the AP Literature class and keep two drama classes. (and 7th...)
6. Option four but I teach a newspaper class instead of a drama class
7. Option number 3 but one drama and one newspaper.
8. Option number 2 but one drama and one newspaper.
Who knows?

So I'm not in the best of moods

2009-03-02T14:23:00.002-06:00

No idea why since I had an entertaining weekend. Doesn't change the fact that today I came to school angry. Here is a list of things I find myself wanting to tell people:
1. I can't take care of your classroom and my own.
2. I can't prepare your lessons and my own.
3. I can't spend the next two weeks preparing the tenth grade students for a high school exit exam.
4. I can't make the review slideshow you gave me to present in homeroom interesting.
5. I can't understand why the conversation you are having with your high school girlfriend is more important than you being in class.
6. I can't get behind your decision to paint graffiti for the rest of your life rather than at least graduate high school.
7. I can't help that you signed up for drama class, have been in it all year and now you decide that you don't want to participate.
8. I can't help you if you don't listen or ask questions.
9. I can't believe that you know everything when I don't even know everything.
10. I can't let you out of English class so you can take care of something for science, math, music, history, art etc. especially when I know you aren't going to make up the time missed in my class.
11. I can't let you work on other work for another class when I have assigned to you a task.
12. I can't give you an A just because you show up for class.
13. I can't let you keep Maus much as I'd like to- it's a $14 book making it the most expensive one in the bookroom.
14. I can't deal with your complete and utter apathy towards acts of genocide.
15. I can't understand why you're wasting my time by wanting to fail.
16. I can't improve this school's tests scores in the next month.

ok... maybe now it's out of my system. Let's hope so, or the ican't list may turn into things I have told my coworkers and students.

My responsibilities for Prom

2009-02-28T15:03:00.002-06:00

Yeah so I didn't really get into Prom in high school but now I'm helping prepare it-
1. Making invitations
2. Buying favors
3. Buying 6 tiarras
4. Getting 5 sashes for the prom court males
5. Having my mom ship out a guys crown
6. Coming up with a decoration for the entryway of Prom

Let prom season begin!

Spiritual Guidance

2009-02-16T13:05:00.002-06:00

I am a spiritual person, and a religious person. I believe in the power of religion to change the world (both good and bad). But I haven't found a church home out here yet. Yesterday I took some time to find some spiritual inspiration. Here is a list of what I most turn to:
1. The Color Purple:
"Here's the thing... The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don't know what you looking for. Trouble do it for most folks, I think. Sorrow, lord. Feeling like shit.
...
Yeah It. God ain't a he or a she, but a It.
...
Don't look like nothing... It ain't a picture show. It ain't something you can look at apart from anything else, including yourself. I believe God is everything. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that and be happy to feel that, you've found It.
My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds, Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed.
...
God love everthing you love-- and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else God love admiration.
...
[God] not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.
...
People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see It always trying to please us back.

2. From the Bible:
Philippians 4:8-9
Finally, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is right,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence,
and if anything is worthy of praise
dwell on these things
The things you have learned and received and heard in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.

3. Marianne Williamson
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others

May you find the spirit within you this day and with that find peace in the world.

Reasons to Celebrate in February

2009-02-01T10:52:00.002-06:00

Who knew the shortest month of the year would have so much reason to celebrate?
1. 6 months ago today, I got in the car and started my trip here.
2. February 6th is the last day of my first semester as a teacher.
3. February 7th I'll be going to an Academic Decathlon event in preparation for me taking over as half of the coaching.
4. February 12th is Lincoln's 200th birthday and because I'm the teacher, we're doing a set of lessons to lead us there.
5. February 16th I get a day off of school for President's day. Being from Illinois, this will be my first President's day off (we always got Lincoln's Birthday.)
6. February 22nd is the oscars and then hopefully the insane commercials pushing movies for the oscars will stop :)

Things that make me excited about Illinois Basketball this year

2009-01-25T16:42:00.003-06:00

Yes, I love Illinois Basketball. Yes, I bring it up to my students when Illinois plays and wins. (I feel justified in teaching them that there are universities past USC, UCLA and CSUN that they can consider.) So why do I love them so much this year?
1. We don't have anyone going to the NBA. I think it's obnoxious when teams recruit one-and-done players to get the championship. Who doesn't want to see an underdog team win?
2. Along the same lines, we were supposed to be bad. Last year we were bad, and this year we were supposed to be bad, but we put in the practice and now we're getting noticed.
3. They took the names off the jerseys. I used to think this was a cheap trick. I mean who really cares if the last name is on the back of the jersey? But hey it's been working and who am I to argue with something that could have been taught in psych 101?
4. Chester Fraizer is awesome. I know it hasn't been the most popular thing to say (neither was saying that you liked Derron Williams until his junior year,) but I like that he proves his worth in ways other than scoring. I think when players are good in ways other than scoring it improves the game of basketball. I also like that he makes no pretenses about what he wants to and can do- he wants to coach. Good fit.
5. We're deep. We have four guys on our team that average over 10 points a game and they aren't our 4 starters. National Championship team was great and the Flying Illini were great, but it's cool to celebrate the whole team.
6. Our fans stopped booing. That was embarressing and frankly those people who booed our team in Assembly Hall shouldn't be allowed into Assembly Hall. If you're that upset, boycott the game. Let your empty seat show your disgrace. This year? The booing has stopped.
7. We play the whole game. Nothing more frustrating than watching a team self-destruct in the final 10 minutes of a hard fought game. It's nice to see us lasting the entire time.
Go Illini!

Things I want to try in LA this year

2009-01-08T01:48:00.002-06:00

Now I feel like I've done the basics of moving in (finally have car insurance set up!) so here is a list of the things I want to do to really get settled:
1. Find a community theater to be a part of.
2. Take an acting class.
3. Try out for a symphonic band.
4. Find a spiritual community.
5. Take a ballroom dance class.
6. Go camping.
7. Visit LACMA.
8. Go to Berkeley/San Francisco
9. Learn at least five places to take people to that are more off the beaten trail.
10. Get more people to come visit- COME VISIT!!!

Things that were not on my to do list

2008-12-23T22:19:00.002-06:00

I'm at home but quite a few things have come up that I was not planning on...
1. My plane was landing in Chicago when oops! there is too much snow on the long runway. Let's go to St. Louis to refuel and land a couple hours late (I am glad that I landed safely)
2. First night here, the pipes froze in our upstairs. Odd since the house was built 4 years ago. We have no idea if they broke.
3. My hard drive died. Now the question, is it worth the $199 to get what I'm missing? Haven't decided on that one yet. (and that is only if they can get the stuff off)

Holiday movies I watched as a kid

2008-12-14T22:22:00.002-06:00

Here is a list of Christmas specials I would watch every year as a kid:
1. Garfield Christmas
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animation)
3. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
4. Charlie Brown Christmas
And my favorite (Although 4 is really close):
5. A Claymation Christmas!

Short list, but longer than I would like

2008-12-09T19:21:00.003-06:00

Governors I've had that have now been arrested:
1. George Ryan
2. Rod Blagojevich (quoted yesterday as saying "People wearing recording devices? That smells to me of Nixon and Watergate..." well yes, and Nixon resigned as President of the United States- really the example you wanted to bring up?)

Words of the year

2008-11-30T00:57:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite professors just posted his word of the year post so I thought it would be time for me to list the words I think qualify as the top 5 words of the year:
1. Recession: We've been hearing it almost all year and especially in the last few months.
2. Hope: While Prof. Baron picked Obama, I'm going to avoid the proper nouns in favor for hope which certainly was heard more often during this election than any other.
3. Change: This goes with hope, the word became the catch phrase of this election.
4. Staycation: between gas prices and the economy, the staycation was probably the catchiest new word of the year.
5. Foreclosure: We've been through the dotcom bust, but that seemed temporary compared to the current mess with foreclosures.

Any words you would add?

Things to be thankful for

2008-11-25T20:41:00.003-06:00

Yes it's kinda boringly traditional but sometimes you need the traditional. Tomorrow I'll be cooking so here is my post for Thanksgiving:
1. I love teaching. I do not take for granted that I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I graduated.
2. I live by family. I know I have moved far from home, but I have never moved far from family.
3. Cell phones are an amazing invention. We were watching Jerry McGuire where they have rather large cell phones and I started thinking about how far technology has come in my life. It's wonderful to know that even though I'm half-way across the country doesn't mean I have to leave anyone behind.
4. My kitty greats me every day. I'm used to a human room mate but my cat helps make the transition easier.
5. My friends have great friends. People struck out to LA before I did, and luckily made some awesome friends that I enjoy meeting.
6. I have mentors identified at school. Teaching is a lonely profession. You spend most of the day with 14-18 year olds and the movement towards collaborative teaching is a slow one. I have some great supports set up though in the 140+ staff at our school.
7. I have a steady job for this year at least. The budget crisis in this state may mean I have to find a new job next year but with the economy the way it is, I appreciate that I have a job for this year at least.
8. Someone taught me to read. Being in classrooms with people who really struggle with reading,

Reasons being a teacher is so difficult

2008-11-20T21:54:00.002-06:00

I love my job but there is a part of it that is not so awesome. I want to give my students every opportunity but there is one thing standing in the way- money. Thanks to a spending freeze in the district this is a list of purchases I've had to make that I won't be able to afford long:
1. I spent $97 to get play scripts so we can get started for the play- It's another $75 for the rights
2. I will be spending $80 to get copies of Frankenstein for all of my students. That's the dover thrift edition.
3. I have spent over $30 for mask supplies for my theater classes to practice "Greek Theater"
4. I have gone through 4 reams of paper trying to get copies of materials for students- all of which the is getting charged to my name.
5. I need to spend $20-30 to get speakers for my computer so the students can hear the sound from my computer.
6. $50 getting books and materials for me to have to be able to teach the students well.
7. $30 buying Monroe gear from student fundraisers.
8. $30 on "Lunch Bunch" purchases (Program run by Special Education dept)

In good news though, I am only $147 short of getting one class set of Maus thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and my great friends! (http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=213396) Of course I'll need that set since the only books in the book room for that unit were read by the kids in 9th grade.

Problems with the idea of Western Civilization

2008-11-13T19:22:00.002-06:00

Recently my students were asked to write an essay defining Western Civilization. I strongly dislike the question and this graphic came up that describes one of my problems.

1. See Map---->

2. I teach in a school that is 80% Hispanic. Where is that element in "Western Civilization"?

3. Africa, a whole continent with amazing culture also falls no where in the definition.

4. I feel like in the world of globalization it would be a better idea to look at how a country exerts their culture on other cultures.

5. Civilization is a rather large identity group. It's also one that encourages ignoring the oppressed.

Proposition 8: A blemish on an amazing election year.

2008-11-05T19:59:00.002-06:00

A monumental election, amazing results, and a restored hope for America's future.

A very serious blemish is hindering my celebration.
California passed Proposition 8 banning gay marriage. There are conflicting ideas as to what happens now- whether those who are married will be able to stay married, whether it will go to the Supreme Court etc.
Here is a list of things I feel like telling those who voted yes on Prop 8
1. The Constitution is not designed to regulate marriage. It is designed to protect our rights and maintain order in interpersonal matters where people's safety or rights may be at stake. Who's safety or rights are at stake if you don't ban marriage?

2. The idea that the Bible bans gays being married is a load of BS. First, I am a Christian, and don't try to tell me what Christian beliefs are. I have attended Sunday School more often than most people twice my age (I've got the perfect attendance prizes to prove it) and can quote the Bible perfectly clearly. Let's look at the commandments (or laws) given to us from the Bible: First and foremost love god, Second love your neighbor as yourself, third, do not have any gods before me, fourth you should not make wrongful use of the name of god, fifth remember the Sabbath day (and I gotta tell you not many Christians bother with this one any more) sixth honor your father and mother (no word in there about it has to be a father and mother but surprise- everyone came from some woman and some man whether those are the people who raised them) seventh no murder, eighth no adultery, ninth no stealing, tenth no lying, eleventh no coveting. (Yes the list is modified slightly- Greek Scriptures: Yo Jesus what is the most important commandment? Jesus: dude these two and one isn't on the original list) Those are the laws of the Bible that are set up. No where does it say marry only a person of the opposite gender.

3. "They can still have Civil Unions" is also a bullshit response. If you want to have a wedding and/or marriage then why would other people not want one? Marriage is something sacred and I have seen no clearer picture of that then the marriages I know between gay and lesbian couples. Everyone deserves the right to happiness and last I checked marriage is supposed to be partially built on a certain degree of happiness.

4. It ruins the sanctity of marriage. Does it really ruin it while more than the 20% of heterosexual marriages are abusive? Does it really it when the divorce rate is near 50% of all heterosexual marriages? Does it really ruin your marriage if in some other house there is another marriage? (Problem is this comes up with the complaint that promiscuity is through the roof. Shouldn't we then be wanting people to enter healthy marriages?)

5. A 52/48 majority vote doesn't mean it's a correct vote. It's not even an overwhelming vote. People in many states upheld policies of segregation based on race and you didn't see anyone saying "Oh keep that school segregated because a majority of the voters wanted it". If a majority of the voters are white and racist of course they will want segregation because they don't understand the fundamental problem with their decisions. We see now on a majority basis that this was ultimately a bigoted response. 52/48 from people who this never effects (if you are straight and against gay marriage I would like to hear how it effects you and your actions directly) is the same kind of bigoted this is the way I want it and that's the way it should be for everyone kind of bs (even worse because in segregation they were however wrongly trying to keep blacks away from their white lives. Gay marriage doesn't involve straight people other than those who love their gay lesbian bisexual and transgender friends and want to see them happy.)

6. Ever ask a kid who hasn't been trained by a homophobic person? I would say 80% of my students are fine with gay marriage being legal with probably 50% of those very devastated about the decision. One step further, so what if a three year old hears that Princes can marry other Princes? They can if gay marriage is legal and newsflash, just because they can doesn't mean that three year old is going to grow up gay or that there is a problem if he is gay. People are more likely to make the wrong recognition of their sexuality if they are in a close-minded environment than if they are free to recognize that any sexuality is fine.

7. It's discrimination. Eliminating rights, restricting people's happiness, determining what people can and cannot do because your mind is not open to the possibility that life is different for different people. It's discrimination. Let's hope America lives up to its past record and moves forward to a new day soon:
(The following is a letter from one of my friends out here. Well worth the read. Yes this is a long post but an important issue for me.

(This is something I wrote this morning. Please feel free to send it to whomever you want. ~Ryan)

Today is my anniversary.

Two years ago today, I married my husband. We had been dating for 5 years, and although we were young, we just "knew." We planned the wedding for almost a year. We knew we wanted a small, intimate ceremony surrounded by our family and friends. We knew that our families were both completely and utterly supportive of us.

We got married on November 5th, 2005. We held the ceremony in a gorgeous church here in Los Angeles. The wedding was officiated by a gay pastor and a lesbian rabbi, and attended by family and friends. The reception was vegetarian. It was, to put it simply, a reflection of Us.

We knew that the government did not, at the time, recognize our marriage, but that wasn't a deterrent. We were married in a church, under a Chuppah, witnessed by our families and friends, and before God. The Creator Of The Universe And All That Is, Was, And Ever Shall Be has witnessed, blessed, and consecrated our marriage--We. Are. Married. Do you think we really care whether the dumb government thinks we are married?

Mostly: No, of course not.

But in some ways: yes, of course we care.

Because the government is simply a reflection of The People. And the government does not recognize our marriage because a majority of people do not either. Of course, every day that passes, more and more people come to the realization that There Is Nothing Wrong With Being Gay. But we still have a long way to go.

I am eternally grateful for my supportive family and friends. And I know that the more that people personally know gay people, the more their opinions change. When they see what we live with, their opinions change. When they imagine themselves in our shoes, their opinions change. Because when they know us, they see what we go through. There is nothing I can say to describe the gay experience that hasn't been said before, and more eloquently, by others. But just imagine:

When you are walking down the street with your spouse, and feel the urge to hold their hand, you first have to think about Where You Are, and whether your hand-holding might result in verbal abuse or physical violence. And eventually, you grow tired of thinking about it, and decide that simply: you can't hold hands in public.

When you go to the movies with your spouse, and want to put your arm around their shoulders and cuddle, you then remember that you can't. And so you sit side by side. Like buddies at the movies.

At a romantic restaurant to celebrate a happy occasion, you see other couples holding hands over the table, and even--how wondrous!--kissing. You smile at them, and then--assuming there is a long tablecloth--continue holding hands under the table, where no one can see.

At home, when you and your spouse think about vacations you would like to take together, you realize that there are certain places you can't go. For instance: you will Never get to see the Pyramids of Egypt. The last remaining Wonder of The World is off-limits to you, because the laws of that country are such that if you went to visit, you could end up in jail, or worse.

When you are at work, and other people are talking about their spouses, you smile and nod, because you have to be careful about with whom you discuss your spouse. It might harm your career. And depending on which state you live in, you can even be fired outright for revealing Who You Really Are.

You get the idea.

And yesterday, the people of California decided that they like the world I just described.

They continue to believe that gay people are second-class citizens, worthy of nothing but derision and hatred.

But.

The vote was close. It was almost 50/50. And as sad as I am today, I am an optimist. I know that, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward Justice." I know that I will see equality in my lifetime.

But today is my anniversary.

And I wanted to get married.

Thanks for reading. As has been said "A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Reforms I think are most pressing to Education

2008-10-15T23:35:00.002-05:00

Tonight, one of the debate questions was about education reform, and I happen to be a professional in the field (still a bit weird) so I thought I'd make a list of reforms I find to be most pressing to the educational world (and ps John McCain- your claim that we have reached equality in education is bs. I'm calling you out on that).
1. Better continued professional development support for teachers: Education is a fast changing field as far as our understanding of what the students need, but a slow-changing reality in the classroom. A lot of this has to do with the continued professional support for teachers. Yes, there are people who are just bad and need to get out, but a lot of teachers were good and can be good again, they just need the updated training. I may be a good teacher now, but without continual support to get better, I can easily become a bad teacher.
2. A strategic plan for closing the achievement gap through early education and culturally relevant programs: The fact that there is an achievement gap makes me sick to my stomach. The fact that people ignore it makes me sicker. We need a specific plan for how we can close that and I think increasing early education to get kids the same opportunities from the start and culturally relevant so students can pick up the tools they need to learn any culture are two of the most important ways. (getting better measurements of achievement is another...)
3. A careful examination of the assessment tools used to measure standards in American children and the research about assessment: Standardized tests are not a valid measure of what our students know. Time and again this gets proven and then ignored. Pay attention people. Other countries have come up with much more valid measures to test a child's achievement.
4. Easily available grants for teachers trying to get resources: I can understand people's fuss about money being wasted. I don't agree with the way money gets pulled from schools that are failing, but I get this want for accountability. How about instead the government offers a website like donorschoose that allows teachers to apply for resources they need to fix their classroom? I just talked to a middle school librarian tonight whose students are going to massacre him because the circulation in the library has doubled but there aren't enough books for the kids to read. That is a person trying to make a difference for good with his hands tied because of the wonderful backwards way our schools get funding.
5. Mandate a larger amount of school funding be state-wide and more of it be nationwide: I know schools have traditionally been locally run, but if we are held responsible to anyone outside of the local than someone outside of the local should be paying up. This one I am particular about since a local referendum failed at my high school. Schools in Illinois are funding by property taxes (many states are this way) since property values are linked to the quality of schools and keep the control city wide. The problem is we have Ethel here on a fixed income who owns some property. If she's on a fixed income she can't pay any more on her property just to keep the property value up- her income is FIXED. Make it an income tax and you are taxing the money people have to be able to give and are more likely to give it. This also closes the gap between the haves and have nots. Just because the city doesn't have a lot of money doesn't mean the students should suffer. It's already hard enough convincing students who live in down and out towns that they should take pride in where they came from.
6. Valid teacher accountability: If you don't perform on any job you get fired. For some reason teaching has gotten exempt from this rule. I get the purpose of this in colleges, so professors can calm down from the cutthroat competition and focus on more important issues, but in high school I should be held accountable for what I'm doing. Things such as evaluations, standards of continuing education, better national requirements are ways of holding teachers accountable. Comparing students' test scores is not.
7. Create more cross-curricular learning: Do you know how many times you have to hear a word before you learn it? I have it written down from some Dressman lecture, but it's a lot. And we want our teaching to be relevant to the students, but how often do you sit down outside of school and say I'm going to do some history and then some english and maybe a little chemistry experiment? We mold all of these into all of these fields. Math people write, and English people do math. Some of the most interesting work is in the fusion of various fields where we can really get to the crux of the problem from multiple angles. (And for the love of god- math and science are not the only fields in the world)
8. Stop trying to fix things in some schools rather than all schools: Sure we can bus a kid to another school, but what about the 1000 kids left at the school who don't want to get bussed because they won't know anyone anywhere else? Charter schools may work and vouchers may be turning around the system in DC, but those aren't solutions for my school that still has students who need to learn.
9. Class size nationally mandated: You want a positive mandate coming at the national level then make the class size a nationally mandated level at 25. I know the research shows that class size doesn't matter past a certain age, but it does matter when you are trying to create universal design and have to worry about 40 kids. 25 allows you personal time with all students. It's for the teachers' sake as much as anything.
10. This one isn't so much a policy change as a mind-set change: Recognizing that every student has the potential to change the world in a positive way, and our teachers have one of the greatest chances of influincing that as long as we can change the idea that education is for wimps and only bad things happen in our schools. (two different sides of the fence there, but equally damning.)

Your student failed to suit...

2008-10-07T20:20:00.001-05:00

A list of comments that I can make on my students' reports cards...

Comment Code

Comment

Exceptional work. Demonstrates mastery of standar

Produces beyond the assignment.

A pleasure to have in class.

Obeys rules, respects public and personal property

Works well with others in a variety of situations.

Accepts responsibility for personal actions.

Shows determination in accomplishing assignments/t

Work is improving to meet the standards of the cou

Demonstrates thorough use of knowledge and skills.

Low scores.

Does not complete assignments/tasks.

In danger of failing/not meeting promotion standar

Excessive absences and/or tardies.

Experiencing difficulty in meeting the standards.

Frequently comes to class without necessary materi

Seldom or never dressed for Physical Education.

Needs to participate in class activities.

Exhibits disruptive and/or inconsiderate behavior.

Talks too much.

Grade based upon a modified curriculum.

Parent conference requested. Call for appointment

Demonstrates honesty, fairness and/or integrity.

Demonstrates insight and thorough use of knowledge

Maintains courteous, positive relations with other

Maintains excellent attendance.

Completes work assigned.

Demonstrates understanding of standards and tasks.

Follows directions.

Accepts suggestions for improving work.

Completes all assignments.

Does well on oral assignments.

Does well on written assignments.

Contributes greatly to the class.

I'm proud of your child's achievement.

I'm proud of your child's improvement.

Assists others in meeting the standards.

Grade average is going up.

Grade average is steady.

Maintains satisfactory attendance.

Does not take suggestions for improving work.

Exhibits little effort; indifferent to corrections

Does not finish assignments.

Seldom is prepared for class.

Exhibits little effort to learn.

Makes careless errors in work.

Exhibits little effort to improve.

Does not pay attention in class.

Grade average is going down.

Exhibits discourteous behavior.

Too many violations of class rules.

Does not respect equipment and materials.

In danger of earning a "U" in Work Habits.

In danger of earning a "U" in Cooperation.

Chewing gum and/or eating in class.

Tear-offs/notices home not returned.

Books not covered.

Exhibits a negative attitude in class.

Demonstrates a lack of self-control.

Truancies/tardies are affecting class work.

Does not follow directions and/or instructions.

Seldom participates orally in class.

Seldom works in class; wastes time.

Often exhibits discourteous and inconsiderate beha

Awaiting mark from previous school.

Too many non-suits in Physical Education.

Fail - non-compliance with school's attendance pol

Recommended for intervention.

Birthday memories...

2008-10-05T03:39:00.002-05:00

I had kind of a lame birthday. My brother and sister-in-law did their best to make things up for me and I appreciate those who sent me their support, but I'm here at the end of my birthday party where a total of 8 people out of about 40-50 invited showed up. For anyone who tells you that teaching is a hard job to meet people- yes it is. I need to find some new methods.
In an effort to cheer me up I'm making a list of some of my last birthdays:
1. 19th: My dorm friends threw me a surprise party, where they even tracked down JP despite my computer always being locked, and my church friends took me to steak and shake.
2. 20th: After going to Hillel, Casey, Megan, Lindsay and I went to a bar together. More of an opportunity for pics than for anything else but we did hang out at a bar.
3. 21st: The mastery of birthdays (or at least it seemed) Stephanie and I got together for an "Everybody's a 21st bday party" party (long story) where we dressed up in similar dresses, I looked ridiculously hot and there was a lot of drama.
4. 22nd: Another good time at Legends (even if Banjo tried to set me up with a depressed 40 yr old)
5. 23rd: mom made a dress for me as a duplicate of the 21st. My friends made me dinner and then we went to Legends (as always)
6. 24th: My brother and sister in law did their best, my brother taking me out to dinner and both of them placing flowers and balloons in my room. My friends from champaign reminded me that I do have a great deal of friends, but the birthday party came out a bit missing in people. Thanks to teh 8 who did show up!

Things you may have never realized you were taught

2008-09-28T19:40:00.002-05:00

Being a teacher is enhancing my understanding that there were many things I was taught without realizing I was ever taught them. Here is a list of things I have noticed focusing in particular on my students most recent writing assignment- "what is the greatest invention ever"

1. Time and clocks are two different things. Time has always existed, and so far as I know, we don't control it. Clocks just gave us a way to measure the time.
2. There was a time in history (and still is) when civilizations didn't interact with each other. The Chinese for example had years of history that existed with very little interaction with any other civilization, and in that time created a great number of inventions while other inventions of a similar nature were being created elsewhere. *
3. There is a difference between a necessity and a convenience. Yes, I believe a convenience can be the greatest invention ever, but trying to convince me the world would starve without a microwave will take a lot of convincing.
4. It's nowadays rather than now and days (and other idiom-like phrases.) This is where tests being culturally relevant for students really plays a part in test scores. (ACT has a section devoted just to idioms.)
5. Just because you haven't met someone that meets a certain identity doesn't mean they don't exist. Similarly, your experience isn't the same as everyone's experience.

*I blame history teachers for this one and the way that world history often gets taught one civilization at one time while moving forward through time. (ex. Egypt then Greece and Rome, then England)

Things I still want in LA

2008-09-19T19:55:00.003-05:00

1. A theater to visit
2. A group of friends my age
3. People I can call up and go have a drink with (that aren't necessarily family)
4. A theater company for me
5. A church that lines up with my theology
6. A gym to work out in
7. A parking spot

Someone else's list- Does your city have stress?

2008-09-17T20:13:00.003-05:00

Forbes Magazine came up with a list of most stressful cities:
10. Philadelphia
9. Providence
8 Salt Lake City
7 Cleveland
6 San Diego
5 San Fancisco
4 Los Angeles
3 Detroit
2 NYC
1 Chicago

More on the list here: http://www.forbes.com/health/2008/09/15/stress-cities-ten-forbeslife-cx_md_0915cities.html

What I think when the school day ends

2008-09-15T19:51:00.002-05:00

When the school day ends, these are the things I think of:
1. What went well and what needs to change?
2. Did I take attendance yet?
3. My feet hurt.
4. I'm going to go sign out.
5. What am I going to make for dinner? (Or am I going over to Kenneth and Krysta's)
6. Who am I going to call on the drive home?

It generally takes me about an hour from school getting out to me getting out of school. I don't have a printer sent up in my room yet... then you'll have a hard time getting me to leave the new computers and the air conditioning.

weird things my neighbor has said

2008-09-12T19:21:00.002-05:00

As alluded to, I have a neighbor at school that is... um weird? to say it diplomatically? Today I went around with him while looking for my lost keys (from now on my keys will go around my neck... and never go anywhere other than school and my car) and he had some new insights for me:
1."People say I'm never in my classroom, can you believe that?": This from the guy who I regularly have had to unlock his classroom, or like this morning, let his kids sit in my class in homeroom.

2. "Where is Mississippi? I can't find Mississippi": He started looking for it somewhere around Kentucky, but when he said this his finger was on Mississippi with his eyes darting from Texas to Florida.

3. "Could you believe how mean that guy was being? We used to be friends." In response to one of the maintenance people giving him a hard time about being a UCLA fan.

And the grandest statement of them all
4. "Bet it's embarrassing hanging out with a bunch of married people when you aren't married yet." After a couple days ago he told me that I should "stop looking for someone to marry because then God will place someone in your life. You have to let him do his work in time." (And of course the people who read this know me and they also know how hard I've been "looking" besides the fact that it's none of his business.)

School rocks, but there are a few issues

2008-09-12T00:06:00.002-05:00

I love teaching. The hours between 7:30 and 2:30 are the happiest of my day. I leave my school cheering that the day went fine and that things are awesome. That being said there are some negative sides to teaching that I thought I'd list here:
1. Keeping track of school keys. If you have a swipe card to get in you can keep it in your wallet. Having to remember where your keys are especially if you keep them separate from your car keys is obnoxious. (mine are lost at this exact moment)
2. Colleagues that are less than ... what you expect of them. I have a few colleagues that are just enough off from my views that it's hard to interact with them. I don't chose to interact with those teachers, I chose to interact with those who are in line with my beliefs, but sometimes you don't have a choice.
3. It's hard to not spend 18 hours a day working on school stuff. Today I managed to avoid this (Krysta went back into the hospital yesterday for some tests and came home today), but it's very hard to avoid that nature.
4. My brain gets fried. By the end of the week after a day of teaching and 90000000 things to think about, you can be less than ready for thinking about anything else. This is the "yes mom I really want to talk to you, but even though I used to be able to drive and talk ad even though I've driven this route a lot, while talking to you I totally got off at the wrong exit and have no idea what we were just talking about" disease.

Seriously though? I'm doing something I love.

Numbers for my classes

2008-09-02T09:34:00.002-05:00

Today is my first day (kids come tomorrow) and so I received rosters for my classes. I was told I could expect up to 40 kids in my English classes but that drama enrollment was low. Here are the numbers
1. Advisory: 27
2. English: 31
3. English: 23
4. Drama: 38
5. English: 25
6. Drama: 33

Total students in English: 79 Total in Drama: 71
Total students I'll have: 177

Times I have seen Barack Obama in person

2008-08-28T20:39:00.002-05:00

So there are some things that have come up in this presidential campaign that I am less than thrilled had to happen (e.g.: Rev. Jeremiah Wright who is truly a gifted preacher being dragged through the mud, Obama deciding that rather than face that he'll just leave the UCC etc.) but if you ever get the chance to hear Obama speak in public, it is amazing. I haven't gotten the chance to be in the same room with too many great orators in my life (and I would argue that most people never get that chance) but if you do, you can truly tell the power of great rhetoric stirring in your heart.
1. First time was at UIUC in McKinley (small room) when Barack Obama was running for Senate. He came to help Dr. Gill get elected (a man that should be in public office but some people in Champaign Urbana are too stuck on the chief to notice). Dr. Gill lost. I brought Lindsay and Megan with me and we decided to show up really early which turned out to be really good since the turn out was way higher than anyone expected. Obama's run for Senate was... an easy battle to say the least, but to hear him speak I think all of us walked away inspired.
2. Obama's announcement in Springfield happened on the coldest day of the year. It was seriously probably dangerous for all of us to be out there for as long as we were. I went with Didi, Ellen, Laura and Amanda (3 English teachers and a girl from my high school.) I still feel my fingers aching from the cold but I also still feel the goosebumps from that speech.
3. That summer, Obama came to speak at the UCC's 50th anniversary. I would have liked a closer seat but was fine with sitting far and above. It was his least inspirational speech that I saw, possibly foreshadowing to his split with the church. Even then the crowd was nuts. To make even a not so amazing to read speech worth seeing? that takes talent.
I think one thing that as an English teacher I can really draw on this is honestly, not everyone can do anything. There are people who are born with a gift for public speaking and there are people who just will never quite be that amazing. I think it's something that teachers especially need to recognize and watch what they say...

Based on Ellen getting a cool anniversary on her start day.

2008-08-27T15:02:00.002-05:00

This is a list of things that happened on September 3rd in history:
(source: http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/september_3.html)
1. 1752: US adopts Gregorian calendar so it becomes Sept 14th and people riot thinking the government stole 11 days of their life!
2. 1783: Treaty of Paris is signed!
3. 1838: Frederick Douglass escapes slavery!
4. 1925: First game of International Handball played!
5. 1940: First color television show!
6. 1967: Sweden begins driving on the right side of the road!
7. 1984: South Africa adopts a constitution!
8. 1989: Into the Woods closes!
woohoo!

Rains it pours right?

2008-08-24T13:45:00.002-05:00

Not many of the blogs I check out regularly update on the weekends (regularly there works in two different ways of reading that sentence. me=english dork), so I think that increases my regularity of wanting to post on the weekends.

Here are a list of goals I have for myself in the next we'll go with ten years but may be sooner than that:
1. To become a great teacher, duh.
2. To work out a system with portfolios based on the student reaching the standards rather than an artificial assessment of the student work.
3. To come up with a safe way for students to let me know how I'm doing without either party feeling pressure or emotional distress.
4. To stay away from the tempting desire to make the exact same lessons every year. Lord help me if I'm teaching the same lessons I teach this year in ten years.
5. To have a concept of better ways to assist students in reading books.
6. To have a concept of better guidance for the writing students do, especially the creative writing.
7. To become Nationally Board Certified (this one seems more like a prestige thing than anything but I'm not sure if I want to stay teaching in CA and this seems like something that might be good for teaching anywhere.
8. To get a masters in Education with a focus on teaching critical theory as a way of reaching students no matter what their post high school plans are. (Yes, I really loved critical theory way too much)
9. To be a good cooperating teacher for a student teacher or two. This one is difficult since I think I won't be one very willing to give up teaching larger numbers of people, but one that after student teaching I believe to be VERY important.
10. Most important: to have as many students as possible leave my class feeling more empowered to affect the world in positive ways than when they first came in.

Thoughts that went through my mind in my first experience being an extra

2008-08-24T03:31:00.002-05:00

With this post, this blog passes up Keeping Each Other Honest.
Some of my brother's friends (and I guess at this point my friends) are putting together a full feature film. Their company seems to be a pretty big deal, but this is their first time making a full length film. They were looking for people to help load equipment and since I'm starting to go insane waiting around my apt for more info about my school job, I offered yesterday to help. They called today so I went down to help as a P.A. and in the last 5 min of the shoot, was recruited to be an extra. Here is a rough collection of my thoughts:
1. "Um I'm creeped out": I wrote down the wrong address and after being lost for what felt like forever, was still lost on kind of a shady street at 9p.m. in LA. Some people started following me as I went to my car and talking to me but they were nice enough to let me get in my car and drive away so I could find out the actual address.
2. "I wish I changed in the car": I had been at a bbq where I was trying to look cute and arrived on a set where most of the people were in tshirts and jeans. I felt totally over dressed.
3. "Why do I have to yell?" with "I really don't know what I'm doing": In my head PA is what my brother did after he graduated college. Now I understand that nearly anyone can be a gopher, when they told me to yell rolling and then cut after someone else yelled rolling and cut and that was my only job I felt like an idiot. Why was I yelling it? and what happens on a movie set?
4. "Wow the same problems come up in live theater": People kept talking "backstage" off-set I guess. I could hear them and they still tried to deny it when we told them we could hear them. At least my stage manager training allowed me to pinpoint where the noise was coming from.
5. "I hope I don't train annoying actors": Not that the actors were really annoying. Most of them were really nice. One thing that does come up with actors though in live theater and my experience tonight was their lack of understanding for what is going on around them. They will often wait till the middle of a technical issue when the lights cameras and action is going on to ask a question or they will decide in the middle of a scene that they really need to go running to get something. Hopefully in training my actors in both technical and acting they will understand that there are better times to do those things.
6. "Um ok I guess I'm in this now": When they decided they needed a nurse and I was there to be one.
7. "Wait he just called me the pa": Really I was just there as an extra set of hands but as he said "Susan the PA is going to be the nurse" I realized that being an extra set of hands is being a PA
8. "Please God, let me not hurt Trumbo... or the wheelchair": One of my friends was in the wheelchair I had to maneuver. I had small space to get through and not a whole lot of practice with moving wheelchairs. Plus, having someone I knew in the chair just made it that much more frightening. If I screwed up Trumbo's only memories of me would be on New Year's Eve and running him into objects.
9. "Frick I'm stuck": Yeah one time we were a little late getting the wheelchair rolling thanks to it getting stuck in the door- that time the note was "Wheelchair we need you to come out sooner"
10. "Well, now I've been an extra": the whole thing took like 3 minutes at the end of the shoot. Hopefully I don't look too ugly but you know whatever.

Birthday list

2008-08-21T01:14:00.003-05:00

It is way too early for me to be thinking about this but I am trying to furnish an apt and things come up. Plus, I'm pretty sure Ellen is the only one who reads this so let's consider it more of a temporary list placed where I won't loose it.
Things I would like for my bday:
1. Artwork for the new apt. Particularly Ellen brought up getting local art which would be awesome. I'd like something over the tv, something by my bed and something over the couch, so I guess lots of artwork....
2. The Jane Austen action figure. I'll also take Poe or Wilde (I have Shakespeare), but that is the true English teacher nerd in all it's glory.
3. A cute hat. I feel like it's something necessary in LA. I also think this will serve as my quirky bit for being a drama teacher. I have a pretty basic look about me so I think a hat will serve to give me a little oddity or something.
4. Money. You know why that's tight right now and I'd like to be able to go to Nicaragua in the summer and to Illinois around Christmas.
5. And if I don't go out and buy it, which I may just so I can wear it plenty before the election, there is this great Obama shirt that has doves and an anchor and says hope on it that's difficult to describe but awesome. (I know my anxiousness to buy this doesn't fit in with number 4 but I'm on kind of a time restraint on this one)

Thoughts on the 21 drinking age

2008-08-19T20:46:00.002-05:00

Apparently there is some debate as to whether to lower the drinking age back to 18 (1984, the year I was born, was the year they moved it nationally to 21.) Since I am a teacher, and in particular a teacher of 10-12 graders, I have some thoughts about this proposed change.
(Note: I did not start drinking until age 20. I'm not sure what made me hold off till then as I didn't see any moral issue with drinking.)
1. An argument I have heard: In Europe the drinking age is younger so people learn earlier how to handle their liquor- is that really it or is it the culture that more so pushes people to just sit and have a drink with dinner as opposed to the US culture that pushes people to get wasted?
2. Any crime that punishes enormous quantities of people should be questioned- if that many people are getting punished for underage drinking, should it be a law or should we look at other alternatives if we don't want young people drinking? (More importantly do we want to look at alternatives to teaching people to drink responsibility?)
3. I didn't drink in high school largely because of the group of people I hung out with. We "didn't need to" I guess? I think a big part of it though was that it wasn't legal and we weren't the types to break the law since by the time we all turned 21 nearly all of us had been drinking already.
4. I do worry about the 18 thing. I was 18 before my prom and before my graduation. Lots of people drink for those events but I guess I'm most worried about people driving with those events. By the time you get into college most people live within walking distance so it's a lot easier for people to drink and not drive. High school, most of my friends were a 15 minute drive away. That has to be my biggest problem with lowering the age I think.
5. I don't like the fact that the age to get into bars is different from the drinking age. That's dumb. That being said, I also don't like that people have to wait until they're 19 to get into bars and I don't like the colleges that don't let you into the bars until you're 21. It would be great if people got into college and could go to the bars AND drink if they would like. I especially like this idea since I don't think the dorms are the best places for drinking to be happening (some people in the dorms believe drinking to be really bad and I don't like that if there is drinking in the dorms that they are forced to face it in their "home" however temporary that home may be. I'd much rather see people leave the dorms to drink as long as they are walking/taking the bus but it's based on the idea of respect for people's space.)
6. Another argument: people can vote, be drafted into the army, purchase porn etc. when they turn 18. Why shouldn't they be allowed to drink? This one makes sense, but I will say that for example your car insurance goes down $100 a month when you turn 25 and you can start renting cars then- why? because you've been driving for a while and statistically you start getting in less accidents at that time. I suppose I'd have to look at more of the research about the decrease in alcohol deaths since they changed the drinking age but I think that statistic is more based on the increased amount of awareness we have these days etc.
7. I do really like that people are calling the question. I think it is definitely a question that needs to be raised. I am also proud that education people are raising that question since it's important that educators are aware of what is happening. AND I really like that the question is being asked if we should give the responsibility sooner. I like to hear when people are saying maybe us not trusting people is the real problem? It's good that people are thinking of alternative ways to handle issues.

Getting to know you games.

2008-08-18T00:40:00.003-05:00

Soon school will start. In one class I plan on doing vignettes and in the other class I plan on doing performance poetry, but on the actual first day I feel like I may need something immediate. Here is a list of getting to know you games I've learned (Qualifier:there has to be a game element to them. They aren't just introduce yourself and they aren't just someone else introduce you):
1. Move your butts: all but one person sits in a chair in a circle with one person standing in the middle. That one person lists something about themselves (like I'm a basketball fan) and then all of those people that that applies to has to find a new chair. The person in the middle is also trying to find a new chair so there is a new person in the middle.
2. The tootsie pop game: This works for any candy that has different colored wrappers. Each wrapper has a different question that you must answer based on the color.
3. 2 circles: You have two concentric circles making sure that everyone has someone lined up across from them. One person asks a question and you have a certain amount of time to discuss the answer with the person across you. The person asking questions then has everyone rotate around the circle- a good one for people to really get to know a few people.
4. The name game: My favorite of the name games is the first person says there name then the second person has to say the first person and the second person, the third person says their name the second person's name and the first person's name etc.
5. Red Rover style name game: The group divides in two and forms two lines not facing each other. One person brings two people (one from each side) to the center with their backs to each other. When given the signal, the two people jump around to the center and the first person to name the second person wins. Both people go to whatever team won.
6. Two truths and a lie: Everyone writes down (drumroll please) two truths and a lie! They share those with the group while everyone else tries to pick the lie.

Ok I think that may be all I've got. Any others?

a list of a day

2008-08-14T01:26:00.002-05:00

Today was my most jam packed day in a long while. As a tribute, this is my list of what happened today:
1. Woke up this morning to my mom calling to ask me what I knew about my sister-in-law being in the emergency room. I knew nothing which prompted me to say,"Are you serious?" and for her to say, "no I'm joking... of course I'm serious, why would I joke about something like that?" duh, but it was very early in the morning.
2. Next was me calling my brother to find out more info. I found out that she fainted yesterday around 6 coming home from the metro. She fainted in front of a store and the nice people called an ambulance. They since found out that it was a blood clot caused by the pill. Interesting something I never knew- the pill can randomly cause blood clots even if it doesn't initially. To all the ladies reading this, if you're on the pill and get an acute pain in your leg- GO TO A DOCTOR!!! (The blood clot hit her lungs and we are grateful it hit that and not other places.)
3. Off to the DMV to get my driver's license. The CA driver's license test is apparently difficult (I feel like the Illinois was longer) and of the 15 of us who were taking the test only two of us passed. Also weird- they don't print off your driver's license at the dmv. I have to wait for it in the mail.
4. Then I had to take my 900,000,000 trip to Target to spend tons of money getting random stuff for the apt. Now however I can officially say that my last big purchases are the bed and kitchen chairs (but I have stools now which at least gives me a place to sit at my table and desk.)
5. Of course I realized I forgot extension cords so I had to stop somewhere again...
6. Street cleaning wasn't over yet so I went to the bank
7. It still wasn't over so I went to Trader Joe's. (Man, there should be a TJ's in Urbana)
8. Came home to go nuts over not being able to do anything for said sister-in-law in the hospital which was weird because the hospital is like 5 blocks away from my place (a little farther than that but whatever)
9. Finally in the evening I went with Kenneth first to his place where I did some cleaning up for Krysta's brother and sister coming into town then to the hospital where of course in the er I went through complete light-headedness (really bothersome to deal with) but felt better when I found out my brother fainted while laying down in the er last night. Ahh we are family. She was moved to a room finally which was actually very sad because the room has very limited visiting hours whereas the er we could come and go as we pleased. I'll be able to help out tomorrow by picking up Krysta's sister at the airport.
A bit of a nuts day.

Things that today make my life more normal.

2008-08-12T14:24:00.001-05:00

1. A shower I can use.
2. My kitchen sink is usable again.
3. Internet
4. Cable tv
I'm connected to the world again. Now if I can only find a bed.

Things that still need to happen before I'm settled

2008-08-07T00:17:00.002-05:00

1. Be able to move into my bathroom (and for that matter be able to shower in my own bathroom)
2. Finish putting up the bookshelves.
3. Have more food in my fridge.
4. Get a CA Driver's License
5. Get CA license plates.
6. Get a CA teaching certificate.
7. Get a CA phone number.
8. Know how to get to work without asking my brother. (In fact there are a few places I'd like to be able to get to without asking him how on earth to get anywhere).
9. Buy a bed. (I keep forgetting about this one since I'm on an air mattress right now.)
10. Be able to get to my mail.
11. GET ONLINE
(Yeah with 11 you can know why it'll be few and far between on the posts or my responses to other people's posts.)

States I will travel through

2008-07-28T10:49:00.002-05:00

On my way to L.A. we will drive through
1. Illinois
2. Missouri
3. Oklahoma
4. Texas
5. New Mexico
6. Arizona
7. CALIFORNIA!

Things I notice watching CNN's Reclaiming the Dream

2008-07-20T22:20:00.003-05:00

1. It annoyed me that they cut off Juliane Malveaux in the opening panel about the lack of married black couples with children when she suggested that maybe the effort shouldn't be about getting these couples to marry.
2. In fact it annoyed me every time Malveaux brought up that there were larger issues that often get swept under the rug for short term solutions and people would cut her off. She brings up really good points. I really liked the points she brought up.
3. I DVRed this so I'm not watching the commercials (and I DVRed the 3 am version) but certainly with the next new Black in America I'll be interested to see what commercials they have.
4. It annoys me that the website cnn has for this show doesn't have their panel.
5. The principal of the Excellence Charter Schools, Jabali Sawicki, refers to all of his students as scholars. While I don't believe that schools by gender are the answer, I was really fascinated by this. Also I found his reasoning for why his school will work the best I've heard for this kind of separation- (loosely quoted) "When you walk into my school, you find a black male as first chair violin, and a black male is the smartest kid in the class..." and then goes on to talk about how that changes culture.

I realized I grossly underestimated

2008-07-19T22:01:00.003-05:00

I couldn't remember the movies that I watched in the theaters the other day and I've seen twice as many as I remembered...
1. Iron Man
2. Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Crystal Skull)
3. Wall*E
4. Get Smart
5. And just last night The Dark Knight

(Tomorrow Mamma Mia)

so far, only one on the list I probably won't bother to see ever again in my life. Can you guess which one?

Place to live crossed off...

2008-07-17T14:37:00.002-05:00

Important Dates coming up:
1. July 23rd math night at the migrant school.
2. July 25th UI visit for migrant school.
3. July 31st last day of classes for the students.
4. August 1st day I get in the car and start driving to LA
5. August 4th my parents' anniversary and the day we should arrive in LA approximately

My mind is a little one track these days.

Things to consider in my current teaching job

2008-07-15T08:48:00.002-05:00

1. The kids really need the social time. While they can talk in the fields, it's not really a lot of time to be social.
2. The kids need math help, but they already feel like they've failed it.
3. The kids can use writing help, but they wouldn't know it since they can pass the TAKS test.
4. Many of the kids are there because they have nothing better to do at night.

The simple pleasures

2008-07-09T10:45:00.003-05:00

It's the time for simple pleasures, so what makes my list of simple pleasures?
1. Sprecher's Root Beer.
2. Ice cream that has chocolate chunks in it.
3. Seeing my suitcase when I arrive at an airport.
4. The salsa at Dos.
5. My washed car (the washed part being the simple part)
6. Random facebook wall posts.
7. A good purple pen.
8. When students remember to say Ms. rather than Mrs.
9. My mom making dinner.
10. When people don't talk to me in the morning.
11. When people talk to me at night.
12. Spelling a word correctly- especially when I spell lots of words correctly.
13. Going out for custard after a game of softball.

Things that need to happen before I move

2008-07-07T12:31:00.002-05:00

1. I need to find a place to live.
2. I need to finish this grant for I-CHASS.
3. I need to clean/pack.
4. Mikey needs to have a birthday.
5. Katie and I need to celebrate the end of her night shift and the end of my time in Illinois.
6. I have children's sermon duties three more times.
7. I need to teach at the migrant school.
8. I have to put in three more weeks of being the church janitor.
9. I have to clean up the room in Rantoul.
10. I should read at least Tipping Point.

That's not too bad of a list in a month....

Summer Music

2008-07-05T11:34:00.002-05:00

I'm not as good at knowing cds/songs/artists as you would think I am with how musical I am, but a few cds have come into my life this summer. Here is the list of CDs most likely to be playing in my car this summer.
1. In the Heights: The latest winner of the Tony for Best New Musical. It's about a Latino/a communitiy in NYC and great beat. (I'm still a musicals junky and now my job gives me full reason!)
2. Spring Awakening: Yes this is a little old but I finally have had time to listen to it. Another musical, this one about adolescents in Germany discovering sex.
3. Ben Folds: I've been meaning to get into Ben Folds for a long time. Finally someone got around to getting me the music.
4. Kenneth's Catchy Break-Up CD: When my brother was in town, he made a CD of music so he didn't have to listen to central Illinois radio stations. It's all very catchy and like 75%-95% of it is about breaking up or not being right for each other. True juxtaposition as you want to dance about breaking up.
5. The Lion King: Yeah seriously another musical? This one makes the list since my copy of the cd was broken and I thought I had lost it forever. Turns out I did not!
6. Doug's latest summer CD: This one is new to the list (seeing as he came out with it like last week) but listening to it so far has been very entertaining.
So only half musicals and half mixes. I'm working my way out of total musical nerdom.

It's been too long

2008-07-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

How about a few fourth of July favorites...
1. Driving back from Sante Fe with my mom and dad after a family reunion. We could see all of the fire works everywhere around us (you can see for miles and miles on that trip) and I narrated the music for the various shows.
2. Helping out with 1776 at New Salem. Great show and we had a really kick-ass cast.
3. My first 4th here in Rantoul/Urbana area. There are celebrations in Springfield, but I think because the city is big enough that you can avoid all of the July 4th activities, but my first 4th here with the pancake breakfast, the parade, and the fireworks etc. I'm up for almost any activity that brings people together as a happy community.

Happy 4th of July! (especially to Simon)

How I've changed since High School

2008-06-23T11:52:00.002-05:00

In the spirit of the most recent "5 yr mini reunion" I thought it would be appropriate to make a list of the ways I've changed since high school.
1. I'm excited about becoming a teacher. I had some jobs that showed teaching as one of my skills, but I was very resistant to the idea. So resistant I tried to be an electrical engineer.
2. I don't watch the ground as much when I walk. I still tend to stare at the ground a lot but I've now mastered being able to look up and around me as well.
3. I walk a lot slower. In high school I was always in a rush to get to class (yeah I was one of those nerds who couldn't get through the hallways fast enough). Now I'm one of the slower walkers I know.
4. My temper is a lot less and I know better how to deal when I get mad. Much better with just deciding to chill about it or get my anger out in other ways such as exercise. If I hadn't, I think I'd be one of those 20 something women who have heart attacks.
5. I lost weight. I had an advantage that I was a bit fat in hs so when I came to college and skinny people were putting on the freshman 15, I lost the freshman 30. I'm pretty close to getting myself in a positive place about my weight which is good considering I'm moving to LA where I'll see a lot of rather thin people.
6. My focus turned a lot more to social justice. I've always believed in social justice, but college did a lot to kick me in the pants in this area. I'm a lot more likely to recognize hegemonies. (yeah, big college word)
7. I embrace my nerd side. The side of me that was never cool in high school and very aware of it has evolved into the side of me I embrace and lift up. As I've talked about with Ellen, this is crucial to being a teacher. Let's face it, your students are VERY likely to think you're a nerd- maybe a nerd they enjoy, but a nerd none the less. Now I'm ok with playing that up.
8. I'm ok with Springfield only being my past. In high school I always had dreams of getting out, but when my parents moved to Rantoul my freshman year I have to say it really threw me for a loop. I realized that at that time I thought I needed Springfield to always be my grounding. I've since learned I really never need to go back. (Although- I did have tons of fun being there this time).
9. I wear make-up... and not just t-shirts and jeans. This I still blame on my English major status, but who would of thought that I would ever wear anything other than a t-shirt and jeans and bother with make-up?
10. I figured out reasons I'm likable. In high school I don't think it ever occurred to me why people may want to be friends with me. They were my friends because we had classes together and we had fun (and often because they really liked Amelia.) Now I can see reasons just about me that people may find me interesting and fun to be with (Let's hope I remember those in LA).

Highlights from my trip

2008-06-18T12:54:00.002-05:00

1. Getting a job, but you've already read about that.
2. Having people to go out to eat with to celebrate that new job.
3. Splitting 3 bottles of wine between a past roommate and I.
4. My sister-in-law being willing to hang out so often even though she had a paper due the day I left.
5. Sitting down to dinner, forgetting about the fork in the bowl and Krysta saying "We're all friends here" as we all realize we're actually all family.
6. Jess saying "well we're your friends too"
7. Jared's one-liners all through game night.
8. Doug and Kenneth hailing insults at each other during mariokart.
9. Getting to be the annoying little sister waiting in line at Trader Joe's
10. Joining a message board and seeing a string of posts about the fact I am moving out there soon.
11. A phone-call with Mikey to catch up on everything.
12. Our last meal out, none of us had to talk to decide what dessert we should share.
13. The last time till I live out there that my brother had to drive me to the airport.

Kind of a sappy post but I tend to get in a sappy mood after a good trip.

More reasons my new job is amazing

2008-06-16T16:42:00.002-05:00

1. They want my input on curriculum.
2. Two of my classes will be whatever curriculum I decide.
3. The principal wants all of class to be project based learning rather than lecture based.
4. When I asked how much money I had to put on a play, my fellow teacher told me as much as I want.
5. My SLC has a soundstage.
6. The Auditorium is being renovated (and so are the school buildings for that matter)
7. I don't have to teach To Kill a Mockingbird.
8. It only took me a half an hour to get there this morning from my brother's place.
9. All of the faculty we met were happy.
10. When I walked into a classroom, the teacher was ok with the people not precisely on task.

Things I don't know about cats.

2008-06-16T01:23:00.002-05:00

I love my cat. I'm ok with my brother's cat but it'll take a while before we're at loving stages. There are however in all of this a few things I don't get about cats:
1. What makes cats know to go in a litter box?
2. Is it genetic or something in the raising that makes some cats vicious as young kittens?
3. Why do some cats love milk and others could completely leave it forever?
4. Why does my cat love olives so much? Is that related to the fact she's a cat?
5. When did we figure out that domestic cats eat fish? and on that same subject, why isn't their mouse flavored cat food since we know domestic cats eat mice?
I know, random post, but I'm a curious person (and we all know what curiosity does to cats...)

Reasons I'm glad I took the Monroe Job

2008-06-13T12:03:00.002-05:00

I have a job at a high school!
This is a list of reasons I'm glad I took this job:
1. The two drama classes I get to teach. I like variety. One of my favorite parts of the Franklin student teaching was that I had 3 classes to prep for.
2. That I get to start a theater program. Um holy cow? (yes I come from the 1950s)
3. I don't have to teach a prescribed method of writing. I may have inserted my foot in my mouth in that interview, but I stand by what I said.
4. They are positive about the change happening in their school. Very crucial.
5. I was hired by the people I will be working with. Pretty cool to see a Principal leave the decision almost entirely in the hands of his staff.
6. I can still live by my brother! I think the plan is to commute to the valley which isn't ideal but I've heard it'll be like 40 min to get there are more like 30 min to get back which is so not that huge of a deal.
7. I get high school students. This wasn't a must by any means but I do enjoy working with the older kids (10-12 grade too).

Things I'm worried about for tomorrow.

2008-06-11T19:25:00.002-05:00

I've got a job fair tomorrow that will hopefully help me to find a specific school I'll be at.
Here is a list of things I'm worried about:
1. What to wear- seems dumb, but I've been to job fairs in Illinois and I know what to wear there; what do I wear out here during the summer?
2. How to find out about specific schools- I wish I could walk into an interview that I knew I was walking into. Instead I have no idea about what schools will be there. Not even a clue. I've done research on a lot of schools, but there is no way to research as many high schools and middle schools that may be there.
3. Did I bring the right stuff? I have over 30 copies of my resume and 10 copies of some letters of recommendation. Is that the right stuff? I'd feel a lot more comfortable with this if I were in Illinois I think since I know the Illinois standards (but then again would I take anything else if I were interviewing in Illinois?)
um.... so we'll see...

Elements I find important in a good job

2008-06-09T15:56:00.002-05:00

Obviously my efforts are entirely becoming a teacher, but after holding numerous random jobs I do have some elements that I classify as making a job a good one:
1. Intellectually interesting.
2. Movement around allowed (past just rolling your chair).
3. Dress code allows for some flexibility.
4. Changes with time either through promotion or other environmental factors.
5. Allows for interaction with others.
6. Does not remind you of Office Space. (The hardest one)
7. Salaried work- particularly if you don't have to think about keeping your own time card.
8. Does not require that you use an "employee bathroom" (although in schools, faculty bathrooms tend to be a perk, I do enjoy reading the graffiti on the walls of the students' bathrooms)
9. Allows you to post things like a list of elements I find important and get paid for it...

when it rains it pours

2008-06-05T16:48:00.002-05:00

I know that I just posted a new list but I had started that list a long time ago so it doesn't really count as today.
Reasons I like Chicago: (In honor of my current trip to Chicago.)
1. Walking. Every time I go I either walk or take public transportation. These win huge brownie points with me.
2. I like the people I know who live there. This may rank as most important if I were to rank these lists.
3. Tracy's Apt. One of the wonderful people in my life who calls Chicago home has a great apartment at Washington and Halstead on the 34th floor with 2 walls of windows that look over the city including the Sears Tower. I got to see lightening strike the Sears Tower last night. :)
4. The pizza.
5. The weather. This one is weird but I like that nearly every time I come to Chicago the weather will be different. It does make life exciting.
6. The tourist stuff is largely close to each other. Goes back to the walking idea, but I like that in a city this large you don't have to drive to each tourist attraction.
7. Carl Sandburg wrote a poem about it. I know, I'm a nerd about English stuff. I'm also a nerd about things that relate to buildings or pieces of my childhood (like Abraham Lincoln) and I went to Carl Sandburg Elementary.
Anything else I like about Chicago is largely just what I like about big cities. I don't end up spending large amounts of time here so that limits my ability to get super detailed and I'd put theater on here but second city is stationed in a lot of places and I'm sorry but The Fox in St. Louis blows away any theater building I've seen here. The city does have its perks though.

Favorite Professors

2008-06-04T10:53:00.002-05:00

In my time here I had the gamut of professors. Since doing least favorite professors can be mean-spirited, I decided to focus on the positive (in no order)

1. Professor Brunet: A French Professor in the ECE department, this woman came to both of the women in engineering camps I went to (one as a camp attendee one as an older, wiser chaperone- for college students....) she was willing to do any of the bizarre games and very fun to have around. I like a professor who can act like not a professor.

2. Professor Kwiat: This man acted like he enjoyed teaching physics. A lot of professors will act like the enjoy their subject area, but this man seemed to get great enjoyment out of coming up with demonstrations and ways that we could better understand the concepts. Profs don't have to take teaching classes, but in some cases I know a few that should- this guy wouldn't need to.

3. Odom: My first English teacher (he was working on his phd when I had him for 256), this guy's class made me know I was in the right major. Survey classes in English can be boring (255 cough cough) or a whirlwind (Barrett's 209 cough), but this guy made the survey class to this day one of my favorites. I think it was his enthusiasm and willingness to let us discuss things.

4. Professor Parker: I know this puts me on a very select list that I really love this man as a professor, but I do. His class fascinates me. Watching him interact with people is amazing (and a sight I got to see better from a discussion based class rather than the criticism lecture format). He's also ridiculously intelligent. I hate an English class where I feel like I know everything- both times I felt like I knew nothing, which really drives my desire to do better.

5. Professor Baron: Hilarious. Especially hilarious to see him interacting with people who don't realize he's hilarious. Also, isn't too big on people needing to raise their hands. He'll walk all over you talking if you aren't assertive, but I never had that problem in his class.

6. Spencer: Ok so he's a professor, but honestly I could never call him anything other than Spencer. In a different way, this was also a class that I felt I knew nothing sitting in. Also a class that I didn't have to raise my hand in (common theme?) which was amazing for me. AND he runs his class very aware of his practices and the purpose.

While I wouldn't jump on the opportunity to take an electrical engineering class or physics class again, these English profs I would definitely want to take class from again. I will give an honorable mention to Prof Clift. She would have made it on the list I am sure if the classroom dynamics would have been different (the ones out of her control). I would also take a class from her again to see if things could be different.

Events in history I most remember from my childhood.

2008-06-02T12:05:00.000-05:00

I won't keep posting this often but I feel like I've done a lot of personal lists at this point and its time for one that maybe if you're reading this you can play along.
These are the events in history that I remember most vividly from my childhood (before high school) (They are not in any specific order):
1.The first Gulf War. My brother and I (or I should say my brother and he used me to help) made a video with micromachines (tiny cars) of a car chase looking for Saddam Hussein. We obviously didn't exactly understand the whole they can't catch this one guy concept and I honestly don't remember anything else besides that people wanted to find him and we couldn't.
2. The Somalian Civil War. This one I think is one of those world events that really altered the way I look at the world. (Of course they all do but this one especially turned my perception in ways that people who may not remember this didn't). I was pretty sure that the continent of Africa was VERY important to the US and that Somalia in particular was a world player in how things got done. Now I see a very different world- one that would rather lump the continent and treat it as one giant country and one that likes to largely ignore the entire continent unless it can make for a feel good moment about how we're helping those poor people over there. My childhood reflected a very different mood.
3. Oklahoma City Bombing. This is th other one that really altered the way I look at the world. My first view as a threat to this country was of a white male. It seemed an especially real threat to me since there were kids in that building and I was a kid. I have to admit a certain ignorance here- when September 11th happened, my history teacher told us that regardless of who would eventually come out and say they did it, Osama Bid Laden would be blamed for it. I had no concept of why he would say that since in my mind people who did awful things to the US were people like Tim McVeigh. I don't know whether this reflects a very isolationist view or a deconstructionist view.
4. Zaire becoming the Democratic Republic of Congo. In sixth grade, we had to reports on a country. My friend really wanted someone to do Zaire with her, and I agreed. It was awesome to learn all about the country and we had news events every single day because there was a Civil War going on. The day before we were to present these projects, the Civil War succeeded and our country changed everything- the flag, the currency, the name, the government. We managed to get a lot of it changed on our report too. It was so fascinating and probably counts as my first real awareness of how countries change hands through violence. Sure the Somalian Civil War is on this list, but I much more remember that one because the US was getting involved and the news stories were largely about gathering sympathy for the Somalian people. This one the US at least publicly stayed out of. It's a place I wish I could visit, but much as I hate to admit it would probably be too dangerous for me to. The country has switched hands a couple of times and if you ever read "Heart of Darkness" this is where that takes place.
5. Princess Diana's Death. This was one of those "you'll always remember where you were when" times. I was watching TV and a scroll bar started saying that Princess Diana had been in a car crash and broken her arm. Now I barely knew who Princess Diana was and the idea that she'd get a scroll bar for a broken arm seemed ridiculous. That is of course until the bar changed from "broken arm" to "severely injured" to "died". The reaction was incredible. Suddenly you couldn't live in this world without knowing Princess Diana. I think it was the first moment in my life that I became acutely aware of the power of someone dying to suddenly remind people that that person was living.
6. Columbine. This is one of the other "you'll always remember where you were when" moments of my childhood. I had just gotten back from school and for some reason turned on the TV in my parents bedroom. All I could see was them taking stretchers out of the school. It was awful. I had a really hard time trying to work through this one. School kid coming home from school and seeing another school where something awful had happened. That's a really difficult lesson to work through. Schools in my town responded pretty heavily- almost to the point of overboard since I know they were discussing putting metal detectors in.

Beyond these things there are a few other events in history I remember- The USSR falling apart (my brother was really excited about that one because every map was suddenly going to be wrong)

Reasons I can't wait till August.

2008-06-01T23:22:00.003-05:00

This list thing seems to have me posting a lot. I'm sure that'll stop soon.
Here it is due to my supreme frustration with being here-
Reasons I can't wait till August:
1. My job will be done. I'm not doing anything that I want to do or desire to do and I'm kind of over doing jobs that have nothing to do with my desires. That's why I have a college degree in a major I enjoy- so I can do things I enjoy.
2. I'll be done going to my church. I love my church very much but right now they are going through this huge transition that stinks. I'm done with having to put up with stupid drama at a place where people go regularly to be told to love each other.
3. I'll be out of the ant-infestation. Hopefully my apt in LA will be better as far as insect-infestations go (as in less not more). I'm sick of the smell of the raid and I don't like having to clean up 9000 dead ant bodies after spraying it.
4. I can start making new friends. I need some. I have great friends here, but I'm ready for a new batch of people. That's really hard to do from a "you have two months here and then you leave" perspective.
5. I need to be around people not obsessed with meeting their one true love and getting married. I really just need space in this department. I need freedom and fun not a life-long partner.
6. Mikey's going to be gone most of the summer so I might as well be in LA. We'll have July together, but even then it won't really be very much time.
7. I hate that stupid feeling actually in seeing all of my friends that I'm half ready to say goodbye but half not. Some of them I feel like I've left already mentally. Others I'm not going to be ready to leave, but I'm not really bothering to connect to them any more since I don't want to half to leave them.
8. Maybe then my softball skills won't be an embarrassment. Or my tennis skills. That's what practice is for right?

I'd like to say this is the only time a list like this will come up but I bet tomorrow there's another one just like it...

Things I most often lose

2008-06-01T13:44:00.003-05:00

Those who know me most know I have a hard time keeping track of stuff, so as an ode to my forgetful manner here are the items I am most likely to have no idea where to find them.
1. My cell phone.
2. My keys.
3. Stamps.
4. Slippers.
5. One sock out of a pair.
6. Pencils (most often in my hair)
7. Blank CDs.
8. Remotes.

Not a very original list...

Jobs that would be awesome to have

2008-05-31T18:27:00.002-05:00

I am very dedicated to teaching and very grateful that I found out how much I love it. That being said, there are some careers that I think would be pretty awesome. Here's the list:

1. Acoustics designer- the job I was training for. It would be pretty cool to walk into a concert and know that you designed it.

2. Lounge singer. Preferably one who wears a red sequence dress and gets on the piano. Think they offer a degree in that?

3. I should start putting money away now to open a private school. Much as I wish to reform the public school system, it'd be quicker results to open a school and be able to decide the curriculum myself. (Ellen- make sure some of the money you save this year goes towards this one)

4. Photographer. This is probably the one job on this list I'm least prepared for (yes, I know that's weird considering the rest of the list), but if I were a famous photographer that would rock.

5. Most of all, I would probably take a sabbatical from teaching if I could be a speech writer for a politician I believed in. Political speech writers get to pull out all the stops of poetic devices and clichés in such awesome ways. Yes this makes me an English nerd. Deal

I think this list may continue some time...

Physical things I will miss about the midwest

2008-05-31T01:56:00.003-05:00

Here is a list of the physical elements I will miss when I leave the midwest. This means anything that isn't about the people I will miss.
1. Being able to drive and be the only one on the road.
2. Snow.
3. That magical week when the trees all bloom on campus and the complete despair that winter has brought you to melts away with the sight of pretty flowers. (Note: Winter does not bring me to despair when it snows. It is when it does not snow that I get brought to tears.)
4. The blue sky.
5. Good thunderstorms that you can see for miles around you.
6. That when it rains, you never have to worry about the ground underneath you sliding away; it has nowhere to go.
7. Large grassy areas that aren't fenced off and aren't parks. I will particularly miss the ability to cut through large grassy areas on campus.
8. Watching the corn and soybeans and being able to comment on their progress in a relatively knowledgeable manner.
9. Did I mention the snow?
10. The relief of air conditioning after midwest humidity.

Probably some time I'll do a list of things I won't miss, but I figured this one took a bit of extra thought seeing as right now I'd really like to get out of town.

Let's Start

2008-05-30T17:32:00.000-05:00

So I had a request to start a blog. I've tried before to keep one of these and just never could keep it consistent- I think largely because I had to come up with what to write and sometimes it was a lot and sometimes I had nothing.
To frame this one, I'm going to try to make every entry a list.

Reasons I should do this blog:
1. Ellen ordered me to. Since I read hers, I figure I can at least do this for her.
2. I do like journaling, but I don't keep hand-written journals except when I go on vacation.
3. My friends are splattering about the country and if this blog is any good, I'll share it with my friends.
4. This format allows me to cover both things happening in the world and things happening in my world.
5. I need things to do this summer until job #2 sets in.
6. Lists feel like they take less time to write. They may actually take more because they take some sort of coherence and give you certain constraints...