| writing |
[Jan. 22nd, 2007|11:40 am] |
I've had a small epiphany with my struggling sophomores. Once, about ten years ago, I agreed to play golf with some of "the boys" with whom I teach.
I suck at golf. But I went, there was to be a beer drinking session following the game, and I'm okay at drinking beer, at least I've had more practice than with golf.
Well, I sucked, and was the butt of many jokes. I went home feeling pretty bad, even after the beer. I haven't played golf since.
I realized my sophomores with reading levels between 5th and 8th grade feel about writing like I feel/felt about golf. So now we're writing everyday. But I'm not grading them, just giving feedback, and they can write about anything they want. They're enjoying it and their writing is noticeably improving. I intend on working in things like support, and figurative language, vivid descriptions etc., but we're moving slowly.
What I'm hoping for is that they start to not hate writing, and begin to enjoy it. It would also be nice if they could "meet" expectations on the SAT exam, which is in a year. Hey I just sneezed on the screen; it makes al these pretty prisms. I better get some windex,
xo,
Rod |
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| Happy Gnu Year! |
[Jan. 2nd, 2007|09:47 am] |
Well, one of my many resolutions is to get back to, maybe at least weekly,
using this as a chronicle of a year of teaching.
But not today.
The big news is that I can drop dead at any second. That's what my doctor told me five days ago. He said my triglycerides and cholesterol are about the worst he's seen, double more common bad numbers. He said my blood is probably greasy enough to run a small engine. I know this is genetic, plus the result of a horrific lifestyle of cheese and ham sandwiches and mayo and cookies and beer and stress. So the new me is eating a banana and salad for lunch. This isn't a complete shock, but two of my seniors lost dads in the last month. both are/were my age, though they weighed about hundred pounds more than me, but I've decided it'd be nice to stick around
for a few decades.
When I get back to this it'll be about writing. I'm confused. It seems like writng instruction is really thinking instruction. I suppose writng is potentially our best thoughts, the distillations of our mental flatulances.
gotta run |
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| Drugs anyone? |
[Dec. 12th, 2006|06:12 am] |
Okay, so sex is a hot topic. And I was looking for an argument anyway, though I believe a lot of what I said.
Maybe drugs is less controversial. Let's legalize everything and just make the problems a health issue.
Hell, the jails are full of people who've done crimes under the influence anyway.
New topic;
I'm reading Native Son with forty AP kids. We have one true racist. I'm trying to kind, loving and patient. I really think he's a good guy. I also loved my klansmen grandfather. We're all products of good and bad info.
We're watching this PBS film on Jack Johnson, first Black heavy weight, beat Jim Jeffries on Independence day in 1910. Many Black folks wer killed in the days that followed. In one city White dudes boarded up an apartment building and set oit on fire, killing many innocent men women and children. My racist student ackowledges that we (America) were more intensely racist then, and that we've - even the racists - have changed, our brains have changed. It's like women in 1850. The group think was that they were intellectual inferiors (maybe not a word). The philosopher Hegel said they couldn't begin to grasp the complexities of the male mind. Shit, gotta run, I had a point, maybe later
xo,
rod |
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| sex & drugs |
[Dec. 8th, 2006|07:11 am] |
So I'm reading Brave New World with College Pathway Writing and Literature. It's all sex drugs and rock and roll. It's also hypno/sleep mind conditioning and moving away from feelings, loyalties, and attachments to mates, parents and children.
So sex comes up, why not have multiple partners? Are we, as a society, or individuals if you'd like, monogamous or polygamous if judged by our behaviors?
Should a teacher be honest with young people, what would that honesty look like?
So we were talking about material and hyper sex values that are being drilled into our heads via tv shows and commercials. And while the discussion goes on a very nice , intelligent, gentle spirited and seemingly innocent student is across the room, wearing a very short skirt, and I can't help but notice peripherally that those long shapely legs keeep crossing and uncrossing, and I amaze myself that I can glance, though I try not to, peripherally, while still talking about television and mindcontrol, while another part of my brain is saying stop glancing peripherally you idiot, and I almost wish I could just be honest and say look people we are lust machines, lets be honest.
Life's tricky at times.
If I were honest, I might say that I think the old, fabled, 60s commune with the sharing of partners might actually work. But I think you'd have to start out with one's own mental conditioning to think in terms of lovers like movies, you can never really own a movie, or a good book, you may have a series of wonderful experiences with a film, but it was always temporary anyway. If we learned from the get-go to not be possessive and get over that few hundred thousand years of our evolution, I bet our ego and super ego together could work it out. Certainly the guilt that was driven into me by nuns, and a Catholic guilt machine upbringning didn't serve me well.
And then there's drugs why not drugs? I love caffeine, and I've had some fun with a few other substances. Christ's first miracle was whipping up some wine?
What about mushrooms? heroine? Okay, there are bad drugs, but should it be a criminal or mental health issue?
This can be a tough book to teach while walking the tightrope of community sensibilities.
Snowday!
time to shovel.... |
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| Happy Holidays! |
[Dec. 4th, 2006|05:50 am] |
Fox news is in their third week of stirring up division in this country by complaining about taking Christ out of Christmas, and Walmart making cashiers say, "Happy Holidays!" Of course I'm not thrilled about people being all materialistic and losing sight of Christ's important words, like Blessed are the meek, and Blessed are the peacemakers, and I think he mentioned loving humanity somewhere along the line, but the boys at Fox Opinion, oh I meant news, just want to perpetuate the notion that some insidious entity, the liberals, are putting pressure on corporate America to pull us away from Christianity,
Those bastards!
peace on Earth |
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| adults rarely change |
[Nov. 28th, 2006|06:14 am] |
So I went to this conference yesterday about how to improve education in the entire state. I can sum up the eight hour schpeal in a few sentences. Oh, and this plan has been borrowed from a few folks like Tin Collins who writes about management styles for business.
1. Share your best practices/strategies with your next door teaching neighbor
2. Share best practices with your dept.
3.with your school
4. Listen to what each other has to offer
5. Share best practices with other schools in your district
6. In the state
7. States should share with each other, then countries, then....
Zzzaaaapppp!
Teaching Nirvana
But there's one big BUT
People tend to not listen to each other, I know I can be pretty smug.
I've rarely seen adults change. I have family members and in-laws who haven't heard a thing in years! Get togethers are just forums for them to yap at each other about health stats, politics or cooking methods.
We're lucky if we can get kids to listen, adapt and evolve.
But I'm going to try as a dept. We'll identify areas like behavior management, teaching the poem, teaching writing, the novel, etc. and annonymously share what has worked. I'll encourage people to at least try a few strategies, or techniques.
I'll report back.
If you're reading this, have you ever changed?
Is there something you do differently now as a result of reflection or constructive criticism?
Hmmmmm...? |
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| pure genius |
[Nov. 22nd, 2006|09:09 am] |
I know I've complained about my intellectually lethargic sophomores, but we've struck gold.
I asked them to write about romantic love, building on what we talked about in the Hitchcock flick. we brainstormed, using a worksheet I slapped together, the value of romantic relationships. They jotted down thoughts on jealousy, monogamy, polygamy, marriage and dating advice. I asked them to imagine they were giving advice to a younger sibling. One student offered that he hates his brother, I told him to imagine a brother he liked. Finally, I told them that they'd get a ninety if they included all their brainstormed thoughts and hit 500 words. Well, after 90 minutes at the computers,
We had a dozen essays that were clear, organized and pretty well written. Granted some have some interesting, but honest I think, views on relationships, but that was a cool way to wrap up the trimester.
It's funny,it's like I forgot about everything I learned at Spurwink, a special ed school with kids who more often than not all had their own parole officers. These kids need lots of prewritng support. When you ask them to write it's like putting a guy on crutches in front of a 6,000 foot mountain. They just cringe. I'd love to see them all hit the "meets the standards" on the SAT test next year.
AP is flying. CP is sputtering. Now I have 27 in one class. Oh well
Have a juicy Thanksgiving!! |
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| could not follow a thought |
[Nov. 20th, 2006|07:22 am] |
So I ask my sophomore kids to respond to love and jealousy as presented in Hitchcock's film Notorious.
The secret agent, Cary Grant, has to ask the lady with a history of promiscuous, alcohol fueled relationships,
Ingrid Bergmen, to seduce an old guy, Claude Rains.
The problem is Cary and Ingrid have fallen in love.
Well, it's a lovely little dilemma, but most of the class can barely rub two brain cells together and comment on the various components. A third of the class found the film painfully boring, another third tolerated it, the rest actually enjoyed it
Two questions:
Is this purely an IQ issue?
or
Has our in your face pornographic and violent popculture desensitized some of our citizens to the point that they can only react to explosions and over acted orgasms.
At least I think they're over acted.
Anyway,
I'm on lunch duty in 90 seconds.
I know I left out the possibility that I just suck, but I' don't want to go there.
xo,
Rod |
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| sigh- my sophomores |
[Nov. 14th, 2006|07:04 am] |
I wouldn't admit this too often or in too many places,
but I don't know what to do with them.
Their reading levels (12 students) are mostly between 5th and 7th grade. When you get beneath the bravado and swagger, the coolness and attitudes, they are a bunch of sweet and willing people.
The adult novel, The Things They Carried was like a college physics text for them. They've been pushed through eleven years of school and now a third of our year has gone by and we've made no perceptible gains. I know I've focussed more on my Thomas class, and my AP and college pathway seniors.
I am basically asking a bunch of obese, very uncoordinated kids to do ballet, or play varsity high school basketball everyday. It makes them feel uncomfortable and underscores their weaknesses. They're embarrassed in front of each other and become very sheepish when it comes to most work.
It's tempting to blame their pasts, or our ratio, or their families. Oh well, I have to update gradequick and edline. As always, continuing to try is one way to go.
At least Christmas music is on in the backround - 101.3
ho, ho , ho |
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| last night |
[Nov. 10th, 2006|07:02 am] |
I met with my Thomas class, comp 111. We read Sam Harris' The End of Faith. Everyone complained they couldn't understand it. There are two 19 yr olds in the class, everyone else is between 28 and 50ish,7 in all.
Harris goes on about how Judaism, Islam, Christianity and most faiths have a continuum from extreme literal belief to moderate to light and casual.
He also points out that most extreme sects of faiths are based on intolerance of others. I have several friends that assure me regularly that I, along with most of humanity, will burn in hell, and soon.
He also talks about the fact that most people are sure that most others are deluded and following the wrong prophet/holy text. So it is likely that most people who are sure, are wrong, so it is also likely that most Koran followers are wrong , at least about dogmatic details, and therefore it is also likely that Christians are similarly dogmatically delusional.
Harris's talk about the dozens of currently ongoing religious wars, e.g. Pakistan/Israel, combined with a new Nuclear proliferation has made a species destroying stew.
Weeellll, the class is a group of nice monotheists, but they were less than thrilled with the whole topic. Not big fans of logic I suppose, maybe I won't do this again. My intent is/was to stir up a passionate response that will inspire passionate and powerful writing. It sometimes works.
But I had a nice little epiphany of my own. When you see a card trick, or a magic trick, your brain wants to know how she did it. Was it already in her pocket, up her sleeve. Our brains aren't satisfied with mystery. Faith tidies everything up, the confused among us still need answers, I think that's why, or at least one big reason people are drawn to reading and writing, particularly poetry.
We hope we'll find something we can believe in inbetween the words, some way of looking at life that's acceptable, that makes it make a little sense.
It's funny, Harris draws readers attention to deuteronomy (sp?)wherein God tells some dude that if his wife or neighbor or child whispers of following another God, the dood should kill them, quickly with no mercy.
I'm gald I made it out of there alive.
Them Christians can be dangerous -for proof, see the Spanish Inquisition and the Pope ordained torture...
toodle-loo |
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rodsroom's journal