Two Roads

I care quite a bit about my students both present and past.  Granted, there is the occasional freshmen that rubs me the wrong way, but even those students eventually figure it out and when they do I wish them the best.  Mostly I wish that they don't end up at Carl's Jr. the rest of their life, but someone has to make my #4 combo and what I've learned is that there is a place for everyone if they want it bad enough even if it's flipping burgers.

I really care a lot about my past students who have graduated and have gone on with their lives.  Many of the most successful students I've had came from my days teaching and coaching in Sacramento/Roseville.  They have done such great things with their lives.  They lived through the trials of being a post teen, a know it all college jerk, the age of enlightenment when it dawned on them that they don't know everything, then on to adulthood where careers are established and families are made.  Along the way I offered advice, criticism, and support and they accepted all equally because they knew me not just as a teacher/coach, but as a friend.

The same can be said for the first group of students I taught here at my current high school.  They are the group that helped me cement my presence here at this school and every year for the last 8 years I think of them and reflect on how I've grown and changed as a teacher. There is something different about this particular group though.  I worry more about them and their well-being.  I can't quite pin down why it is.  I don't want to see them walk down the path that looks attractive yet leads to hardship.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference"

OK, great.  Sometimes the road less traveled is traveled less for a reason.

What I can't allow myself to do, I suppose, is interfere.  Those kids have to succeed and fail on their own.  It is in my nature to tell them, "You're not thinking this through." "Do you see the end goal in mind?" "Did you research this before committing yourself?"  That is something I can't shut off and those that know me know I can't shut it off much to my own detriment sometimes.  I suppose in another way, I'm trying to save them from making poor choices because I made a handful myself at their age.  I certainly took the road less traveled.  It wasn't the easiest and most convenient way to reaching my goals. This road was a hard road and at times put me in less than desirable situations. At the same time I DID choose the road less traveled.  I learned volumes from my failures and missteps; something I never would have attained if I did things right or by the book. 

I suppose I could pass along the things I know, the things I've learned and help those that I see are running towards a means to an end.  But as I'm finding, I just need to let them go and keep my mouth shut. They have to fail.  They have to learn.

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better."

- Samuel Beckett

The November Blahs

This was me earlier this week...

<sigh>  Every year in that first week of November the dreaded "Blahs" start to set in. Others have different names for it I'm sure, but it's all the same thing.  It's that weight that slowly descends upon you; it creeps up like a tiny kitten finding a cozy spot on your shoulder.  There is nothing warm and fuzzy about it though.  It's gets heavier and heavier and you don't realize it until that first week of November then your realize, "how did this heavy, ugly frickin' cat get on my shoulders??"

For me it started with getting behind on grading with AP Comp.  I'll be the first to say that I haven't had the will to read anymore student work.  There is so much.  I've told myself many times that I should back off on the writing and give myself a break.  This won't help my student though.  They need the work.  No.  I mean it.  They NEED the work.  So doing less is not an option.  I really need to buckle down and knock it out.  A great way to do that is to give timed writes (which I did today).  How'd that go?  I did everything except grade.  SMH.

What really did me in this week was a spot of bad news.  I had found out that a former colleague of mine had passed away.  We had worked together in the English department for the first couple of years that our school was open.  She was super cool.  Very intelligent, edgy, connected with students well, and she was one of the few I could talk to as I was going through my hectic first years of teaching.  I won't discuss how she died in an open forum like this, but she had her own demons to manage just as I'm sure the rest of us do.  The news floored me and I've pretty much stayed there for the rest of the week.

I take comfort in knowing tomorrow is Friday.  This is a well needed three day weekend.  

1st Month-ish Musings

We are well past the one month point and there are several things that have occurred to me.

My AP students are fun.  They make teaching fun.  It is fun to be in the classroom.  With that said, I have to put in a tremendous amount of work.  I had many of these students in freshman Honors and I know how many of them write which worries me.  The level is not quite there yet and there are some that still don;t understand basic literary terms.  The part where I have to work hard is when I have to read every paper and pinpoint where they are going wrong; in some case in the wrong direction.  The fact that I like them makes it easier for me to be honest with them.  Frankly, I don't think they would respect me much if I wasn't.

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I really felt that my 7th period freshmen from last year may have been the one class that would drive me completely insane.
I present to you 6th period freshman English 2013/14.

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Our district came up with the "brilliant" idea to start our school day at 7:40am (we used to start at 7:55). Tardies are up and there is a general sleepiness with my first period AP class.  I haven't figured out if they are tired or they are just taking a long time to process what I'm saying.
This time change has been a pain with the morning routines of preparing for school.  It takes me about 25 minutes to get from door to door.  The problem is that my daycare provider opens at 7am.  Others are miffed because of this very issue.
By the way, our late start Mondays for department meetings starts at 7:30.  No bueno.

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Did I mention I am the CSF adviser on my campus?  Yeah, I do that too.  I have a great group of officers who are self starters.  I will admit, I have trouble keeping up with them and the fact that the club is new to me, I find myself digging through the previous advisers copious binder from the year before trying to get clues.  It's like Where's Waldo but harder.

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I chose to step down as senior class adviser this year to take on CSF.  I couldn't do another year of fundraising, building floats for homecoming, and getting members to show up to meetings.
I decided to take a lesser role by being the freshman class assistant adviser where we are fundraising, building floats for homecoming and trying to get members to show up.  :-/

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I have a student teacher this year that I am mentoring and that in itself adds approximately a half hour of work onto my already busy schedule.  I really don;t mind it though as my joy to teach doesn't just extend to teenagers.  More to come on this.

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I have yet to kill my mid afternoon soda addiction (the soda I have after lunch during 5th or 6th period).  I'm still trying to figure out if it is my body truly craving a boost or it is an automatic response like a sound or something.  "Mr. Weber, can I go to the bathroom?"   "No"   "Hum, I'm thirsty."

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While many frown on teaching in a portable, I have found it to be the best place to teach.  It's actually a pretty big room, the walls are like a giant painted cork board, and the ability to completely control my air is priceless.  67 degrees?  Thank you sir.

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Rotten to the Common Core

I've had a some pretty spirited debates with my father (a 40 + year teaching veteran) about Common Core. For those of you who don't habla Common Core this is what it's about. It is our country's attempt to get all states aligned with the same core standards.

Here's the thing.  I'm a teacher who was bread with the state standards.  When I got my teaching credential I was trained based on the idea that I would be following the state standards.  It was the only thing I knew. As with many things in this world, if it's new to me then I pretty much accept it as it is until I learn more. When I went into my first day of teaching I was handed the curriculum guide to our textbook and was told to teach everything that was in red (all items in red ink were items that had to be minimally taught in order for all standards to be covered by test time). Any items that were not in red could be used as enrichment activities or items that could be used with honor classes. This was all I knew as a first year teacher and it made it VERY easy. This was all I knew.

After teaching from this guide for a year or two, I quickly realized that the state standards were at best voluminous.  They didn't mesh well together and many times didn't make sense.  This is why I've welcomed Common Core.  They make more sense to me.  I feel like I can do more with these standards.  And as long as my district doesn't make me do the latest in robot teaching techniques (yea, I'm talking about you EDI), I feel I can do some great projects with my students.

Yes, I know that nothing is changing in regards testing.  Yes, this test will be hard.  Yes, our kids are going to fail epicly.  Since when did these tests have any bearing on a student going to college or denying them the ability to be who they want?  In the age of accountability did you really think these assessments would disappear?  Ninja please.

AP Institute for the Mentally Inflated

I'll be entering my 8th year of teaching this coming year and I have always wanted to teach AP Lit.  This year I get that chance.  I believe I've "fallen into" the position a bit though.  We have one teacher who has been the work horse for AP Language and Composition for the past 7+ years or more.  She's very awesome at what she does and she's been the only one teaching AP Lang at our school.  This past school year we went to a true PLC model where every teacher, no matter what level of English, will have at least one other teacher teaching the same subject for collaboration purposes.

A word on collaboration if I may.  I used to be one of those old, cranky English teachers who wanted to be left alone.  Give me my prep period and leave me alone to grade and put my lessons together.  This is no longer acceptable.  After complaining and fighting I've found it's much better than holing myself up in my classroom cave.  Veterans, please accept change.  It will make you a better teacher.

And we're back.  So I was lucky enough to attend an institute in Monterey.  Ah!   Coastal air.  Temp in the low to mid 70's.  Can't ask for a better location.  If the campus didn't look like a zombie apocalypse took place I would have given the location an A, but some of the abandoned buildings gave me the creeps.  Luckily, going down to Cannery Row nightly put my mind at ease.

The gentleman running our institute for AP Lang was Dr. Waters, a 30 year + veteran with the AP test.  He's been a reader and he has submitted questions and reading selections for the AP exam.  Furthermore he was educated at Oxford; Oxford, New Mexico!  Just kidding (extra credit if you got the Gatsby reference).  No, THE actual Oxford.  I was expecting a pompous Brit who would tell us how horrible we all were as teachers and that it was by the sheer grace of God that we were in his presence.  No, he was a tiny man, balding, with  a Benny Hill kind of boyish charm.  I half expected him to serve me tea.  Earl Grey I suspect.  Nevertheless, he was quite knowledgeable and I found it very easy to listen and learn from him.

I've only been to one other AP institute and that was for Pre-AP, but even then there is that ONE teacher in the class that everyone despises.  You know who they are.  He/she is the teacher who takes every single chance to say "Well in my class we...   ...and the kids just love it."  Wah wah wah.  They are the ones who throw out all the education acronyms and pedagogical mumbo jumbo.  There is a reason why I despise these teachers; they are there to toot their horn, not sit and listen.  What made it worse is that my class was a combination of new AP and veteran AP teachers.  Many of us "newbies" were feverishly writing down notes and posting Post-Its everywhere short of our sleeves.  The others calmly tolerated the stuff they've already seen with an occasional "Oh, this piece is delightful!" or "I find this to be a bit obtuse."

What I gained was valuable, but what I actually ended up with was a small trove of articles to use and a VERY rough outline of what to do doing the semester (by rough I mean "you should do about 12-18 articles per semester").  That's it.  The upside was I got some nice swag.  I got about 4-5 really nice texts to use.  Now i just have to pick through it.

Dear teens who stumble on this post.  You're thinking of the wrong swag.  Mine means gifts or promotional items that are given away at events.  Yours means (quoting Urban Dictionary) "appearance ,style ,or the way he or she presents themselves."  Or, also eloquently put by Urban dictionary, "The word quickly made its way to the states and has ever since become the catchphrase of douchbags and tools everywhere."

...and we're back.

So I started this blog right when I assigned a major paper in my freshman English classes.  After 7 years in the business you'd think I'd know better.  I'm a noob.  Needless to say, I was quite busy helping my young ones edit and revise their work.  Once the final product was done, I went through the laborious task of actually reading them.  Yes, I read them.  I somehow feel like a cheat them if I don't put in the same effort they put in.  One day I will wise up.

Many of my honor students felt like they gave birth.  Some felt this because they treated their paper like their "precious" (insert Gollum voice here) while others seem to be physically and mentally distraught by the amount of work they had to do.  I don't think I've seen a student experience Post-Traumatic Research Paper  Disorder, but it may have happened this year.  

Tack on putting on a prom and you have a recipe for...  well... I was going to say disaster, but it certainly cut into my "me" time.  

A teacher friend of mine has somewhat reignited my need to write again.  She challenged me to write everyday.  Not sure if I can accomplish that, but I'll sure as hell try.  I have a week of AP training that is at the forefront of my mind and I really want to do well.  OK, that's just an excuse.  Pft!

Introduction

Hi.

You'd think that would be enough, but in today's world of "liking", "tweeting", and "tagging" it seems all personal info should be spilled out on the internet for the world to see.  Next thing I know the government is calling me questioning why I like pictures of cats dangling from tree branches so much.

After several attempts to talk about my tribes and tribulations about teaching I am reverting back to a forum I'm more familiar with.  I kept a blog before that chronicled my divorce and then subsequent relationship and marriage to my current wife, but that is long gone as there was way to much bitterness combined with happiness for my taste.

Over the last several years, I've become a bit outspoken about my profession.  I'm not a campus radical or anything like that, but I do call 'em as I see 'em.  Now is a great time to be discussing the profession.  Educators are being scrutinized at an all time high.  The number of stories involving teachers having inappropriate relations with students are suddenly blowing up.  In the fine state of California we are in a budget crisis that has near crippled our schools.   And we are living under the shadow of NCLB where every school must show proficiency by 2014.  Yeah, right.  To use a popular term from my generation "...and monkey's might fly out of my butt."

Pardon me as I find my way through this blogging process.  I'll learn as I go.  If you follow regularly and blog regularly, I'd love your advice and opinions.