Just for kicks

So I haven't posted alot of videos recently so I just wanted to show you some stuff I have been into recently.

This video's pretty intense but sooooo soooo good

This one is equally as powerful but also funny


Finally this one is funny and surprisingly profound.I feel like this kid really gets some of the bull shit that goes hand-in-hand with structured religion


I've been getting really into this slam poetry. I just think it's really impressive/powerful stuff, I've been writing some of my own I just don't know if I have the confidence and memory to ever read it. But if you like what you see let me know and I can recommend some stuff for you.

PS I just want to encourage everyone to become a member of my blog and comment on stuff, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Somethings you can count on.... even when it snows in october

Death and taxes right? For me I think there is a little bit more that we can depend on in this crazy life. For instance, even when the Dolphins were up 14-0 today i knew they would lose, and they did. I also knew that having homecoming and halloween fall on the same weekend at a college campus could bring no good, and again i was right. I don't need to get into specifics, but lets just say drama happened. Drama is nothing new, but sometimes it gets piled on to the point where you feel like you may just have to start over, new friends, new school, everything. Sophocles said "to be born is to know tragedy," and he knew a thing or two about life and drama. But where as drama is unpredictable and seems to pop up out of nowhere there are always things you can count on to counteract it. Alcohol is not one. It makes things much worse. However I've found that friendship and honesty really can take care of everything. I was faced with multiple conflicts this weekend; some of which I was in the wrong, other's I had been wronged but in each situation I went right to the source and talked it out face to face. People often forget that interpersonal relationships are best conducted in the same room;Not via text or facebook. It was amazing to me how these people all commented how much it meant that i went to them face-to-face. It was just incredible to me that they would expect anything less. The second thing I learned, or was at least reminded of, that I can count on is friends. SO i had this issue and basically someone had said some stuff about me that wasn't true to a person I care about and because of that, that person was hurt. So three things happened to fix that. 1) My roommate Travis who I've become pretty close with stayed up and talked with me about it. This was pretty easy considering him and I decided to share our bed out of pure necessity to survival. You see despite the fact that it snowed saturday, my landlord had not had our furnace lit yet, so our house was literally an igloo. So we had no choice but to share our resources of blankets, plus I have a big bed. So Travis really helped me that night by listening and helping me figure out what to do. Second, I woke up to a missed call from Trevor. And this really just made me realize that a lot of this shit doesn't matter. As I mentioned in a previous post I'm seriously blessed to have friends like I do, so if people want to write me off over lies thats fine. The third thing was that the people involved who I care about listened to me. They didn't write me off and they chose to trust me. Because of that I was honest and things are mended.

So there are some obvious classroom implications to this story. A mentor of mine once told me that a great teacher teaches the way he lives and lives the way he teaches (I may have quoted that before) and it honestly the best advice I've heard. This is exactly how I'm goin to manage my classroom. Drama and conflict are inevitable, even in schools. Whether its between me anda student, two students, or me and another teacher, it will happen. And I need to deal with it in an honest, up-front manner.

In my own life though, I've realized I have tobe careful who I trust, and I also need to be someone who can be trusted. And regardless of what happens I have my friends and family's support. Sophocles is a little bit of a downer. Personally I'd rather focus on C.S. Lewis who said (basically) friends are like art and philosophy. They have no survival value. However they give surviving value. And while I may not be able to count on things like the transition between seasons,my friends will always be there, I'm as sure of that as I am about the dolphins ability to shit away game.

The True Measuring Stick

I just finished a book called Deadline by Chris Crutcher. You may remember me referencing Crutcher in a post last week from when I returned from the PATELA Conference. He is the author that despite winning YA book of they ear multiple times is often banned from schools due to subject matter. In short, this book is about a highschool senior who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and chooses to not only refuse treatment, but to keep it a secret from everyone: his parents, his brother, his girlfriend, everyone. He also decides he's going to live the final year to the fullest. The stories awesome and goes places you wouldn't imagine diggin deep into the pain and struggle each of us carries around day to day. Crutcher also makes alot of heavy statements about life, love, relationships, religion, trust and about every other human thing you can imagine. It's amazing that a guy with so much heart and wisdom could be banned from schools.

One of the major statements that struck me in the book was regarding love. Ben, the main character, has numerous dream interactions with Jesus (pronounced Hey-soos) who is definitely not the traditional Jesus we're used to, but possesses a lot of the same ideas. Ben asks Hey-soos about love and he says

“Love, in the universal sense, is unconditional acceptance. In the individual sense, the one-on-one sense, try this: we can say we love each other if my life is better because you're in it and your life is better because I'm in it. The intensity of the love is weighted by how much better.”

I think this is such a remarkable statement about love. It's interesting to me because as a college student I'm constantly finding myself in the "does true-love really exist?' talk with people. I've come to the conclusion that I don't know. I don't know if somewhere out there there is ONE person who is truly perfect for me. Even thinking about that is scary because what if I don't find her? How long do i wait? This passage really hit me because it's such a manageable approach to love. It broadens the sense of the word yet at the same time gives the capacity it deserves. The truth i I don't know if I'll find a "soulmate." I consider myself better off than most because there a lto in my life that I do love that a lot of people don't have. A loving family who always has my back, a best friend who's encouragement is the main reason I keep up with this blog, other friends who are always there for me to lend an ear, a hand or some money and a career path that grounded in passion. All that stuff makes my life a hell of a lot better and gives me a deeper unerstanding of life and love. I encourage you all to read Deadline it's a fast read and has more depth than I ever imagined. I definitely shed a few tears becasue as i read I ddin't just see Ben, I saw myself, and I saw all of you. So thanks for reading this and making me feel loved always. Now as great as you all are I think I'm going to go work on that girl friend thing...

My theory on theory

No matter what your chosen career path is, there are always ideas thrown around about how to do that job. In fact, we could go even broader and apply this to anything you want. Relationships, passions, religion, politics etc. Some of these ideas are old and widely used, so much so that they almost become laws. We view these theories as the bedrock or core of whatever practice you wish to apply this too. There are also new ideas emerging constantly about how to do something. Sometimes these theories will address changes in society or technology and show a new approach that addresses a necessary change in how we do things. For instance in education we used to think that didactic instruction was the only approach. Now we know through research and tests that our approach needs to be multi-faceted. So that we engage multiple types of students in multiple ways. Most people would not argue that. However sometimes theories emerge that are so controversial or threatening to our bedrock beliefs that we write them off immediately. We forget that the theories that we consider to be "foundational" to our practice, at one time were just theories. Man made ideas, conceptualized and embraced by human beings. So what's to say that that idea was not wrong? People take this stuff seriously. We drag our feet and scoff at change. I sometimes don't even like weddings in my family because I know that means we'll have a new face around the table at holidays and I don't like the idea of changing something that I've become accustomed to.

There's a famous phrase thrown around about ideas that people are afraid to embrace. They say "well that sounds like it would work in theory but probably not in practice." Which essentially is the biggest professional cop-out anyone can make. It's saying "that's a really good idea but i don't know if it will work so I won't try it." Frustrating right? And I see this day in and day out in the schools. We know how things should be done. There are always emerging concepts and philosophies in education and so many classroom teachers are afraid to try them. There are a lot of reasons why people don't want to try these new ideas, but a lot of them have to do with laziness and fear. Teachers don't want to go to through the hassle of changing lesson plans and activities they've spent years developing and they are scared of failure and perception/repercussions from other teachers and administrators. So what were left with is a bunch of ideas that are good in theory, but no one wants to try so we say they wouldn't work in practice. And what we have as a result is an institution that that has remained more or less the same for 100 years. If you took a person from 100 years ago and had them walk through present day they would be pretty taken aback and confused. But I bet they'd feel right at home in most schools.

Friday I had the chance to teach every period for the whole day. And I did something that many people told me is in possible. I facilitated a student led discussion that lasted 40 min and focused on social connections to the book, The Hunger Games, that we are reading in class with 8th graders. Now in theory, we as teachers know that discussions is where learning happens. We talk about it all the time in our Ed classes. But what happens when we get to field is, we are told that this idea of collaborative learnign and social connections is good "in theory," but impossible to use with 8th graders. You see 8th graders talk to much, and you can't trust them to participate in a discussion and stay on task and be appropriate and disagree with one another respectably. They just can't handle it. So it's better not to try it, at least this is what they say. However Friday I found out that they are full of shit.

The discussion was awesome, the kids participated and walked away with a better understanding and appreciation for the book, and I walked away understanding that the only way to know if a theory works in practice is to try it. Kids respond to new idea. They are equally as bored today with the same old stuff in school as kids were 100 years ago in a one room school house. So if we try new ideas and we challenge them to go further, more often then not they will try to rise to that level. This fear to change our teaching style is just as silly as my fear of new faces at my Thanksgiving table. Because to avoid change is to avoid growth, and adding a face at the table is also adding a present on your birthday.

Fear of Tears

Somedays you wake up and right away God smacks you with a choice. Sometimes this choice is easy like "do I want cereal or eggs" sometimes, like wednesday, it's much harder. Wednesday is the day that I'm only at my placement for half a day. Wednesday is also the day where I often get up at 6, go to teach till 11, then I have class till 5:15, then I work till 9 and do homework till about 1. So this was the day I was I had ahead of me on Wednesday, and the night before I had been up until 2 doing a paper. So my choice was this when I woke up at 645, almost an hour late: get up and go for 4 classes or get some extra sleep. So I went, and this was one of those choices that made a huge difference. Out of all my classes in the day we have two that are loud, chatty, border line out of control. Which for me is ok because,as you all know, that was me in school. In fact that's me now so I like them. So the one class is mostly good, because they're our smallest class so we can control them. The other, however, is a little less controllable. So this was my last class on wednesday. Wednesday was a review day because we have a quiz on Thursday. So while the other classes did a fun group activity, this class did one silently, as punishment. Now pedagogically I don't agree with punishing with work, but it wasn't my choice so I went with it, and as I was walking around reading over their work, I saw a girl who was struggling. So I bent don't to help her and when I say "hey [meg] how you doing today." and as soon as I said that she dropped her pencil and started to cry. Now at this moment, I'm thinking "I should have stayed in bed." I hate crying. I hate when I cry, I hate when others cry, I just don't know what to do. So I fight the urge to run and I quietly say "what's wrong?" She shook her head and said "nothing I'm fine." again I want to run. But I again I stay. " come on, what's up" I say. So she spills. She tells me she's totally lost in the book were reading and she doesn't understand and it's not fair that she has to get punished with the rest of the class. So I assure her this paper was not going to be collected and when she stops crying I get her to show me what she doesn't understand and we spend 10 minutes going through the book.

So here's why I'm glad I got out of bed. One, I learned how to interact with a student who is struggling. It felt really good to get out of my comfort zone and into the trenches and really get to the heart of a student/teacher interaction. As a teacher I need to be willing to put my students needs ahead of my own. What she needed that day was not a silent review, nor did she need a minute alone in the hallway with a tissue. She needed me to understand that she was struggling with the material and she needed me to help her. One of my favorite professors and role models told me " a great teacher teaches the way he lives and lives the way he teaches," and I never knew how true it was until Wednesday. As a teacher we are pressured to live above the students. To talk down, keep our distance and control our classroom, but that not me as a person. When I chose to console meg and help her through her questions I was establishing myself as a teacher and justifying myself as a person.

I also saw growth when I chose to address the issue with the rest of the class. I didn't yell and I didn't punish. I sat on a desk and I told them how much I value their class and their willingness to interact with one another and how pumped I am that they love the book. "but,"I said. "it is extremely frustrating to me that I can't do everything I want to do with you because I am constantly having to stop and tell you that your talking too much. And it's completely unacceptable that your talking is getting in the way of you classmates understanding. I know you're capable of better and when I come back on Friday I don't expect to hear that this has continued." I kid you not that's what I said, and you could've heard a pin drop. I didn't yell I just talked to them, and though I can't say for sure, i think they connected.

So I don't expect this story to be earth shattering for anyone, for me it was huge. But what it all goes back to was a choice, a simple choice of getting out of bed or sleeping in. And I think so much of lives is decided by the choice of simply getting out of bed and embracing whatever comes out way.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Overachievers

Recently I had to read a book called The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids. The book is written by a journalist who follows nine students from one of the most prestigious private schools in the Nation. The kids are a mixture of Junior and Seniors and chronicles their entire school year. The book is in in depth look at the tremendous amount of pressure we put on our kids every day through extracurriculars, GPA, SAT's, AP courses, College Applications and Report cards. Essentially the book points to these factors, and the intense importance placed on them by parents and teachers, as the reasons that we are seeing one of the most burned out generations to date. The book goes on to show that all of these things are essentially not anywhere near the importance we place on them. For instance, 90% of CEO's of the fortune 500 companies did not go to an Ivy league school. In addition the pay difference between Ivy League Graduates and graduates from state schools in the same field is almost nothing. So while we pressure and pressure them to bring their SAT scores up 50 points and overload them with AP workload we are essentially only putting unnecessary stress on them; and little by little we're ruining them. It's proven that cheating both in the class and online is on the rise. Kids feel they NEED to get good grades, and all the while the quality of learning is being sacrificed. Cramming, memorizing and plagiarizing are all common practices, why? Because 1) kids feel enormous pressure and 2) it's the grade they value, not the work. As teachers we need to change the paradigm. By putting the value on skills like critical thinking, collaboration and cross-discipline connections. If we show our students that they are the most important part of our classroom, that applying the themes of a novel to their own lives is more important than a quiz and that having a class discussion is far mre important than anything I have to say, than we will see a change in the culture of schools. Less work transfers to more in-depth work that students can take pride in and care about. It all sounds a bit idealistic, but when ideals are obtainable, why not shoot for them? By pushing students to interact with their material and promoting personal growth we will be preparing students for college. And by acquiring these life long learning skills and raising their self efficacy, instead of their blood pressure, we will be in turn preparing them for success; be it at Harvard or HACC.

SOOOOO Much Going on

Hey guys, sorry to keep everyone in suspense, I suck at blogging. Luckily the lovely Maggie Cardin got on my case about updating so here you go. The biggest thing to happen to me in the past couple of weeks was presenting at the PATELA (PA Teachers of Engl and Lang Arts) conference in Pittsburgh. I was apart of a 4 person panel of MU students presenting papers from last semester. The paper was from my Teaching Writing class and was a part of my Writing partners project. For this project we were paired with a freshman composition student and asked to identify a weakness in their writing and work with that student to fix it. The presentation went really well, but the highlight of the conference was listening to published authors talk. One woman, Linda Christensen, is the author of a book titled Writing for Joy and Social Justice. She is an ENGL teacher in Portland Oregon (shout out to Augusta) and she does some amazing things. Showed us this video of a slam poet, for those of you who don't know slam poetry is very rhythmic powerful poetry similar to freestyle rap, and besides making me tear up, also has very serious possibilities for the classroom. Take a look.

I also heard an author named chris crutcher speek. He write young adult novels usually centered around sports and does an awesome job of engaging teenage boys. In addition to this, everyone of his novels is banned in schools for their heavy subject matter and language. Chris was an amazing speaker and such an awesome story teller. I cant wait to use his stuff in my class. This is a short video of chris speaking about being banned which gives an awesome sense of who he is.

So anyway life is good. I'm busy and i'm tired but I love it. I ask that you guys keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I deal with everything on my plate. I recently had a student who lost his father very suddenly and it's tough to know what to say and do as a teacher. Hope you all are well I'd love to have you comment on here. I'll leave you with one last video thats been inspiring me recently.