A totally unacceptable situation

So 3/4ths of the students at my school are on free and reduced lunch. I've never liked the school lunches that are sent to us, but there didn't seem to be any other alternatives. Then one day I was told by another teacher that the boxes our school lunches were being sent in contained roaches. Kids were stomping on roaches as they took their lunches from the box where the roaches came from. I was angry to say the least but luckily a past parent sent me a news article about a company called Revolution Foods. Then I spoke to a friend at another school and he told me that his school worked with the company and they really liked it. He said one of the good things about the company was they were able to give feedback to the company and have menus changed as a result. I gave them a call and set up a meeting.

The meeting went well and our principal was down with the company. Here's the problem though, right now our food is supplied to us by the district. There are cafeterias at various schools and they make the food for the district. Then the food is sent to other schools within the district. This means the roaches we are getting are coming from the cafeteria at another school. The snag is the food services at the other schools. Working with Revolution Foods would be a direct threat to the business and personnel of the food services throughout the district. In my opinion, if the food that we are getting is bad and unsanitary, then I'm not worried about the business and personnel at food services. I believe that the goal of everyone working in or with education should be the advancement and enhancement of the students. I know, I know it's crazy talk. If food services isn't doing its job right then we need to get something better. They have had plenty of feedback to know that the food they are serving isn't that good. They have had plenty of time to correct the situation.

There are those that would say that the kids should be lucky to have any food at all. I agree with that. Some bad food is better than no food at all. However, in the richest and strongest country in the world I think we have to have significantly higher standards than that. I know, once again it's crazy talk. One option is to get the parents involved. We have to get the parents to push the school district to allow us to change the situation. If we try to change things in-house it won't happen. The push has to come from outside and if parents make a big enough stink then there could be a change. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

Raiders vs Kansas City

What a heartbreaking game. The Raiders had a chance to win it. But an interception ended that. Culpepper holds onto the ball too long and his accuracy was way off. I also saw him bobble some snaps that he shouldn't. But the Raiders could have won that game. When you got a QB as inaccurate as Culpepper you need to run the ball as much as possible. The Raiders did that, but in the end Culpepper rushed and threw the game ending interception. Hopefully the game against the Titans will be better.

Raiders at San Diego

At the end of the day, the Raiders still need a lot of work. Running the ball on Miami was great but only because Miami was weak against the run. The zone blocking scheme gives the guys something to work with. And having a scheme and being bad at it is better than having no scheme and being bad. You can improve in a scheme. The problem is who is better at defending against the zone blocking scheme than those in the AFC west. Division rivals see each other the most. They have to know their most immediate enemy the most. But this didn't explain why Kiffin didn't try to establish the run. I understand that the Raiders got behind early, but you can't make your team one dimensional.

And Daunte... rough. My friend that grew up in Minnesota and a Viking fan tipped me to the fumbly-bumbly hands of Daunte Culpepper. He is at best a transitional quarterback that can win enough games to be respectable until JaMarcus can be phased in. I can understand Kiffin wanted to get Daunte going early... but you have to give the man some breathing room. He was only like 5/12 or something in the game against Miami. Run the ball.


LaDanian Tomlinson is the best running back in the NFL in my opinion. I just wish that he wasn't in the AFC west so that I could like him more. The man is amazing. I am glad that he has Norv Turner as a coach instead of Marty Schottenheimer. I think Norv is a great offensive coordinator but I don't think he's a good coach. I don't think he's a good leader of men. Schottenheimer couldn't win the big one, but he won almost all the little ones.

Raiders Thoughts

I've been a Raiders fan for a while. In that time, I've had a lot to complain about. For the longest time, I have been harping on why the Raiders don't use a zone blocking scheme. When I first learned what a zone blocking scheme was I became a convert. As much as I hate the Broncos, I respect what they do. Terrell Davis' game in the Superbowl really showed me the power and importance of the running game. Elway was choking in the '97 Superbowl. They won that Superbowl on the legs of Terrell Davis. Terrell Davis and the lightest offensive line in the league. However, Denver had the zone blocking of Alex Gibbs. Then Gibbs goes to Atlanta and they are a top running unit. Then, Gibbs consults and Tom Cable is learning the scheme. Now we got Tom Cable and the line is 1000% better. Lamont Jordan, a RB I've never been impressed by, was running like a champ under the zone blocking scheme. Then, Justin Fargas, another RB I've never liked, comes in and runs like a champ. The scheme is why Denver has been producing 1000+ yd backs for so long. Blocking is also better in pass protection. To put things in perspective though, Miami sucks shit.

Reflections on my third year

So being in my third year is great!!! There is a really high teacher turnover rate and I can understand why. The first year is a killer! The second year I marveled at how much more sleep I was getting, but I was still doggy-paddling. The third year things just make so much more sense and are so much easier. My teaching is better and students are learning more while having more fun. My interpersonal relations with students are smoother and less fraught with rancor. Teachers just need to get to the third year and the sailing is a lot smoother. Also, the staff at school is more unified and on top of things. We can now work on the task of truly making the school better instead of just trying to get a lesson plan together and survive the day.

Over the summer, I did a lot of thinking. I thought a lot about why I wasn't getting along with kids and kids weren't getting along with me. I realized that I was being too strict. Many of the students at my school haven't had much discipline in their lives. They aren't used to people asking how they are doing in their classes and keeping tabs on them. Many students hate school and haven't achieved in school for various reasons. Sometimes the hard approach isn't always the best. I had to take a more Daoist approach to things. I have to be more yielding and practice wu-wei. Through doing nothing all things are done. Also, I thought about how well I get along with people in the different areas of my life. It was stupid that I wasn't getting along with students. I realized that I had to be myself more and have some more fun. Because when I was getting on students it wasn't making me happy and it wasn't making them happy. So now I try to allow my regular personality to shine (within reasonable and acceptable school boundaries), and I find my interaction with students are 100% better.

Right now I'm teaching two Intro to World culture Classes and I'm trying to access as much prior and self knowledge from the students as possible. So I'm asking them how they celebrate weddings, how they do funerals, holidays they celebrate, and other questions about their cultural background. Many kids don't know their cultural traditions and histories so it's a good exercise to force them to learn and also interact with their parents. But it also made me think a lot about my own cultural background. Chinese people will yell at you in hopes of making you better, so that you won't be satisfied, and so you won't become arrogant. It is their way of showing they care. If they don't care about you they just ignore you. As much as I've always hated that aspect of my culture I find myself mimicking the behavior. It's part of the socialization process. Then I find myself doing this behavior with students that don't have that within their cultural background. And surprise! It don't work. So with each kids being different and being from different cultural backgrounds I have to figure out how to interact with them in a way that works.