Allison and I went cake tasting Friday and Saturday. We first went to this ice cream parlor that also makes cakes. It was there we thought that maybe we should do an ice cream cake. Lots of times wedding cakes look good but taste ho hum. We are all about the taste. We both love food and we want to have good food at the wedding. So we came away from the ice cream parlor thinking that we were gonna get ice cream cake. But then on Saturday we went to this bakery and that pastry chef made super good cakes. So now we are thinking about going with her. Choices, choices, choices...

I have to say though, this has been my favorite part of the wedding planning. I mean I am well qualified for this job. At the bakery we came late to the appointment (Allison's fault) and so the baker gave away our cake spot. But she seated us anyways and brought out normal size pieces of cake. We were supposed to get smaller pieces and more variety. She told us we could go back later and try different flavors. We were also supposed to pay $10 for it but she gave it to us free. We took home a the huge amount of cakes.

We are thinking about doing a 2 or 3 layer cake with different flavors on the layers. I'm down with coffee type and fruit flavors. This has not helped with the diet.

...after the tasting on Friday, we went out to a bar with my coworkers. It was my meta co- teacher Amanda's birthday. This is the first time I've had a chance to hang out with the other teachers in a social situation. It was cool. I got to introduce Allison to them and vice versa. The staff is cool and friendly and lively. And I'm sure the drinks didn't hurt either. But Amanda told me about this crazy place to honeymoon in Cuba. The hotel surrounds this HUGE tree that is the size of a good sized building. Sounds interesting. That would be a sweet place to have a honeymoon. But I would want to stay there longer.

I would want to get to Cuba before Castro dies. Just to see what life is like under his regime. It is kinda fucked that he just gets to turn things over to Raul. Raul will probably run things through a coalition. But Cuba does get major props for having a well educated populace and healthcare. I would like to see the regime for myself though. I've been to Russia post communism and Communist China. I would like to see communism in Cuba. The world is such an interesting place.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 15

So yesterday was our school's big Cinco De Mayo celebration. The school went back to last year's schedule where there was 3 periods of 1 hour and 15 minutes and no lunch. We ended at 12:50. After that we had the celebration. But in my classes...

In my Asian American Studies class, we started on the perpetual foreigner syndrome chapter by Frank Wu. This went very very well. Since many of my students are African American they found this interesting because they don't really experience this type of racism. My Latino students liked this because they experience a similar type of racism. This reading stimulated a lot of conversation among the students. I also told the students the story of my mom and me and the 1989 earthquake. This is one of my best stories and never fails to makes people laugh. DAVID!!!! DIS IS DA BIG ONE!!!

In my US history class, I gave fours out to students. What's really awesome now though is that I am getting along with students. Now that I am getting along with them and they know what I'm all about and they listen better and I can check them way easier. Anyways... in this class I pulled sticks and asked them questions about terms and names in the text. Basic basic shit they need to know. Bare minimum stuff. Still had a bunch that hadn't done the work. Then using the terms, I drew connections between what happened in the past and what is going on in the future. I also introduced them to the idea of geopolitics. I showed how geography has influenced history and politics. In particular how the US wanted Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines as stepping stones to cross the Pacific Ocean and gain access to China. Then I re-assigned the one page critique to be done or the threat of 4 hours of detention. We'll see on Monday who did the homework.

In my multicultural class... the kids were out to lunch already. They are used to eating at 11:45 and class started at 11:35. So they were hungry, it was Friday, and they were setting up for Cinco De Mayo right outside our window. The kids are used to order and when that order is upset they don't like it. Didn't get much done that day and at one point when I realized that they weren't listening to a word I was saying I just said forget it. I turned on some music (Digable Planets) and we just chilled out for the last ten minutes of class.

The Cinco De Mayo celebration happened after that in an open area right outside the school building. There was a lot of dancing and poetry. While it was a Cinco De Mayo celebration it was also a multicultural celebration. They also did Capoeira at the celebration and after the students went, I went in and did some Capoeira.

I started off with the one handed upside down kick and then went into three both hands touching the ground spinning kick and finally a outside arcing kick. I would write the portuguese names but most wouldn't know what I was talking about and many capoeira schools call the same move different things. Then I played some against Gina. Then later I played in a roda vs some people. This won me big points with students and that is why I did it. I haven't been wanting to do Capoeira lately. No violent martial things at all really. Things in my life are different and I don't want certain things right now. I think at some point in the future I'll want to kick, punch, stab at, or strike at people again. And I look forward to that one day coming back. But not right now. My ego was too invested in it. I don't want to fight... I just want to dance! Dazed and Confused anyone? Anyways, after the celebration this kid says to me he was surprised by me. When I first went on stage he was thinking, "What's he gonna do?" I asked him if I was better than he thought I was going to be. He said yes. I've been underestimated my whole life. I've tried to use this to my advantage.

Ramblings

If there's one thing I hate about teaching... it's grading. It sucks. There is nothing good or fun about it, especially when a student doesn't do well. I've got to turn in grades by Tuesday. I've got the last week of Teaching Cred school next week and I've got to turn in some work to my teacher. I'm stressed. I'm going to be grading and writing papers all weekend long. I didn't realize that giving the students that Friday to do their missing assignments would really bite me in the ass. During the day on Saturday I'm going to taste cakes for the wedding and at night I'm going to take Allison to see a play. Then on Sunday I'm dancing samba in preparation for Carnaval.

With the nearing of Carnaval there is a vain side coming out of me. For the most of my life I've been in pretty good shape. When I met Allison I was in slamming Capoeira shape. Then I stopped doing Capoeira and I started getting sedentary. Now I've got somewhat of a Buddha belly. And not Shakyamuni. I'm talking about Maitreya. Big fat laughing Buddha belly. What's really strange is that this change in my body has also been accompanied by a shrinking of my clothing. My shirts and pants are shrinking and strangely enough even my belt. Must be something in the air. Anyways... I'm going to be wearing gold sequin pants and a gold sequin vest! FUCK! I'm going to be dancing in front of a whole lot of people! Ok... I've just written myself into being nervous. Great!!! I've got to learn the choreography better.

One more thing to worry about. Great... now I've got anxiety about my anxiety.

I've got the cutest cat in the world. Her name is Hokulani and she is a sweet little lap cat. She also chirps instead of meowing. It's ridiculously cute.

This is a picture from the top of Mauna Kea when I went to visit my friend Josh who worked on a telescope over there.

St Basil's Cathedral and the Kremlin

Rumi's Tomb in Konya, Turkey

My favorite poet in the world is Jelaludin Rumi. I went to Turkey to visit his tomb in Konya.

The Blue Mosque in Turkey

Old and New China

China is an amazing place where the incredibly old is next to the incredibly new. Where the incredibly rich are next to the incredibly poor.

Graffitti art @ Christiania, Denmark

Christiania is an amazing place in Denmark. It's an incredible example of an anarchist collective. I spend many days and nights there.

Turkish ghettos 2000

So sad to look out and just see an unending view of unplanned makeshift houses. No paved roads. No visible infrastructure.

Dave Bell and me dressed up for Gabe's wedding.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 14

Today there was a field trip for seniors to a nearby college and there was STAR testing in science for a lot of students. As a result, there were very few students in my classes. Plus the kids' brains were all fried cause of taking the tests. So in all my classes I read from "Animal Farm" and then had them quiz the vocab words for 5 minutes. After that I taught them some more basic blogging like how to make links and how to link things on posts. I also talked to them about how they should learn basic html cause it's the easiest computer programming that you can do. I talked briefly about how there were more job opportunities available if you had more computer skills. I also talked briefly about the dangers of the internet. I gave my spiel on how I see the internet as a repository of the collective consciousness of humanity. As a result, it makes sense that there is so much porn and violence and whatnot on the internet. That is what is on many people's minds. The internet can enlighten or degrade. It has a dichotomous nature.

After that in my Asian American class I introed the next reading from Frank Wu's book "Yellow". The reading is on the perpetual foreigner syndrome. Frank Wu is a great writer and I really learned a lot from his book. I want to really press home the idea of the dehumanization of people and the effects of that dehumanization. Also, when the oppressor is dehumanizing a person what that allows them to do to that person. For example, when the nazis called the jews vermin or the whites called blacks nigger.

In my US history class, I've decided to not put up with them not doing homework. I will assign homework and if they don't do it then they will get a four on their contract, meaning four hours of detention. I'm not going to spend all my time getting work together and lesson planning and then come to class and find out that no one has done a thing. So I made my promise/threat to them and we'll see how it works. I am sure that I am going to piss off more than a few people with this, but I'm not too happy either.

In my multicultural class I had students present what they learned from the quotations and analyses that they did. There wasn't much time left so class ended with this. STAR testing sucks and you can kiss any classes and learning that week goodbye.

Fair Fighting Rules

These are the rules that Allison and I use when we fight. The thing with the rules is that both parties have to be on board with it and both have to be willing to want to work things out. That is the only way the rules will work. It's fucking annoying at times when you are violating the rules and it is fucking great when you catch the other person violating the rules.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 13

Today I had to sit in with the geometry lab. And of course the geometry lab decided to act up with me cause I'm not normally there. They decided that they wanted to play computer games and surf the internet. I didn't argue or get heated... cause I got a lot of sleep last night. I just calmly marked off hours on their contracts. This being calm thing is great. Then I gave them all the practice STAR test for math. It was here that I had an incident with one student that decided that he would rather surf the internet than do the test. I calmly asked him to get off the internet and he gave me attitude saying that he was going to surf the net and do his test at the same time. So I just asked him to leave to the principal's. But he was intercepted by Gina and Corrina. They bust his chops for a bit and he poorly apologized and I let him back in the room. I also had another student give me major attitude and give me a fake name cause I didn't have her contract, but I found out her name later and talked to her CTM. So nice to be new...

Meta was good again. We did seating charts that probably need to be tweaked but still were good. Then we gave them a rules quiz and had them pass it backwards and grade in red ink the paper they got. This made for less grading for me and Amanda... NICE!!! We also had our TA grade the journals. I saw her grading afterwards, she grades harder than we do. After that we talked a bit about conflict resolution and conflict management style. I gave my own experience of conflict resolution that I learned from having problems with Allison. At one point we were fighting so much that we went to couples therapy. The best thing we got out of that was this set of rules for arguing. I'll post those rules later. But then we gave a self evaluation quiz on conflict management styles and we talked about the various styles of conflict management. Then we intro'ed for the next part on conflict management and class ended here.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 12

Today was STAR testing. It sucked. I hate giving the test. There are so many things I would rather be doing... like pulling my eyelashes one by one or shoving things under my fingernails. But it is supposed to be done. One reason that I really don't like the test is that it is norm referenced. That means there will always be someone that is at the bottom of the scale, cause they will always be compared to someone else. If you want to see if kids know information give them criteria referenced tests. If they know the answer they get the points. That way you set kids up for success. Norm referencing sets kids up for failure.

After the stupid STAR test, I cleaned out the computer lab in preparation for my friends Brian and Jeremy. The place was a disgusting mess. Fuckin scary in there. Half eaten pizzas in the corner... various types of feces from whatever animals.... spiders... I got some students that needed to work off detention hours to help clean and mop the place. Now the room actually looks like an almost normal room. But once we start moving things again there will be more dirt and shit that we have to clean. But at least now we made our lives a bit easier. The computer mice are missing balls (students neutering them). We can't access the any of the control panels and the passwords don't work. It's a positively brilliant situation that will benefit greatly from my computer whiz friends. Jeremy was talking about putting open source stuff all on the computers like linux.

Talking to Jeremy

So I was just talking to my friend Jeremy who is coming with his twin brother, Brian, to work on the computer lab. Right now the computer lab is a dingy dirty dungeon that no one wants to go into. Computers aren't hooked up properly and everything is a mess. After talking with him, we agreed to a common vision of cleaning up the computer lab and getting at least 4 computers working properly along with a printer. We also want to make the room look more inviting to students. As it stands right now there is cardboard over a window and Jeremy is talking about something as simple as a curtain. There's a big TV in the back that is just sitting there and we would have to mount that in a classroom. We need to clear out space in the back so that we can stack more equipment in the back and make the front of the computer lab (towards the door) more accessible and inviting to students.

With the computers we need to figure out which are the best 4 computers and then move those towards the door. The area towards the front of the door will be our "computer lab" area. Jeremy's pretty excited about this as a project and I am too. I'm going to hook him up with one of the students at school who is really into computers and that student will learn from him while helping do grunt work. Lots of computers are old and donated and we will have to see which ones we should just scrap and which ones we should try to do something with. We should be able to salvage something from some of the old computers. Maybe just an old ass computer that just does word processing or something who knows. Whatever the case... we'll try to hook the school up.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 11

I gave out vocab words to the students today. The words are exploit, plutocracy, propaganda, occupation, and nationalism. It's STAR testing this week... I hate the STAR tests. I think they are a waste of time and a measure not of intelligence but how well one does on a test. But they got to take them. Kids are gonna be out of it this week with the STAR. Allison tells me that when STAR is happening they can't do much else cause their brains are fried. Doesn't look good for vocab tests at the end of the week, especially when they weren't doing so hot at them anyways.

My CTM... never comes to school. This is the student that I am supposed to be a Counselor/Teacher/Mentor to. We don't get along. It's unfortunate. I don't know if he is going to make it to the end of the year cause he never comes to school and is way behind in all his classes. Then I will have lost both of my CTMs. My other CTM decided that she wanted to go back to her old school. I found out from a friend (we know each other through the teaching credential program) that she was going back to her old school. She showed up for like 2 or 3 days... then she got sick and vanished back to her old school.

In my Asian American studies class, we took a test. We'll see how they did, but a lot of them didn't answer a bunch of questions. One student just sat there and didn't even take the test. Undoubtedly, she is very unhappy. But I know that she is going to flunk cause she doesn't turn in anything or do any work. It's unfortunate, but sometimes things are going on and school is the last thing they are thinking or caring about. Hopefully they can work things out and figure their shit out sometime in their lives. The sooner the better though.

In my US history class, only two students did the homework and those two students only did one part of their homework. I used the sticks to call on them and no one was able to answer any of the questions that I asked them. This was really demoralizing. I was ready to go into Zinn and talk about US imperialism but no one had done any work in the textbook. I was going to compare the textbook to "The People's History" and talk about the things that the textbook left out. I wanted them to use the SQ3R on the textbook to learn it better and faster, but they didn't do the work and they are having trouble using the techniques. I can't talk about textbook omissions if the students don't study the textbook. So in class I made them do the SQ3R. This really threw everything off and it will be a pain to catch up.

In my multicultural education class, almost half the class was missing. Guess they were having an extended weekend. We broke up into the groups from Friday and they examined various quotations and answered questions on the worksheet. This took the entire period. After this we are going to talk about the quotes and then fill out the L part of the KWL drawing from the photos and quotations. Everything takes longer with this class and when they don't come...

I talked to my friend Jeff about the homework and he said that I shouldn't give out homework over the weekend and not to give tests on Mondays. He said that I won't get any homework turned in on Monday and that students won't study for tests on Monday. Then I mentioned this to another teacher and she said that she hands out homework over the weekend and the students turn it in for the most part. Here's the thing, I want the students to be successful and I don't want to set them up in situations where they will fail. But at the same time I've got to make demands on them to push them to do better. Just because they aren't doing the work doesn't mean that I shouldn't have goals and expectations for them.

I went to school yesterday at 9:00 feeling pretty messed up. Not very many parents were there nor teachers. It was supposed to be a Saturday BBQ. The students' parents are supposed to help out at school as a condition of the acceptance of the student into the school. Unfortunately, not very many parents show up. It's kind of sad really, when the parents don't support their children in their education. It send a negative message to the kids. I remember very distinctly my dad not coming to events for me. It always bummed me out but at some point I just said fuck it. Then when he wanted to come to something later (when I got older and older) I was like "Don't bother." So while I was there I just spent a lot of time grading papers and stuff. It was good cause I got a lot of work done that I probably wouldn't have it I had just sat around at home.

Then after it I went to my friend Rachel's wedding. I was tired and didn't really want to go to the wedding but I had so much fun once I was there. My friend Rachel is Persian and she was marrying this guy Jason who is Jewish. The wedding was a mixture of a Persian-Jewish wedding. It was held at Ralston Hall Mansion at the Notre Dame Catholic School in Belmont. The place was beautiful. They must have shelled out a whole lot of money for everything.

Open bar... people were getting trashed. Myself included. But especially the new man of my friend Sara. This guy had to be twice her age or what and he was frickin crazy. I mean you get this guy on the dance floor and he went off. Doing his crazy hands above the head chimpanzee dance. The guy kept coming up to me and almost grinding on me. I was like what the fuck??? At one point when I was dancing with Allison the guy comes up and grabs my hip and starts butt bashing into me on the side. I was like peace... chill...hold up. Let's just say this guy drew attention. Allison said at one point when she was sitting down he told her to come out and dance and he spit all over the side of her face as he was asking. What a fool. People were laughing at him... especially the table of older Persian ladies that I was sitting near.

Allison and I were remarking last night on the number of beautiful Persian ladies there. Many had a very aristocratic look to them. I was of course thinking in my mind... these are expensive ladies. I don't have enough money to hang out with these ladies. Or I'm sure they could be a sugar momma to someone. But it was cool. Allison and I got up and danced a lot to all the hottest Persian hits sweeping Iran! LOL.

But the ceremony... they had this carpet laid down with all these offering to the bride and groom and when Rachel came out there was a lot of Persian ululating. I didn't see her at first but the ululating was a signal to me... I'm good at picking up on things like that. You know when there's a lot of ululating something good or bad is going to happen. Then the ceremony consisted of ladies holding a special blanket over the bride and groom's head while other ladies used these two milk bottle looking things to disperse sugar over the blanket and consequently the bride and groom's head. Oh yeah... there was also an Uncle Jim on Jason's side who spoke first at the ceremony and a Muslim sheik who read from the Quran and read some poetry. The ceremony was great.

The buffet was great. I got a huge plate of food and lots of libations. Then we just danced for the rest of the night. I always have fun dancing with Allison. We can really groove well together me and her. At the end of the night one of the Persian ladies comes up to me and said, "You were the best dancer here tonight." and she said to Allison that she was the second best dancer. That made me feel good. Allison said that she said that to her just cause she was standing there. I don't think so though cause she's a really good dancer. I had no idea how to dance to Persian music but whatever. I mimicked the hand gestures they were doing and added my own stuff. I had done Pentjak Silat when I was younger and many of their moves reminded me of that so I did some of that.

Ramblings

I have to go into work tomorrow. From 9-1. I know that it's part of the job. I just don't want to wake up. All I want nowadays is sleep. But when I get a chance on Friday I can't do it. My mind is pysched into Friday mode. It's Friday you can't sleep. The Finals are on. I'm starting to like basketball more and more. My two favorite sports are American football and boxing.

The Raiders drafted Fabian Washington and Stanford Rouatt with their first two picks. Fast fast fast cornerbacks. The enforcement of the no contact downfield rule is making speed more and more important. Philip Buchanon was traded and Woodson wants out of Oakland. Woodson is expensive as the franchise player and he doesn't want to be on the team... We gotta trade him and get something good. I want a premier linebacker, though at Charles's age, defensive style, and cost I wonder what we could get.

The Raiders need a better linebacking corps. After choosing QB Andrew Walter the Raiders took Oakland Native and ILB Kirk Morrison. Welcome back to Oakland Kirk! Please wreak havoc on offenses, especially running backs.

Then the Raiders chose DT Anttaj Hawthorne, DE Ryan Riddle, and OT Pete McMahon. Apparently Anttaj fell a lot in the draft rankings cause he likes to smoke weed. Some had tagged him as a first round pick, but the herbage made his stock drop. Welcome to the Raiders Anttaj! Please don't do a Darrell Russell.

I wonder who's going to be playing the FS position. This is another position on defense that the Raiders are weak in. It remains to be seen how Rob Ryan does on defense. The guy comes from a good football lineage, but last year was bad. Raiders couldn't stop tissue paper. The mantra was less pressure on the quarterback please and don't tackle the running back.

Defense is hard though. I love watching a great defensive team. I wish the Raiders just had the ability to shut down the other team's offense, but they can't. However, now they've got a ridiculously high powered offense which should take a bunch of pressure off our defense. My worry with the offense is we'll score too fast and the defense will get tired. Well that and Kerry Collins fumbling, throwing an interception, or whatnot.

I mean the Raiders got Randy Moss!!! Everyone in the AFC West went scrambling for cornerbacks. He's a man that demands defensive coaches' attention. So sweet and beautiful. God Bless the Vertical Offense.

I went out to a bar last night. My college friend Freddie was in from London for the day. I rarely get to see the man so I had to go out. I only had two Guinesses, but my chinese-missing-an-enzyme self just felt faded. Then waking up for class the next morning. It sucked. So hard.

I hate the sound of my alarm.

Lots of people say hate is a strong word. I agree. You can't just go throwing hate to everything. It lacks subtlety and depth. It's very teenager.

I hate the sound of my alarm clock.

It's got this knife-in-your-brain shrill sound that makes me want to throw it against the wall. But I can't... because it's a hatred I'm familiar with. I couldn't imagine hating another alarm clock... I mean I suppose one day I'll have to. But I wouldn't like the transition. The sleep button on my alarm clock is an odd 7 minutes. It's a brilliantly dangerous button. The sleep button is brilliant because it allows you more time to gradually awaken. You can get those precious few more seconds. The sleep that cries for you back. No anger or resentment. Just the pull back into sleep's embrace.

It's dangerous cause the sleep button stops. I haven't calculated the time. But at some point my sleep button doesn't sleep anymore. Some might call it treacherous. Duplicitous. I call it just pain hurtful. I mean damn. Keep helping me up here, cause the body is so not willing. I can only muster the half blind slap at the button. There's not much in the motor in the morning.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 10

I gave the vocab test today and for the most part everyone did better than last week. Using the sticks and flash card drills seemed to make for better performance all around. However, it is somewhat hard to compare since the quizzes that I used were different. Last week I did the blank paper and define. Today I gave them the definition and they gave me the word, Jeopardy Style. However, through the week I had pulled sticks and students that normally appear in a semi-comatose state actually gave me correct answers. While I haven't graded the quizzes yet, kids seemed to do well when I checked the papers as they turned them in. Today was Friday so energy was kind off. Kids seemed ready to go to home... starting with the first period.

In my first period, I had the students make up 5 questions on the various subjects (Islam, Daoism, Buddhism, Major ethnic groups, model minority myth) the test will be on. Then, I will take some of the questions from the students and put them on the test. I'll put the students' name next to the question so they will feel like they contribute to the class and test. And they won't be able to complain that I come up with such hard questions. :)) Also, I showed the students how to make semantic mapping instead of outlines. The ideas is that you should use whatever structure helps you learn better. Some people, like myself, may find outlines more helpful. Some may find semantic mapping better. Then I had students make up outlines for Monday to be used on the test.

In my second period, I answered questions that students had on the text. One question was "What are tariffs?" So I explained tariffs and wandered off into the world of the WTO... I tend to get excited and veer off into other things and then when I look around I see that kids have tuned out. I have to check that. Then I had the students do the 3R part while I called up students and individually checked their questions. Checking their questions I tried to get them to be take their questions to the next level. Instead of "What is yellow journalism?", change the question to "What is yellow journalism and how did it escalate the threat of war and what was its part in the Spanish-American-Cuban war?" For homework, I assigned the last two sections of Chapter 10 along with a 1 page paper critiquing the chapter. We've read about the problems of textbooks and we've talked about the problems with US history, so I want them thinking about possible problems and criticisms they have of the text.

In my 3rd period class, we did the W part of the KWL. I should have done this yesterday but I did it today. I had to try and get the kids to focus and hone their questions better, cause they were being far too broad. But I suppose the question "What was life like in pre WWII?" can include everything before 1939. But I wanted them to stay pretty much in the 20th century. Then we finished looking at pictures while analyzing the picture. This seemed to be interesting to the kids cause they were all paying attention and yelling out their own analyses. Of course I want them to raise their hands, but their enthusiasm was better than nothing. After that I pulled sticks to break the class into 5 groups of 3. It was the end of class by the time I finished with the sticks. But the way that luck fell, when the groups were made "certain" students were in groups with each other. Students made some jokes and I couldn't stop laughing. Then they were laughing at me cause I turned bright red from laughing and they were all laughing... It was bad that I was laughing but I couldn't stop and they thought it was funny too. It was a cool human moment, but maybe not the best teaching moment. But then bell hooks said school should be fun, so that's my excuse.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 9

Today I started off all the classes reading "Animal Farm". Then I had them review their vocab flash cards. Then I pulled sticks and had students answer what the vocab words were. I'm thinking of writing the definition tomorrow and having them give the word all Jeopardy Style.

In my Asian American Studies class, I moved the test to Monday since Pam Africa came in and I didn't get to review with the students the way that I wanted to. I realized because of Pam I had forgotten to teach them how to make an outline. So today I showed them how to make an outline of the reading "Streets of Gold" by Curtis Chang. Their homework for tomorrow and the weekend is to make outlines for all the topics we've studied so far. I told them that they will be able to use notes for the test but only notes that were in outline format or semantic (cognitive) maps or other structures. I really want to hammer home the idea of learning study skills.

In my US history class, I had the students finish the SQ3R. They did the reading, recite, and review part. They had to fill in the answers to the questions that they made. I realized that we are coming to the middle of the trimester and we haven't gotten as far into US history 20th century as I would like. I assigned students textbooks to take home, and then I gave them as homework the SQ part for the next section of Chapter 10. I really want them to learn SQ3R so that we can get through the textbook readings faster and with greater retention. That way we can get to other readings that I want to like "People's History of the United States" and "History Lessons".

In my Multicultural Ed class I totally messed up. I did a KWL on what did they know about California Pre WWII. But I only did the K part and didn't to the W part. I don't know why I did this. This class was pretty frustrating today with all the flirting and talking out of turn. But at the same time I had students that rarely speak and do well answer questions that I gave them. Maybe it's the popsicle sticks but I called on 2 students that usually sit around doing nothing or talking and they both gave me the right answer to the vocab word. Then when I asked them something for the KWL and both gave me an answer. Usually they would just say I don't know, but this time they both said something and they were right on target. So I gave him a 10 on his contract today. But I didn't do the W and I will have to do that tomorrow. Instead of going to the W I had them review pictures of California pre WWII. I had them look at the picture, explain what was going on in the picture, was it impromtu, what did it show about life pre WWII. etc etc.

All in all I felt today was a good day. I am more in a groove. I am getting along with students. I have a better idea of what I am going to do in classes. Things are going pretty well. I know that I am going to regret writing these words and that they will come and smack me back in the face.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 8

Yesterday was a good Wednesday. I started out by subbing for a Tobacco and Drug Prevention class for the first period. We watched "Traffic" so it was easy. Then I had my infamous Meta class...

But it was good!...well ok it was better. Much much better. The removal/expulsion/suspension of a few students had an incredibly calming effect on the rest of the class. It was amazing. The class was almost functioning like a normal class. We started off with a journal write on what we thought our ideal school would look, feel, smell, and be like. Then we did a rules review worksheet that the students had to fill out. Then we discussed those rules. In one of those brilliant examples of anarchy as a political thought (not anarchy with the connotation of chaos) the students make up the rules for the school. After the discussion we did a school wide and outside cleanup. Storefront owners have been complaining that our students leave trash in front of their businesses. While I believe that there are students that are doing that, I know the location of the school and don't believe that we are the only transgressors. However, in order to improve school-community relations we cleaned up trash in front of their businesses. After class Amanda and I were actually relatively mellow. Usually when that class is over our blood pressure is up 60 points or something. I think next time we will have to do assigned seating to make our lives even better

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 7

Today I had Pam Africa, Ramona Africa, and Bessima Muhammad come in and talk about Mumia Abu Jamal. They wanted to do it all in one class so we piled 4 different classes into my classroom. The seniors had all gone to Laney Community College so classes were smaller and everyone fit in. They were amazing speakers but I was bummed that we weren't able to prepare for them better. I had thought they were going to be coming in on Wednesday then I thought they were coming in on Tuesday during 2nd period. It wasn't until yesterday afterschool that I found out that they were coming into my 1st period. So I didn't get to tell my class about Mumia and prepare them to ask questions. Those ladies were amazing powerful speakers. I found Ramona to be very powerful and the burns on her body were a testament to the violence that has been done against her by the government. Bessima was great too and she sang Bob Marley's "Redemption Song". The class was really quiet but people seemed to be really affected.

In my US history and multicultural class I gave a writing prompt inspired by my 1st period speakers. The prompt was

Tell me about a time when you or a friend was harassed by the police. What was the situation? What do you think should be done about the harassment?

The students really seemed to enjoy this prompt and I got a lot of writing. There were only a few kids that hadn't had run ins or known someone that hadn't had run ins with the police. After the prompt or if students got done early I had them drill their flash card vocab words. This worked out well because it gave the students something to do quietly and was a good transition for when everyone was drilling. Then after 5 minutes I pulled a stick and had the student look me in the eye and define one of the 5 words. I expected that some kids would have trouble with the vocab but putting them on the spot will hopefully force them to learn the words next time. This has been a good way for checking if students are learning.

In my US history class after everything was done I introduced them to blogging and and gave them the homework assignment to sign up for a blog by Friday. Once again most students seemed to be excited by the whole idea of blogging and having a blog where they could network with friends and post their thoughts and reflections. As always there were some that just sat there and seemed uninterested but sadly those students seem to be like that all the time.

In my Multicultural class I did a seminar. This is a project that was assigned to me for one of my teaching credential classes. I had the students read the "The Exploitation of Women in Hip-hop Culture". Then I gave them a run down on the rules to a seminar and defined misogyny and sexism. Then I had them circle up and I pulled sticks and asked questions of students. My first question was,

What does the author mean by the statement, "For young people that do not hold sexist ideals, mainsteram hip-hop may influence them to do so as it spreads and continuously gains popularity." Do you agree with it?

This was a question went well and caused a lot of responses by the students. Sadly and not surprisingly, many of the boys had the attitude that many of the girls wanted the bad attention and had it coming to them. Then I asked,

What do you think about the sexism and misogyny in hip hop?

I pulled a stick for this one and I was happy that the boy that I called on was against it and thought it was wrong. Unfortunately he was shy and didn't want to expand as much on his thoughts on the issue. My next question was,

What are the roots of sexism and misogyny in hip-hop?

I pulled a stick for this one too and called on a very bright and strong young lady. It cracks me up though cause this girl is hella loud and talkative, but when she was talking in the seminar she all the sudden got quiet and soft spoken. But she had great things to say. Perhaps she was shy to speak against what seemed to be a common consensus among the louder more insistent boy views. My next question was,

Why do women consent and collaborate with their own sexual exploitation?

This question stirred up a lot of differing views once again. But sadly the views were split down down the gender line. My final question was,

What are solutions to the misogyny and sexism in hip-hop?

Students gave good answers, but it wasn't surprising that a few felt that things would never change.

I thought that the seminar went well but I forgot to praise the students for their participation in the seminar. We were running short on time and I just handed out notecards to ask them what they thought about the whole thing. This class is my young freshmen class and they really love it when I talk about hip-hop. I thought it would be good to talk about social issues within the context of hip-hop. I would definitely do this again.

Kids have been telling me they are going to come in after school to get their blog going. Go internet and Blogger!

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 6

So I talked to my friend Bob who was setting up the whole Pam Africa talk and unfortunately she couldn't come into my Wednesday Meta class... My coteacher Amanda and I are totally bummed cause that class would do well to hear her talk. However, she is coming into my 1st period class tomorrow along with Ramona Africa. Another teacher Gina is coming into my class to hear Pam, and Ramona Africa is going to Tracey's class and Lauren is hopping in on that talk too.

So in all my classes today I gave out the vocabulary which was activism, grassroots, Establishment, commercialize, and satyagraha. This time I had students write the words on a index cards with the word on one side and the meaning on the other. I will take 5 minutes each day to have the students drill each other on the words and meanings. I'm thinking then I'll pull a stick and ask a student what the word means and see if they learned it. This will put them on the spot in front of everyone, and no one wants to look bad in front of everyone right?

In my Asian-American studies class I forgot to have them do SSR and we went right into teaching them how to blog. I showed them my blog and my friend Kira's blog. I showed them all the links that I was interested in and stuff like that. I told them that they could write anything on their blog that they wanted (Swearing, poetry, journals, etc). However, when I ask them to post an assignment then they have to follow the rules and etiquette associated with an academic writing. I told them that after I check their blogs then I would write a comment and that comment would be the sign that I checked their work. The students seemed to be interested in blogging and having links and networks of blogging friends. I think it will be good for them to be interested in computers and excited to write in their blog.

My good friends Jeremy and Brian are coming to school to check out the computer system and possibly help set up the computer lab and fix any computer/printer/server problems. These guys know their stuff so I'm stoked. After they get everything all hooked up then I will put Hello and Picasa on the computers so that the students will be able to put pictures and stuff on the computer.

In my US history class I went over the SQ3R reading strategy with them and we did the survey part of it together with the US history textbook. I showed them the things to read and then we talked about questions and how to make questions for the text. Then I had them write out questions for each of the headings in the textbook. Tomorrow we will do the reading and they will try to answer the questions that they made up. I constantly stress to them to work smarter not harder and most actually seem to pay attention to me.

In my multicultural class, I did vocab and then SSR. After that I showed them how to sign up for blogs. This class seemed to be really excited about blogging and I was happy. Finally something that seemed to perk their interest.

After school today I had a few kids come in and actually sign up for their blogs. I don't usually have a lot of kids coming into my class afterschool and was surprised to see the kids that I did see. I'm really excited about blogging and excited that the kids are excited about it. Now I will have less paperwork and be able to access student work online.

Katamari Damacy

I've been playing this really crazy Japanese video game on the PS2. It's a fucking hilarious game with a weird as shit plot line. The stars fall out of the sky and it is your job to roll this katamari (sticky ball) around and pick up stuff and make big katamari balls. As your katamari gets bigger with stuff you can pick up bigger things. From thumbtacks to buildings. When you've made your katamari big enough your dad (king of the cosmos) turns the katamari into a star. The game is



incredibly simple to play and just hilarious. I think the designers were shrooming when they made it. The prince has a space mushroom that he can go to. There are big mushrooms all throughout the game and the size of the katamari is registered by a big psychedelic tie dye orb pulsating in the corner. It's one of those games that's distinctly Japanese. The best part of the game is that it was $19.95. And since I traded in some games it was even less.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 5

I got 6 hours of sleep today... I'm so happy. This is waaaay better than what I was getting on the other days. Would you like cheese with my whine?

So today was vocab quiz day and makeup work day. I had all the classes give definitions for the 5 words. (imperialism, revolution, despotism, monarchy, and sovereignty) This was a complete and utter failure. Last week I gave a fill in the blank and that was ok... but I tried to give higher standards this time and it didn't work out so well. I am thinking that I have to do something totally different with the vocab. I can't just give it to them and expect them to study it and learn it, cause it wasn't working. I'm thinking that I will hand out notecards on monday and have them copy the word on one side and the definition on the other. Then maybe find some time at the end of class on tuesday and thursday where they quiz each other on the vocab words. I'll have to see how that will work for them.

After that I showed semantic (cognitive) mapping to all the classes again as a way to flesh out their ideas for their final project. Then I handed out the list of missing assignments and helped the kids get on task with either their assignments or final project. I bought 2 stamp from OfficeMax with a "past due" and a "received and date" and both are getting far too much of a workout.

At the beginning of 3rd period (after lunch) the administration got on the intercom and had all the students go back out to lunch area and pick up trash. The backyard was a mess. The kids just eat their food and throw their shit everywhere. We have part part part time custodians so everyone is pretty much responsible for keeping the school clean. It bugs the shit out of me that the kids throw shit everywhere. If there is one major pet peeve that I have it's littering. Everyday after class I get my broom and sweep up the class and the place is always full of trash. I am always trying to keep an eye out for kids littering, but it's never them... It's always just around them.

I had an painful experience today in one of my classes with one of my students. This student is a beautiful young lady with a very good heart and I respect her. But she is filled with anger and unhappiness. It exudes from her being and you can see the effect on her face. She is a strong and tough young lady, but I can tell she is forced to put up a tough front when maybe she doesn't want to. I said as much to her and as I was talking to her she started tearing up. It is painful to see so many young kids hurting and not being allowed to be the person that they want to be because of their circumstances. This is Freire's definition of oppression. Not being allowed to be more fully human. Not feeling like you can express the gamut of emotions. Not being able to be soft when you want to be soft. Not being loved when you need it.

I think that students are starting to warm up to me. They all want to trust but are afraid to, because there are a lot of people that cannot be trusted.

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 4

I'm going to sleep soon.

Today I read Animal Farm to all the classes. I told them it was about the Russian Revolution and the fight between the capitalists and the workers. Orwell is one of my favorite writers of all time and I've learned more from his books about politics than many of the classes that I've had. Thie idea is to affect the audiolingual intelligence. All they got to do is sit and listen too and it really calms them and me down when we start off with something where they just got to sit and be quite. I suppose I crave the structure and calm just like them.

In my Asian American class we finished up the L part of the KWL. Oh yeah I also put in a seating chart. People were unhappy and I had to admit a bit of schadenfreude. The little chatty groups were starting to really piss me off and I had to break it up for my own sanity. I tried to put people out of their comfort zone areas of sitting. A student that I like basically said that she taped her voice and listened to it... I was dying. She was basically saying that she loved to hear the sound of her own voice and I was thinking, "oh man I'm in trouble..." but she says good things so I don't mind. Sweet young lady though. And I had a surprise visit by one of the teacher teacher from my credentialing program. I have to admit being nervous when someone comes to watch me. I can stand in front of a rooomful of students, elementary or high school, but when I got other adults in the room...

In my US history, seating charts too. More schadenfreude. It's the little things like that that make my day. Moving high energy away from high energy. Finding people's complements...still a work in progress. In this class I modeled with their help the classic outline format. I am trying to get across to all the kids to learn study skills. To work smarter and not harder. Hard effort for a short period of time is better than to have to work longer and get back less later. The classic outline forces them to think about categories. If they can think in chunks then things will be easier for them. We used the Butler essay and I just did the first chapter with them. Then I assigned the rest of it to be due on Tuesday next week. With the little bit of remaining time, we read a paper on SQ4R reading strategy. Next week we will use the strategy with the textbook and the chapter on US imperialism.

For my multicultural ed class, I had them work on work they hadn't turned in. I did assignments turned in and missing last night on the computer and many people were missing a lot of work. The class that doesn't hand in assignments... Friday was supposed to be the makeup work day but since so many were missing so many assignments I had them start today.

After that I had to go to my Latino experience in US class at uni. I had to present about a paper I am going to have to write on Haiti. The speech went well. Haiti has a fascinating history. I had no idea that the US occupied haiti in 1915 and stayed there for 19 years. Then of course the imperialists say that they provided infrastructure like roads. A common line by imperial powers (I've heard Danes say that about a the Faroese, Chinese about the Tibetans), though the roads are really to facilitate troop movement and movement of goods and resources for easier exploitation. But I was thinking about it too, the US made the roads with forced labor... or slaves. I mean the US invades and occupies Haiti and then forces people to labor for them doing things. That's slavery... some slave conditions. Old habits die hard. Not too far off from 1865. The US ran the show in Haiti and we sent up a local US trained military, which were the only well run institution in Haiti after the US left. I had no idea that Haiti beating off the French is one of the reasons Napoleon sold the Louisiana Purchase to the US. I find it interesting that the US supported Papa Doc and Baby Doc Duvalier because they weren't those godless commies in Cuba. Papa Doc's regime lead to the brain drain from Haiti... that's always good for a country. Oh yeah and the US has basically been through the IMF and the World Bank uses SAP programs to get Haiti into a low wage, no union sweatshop. And of course the US couldn't have a working Black Republic so close to it when it had slaves. Can't have slaves having all these big ideas like freedom. All of this sounds so damn familiar... Got Empire?

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 3

On Wednesdays my school has a totally different schedule. This is a day for electives and stuff. There's a creative expression class, women & men's spoken word, Capoeira, dance choreography, and other stuff. On this day I co-teach with Amanda a class called metamorphosis. This class introduces students to the school, its philosophy, and its history. Like the name implies, the class tries to transform the students and familiarize them with the school through work and activities. That being said, this class is my most challenging class. There are personalities within the class that seem to have the ability to incite and amplify bad behavior in other students. One of the teachers at the school that has been there for 32 years said that this class was a very wild and out of control class... GREAT!!! I don't have a 1st period on this day and when I come in I'm pretty mellow. By the time this class is over, my blood pressure has easily tripled. We've done a bunch of different strategies to try and discipline the class and we've taken A LOT of points off of contracts (each point below 12 on Wednesdays is an hour of detention), but still we got problems. Today we got sick of it and I had to escort some boys to the principal's. Meta is by far the easiest class in the school and everyone has to pass the class to stay at the school. As it stands right now, there will be some students that won't be asked back to the school next school year... and I won't lose sleep over it. But we both want the students that are trying to do better to stay and that will take some work. Out of a class of 22, about 6 people turned in their homework today.

Next week I've arranged for Pam Africa to come and speak to the class about Mumia Abu Jamal. While I think that this class would do well to have someone like Pam come and talk to them about Mumia, I have to admit that I'm worried that they will be rude and wild and the whole talk will go badly.

I have to remember that there is a lot of pain and suffering in this class. One of the few moments when students were listening was when we were going over the statement of philosophy. We were talking about the inequalities within society and the devaluing of students by the very education system that is supposed to uplift them. Then a student asked me about the connection between education and the symptoms of student apathy and alienation (substance abuse, teen pregnancy, materialism, etc.). I spoke a bit about the ideal goal of education to uplift and empower people. But then I gave my personal views on the some of the pain and the root social causes that I see within the black community and I could tell it affected the class. I talked about how when I was working at the elementary school many children latched onto me because I was one of the few male teachers there. Many of the students did not have fathers and I guess I became somewhat of a surrogate father to many. While I recognize that a single mother or extended family can take very good care of a child and love them greatly, I believe that it is very important for young boys to have a male figure in their life. Boys need men in their lives to be an example for them and to straighten them out when needed. If not then manhood often becomes a gross parody of what a man should be. A mishmash of bad tv characters, musicians, and other boys they see and interact with. While I recognize the political, economic, and social factors that can lead to the single parent home, they still exist and the pain still exists. I saw the pain of a missing father (among other things) in the students at the elementary school and I saw the various ways that they acted out this pain. As they get older this wound will only fester unless they take proactive steps to heal themselves. I am 29 years old and I don't speak to my father and I often talking about it in therapy. It affects you. Family problems can fuck you up royally for a good long time.

I suppose that is a positive with that group. The few times that we do get really "real", they are attentive. They want to hear and talk about what no one talks to them about. And in their journals they write for us, they want to talk about their pain. After I gave my experience a student asked me if I was going to cry. People laughed and I replied that I wasn't but if I were to...so what. It is the oppression of the patriarchial machismo culture that says that a man cannot cry or show emotions. Check that, a man can be very angry or very happy. But anything that smacks of feelings is taboo. This type of thinking only perpetuates suffering.

Pope Benedict...Arnold!!

It miter been mine!

By now you've probably heard the news...I'm not the Pope. I hate to admit it. I was outmanuevered. My carefully laid machinations foiled by Cardinal Ratzinger. Excuse me, I mean Pope Been-a-dick XVI. He was supposed to have lobbied for me. I should have recognized his ambition. I should have realized that as soon as he entered the conclave he would turn on me. He got me in the end... like those Cardinals are prone to doing. He violated me like the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact!

He's not a step forward or a step backwards from John Paul. He's a step sideways. He doesn't have the youthful vigor that I have or that certain "je ne sais quoi"! The Popemobile should be mine. I should be the rock upon which His church is built! I should be infallible! I should be the one upholding anachronistic laws! People should be kissing my ring! Pontifex Maximus is my rightful title! I want the cool hats!!!

Pedagogy and Praxis Day 2

Today was journal write day...

For my Asian American studies class I told a Daoist tale which showed that sometimes bad can come from good and good from bad. Then for the journal prompt I gave:

Think about an event in your life that seemed bad but turned out to be good. Maybe you got injured and while you were healing up you learned how to use a computer. What makes the event change from bad to good may be something that you learned as a result, something that you did differently as a result or something taht happened that wouldn't have occurred otherwise. Tell the story of the even taht you experienced and help your readers understand how an event taht seemed negative turned out to have valuable consequences.

For the most part this prompt didn't turn out well. People thought it was too hard to think up something and the stuff that I got back was short and not as good as I know they are capable of.
After that we finally finished up "Streets of Gold" by Curtis Chang. Oh yeah...Let me just say that popsicle sticks are gold!!! I ask review questions constantly with them and then pull the sticks and find out where people are at in their studies. This is an excellent way of checking learning and calling people out for greater accountability. After that I did the L part of the KWL (what did you learn). Once again I called on people using the sticks and when they didn't give me anything I took a point off of their contract. Accountability. Class ended with us still doing the KWL and I will have to finish it up on Thursday. I think one of my biggest problems is figuring out how long things will take. I don't have a very good sense of time on projects. Usually I think that things will take less time than they actually do. But I would rather do a few things well than a whole lot of things not so well.

For my US History class the journal prompt was a quotation from Confucius. I felt like a bad fortune cookie using it even though it is a great quote. My dad loves to quote Confucius so I am sure he would approve. The quotation was:

Learning without thinking is labor lost; thinking without learning is perilous. -Confucius

After explaining what the word perilous meant (All I can think of the whole time was Monty Python and the Holy Grail), I had the students explain what the quotation meant. do they agree with it? Why or why not? Give some real life examples that agree or disagree with the quotation. This one actually turned out a lot better than the 1st period writing prompt and I got more writing from people. Perhaps quotation would be better to use as writing prompts. I'll have to experiment with it in other classes to see. Using this quotation I introed into the idea of using strategies to improve study skills. I handed out 5 notecards and students came up with 5 questions about the reading "War is a racket". Then we did the L part of the KWL on war with me using the sticks again. We ended on this.

In my multicultural ed class we had finished yesterday watching "Real women have curves" and one of the themes in the movie was the parents holding the main character back from going to college. My prompt was:

Think about a time when you felt like your parents were holding you back from doing better. What was the situation? If your parents don't hold you back, then perhaps you hold yourself back. Think about a time when you were holding yourself back from doing better.

After this I worked on a semantic map with them involving themes in the movie. I wanted to introduce the idea of semantic mapping to them for future use. This actually went pretty well and I wanted them to get used to making semantic maps so that we could use them for other things later. This map would be a template for other maps. But then I tried to go into the next assignment and this is when I started losing people. As I said before, this class is young, hormonal, and post lunch. They kept trying to get me off track and were generally uncooperative. Of course I took this out on their contracts and handed out hours of detention to the main culprits. It just bothers me that everything takes twice as long as it should with this class and that the students with less self-control mess things up for the others. So the assignment that I was supposed to do in class I handed out as homework and will penalize students on their contracts for not turning it in. I have to be harsher on the contracts because the last time I assigned homework 4 people turned it in.

Pedagogy and Praxis

Today I handed out the 5 vocabulary words to the kids. They are imperialism, sovereignty, monarchy, despotism, and revolution. The definitions were long and the students complained about them, but the words represent big ideas and concepts and they need to understand them so that we can talk about the things that I want to talk about. The students are smart but they lack the vocabulary associated with the social sciences. But of course they don't have the vocabulary, they are only in high school. I hope that by supplying them with the words and concepts now they will be ahead of the curve when they get to college. In addition to the dictionary and encyclopedia concepts, I also gave them definitions in my own words and tried to simplify the words for them.

Yesterday I got popsicle sticks and wrote all the students' names on the sticks so that I could randomly call on them. I used the sticks in all the classes today and found a lot of people weren't prepared to answer the questions I asked. The idea of the popsicle sticks is to keep kids paying attention because they might get called on in class and look silly when they get called on and don't know the answer. This system was widely used at the elementary school that I worked at and I think it's a good one. Also, students won't feel that I am picking on them if I randomly draw a stick.

This is also the second time that I did SSR today. Students aren't used to the agenda that I've given and hopefully by the end of school they will become accustomed to it.

My Weekly Agenda
Mondays: SSR
Tuesdays: Journal Writes
Thursdays: Teacher Read Aloud
Fridays: Vocabulary Quiz

Since we just got back from a week long spring break and the agenda is relatively new, I expected the students to not have books to read. Hopefully next week (with me reminding them) they will bring books to read. Right now a few kids were just staring off into space and perhaps some are not used to reading, but after they get used to the system they will start to do what they are supposed to. I find it interesting that while the students may complain about structure and order, they really actually crave it. Most people crave the security of what they know and want more structure in their lives. I look at my own life which had very little structure and order at home (cause my parents were always fighting) and see how much I needed martial arts. I needed the discipline and order and someone that would just kick my butt.

In my Asian-American studies class, we continued reading "Streets of Gold" by Curtis Chang. Before that I used the popsicle sticks and asked review questions on the perception of the model minority and what we had read so far. Some kids had no idea, but a bunch of them really know what's going on. I have to find a way to get to the kids that have no idea. I'm using a KWL (What do you know, What do you want to know, and what did you learn) on Asians and the model minority, and I find it to be really useful. I believe that KWL is a really valuable pedagogical tool and will definitely use it for other things. It activates prior knowledge, puts questions into the students' minds, and finally is a list of things they learned as a result of whatever reading or activity is done. I really like this class a lot. While there are some space cadets (in all my classes), by in large they are a good class.

In my US history class, we started with the vocab and the SSR and I used the popsicle sticks to ask review questions. We then finished up "War is a racket" by Major General Smedley Butler. This took to the end of the period. Tomorrow, I'm going to go over the L part of KWL with them and teach them the classic outline format. While the classical outline format is said to be restricting, I find it useful and use it myself... so I'm gonna teach it to them. I'll also introduce them to semantic mapping and other formats, but first the classic outline. I'll also have them use index cards to make study questions on the reading. If there are some good questions, I'll use them on the test.

In my multicultural education class, we started off doing the same things as the other classes. This is my most challenging class, in part because it is after lunch and also because it is filled with freshmen. There are so many hormones running through this class I want to get a hose to spray them down. This is a real touchy feely class. After the SSR, we finished the video "Real Women have Curves". Of course with my luck, the principal decides to stick her head in during the one semi-"love" scene in the movie. But it's an excellent movie that explores the life of a teenage mexican girl in the months before she goes off to college. The movie is filled with teenage themes such as body image, coming of age, what it means to be a woman, exploitation of labor, working class Mexican family resistance to college, exploitation of labor, and crossculture and class relations. I'm thinking that the journal writeup for them tomorrow will involve one of the themes from the movie... I just have to figure out which.

Even though I am sick with a hacking cough and had a crappy spring break, I'm happy to be back at work. The thing I fear this week is my Latino Experience in the US class. I have to give a 10 minute presentation on Haiti. Fascinating country and history but I'm just overloaded.

Sign my guestbook!!!

If this is your first time here or you've been here before I got my guestbook... sign my guestbook! This is all part of my shameless self-aggrandizing. Feed my ahankara!!!

Still Sick

So it's Saturday and I'm still sick!!! Motherfucker!!! My entire spring break week is pretty much over and I've spent it doing nothing but being sick. The only positive is that I've worked on this blog a whole bunch and added a bunch of links that I like and stuff like that. I've been personalizing this blog and am starting to feel that it is a better reflection of my own personality. All the links are 100% approved by Dave. I've put in all the political news sites that I like to visit. They are of course unabashedly liberal by in large. The entertainment links have a bunch of stuff to do in the bay area and links to my two favorite cartoons, The Boondocks and Get Fuzzy. The reference links are links that I like to use often, especially wikipedia and merriam-webster online. And of course I've added links to my friend Kira and Bobbin.

I've decided that I'm going to have the kids at school start up a blog. It's going to be an assignment for all my classes. This way I'll integrate computers into classroom curriculum and hopefully get kids more into writing or fiddling around on the computer. Unfortunately, the school is pretty low tech (a bunch of the computers don't work and they aren't hooked up to the printers) and the computer lab is a dingy lil dungeon. But I believe that all kids need more familiarity with computers. I mean computers are only going to get more and more integrated into everyday life and people can't be running around afraid of computers. My generation grew up around computers. I had an Apple IIc and Atari and shit. Kids nowadays got computers everywhere. I mean shit the amount of memory in a palm pilot nowadays used to take up the space of a desktop computer when I was a kid. I remember my dad getting the first macintosh. 512K!!! That ain't shit nowadays. Now I'm not some computer expert or genius at all, but if I can get one kid hooked on computers and down to show off their blog and all the little computer personalizations they've done, then I'm happy. Of course I gotta have a bit higher standards than that and get more than one kid into it, but you get my idea... ok 2 kids which is 100% better. My goal is that the kids have fun with the blog while learning something about computers and improving their writing skills. You only get better at writing by practice.

ramblings

I like to chat online. I'm addicted to the idea of a transnational internet world. My body doesn't exist in this world. I am only the sum total of my writings (or the rare times I use voice or until I get a webcam). It's like astral projection but a lot less cool than that. I chat with people in Venezuela or India or China or whereever the fuck else they are. We argue. We laugh. We commiserate. We are human. It is an amazing thing to connect to someone so far away. A connection that exists beyond the mere, "Hi, how are you?"

But at the same time the anonymity of it shows the true side of people. All the things that people want to say in everyday life but are too afraid to say. All the racist, sexist, classist, homophobic, just oppressor shit. But I like to see that. Cause it never makes me forget where we are. And these are the people that have enough money to buy computers! Which goes to show that social class has nothing to do with how smart or good someone is.

The Western world likes to believe that material conditions determine people's consciousness. And to some extent that is true, as we are conditioned by our environment. But I think it's a cop-out. We are no better than people 2000 years ago. We may have more stuff and more luxury to allow us to be more civil, but we're still the same. We have the hate and love, lust and nurturing, and all the other complementary parts to our personality. There have always been the people in the world who have done the right thing. People that have lived the Dao. These transcendental actions are not bound by time or material conditions. Nowadays people help feed industries that perpetuate slavery (i.e. chocolate and coffee and such) and go about their lives not wanting to change. We abhor slavery as if it were a relic in time. I often know what is the better more moral choice yet I still take the easier more corrupt choice. Am I to believe that people in the past never felt these ways. There is nothing new under the sun. The betrayal and the altruism have always existed.

Yet I hope for people. Which must make me daft. Cause the history of humanity is a particularly bloody one. Yet I hope for the better. I guess it's one of the reasons I'm teaching. I believe that people can do better. That we are not bound like animals to our nature. That we can choose to do better and be better.

I think about my life. I was a complete asshole growing up. Angry at everyone because my parents were too busy fighting to give a shit about me. Self-destructive and nihilistic. But I worked to make myself a better person and I still am working. I still have a long way to go, but I know that I am choosing to live and be the person that I want to be. My angst lessens as I live the way my heart knows is right. I got crazy family. Angry crazy brother and father. Crazy extended family. Some pockets of sanity, but the crazy ones take up a lot of time and space. Being loved and loving back is what changed me.

That's the thing with my brother and dad. They can't love back. Loving back requires too much. To give someone your love is easy, when you get angry you can take it away. To love them back is hard. They are both too hurt and prideful and macho to really be vulnerable with someone and love them back. And I can see the pain in their pathetic states. And they try to bring others down with them. There is a sense of schadenfreude as they see others as unhappy as they are. Perhaps they are not conscious of it perhaps they are, I guess I'll never really know. But whatever the case, its not healthy for me to be around them.

Wedding stuff

So I'm on my spring break from work and of course this is the time that my body decides to get sick. It's one of those things where when you finally get a chance to rest your body crashes and you are all fucked up. But I can't just sit around and feel crappy, I still have to do work.

One of the things that I need to work on is stuff for the wedding. Since we are trying to cut down on costs (ridiculous how much these things cost) we are looking to hire a photography student. I'm posting online job posts and might have to do some leg work and post actual real life paper postings somewhere. I'm excited for our wedding but shit there is a lot of planning. We are getting married on August 14, 2005 finally. The wedding has been postponed a few times but because of that we are actually ahead of schedule on things. We got the place, caterer, DJ, bateria, and all we need now is the photographer.

I've realized a few things about weddings... First off they aren't about me. It's the woman's day. It really is. As much as it is supposed to be our day, its not. But hey I'm ok with that. I love her so let her have her day. I get concessions, like I'm wearing a Hawaiian shirt and black pants. But nobody cares how I look. Everyone is interested in how the bride looks. Secondly, if we can get through the planning then the whole marriage thing should be ok. I mean some of the worst fights we've had have been over the wedding. My good friend Christine said that she read that weddings rank up there with some of the most stressful events in someone's life. Up there with funerals and stuff. GREAAAAT!!! Third, I don't like the patriarchial transfer of property that is most wedding. We aren't doing any veils and her dad ain't handing her over to me as I wait in front of God and the altar.

We are going to do our own thing. We are writing our own vows and my lil buddy Jare is going to officiate the wedding. Jare is going to get a one day license to marry and marry us. It's cool, I like it cause it's personal. Jare is my good buddy, even if I do irritate the shit out of her sometimes.

I'm not even going to have a best man. Though my buddy Stevie will be giving the first toast. We thought a lot about the whole best man thing and the bride's maid. We decided to not go that way. Everyone will be there to witness as our friends. However, I thought that Stevie would be a good choice to give a toast. He's my boy, I trust him, and I know he'll be good. We're close like brothers. People roll their eyes when we get together cause we argue right away. But it's all in good fun and we never get offended, though people think we are really going at it. We just like to argue and debate about things. It's our natures.

We are also going to be dancing samba at our wedding. Allison and I met when I was doing capoeira and she was doing samba. So we're going to have a bateria (brazilian band) and a DJ play music at the wedding and rock the house. We're dancing samba for our first dance and we're going to have someone teach some samba moves so that everyone can get up and dance. We love to dance so we're going to force everyone to dance at least once.

The reasons I got into teaching

Why I teach

These are the reasons that I got into teaching. I started working at an afterschool program at a nearby elementary school to earn some extra cash and try my hand at teaching. While I did get a serious hazing by the kids, I got hooked. I looked forward to going to work and hanging out with the kids, unlike my other job. It is truly inspiring to see kids that come from so little, try so hard to be better. The kids were beautiful, caring, and truly good. But for some reason I decided that I wanted to teach high school history. Maybe one day I'll get my multi-subject credential and go back to working with the little ones. Who knows.

Reasons to teach

More kids

I'm gonna be Pope!!!

My Next Hat

Well I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag too early... But I'm gonna be the next pope. I look great in hats and behind bulletproof glass. As the next pope I will bring back reverence and wrath. Folks nowadays can't pull off wrath. There's some anger, indignation, and sometimes even fury, but no wrath. I, on the other hand, have that certain "je ne sais quoi" that will allow me to bring back that old time wrath.

I also want papal power! Heck, I just like saying papal power. Throughout the years, papal power has been waning, but I promise to aggrandize the office. This Dalai Lama cat is trying to muscle in on my turf and wanting to be a bigger theocrat. I've seen his hats and they ain't shit. And is he infallible??? I think not.

I'll also be a people's pope. I plan on having my own line of pope pasta, pontiff puff cereal, pope soap, and other accoutrements befitting my papalcy. Since I'm Chinese, I'll deliver China to the Catholic Church. One billion Chinese!!!! See the Muslims catch up to that!I have my machinations in place, and once you see white smoke from the chimney you will know that I am your Pope! I'm still working on a proper papal name for immortality. Maybe Pope Ice D or Pope the Wrath!

He's a Raider alright!

Randy looking for a joint.

I just want to say that I'm excited for the upcoming Raiders season because of this man. From the pot, to the mooning, to hitting a cop with his car Randy shows that he has what it takes to really be a Raider. Other than that, now we have 2 very credible deep threats in Moss and Porter. Maybe Ronald Curry will be getting a lot of balls too as a 3rd WR. With Moss it is the end of 8 men in the box and Oakland will finally have a run game with LaMont Jordan.

Of course my greatest worry is the defense. Hopefully the 3-4 has been scrapped and we go back to the 4-3 and maybe some 4-6. We just didn't have the personnel for the 3-4. Rob Ryan came in from the Patriots defense with too high expectations. Hopefully, he'll work better with what we have, but I'm expecting some high scoring losses.

My ugly mug

Long time no blog

Shit.... I forgot that I had this thing for the longest time.

Well life has changed a lot for me. I'm now teaching high school history at an alternative high school in West Oakland. I'm teaching Asian-American studies, US history 20th century, and Multicultural Ed. I got spring break right now and need the break. I've been teaching for about a month and am worked. I was hired on a Friday and started on a Monday. I'm lesson planning for 3 different classes and going to school to get my teaching credential. While I'm not worried about my content knowledge, I am worried about my pedagogy.
I used to hate school and hate history, but then my life changed and I fell in love with knowledge. Now I have trouble remembering how much I hated school. My teacher mentor, Dr. Epstein, told me that I need to tap back into when I hated school. I need to find a way to connect to the students. I have an insatiable need to connect to people and I think that teaching was an avenue for me to help fill that need. Business just wasn't cutting it for me.
Right now though I've been getting the student hazing. I feel like Cartman going around saying "Respect my authority!" Considering the way that I treated teachers when I was a student, I suppose this is my karma. I've been talking to my therapist (everyone get one) and she was saying that my expectations are too high. Perhaps...
When I think about it, the kids probably won't remember half of what I teach them. If they get one thing from me I hope it's to look inside themselves. Some philosopher said that the unexamined life isn't worth living, I think it was socrates. In my asian-american studies class I teach the kids various religions and beliefs all to get them to look within themselves. I don't want them to be a specific religion, they must choose their own path, but I do want them to look within and have a path.
I have to do more reflection on my pedagogy and I suppose I'll start to use this blog to keep a record. Maybe someone will be interested and maybe some will offer help.

Reflections from the left

So GWB is president once again... My prediction that the rich white male from Yale would win was correct. The choice of presidential candidates more than anything highlights the inequities of power within America. Both candidates are silver spooners and they even were frat brothers in one of the most prestigious fraternities at Yale. To paraphrase Gandhi, "They differ in degree, not in kind."
A lot of left wing friends have been calling and emailing me completely unhappy. I however actually think that this election will be good for my generation. We have been riding the coattails of the 1960s and believing that things were better and that we didn't have to do anything for civil society. This election was a wakeup call and a test. What the left does now is very important. Things are not good and there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in America. There is still racism. There is still classism. There is still sexism and gender discrimination. If we do not continue to fight for and maintain our rights, they will be taken away from us. My generation has been more preoccupied with entertainment news and kitsch than politics. We are a self-indulgent lot.
I worried that if Kerry got elected the populace would fall back to sleep. Now that Bush is back, hopefully people will organize. Hopefully my generation will show the resolve and firmness that was showed by the 60s generation. America can do better.

The debates and the two party system

So I've been watching the presidential and vice presidential debate and getting royally pissed off. From what it appears there are only two candidates that are running. The lack of alternative voices is maddening to me. The republicrats run the show and they both talk within their narrow parameters. As a green party member, I get ticked off that the greens don't have access to the debates. If there is ever to be change in America it has to come from alternative voices and from the margin. Change will not come from those in power who have a stake in maintaining the status quo.