shorts

This morning I told my students I'm planning to become a stand-up comedian after I'm done teaching, using only jokes I hear from my kids...

today I showed my alchemy blog to a high school student. he was really getting into it, trying to tell me about anime as "medieval updated"

I learned a lot from my students today. The ones who remain quiet in all the east bay rowdiness have so much to teach.

I worked a full school day on one hour sleep today. That's why they call me a super teacher.

I'm still subteaching

Doing a bunch of return appearances in a couple K+6th grade classes,
which has been a fun change of pace (I usually take high school jobs)

It's interesting having students tell me they remember me from 2-4 years
ago at a different school

Last spring I began to wonder if I should try to become a special ed teacher
(before I was set on the idea of doing English) still haven't figured that out.

Thinking about applying to sub in other school districts to get more jobs. As soon as I'm done with my MA I'll be trying to supplement my income with tutoring and writing consult work. We don't get paid enough so when we don't get enough work it sucks!

fun things I have seen/heard recently

The amazing view from Portola. You can see SF and the Bridges. The kids are rowdy there.

A kid doing a backflip in the halls of De Anza High in El Sobrante (Les Claypool's alma mater). 8am

Best inappropriate outburst: "Happiness is for drug addicts." Same kid said lots of other really funny stuff but it's too vulgar and offensive to publish. If he can channel that oppositional disorder he'll make a brilliant poet, or video game critic.

Various cute elementary schools tucked into the hills (and--to my great fortune--almost all the other schools in the Richmond area over the course of CELDT testing work).

Halloween--70 or 80 kids in a gym with only two substitutes. They were smoking in the girls locker room. It was chaos. Some great basketball. Not as much trouble as one would fear.

AP English class at Richmond High, great kids. Amazing to see hard work when the teacher isn't there. The kids don't leave the second the bell rings, and they say smart things. Also got to co-teach and observe a couple other English classes. They run a tight ship. This is a really nice opportunity for me not only because I'm usually on my own, but specifically because I want to teach full-time English one day.

a topic I've been thinking about lots lately

http://www.compassionatemind.co.uk/resources/Paranoid+Beliefs+and+Self+Criticism+in+Students.pdf

haven't written in awhile

I have had many interesting teaching experiences, and have many a story to tell (beginning year 3 as a sub in the tough schools of Richmond, CA) but I'm not sure how to go about it. I see a lot of "Action" in these schools but I want to do them justice, and don't want to give the wrong impression. Right now I'm at a point where I don't know what to think about some of the stuff I'm seeing, but I don't want to think out loud about it here. Since the media coverage of the RHS rape case I have been especially concerned, as many of the people I've talked to who live in safer areas seem to think that all RHS students are inhuman as a result. I just think of them as nice kids.

Philip K. Dick quote from Vulcan's Hammer

…it was the task of the schools, and especially the grammar schools, to infuse the youth of the world with the proper attitudes. What else were schools for?

crimes witnessed

two of the worst things I saw last semester:
1. A student punched out a glass display case.
2. A student smoked illicit herbs in class.
(in the latter instance all the kids got searched.
nothing was found. tricky little devil, whoever)