Don't call it a comeback!

LL Cool J knows what does and doesn't qualify
as a comeback.

HELLO!

Clearly, this blog has seen better days when it comes to the frequency of posting. Part of the reason for the infrequency of posting has to do with the fact that some jerks robbed my house in the early part of December, which definitely has an adverse effect on how much a person wants to interact with the world. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage was minimal. The things they took were just that: things. No one was home at the time (Although, our personal Batman-style detective work points to the fact that the perpetrators were teenagers interested in skinny jeans and anime, so my presence filled with menacing teacher looks may have been a deterrent.), and our dog was perfectly fine.

My wife and I are at the point now where we can joke about what a terrible guard dog our Spider-Man is; he barks incessantly at a perceived doorbell or knock, whether it's someone actually arriving at our house or something that occurs on television, yet a real threat to our abode leads to me arriving home to a perfectly happy dog.

I'm torn as to whether I should carry the burden of trying to catch up on all of the days I have missed in the nearly two months since I last wrote a classroom post, or if I should cut bait in the hopes of maintaining a motivation for writing. I'm leaning towards the latter. As a compromise, I'll merely discuss what we've gone over instead of doing a day by day breakdown. Heck, if that works better overall, I might adopt that for classroom posts in the future.

Frosh
After finishing up Fahrenheit 451, we focused on a research style project where you read through several articles on the idea of juvenile justice. You completed an essay on the subject after going through a plethora of pre-writing activities.

When we returned from winter break, we began to focus on the life and times of William Shakespeare in preparation for the third quarter text. Our focus will be on Othello this semester, but, since it's the first time I've taught that play, we'll also turn our attention towards Romeo & Juliet at times. This will serve the dual function of expanding your knowledge of Shakespeare's plays while also providing you the core literature the college prep classes cover.

We also spent a good portion of time on sonnets and iambic pentameter in an effort to prepare you for the style of writing Shakespeare employs. This is not to say that every single thing in either Romeo & Juliet or Othello will appear in this style, but it does prepare you for the diction and syntax present in the plays. Today, we'll be focused on reading through the famous balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet.

Seniors
After completing the senior literature project, we spent some time on Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales. However, the time available towards the end of the semester couldn't do justice to the time needed to properly cover the literature. I know this breaks everyone's heart.

When we returned from break, we also started our focus on William Shakespeare. This is the one time of year where the subject matter of both my senior and frosh classes dovetail, presenting both opportunities and challenges in how to differentiate the instruction for the varying levels. You focused on reading through the cleverly titled Shakespacket, writing a short four paragraph essay with the provided topic sentences.

Now, we are currently in the thick of reading Macbeth, having just completed act I today in class. Everyone should be looking for examples of thematic dichotomies in the text in order to complete the paragraph due on Friday. Remember that a key aspect of completing said paragraph is to be able to distinguish your evidence from your analysis through highlighting.

Ketchup

This is awesome. I wish I either
owned this costume or that
my face was Photoshopped
in place of this guy.

I'm very behind. Hence, I need to CATCH UP. See? This is what an English degree gets you: a stranglehold on puns.

Frosh
Monday, September 12 - I assigned your newspaper project. This is a big deal assignment, done in groups, where the goal is to create a newspaper from the point of view of the animals from Animal Farm. The newspaper could either be an official publication under the watchful eye of Napoleon, or it could be an underground newspaper meant to subvert the reign of the pigs. Either way, it has four sections and each person in your group is responsible for at least two articles. However your groups decides to lay it out in terms of size and page length is up to you. This is a chance to be creative and make something that looks visually interesting and exciting, so here's hoping you all do that.

Tuesday, September 13 - While I was gone at a district conference, you used the day to work on the newspaper project.

Wednesday, September 14 - Lather, rinse, and repeat, since the conference was two days long.

Thursday, September 15 - We revised Jane Schaffer-style chunks in class, making sure that you had a concrete detail sentence followed by two commentary sentences. You took what we did in class and created two more chunks based on the characters about which you had already written.

Friday, September 16 - You received another in-class work day to further your progress on the newspaper project.

Monday, September 19 - We began looking at the elements of character in class. The first of our two big ideas was to understand direct and indirect characterization. Keep in mind that direct characterization is easy, as it's a stated fact the narrator states about the character, while indirect characterization requires analysis on the part of the reader based on the actions, words and descriptions of the characters. The other big idea is to focus on internal and external conflict. Emotionally struggling with an idea is internal, while physically struggling against an outside force is external.

Tuesday, September 20 - Yet another meeting prevented me from being present in class despite being present on campus. You read "The Interlopers," containing one of my favorite single word endings in a short story, and completed the characterization sheet to the best of your ability.

Wednesday, September 21 - You received yet another day to work on your newspaper project.

Thursday, September 22 - Read the description for September 21 because the same applies here.

Friday, September 23 - We finished going over the elements of character, exploring flat and round characters as well as static and dynamic characters. Remember that round characters can be static or dynamic, while flat characters are always going to be static. Also, we discovered how detrimental poor directions can be on assignments when I am not present, and I asked you to revise your characterization worksheets with more specific instructions.

Seniors
Monday, September 12 - We listened to Blues Traveler's "The Hook" and explored the idea of saying a whole lot while claiming to say nothing.

Tuesday, September 13 - I was gone, and you read the poem "Autumn Begins in Martin's Ferry, OH," answering questions that accompanied the poem.

Wednesday, September 14 - You received a reading/annotation day for the lit project.

Thursday, September 15 - After turning in the first Article Selection assignment, you took the lit terms test covering the second set of terms. Following the completion of the quiz, we reviewed the concept of ethos, pathos and logos. It was review for most of you, which is fine. No one ever hurt themselves by learning more about a concept.

Friday, September 16 - We furthered our foray into argumentation by covering different logical fallacies. The idea is to understand that while someone can have a strong or salient point, he or she can weaken their argument by committing these fallacies. So don't do that.

Monday, September 19 - We finished covering the logical fallacies. You received the op-ed assignment where you got the chance to see SO MANY logical fallacies in action.

Tuesday, September 20 - While I was at yet another meeting, you continued working on the assignment from the day before.

Wednesday, September 21 - The period was the final reading/annotation day prior to the first annotation check where you had to have the first 25% of your lit project book read and annotated. Hopefully, you used it well.

Thursday, September 22 - You used the class period to complete the first of four in-class timed writings. You received two prompts, one a little easier than the other but with a higher degree of difficulty, and wrote for the entire class period. After finishing the timed writing, you turned in your books for the first annotation check. The revision of the timed writing, which needs to be typed in MLA format, is due Tuesday, September 27.

Friday, September 23 - I returned your books and your first article selection. I utilized the comment key when grading the latter and gave you a copy of the same. We used the period to explain the different facets of the comment key, and I hope seeing a tangible usage of the comment key on your assignment emphasized its importance.

It's been one week.

And like that, your first week is finished. Usually, I reserve this space for a short little ditty that I find interesting on any particular day, but we're getting back into the swing of things together, blogging about class happenings included. However, I will use this spot to plug a few things that hopefully grab your attention.

One, my Twitter feed is located to the right and when I'm not using it to make lame jokes or observations, the daily agenda will take up a lot of the timeline. Since keeping track of the agenda is worth a point per day, this is a great place to catch up on it should you ever be absent from class.

Second, you can "like" Mr. Talbot at Alta Loma High School on Facebook if you so desire. Look, I know it's lame to declare your "like" for a teacher in a public forum on the Internet, but I urge you to do so not because you actually do like me or the class yet. Do it instead because I post the link to all of the blog posts through the page; that way you don't have to constantly check the blog itself and a new entry's presence will just announce itself to you by way of your regular presence on the Facebook. Or don't. Ultimately, it's up to you.

Finally, Jon Morris has launched a new project called DC Fifty-TOO! that begins on Monday, August 15, leading up to the relaunch of DC Comics' latest big project, which I discussed over the summer. He's gathered a bunch of different cartoonists to do their own take on the DC Universe if they were given carte blanche to reboot the various series and characters. I'm really excited to see what comes out of this, moreso than the actual DC reboot since the latter has been either nonsensical or underwhelming save the idea of Grant Morrison getting a shot at building the Superman mythos from the ground up.

Frosh
Tuesday was the first day of school. I learned a little bit about you, and you learned a little bit about me. This is what's known as "building a foundation.

The administration decided to make a few changes and created a brand new fourth period on Wednesday. I asked you to look around the room and find something that caught your eye. You, in turn, described the object and then analyzed it for what it says about me as a teacher or the class overall while avoiding use of first person. Additionally, everyone came up with two facts about themselves and one plausible lie, and the class tried to determine which was which to varying degrees of success. Also, a few students should try to keep in mind the idea of "plausible," since being eight feet tall or Batman doesn't really fit that definition.

Thursday, you gave me a writing sample, and Friday you completed the Brigance and Botel assessments. Both of these were attempts to figure out where you stand at the current moment. Anything you weren't able to finish on these two days will be completed on Monday.

Seniors
On Tuesday, we did our introductions and I got an idea of some of the things you like.

Wednesday, we began reading This is Water by David Foster Wallace, discussing the speech at various points. Throughout the year and during the lit project, I'll be referring back to this piece as a means to remind you of your ability to choose. You get to choose what's important in your life and how important it is to you. Acknowledging your ability to do so is vital when determining things like theme and symbolism, so I hope you remember Wallace's speech while attempting your best analysis. I also assigned the quote assignment, urging you to focus more on the interpretation than the quote itself, since I care more about the words you write than the ones someone else has already written.

We finished This is Water on Thursday, and I asked you to write a short paragraph discussing your interpretation of the big idea to take away from it.

Friday, you turned in your quote assignment and we discussed the class overview as well as the Rules, Policies and What Not sheet I passed out to you the day before. We'll take another stab at discussing the quotes on Monday.

Enjoying & Improving

"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." 

- E.B. White

The world is such a vast and wonderful place that is full of disappointment and misery, that the dichotomy between the two extremes often makes it hard to function. Thankfully, I've chosen a career that allows me to experience both ends of the spectrum, and keeping this blog allows me to detail the constant struggle of how I plan my day.

Enjoying the World
Besides my review of Captain America, I never finished up discussing the rest of my upcoming summer movie choices. Of the three left, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 earned my dollars, while Cowboys & Aliens managed to pass me by. From the two I saw, the latter far outclassed the former, but who didn't see that coming? At the same time, it feels unfair to compare the two movies as they are in such different leagues despite being effect-driven blockbusters where extraordinary things happen every few seconds.

The Potter franchise, due to the connection with the books, has a heart and soul that big clunky robots that appear to be made out of random assortments of jagged metal could never have, especially considering that the closest thing to heart in a Transformers movie is a fart joke. While easier to follow than the previous sequel, Transformers is clunky, loud and way too long. Meanwhile, Potter manages to close out the series in a fashion suiting an eighth movie of an extremely long, albeit uneven, narrative. Captain America won the summer movie competition, with Potter and Thor trailing close behind.

Improving the World

Jim True-Frost plays Mr. Roland
Pryzbylewski on The Wire.

Last year, I continued my habit of being late to parties by finishing up season one of The Wire going into the beginning of the school year, and it's only appropriate that I finished the fourth and am just over halfway through the fifth season of the show as we start the academic calendar. Also appropriate? Each season focuses on a different section of a (sort of) fictional version of Baltimore and its corrupt systems while exploring the destruction of an American city. The first season focused on the drug trade and police, the second on the dock workers and their unions, the third shifted over to politics and real estate, and the fifth explores the media.

The fourth season that I recently completed watching still has a finger in the political pie, but the main focus is on the schools. Former cop Mr. Prezbo takes up teaching math in an urban middle school, bound and determined to make a difference only to find that the system in place prevents too much substantive change from taking place. Prez struggles to work within the confines of a broken patchwork of educational landmines and makes many of the same mistakes that first-year teachers always make.

This year, I'm taking on something completely new in teaching Frosh Honors English, and while I've gained plenty of experience going into my eighth year at ALHS, the fear that I'll fall into old habits or won't live up to the expectations of others constantly gnaws away at me. But I'm also hopeful that I can make an impact on a brand new set of students. As a product of Alta Loma High School's GATE program, there's a lot to live up to in my own mind. My ultimate goal is always to improve in some small way on my effectiveness as a teacher compared to last year. Living up to that goal this year will be difficult because I'm on a different stage.

As a goals go, it's lofty and vague (I'll get into some more specific goals later in the week), but it'll do for now.

Ten on Tuesday

Here's the old Batman Comment
Key wall, prior to it falling into disrepair.

1. Most of last week and a majority of this week is all about getting my class room ready for the onslaught of students come August 9. This means that I get to unpack all of the books and make my desk look like my desk again. It's also high time that I redo or update my "teacher walls," since it's been a few years since I initially committed to putting some thought into them. Most teacher walls feature a collection of student work or are based on a specific piece of literature. I decided to instead make them a reflection of myself since I'm a narcissist and a few students each year say they look cool. My Spider-Man wall is largely intact, as it features motivational frames of Marvel superheroes that my wife found at a .99 cent store. However, the Batman wall with my comment key and the Brave Times based News Flash wall are both getting makeover. I'll post pictures when everything is complete.

2. Spider-Man (the dog) achieved a milestone today by staying in the house alone for an extended period of time. Besides our dog being the normal, everyday jerk that he is also appears to suffer from this weird separation anxiety, the origin of which I couldn't begin to explain to anyone. He just tends to freak out if either myself or Angela leaves and he's aware of it. To combat these howling episodes since we moved into our house, Spider-Man (the dog) goes outside whenever we leave the premises. It's an attitude held over from our apartment living days; in both places where we lived with Spider-Man (the dog), we've received letters from management about his howling. Granted, it was one time (from each place), but it lead us to do whatever we could to prevent the world from ending. Home ownership has chilled everyone out, our dog included, it seems. I left him twice today: once for about two hours while I went to get my car serviced, and the second time when I went to work and then the gym afterward. Nothing was destroyed nor were there any accidents upon my return. He did, however, refuse to leave my side the rest of the night, much to the amusement of my wife.

3. My general rule of thumb is to keep up with two books at the same time, one physical book and another on my iPad. I recently finished The Bell Jar for my physical book and am still working my way through A Clash of Kings, the second thousand page entry in the Song of Ice and Fire series. The problem is that I don't know what physical book to read next, despite having plenty of options to choose from at home. Something light would be nice, prior to the school year beginning.

4. Instead of doing a full rundown on the absolutely cursed UFC 133 card, I'll just say that my brain says Rashad Evans will win but my heart is rooting for Tito Ortiz. This is a combination of Rashad being hateable in every way since he's trying to garner sympathy for himself despite being the one that chose to sit out a year and a half in order to avoid the position he's currently in and Tito being on a roll having beaten Ryan Bader at UFC 132. It might also have to do with the fact that Tito winning at the last pay per view allowed me to cash in on a little wager while attending the show in Las Vegas, so the Huntington Beach Bad Boy did me a solid. The least I can do is back his play against Rashad.

5. In the pages of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man this week, we find that the newest character to take on the mantle of the webslinger is Miles Morales, a fellow of mixed race heritage (Hispanic/African-American descent to be exact). This is pretty cool, and the impetus for it started last year when Donald Glover, from NBC's Community, started a Twitter campaign to cast himself in the role of Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man. While Sony went with Andrew Garfield, Glover's idea of an African-American Spider-Man does raise some interesting questions. What in Spider-Man's make up as a character makes him white? Except for the fact that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko originally chose him to be white, nothing does. He's a poor orphan living with his aunt in urban New York. Describe someone with those qualities nowadays and Peter Parker is the last person that would come to mind. Add to the fact that Spider-Man's costume covers him from head-to-toe, unlike Batman or Superman, and it allows anyone to envision themselves as Spidey, which is an important aspect of the character. I have a near complete run of Ultimate Spider-Man, and this news has me really excited to see where the story takes him.

6. Qdoba always feels like a much lighter meal than Chipotle.

7. My iMac currently runs on 1GB of RAM, so I'm contemplating purchasing some more (4GB) and installing it myself. While I'm very Internet savvy, I've never been too tech savvy, so I hope that YouTube video I saw showing the step-by-step process of how to make the switch doesn't steer me wrong.

8. The toughest part about going back to school is trying to get my sleep schedule back under control.

9. That CM Punk shirt I was so hyped up about before is now available for pre-order, and I'm wondering if I should buy that instead of the RAM for my computer. THESE ARE ACTUAL THINGS THAT I CONTEMPLATE!

10. Unfortunately, while CM Punk and his shirt are still the best in the world, WWE pretty much did what they always do and caused me to lose interest in the angle. It's too bad, too, since Summerslam is taking place at the Staples Center on August 14.

The Bourne Education

Matt Damon is pretty great. He flew down to the SOS March on Washington this past Saturday, where other notables like Diane Ravitch also spoke, and gave a stirring speech protesting the Obama administration's ed policies pushing for standardized testing. Here's a video of his speech followed below by the transcript taken from the Washington Post's school blog, The Answer Sheet.

"I flew overnight from Vancouver to be with you today. I landed in New York a few hours ago and caught a flight down here because I needed to tell you all in person that I think you’re awesome.
I was raised by a teacher. My mother is a professor of early childhood education. And from the time I went to kindergarten through my senior year in high school, I went to public schools. I wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything.

I had incredible teachers. As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself — my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity — all come from how I was parented and taught.

And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned — none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success — none of these qualities that make me who I am ... can be tested.

I said before that I had incredible teachers. And that’s true. But it’s more than that. My teachers were EMPOWERED to teach me. Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep — this silly drill and kill nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle. They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us. They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.

Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’ That was in the ’70s when you could talk like that.
I shudder to think that these tests are being used today to control where funding goes.

I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was based on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the right bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.

I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here. I do know that.

This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything. Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back."

Ten on Tuesday

Because I've desperately wanted to blog but lacked the focus to do so lately, I decided to steal an idea (while giving credit, mind you, so it's technically not stealing nor is it plagiarism but it's also easier to write steal than give this kind of long-winded explanation) that I saw an old college friend borrow from someone else (language alert on that last one). The original idea is to discuss ten things (on Tuesday) going on in my life as a means of catching up, but I'm just going to modify it to apply to ten things that I've done or been thinking about. Sure, most people will be reading this on Wednesday (if ever), and a Five on Friday idea would be much easier, but it's still technically Tuesday as I begin to write and Friday would be a much more difficult day to attempt this, which leads to number one.

1. Coming on the heels of our anniversary weekend trip to Las Vegas, the wife and I are headed out there for a truncated one night stay to show some friends how to do things up right. Never in my life did I expect to be the kind of person that could show Vegas newbies around town, but with our trips over the last few years coming about every six months, I guess it's time to accept that my wife and I are those people.

2. Aside from the time I spent lesson planning with Ms. Windt last month, today was one of the most productive of the summer. I replaced my car key battery, took Spider-Man (the dog) to get his vaccinations, saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon, got some quality reading time in, and went to the gym. This is what passes for accomplishment during the summer.

3. Spider-Man (the dog) has been having a bit of a rough time today due to said vaccinations or just the visit to the vet in general. Either way, dog vomit is annoying but also a great name for a hardcore punk band. He's fine now, thankfully.

4. Speaking of lesson planning, thanks to mine and Ms. Windt's foresight, we have the first four weeks of Frosh Honors English planned out. This is an amazing feat. Trust me.

5. A trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man leaked today. When it comes to comic book movies, I really try to give them the benefit of the doubt until their release, but so many things bug me (HAH!) about the choices Marc Webb and company are making for the film that I'm beginning to wonder if the director got the gig based solely on his name (See what I did there?). The costume hasn't wowed me mostly because I don't like the rounded off red section that remains disconnected from the belt, however, I understand the need to set the costume apart visually from the Raimi movies. I don't even mind that Sony has chosen to reboot a franchise whose last movie came out just four years ago. Despite the so-so box office returns, The Incredible Hulk was a short-term reboot that fixed and addressed the problems with the Ang Lee original. What kills me is the idea that we, the audience, have such short-term memories that they need to once again do another retelling of Spider-Man's origin. The same applies to the upcoming Superman reboot, Man of Steel. You know those "Previously on..." segments at the beginning of one hour dramas? That's how long it should take to tell the origin of any comic book character that's had a film in the past 25 years. Comic books have told interesting stories about superheroes for nearly 80 years now and have done so without needing to constantly spend a third or more of their content space devoted to the origin of the character.

6. CM Punk really is the Best Wrestler in the World right now, and I'm glad I spent money watching him put on a classic match at WWE Money in the Bank. I won't bore anyone by recapping his recent phenomenal storyline here; it's hard to appreciate if you're not a long-term fan. However, Punk's exit that night (a screencap of which I included) was one of the greatest in recent memory. By the by, if anyone knows a way to get me a copy of the shirt he wore to the ring for his match that night, I would really dig it. The current asking price for an XL on eBay has been in the neighborhood of $250, since it was a limited edition deal that was only available at the show in Chicago. But I figure the many people who will see this are industrious and/or richer than I am, so it never hurts to ask.

7. Why isn't there a Dunkin Donuts presence here in Southern California? Granted, not having access to yet another donut chain is probably good for my wallet and waistline, but I am a glutton for movie tie-ins, especially comic book movie tie-ins. After getting a Thor Big Gulp cup back in May, I assumed that 7-Eleven would handle all of my Marvel needs by handling the Captain America stuff, too. Then I could have a matching set of Avengers cups prior to the team finding their way to the big screen next summer. Unfortunately, Dunkin Donuts scored that particular license, and none exist in a 50 mile radius. Seriously, I looked. It doesn't help that the franchise still advertises in California, thus rubbing it in my face that I can never drink a Captain America Coolatta. I don't even know what a "Coolatta" is but if Captain America puts his name on it, then it can't be bad.

8. I also wanted to devote an entire entry to testosterone replacement therapy and it's use among UFC/MMA fighters, but I devote too much space to the latter subject on this blog as it is, so I'll just speak to the former here. It's cheating. Men that do genuinely need testosterone replacement therapy fall into two camps: those who are later along in life (usually in their late 40's to early 50's) and experience a genuine drop in their body's level of testosterone and those who have artificially boosted their level of testosterone through the use of steroids and damaged their endocrine system to the degree that they now need to bring their body's amount up to normal levels. If fighters fall into either of the two camps, they should no longer be professional fighters. Period. Here's what most people seem to forget about the use of steroids in mixed martial arts: they don't make a fighter stronger, granting an incredible Hulk-like physique. They aren't a super soldier serum that will suddenly make scrawny Steve Rogers into taller and buffer Captain America. A person taking steroids will not wake up with more muscles the next day or the next week. Steroids allow people to recover from workouts faster so they can workout more without the fatigue and muscle soreness associated with working out. It doesn't matter if a fighter tests positive for steroids on the day of their fight, as is the norm for testing with almost every state athletic commission these days. Should a fighter test positive on that day, that person is an idiot who didn't get the full use out of the steroids in the first place. Taking steroids during their training camp is where the benefit lies. This is why UFC should pay for truly random out-of-competition testing for their fighters as condition of the new health insurance the company has provided for them. Anyone who claims a need for therapeutic use should be shown the door, which sadly includes Chael Sonnen, a fighter I happen to enjoy a great deal.

9. Noticing gray hair in my beard is really cool because I feel like I'm one step closer to that distinguished professorial look I've always wanted to achieve. Next stop, corduroy jackets with suede elbow patches!

10. Man, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was an awful movie. However, Sam Witwicky's mom is still the most entertaining character in the entire franchise. Even if Shia LeBeef fails to return for the next one, I sure hope his parents make an appearance.

Book 17 of 2011

This is a book I borrowed from McB that I finished shortly before the school's Friday morning meeting.

17) See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers by Roxanna Elden

Roxanna Elden has taught all over the place in all different disciplines, from elementary to college level courses. This book takes her experiences, and the experiences of many other teachers from all different experience levels, and attempts to give the real lowdown that other teacher books fail to dole out in lieu of idealized versions of what all teachers hope to be. 

Good news, everyone!

Professor Hubert Farnsworth
approves!

Shortly before we went on Spring Break, I interviewed for a position to teach honors next year. And, well, I got it!

Next year, instead of teaching frosh college prep, I'll be teaching the freshman honors class along with Mrs. Windt. I'm really excited to take on something that's completely new yet also a little familiar. It'll be an interesting challenge that will allow me to grow as an educator and as a person.

And now it's a ketchup time, in that we will catch up with all of the days I have neglected to blog about previously.

Frosh
On Thursday, March 31, you worked on deliberations in the case of the Choctaw Three and we discussed the results you determined. The lesson here is that despite years of progress, racism is by no means dead or done. It still exists, but hopefully that is something that all of us can combat in a meaningful way over the course of our lives.

Friday, April 1, you moved forward.

For Monday and Tuesday, you viewed the documentary titled Scottsboro: An American Tragedy, detailing the case of the nine black men accused of raping two white women. There will be an opportunity later on this quarter where you will write a compare and contrast essay, and one choice will be comparing the court case in To Kill a Mockingbird to the Scottsboro boys' case. If that is something that interests you, then make sure to hold onto those notes when I return them to you in the Graded Work tray.

Wednesday, we finished watching the documentary, picked up To Kill a Mockingbird and discussed the pre-interviews that you handed in.

You took the quiz on the "What Was Jim Crow?" packet on Thursday. Once that was done, we began reading the first chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird. By Monday, you should be finished with chapter three. That first chapter is challenging and somewhat long for the book but the story deals less with the history of the town and the Finch family after that point, so it should be less confusing. Keep with it and write down any questions you have so we can discuss your understanding after the weekend.

You moved forward on Friday for the final time this year.

Seniors

On Thursday, March 31, we listened to The Cure's "Killing an Arab" and Guns 'N Roses' "Civil War" in order to discuss the connections to both Cool Hand Luke and The Stranger. There were four questions dealing with each song, and your group chose which song to discuss the answers.

I told you a story on Friday, April 1, in the hopes that you would all make safe decisions on prom night. Hopefully, you did. We also attempted to watch a short film made by Mr. Rubel on the birth of the hippie movement, but my DVD player was uncooperative. 

Monday was a big day. You checked out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest from the library and received both the reading itinerary and the Table of Contents assignment. We began reading chapter one. Keep in mind that Chief's perception changes throughout the novel, so the beginning is much more difficult to understand than the latter parts of the book. He views things from a metaphorical point of view, and it's up to you to determine, at least in the beginning, what is literally happening on the ward. 

On Tuesday, we finished reading chapter one and discussed the most important line in the book in terms of understanding Chief's perspective. We then focused on some terms that will aid your understanding of the novel.

Wednesday saw us finish the terms and read through the article "Tarnished Gallahad" by Matthew Rick. Ken Kesey lived a pretty fascinating life and writing this book was just a small part of his experience.

I gave you Thursday to read after you turned in your latest ORU. 

Friday, you took the quiz on section one, which consisted of the first four chapters of Cuckoo's Nest. You then received some questions that you began to answer in groups and will get the chance to complete on Monday. 

Book 13 of 2011

This was a hardcover edition my parents gave me as a gift for the holidays that I read during SSR.

13) The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch

To borrow a line from another blogger I enjoy, were both of us not already married, I'd like Diane Ravitch to be my girlfriend. Sure, there's a bit of a forty-some odd year age difference, but I like her grit and tenacity so much that it's something I'm sure our mutual affection could overcome. Ravitch has been a historian for education since the 1960's and served under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the Department of Education. Ravitch's central argument, if the subtitle doesn't already give it away, states that the so-called reform movement supporting charter schools at the expense of public ones and tying teacher pay to test scores is a move that will ultimately destroy the foundation of education much the same way that deregulation of Wall Street irrevocably damaged the economy.

Book 8 of 2011

This was my SSR book for the last few weeks, and I finished it just before the journalism class' story idea meeting.

8) NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

There's a common cliche that has always bugged me about parenting books and the people who read them: the readers share their knowledge with parents who are in the thick of raising kids, and the former attempt to school the latter on what they're doing wrong. And while I was reading this book, I didn't want to be that guy, especially considering more of my friends that I talk to on a regular basis have kids now than don't. Thankfully, this doesn't quite count as a parenting book but more of a child psychology book. Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, NurtureShock's authors, take many of society's normal preconceived notions about children -- from infants to teenagers -- and debunk the thinking surrounding them.

It's never nice to steal...

...but this compilation of people stealing hats from UFC fighters while they make their entrance is pretty hilarious. I'm thinking that I'd like to add "steal a hat from an entering UFC fighter" to my bucket list. It doesn't hurt that the song accompanying the video is awesome all on its own.




Everyone, I appreciate your continued patience as my room continues to be a sweltering mess. Please understand that I'm much more miserable in this particular situation because I'm in there all day. If I had any control over the AC and how busted it must be, it would already be fixed. My fingers are crossed that it will be fixed soon.

Beyond that, we have some mustarding to do. Wait, that's not right...

Frosh
You turned in the Idiot's Guide Outline last Thursday. We then went over a brief overview of the world according to Ptolemy, emphasizing the idea that his view of the world was skewed and that the alignment of planets, moons and stars affected the behavior of what would otherwise be rational thinking individuals. You also received the new and improved outside reading update. We'll attempt one together prior to the first one's due date.

Friday, we moved forward

Today, we started looking at a few literary terms on which you will be quizzed come next Tuesday. You'll get some time to do some studying of said terms tomorrow; creating flash cards is not necessarily required but strongly encouraged.

Seniors
On Thursday and Friday, you received the Shakespacket and had time to read and evaluate the information. I urge you not to take this lightly because, unlike first semester, I'm not padding the grade book with initial points. From the (lack of) class discussion today, I get the impression that too many people have forsaken the "reading" part of the Shakespacket essay assignment in favor of "not reading." This approach has bad idea written all over it. There will be many references to the information without my explanation during the course of our analysis of Macbeth. Please keep this in mind. You also received the requirements for the semester's outside reading.

Today, we picked up copies of Macbeth from the library and chose roles in anticipation of our reading the play. Everyone is locked into the roles for act I, and when act II rolls around, we'll switch it up. Additionally, we discussed the many different thematic dichotomies present in the play as well as the paragraphs you will have to complete for each act. Links to both of those sheets either are already available on the files section of the blog (in the case of the paragraph) or will be shortly (in the case of the dichotomy sheet).

Book 1 of 2011

I finished this Sunday evening, relaxing at home.

1) How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form by Thomas C. Foster

Having bought this book last year, started it in October on a day I was home sick and finally finishing it after a long grading session concluded in December, I find that Thomas Foster's basic literary criticism is helpful to anyone looking to understand the why of what they have read.

Foster's previous book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, covered some of the same ideas, but here he gets into some helpful specifics and informative history specifically about novels. His tone is conversational. What I liked most about Literature was how each chapter could roughly translate to one period-long lecture. The same applies here. The big improvement to this book from the last one are the various "Law of [Cleverly Punned Title]" that details a general rule to follow when reading a novel. These are the kinds of common sense approaches to reading and interacting with a text that I feel would be a great benefit to my students, so I annotated each of them and plan to make a list prior to their big lit project next year.

My sole complaint has to do with the choices Foster makes in the examples he uses. He really focuses on Joyce, Faulkner, Dickens and the Victorian-era novelists, the latter to really illustrate the point of how much has changed in the modern and postmodern period. This goes to my own personal preferences, but I found myself trying to make associations between what he has read, a lot of which with I am unfamiliar, to the kind of authors I enjoy. Mostly, I would have liked to see more books that I've read mentioned as opposed to the ones he discusses. I guess part of the point is for the reader to apply their reading knowledge and history to the lessons he's teaching through the text. But he and I like different things and that makes him wrong and me right. 

Fresh Start and a Clean Slate

I've set a goal for myself. I only read 16 books last year. My reading consistency always falls off a cliff in the months between September and December because I get caught up in grading a whole ton of papers for the lit project. Still, I could be spending the time I am not grading on reading as opposed to watching TV or playing video games. So my goal this year is to read 25 books in 2011. Like I did in 2010, I'll crosspost my Goodreads reviews here to keep track and as a way to keep me honest.


Frosh
We started the semester off with a discussion about grades and how second semester works. The first semester of high school is tough; you have to make many adjustments in your expectations as well as figuring out what others expect of you. Because of the time it takes some folks to get themselves situated, grades and work ethic have a tendency to fall by the wayside. Second semester gives those people a chance to get back on track. Every single student starts second semester with a clean slate; grades start over from scratch. Look at second semester as an opportunity to right the wrongs of the first semester or to continue on a path that has already been working for you.

The class also discussed their Shakespeare knowledge, most of which consisted of people sharing that the Bard is a poet. At least I know the page everybody is on going into this unit.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, you started reading the first chapter of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare, a title I hope no one takes at face value. The beauty of the Complete Idiot's Guide series is the way it is able to take complex and sometimes daunting subjects and simplify them into easily digestible books. You began to fill out the outline for the biographical chapter. To understand the creator is to better understand the work, so we study Shakespeare prior to reading Romeo & Juliet. Makes perfect sense, right?

Today is much of the same. I also will give you the newest ORU incarnation for second semester.

Seniors
It's a new semester! On Monday, we reviewed the slightly updated class syllabus for everyone's benefit, especially those new to the class due to a change in class schedules for second semester.

Here's the thing: I like second semester better than the first. We're in a rhythm as a class, and there's a bit more focus due to the fact that everyone reads the same text. The lit project is great, but for my own sanity, I prefer everyone reading the same work. There's also, at least in the fourth quarter, a renewed sense of urgency in the class because everyone wants to graduate.

Tuesday, we discussed our bucket lists, but the underlying premise was to discuss what each individual would be willing to do in order to achieve the things on said lists, as well as how far each person would go for the people in their lives and their respective lists. It's an interesting moral dilemma that we will constantly revisit in our Macbeth discussions.

Oh yeah, did I mention we started our Macbeth unit? 'Cause we did. Today will see us get some terms under our belts, some new and some old. Some of the terms will be your responsibility when I give you the fabled Shakespacket tomorrow, but if you ever have questions about the terms, let me know. The test on these terms won't be taking place until January 20, so there's some time.

Also, if anyone wants to purchase Macbeth or Romeo & Juliet, I've provided a link below to their respective Amazon pages.

A Night of Progress

First off, check this out: The Brave and the Bold: Mr. T

Alta Loma High School implemented Report Card Night three (or so) years ago in an attempt for parents to conference with teachers about a student's progress in the class up to that point. I can't say I'm all that big a fan of the process. While I enjoy meeting parents, the night feels a bit contentious, since the parents most interested in meeting are the folks who think their student is doing poorly. That's not to say that I didn't meet some fine people who just wanted to introduce themselves, but for the most part, meeting someone who is upset with their student or the student's grade makes for an awkward first meeting.

Having now experienced both, I much prefer the Back to School Night format. It allows me to explain my philosophies about grading and teaching so that parents have an idea going into the year while also capturing the initial excitement of the school year when students, teachers and parents haven't been bogged down with all that life has to throw at them. There's also more urgency for all parents to attend Back to School Night, since the prevailing attitude of parents wanting an explanation from the teacher about a poor grade doesn't exist, so all parents feel a need to attend. Plus, I have never felt that the first six weeks of school is in any way an accurate reflection of a student's performance in a class, especially if the administration is still balancing the schedule up to four weeks into the semester.

Still, despite the sweltering heat in the small gym compared to the relative coolness outside, I enjoyed meeting each and every one of the parents from Report Card Night. It's always nice to put parents to students and faces to names.

Frosh
Monday, we came to a consensus about the climax of The Most Dangerous Game, deciding, despite many different guesses by some, that Rainsford's dive into the water to avoid General Zaroff was the moment filled with the most tension and the ultimate turning point of the story. You then received your mapping assignment where you need to create a map of Ship-Trap Island, noting a minimum of four landmarks supported by quotes from the story and noting Rainsford's journey around the island. This is due Thursday, September 23. Remember that students who would like to earn an A will need to go above and beyond the minimum by including more than four landmarks with accompanying quotes. The map should include color and should follow the plot of the story.

Tuesday was a minimum day due to the aforementioned Report Card Night, and you continued working on the mapping assignment.

My goal is to go over Elements of Character today after you take a brief quiz on the story.

Seniors
We began discussing argumentation terms and common logical fallacies Monday and Tuesday. The goal here is that I want you to be able to argue better and not fall into the usual traps that many people assume are valid when trying to make a point. Even better, if you can identify the use of the fallacies in someone else's argument (even mine), then you'll have a way to shut down your opponent. Who doesn't like being able to do that?

Today, the plan is to finish going over the rest of the fallacies and then read some Op-Ed (opinion/editorial) pieces that commit every fallacy under the sun.

Also, seniors need to be aware that Thursday is a bighugegiganticimportantsuperexcitingcrazy day. Your first Article Selection is due and you need to have the first 20% of your book read and annotated. That day will also have the first timed writing which you'll revise, type and return the following Tuesday.

SENIOR Bonus Time (15 points): We went over identifying logical fallacies in writing today in class. So my challenge to you is to find logical fallacies on the Internet, specifically in news stories. Yahoo, CNN, Huffington Post, Fox News and many local news sources allow readers to leave comments on specific stories. Find a comment that utilizes a fallacy and fill out the following in a comment with your name and period:

1. Headline of the story:
2. Brief (1 to 2 sentences) synopsis of the article: 
3. Comment (copy and paste the whole thing):
4. Logical fallacy employed:
5. Explanation of how the comment qualifies as a logical fallacy (2 sentences minimum, more would be preferable):

Numbers 2, 4, and 5 need to be in complete sentences or else you will earn 0 points. The deadline for submission is Sunday, September 26, at 11:59 PM and the limit is one per student.

School Pride

Our school starts an hour late on Fridays so that teachers can meet up, usually in departments sometimes as a whole, and discuss different matters that can eventually lead to improvement in the school. Often we will use this as time to collaborate with each other at the grade level or explore test results in order to reflect on why they may have gone up or down. Lately, the content of our meetings has been directed by administration to focus on the latest acronym that can help us get that job done.

The discussion this last Friday saw the conversation turn from test scores to school pride. Many teachers in our meeting see a correlation between the two. There are a lot of great things that people can and do say about Alta Loma. Our campus is a pretty accepting environment, we have teachers that genuinely care about students, and there are more good folks than bad people at the school. One thing that's not in abundance, though, is school pride. It's easier to be cynical and tear things down than to think something the school does is cool.

I'm not a saint in this regard. I eat lunch alone in my room and attend few school events. It's hard to even explain why except that, again, it's easier not to do so. The one event I did attend during the last school year was the dodgeball tournament where I served as referee. And you know what? That was so much fun. It was a great event and I had the opportunity to interact with students in a relaxed setting. I realize now that it'd be great to be involved like that more.

Bonus Time (10 points) - So I put the question to you, the reader, and more specifically, my students: what does school pride look like to you? How would you describe school pride? Where do you see school pride lacking? What do you think the school can do to encourage school pride and what can you personally do? In order to get full credit, answers need to be between eight to ten sentences. Both freshpeeps and seniors are eligible. Post responses as comments on this blog and make sure to leave your name and class period. Answers must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, 8/18.

Frosh
Friday, you received the opportunity to provide a sample of your writing. On Monday, we covered the department policies and practices as well as the class overview.

Seniors
Friday, we discussed the quotes you found. For Monday, check out the frosh description because that pretty much covers what the seniors did as well.

3

And on the third day, Talbot phoned it in.

Frosh
Students finished the Brigance, completed the Botel and then utilized the rest of the time working on the I Am poems, which are due tomorrow.

Seniors
We finished and discussed "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace, with many people sharing what they believed to be the big idea from the speech. We also discussed what other things could be analogous to the water used in the anecdote/joke in the beginning of the speech. Ideas included school, societal life and the idea that everyone is living on a giant rock flying through space. After that, students wrote down questions about college life and class expectations, but we didn't get to delve deeply into too many answers.

This is School

Day two ended with me collapsing onto my couch with my dog for a nap. This going back to work thing is not easy.

Frosh
Students received the I Am poem assignment and worked on the Brigance assessment after I locked everyone into their seats. My goal is to know everyone's name by the end of next week, but please remember that I'm human and will make mistakes. If I happen to get a name wrong, feel free to flog me only in relation to the severity of the mistake.

Objective: Having completed the Brigance assessment, A S W write a first draft of the I Am poem.


Seniors
David Foster Wallace is one of my favorite authors. This was such a great way to start the year and I really hope it sets the tone for how we view everything we study. There really is a common through line between "This is Water" and how we can read the rest of the core literature. Additionally, there are many books in the lit project that also tie into some of the major themes of the speech. It's a tremendous piece of writing and I'm really looking forward to finishing it and hearing your thoughts tomorrow.

Objective: Having read "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace, A S W discuss its meaning and impact with the rest of the class.

"I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared."

Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech

Detective McNulty and Stringer Bell
exchange a look.

The first season of HBO's television show The Wire is absolutely brilliant in its take on systems that have been corrupted to their very core and what happens when (mostly) good people attempt to work within the confines of their rules. More importantly, it explores what happens when people attempt to work within the system as if it is fair. It's inherently not. Police work and the subsequent court battles are one such system; the Game, the name given to the system of drugs, hustling and betrayal by the individuals involved, is another such system. The thing they have in common is futility; it's a running motif throughout the first season, which I just finished watching for the first time, and I expect it to continue throughout the rest of the series.

Attempting to change the system from within, or even attempting to live above or away from it, becomes futile. Like Sisyphus and his rock, there is no variation; a person like Detective McNulty or D'Angelo Barksdale may want to prove they can effect change in their respective field, but when everyone else has succumbed to the attitude that "business as usual" is the only approach, it becomes impossible to make those differences happen.

Keep in mind that this is a television show, albeit a brilliant one, and this is just my interpretation of one of the many things the show tries to say. Maybe I, like Detective McNulty, am my own fatally optimistic worst enemy by hoping that The Wire is wrong. That's where Erica Goldson comes in. She graduated from Coxsackie-Athens High School back in June and gave the speech linked above.

As a teacher, this is quite the inspiring speech because of -- not in spite of -- its blunt honesty. More than anything, it is my greatest hope that my students figure out how to think, especially for themselves. That's something I'd love to see them demonstrate on a regular and consistent basis, and it saddens me when they clearly don't. Writing a coherent paper or knowing not to fragment sentences comes secondary to a student that can see the Game for what it is. Make no mistake, as it stands right now, education is every bit the Game that The Wire shows every other system to be. It beats original thought and new ideas out of students so that it can measure its own progress as a way to pat itself on the back. Effecting change becomes next to impossible and teachers have to resign themselves to the incremental progress they may or may not see in the students they teach for an inkling of hope.

Erica figured that out. Those caught in this particular Game oftentimes fail to see it. She stood up when an opportunity arose and made it known that she saw school for what it is and what it can be. She yearns to change the system but knows that it has to be done at the individual level. It's a student's job to question and explore. Reality is based exclusively on perspective and, as Erica says in her speech, students must "create your own perspective." In a culture that has thus far encouraged students to regurgitate the opinions of others in lieu of their own and where opinion is something that can be obtained from Sparknotes, there is an urgent need for students to take ownership of their own education.

It is our job as teachers to be the "avant-garde" educator that can get students to see the world for themselves instead of as the perception that the system would like them to have. This inevitably means going against the system, butting heads with it and making life harder. The easier road is the one where a teacher puts their head down, goes along with the latest educational fad and toes the company line; in my short time as an educator, I've found myself guilty of taking this easier road. I want to be able to keep buying DVDs of The Wire, after all. That becomes hard to do when there isn't a source of income present.

My goal is to reflect back over the course of this new school year on Erica Goldson's speech while I'm trying to incorporate learning objectives and scales into my teaching. I want to encourage students to recognize the Game around them and hopefully impart a little bit of my own experience to encourage said students to speak up and challenge me with -- and not to mention form -- their own opinions.

And if that doesn't work I will just give up. No, wait--!

So long, Class of 2010

While this blogging deal fell by the wayside as I finished my Master's degree and became embroiled in the logistical and grading nightmare that is the end of the school year, I still feel that reflecting on the year is a valuable practice...even if it happens two months after the fact.