It does a body good.

As the journalism adviser, recruiting new talent each year is a constant struggle. For the third year in a row, I decided to represent the Brave Times at Alta Loma's 8th Grade Welcome Night to attempt to entice eager, incoming students to write for what I consider to be the best newspaper in the district. It's always an interesting sight to see the people who show up, parents and students alike, all on their phones, with earbuds securely in place and video game devices at the ready. Just about everyone was attentive during the presentation, but very few of the people waiting beforehand spent the time interacting with those around them. I was also just as guilty of this, too, so don't think I'm placing myself above the fray. The experience left me thinking about a video I recently caught on YouTube, similar to one I posted back in December. This one, though, is directly related to education and what reform for it might truly look like.

Tell me what you think of the video. I'm curious about what students would have to say about it.

Frosh
This past Monday, you turned in your final review and study guide for Romeo & Juliet. I answered your questions about the essay and then gave you the rest of the period and the whole of Tuesday to focus on getting as much writing done as possible. Always remember that writing an essay out of order whenever you have the opportunity is actually the ideal way to get the best possible outcome. My experience shows that writing the thesis first should be the goal, followed by finding concrete details and evidence, and then writing the body paragraphs. Introductions and conclusions, while important, pale in comparison to the body of an essay. Speaking of which, below is the layout of your body paragraph, using the Jane Schaffer format.

1. Topic Sentence - State a reason why the character(s) you listed is/are to blame relating to one of your sub-topics in your thesis statement.
2. Concrete Detail (CD) - Incorporate a quotation from the play that supports the topic sentence with a proper citation. Your second semester ORUs demonstrate how to incorporate quotations.
3. Commentary (CM) - Explain how and why the quotation in your CD supports the TS using at least two sentences.
4. CM
5. CD
6. CM
7. CM
8. Transition Sentence - Write a sentence that allows you to flow from this paragraph to your next body paragraph. You won't need this sentence in your final body paragraph.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Concluding Sentence - Conclude your body paragraphs in order to flow into your conclusion.

Today, you focused on peer editing. Tomorrow, you may use this marked up draft or modify your existing draft for the purposes of self-editing. My suggestion is to do whatever work now as opposed to later so you can save yourself the headache of having to do everything the night before. If you wrote it out, type it; if you chose to type it, put it in MLA format.

Seniors
We discussed a few terms on Monday that will hopefully inform your reading of part two of The Stranger. Keep these terms in mind as the magistrate questions Meursault and also wonder where the focus is during the trial.

Yesterday, we took a look at the idea of savior symbolism in comparison to our discussions on existentialism. In order to properly study this idea, we're taking a look at Cool Hand Luke, starring Paul Newman. Keep in mind that you're taking notes on this for the purpose of seeing how Luke fits into either idea: savior or existentialist.

"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.

Thesis Crunch Time

This here bloggy message thing (© Matt in period 5) has been neglected lately save for my updates about the books I'm reading, which in and of themselves have served to further distract me from the task at hand. That task is my thesis, which is due in t-minus four weeks. So while this blog is a valuable tool and one I intend to continue utilizing, my thesis, which is a big part of what will allow me to complete my Masters degree, will be my focus for the next few weeks. Also, the irony of the fact that I am putting my classroom blog on a temporary hiatus to focus on a thesis about teachers using things like blogs both effectively and professionally is not at all lost on me. The sooner I finish this project and the ULV semester, though, the sooner I can get one of those fancy new iPads. I will call it iPADD because that is a Star Trek reference. Nobody tell my wife, though, because I will never hear the end of it.

Meanwhile, good luck to everyone participating in the STAR testing tomorrow. It is my sincere hope that Alta Loma shoots well past the already lofty goal of 790.

Day of Action

The budget cuts our district faces are extraordinary this year. As a protest to these cuts, there will be a rally outside of the campus during the morning before school on Thursday, March 4. Teachers wearing black with bandage strips as a show of solidarity against the disproportionate cuts education faces in the wake of the state budget crisis. While education takes up 41% of the state budget, the public school system has been charged with 60% of the impact. Besides increased class sizes, earlier start times, and a lack of proper staffing in many vital areas for next year, many teachers, administrators and classified staff will find themselves on the chopping block due to these cuts.

Ultimately, my job will be harder to do but that's the least of my concerns. I spent today at a workshop that constantly reiterated that teachers need to put the students first. These cuts put the students last in so many ways. I plan to protest on Thursday because teaching is not just a job nor a career but something for which I have a tremendous passion. Teaching matters to me. I'd like to keep doing it with the support necessary to do it well.

On Other Second Semesters

Currently, I'm sitting in my Educational Psychology class, which, besides my graduate seminar course where the goal is to write a very long paper, is my last actual class before earning my Master's Degree. Class has not actually begun yet as I type this up, so don't think I'm attempting to be a bad student or role model. Instead, I'm trying to catch up on some lost time in the blogging world.

From what I understand, pictures exist of my sumo hockey hijinks from the past weekend, so I'll make those available as soon as I can...if you care. Seriously, though, that was quite a good time.

---

Frosh
After finally finishing that first scene, we are rolling along. Scenes ii, iii and iv are all short and sweet, each one introducing at least one important or noteworthy character. Paris arrives in scene ii, the nurse and Juliet show up in scene iii, and Mercutio makes his presence known in scene iv. Of those, Juliet is probably most important since her name is in the title, but I have a personal affinity for Mercutio. His motivations are fascinating and always open to multiple interpretations. Also, I hope you start to appreciate the advent of stage directions in future plays and scripts you read while realizing the pros and cons of the absence of them in Shakespeare's work. Understanding how and where characters address one another is tough to figure out at first, but it'll be helpful whenever you check out Shakespeare in the future.

Your ORU #2 is due on Thursday. The Act I Study Guide and Act I Review are both due on Friday. Remember that in order to get full credit, your answers need to be in complete sentences.

Seniors
Macbeth is quite the jerk since becoming king, or maybe it's just his true nature becoming clear. Still, the jerk part is evident what with ordering the assassination of Banquo and all. His wife is even starting to think so.

You also took both the terms re-test and a quiz on Act II. The third paragraph will be due a week from Wednesday. Meanwhile, your second Outside Reading Update will be due Thursday.

Objectifying Learning

Like most people at their jobs, teachers often discuss the latest fads happening in the profession. Lately, many of the discussions that I've had revolve around the idea of learning objectives - explicit statements of what students should be able to do if they have learned what the instructor wants them to learn - and whether or not having them written on our white board actually helps students learn more or retain the knowledge better. As a matter of fact, a recent article put "teaching without learning objectives" as the second worst teaching mistake an instructor can make, right after getting stuck in a rut and right behind disrespecting students. Over the last few weeks, I've attempted to write learning objectives above the weekly agenda. I still haven't quite gotten the hang of it, but I really plan to give it my all starting second semester.

Believe it or not, I'm constantly trying to be a better teacher and sincerely hope that each year I teach accomplishes that goal in some small way, that I improve as an educator at least a little bit more than I did the year before. So my question to you is the following: do learning objectives written on the board help you become a better learner? Why or why not? Answer the question in a minimum of five sentences in the comments, and you will earn 10 bonus points. Make sure to identify yourself in the comments so I can give everyone the proper credit. The window for answering the question will close on Monday and the opportunity is open to both seniors and freshpeople.

Frosh
You turned in the mythology unit family tree and witnessed (through the power of reading) Odysseus take on the suitors.

Seniors
You continued to look for symbolic imagery in Pleasantville. Tomorrow is the day to turn in your Beowulf Revisited assignments.

Edit for clarification: Just to clarify for everyone, a learning objective is different from the daily agenda I write on the board. A learning objective is meant to inform the student of the intended outcome of the lesson. For example, I could write the following on the board for a poetry unit: After completing the lesson, the student will be able to describe the traditional rules and conventions of a haiku. This is different from the daily agenda, which I write to inform you what the intended order of events would be for a class period. The question, then, remains what is your opinion on the idea of me utilizing said learning objectives, which I have done very sparingly and to which I have not called much attention, in addition to writing the daily and weekly agenda on the board.

Finals Day (for me, that is...)

Today is the last day my ULV class meets for the semester. I stayed up way too late writing my paper, which was a minimum of two pages, but I managed to write enough to almost fill up the fifth page. The focus was an interview with Charles Rose, ALHS' school psychologist, who is a heck of a guy and really opened my eyes to everything his job entails. Hint: it's tough.

Frosh
First period managed to finish off part one (as designated by our textbook) of The Odyssey while fourth period still had about a page and a half left, which they now need to read for homework. Odysseus sacrificed his men to the Scylla, avoided the Charybdis only to have the boys betray his trust for their stomachs by eating the cattle. I'm still very disappointed that this textbook doesn't include the cooked and skinned cattle rising from the dead to freak Odysseus' men out because nothing beats a zombie hamburger. Remember that all notes will be collected for points with each section getting a designated amount to be determined later. Also, the Mything in Action (say it out loud!) final draft is due tomorrow. Everyone needs to have three in-text citations and a Works Cited page.

Seniors
Everyone turned in their portfolios (hopefully) and then received a day to work on the Beowulf Revisited assignment which is due Friday and worth 100 points. Many of you asked some really good questions about how to apply your own experiences to the story. I was also impressed at how many of you are making the attempt to look at the Beowulfs and Grendels that exist in the world symbolically. These should make for some fun reading.

Testing the Teachers

See, kids, it really pays to take notes even if some of the said notes look like complete gibberish four days after the fact. This is page one (of three) of notes I took with the ALHS school psychologist for the final in my Education Assessment course. My job now is to describe and analyze the interview as well as discuss any implications I find. Wish me luck because I'll be disappointed with anything less than an A.

Hitting the Reset button

The Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles of today aren't lacking many things, but neither have a reset button, one the player pushes that does not turn off the game but merely restarts it. Of course, those consoles save one's progress and have high-falutin' graphics that look gorgeous on an HDTV compared to the 8, 16 and 64 bits of yesterday, so I'll gladly play them over my old NES, Sega Genesis or N64 any day.

My point in bringing that up is that I once used this blog in the way I am able to use Twitter now, rendering the blog redundant. Why post the daily agenda (and, coming soon for second semester, the class objective) in another online format when one already exists? So I decided to hit the reset button.

I like writing, I like the series of tubes known as the Internet, and I like interacting with people, despite my many protests to the contrary at times. My own personal writing (and reading) endeavors have plateaued of late, mostly due to the demands of school and work. Why not, then, include my school and work demands into my writing by utilizing the blog that had become so redundant? At the very least, it will make me feel accomplished, and experience and the University of La Verne have taught me that feeling accomplished is one of the biggest motivation tools students can have.

Personally, "feeling accomplished" is my second biggest motivator; "spite" is number one.