Hodge Podge

I've been reading some forum threads about how to get people to read your blog and in so doing have looked at some other people's blogs. I've come to the conclusion that part of my challenge is that I'm not a very disciplined blogger with regards to sticking to a particular theme or topic ... which makes my target audience for this blog basically people who care about my (apparently quite) random musings.

This entry isn't gonna help that much, I'm afraid.

So, first of all, I started watching "Big Love" this week and -- despite my deep aversion to Bill Paxton (I think I previously mentioned my "Worst Actors of All Time" list, which he tops) -- I'm already sold. I am a LITTLE concerned that I may mostly be enthralled by the strange and bizarre world of polygamy and/or Mormon cult living. Oh well. (The show was very quick to acknowledge that the Church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) has not condoned polygamy since 1890.)

Okay, how about this one? I was driving down to Portland today, and apparently my radio tuner in the car is busted because most of the time I could only get one or two stations (this may also have been because I was in the boonies). I actually kind of like this, because it makes me listen to things that I normally wouldn't ... like THIS SONG! The first verse is about a guy who's about to kill himself in his car (a Chevy, of course) when his buddies call to make sure he's coming out on some binger. This thoughtful expression of friendship causes the protagonist to reconsider his plans and to respond what will become the refrain of the song: "Thanks for the call."

Today was gonna be the day
He´d already wrote the note
And parked that Chevrolet
At the end of that dead end road
Had his finger on the trigger; just about to end everything
He was taking one last long breathe; when he heard his cell phone ring

And his best friends say man where you been?
We´re headed down to the lake this weekend
You better not miss it ´cause buddy I swear
It won´t be the same If you aint there
And i told that girl that you like so much
You were coming along and her eyes lit up
I better let you go man i really hope i didnt catch you in the middle of anything
He said you kinda did but i don´t mind at all
I´m glad you called

It's been a while since a song made me burst out laughing, but this one did it. A+!

I keep hoping that each of of these posts will be my last one written from my crappy work laptop. I've got my sights set on a new mac and have been obsessively checking this website to see when I can fork over the dough. Both MacRumors, Rachel and everybody else I ask say it's better just to wait until the new updates are out. Sigh. Some day soon ... I hope.

Finally, and most importantly, I got to go watch Rachel compete in the Jessup International Law Competition today. She was amazing. I told her afterward that I was amazed by how much like a REAL LAWYER she really is now. The last time I saw her in a mock trial-type competition was in her first year of law school, and it's so impressive how much progress she has made. She has worked so hard over the last three years, and the results are plain to see. She has inspired me to take a similar tack (though perhaps not QUITE as zealous) in my own career path. She's amazing!

Hurt Locker

I saw "The Hurt Locker" yesterday and it was predictably awesome. Given everything I had heard about it, the pump was definitely primed going in, but it did not fail to live up to my expectations. In fact, it was a much more enjoyable movie than I was expecting ... which is not to say that my shoulders aren't still sore from being tensed for two hours straight.

Aside from that, Rachel is gone for the weekend for her Jessup competition, and I have a lot of reading to get done. Kozol, charming though he is, isn't lighting me up and keeping me glued to "Letters to a Young Teacher," but I'm hoping to finish it this weekend and get started on "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." Eventually I'll probably have to start reading actual TFA books, but I haven't been able to bring myself to start on them yet ... though they actually look pretty interesting/readable.

Lastly before heading off to a little more time with Mr. Kozol and (likely in quick succession) sleepiness, I just came across this article on Slate.com about the search for the rare Hainan gibbon. Thought it was rather well written and kind of awesome.

worthless post

Well, I've finally eaten enough snickerdoodles (homemade! ... by me ... not very good) to completely eradicate any good i did today at the gym. I'm not sure when it happened, but I don't love that after eating a few cookies I can suddenly feel a bulge develop off each side of my back that a fourth or fifth cookie will send spilling out over the elastic waistband of my pajama pants.

So now Rachel and I are vegging out and complaining (for the second night in a row) about the lameness of ice dancing. Rachel wants to demote it from the ranks of Olympic sports.

I also received a rather large box of pre-institute homework from TFA today. It's both a bit daunting and a bit exciting to start doing official TFA work, rather than my own unofficial "So You Think You Can Teach" reading list, but I think I'm going to make myself read at least the books I've already picked out from the library BEFORE starting in on TFA's box o' goodies.

Kozol and Ice Dancing

I'm only six chapters (or letters) into Kozol's "Letters to a Young Teacher" but already I have a feeling that he would agree with me when I say that Ice Dancing (the ugly cousin of figure skating) is HELLA lame. Any sport with a major skill component called a "swizzle" should be automatically disqualified from any kind of meaningful competition.

Also, while I'm on an Olympics-related rant, why the hey did Bob Costas decide to show the USA-Canada hockey game on MSNBC today? I guess they just really wanted me to be able to watch the local news. Anyway, I didn't bother to go out to watch it. Maybe some day we'll get basic cable and I won't have to go to a bar for every fringe sporting event.

(Currently some Russians are "ice-dancing" in outfits meant to evoke aboriginal cultures. Mostly they just look ridiculous, but it has apparently created no small amount of controversy.)

Back to Kozol for a moment -- It's beginning to become quite clear to me that TFA and the state-standards-driven teaching movement (think over-structured, fairly standardized teaching complete with mandatory posting of lesson objectives on the whiteboard) is in somewhat of direct opposition to the ideas and strategies that many big thinkers in education (including Kozol) extol. Of course, there are also many ideas that overlap (e.g. including and getting to know students' parents), but the tension is certainly there. Kozol has so far referred to "fast-tracking teacher programs" not exactly with disdain but with somewhat negative implications. This will definitely be something to keep an eye on, but thus far Kozol is recommending things that I can certainly get behind: visiting students' homes and being persistent in communication with students' parents; seeking out the advice of veteran teaching staff rather than becoming siloed with other young, like-minded teachers; allow creativity and actually important education to happen and to trump the mandatory pieces enforced by state standards ("skills" > "proficiencies").

(Obnoxiously?) Relentless Pursuit

Finished book #2 in the "Andy's Journey To Becoming A Teacher" book series. "Relentless Pursuit" was a fun read and only SORTA creeped me out, which I take to be a good thing. I've heard a lot of complaints about Teach For America, many of which were echoed from time to time in the book, but none of it bothers me too terribly much. I'm sure I'll HATE the induction pep rallies and be pretty annoyed with all the Type-A overachiever CMs (who will also be five years younger than for the most part). I probably won't see exactly eye to eye with the organization on other things to (not sure what those might be yet, but from what I've heard there are BOUND to be some disagreements), but all in all I finished the book just as (or more) excited to get started than I already was.

I'll be starting a new book today, "Letters to a Young Teacher" by Jonathan ("Savage Inequalities") Kozol. I understand it's a lighter, friendlier, more optimistic Kozol, so hopefully it won't be as depressing (and thus, take me as long to get through) as "SE."

Also, I realized that I totally dropped the ball on my president postings this week. Suffice it to say that the last few would all very conceivably come from President Josiah "Jed" Bartlett. From his first entrance ever on "The West Wing" to his showdown with a homo-hating fundamentalist to yet another showdown with the "Big Guy" himself IN LATIN (!!), Bartlett is the bar against which I measure my presidential candidates ... unfortunate for them ... and me.

Shaun White for Prez?

Speaking of Presidents Day (or week), I may have to start campaigning for Shaun White, one American who really seems to be able to get something done. Another great American (fictional though he may be) is Bill Pullman's POTUS from "Independence Day," with one of my favorite guilty-pleasure movie speeches. Maybe other than "Newsies" this may be the only time I've really liked Pullman (who ranks just behind Bill Paxton on my least favorite actors of all time list ... which I may have to actually compile some day).

The President of Dudeness

The first great presidential moment to highlight this week comes from the Dude, Bad Blake himself in a movie that I really should probably watch again. I remember this being the best part of the flick but also definitely saw it before any kind of political maturation had taken place in my own life.

Winter Olympics

Well there's nothing like leading a team meeting, doing file audits and watching the Olympics to put you in the mood for bed. After a slow start and much skepticism about whether I would ever get engaged int he Winter Olympics this year, I've become pretty into it. We watched the snowboard cross competition tonight (won by American Seth Wescott, above), which was awesome. Looking forward to the halfpipe events later on, too!

Disappointed about Evan Bayh deciding not to seek re-election this year, in what is really looking like it's going to be a dismal election year for Democrats in Congress. I'd get upset about it, but it's not as though they've been able to get a whole lot done with a super-majority. I do like Bayh, though, and think it is a shame when somebody like him quits out of frustration with the system (the purported reason).

In another depressing reminder that things don't seem to get better with time, check out the updated "We Are The World" (benefiting Haiti this time). The New York Times had a good article about it ... are these REALLY the best male vocalists we can dig up these days? Apparently the 80s really WEREN'T all that bad ... by comparison anyway.

Scary Book

Since finishing "Other People's Children," I've been reading the next in my book series, which I think I'm going to call "Think You Want To Be a Teacher? Think AGAIN!" This one is called "Relentless Pursuit: A Year In The Trenches With Teach For America" by Donna Foote. It's a journalistic/enthnographic treatment of TFA, primarily following four first-year corps members (CMs). Between Foote's likable writing style and the fact that I'll be facing many of the described perils in several months, I'm having trouble putting it down.

Major takeaways (or reasons to be afraid so far) are:
-children just may actually URINATE in my classroom
-institute sounds unbearable (5:30am to midnight or later for 5 weeks straight??)
-the actual teaching that comes AFTER institute doesn't sound all that much better

But all in all, reading "Relentless Pursuit" is confirming my belief that this is something that I will enjoy and feel good about doing ... even if I don't feel WELL while doing it.

It's Valentine's Day. Rachel and I are feasting on fancy salad and Crepes Coquilles St. Jacques (scallop crepes) followed by bubbly and Cupcake Royale's DEATHCAKE (V-Day special).

"Other People's Children" Part III

I dragged myself through the last three essays of "Other People's Children." That's not to say that they weren't eminently enjoyable or readable, but I just somehow got swept up in the act of NOT reading them despite my best intentions.

In "Cross Cultural Confusions in Teacher Assessment" Delpit likens teaching in an interesting way to preaching, saying that they share traits like communicating and influencing/convincing people in a "live audience" situation. Delpit goes on to explain that, just as the best Episcopalian priest in New Haven would have difficulty connecting with the congregation of a Southern black preacher (and vice versa), so too might teachers from different cultural backgrounds. This leads to issues in teacher assessment when assessors (who tend to be predominantly from the "mainstream" culture) evaluate minority teaching students as less effective, even though these teachers may in fact be teaching in a way that makes sense to their largely minority audience.

In "The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse" Delpit takes on the observations of literacy specialist James Paul Gee who has claimed that it is not only nearly impossible (if not actually impossible) for people who have not been born into the dominant discourse to learn and become fluent in that discourse but also that those individuals (particularly "women and minorities") may be better off NOT learning the mainstream or status discourse, as it may require them to deny their primary identities. Delpit, using examples of previous generation African American students who have mastered the dominant discourse and used it to influence mainstream culture even moreso. She goes on to encourage teachers to 1) validate and honor the importance of a student's primary discourse, 2) understand the conflict inherent in teaching the mainstream discourse and 3) include "discussions of oppression" as they relate to literacy and discourse-learning ... and helping students "cheat the system."

In the final essay of the book, "Education in a Multicultural Society," Delpit examines several of the primary issues that make teaching diverse populations especially challenging. Some of these include "the cultural clash between students and schools (or the tension between home culture and school culture), stereotyping, "child deficit assumptions that lead to teaching less instead of more" and "ignorance of cultural norms." Delpit encourages the development of a multicultural staff to match the multicultural student population, the inclusion of parents to help better understand the cultural conflicts involved, and a revision of curriculum to better reach a diverse population.

Super Bowl snack idea

Apparently they're called "Google Heart Attacks" when they are on sale at the Google cafeteria, but I think they'd make a helluva Super Bowl snack! Burger (with optional bacon and egg) between two Krispy Kreme donuts (or alternatively one KKD cut in half and then grilled). I've got a pain in my chest just thinkin about it, but ... mmmmm.

Drag Me To Bed!

Okay, last post for tonight -- seriously. Just wanted to say that I just watched "Drag Me To Hell" and thought it was awesome. Though it was definitely more funny than scary and I didn't love the end all that much, I dug all the gross-out crap (like the embalming chemicals (I think?) coming out of the dead body into the girl's mouth?? or the fire hose nosebleed?? (see pic) or the maggot upchuck!!), the super-spooky gypsy lady, and the classic dialogue ("I beat ya, y'ole bitch!"). Mmmhmmm!

The Big Onion

I've already stumbled upon my new favorite nickname for Chicago, my soon-to-be home sweet home ... "The Big Onion." I like it for so many reasons. 1) I love onions. 2) I like how it compares to "The Big Apple." 3) I like that it comes from the meaning behind the Potawatomi word "Checaugou" which means 'wild onions.' Apparently there were a bunch of wild onions growing at the mouth of the Chicago river when they arrived there? 4) I've already used the term once in talking to a Chicago resident (granted, not a Chicago native, but still ...) and they admitted to never having heard of it before!

"Other People's Children" Part II

In the second part of Lisa Delpit's "Other People's Children, she focuses on "Lessons From Home and Abroad."

The first of these lessons comes from Papua New Guinea, where Delpit did research on academic systems amongst an incredibly diverse population of people. She tracks the success of the Vilis Tokples Schools, in which students are taught primarily in their own village/culture's language at first and THEN (after receiving the critical cultural lessons of their people) learning English, the language of business and government. Delpit quotes Linguist Joshua Fishman: "The quest is for modernity ... AND authenticity, simultaneously, for seeing the world, but 'through our own eyes.'"

In "Hello, Grandfather" Delpit relates similar lessons that she learned from Alaska Natives while teaching at a teacher education college program in Fairbanks. The lessons tend to buck the typical "mainstream" thinking regarding such topics as literacy and pedagogy. In some minority cultures it is crucial to understand that context is more important than in mainstream Western culture, which revolves heavily on the "decontextualized word." Likewise, community and connectedness tend to be of greater importance in minority cultures and should be taken into account in a multi-cultural classroom. Learning styles and basic modes of understanding are shown to be different depending on cultural backgrounds, and Delpit challenges educators to take these differences into account.

The third and final essay in this section focuses on "Rethinking Teacher Education for Diversity" and incorporates the feedback of minority educators as they consider the worth (or lack thereof) of their teacher training. The interviewees express frustration with the lack of openness to ideas of the minority and lack of appreciation for their unique experiences and narratives in comparison to the codified and research-based "white" ways of talking about education.

These essays can sometimes be challenging for me, as an obvious member of the white majority (and a male member at that -- yeah, I said "male member") and as someone who has been explicitly taught to value research-based, quantitative "facts." I find myself imagining myself sitting in a classroom with students who share their personal experiences or connections to a topic and chewing my pen (instead of taking notes on what they're saying) and (hopefully not) subtly rolling my eyes or sighing softly. Reading the responses of interviewees in the last essay and the general themes of these last three, I clearly can work on more actively embracing cultural differences and valuing them and including them in the classroom setting (and elsewhere).

Two links

To defy the expectation that all posts will be as ridiculously long as the last one, here are two links to check out:

This video was made by a TFA corps member working in a charter school in Gary, IN (part of the Chicago corps).

And el presidente is back in the news with more "sweeping changes" (why are they always "sweeping?) proposed to the "No Child Left Behind" law.

PS: Just watched "The Pianist" on my day off. It was amazing ... but seriously? On your day off??? Ugh.