1 Giants. Really?
2 Mr. Pence. If you are going to motivate, you have to perform better than 0 for 4 and a.091 post-season batting average. If you don’t perform, you come out looking like a macabre circus clown.
3 I was excited when we got you, but dude. People are going to start calling you “Underpants” if you don’t change your ways.
4 I have never seen so many missed opportunities. These guys had everything going their way yesterday. What happened? O for 7 with eleven stranded runners. Your pitcher pitches his best game. Their best hitter goes down with a knee injury. There is even an interrupted rally and a three-hour rain delay to re-group.
5 Yuck.
6 Mucky, murky loss.
7 Fortunately, this team does have a tendency to bounce back after a loss. But this was a loss that is impossible to figure.
8 Nobody stepped up for Matt Cain.
9 Story of the guy’s life.
10 Argh.
11 Moving on, Part the First: Ah, vell.
12 I still think that we can get there. No doubt. Well, certainly a little doubt.
13 But yeesh.
14 I’m pretty sure they lost because I couldn’t find my “Torture” shirt.
15 Moving on, Part Two: On the other hand, I personally had a GREAT day yesterday. I got myself back to my relaxed, free wheelin’ teaching style, rather than trying to be the stern professor. Kids did the classwork from the previous day on the board. I played Disney music while they wrote.
16 I later did a great job presenting some teaching techniques to the faculty at our meeting yesterday. I do confess that the person before me was a reasonably easy act to follow. She was nervous, gave a nice presentation but kept standing in front of the LCD projector so that her presentation took place on her shirt. The microphone was broken so she also was just short of loud enough.
17 She did a great job, but was a bit of a victim of technology.
18 Whenever I have to speak at a meeting, I never use any technology and with the exception of a microphone, and only if it is working. The mic yesterday was hideous, buzzing and clunking out, clearly available but clearly useless.
19 I didn’t want any of this to be a missed opportunity. I had planned my five-minute presentation the day before, bulleted my presentation on half-sheets of paper, practiced, stepped up, and delivered.
20 I was the third presenter following somebody who sort of tried but was victimized by technology.
21 I knew better, stepped up, and honestly gave an excellent presentation.
22 The next presenter was the former head of our department, who presented a cross-curricular writing rubric that I had formed for the department three or four years ago. I say “formed” because I took bits and pieces from the CSU rubric and bits and pieces from another, combined them into one rubric, and then simplified it so that it would work for anyone in any sitch, and then delivered it to the English department.
23 To be honest, I did it one day during my prep period so as to avoid the department trying to put one together at an after-school meeting.
24 What people don’t understand about English departments is a) they are always one of the largest departments at any school, since students must take four years of English in order to graduate, b) English teachers majored in pondering, and c) given any meeting, nineteen English teachers will have nineteen different points of view. Most meetings take about two hours, usually resulting in this comment: “Well. I guess we’re right back to where we started.” How many English teachers does it take to screw in a light bulb? “Does it have to be a lightbulb?”
25 I decided to write that rubric so that they had something that they could operate on. The lion’s share of the work was done in around an hour and a half by me.
26 I wasn’t trying to be a hero; I just wanted to avoid a long, tedious afternoon of pondering.
27 It worked. It was a classic re-direct. I brought copies for everyone, and they all said, “Shiny!”
28 That meeting had started with, “So our mission today is…” and I simply interrupted with, “If I may…” and then I handed out copies of my rubric to everyone. I did what never would have happened at that meeting.
29 That meeting three or four years ago still took a couple of hours, but they all had something to feast upon.
30 So at yesterday’s meeting, right after my own successful presentation, she stood up, put the rubric on the projector, and gave me public acknowledgement.
31 Moving on, Part the Thoid: Yesterday a younger teacher emailed our department that she had gotten in over her head by attempting to read Frankenstein to her students. Great idea, but as a veteran teacher, I know that reading a book to students isn’t necessarily a good idea. Reading excerpts and telling the story in an engaging fashion does work, but it takes ruthless planning. I wrote her back with this story:
32 A few years ago I wanted to be the best teacher in the school. Our lit books have nine books of Homer’s Odyssey in them. The real Odyssey is something like twenty-five books. Because I wanted to offer my students things better than the competition I decided I was going to give my students the real deal, and teach all twenty-five books.
33
34 Can you say, “Hubris?” I clearly had bitten off way more than I could chew. I wound up doing this: I went to Spark notes online, which summarizes each chapter, bulleted every couple of sentences in each book, and practiced telling them each night. I went into class and delivered a few chapters a day, in short bursts. I interspersed the nine chapters from our book and had the students read them so they would get a feel for the sweeping poetry and lilting majesty of the piece.
35 And then I would show the film, which does a grand job with the story, and which basically uses the nine chapters that are “mainstream.” My students got the entire story, and even the sequel, which the movie doesn’t have.
36 It almost killed me, but it worked nicely. My email to the young teacher was shorter, but she wrote this awesome email thanking me. That was ALL yesterday.
37 What a Good Day is to a Teacher, Part Four: Honestly, I’m not trying to brag here. It’s just some days in this profession are good, and some are awesome. Yesterday was one of those days that wound up being awesome, even though I didn’t notice it while it was happening. There’s more.
38 Two days ago a Special Ed teacher came into my room completely distraught. Special Ed teachers have to do Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) for their students.
39 Let me preface this by saying that Special Ed teachers are gods. No other teachers come close to working as hard as they do, not even this Old Brown Shoe, who never stops working hard. The IEP’s require meetings with social workers, counselors, admin, and one mainstream teacher.
40 Mainstream teachers get no supervision hours for this, nor do they get paid. They are asked to give up their prep periods to come down to what often is a rewarding experience. They get to know why Johnny behaves as he does, and they get to know Johnny’s parents.
41 To me they are a rewarding means of volunteering, but what happens when you are a good-hearted teacher is you become the “go-to” guy. Most people won’t work for free, or give up a break just to add another hour to an already overloaded work sched.
42 So she came into my room the other day, and was at wit’s end. I knew she was going to ask me to sit in on a meeting, and I smiled and said, “Relax. I got your back.”
43 As I left the faculty meeting yesterday, I saw her talking to another teacher, worry etched all over her face. She came up and said, “Don’t forget about the IEP tomorrow?” I smiled and said, “When you said it was ‘high profile’ I knew you were in pretty deep. I’ll be there dude.” She looked at me totally relieved. High profile means lawyers, social workers, possible angry parents, and possible shouting. I wasn’t looking forward to it, and I’m still not, but I will do things like that.
44 After all that hooplah, I hopped into the Ol’ Timuh, turned on the Giants’ game, and thought about what an awesome day yesterday was.
45 And I will repeat, this is not intended to pat myself on the back, but to give a glimpse of what it is like to be a teacher in 2012. It is never easy, but I’m seeing my job more and more as a chance to help younger teachers cope with all the stuff I had to cope with over the years.
46 It was a good day.
47 And it is nice that I don’t have to live my life vicariously depending on guys like Hunter Pence to come through.
48 He might.
49 The Giants might bounce back. I’ll be so bold as to say I think they will.
50 Meanwhile, I had a tremendous day at the plate. I don’t always. Consider this just another glimpse inside the profession.
51 See you again.
52 Peace.
~H~
The Daily News1 Giants. Really?2 Mr. Pence. If you are going to motivate, you have to perform better than 0 for 4 and a.091 post-season batting average. If you don’t perform, you come out looking like a macabre circus clown.3 I was excited when we got you, but dude. People are going to start calling you “Underpants” if you don’t change your ways.4 I have never seen so many missed opportunities. These guys had everything going their way yesterday. What happened? O for 7 with eleven stranded runners. Your pitcher pitches his best game. Their best hitter goes down with a knee injury. There is even an interrupted rally and a three-hour rain delay to re-group.5 Yuck.6 Mucky, murky loss.7 Fortunately, this team does have a tendency to bounce back after a loss. But this was a loss that is impossible to figure.8 Nobody stepped up for Matt Cain.9 Story of the guy’s life.10 Argh.11 Moving on, Part the First: Ah, vell.12 I still think that we can get there. No doubt. Well, certainly a little doubt.13 But yeesh.14 I’m pretty sure they lost because I couldn’t find my “Torture” shirt.15 Moving on, Part Two: On the other hand, I personally had a GREAT day yesterday. I got myself back to my relaxed, free wheelin’ teaching style, rather than trying to be the stern professor. Kids did the classwork from the previous day on the board. I played Disney music while they wrote.16 I later did a great job presenting some teaching techniques to the faculty at our meeting yesterday. I do confess that the person before me was a reasonably easy act to follow. She was nervous, gave a nice presentation but kept standing in front of the LCD projector so that her presentation took place on her shirt. The microphone was broken so she also was just short of loud enough.17 She did a great job, but was a bit of a victim of technology.18 Whenever I have to speak at a meeting, I never use any technology and with the exception of a microphone, and only if it is working. The mic yesterday was hideous, buzzing and clunking out, clearly available but clearly useless.19 I didn’t want any of this to be a missed opportunity. I had planned my five-minute presentation the day before, bulleted my presentation on half-sheets of paper, practiced, stepped up, and delivered.20 I was the third presenter following somebody who sort of tried but was victimized by technology.21 I knew better, stepped up, and honestly gave an excellent presentation.22 The next presenter was the former head of our department, who presented a cross-curricular writing rubric that I had formed for the department three or four years ago. I say “formed” because I took bits and pieces from the CSU rubric and bits and pieces from another, combined them into one rubric, and then simplified it so that it would work for anyone in any sitch, and then delivered it to the English department.23 To be honest, I did it one day during my prep period so as to avoid the department trying to put one together at an after-school meeting.24 What people don’t understand about English departments is a) they are always one of the largest departments at any school, since students must take four years of English in order to graduate, b) English teachers majored in pondering, and c) given any meeting, nineteen English teachers will have nineteen different points of view. Most meetings take about two hours, usually resulting in this comment: “Well. I guess we’re right back to where we started.” How many English teachers does it take to screw in a light bulb? “Does it have to be a lightbulb?”25 I decided to write that rubric so that they had something that they could operate on. The lion’s share of the work was done in around an hour and a half by me.26 I wasn’t trying to be a hero; I just wanted to avoid a long, tedious afternoon of pondering.27 It worked. It was a classic re-direct. I brought copies for everyone, and they all said, “Shiny!”28 That meeting had started with, “So our mission today is…” and I simply interrupted with, “If I may…” and then I handed out copies of my rubric to everyone. I did what never would have happened at that meeting.29 That meeting three or four years ago still took a couple of hours, but they all had something to feast upon.30 So at yesterday’s meeting, right after my own successful presentation, she stood up, put the rubric on the projector, and gave me public acknowledgement.31 Moving on, Part the Thoid: Yesterday a younger teacher emailed our department that she had gotten in over her head by attempting to read Frankenstein to her students. Great idea, but as a veteran teacher, I know that reading a book to students isn’t necessarily a good idea. Reading excerpts and telling the story in an engaging fashion does work, but it takes ruthless planning. I wrote her back with this story:32 A few years ago I wanted to be the best teacher in the school. Our lit books have nine books of Homer’s Odyssey in them. The real Odyssey is something like twenty-five books. Because I wanted to offer my students things better than the competition I decided I was going to give my students the real deal, and teach all twenty-five books.33
34 Can you say, “Hubris?” I clearly had bitten off way more than I could chew. I wound up doing this: I went to Spark notes online, which summarizes each chapter, bulleted every couple of sentences in each book, and practiced telling them each night. I went into class and delivered a few chapters a day, in short bursts. I interspersed the nine chapters from our book and had the students read them so they would get a feel for the sweeping poetry and lilting majesty of the piece.35 And then I would show the film, which does a grand job with the story, and which basically uses the nine chapters that are “mainstream.” My students got the entire story, and even the sequel, which the movie doesn’t have.36 It almost killed me, but it worked nicely. My email to the young teacher was shorter, but she wrote this awesome email thanking me. That was ALL yesterday.37 What a Good Day is to a Teacher, Part Four: Honestly, I’m not trying to brag here. It’s just some days in this profession are good, and some are awesome. Yesterday was one of those days that wound up being awesome, even though I didn’t notice it while it was happening. There’s more.38 Two days ago a Special Ed teacher came into my room completely distraught. Special Ed teachers have to do Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) for their students.39 Let me preface this by saying that Special Ed teachers are gods. No other teachers come close to working as hard as they do, not even this Old Brown Shoe, who never stops working hard. The IEP’s require meetings with social workers, counselors, admin, and one mainstream teacher.40 Mainstream teachers get no supervision hours for this, nor do they get paid. They are asked to give up their prep periods to come down to what often is a rewarding experience. They get to know why Johnny behaves as he does, and they get to know Johnny’s parents.41 To me they are a rewarding means of volunteering, but what happens when you are a good-hearted teacher is you become the “go-to” guy. Most people won’t work for free, or give up a break just to add another hour to an already overloaded work sched.42 So she came into my room the other day, and was at wit’s end. I knew she was going to ask me to sit in on a meeting, and I smiled and said, “Relax. I got your back.”43 As I left the faculty meeting yesterday, I saw her talking to another teacher, worry etched all over her face. She came up and said, “Don’t forget about the IEP tomorrow?” I smiled and said, “When you said it was ‘high profile’ I knew you were in pretty deep. I’ll be there dude.” She looked at me totally relieved. High profile means lawyers, social workers, possible angry parents, and possible shouting. I wasn’t looking forward to it, and I’m still not, but I will do things like that.44 After all that hooplah, I hopped into the Ol’ Timuh, turned on the Giants’ game, and thought about what an awesome day yesterday was.45 And I will repeat, this is not intended to pat myself on the back, but to give a glimpse of what it is like to be a teacher in 2012. It is never easy, but I’m seeing my job more and more as a chance to help younger teachers cope with all the stuff I had to cope with over the years.46 It was a good day.47 And it is nice that I don’t have to live my life vicariously depending on guys like Hunter Pence to come through.48 He might.49 The Giants might bounce back. I’ll be so bold as to say I think they will.50 Meanwhile, I had a tremendous day at the plate. I don’t always. Consider this just another glimpse inside the profession.51 See you again.52 Peace.~H~
