Classic.
Two of the street-level cops are at the movies with their girlfriends and when they walk out they run into a couple of the street-level drug dealers that they try and arrest every so often. AWKWARD!!! And awesome. I mean what the hell would you do if the cop and the person they have tried to arrest run into each other in a public space? Weird.
The Wire is one of the best shows ever. It is extremely (possibly exceedingly) realistic as far as I can tell. It is super detail oriented and moves forward very slowly and incorporates as many different perspectives as possible. I love how politics plays into the crime-solving. I also like how realistic the solutions are. They don't resort to some crazy technology that doesn't exist.
The show though is almost too realistic because it is hard as shit to follow sometimes. There are a ton of people, a ton of interests, and it can get very confusing if you miss the smallest detail. So there is relatively little multitasking I can do while watching the show, and instead I have to watch it really closely.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
An official 'hearing'
I got to attend my first official (tape recorded) hearing. An outside person came in and had to receive 'official statements' in regards to an incident that took place between two of my students (though the incident occurred in another teacher's class). The student (Ricardo) had received 10 days suspension and the family was challenging that decision.
The situation: In math class two female students were arguing over a chair while a math test was being passed out. When Ricardo received his test he turned to them and asked them to be quiet (unsure what the tone or actual words used were). The girl (a student who is also in my 4th period class and who has a history of really not getting along w/Ricardo) got really angry and began yelling at him to stay out of her business, and she eventually walked over to him continuing to yell and began poking him and sticking her finger in his face. He eventually stood up and they began yelling at each other, without stopping/listening to the teacher. The director then walked in and broke up the fight telling the students to walk to her office. Ricardo turned and began walked to the front of the room, and at this point TaVon balled up her fists and began attempting to attack Ricardo rather wildly. The director stepped in between and got hit by TaVon, and Ricardo left the room and headed to the office. Both students received 10 days suspension.
Background: Both students have a history of 'being in each other's business' and it has been very hard to get them to stop. While it has not come to physical blows in my room, TaVon has thrown Ricardo's backpack across the room, and there is a general craziness between them that can be very very annoying. Now Ricardo is very smart and levelheaded and he uses these two abilities for 'evil' sometimes by pushing people's buttons who he knows are going to explode and possibly get in trouble while he won't. That being said, nothing he has ever done or said in my presence has warranted the outbursts that TaVon has had. She also has a history of completely unacceptable behavior and the director does not give her a harsh enough punishment. If a boy had done what TaVon had done in the incident above they probably would have been expelled. And the fact that they both got 10 days seems ridiculous to me.
The Hearing: Because the sentence was so harsh for Ricardo and right at the end of the advisory (which would probably affect his grades), his mom called for an official hearing to have the decision reviewed. Ms. Riley walked into my room that morning and asked if I would come in and be a witness, although I had not seen what had officially happened. She wanted me to be there to explain their history of bad relations. But the fact was that I disagreed w/the decision so I wasn't really sure what to do/say, because I didn't want to not back my boss, but I also did not agree w/what she did at all. So the arbiter came in and began asking everyone questions, and I basically didn't say anything because they had never actually fought in my room and that was all he wanted to know. In the end, Ricardo's sentence was brought down to 3 days. It seemed like there was a lot of animosity and stuff between the social worker who was there and Ms. Riley, though it was really the social worker's tone that was kind of uncalled for. But in the end I think Ms. Riley made a bad call, and that TaVon should potentially be expelled if her behavior doesn't change, because her behavior has gotten out of control and she needs to be somewhere else.
Anyways it was an interesting experience to be in an actual 'hearing.' Ricardo is one of my favorite students because he is very bright and someone who seems to love to learn for the sake of learning (to some extent) and is also an extremely motivated person who knows his goals are only attainable through hard work on many different fronts and is willing to put in that work. He is also very smart, scoring advanced on his many standardized tests. I want to help him w/the SATs, because I believe that if he gets a good score on a national scale, that he can go wherever he wants for college (combined w/his continued excellence in school and football). He also seems amenable to that help, so I will have to figure out how I can help him, maybe find a SAT prep course that he can take if he is willing with someone who actually knows what they are talking about.
The situation: In math class two female students were arguing over a chair while a math test was being passed out. When Ricardo received his test he turned to them and asked them to be quiet (unsure what the tone or actual words used were). The girl (a student who is also in my 4th period class and who has a history of really not getting along w/Ricardo) got really angry and began yelling at him to stay out of her business, and she eventually walked over to him continuing to yell and began poking him and sticking her finger in his face. He eventually stood up and they began yelling at each other, without stopping/listening to the teacher. The director then walked in and broke up the fight telling the students to walk to her office. Ricardo turned and began walked to the front of the room, and at this point TaVon balled up her fists and began attempting to attack Ricardo rather wildly. The director stepped in between and got hit by TaVon, and Ricardo left the room and headed to the office. Both students received 10 days suspension.
Background: Both students have a history of 'being in each other's business' and it has been very hard to get them to stop. While it has not come to physical blows in my room, TaVon has thrown Ricardo's backpack across the room, and there is a general craziness between them that can be very very annoying. Now Ricardo is very smart and levelheaded and he uses these two abilities for 'evil' sometimes by pushing people's buttons who he knows are going to explode and possibly get in trouble while he won't. That being said, nothing he has ever done or said in my presence has warranted the outbursts that TaVon has had. She also has a history of completely unacceptable behavior and the director does not give her a harsh enough punishment. If a boy had done what TaVon had done in the incident above they probably would have been expelled. And the fact that they both got 10 days seems ridiculous to me.
The Hearing: Because the sentence was so harsh for Ricardo and right at the end of the advisory (which would probably affect his grades), his mom called for an official hearing to have the decision reviewed. Ms. Riley walked into my room that morning and asked if I would come in and be a witness, although I had not seen what had officially happened. She wanted me to be there to explain their history of bad relations. But the fact was that I disagreed w/the decision so I wasn't really sure what to do/say, because I didn't want to not back my boss, but I also did not agree w/what she did at all. So the arbiter came in and began asking everyone questions, and I basically didn't say anything because they had never actually fought in my room and that was all he wanted to know. In the end, Ricardo's sentence was brought down to 3 days. It seemed like there was a lot of animosity and stuff between the social worker who was there and Ms. Riley, though it was really the social worker's tone that was kind of uncalled for. But in the end I think Ms. Riley made a bad call, and that TaVon should potentially be expelled if her behavior doesn't change, because her behavior has gotten out of control and she needs to be somewhere else.
Anyways it was an interesting experience to be in an actual 'hearing.' Ricardo is one of my favorite students because he is very bright and someone who seems to love to learn for the sake of learning (to some extent) and is also an extremely motivated person who knows his goals are only attainable through hard work on many different fronts and is willing to put in that work. He is also very smart, scoring advanced on his many standardized tests. I want to help him w/the SATs, because I believe that if he gets a good score on a national scale, that he can go wherever he wants for college (combined w/his continued excellence in school and football). He also seems amenable to that help, so I will have to figure out how I can help him, maybe find a SAT prep course that he can take if he is willing with someone who actually knows what they are talking about.
Friday, March 7, 2008
First 'sick day'
So today I decided to call in and use one of my sick days. This is officially the first day that I have missed (although I had to go to 2 social studies meetings making me miss my 4th period class, and once I left at like 1:30 the day before Winter Break when I didn't have any kids and I needed to pack/leave). Admittedly I am not sick. But I was really really tired, and yesterday did not go well.
The classes themselves actually went fine. No better or worse than any other class, but for the first 2 period they were pretty laid back, so no real problems. The day started out on a sour note though because apparently on Wednesday afternoon (after I had left to go to the social studies department chair meeting) things got out of hand in the auditorium (where the kids had been moved due to the flood) and the teachers didn't do shit to stop the students from acting like wild animals. So Ms. Riley sat us all down and gave us a 'talk' which I think was a good idea but she misinterpreted what people were up to. She said that people clearly didn't support her, but I think teachers were just being lazy and didn't want to take on extra responsibilities during the 'crisis situation.' As I've seen before, the teachers here are all about doing 'just what I have to.' And I know that that is partly because they have been here for a long time, but good lord I can't stand the teachers on this staff (minus Ms. Guo, the math teacher - I like her a lot). And that's the reason I can't stay in the long run (although it sounds like a lot of them might leave at the end of this year... so maybe I should stay in the hopes that I can help out in the hiring process and get some more youngins up in here to help me out).
Now of course the teachers were getting very defensive instead of just listening to Ms. Riley, so that made people mad. They acted just like the students, I mean seriously. So that wasn't good.
The next bad thing was Jonathan, the student I am trying to help get his act together, who was the main wild student who was not controlled. So that was very disappointing.
As I said, my first two periods went fine. And it wasn't until lunch and my free third period that things began to unravel. During lunch, there were a TON of students in my room. And once again they were acting like little asses. Especially Jonathan. Every 3rd word out of his mouth was a swear word (and I have NEVER heard things like that from him before, he is usually fairly respectful even if he is more on the playful side). And Antonio, the biggest 9th grade hoodlum ever, was the one behind it. His very presence makes other boys act crazy. We have been trying to get rid of him (usually I'm against that, but good lord the boy HAS to go), but so far no good. So during lunch I was just getting angrier and angrier.
Then during my planning period I had to watch someone else's class because the teacher had to go pick up her daughter. That part wasn't so bad, but it was the 9th graders and they were acting crazy and at that point I didn't want to deal with them so I just planned for my 4th period and let them sit and talk. I mean it wasn't like I had been warned that I would have to do that so I didn't feel obligated to try and make them do work. They always tell me 'we don't have work' anyways and I simply didn't feel like arguing. Some of the kids did do work, and it wasn't too bad having them there.
What was actually the most frustrating thing was that I wanted to make copies of my powerpoint presentation and the bookwork that the students were going to do. I went to the copier and it jammed up 5 times in a row. So I got 2 full copies out of that. Then I tried to just print them with my printer in my room, but that printer is awful, it printed one page and stopped. Then I tried printing it out on the laser printer in the formerly flooded room, and that one didn't work. Then I tried room 201, but there was a meeting in there so I couldn't use that printer. Once the meeting was over I tried, but it also wasn't working. So then I asked Ms. Riley if I could use her printer and so finally after 5 minutes I got my work printed JUST as the bell rang for 3rd period to get out. (During that time the 3rd period teacher came back and collected her students.)
So that was super frustrating, I was going to bust some copy machines and printers after that. Like literally take them out Office Space style. So I was starting to lose it. 4th period was ok, Ricardo can be very draining, but he is a good kid and very smart. He is always asking for attention and information and for me to do this and do that, and a lot of times I will because it isn't that much, but it adds up. So when the bell rang, it took me 10 minutes to get out of there today. Which is probably the earliest I have left in a loooooong time. I mean I usually stay at least 30 minutes if not much longer.
So last night I thought about it for a while and concluded that I really didn't want to go to work today, I wanted to rest and get some grading done, and that's what I am going to do. I think based on how I am feeling this was a very good decision. Yay sick days!
The classes themselves actually went fine. No better or worse than any other class, but for the first 2 period they were pretty laid back, so no real problems. The day started out on a sour note though because apparently on Wednesday afternoon (after I had left to go to the social studies department chair meeting) things got out of hand in the auditorium (where the kids had been moved due to the flood) and the teachers didn't do shit to stop the students from acting like wild animals. So Ms. Riley sat us all down and gave us a 'talk' which I think was a good idea but she misinterpreted what people were up to. She said that people clearly didn't support her, but I think teachers were just being lazy and didn't want to take on extra responsibilities during the 'crisis situation.' As I've seen before, the teachers here are all about doing 'just what I have to.' And I know that that is partly because they have been here for a long time, but good lord I can't stand the teachers on this staff (minus Ms. Guo, the math teacher - I like her a lot). And that's the reason I can't stay in the long run (although it sounds like a lot of them might leave at the end of this year... so maybe I should stay in the hopes that I can help out in the hiring process and get some more youngins up in here to help me out).
Now of course the teachers were getting very defensive instead of just listening to Ms. Riley, so that made people mad. They acted just like the students, I mean seriously. So that wasn't good.
The next bad thing was Jonathan, the student I am trying to help get his act together, who was the main wild student who was not controlled. So that was very disappointing.
As I said, my first two periods went fine. And it wasn't until lunch and my free third period that things began to unravel. During lunch, there were a TON of students in my room. And once again they were acting like little asses. Especially Jonathan. Every 3rd word out of his mouth was a swear word (and I have NEVER heard things like that from him before, he is usually fairly respectful even if he is more on the playful side). And Antonio, the biggest 9th grade hoodlum ever, was the one behind it. His very presence makes other boys act crazy. We have been trying to get rid of him (usually I'm against that, but good lord the boy HAS to go), but so far no good. So during lunch I was just getting angrier and angrier.
Then during my planning period I had to watch someone else's class because the teacher had to go pick up her daughter. That part wasn't so bad, but it was the 9th graders and they were acting crazy and at that point I didn't want to deal with them so I just planned for my 4th period and let them sit and talk. I mean it wasn't like I had been warned that I would have to do that so I didn't feel obligated to try and make them do work. They always tell me 'we don't have work' anyways and I simply didn't feel like arguing. Some of the kids did do work, and it wasn't too bad having them there.
What was actually the most frustrating thing was that I wanted to make copies of my powerpoint presentation and the bookwork that the students were going to do. I went to the copier and it jammed up 5 times in a row. So I got 2 full copies out of that. Then I tried to just print them with my printer in my room, but that printer is awful, it printed one page and stopped. Then I tried printing it out on the laser printer in the formerly flooded room, and that one didn't work. Then I tried room 201, but there was a meeting in there so I couldn't use that printer. Once the meeting was over I tried, but it also wasn't working. So then I asked Ms. Riley if I could use her printer and so finally after 5 minutes I got my work printed JUST as the bell rang for 3rd period to get out. (During that time the 3rd period teacher came back and collected her students.)
So that was super frustrating, I was going to bust some copy machines and printers after that. Like literally take them out Office Space style. So I was starting to lose it. 4th period was ok, Ricardo can be very draining, but he is a good kid and very smart. He is always asking for attention and information and for me to do this and do that, and a lot of times I will because it isn't that much, but it adds up. So when the bell rang, it took me 10 minutes to get out of there today. Which is probably the earliest I have left in a loooooong time. I mean I usually stay at least 30 minutes if not much longer.
So last night I thought about it for a while and concluded that I really didn't want to go to work today, I wanted to rest and get some grading done, and that's what I am going to do. I think based on how I am feeling this was a very good decision. Yay sick days!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
First fires... then floods. What's next?
*Ok so now I'm knocking on wood... A LOT.*
So we had a flood on the 2nd floor today. Took up one of the hallways completely and two rooms. The steam pipes had burst and the 2nd floor was incredibly hot and stinky. We were unable to have our classes on the floor so we had to have class in the cafeteria, which was a little nuts. (Gives open spaces a whole new meaning...). Then we couldn't even hold classes up there after lunch when all the water had been vacuumed up because of air quality problems (oh mold... how the heck do you grow so freakin fast?). Hopefully we can have our rooms back tomorrow... but who knows?
Luckily my room wasn't touched, but the water was getting close (about 5 feet away), so that is NOT GOOD. No keeping electronics near the walls or on the floors.
It is good they are knocking down the building, but we still don't know what is going to happen next. Apparently the comprehensive regular school is going to Fletcher Johnson, (a school that was closed because the building sucked...) until they build the new school. That could take YEARS! I could be done teaching by the time the new school is built. I don't know if I can wait. A lot of teachers (and I mean a LOT) want to transfer... but where to? If we are all transferring then the likelihood of me finding another school that isn't a charter in DC becomes a lot lower. And while I don't hate all charters... I can't conceive of working for one. Mainly because I have to believe in the public system (despite it's myriad of problems) and I don't believe charter schools are the answer, so I can't give up on my principles and start working for one.
Anyways... good riddance to the building, but hello uncertainty for next year!
So we had a flood on the 2nd floor today. Took up one of the hallways completely and two rooms. The steam pipes had burst and the 2nd floor was incredibly hot and stinky. We were unable to have our classes on the floor so we had to have class in the cafeteria, which was a little nuts. (Gives open spaces a whole new meaning...). Then we couldn't even hold classes up there after lunch when all the water had been vacuumed up because of air quality problems (oh mold... how the heck do you grow so freakin fast?). Hopefully we can have our rooms back tomorrow... but who knows?
Luckily my room wasn't touched, but the water was getting close (about 5 feet away), so that is NOT GOOD. No keeping electronics near the walls or on the floors.
It is good they are knocking down the building, but we still don't know what is going to happen next. Apparently the comprehensive regular school is going to Fletcher Johnson, (a school that was closed because the building sucked...) until they build the new school. That could take YEARS! I could be done teaching by the time the new school is built. I don't know if I can wait. A lot of teachers (and I mean a LOT) want to transfer... but where to? If we are all transferring then the likelihood of me finding another school that isn't a charter in DC becomes a lot lower. And while I don't hate all charters... I can't conceive of working for one. Mainly because I have to believe in the public system (despite it's myriad of problems) and I don't believe charter schools are the answer, so I can't give up on my principles and start working for one.
Anyways... good riddance to the building, but hello uncertainty for next year!
Thank you J.K. Rowling, Thank you.
This is a Harry Potter love-fest. You do not have to read it if you have no interest in Harry Potter.
So I just finished the audiobook version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which will make it only the 2nd time I have read/heard the book all the way through). It was AMAZING. I think I cried about 7 or 8 times while listening to it, which was difficult because sometimes I was listening in public (like in my car on the way to work, or at the gym). The book was so fantastic to hear that now I am tempted to get the other 6 and listen to them all. This will be quite a project though since book 7 (the 2nd longest book) clocked in at about 21 hours listening time. But WOW. That woman is amazing. What would I ever have done w/out her? W/out Harry Potter? I don't know. I would have been missing something my whole life and never known what it was. But now it is over again! What a startling sense of loss. Today actually on Steven Leavitt's blog (the economist who co-wrote Freakonomics) he posted about the same thing: what do you do w/yourself now that Harry Potter is over? How does life keep going on? It sounds dramatic, but Harry Potter really filled my life with something special. And it is shocking that it is over, it was shocking in August, and it is shocking again. I have all 7 books with me in DC... but I can't just keep re-reading them forever. (well yes I can actually and I'm sure this is not the last time I'll read all the Harry Potter books, especially with the movies coming out - THANK GOD!)
Anyways I just want to reiterate my thanks to Mrs. J.K. Rowling, the wonderful wonderful woman who has given such a big gift to me and all other readers of Harry Potter. I cannot recommend it enough to the few who haven't read it, both young and old. The books are amazing, there is no way around it.
I am excited to see what she will write next, I hope she continues to create fantastic worlds for us to enter and explore.
Ok I can't stop gushing... one more story:
When I bought the 7th Harry Potter book I was the 4th in line at Barnes and Nobles in Georgetown. This meant I was in the first wave to get the book, since there were approximately 6 cashiers. I had paid an large amount in the parking lot across the street to be able to park there so I could get home in minutes. It is amazing how fast I drove (15 minutes with intense post-midnight traffic from Georgetown to Columbia Heights including walking time and parking.... so much for traffic laws...). And the whole time I could not stop myself from touching the book (petting it like a dog or something) and even kissing it. It was a compulsion. I also called my great friend and co-HP lover Danit to tell her how happy I was to have the book and how it had a power over me. She said I was nuts, but when she got the book a few days later she said she completely understood! There was something truly magical about this book and hearing the story for the second time (at a more measured pace instead of the 12 hours that I completed in one sitting (12:15 AM to 12:15 PM exactly) - no bathroom breaks, who can break for HP. I mean seriously!). And it's just so amazing.
Ok I could keep going for another hour but I will finally cut this post off.
YAAAAAAY HARRY POTTER!!!!!! (and yay Snape! my other favorite character from the beginning, and YES YALL I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG, NEVER WAVERED AND NEVER DOUBTED LETS JUST KEEP THAT VERY CLEAR)
So I just finished the audiobook version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which will make it only the 2nd time I have read/heard the book all the way through). It was AMAZING. I think I cried about 7 or 8 times while listening to it, which was difficult because sometimes I was listening in public (like in my car on the way to work, or at the gym). The book was so fantastic to hear that now I am tempted to get the other 6 and listen to them all. This will be quite a project though since book 7 (the 2nd longest book) clocked in at about 21 hours listening time. But WOW. That woman is amazing. What would I ever have done w/out her? W/out Harry Potter? I don't know. I would have been missing something my whole life and never known what it was. But now it is over again! What a startling sense of loss. Today actually on Steven Leavitt's blog (the economist who co-wrote Freakonomics) he posted about the same thing: what do you do w/yourself now that Harry Potter is over? How does life keep going on? It sounds dramatic, but Harry Potter really filled my life with something special. And it is shocking that it is over, it was shocking in August, and it is shocking again. I have all 7 books with me in DC... but I can't just keep re-reading them forever. (well yes I can actually and I'm sure this is not the last time I'll read all the Harry Potter books, especially with the movies coming out - THANK GOD!)
Anyways I just want to reiterate my thanks to Mrs. J.K. Rowling, the wonderful wonderful woman who has given such a big gift to me and all other readers of Harry Potter. I cannot recommend it enough to the few who haven't read it, both young and old. The books are amazing, there is no way around it.
I am excited to see what she will write next, I hope she continues to create fantastic worlds for us to enter and explore.
Ok I can't stop gushing... one more story:
When I bought the 7th Harry Potter book I was the 4th in line at Barnes and Nobles in Georgetown. This meant I was in the first wave to get the book, since there were approximately 6 cashiers. I had paid an large amount in the parking lot across the street to be able to park there so I could get home in minutes. It is amazing how fast I drove (15 minutes with intense post-midnight traffic from Georgetown to Columbia Heights including walking time and parking.... so much for traffic laws...). And the whole time I could not stop myself from touching the book (petting it like a dog or something) and even kissing it. It was a compulsion. I also called my great friend and co-HP lover Danit to tell her how happy I was to have the book and how it had a power over me. She said I was nuts, but when she got the book a few days later she said she completely understood! There was something truly magical about this book and hearing the story for the second time (at a more measured pace instead of the 12 hours that I completed in one sitting (12:15 AM to 12:15 PM exactly) - no bathroom breaks, who can break for HP. I mean seriously!). And it's just so amazing.
Ok I could keep going for another hour but I will finally cut this post off.
YAAAAAAY HARRY POTTER!!!!!! (and yay Snape! my other favorite character from the beginning, and YES YALL I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG, NEVER WAVERED AND NEVER DOUBTED LETS JUST KEEP THAT VERY CLEAR)
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