"we're just that lazy"

this is definitely NSFW, but it's just too funny not to post... especially since my former-favorite aunt lupe had one of these in her house in DF which we made fun of before we got kicked out!

enjoy!

trailing clouds of glory...

here's the wordsworth poem, "intimations of imortality from recollections of early childhood" that the blind mr. randolph knows by heart in the great gilly hopkins. mind you, it's 208 lines (7 pages in the oxford book of english verse: 1250-1900), but here's the beginning of my favorite stanza (line 59) quoted in TGGH:

our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
the soul that rises with us, our life's star
hath had elsewhere its setting,
and cometh from afar:
not in entire forgetfulness,
and not in utter nakedness,
but trailing clouds of glory do we come
from god, who is our home...

interactive read aloud

one of my favorite parts of reading workshop is the interactive read aloud. right now we are in the middle of the great gilly hopkins by katherine paterson. it's about an ingeniously manipulative and racist foster child that gets sent to live with an unflappable "religious fanatic" and a "mentally retarded" boy. throw in a blind neighbor who loves william wordsworth, a hippy mom who strings her "sweet galadriel" along, an african-american teacher unwilling to give up on her (titular) student, and you've got a compelling, newbury award-winning novel. my class is completely captivated by it. and it's the perfect book to stimulate students' "thinking journeys."

that's why when i was asked to demonstrate the interactive read aloud at our staff meeting today, i chose to read it instead of a picture book. the book is an instant conversation-starter, a book that causes adults' and students' metacognitive voices to literally scream reactions out loud. as a matter of fact, when i read it in my class, that's usually what happens: students' metacognitive voices burst forth, spilling from their brains out of their mouths! it's pretty fun to hear...

but our staff was a different animal. so stoic. so expressionless. so silent. as i modeled my thinking journey aloud, their silence made me very uncomfortable and threw me off my game. i'm used to the give and take "on stage"--the reciprocation-- whether i'm performing with an instrument or a book. i got next to nothing. i was about to read more, then i thought i should cut my losses because it seemed i was boring everyone...

once i got back to my seat, i did get a few questions and comments about the book, not to mention some very nice emails afterward, but overall it wasn't what i expected. i felt intimidated and a bit silly for putting myself out there. it definitely made me appreciate my class all the more!

this is why you're fat

i gotta admit: when i first saw this SNL parody, i thought it was just satire...

but after seeing this website, i'm not so sure it was satirical!

corndog pizza

Mega Pizza

A pizza with a hot dog wrapped in bacon pigs in a blanket crust. The center is filled with italian sausage, ham, bacon, bacon bits, sliced tomato, mushroom, onion, peppers, garlic chips, basil, black pepper and tomato sauce. It can also be flavored with maple syrup and ketchup.

some of the students at my school look like they might eat some of this stuff... good thing teachers know CPR!

john bolton gets told

i've had this video lying around my desktop for a while, so i thought i'd share it. this is for all (2?) of those people that still think getting rid of saddam was a great thing for the people of iraq.

an iraqi woman tells john bolton what's up...

favorite line:

i've lost more relatives in the last 4 years than under 30 years of saddam, so i don't think you can tell me how dangerous saddam's dictatorship was.

ouch. he got told.

of course he still acts like a smug m'f'er in my opinion...

elizabeth alexander

i loved watching the inauguration with my class on tuesday! it was incredibly moving, and aside from one of my african-american boys falling asleep, my class was transfixed. they clapped, cheered, and basically acted like they were actually on the mall. (of course i had to explain to them that this wasn't the kind of mall they thought it was...)

i especially enjoyed the poet, elizabeth alexander, although my colleague and i agreed that she didn't do the best job delivering her poem...she wasn't exactly a shining example of fluency.

the next evening, one of my favorite political pundits, stephen colbert, had her as a guest on his show and made her explain the difference between a metaphor and a lie.

hilarious. enjoy.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Elizabeth Alexander

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

theresa anderson@hotel cafe

she was amazing! she performed her first song completely a capella at the front of the stage, stomping her platform heels to keep the beat. i was immediately transfixed to say the least. she then proceeded to take off her shoes and captivate us with her blend of soulful folk (soulfolk?) and humorous anecdotes, all the while skillfully manipulating her delay pedals with her bare feet (podipulating?).

and just like her video in my previous post, her whole record, hummingbird, go! was recorded alone in her kitchen in NOLA, so when she mentioned her "back-up singers," the kitchenettes, and actually introduced each "singer" by name, describing their physical attributes and personalities, we all had a good laugh. she was so cute!

after the show i got to briefly talk to her about our mutual musical friend (mike dillon), holding up the line to buy her CD as she autographed it for me with a heart! (::sigh::)

a.m. letter test prep

here's what it looks like with a little test prep thrown in...

i heart the a.m. letter

i love the morning letter for many reasons, but mostly because i get to come in and begin teaching right away. before i began using it, i felt like i wasted valuable teaching time with students fumbling around for journals or pencils, chatting at their seats, checking homework, etc. now i get right down to business.

here's the routine: students drop off their backpacks at their seats, "park it on the carpet," (my new catchphrase), and i begin teaching a language arts content standard immediately. then, they go back to their seats and try it with another letter i've composed that hits the same content standard that i taught in the letter. it takes about 15 minutes--quick and painless. i like it WAY better than DOL (or "D.O.HELL"--my other new catchphrase). it's way faster, and it models what good writers do: they write everyday.

i can also teach a lot more than just punctuation, grammar, and spelling. last november, before we tracked off, i used it to teach the revision strategy of combining sentences. and since the CST has questions like, "how would these sentences best be combined?" i get test prep in too. bonus!

here's what that looked like:

5th grade camp

while i'm excited and relieved that our 5th graders will indeed get to go to camp this year--albeit for only 2.5 days at the YMCA's camp oaks--i'm saddened that the 60 year tradition of LBUSD students going to camp hi-hill is over...

from what i've heard, some people on the school board have had it in for hi-hill for a long time... that's why it was so encouraging to see our superintendent and other head honchos at the 60 year anniversary party last may (where i was lucky enough to help provide some musical entertainment).

this article in the district raises some interesting questions as to why LBUSD closed hi-hill...

obviously it's more politically expedient for the district to site fire and safety concerns than it is to say we don't want to pay for the poor kids to go to camp, but either way--super sad.

theresa anderson

wow.
talk about talented.
watch/listen to this one-woman performer from NOLA and see/hear what i mean.
she's playing in LA this month, and
i can't wait to check her out!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

hey gangsta! need help deciding if today will be a good day?
check this hilarious flow chart. (warning: NSFW)
(based on "today was a good day" by ice cube)

ELVIS!!!

i don't want to go to chelsea, by elvis costello

kinda like saying, i don't wanna go to orange county.
doesn't have the same ring, though...
this is a super tight live version. a little different from the album.
cool breakdown section.

btw, i don't like the "late nights" name. i still want to feature some of my favorite music videos, but i've got to think of a better name...

late nights with DJ C.

hey yeah, by oukast

an oldie but a goodie.
i love the breakdown/"ice-cold/shake-it-like-a-polaroid-picture" part!

happy holidays!

late nights with DJ C

crazy, by gnarls barkley

(i've got a theme going here these last few nights...)

i love this band!
so versatile.
the live "marching band" version of this song rules,
but
the groovy-melancholia of this rendition seemed
perfect for the rainy weather we've been having.

a special place in hell for punsters & mimes...

man who steals wig will have toupee (AP)

;>

happy 70th birthday, sophie!

out of control, by reggie watts.

dedicated to my crazy poodle.
i've had the pleasure of seeing reggie watts live a couple times in seattle.
once at bumbershoot and once at an after-hours loft party on 1st, near safeco field. he's an incredible musician and a really funny guy.
the video is kinda long, but the harmonies at the end are worth it.

late nights with DJ C.

twisted, by annie ross

tip o' the energy dome to pops for letting me steal all his
lambert, hendricks, and ross records.

check out the piano player at 1:59.
that's why live music rules.

thanks reagan. pt. II

...for explaining why the policies of your party-to-be
failed then, as they have now.

thanks reagan.

my favorite air america host, thom hartmann, takes the GOP
(and reagan, specifically) to task for their
failed economic ideology.

one of these things is not like the other...

tip o' the energy dome to mike morrisonic for the video recommendation.

i love this band!

" a size-10 reminder of his unpopularity" *

*AP quote.

see. that's why bush should just make iraqi journalists take off their shoes and kneel before him. you know. for freeing their country and all...

i wonder if this incident will give journalists in this country the temerity to insist that bush finish his job, get his party in line with the auto loan, work every last day of his term on the economy, and not leave EVERY problem he's created (or just ignored) for obama to fix.

let's HOPE.

Prop Hate--The Musical!

tip o' the energy dome to moms for the link!

BICS & CALP* -- it's not a country band

since we've been moving away from the
open court regiment and towards
standards-based instruction,
i've been teaching vocabulary a little differently.
basically, every monday the students sit on the rug and
generate vocabulary words from
looking at some kind of photo (usually from a magazine)
then, using a thesaurus,
i ramp up the students' words with more academic language.
(i.e. crack --> fissure) next, as per dr. kate,
we practice saying the new words orally a few times;
we clap out and count their syllables;
we look for any cognates, or spanish "cousins;"
we discuss their parts of speech; then,
i model how to use each word properly in a sentence and
give my students an opportunity to practice as well.

finally, students write the new vocabulary words on their papers,
so they can do their homework for the week...

monday: they write the dictionary definition of each word.
tuesday: they write sentences with each word.
wednesday: they write synonyms for each word.
thursday: they write antonyms for each word.
friday: QUIZ TIME--they write a synonym for each word and
use each one in a sentence.

i like this method for several reasons:

first of all, my mission is to get my students
mentally ready for the challenges of middle school
(and hopefully, beyond)
so
improving cognitive academic language proficiency
is critical to my goal.

this procedure builds-in opportunities for students to
orally practice the new vocabulary, and
increasing the amount of "time on the tongue" is integral to
academic language acquisition.

the picture itself provides students an image
to associate with the more rigorous academic vocabulary,
so the new words are not so
abstract.

(besides, having students use the same piece of paper every night
builds in the responsibility piece.
not to mention, they have a handy resource
from which to study for the test.)

this method also creates
greater buy-in,
especially if the students bring in the pictures
themselves.
(like the example above)
when the students have more agency,
they feel more responsible for their education,
so
their effort increases.
this usually results in more successful
(and hopefully, in this case, more eloquent)
students.


*BICS=basic interpersonal communication skills
CALP=cognitive academic language proficiency

a.m. letter

i've been doing this instead of DOL every morning...

more soon...

what is it to you?!

PRESIDENT OBAMA!

a sample of the electoral map my students filled out after the election.
they also added up the number of electoral votes for each candidate.

election eve

it is with a huge appetite that i am preparing to eat crow tomorrow.

for those of you who don't already know--i've long maintained that john mccain was going to be our next president. he's been a press darling for years--the self-proclaimed, "maverick," the "reformer," the "war hero," and quite frankly, the lingering racism still extant in this country alone seemed like it could send mccain to the other side of pennsylvania avenue. besides, how hard could it be to defeat an african-american candidate with such a funny-looking name? (now it might be a different story if his name were spelled, "BAROCK O' BAMA!")

well, barring another stolen election--and the race is still close enough to not rule that out--it looks like barack obama will be our 44th president. (i've now crossed all my fingers and knocked on every possible piece of wood in sight.)

but, even as i type, the pseudo-right-wing are dusting off their phony outrage machine that has lain somewhat dormant since the '90's and are gearing up for a "legitimacy" fight. (remember how clinton wasn't "legit" because he didn't garner 50% of the vote in '92, but we didn't hear a peep when bush didn't even win the popular vote in 2000? yeah--that phony outrage.) the seeds have been sewn--ACORNS, if you will...

should obama pull this off, get ready for a deluge of legitimacy-challenging, pseudo-scandal, anti-obama books ready for your beach reading enjoyment! it's how the pseudo-right has operated for almost 20 years. and the mainstream press have agreed not to care! (bush might still be shaggin' flies with the rangers down in texas, while gore exited the white house had the 4th estate cared, but i digress.)

no matter what the outcome tomorrow, obama has run a brilliant campaign. he's risen above the personal attacks and made this campaign about serious issues affecting our whole country. he's inspired and energized millions of people worldwide without going negative, without lowering the discourse down into the dirt, without slinging mud, and i think that that is really smart. especially for a growing progressive movement... to wit:

recently, i had a conversation about politics with a colleague that's more conservative than i am. this person had voted republican in the last two presidential elections, but refused to do so this time. it seemed like we were in complete agreement! mccain and palin were clearly unpalatable and were not going to get this person's vote... but, then neither was obama. so close! while they seemed to share the same views on many positions, this person would rather choose "neither" than vote for obama.

this lit my fuse, and i smoldered until prop. 8 (gay marriage) was mentioned. tempers flared, and we were in complete disagreement. i was saddened because, while progressive ideals may have won a mind, i failed to win a heart. that's when i remembered what bob somerby had said about the "culture of resentment" and the "culture wars" (gays, guns, and god) created, stoked, and inflamed by "the pseudo-right."

somerby (10/18/08): Polling has made it clear for some time: If we could agree to drop “the politics of cultural resentment,” the [progressive] side...would most often win. Indeed, “the politics of cultural resentment” was dreamed up by the [the pseudo-right] to counter that very fact.

i'd recommend reading the whole post. it's instructive that he notes the sheer dumbness of a growing progressive movement that would conduct itself as the "pseudo-right" have since the RISE OF RUSH--belittling and berating people, then expecting their "hardened hearts" to find "harbor" on our side. how smart is that?

in conclusion... well, take it away bob...

somerby (10/18/08): As a general matter, nothing is dumber than fighting on turf the other side has chosen. And that’s what pseudo-liberals do when they keep this “culture war” going...

go obama.

for my republican readers...

order yours now... before it's too late!

COTSEN observation

one of the best parts of being a COTSEN fellow is the opportunity to visit other classrooms--in and outside LBUSD--and watch other artful teachers instruct. last thursday we visited heidi fernandez's 4th grade class at roosevelt elementary school in santa monica. hiedi uses no textbooks... for any subject. instead she utelizes her encyclopedic knowledge of children's literature and the internet to teach all content areas, including science and math.

i wished i could have observed her the whole day, but since my focus is reading, i only watched her reader's workshop. her lesson was how good readers employ comprehension skills (questioning, inferring, predicting, etc.) "simultaneously," notice this "thinking journey," and write their "reactions" on sticky notes. i loved her terms d'arte. (sticky notes were "tools, not toys.") she was dynamic and knowledgeable. her lesson was tight. not a word was wasted...

i scrambled to scribble every syllable she said.

i was comforted in the fact that our grade level was not that far off from her model. her "mini-lesson" took 30 minutes, she had to re-focus a few of her "readers" throughout the lesson, and her class was "still working on transitions" from the carpet to their desks. all familiar problems in my room.

the thing that really caught my eye, though was the work she'd done with her class on the election. not only were all the candidates' pictures labeled with their names and party affiliations, but she also had a bulletin board displaying propaganda and students' comments on the effects of media on public perception. i loved this! all i've done this year is hold a mock presidential election (obama, 25; mccain, 5) and buy the schoolhouse rock, election collection DVD, which i haven't even shown yet! for such an historic election year, that's soooooo sad!

senator paul wellstone in memoriam

the progressive movement lost one of its foremost proponents 6 years ago today. watch (at 2:46) as senator wellstone mentions the one thing that can reduce poverty, sustain a middle class, keep us competitive in an international economy, and produce thinking citizens--education.

if all goes well, al franken will follow in wellstone's progressive footsteps when the people of minnesota elect him to the senate over norm coleman in november. (can you imagine bill o'reilly--who derisively calls franken "stuart smalley"--having to address him as "senator franken?")

fifth-grader suspended for wearing anti-obama shirt

not at my school. story here.

gotta love mandatory school uniforms!

THE EDUKATORS!

Gimme What I Want !
the edukators are:
mr. al - drums
mr. c. - guitar, vox
ms. d. - keyboards
mr. s. - bass, vox

debut performance,
long beach, ca @ 2nd annual laborless day party,
7/30/2008
tip o' the energy dome to laura velez for the video...
(the shadow was created by a tarp that i put up,
so my bad.)

ever felt like doing this to your printer?

...that's what i feel like doing every time the "needs more ink" warning appears! luckily, i found this helpful article about how your printer tricks you into buying ink and toner when you don't need it. check it out--you may be able to save some cash--which is nice, especially if your printer has already felt the wrath of your baseball bat!

lego artist nathan sawaya

watch a slide show of his work here.

TK-421 realizes his mistake...

zappa on crossfire, 1986

Zappa on Crossfire | Viral | SPIKE.com

watch frank zappa mop the floor with robert-traitorous-douchebag-novak when he says, "the biggest threat to america today is not communism--it's moving america towards a fascist theocracy."

i wanna new drug

make your own medicine, here.

did we date once?

click on image to enlarge

i get mean

music and drawings by edie brickell.

pew news IQ test

i got 10 out of 12 correct--83 percentile--meaning i scored better than 83% of americans that participated. according to the survey, 84% know that oprah winfrey campaigned for obama, but only 24% know the current senate majority leader, and only 28% know how many americans have died in iraq... that's our inept corporate media for ya!

what's your news IQ? take the test here.

I'm Glad I'm Not A Mollusk

thanks to kathy speake (our wonderful school secretary) for the opportunity to play at her 4th OF JULY EXTRAVAGANZA! here's an outtake of THE THINGZ doing their patriotic duty...

tip of the energy dome to laura velez for the video and support!

war hero dies of drug overdose

sad...

Editor & Publisher:

PINEHURST, N.C. A former Army medic made famous by a photograph that showed him carrying an injured Iraqi boy during the first week of the war has died of an apparent overdose, police said.

Joseph Patrick Dwyer died last week at a hospital in Pinehurst, according to the Boles Funeral Home. He was 31. The photograph, taken in March 2003, showed Dwyer running to a makeshift military hospital while cradling the boy. The photo appeared in newspapers, magazines and television broadcasts worldwide, making Dwyer became a symbol of heroism.

His mother said the military could have done more to help with post-traumatic stress. “He just couldn’t get over the war,” Maureen Dwyer said. “He just couldn’t do it. Just wasn’t Joseph. Joseph never came home.” Read on…

from crooks & liars

new ride

for the last few years, my garage could have be considered a "battle ground state:" two red mountain bikes (of course!) versus a blue BMX and chamille, my blue altima. but this election year change is in the air. once stalwart red states are looking more purple--some have turned almost completely blue, sick and tired of republicans running roughshod over the constitution. the sea change is evident in my garage as well. say hello to. . .

miles
(seems like a good name since he looks kind of blue in this picture!)

my "lanyard"

talk about a time machine--this image sent me reeling back to 1979, scooby doo cartoons, and minnesota summers... THE GALAXY EXPLORER

read all about the "secret lego vault" that contains all the sets ever made (with video!) here.

poetry pt. II

after my students struggled with "the lanyard" (see previous post), i saw the title of this poem--also by billy collins--and immediately thought of my students.

The Trouble with Poetry

The trouble with poetry, I realized
as I walked along a beach one night --
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky --

the trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.

And how will it ever end?
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,

and there is nothing left to do
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks.

Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.

But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry,
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the tip of my pencil.

And along with that, the longing to steal,
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and a ski mask.

And what an unmerry band of thieves we are,
cut-purses, common shoplifters,
I thought to myself
as a cold wave swirled around my feet
and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea,
which is an image I stole directly
from Lawrence Ferlinghetti --
to be perfectly honest for a moment --

the bicycling poet of San Francisco
whose little amusement park of a book
I carried in a side pocket of my uniform
up and down the treacherous halls of high school.

why i weep not for tim russert

i stole this directly from this modern world. written by the always succinct and brilliant jonathan schwarz of a tiny revolution, based on sam husseini's correspondence with him, it gives but one (BIG) reason why i never liked tim russert--his cheerleading for the invasion of iraq.

December 19, 1999: With Al Gore as guest, Tim Russert says on Meet the Press: “One year ago Saddam Hussein threw out all the inspectors who could find his chemical or nuclear capability.” Russert asks Gore what he’s going to do about this.

Soon afterward: Sam Husseini leaves a message on Russert’s answering machine, and speaks to two of his assistants, telling them the inspectors were withdrawn by the UN at the request of the United States.

January 2, 2000: With Madeleine Albright as guest, Tim Russert repeats the error on Meet the Press: “One year ago, the inspectors were told, ‘Get out,’ by Saddam Hussein.” Russert asks Albright what she’s going to do about this.

January 21, 2000: Sam Husseini writes a letter to Russert, again laying out the facts, and requests a correction.

January 22, 2000-March 19, 2003: Russert never corrects his error.

March 19, 2003-present: Hundreds of thousands of people die in Iraq War. Russert dies, not in Iraq War. Official Washington weeps copious tears for Russert and his Extraordinary Journalistic Standards.

More details with Sam Husseini’s letter.

poetry

i was recently introduced to billy collins while watching PBS late one evening. he performed this poem, and i immediately thought i had to share it with my students since they sometimes made lanyards at lunch... unfortunately, the innocence and irony was lost on them... so sad... in a few years they'll understand better... (not to worry, i edited out "milk from her breasts.")

The Lanyard
Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

Billy Collins, the U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, is the author of seven collections of poetry and is a distinguished professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He serves as the poet laureate of New York state.

why i'm voting republican...

from http://www.imvotingrepublican.com/

let the games begin

standardized testing started today. we began with the always-coma-inducing reading language arts section (42 questions). this "80-90 minute" test took two of my students 3 hours--one actually fell asleep! even after we stretched out and ran a few laps this morning. even after we made a big deal about getting enough sleep and eating a good breakfast.

face down in the middle of "the fox and the mole" story...

but the most forehead-slapping-est moment came when one of my best readers, finished her test and took out her writer's notebook. i noticed she had a movie ticket stub that she was ready to affix within, so i stole a peak at it--

KUNG-FU PANDA
sunday, june 8, 9:35 PM

i leaned over and whispered, "you went to the movies that late?!
what time did you get to bed, alisha?"

"midnight."

800 API, HERE WE COME!!!

dane cook is a douche

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

they're BAAACK!

at first i thought this was a kid's ball, stuck in my tree--
then i realized...
after three years of not producing any "berries,"
my avocado tree was finally bearing fruit!
i'll be giving them away when they mature--
first come, first served!

MR. C., MA, ED.

WAA HOO!!!
May 29, 2008 at California State University, Long Beach

love to my family for all the support--
thanks for celebrating this achievement with me!

what do teachers make?

in case you haven't seen this...

tip o' the energy dome to big sis for the link.

tribe names

since we're a tribes school, i let my students name their 5-6 student table-tribe (TT). it's a good exercise in compromise as well as creativity. their names must have unanimous approval of the TT, and they must work together to decorate their name tag (i've got to come up with a better name for this... placard?) actually, it's more of a mobile since it hangs from the ceiling of my bungalow... (shhh, don't tell ed, or the LB fire department!) they end up looking pretty good--especially by the third trimester--they pull out all the stops! here are a few examples:

THE DEAD ROBOT CHICKENS OF DOOM

dragon (thinking): "NEXT"
chicken 1 (thinking): "something smells good."
chicken 2 (thinking): "i know."


L-R: sovany (lead vocals), "WE LOVE YOU, LONG BEACH!"; alula (lead guitar), "ROCK ON!!"; arlena (keytar), "I'M ROCKIN' ON THE KEYTAR"; james (drums), "I AM THE KING OF THE DRUMS!"; lee (bass), "I'M ROCKIN' ON THE BASS!"; juny (keyboards), "THE KEYBOARD PLAYER"

and my personal favorite...

enough said.

5th anniversary

this piece from fairness and accuracy in reporting (F.A.I.R) collects the quotes of both "liberal" and "conservative" television pundits from february to may of 2003,when this
top-gun-cod-piece-of-theater occurred.

what's astonishing is the sheer breadth and scope, indeed the totality of triumphalism and self-righteousness displayed. on fox news it's to be expected, but NPR, PBS? REALLY?!


HOW CAN THESE PEOPLE STILL BE TRUSTED?

maybe it's true what somerby so succinctly states:
you can't run a middle-class democracy with a multimillionaire press corp.

read 'em and weep:

"Iraq Is All but Won; Now What?"
(Los Angeles Times headline, 4/10/03)

"Congress returns to Washington this week to a world very different from the one members left two weeks ago. The war in Iraq is essentially over and domestic issues are regaining attention."
(NPR's Bob Edwards, 4/28/03)

"We had controversial wars that divided the country. This war united the country and brought the military back."
(Newsweek's Howard Fineman--MSNBC, 5/7/03)

"We're all neo-cons now."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"The war winds down, politics heats up.... Picture perfect. Part Spider-Man, part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan. The president seizes the moment on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific."
(PBS's Gwen Ifill, 5/2/03, on George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech)

"Why don't the damn Democrats give the president his day? He won today. He did well today."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 4/9/03)

"What's he going to talk about a year from now, the fact that the war went too well and it's over? I mean, don't these things sort of lose their--Isn't there a fresh date on some of these debate points?"
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, speaking about Howard Dean--4/9/03)

"If image is everything, how can the Democratic presidential hopefuls compete with a president fresh from a war victory?"
(CNN's Judy Woodruff, 5/5/03)

"Now that the war in Iraq is all but over, should the people in Hollywood who opposed the president admit they were wrong?"
(Fox News Channel's Alan Colmes, 4/25/03)

"I doubt that the journalists at the New York Times and NPR or at ABC or at CNN are going to ever admit just how wrong their negative pronouncements were over the past four weeks."
(MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, 4/9/03)

conservative columnist cal thomas should have been looking in the mirror when he declared:

(THOMAS 4/16/03) "All of the printed and voiced prophecies should be saved in an archive. When these false prophets again appear, they can be reminded of the error of their previous ways and at least be offered an opportunity to recant and repent. Otherwise, they will return to us in another situation where their expertise will be acknowledged, or taken for granted, but their credibility will be lacking."

EAT F'N CROW, YOU FILTHY WAR PIG! 4,000 DEAD AMERICANS AND COUNTING, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF IRAQI DEATHS, AND NOT ONE OF YOU HAS APOLOGIZED FOR YOUR COMPLICITY?!?!*

SHAME ON YOU. SHAME. ON. YOU.

the worst part is, these people aren't rush limbaugh or sean hannity (of course, they, too, were spewing this same tripe every day of the week, along with hundreds of other conservative AM talk radio show hosts across the country). these people are considered legitimate political pundits! and guess what?

they still have their jobs!

they who confuse and divide our country.

and they're going to cover our election this november?



*that's not to mention the pentagon pundit scandal that the new york times broke last week exposing television news organizations (such as NBC) using "retired generals" with lucrative lobbying and weapons contracts as "military experts" during their reports on iraq without revealing their vested interests.

LAKERS!!!

first team to sweep their opponents 4-0 in the first round of the play-offs!

tragedy

i just found out that my former colleague and musical comrade, tony carbone died last month. he'd been battling brain cancer for the last few years and finally passed away in his sleep at his home.

i met tony in 1999, my first year teaching at whittier. he was a fellow sub and my next-door-bungalow neighbor in 3rd grade. he was also a musician, so naturally, we became buddies. his students loved him, and he was a very creative teacher, but when he was unceremoniously "let go," our contact became sporatic (although we did manage to coordinate a thingz/bikeride show). i was overjoyed when he got a job teaching 4th grade at lee elementary, just up the street from my house. whenever i'd see him drive by on his scooter, he'd always wave or stop by for a quick chat to catch up. he was always very positive and funny, no matter his circumstances.

he was also very humble, despite the fact that his band bikeride were an international sensation! well... maybe that's over-stating their fame since you've prolly never heard of them, but they did tour the globe and release 4 records, garnering positive reviews in the LA times and rolling stone, as well as kajillions of other indie rock 'zines. he was an AMAZING song writer and an AMAZING human being. he brought joy to everyone he met--kids and adults alike. he is definitely missed.

go check out--better yet, go BUY--some bikeride music. if you like beatles-style pop songs and beach boys harmonies with a little brazilian-prog-country-rock mixed in, you'll be happy you did.

RIP, tony.

new favorite website

no. that's not me.
my... um... ego's not that big.

if "pictures of hot chicks with total and complete douche bags" makes you laugh just to keep from crying, check out my new favorite website...
hot chicks with douchebags!

VERY funny stuff. the commentary is also quite... trenchant. poetic, even.

cotsen

about a month ago, some people from the cotsen organization gave a presentation to our staff soliciting recruits for their foundation. in a nutshell, their philosophy is that teaching is a fine art--an art form that each teacher personalizes and makes his or her own. they believe in nurturing teachers' individual strengths through fellowship and collaboration with mentors. no one style or method is advocated (since there is no ONE RIGHT WAY TO TEACH), but that the end result--great teaching--is a product of personal expression.

since music is a medium though which i express myself, i thought this might be an opportunity for me to learn more fully how to integrate music into the language arts and mathematics curricula. i've already begun using songs that i developed in collaboration with the company, teacher created materials, to teach some reading comprehension skills, but i'd like to more fully utilize music across the academic spectrum, in different disciplines including science and social studies. this looked like an opportunity for me to realize that.

this year we were lucky enough to hire one former cotsen fellow, glenda bishop away from our neighboring school, alvarado. she's a complete dynamo! the level of work her 3rd graders did--and the amazing work she is currently doing in 5th grade with readers' workshop--is a testament to her incredible passion for teaching and learning and a huge endorsement of the cotsen philosophy. if you don't believe me, just click here and watch her for yourself. (check out the other videos, too--they're pretty incredible... and also short!)

st. mccain redux

donald graves pt. I

since there's been some complaints about the quantity of education-related posts, i present a report (written for my masters class) on "my distant teacher," donald graves... (sorry for the formatting issues--blogger cannot seem to double space and indent my paragraphs the way m.s. word does--weak.)

...

Since you are able to read and comprehend the words on this page, you implicitly understand the value of the comprehension skills necessary to be a proficient reader. These skills are a prerequisite for making my words and letters comprehensible. Most teachers understand this and work hard to reinforce reading skills with their students. These skills have become an integral part of reading instruction curricula largely due to the fact that so much research exists in this area of literacy (Graves, 2000). But what about the value of being able to actually write comprehensibly?

Given that one cannot practice comprehension skills without words, and words need authors to write them, it would seem reasonable that researchers would have investigated the development of children’s writing as well as reading. But in the 1970’s, student writing was not considered when researchers studied reading. It was a consciousness of this deficit—this neglect of examining student writing—that was the impetus for Donald H. Graves’ doctoral dissertation on children’s writing in 1971 (Graves, 2000).

As a Distinguished Educator, Graves’ work in the area of children’s writing has spanned more than 30 years (Graves, 2002). After receiving his Doctorate from the University of Buffalo, Graves began his career as a Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of New Hampshire in 1973. Soon thereafter Graves’ expertise was sought in Washington D.C. on planning educational research for the 1980’s (Graves, 2000). This led to his study of children’s writing for the Ford Foundation in 1976—which produced Balance the Basics, Let Them Write (1978)—its purpose was to investigate what type of writing was being encouraged in classrooms: “authentic” (student-generated, student-selected) pieces or “fill-in-the-blank” writing (Graves, 1991).

After receiving a grant from the National Institute of Education for a longitudinal study of children’s writing, Graves, Lucy Calkins, and Susan Sowers spent the next six years documenting the developmental stages of children’s writing. This led to the publishing of Graves’ Writing: Teachers and Children at Work in 1983 and many articles in Language Arts (Graves, 2000).

From 1982 until 1988, Graves worked with Jane Hansen (from the reading department of the University of New Hampshire) studying the relationship between reading and writing. Graves’ “The Reading/Writing Teacher’s Companion series… resulted from this work.” For the next several years, Graves began to study the impact of the writer’s portfolio on evaluation, and published Portfolio Portraits in 1992, the year he retired from the University of New Hampshire (Graves, 2000).

This did not stop his publishing career. Originally intending to simply revise and update Writing: Teachers and Children at Work, Graves produced A Fresh Look at Writing in 1994 as a partial rebuttal to critiques of his earlier work (Graves, 2000). Graves (1995) again addressed questions about the validity, value, and logistics of student-centered writing workshops after being bombarded with questions from teachers following speaking engagements around the country.

In 1996 Graves published his first children’s book Baseball, Snakes and Summer Squash: Poems About Growing Up. He has since published How to Catch a Shark and Other Stories About Teaching and Learning (1998) and Bring Life Into Learning (1999). The latter was a response to teachers—with increasingly impacted time schedules—who focused primarily on plot instead of character, ignoring the humanity in literature. “When people are bypassed the children are bypassed and the emotion of learning is often lost.” Graves wrote (2000). Given that “emotion is the engine of our intellect,” Graves (2002) felt plot should be subordinate to character, since characters drive the plot through their actions (Graves, 1991).

Recently Graves (2002) studied the effects of “No Child Left Behind” (and its requisite standardized testing) on classroom teachers’ instruction. While Graves was quick to commend President Bush for addressing public education in his first term of office, he cautioned that measuring progress through standardized testing did not necessarily produce high achievement in students, and he admonished the administration for mistakenly thinking that “a test is good because it is a test.” In other words, testing (or test prep) was not teaching. Increasingly, though, Federal money is being tied to test scores, and more teachers are spending valuable teaching time focusing on test preparation (Graves, 2002).

Instead, teachers should teach reading and writing skills—life skills that encourage long, deep thinking as opposed to the short, “5-meter sprint” of one-answer-only questions found on most standardized tests (Graves, 2002). Only “Long Thinkers,” (like Einstein, Jefferson, and Darwin) have the capacity needed to sustain thought—a requirement for solving the tough problems of Business and Democracy—a necessity for our country to survive. To wit: the strength of our democracy—and indeed, capitalism—is in its ability to innovate, invent, and/or improve solutions to problems, not in finding the One And Only Answer (Graves, 2002).

According to Graves (2002), standardized testing, “conditioned” students to look for that mythical One and Only Answer—with the misguided belief that that was learning—consigning critical and creative thinking to a secondary status. In an interesting proposal, Graves suggested a role reversal: let those who make the tests, take the tests as well! Some parents did take these tests and found more than one answer to some of the problems. Still they received no credit for their ingenuity.