debleted

bak in sodak

2011-02-21T13:04:00.002-05:00

Midway through my third trip to South Dakota, things are going great.

So far:

It's snowed about 5-6 inches
While driving through the snow (because plows are few and far between) we flew off the road in a fish tail into a ditch - no worries, no damage, we were all set. we had to drive in the ditch for a little while in order to get up the embankment
Went to mass in a tiny little church with 18 people - actually really cool
Got to go back to a few of the historically significant places to get better pictures for when I teach about them again
Went to a trading post
got to see the new site of the organization I used to work for
and have just hung around in the volunteer housing

it's a great low key kind of break from the stressful and crazy life teaching high school

tomorrow, I'm going to go to elementary school to observe my friend teach and get to see her classroom and all that. it's gonna be fun to see what education is like in different parts of the country

Wups

2010-10-23T16:35:00.005-04:00

I went to go for a 5 mile run. Actually, the run was about 5.3 miles. So instead of running the normal route, I decided I was going to extend it by a block to make it a nice 5.5 mile run. That's what I planned on doing.

So I went on my run, got to the street I normally turn at and continued to go to the next block. I turned and right away it was a big hill. Great. Well, that works ... did that. So I kept running. Right now I'm living in a pretty residential area, but still pretty crowded (no big city, but there are lots of houses around). So normally when I run there are sidewalks (for the most part) and lots of houses.

As I was running, things started to get a little suspicious. First off, I didn't recognize street names after a while, but I didn't mind. It was a nice day, the run was going well, so I figured I would keep going.

Soon I found horses, and pigs, and ACRES of farmland. This is when I got really confused and realized I had no idea where I was. At this point I was about 25 minutes into the run so it was a little late to stop and turn back, so I kept on going thinking that eventually I would see something I could recognize. Well hopefully.

I did, I recognized a street name, so I turned onto it and it was for at least another 10 minutes that I recognized where I was on the street. But I got back onto my normal route and finished my run.

Aim - 5.5 mile run.

Actual - close to 8 mile run

Aim - 45-50 minute run

Actual - 70 minute run

Here's a map to give you a better idea

what I meant to do ........ what I actually did

Hurricane!

2010-09-02T16:03:00.002-04:00

So the community I'm living in has decided that we are going t have a "hurricane party" tomorrow

Rules of the hurricane party:

- wear pajamas

- rain gear over pajamas is acceptable

- watch movies all day

- no lights, just flashlights

- only eat canned food

(it's a hilarious wok in progress)

Moving On Up

2010-08-21T10:21:00.002-04:00

So things are coming along smoothly in the new (old) house (convent). Today one of my roommates is ripping out the carpet in one of the staircases, it's taken him half an hour but he has finished two stairs.

Beyond that things are good. It's pretty good here, boring but good. Yesterday I played 9 holes of golf (shot a 68). It was frustrating but I didn't mind because I wasn't paying for it (thank you gift certificates).

After that we got back to the convent and watched Resident Evil. I didn't really appreciate it, it was too weird. It lost me at the skinless dogs. Then in order to watch a less scary movie because some of the girls have a real problem with zombies, we watched Star Trek.

After 4 hours of movie watching I had to do something. So a few of us walked into "town" to see what there was. It is 11pm at this point so not much was open. I just needed to get up and out of the house for a little to regain some sanity.

But that's all for here as of now. Teacher's meetings start monday. I'm actually pretty excited for them, just because I really know nothing about the school so I have a lot of questions.

If a real fire alarm went off, I would have no clue

2010-08-17T22:09:00.002-04:00

So completely unpacked and moved into my new house (and old convent). My bedroom and office are unpacked and are awesome, so there. The house is a mess so a few of us living here have spent the past few days cleaning like crazy. It seems like in the ten years this house has been used as a PACT house, it has never been fully cleaned. So that's fun. I been opening cabinets and closets and finding the most random crap. In one of the drawers I was cleaning out I found torn up construction papers, pine cones, walnuts, leaves, sharpies, and a clock. Random.

Anywho, started wearing another heart monitor. I have the amazing opportunity to wear this one for 30 days. I'm so excited. When the things goes off, it first sounds like a truck backing up, then a fire alarm, and then a tea kettle whistling. This is gonna be awkward when it goes off when I start teaching.

Speaking of teaching, I'm starting a new blog (I will keep this one but I don't think I'll update as much). But it's gonna be all about my first two years teaching and the crazy and weird stories that happen. Check it out.

Already Drowning

2010-06-28T17:31:00.002-04:00

So I had my first day of real graduate school today. It's a 5 week summer session and I'm taking 12 credits. AWESOME!

So from just 2 of the classes I have for the next 5 weeks, I have 27 assignments. I can't wait to find out what else I have from the other 3 classes I'm taking tomorrow!

Help me.

All Growed Up

2010-06-16T13:55:00.000-04:00

I got my schedule for the classes I'm teaching next year, ready?

5 JUNIOR US HISTORY CLASSES

pumped. we're using the same book I used in student teaching, and the class starts at the same point I started student teaching. So I pretty much have the first three months already all planned out.

suckahs.

update

2010-04-16T13:18:00.001-04:00

sans wisdom teeth

What the theme?

2010-04-09T13:16:00.003-04:00

I think I'm going to start playing this game for the next few fridays. It's called, Spot the theme. I'll give you all the music played between classes and you have to guess what the theme of the day was. For today's, I bet you can't

In order of being played:

Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel
The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
The Beastie Boys - Intergalactic Planetary
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion
Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Female cover of TI's Whatever You Like
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Weezer - Perfect Situation
MGMT - Kids

Any ideas? probably not.

Awesome

2010-03-19T13:34:00.002-04:00

Found out my results today of the Comps (Comprehensive Exams you need to pass in order to graduate) that I took over a month ago. I passed, suckahs!

Also, I had a video interview today with the grad program I applied to. I think it went really well, I'm supposed to find out in a week or so if I get to go on to the next part of the application (placement in a school)

til then

Wups

2010-03-17T21:45:00.001-04:00

So the school recently came out with a Social Networking Policy concerning Facebook, Myspace, blogging, Twitter, Youtube, and other sites. (Don't know why youtube's there).

But it says that we aren't allowed to talk about the school or students or anything like that. So, I think I might be done blogging about my experience.

BUT, I just realized by blogging about the Social Networking Policy I'm going against the Social Networking Policy, maybe

Impressive

2010-03-10T14:03:00.004-05:00

Today was pretty good. I taught first period, the same lesson I taught yesterday on Ellis Island. It went really well I thought, my college supervisor came in to observe me so hopefully it went well. She hasn't told me yet how it went but I think it was good.

Also today, my cooperating teacher told my college supervisor that I had no need for Student Teaching and that I was ready to enter the classroom and really start teaching now. She said that was the biggest compliment any of the Saint A's student teachers have ever recieved. Pretty impressive, eh?

Beyond that, today was uneventful, didn't get electrocuted so that's a good sign.

Poorness*

2010-03-09T13:10:00.005-05:00

Today's lesson went really well. I kind of ran out of time, but that's a good thing because it shows you prepared more than enough material. We started by learning about Ellis Island, then the citizenship and naturalization process. Next I gave them a citizenship application to look at, there were questions like "have you ever been affliated with Nazis or Communists" "have you ever committed a crime against the government" and so on. We talked about how the application is asking them to lie pretty much. Who would really check off yes, because that would most likely mean you won't get citizenship. weird.

Next I gave them a set of the 100 most frequently asked questions for people trying to be citizens about US History and Government to see how many they could answer. We made a game out of it, you need to answer at least 75 correct to gain citizenship in the classroom. They really got into it, it was fun. Some people didn't know who the governor from NH, the senators from NH, or the vice president were. A couple people said the pilgrims came over on the Santa Maria. But overall I was pretty impressed by them, they got a lot of the hard ones right.

*right, "poorness", yesterday I asked my class why people came to America or why they left their home country. They had a bunch of answers on the board, but I was looking specifically for "to escape poverty." They weren't getting it, so I was like "well it's the opposite of one you already have up there 'wealth and oppurtunity'" one kid raised his hand and said, "to escape being poor" "well what is that called, being poor?" "poor ....... ness?" and then that was the running joke from the rest of the class. I told them that if it was a question on a test, poorness would be an acceptable response

and i electrocuted myself today ... fun.

Boring

2010-03-09T08:46:00.001-05:00

So yesterday at school was pretty uneventful, it was my first day back in 2 weeks. it was kind of a good feeling because some of the students where like, "oh, thank God you're back" but it could have been just jokes.

I taught 2 more lessons yesterday to kick off my Immigration and Cities Unit. Today we get to learn all about Ellis Island and Citizenship.

Beyond that, school's boring. Today the seniors have a field trip to Boston so all the senior classes i normally observe and help out in aren't here. so my schedule today:

Period 1 - Free
Period 2 - Free
Period 3 - Free
Period 4 - Teaching
Period 5 - Free

pretty good day i think

SBA

2010-03-08T15:39:00.002-05:00

Last week, I drove down to Ridgley, MD with 9 other Saint A’s students to volunteer during out Spring Break. Our trip was going to the “Benedictine School for Exceptional Learners,” a special education boarding school. The school welcomed with open arms any student in need of any type of special education. There were students with learning disabilities, mental illness, physical disabilities, behavioral issues, and more. The ages were just as broad too. The school offered its services to students as old as 22 and as young as I think 4. It was truly a place with an open and generous heart.

As volunteers, each of the 10 of us got placed in a classroom and then also placed in a dorm. I was in the “Voc 1” classroom. The classroom was made up of 6 students ranging in physical age from 14 to 18 and mental age of kindergarten to middle school. The students were all very different and had very specific and individual needs. A few students were almost completely non-verbal, although they could say a few words here and there.

My dorm assignment was the Benet Center made up of Patrick Hall and Anselm Hall. The Center housed about 22 guys ages 16-22. The needs and issues in the Center were just as diverse if not more diverse than those in the classroom. There were some very high functioning students but also many low functioning non-verbal students and everything in between.

In the classroom I acted as a teacher’s aide of sorts. I would help individual students with certain assignments and I facilitated a lesson on Saint Anselm College as well as one on Dr. Seuss. The students were amazing. There was Bradley, Kheli, Nicodemus, Robert, Newton and the only girl Courtney. At first I was very nervous about being in the classroom and I was intimidated by some of the disabilities of the students. But after being in the classroom for only a few hours, all of the nerves, anxieties, fears, and hesitations were gone. I felt completely comfortable in the classroom, and I realized early on that teacher was meant to be my profession.

As the week went on I learned more and more about the school and its history. It was founded in 1959 by the Benedictine Sisters as a place to teach children with special needs. As the school grew, more and more was asked of it. Now in 2010, the school offers education for children ages 4-22, it offers speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, life skills, group homes for after graduation, and a program called ITC which I think means Industrial Training Center. At ITC, students would be given jobs to do where they can make some money. The jobs included a variety of different tasks but one of the ones that stood out to me was that the students would be the ones that put the toys in those plastic bubble capsules that go into the $0.25 or $0.50 machines that you find in supermarkets.

The group homes were another great program set up by the school. After some time in the school, the Sisters (who are the directors of the school) realized that there is no place for the students after they graduate. Graduation is when they can no longer attend the school because state law says the state only has to pay for education up to the age of 21, and 22 in some states. So the nuns started the Group Home program. Currently there are 27 group homes in the Maryland and Delaware area for former students of the Benedictine School.

Sister Jeanette, the executive director of the school, is a small wisp of a woman with a personality greater than that of 5 people. She recently had to have eye surgery and actually had her left eye removed. So she wears a giant patch over her eye. She bombs through the hallways of the school on her power scooter nicknamed “The Red Baron”, mind you with one working eye. You would be standing in the hallway and all of a sudden a flash of light from the headlights followed by the flapping of a big Irish flag in the wind the scooter created would whip past you in the blink of an eye. All you said is “See you later Sister.” Sister Jeanette told us the story of when the school purchased their most recent Group Home at an auction. The home is called “The Manor” since it is the largest of the 27 homes with 7 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a 3-car garage, and attached apartment. She said she was the first person to place a bid, and no one dared to out bid here because they didn’t want to go against a nun. She ends the story by saying, “and that’s how we got the Manor at an amazingly price.” Jokes aside, Sister Jeanette had one of the biggest hearts of anyone in that school, and that school had a lot of big hearts. It’s evident after talking to her for at least 30 seconds how much she loves the school and more so loves all of the students that ever walked through its halls.

The dedication, commitment, zeal, and effort by the teachers and teachers’ assistants were obvious and enormous. However, the group that had even more of all of those qualities was the Residential Staff. The residential staff worked from about 3 in the afternoon and for some until 8 o’clock the following morning. They would look after, help, and be with all of the students after class had ended. Some nights the students just hung around in their dorms watching movies or playing games, but other nights the whole school would come together for school-wide activities.

One night there we played “Crazy Games,” an activity set up by one of the leaders of the Residential Staff. Most of the time Crazy Games was played it was a competition between the students and the staff. This week it was a competition between the students and us college kids. There was a potato sack race, a three legged race, a basketball shooting contest, a scooter/obstacle course race, a blanket-pull race, and it ended with a tug-of-war. It was a lot of fun and completely out of most of our comfort zones but it was a light-hearted, energetic, refreshing experience.

Another night they had “Benedictine’s Got Talent” a program that has been going on for about the past 8 weeks where one student every week gets eliminated from the competition. This week was the final four hoping to make it to next week’s finale. Two of the students had pretty good voices and did well; the two other students did amazingly well and definitely stole the spotlight. One boy sang, “I’m Sorry I Can’t Be Perfect” by Simple Plan (I think that’s the title) which brought tears to a lot of the girls in my group’s eyes because of the message of the song coming from a child with special needs.

On Friday night, like they do every Friday night, the school put on a social with karaoke, dancing, and ice cream. It was great to see all of the kids really enjoying their time and relaxing after a week of school.

After the whole experience had ended, everyone in the group had gained from the week. For me personally, I gained an understanding of what it means to be completely and utterly genuine and joyful in everything you do from the kids. I also learned to take my time, enjoy the little things, and not rush through life. Our Campus Minister said it best when we got back to school after the 8.5 hour road trip. “The students who return from to Maryland after SBA are the ones who can best articulate what it means to be human.”

One particular moment of the week continues to stand out in my head as a pivotal and memorable experience for me. One day my classroom and another classroom (Voc 2) came together to do a group speech therapy slash phonics type lesson. The students one after another read out loud a story about Dr. Seuss and a program called “Read Across America.” I was paired with Courtney to help her with the activity. Courtney was an 18 year old girl with Down’s Syndrome, a mental age of about a kindergartener, and was almost completely non-verbal. When it was Courtney’s turn to read, the teacher turned to her and said, “Now Courtney it’s your turn, and don’t you like it when your helper reads the words out loud for you to repeat when you read pages,” obviously hinting towards me that that is what I should be doing. So together Courtney and I read the page and passed the next page off to a different student. All throughout the reading, Courtney was hardly paying attention, looking around the room, and constantly shaking her hands signaling she wanted to play drums. I tried my hardest to keep her attention on the page and on the story but I didn’t think it was happening. At the end of the story, there was a set of questions the students had to answer. It was 10 multiple choice questions about the story. So together Courtney and I read each question and surprisingly Courtney got 9 of them right in a row. The final question was a little tricky. It asked basically what story was mentioned in the reading? The Cat in the Hat, Alice In Wonderland, or the Wizard of Oz. You would think it would be an easy question; however the class had gone on a field trip that morning to a local school to watch a rehearsal performance of their spring play The Wizard of Oz. I was nervous when I saw this question since I knew that Courtney would get confused about the answer. So with some guidance and subtle hints Courtney eventually got the question right: The Cat in the Hat. The teacher then came around and announced, “Now so far, everyone in the class has got 100% on the activity, if everyone gets 100% you’ll all get [whatever the prize was], now let’s see how Courtney did. Courtney, how did you do?” “She got 100%,” I told the teacher. Immediately the teacher looks at me with a stern look, “Seriously? Did she do all of this herself or did you give her answers?” “She did all of it herself,” I said forgetting to mention the final question. “Really? Wow. Congratulations Courtney. Everyone, Courtney got 100% too,” she stresses the final part as she looked at the other teachers in the room; the look on their faces was surprise and genuine awe. “Courtney got 100%,” they asked in amazement, “Yep, all on her own,” the teacher responded. You could tell the teacher were in their heads, “what the hell? Seriously!?” One of the teachers turned and asked, “Courtney, you got 100%? Are you trying to impress Mr. Tim?” in her grunt you could hear Courtney respond, “uh-huh.”

It was a moment that really stood for me because it showed that she really was paying attention and that she was trying to show me that she could get the questions right. It showed that she valued my being there was reason enough to strive for 100% and that I had made at least the smallest bit difference for her. It was humbling but uplifting at the same time.

SBA

2010-02-26T22:26:00.000-05:00

I leave for SBA Maryland, going to the Benedictine School in Ridgely MD to work with children with special needs, at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning. That is all, see you in a week

He said, She said, but She said, and He said, She said, that He said ....

2010-02-21T02:39:00.002-05:00

On duty tonight. Ran into a situation which quickly became incredibly confusing.

Me, Chris, and Brandon (the RAs on duty) walked through the Uppers and came upon a pretty large crowd of people. As we walked deeper inside the mob of people we realized that a fight/conflict was going on. So we tried to figure out what happened. I saw one of my friends and asked her what happened:

Patty's Story: We were all in my apartment and some kid threw a beer bottle at Daniella's head. So she went up to the kid and hit him in the face. Then everybody came outside and a crowd formed.

Ryan's (the alleged beer bottle thrower) Story: I was at that party and a girl came up to me and just hit me in the face, I left because I'm not gonna hit a girl. So i've been standing here and the girl just keeps coming at me for some reason.

Carla's (Patty's roommate) Story: Yeah that kid (Ryan) was in our room and he dumped a beer over Daniella's head, so Daniella dumped a beer over his head. Then he pushed her, so we all pushed him out of the apartment. Then he just started yelling and calling her the C word.

Daniella's Story: This kid just dumps his beer over my head, so I dump the rest of my beer over his head. Then he started calling me the C word and everyone kicked him out. Now he won't leave and he just keeps yelling at us.

Bobby's (Ryan's friend) Story: We were at that party, and this girl (Daniella) walks past Ryan in the hallway and bumps into him. She yells at him saying something like don't push me. Then she dumps her beer on his head, so he dumps his beer over her head. Then we left and some other girl charged us and sucker punched him in the mouth.

Kyle's (Neighbor) Story: I heard a kid (Ryan) was trying to steal Lauren's (Carla's next door neighbor) TV and then everyone started fighting him to get it back.

And I think there were maybe 2 other differing stories. Just a weird night on duty, still no idea what happened. But it worked itself out and everybody left.

* All names were changed (suckers)

DJ Hero

2010-02-19T15:46:00.003-05:00

Today's theme was Bad Remixes. Apparently all the songs were taken from DJ Hero (like Guitar Hero) but they were all horrible.

Anywho, my classes went well. I had the kids write an essay on the movie we just watched to explain whose side they were on in the conflict. Then we had a discussion/debate in class and it went really well. I got everyone involved, and i was very happy with the result.

Otherwise things are good.

short update.

Turn and walk away

2010-02-18T15:29:00.002-05:00

Today dragged on for so long. We continued with the movie and listened to presentations again. But again, today was awkward in the teacher's room at lunch again. But not awkward to me....

LSD teacher from yesterday, "So me and Matt were on Caf duty today, and this kid walked past me with his shirt completely un-tucked. So I said, 'you should tuck in your shirt before you go to class,' he looked back at me, and i said, 'tuck in your shirt.' and then he just turned and walked away from me. So i caught up to him and started yelling at him, I don't know what got into me but I was like, 'what the hell do you think you're doing ... blah blah blah.' then Kerry ran over when she saw me start to yell at the kid. she ran up to me and was like, 'stop it, he's deaf."

So awkward for him, hilarious for me.

Creepy!

2010-02-18T15:26:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was pretty bland. We continued to watch movies and do presentations in four of the classes. But what was weird was in the teacher's room.

"So, Tim, know how on the last performance of a play some actors might screw up lines on purpose to make their co-stars ad-lib? What do you think we are going to do to you on your last day?"

"Yeah! like have you ever taught while on LSD!?"

Umm, excuse you? what? get away from me?

And then lunch was over so I left the room

very awkward lunch

Two in a row

2010-02-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

So no school yesterday because of Presidents Day. And no school today because we have a SNOW DAY! (complete with no snow)

No Idea

2010-02-12T18:02:00.002-05:00

So here were some of today's songs. I couldn't hear the last two of the day but here are the others:

Journey "Don't Stop Believing"

Boston "More Than A Feeling"

J Geils Band "Love Stinks"

Liz Phair "Why Can't I Breathe"

The Beatles "Twist And Shout"

Michael Tolcher "Sooner Or Later"

The Beatles "Hey Jude"

Three Dog Night "Joy To The World"

I have NO IDEA what the theme of the day was. If you can figure it out leave a comment.

Beyond that, today was good. We had a half day and me and my cooperating teacher pretty much did zero teaching. First and fourth periods, the kids did presentations, second and third period the kids went to the library and did research, and fifth period the kids watched a movie. Pretty good day, periods were only 35 minutes each.

So that's three weeks of student teaching done, only nine weeks left. But i'm seriously not counting. monday off for presidents day and then the next week is february vacation.

Teachery

2010-02-11T23:12:00.003-05:00

Today was the first time I felt like a real teacher, and I have no idea why. Nothing was out of the ordinary or special, everything just seemed to fit. Weird. (I'm old. there sam you don't have to say it)

I gave my classes a quiz today and they all pretty much did really well, which made me feel good. Now I have proof that I actually taught them and that they understood.

I started planning the next unit that i'm going to be planning. After I went over everything, I made out a schedule and realized the unit is going to be like 3 and a half weeks long. pretty impressive huh? it will be complete with a movie, a guest speaker, maps, and a presentation. it's gonna be awesome.

In my "Methods of Teaching Social Studies" class we were talking about discipline today, my professor:

"At [high school] we don't have internal suspensions anymore. We used to, and it was a duty given to the teachers to monitor the library. It was horrible and poorly organized. They let the kids have headphones and listen to music. If it was me i would much rather sit and listen to music than be in class. It was a bad decision on their part. Now we have kids serve suspensions on saturday mornings, it's more of a deterrence now. But back then, we had a student that would always push the limits. So when they were allowed to bring headphones, he pushed it further and brought a miniature TV. When that happened the teachers refused to monitor internal suspension, because it was so ridiculous and the school needed to do something. And you know who this kid is, I know you do. His name is Adam Sandler." Cool huh?

Early release tomorrow, can't wait to hear what music they play between classes.

A Dusting

2010-02-10T23:46:00.003-05:00

Today the kids had to bring in their political cartoons. And honestly I was wicked impressed. A lot of them had really interesting and unique messages, and some other ones were drawn wicked well. Overall, very very impressed by the work they did.

For the rest of the class periods (I taught the same lesson in two sections today) I had them all make up questions for a review-type trivia game thing. It went really well, they all got into it. At times they were a bit rowdy, but my cooperating teacher said he was really impressed and said that it was clear that the class likes me and recognizes me as their teacher, and not just some substitute.

Beyond that school was fine. the snow was a let-down since we didn't get any. They said we were supposed to get like 4-6, ha nope. We MAYBE got a dusting, if that.

Long weekend coming up, I love schools that recognize national holidays (unlike my college), and then february vacation the week after. February is looking good.

Cartoons

2010-02-09T20:17:00.002-05:00

Today I taught a lesson on the Captains of Industry and Trusts. We talked about and analyzed a few anti-trust political cartoons. I thought it was a pretty cool lesson. For homework, the students have to create their own political cartoons. Some of the ideas they came up with were actually really god. One kid is doing a dollar bill, with the portrait of Rockefeller, and "In Rockefeller we Trust" on the bottom. I was pretty impressed. Another kid is doing the trusts like a pac-man game. Eating up money signs with the US Gov. (the ghosts) chasing after them.

When I wasn't in class today I started working on my own cartoons for my College Newspaper because i'm the official cartoonist. A few of the seniors were watching me draw over my shoulder, they were pretty sneaky I didn't know they were there. They were really impressed with my drawing, I didn't think it was that good, but I enjoyed the compliment.

Tomorrow the juniors' political cartoons are due, I think i'm actually going to be very impressed. We'll see though

It's Complicated

2010-02-08T16:25:00.002-05:00

So today was for the most part uneventful. I was going to do a lesson on the growth of cities, trusts & big business, and political cartoons for the lunch period. I was still finishing up my lesson plan during second period. I had to print off a few cartoons for the class for the group project I had designed, but today all the printers were down (awesome). I didn't think I was going to be able to do my lesson, and I didn't have a back-up plan (I need to start having one). But luckily, during the next period, the printers came back online and I was able to print off and make copies of all the cartoons for the students.

I did my lesson and the students were really receptive. For homework, which they started in class, they had to create their own political cartoon. A few of the students had really great ideas and everyone got into the project. I was excited about that.

During lunch, I went down to the teacher's room and sat at the same table as "Coach" (or at least, that's what we'll call him in this blog). Coach is a full-time substitute teacher. And before I met him, some of the teachers tried to help me brace myself by telling me stories about him. The best one was:

Coach (will opening up a brown paper bag for lunch): "Chinese food! Seriously! My wife knows I hate Chinese food. Why in God's name would she give me Chinese food for lunch!"

Other teacher in the room: "Coach, umm. That's my lunch, not yours"

But when I sat as his table he had just started explaining the entire plot of "It's Complicated" in great detail to another teacher. "You know that movie? It's really funny. It's with Meryl Street and the guy everyone loves to hate...." (I don't think anyone hates Alec Baldwin or Steve Martin, so I have no idea who he was talking about)

But yeah, it was funny I guess. Fingers crossed I get a desk tomorrrow

MDCV!

2010-02-05T15:42:00.002-05:00

So today started with the loud french teacher yelling in the hallway, "MDCV, MDCV!" No idea what that meant, but I eventually figured out that it was the french equivalent to TGIF. Funny, sorta.

Today's changing of classes music theme (remember last week was disney) was "Guilt Pleasures", some of the songs were:

Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

Wannabe - Spice Girls

Toxic - Britney Spears

Dancing Queen - Abba

I'd Walk 1,000 Miles - Vanessa Carlton

Who Let the Dogs Out - Baha Men

Can't Escape My Love - Enrique Igelsias

Girl on TV - LFO

and one more I didn't know.

I taught two more lessons today about the gold rush and frontier life, they both went really well. I didn't talk fast, I used the blackboard and maps, I called on students a lot (all critiques I had before). I ended the lesson by having the students write a fake journal entry or letter home talking about what it was like living on the frontier. I told them to be creative and use their imagination. Some kids were farmers, others hunted buffalo and deer, others fished, many struck it rich with gold, a lot hated the frontier, and a few were attacked by native americans (one fought back).

They all got into the activity and enjoyed it which made me feel really good about my ideas. We ended the day with a pep rally for winter sports with a lot of fun. Apparently the high school is at a point right now where every one of their winter sports teams is ranked within the top 5 teams in the states, and each team has a real shot at winning the state championship. So that's indoor track (girls and guys) hockey (girls and guys) skiing (girls and guys) basketball (girls and guy) swimming (girls and guys), cheerleading (girls, and they did a performance at the pep rally, they were amazing) and wrestling (guys). So that's pretty impressive for a high school athletics program.

Two Lessons In One

2010-02-04T22:45:00.002-05:00

Today went well. I taught another lesson to a different US History class. It went even better than yesterday because I got to work all the kinks out of my lesson. My college supervisor came in today to observe me too. She said she was very impressed, she thought I had great content knowledge, classroom management, i connected well with the students, and i used humor appropriately and respectfully.

Her only critique was that I talked to fast (which I know I do). She was like, "you went through all the information very fast and as you were talking you were just getting faster and faster. the amount of information you presented today is the same amount a [normal] teacher could fill 2 lessons with." Well, at least I know i'm not skimping on information.

But things are going well, the days are now flying by because I'm used to the schedule and flow now. Oh, and I got my own desk today to, pretty awesome. OK, more later

Trial By Fire (Part Deux)

2010-02-03T19:49:00.002-05:00

Today was kind of a scattered day. First period was fine, went by smoothly. Then right when first period was going to end, the school had a Medical Lockdown. Apparently a cafeteria worker had fainted or something, so the school went on Lockdown in order to keep the students out of the hallways so the emergency personnel could do their work.

Period two was interrupted with a Mass for Catholic Schools Week. The priest, as one student put it, "looked like what I think Jesus would look like." His nickname is Father Jesus, he had a beard, long brown hair, wears sandals, and well preaches too. He also looked like he could be a former NFL running back, he was one of those guys with no neck and just broad shoulders. Most intimidating looking priest ever.

Periods 3 and 4 went by fine. The came period 5; my first lesson. Overall, I was happy with the lesson. The teacher first off loved my lesson plan and was excited to see it put into action. I was loud, not quiet per usual, I knew people's names, I was comfortable in front of the class, students were asking questions the whole time, but as I was going I began talking faster and faster.

At the end of the lesson, my teacher asked me how I think I did. I did a self-critique and he was like "wow, thats pretty much exactly what I had to say." So he was happy that I knew what I had to do to improve. And the screaming french teacher from across the hall came in and talked to me after class. He was completely serious, asking me how it went and boosted my confidence. But my teacher turned to me and asked "do you get hives when you're nervous? because there were a couple on the back of your neck and by your ear as you were going through the lesson." Awesome. Good thing I was using a projector today, so all the lights were off and the students weren't looking at me.

But overall I was really happy with it. My supervising professor is coming to observe me tomorrow, so I'm teaching the same lesson as today just to a different class of students. It should go really well since I already got critiqued by myself and my cooperating teacher.

Google

2010-02-02T22:32:00.002-05:00

So again, the teacher's room is hilarious. Today the teachers spent a good 20 minutes talking about the wine at church, and then it turned into how great it would be if they served scotch instead of wine. "Attendance would improve," someone said. Then it turned into "to each his own" and someone saying how great it would be if you walked up to the alter and the priest asked "what are you having?" Weird, but funny.

In the 20th Century history class we talking about the Patriot Act and how the government was trying to get all the information from google about who searches for what on the internet. We talked about how the government, if they want, can check out what we look at on the internet. The teacher goes, "David, that means the US government knows about all the porn you watch on the computer" (obviously joking) just as a tour walks by the open door of our classroom.

In the US History class the teacher announced that I would be taking over the next unit as the teacher. He said, "make sure you all site in your assigned seats, he's already memorized all of your names." The kids didn't believe it and started to test me with their names. I got all of them right, then a kid asked me what his last name was and I got it right too. "HOLY CRAP, HE KNOWS MY NAME!" Then another kid asks, "what is my mother's middle name? .... haha, you don't have to answer that, I don't even know"

So we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Trial By Fire!

2010-02-01T22:50:00.002-05:00

Today FLEW by. No idea why, but the day went by so fast, everyone else felt the same way. I spent me free period talking about the lesson I'm going to be teaching on Native American History with my cooperating teacher. He was wicked happy with my lesson plan and even said he wax excited for it. So that's happening on Wednesday now.

He was impressed because I'm using group work, music, a video, a picture slideshow, a lecture, and a quiz to end it all. "It's good you address different styles of learning, but wow, I didn't think you were gonna hit them all in one lesson." I felt proud of myself.

When we got back to the class, our classroom neighbor, an extremely loud and over the top french teacher, kept asking. "When are you going to throw him to the wolves?" Then he left the room yelling "Trial by Fire! Trial by Fire!" (it was actually hilarious) the students walking by had no idea what was going on.

I think that's all that really happened today.

One week done.

2010-01-29T21:56:00.003-05:00

So my first week is over, it was great.

First period ended today and all of a sudden "Circle of Life" (the Pink Pajamas with Penguins on the Botton song) started to play over the loud speakers. I thought it was a prank or something, like the seniors took control of the PA system (like Shawshank Redemption). After "Circle of Life," "Colors of the Wind" came on.

Apparently, on fridays the school plays music between classes. they also have daily themes. Today's was disney. We heard, "Circle of Life" "Colors of the Wind" "Hakuna Matata" "Kiss the Girl" "Under the Sea" "You've got a Friend in Me" "I'll Make a Man out of You" and "A Whole New World" it was HILARIOUS.

Also, tonight there's a big rivalry game in guy's basketball tonight. Both teams are undefeated so it should be a really good game. (I can't go, because I'm on duty tonight). But any how, the administration is predicting a riot tonight. So during class today, the teacher asked a group of students what they were talking about: "we're just talking about strategies as to how not to get arrested tonight."

And, a girl in one of the classes brought cookies in for everyone. They were chocolate chip cookies, but she added vanilla pudding to the cookie dough. They were awesome.

John could have done it better

2010-01-28T06:42:00.003-05:00

So, today was kind of the first day I talked in class. I talked for 2 minutes explaining where the term "Jim Crow" came from while talking about Jim Crow Laws. But that was it.

The teacher's lounge is the most hilarious place in the school. But today the spent the whole lunch period telling me how much I will hate and be awful at my first year of teaching. One of the teachers asked if I knew how he got through his first year. His answer: lots and lots of alcohol. Great, that's something to look forward to.

But my classes are great, the students are outgoing, enthusiastic, and respectful too. One kid spent about 10 minutes today explaining that John Wilkes Booth could have done a completely better job. He then explained his strategy as to how JWB should have assassinated Lincoln. Sounds weird, but it was actually entertaining and interesting.

We got our planners/grade-books today. I feel so professional. it's weird. I don't like it.

Day 2

2010-01-26T15:56:00.002-05:00

So I decided I needed to start working on memorizing names of students today. Especially, because i only known one girl (who's in two of my classes) as "fish-face" (my nickname for her, not her own).

So since I was just observing today and doing nothing productive, I fully memorized 4 classes worth of names. I know the kids by their seats, so if they change seats i'm screwed. And if I see them in the hallways i'm screwed.

We'll see how it goes. My CT (cooperating teacher) said out of all his classes, I'm gonna start taking over US History since 1877 first, but I don't know when that's gonna be.

Student Teaching

2010-01-25T15:48:00.003-05:00

Woah, an update!

So I started officially student teaching today, well not "officially" because I haven't started teaching yet. Today I just sat there observing different teachers. My cooperating teacher is teaching 6 classes this semester, 2 Junior US History classes, 2 Senior 20th Century classes, and 2 Senior Advanced European Studies classes.

It went pretty well, the classes were relaxed and laid back, so I think my style of teaching will mesh well with my cooperating teacher's.

I don't have much else to say, there will be more in the future. But I'm pretty excited about what's coming up in the year.

My weekend:

2009-11-23T11:09:00.001-05:00

Out of my five classes this semester, each class decided they wanted to have a major project due before Thanksgiving. Lucky for me, my wednesday class got cancelled, so therefore all five of these projects are due either Monday or Tuesday.

Project 1: Drawing Class

Photocopy a $5 bill, and work on "gridding" and duplicate the portrait of a president (about 1" by 2") onto a 18" by 24" piece of paper.

Completed Saturday night.

Project 2: Clay Studio

Finish glazing all the clay pieces you've already made by Tuesday. I had to glaze my massive pitcher thing, 8 cups, 7 bowls, and a few other small pieces.

Worked on that Thursday afternoon, Friday morning, and finally completed it Saturday afternoon.

Project 3: Crime and Punishment in European History

Using the website OldBaileyOnline.org research two months of British justice between 1670 and 1913 and compare the cases, verdicts, and punishments of those two months. also, explain how those two months can also explain the changing social trends of the times, the changing outlook towards crime and criminals, and how England fits in with the changing trends of Europe in criminology. Should be 6 pages long.

Completed Saturday Afternoon/evening/night

Project 4: Business Ethics

Write an argumentative essay on whether or not you agree with the Doctrine of Strict Liability in businesses. Make it a logical argument and make your paper controversial so that someone can easily disagree with it (what!? umm, ok I guess) Should be 5 pages long.

Completed Sunday night

Project 5: American Sports History

Read the book , "Darwin's Athletes" and explain the author's thesis and whether or not you agree with it. Should be 8 pages long.

Finished (and started) the book this morning (I skimmed)

Currently working on the paper. It's 11:22, and the paper is due by 1:00

Wish me luck. So yeah I completed all the assignments (almost) but that doesn't mean I did well on them.

They call it the Senior Plague

2009-10-26T15:11:00.003-04:00

So flu-like symptoms are sweeping across the campus. It's not officially swine flu, or real flu, but anyone with "symptoms" are being sent home with pretty much no questions.

People around here are calling it the Senior Plague since, it seems, most of the people sent home are from the senior class. Officially, since the Dean of the College told me, last wednesday health services sent home 16 people, thursday 18. Those are the only "official" numbers I've heard. But I know that more kids were sent home before Wednesday, and even more have been sent home this weekend.

Apparently, Health Services has a 3 hour wait to been seen today. The student body is only 2,000 kids, so that a big deal.

At our last Red Key meeting we were trying to figure out where everyone was. It was like: Where's Foley? sick. Frechette? sick. Hooper? sick. Stinky? sick. Pokey? sick. Corcoran? sick. Hurley? sick. Hughes? sick. Meyer? sick. (There are only 26 of us).

Why is it that my senior years come with such problems? Senior Year of College: the Senior Plague. Senior Year of High School: The MC Genocide of 2005. 8th Grade: we typically only have 6 teachers, during that year we somehow went through 22.

Or the second time?

2009-10-20T16:14:00.002-04:00

Apparently the pictures didn't work the first time

2009-10-20T00:19:00.003-04:00

Another Clay Update

2009-10-18T22:29:00.002-04:00

It's about a foot and a half tall and weighs about 25 pounds. It's huge

The Other Art Class

2009-10-18T22:13:00.005-04:00

In my other art class, Drawing 1, we've been working on perspective and other stuff. Here's an example of what I've been doing

(It's my porch)

Project 3: Make 2 Jars

2009-09-28T19:52:00.004-04:00

I first tried to make a sculpture of Atlas, and have the globe be the jar. But as you can see, Atlas wasn't strong enough to hold up the world, he fell. And then I make a jar with mountains on it, the lid is the sky.

Because Atlas was an epic fail, I had to make one more jar. This one is a cylinder with crumpled up loose-leaf paper as a texture. It's supposed to look like a sheet of loose-leaf, 3 hole punched and all. The knob for the lid is a pen and pencil

First month of Senior Year

2009-09-27T16:09:00.002-04:00

Things are going well so far. 1 month in.

RAing sucks, per usual, but I guess I can fight through it

SBA stuff is almost in full force, placement for trips happens next Monday

Keys is good, we just got 11 new members, things are lookin good for the year

Class is actually going really well. I'm taking a class on the History of American Sports, a history class on Crime and Punishment in European History, Business Ethics, Drawing 1, and Clay Studio.

By far, Clay is my favorite class however it's RIDICULOUSLY time consuming. Here are two pictures of projects I've already done. And today I pretty much finished my third project which was to make 2 jars. I'll put up pictures later.

Update

2009-08-21T09:22:00.002-04:00

I just moved back to school, living in the townhouses this year (with a porch off the back!). still in the process of unpacking because I really don't care about it. RA training starts at noon today, which I can't wait for. not.

That's all so far, hopefully things become more eventful

New Movie Project

2009-08-05T15:31:00.002-04:00

So as you may know, Billy is in love with Morgan Freeman, (or maybe just his voice, i don't know)

Billy: If they make a movie about my life, do you know who would narrate it? MORGAN FREEMAN. (no surprise there)

So after a little brainstorming, we came up with a great new movie project, which is totally plausible and could actually happen.

The movie would be about a kid (based around Billy) who had a huge desire to have Morgan Freeman narrate his life. So he comes up with an idea. He would learn sign language, pretend to be deaf and Morgan Freeman, (somehow) would become his translator. Therefore, Morgan Freeman would narrate his life.

Obviously it would be a comedy, and towards the end the kid would be exposed as a fraud, but the movie would end with the two becoming friends again.

Weirdest Dream

2009-07-08T09:08:00.003-04:00

So yeah, pretty much had some weird dream last night about Tommy and Sam's wedding, it was so weird that I have no choice but to share it.

It's the morning of the wedding and all the groomsmen get together ahead of time. We all get dressed in our suits, mind you they are Baby Blue and White Checkered Flannel Suits. Tommy was excited about the flannel.

We get to the church, IC not Saint Mary's, and it's absolutely packed. All the girls process in, not one by one, but the 4 of them (Jessica's not there) just walk in together as a group nonchalantly without flowers or anything. But instead of Tommy and Sam being on the alter, they sit with bridesmaids and groomsmen in the pews. The priest starts talking as someone walks around passing out the programs as well as ink pads and rubber stamps. It's time for the first reading, and 4 people all walk up to the alter to do the reading, they realize that not all of them could do it so only one of them goes up to the podium. I had no idea who any of these people were and then I realized that although it was only Tommy and Sam on the alter, there are about 4 or 5 wedding parties in the church.

During the first reading, Danny's cell phone goes off. Of course he answers it. It's a girl, apparently from Germany, so he gets up and walks out of the church to talk on the phone, like it's no big deal. The first reading goes on, and Billy and I look at each other "isn't Danny supposed to do the responsorial psalm?" He was. First reading ends and then five more people all walk up to do the responsorial psalm, none of them Danny because he's still out on the phone. Instead, Michael J Fox goes up there to do it. And he decides to sing it, and at least in this dream, Micheal J Fox absolutely sucks as a singer, his voice cracked the whole time and at one point you couldn't even hear him sing.

I was supposed to do the second reading and I was ready to walk up there and fight all the other people to get to the podium to do the reading. Instead, Obama walks in, like it's nothing. Goes and stands next to Tommy and waits for Tommy to recognize him. They greet each other and President Obama congratulates him. Then he walked up to the podium and starts talking about a new bill that's going to be talked about in the house of Representatives, which has no significance at all to the wedding, then he went on a rant about the newly elected female governor of Delaware and talked about her for a while.

Someone turned to me and said, "maybe we should have gone to St. Mary's." He left and I was getting ready to walk up to do the reading, but instead I woke up to Tommy's alarm clock and the dream was over. But yeah, it was pretty weird.

Update

2009-07-06T09:06:00.002-04:00

I meant to update earlier, but that pretty much failed. So I will do it now.

Since the last update, I got a new phone which soon after arriving home was kidnapped. After a long ordeal, and random followings on twitter, I got my phone back. I've kept an eye on it since then.

Finished painting a house, which is the only work I've done since getting back from SD. But I might have found a job, I'll find out next saturday whether I got it or not.

For the fourth this year we went to the beach, it's been the first time in a long time that I stayed the whole weekend instead of just the day. It was awesome, everytime I'm there it's a family reunion, arguably the best fourth of july I've had.

Even the fifth of july was great. Minus frisbee-throwing a plate and making someone's face bleed. Also realized that sunburns on your feet are awful.

Well that's about it, I guess, I live an exciting and adventurous life and everything.

Holy Crap

2009-06-23T17:57:00.004-04:00

Today Billy (blog) and I decided to go climb the Bunker Hill Monument because we've been doing nothing for the past few days. It would be something fun that would get us up and out of the house. We used to climb it all the time when we were little, so in my head i had the memories of running up the stairs, racing to the top of the monument. Not so much.

So we got there, after getting a wee bit lost (how hard is it to find a giant granite stick you would think). We started to climb and it wasn't bad. I got to step 100 and I said to myself, "this isn't bad at all, this'll be fine." Then, about step 150, my legs practically give out and turn to rubber. But I am not going to stop or give up, I'm going to finish this. So I keep on truckin up the stairs, pretty much dying (not really). We get to the top, Step 294, and get to see the great view. We got up all the steps in 8 minutes, relatively fast for walking standards. We get down the monument in 2.5 minutes, it didn't help that we were practically running and missing all the tiny steps on the way down (not safe).

We headed back home and went and hung out with Sam (blog), and invented Ultimate Jenga. See both of their blogs.

Meh.

2009-06-22T19:57:00.003-04:00

New Entry:

Got back from SoDak and have done nothing with my life.
Sam's land-lord is a whorebag. She hoards water.
Life is boring
Blah.

(see, bear, now you can read this blog, so shut up)

To Do List:
Get a job (maybe)
Draw blue prints for secret passage in Tom and Sam's new house
Install secret passage
Keep secret passage a secret from everyone
Give Billy a haircut
Laugh at Billy

-debleted

2009-06-09T01:58:00.001-04:00

South Dakota blog:

wagacun.blogspot.com

What?

2009-05-02T01:06:00.005-04:00

I really tried to put a video in this but it's not working right. But did you see Prince's interview on PBS with Tavis Smiley?

1a. Really, you're name is Tavis Smiley? Were your parents big Sesame Street "Guy Smiley" fans. And do they have a thing again the letter "R" because it's spelled Travis.

2. Prince is CRAZY. He says in the interview.

"We're all indentured servants. When I found out there were eight presidents before George Washington, I wanted to smack somebody. I wanted to know why I was taught otherwise. Just tell me the whole story - I'll fill in the blanks. But don't tell me something that you think I'm supposed to know"

3. Well, we knew Prince was crazy. This just confirms it.

1b. No offense Tavis.

It's a trap ...

2009-04-30T17:08:00.004-04:00

I got whiplash AGAIN. Seriously, it's like the second time in 3 weeks.

I got it from this:

You might say, "seriously, you got whiplash from that!? It's so fun and colorful, hence in no way dangerous" LIES. It's all a trap. Designed to hurt children (and 20 year old college students). Look out, it's always the ones you least suspect that are the most dangerous. I'm on to you rubix cubes.

Ninjas in South Africa

2009-04-28T13:23:00.002-04:00

Since Sam yelled at me to post a new entry, here it is.

This week is the last week of class for my junior year of college. As of right now, I have only 3 classes left. This morning, I had my last 1130 class, my South African Reading Seminar, so our Professor, Poppy Fry, (yes Poppy is her real first name -- it's awesome) decided to make it a fun class.

She made a bunch of South African foods for us to try. Umfani which was like spinach with salt and peanuts that was supposed to go with the Samps and Beans which was a thick corn and bean kind of thing, Chakalaka was vegetables seasoned with curry I think (I'm not sure, I didn't eat them) and Bobotani which is like a South African Meatloaf, but not that kind of MeatLoaf. It was all pretty good. And to go with all the food, she made Rooibos Tea which tasted like the tea from the Kowloon or other Chinese Food Restaurants, it was really good. I'm gonna try to look into where i can buy some.

We also got a brief lesson in the Xhosa Language. (That African clicking Language) It was really cool. She stressed that every letter is pronounced by itself, not like in english where you put together "th" and "ph" because in Xhosa, "Usipho" and "Usifo" are not pronounced the same. Because "Usipho" means gift and "Usifo" means disease.

My favorite word in Xhosa is by far "Ninjani" which means "how are you" if you're addressing more than one person. It's my favorite word because "ninja" is sleathly hiding in the word.

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

Oh yeah, so something substantial did happen this past week. Thursday night, Third Eye Blind did a concert at Saint A's. I didn't go, I didn't feel like it. Instead I went to the Key Fire we had the night. After the concert everyone came down to the fire, we easily had over 300 people there it was awesome. The best part was that, at about 1 AM, guess who also showed up to the fire .... THIRD EYE BLIND. So yeah, the Keys are pretty much legendary now. It was awesome.

Whiplash

2009-04-16T15:48:00.001-04:00

I think I have whiplash but I have no idea how or why. Very weird, but I still can't turn my neck

SoDak II

2009-04-05T18:26:00.001-04:00

As of about 3:45 today. I officially have a job for at least part of the summer. I got hired to be an intern at Re-Member in South Dakota. Pumped.

"Ok, we're good"

2009-04-03T17:23:00.002-04:00

I had my SBA Leader interview on Tuesday, I think it went pretty well. I find out after Easter what happens with that.

I had my Re-Member phone interview today. It lasted 5 minutes, there may have been 6 questions. And the guy ended it with, "Ok, so yeah I think we're good" Umm, ok. Bye

Who would win?

2009-04-01T13:17:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I was watching TV with my roommates and a promo for this show on Spike TV came on called "Deadliest Warrior." I'm not completely sure what it's about, but I hope it has different warriors fight. Because I truly want to know, who would win in a fight: Samurai or Gladiator? Ninja or Viking? Spartan or Roman?

Week O' Crap

2009-03-30T16:43:00.002-04:00

Well really, weeks o' crap. I am currently in the most anxiety filled span of time in my life. Aside from papers, reading, exams, and other school related issues, I have 4 stress-filled events.

1. RA Selection/Housing Lottery:

I am currently a Junior RA at my school, for senior year I applied to be an RA again (the money makes a HUGE difference). Stressful Aspect 1: Am I gonna get hired again? Did I do a good enough job this year? What is going on. Found out I got hired, OK but that leads to Stressful Aspect 2: Where am I going to be placed as an RA on campus? In the Freshman dorms? In the sophomore dorms? Please have me be placed in the senior dorms! Got placed in the senior dorms, which leads to Stressful Aspect 3: What part of senior housing will I be placed in? In the singles? The apartments? Hopefully the townhouses! I got Townhouses. (This is the condensed version, it was a lot more hectic)

2. Keys Elections

For the "honor" society that I'm in, time for elections came up. For Keys elections it has to be a unanimous decision among our 28 members. I wanted to be elected Vice President, but I heard people saying they wanted me as treasurer. When election time came (last night). We elected the President quickly, everyone wanted the same guy in charge. VP was different. It got narrowed down to me and another kid. The other 26 members debated who should be VP for 2 HOURS. It was wicked stressful, I was wicked anxious and nervous. After about 2 hours and 15 minutes of discussion, I was elected VP. Now I just have to prove to them they made the right decision.

OK so two of my stress-filled events have been completed, but I still have two more to go.

3. Spring Break Alternative Leader Interview/Selection

I went to South Dakota with SBA and for next year I applied to be a leader on one of the trips. Sent in my application, and last week I got an email congratulating me for passing phase 1. Phase 2 of the process is the interview. Mine is tomorrow night. Very stressed out and nervous about that, anxious too. I want to get selected, but you never know. Hopefully it all works out.

4. Re-Member intern interview

In South Dakota, we worked at a community center type thing, called Re-Member. When we got back from SBA myself and 2 girls applied to be interns there for 3 weeks in the summer. We sent in our applications about 2 weeks ago. Saturday I got an email asking when I wanted to set up my phone interview. It's set for Friday. So obviously this again, is a stress-filled, anxiety-filled situation. Hopefully that goes well too.

After all those are over, I have a break from school for Easter. Which is gonna be great, because time off is definitely needed at this point. After Easter Break, there are only 4 weeks left in the school year. Everything is flying by so fast .....

Long Walk To Freedom: The Musical Trilogy

2009-03-26T15:51:00.004-04:00

So right now I am taking a course on the South African Politics of the 20th Century. For the course, we are reading two very scholarly books, tons of articles, and Nelson Mandela's autobiography: Long Walk To Freedom.

One day in class, we (about 4 of us) decided we wanted to make the book into a movie. We then decided we wanted it to be a trilogy, and one third of the trilogy would be a musical. Hence, Long Walk To Freedom: The Musical Trilogy was born. So we started casting.

We decided that the young Nelson Mandela should be played by an up-and-coming actor, this movie would be his debut role.

Young Adult Nelson Mandela - Will Smith

Middle Aged Nelson Mandela - Terrence Howard

Senior Nelson Mandela - Sidney Poitier

What about Morgan Freeman someone might ask. Don't worry, he is the narrator.

Who would then play Mandela's wives?

For some reason, Rihanna was chose to be his first wife. And Halle Berry was casted to be his second wife Winnie.

David Bopape, a strong member of the African National Congress (ANC) would be played by Djimon Hounsou (from Gladiator). Oliver Tambo of the ANC would be played by Don Cheadle. The token white-guy of the ANC would be none other than Tom Hanks.

The leader of the militant wing of the ANC, the Umkhonto we Sizwe [Translation: Spear of the Nation] (AKA the MK) would be Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

Bono would be one of the white South Africans that housed Nelson Mandela while he was a fugitive.

Other notable cast members include:

Since South Africa has a large Indian population, we casted Freida Pinto, Kelly Kapoor and Sir Ben Kingsley (because he was great in Gandhi)

Will Smith's son (Jaden Smith) could play the role of one of Mandela's sons.

Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mekhi Phifer would also be casted in the movie: actual roles will be announced later, we're waiting on contract agreements.

And somebody decided that Beyonce and Shakira should both be in the movie, somehow.

But you may ask, how are planning on funding this movie? We already solved that problem. One word: OPRAH. We would cast Oprah in the movie as Oprah. We would add her into the story of Nelson Mandela's life by saying her and Mandela were pen-pals during his 27 year prison term. We figured by doing this, she'd pay for the whole movie. Plus, we could always throw in her yelling, "Apartheid is baaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaad!"

It's a work in progress ... awesome progress

In 5 minutes and 1 second, I saved three lives

2009-03-25T22:05:00.004-04:00

Gave blood today. But funny story...

So I do all the stupid questions, and the vitals (might I add, I was perfect) and finally got to give blood. I got to the station and the lady marked out where my vein was, three times, and after all the prep work, inserted the needle into my arm. Suddenly, NOTHING CAME OUT. She started yelling for her supervisor, "Laura! Laura! Laura!" who came over, took control of the situation, found my vein and inserted the needle properly.

Finished giving blood in 5:01, not a personal best but OK (4:21 is my best, giving blood is ALWAYS a race). So really today, I gave blood, and got stabbed by a Red Cross Nurse.

Here's a picture to explain:

(note: the yellow stuff is the iodine, I'm not diseased)

Additionally, when I said the supervisor came over and inserted the needle properly, she never in fact took the needle out of my arm. The whole time she was fishing around under my skin with a pointy metal stick.

SoDak (abridged version with pictures)

2009-03-23T18:02:00.004-04:00

On The Rez

(Bottger's B&B, I didn't actually use it, but girls on my trip said it was great. The door fell off, so you just sit there staring out into nature)

(Bob Bear Killer's House, up on the hill there's a trailer with 18 people living in it)

The Badlands

(It felt like we were in "The Land Before Time" or "The Ling King" or something, not South Dakota)

(this girl didn't know I took her picture, but it's OK because I showed it to her later and she thought it was cool)

Just a small glimpse of what the Rez was like.

SoDAK

2009-02-27T17:46:00.003-05:00

I leave for South Dakota at 6am tomorrow. I'm pumped.

Full blog of my week long trip to follow.

Tails, Tails, Tails, Tails, Hammer

2009-02-23T14:48:00.002-05:00

So this morning I flipped a coin to decide whether or not to go to my 9:30 New England History class. Heads was go to class, Tails was skip it. It landed Tails, but I wasn't completely set on skipping. So I flipped the coin again. Tails, Tails, Tails, and yet again Tails. Was this a clear message to skip class? I'm sitting at my desk at 9:21, it takes about 10 minutes to walk to class and I am not at all ready yet. I decide to flip the coin again, Heads. OK, fine, I'll go to class.

Get to class, just a little late but other people got there after me so I didn't care. The professor starts to talk about, I don't even remember. We broke up into small groups and did nothing. Talked about how stupid Connecticut is, white picket fences, and how Charles Dickens is stupid (for New England History purposes). Whatever, class ended eventually and I left.

Went over to the ResLife Office to hang out until my 11:30 Ethics class. Talked to some of the RDs. Zack the RD asked me if I remembered seeing someone on Saturday night in the Lowers (apartments where I'm an RA) with a hammer. And if I knew who it was because they think the person who had the hammer did some other stuff on campus that night. They weren't allowed to tell me what, stupid confidentiality.

I did remember seeing someone walking around with a hammer because I remember telling the other RAs in the Lowers that were outside with me the story of when a kid in high school tried to attack another kid with a hammer in the hallway. It was not successful since my former-Marine Lieutenant Vice Principle tackled the kid in the hallway and made him drop the hammer.

But I could not remember who had the hammer in the Lowers. I could remember everything else, where it was, what time, what happened just before, all that. Everything except who and who he was with. I had an idea of a few kids in my head but I was in no way sure of anything. I eventually called another RA and asked her, and my idea was actually true. (I should have followed my instinct, but I didn't want to get the wrong kid in trouble.)

The RDs were all excited about getting a name and they were going to call him into the office to ask him about Saturday so that if he didn't actually do anything, they could at least find out if it was one of his friends. I actually heard on RD say to the other, "we could do good-cop bad-cop."

Went to Ethics, where at the start of every class my teacher flips a coin to decide whether or not the have a quiz. I figured it was a good day for Tails because of my coin-flips this morning. But apparently I used all the tails up. It landed Heads and we had our 5th quiz in a row.

For tomorrow I have a midterm in my South Africa Reading Seminar and two projects due in my Human Growth & Development class and I don't want to do any of it. So I'm sitting here avoiding doing my work.

Whatevs

new post.

2009-02-23T00:21:00.001-05:00

there, my blog isn't empty.