A Hot-Cold Day

Today was one of those days that hit the highest of highs and sank to the lowest of lows in a span of six hours. Such is the life of a teacher.

I finally got the first of my 2nd semester ADEPT observations today. To my delight, the pieces set up nicely. I had my portfolio ready (both versions, although the digital one was never checked). I'd secured a binder for my grade book, and had just updated it this morning with new spreadsheets, including missing work. My desks were re-aligned. It was in my third period, one of my GT classes that are tailor-made for this sort of thing.

And as icing on the cake, one student who usually gives me a big dose of trouble was in ISS today. Ironic, considering he was actually supposed to be there the day before, but he skipped out. So he's out on the day I'm observed. Sometimes things just work out, you know?

I'm pleased with how it went. I was on my game, and I knew it. Had both reading and writing opportunities. Skills practice (creating setting with concrete details). Graphic organizers. Writing workshop. And the kids worked well, very well considering all the time they had to themselves.

So that left a nice warm glow that lingered ... all the way to the start of sixth period.

Then things went downhill.

Found out one of our newer kids had skipped part of 4th period with another student. Not sure how long they were out unsupervised, but they're getting ISS for it, of course (with regret that it's not something more severe - that's borderline dangerous considering who they are). I have them both sixth period, and I had the sickening feeling they were going to be in rare form when they came to me. And such indeed was the case.

Twenty minutes in, I'm fed up with them. I tacked on two detentions to one kid's ISS. He still doesn't get the message and keeps clowning. And of course, his lackey falls right in line with him. And it's getting the rest of my kids, who are quite the tempermental bunch that I have to work very hard to keep focused, off track. What nerve! I came very close to losing my temper, and I finally raised my voice to the level that lets them know I mean business and it's time to button it. I never enjoy that. But what else can I do when I'd love to send them out in the hall, but I can't?

So sixth period was irrevocably soured. The best thing I can say is that we made it through the agenda. But I'm not proud of what came out of that class, either from the kids or from me.

That left me in no mood to keep two classes for bus-holding, and in even less of one to drive half way across the county to a Gifted & Talented curriculum meeting at League Academy. But some car prayers helped burn out my sour mood, and once I settled in, I actually grew engaged in the meeting. Even offered some ideas. So that was nice.

Let's hope tomorrow is more consistent. Preferrably on the good side.

Monitoring Writing Workshop

So I gave my third and fourth periods writing workshop time at the end of today's classes. As in, once they finished their primary work for the day, they could have time to pre-write and draft the short stories that they are working on as the culmination of our unit.

Third period seemed to handle it just fine. I was pleasantly surprised.

Fourth period...well, they handled it about like I thought third period would. To them, workshop time meant "talk time." I had to remind them verbally a few times to get on task.

At least I had kids from both classes come up to talk with me about their story ideas which are to be given to me on Thursday. Lots of in-depth talks and ideas came from that.

But I may need to re-evaluate how I structure workshop time in the future. Do they need actual materials/papers/resources to get their hands on to see that they actually work? Or can they be trusted to budget their time wisely and make use of their own materials to pre-write and draft a story as needed?

Something to think about...

Considerations While Lesson-Planning

- I have a very hungry puppy. Izzy ate a handful of nacho-flavored goldfish in only a few seconds. She then looked at me as if to say, "Is that all?"

- It's not much fun trying to plan a novel study when your student copies aren't yet available.

- Barnes 'N Noble's website can't be trusted.

- Taking a nap before working is a risky business. Sometimes it refreshes you. Others? Let's just say you feel like you pulled an all-nighter without the aid of caffeine.

- I could be ADEPT-evaluated any time now. Surprisingly, I'm not as uptight about it as before.

- I finally uploaded a bunch of pictures to my digital portfolio. Mostly the various portions of my classroom, a few student profiles, and my 6th period working on a Veterans Day assignment in the computer lab.

- Cheese will block you up. Want proof? My formerly-hungry puppy is now lying on her side at the foot of my bed, dozing like a baby.

- I slept through Sweeney Todd the other night.

- I did not sleep through Frost/Nixon last night. Quite the reverse; I found it quite captivating. Frank Langella is certainly worthy of his Best Actor nomination. I must admit I'm having trouble viewing it as a movie instead of a dressed-up documentary.

- No Best Picture nod for WALL-E. Or The Dark Knight (no surprise there, really). There's no justice in Hollywood.

- President Obama, in concert with Hilary Clinton, is taking steps to essentially push the 'reset' button on U.S. foreign policy from how things were under W. Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy. What a concept.

- Think Obama can 'reset' our educational practices and take the equivalent of a giant eraser to No Child Left Behind while he's at it?

The Tube is Relevant Again

It seems in the fall, I hardly have a TV life, what with only Smallville on to entertain me.

Thank goodness for January, which heralds the return of American Idol and Lost.

The former is still running through the opening auditions right now. Stops have included New York, San Francisco, and Lexington. We've seen the kind of stuff that's become old hat by now, at least by Idol standards. Mostly fluff. A few gems. Some real nutties.

The new dynamic of Kara DiGuardi joining the judging ranks of Randy, Paula, and Simon might be what keeps me tuned in some nights. If nothing else, she's showing she too can deliver the cutting remark in a cold, bloodthirsty fashion that would give even Simon pause. He's enjoying messing with her head right now, and I don't think she's the type to put up with it for an entire season. Randy's just trying his darnedest to make himself heard.

The latter just had its fifth season premiere last night. Lots of new mysteries to spin through our heads.

So we now know the big mystery surrounding the island involves its ability to travel through time. And the cliffhanger hints at big trouble that will brew if Jack and his fellow companions of the Oceanic Six aren't able to return to the island. Will those left behind eventually perish if all the survivors aren't reunited? How will they manage to find the island since Ben moved it? And what does the whole 70 hours thing mean?

I'm really feeling for Hurley. He's now wanted for a triple murder, with witnesses having seen him holding a gun at the scene, though in reality it was Sayid. I wonder what made him dive for the gun lying on the balcony floor, in plain view of the witnesses? Was he intentionally trying to cover for Sayid?

Should be an interesting next few weeks.

Stenchmark Pests (a.k.a. Benchmark Tests)

So here's how I spent my 6th period this afternoon. And, coincidentally, how I will likely spend my 1st period tomorrow morning...

I take my kids down to the computer lab for their math benchmark exams, to be completed on Blackboard. It takes a few minutes just to sit them down. Then we endure the ardorous task of getting them registered on Blackboard, which means entering in their username and password. Easy, right? Hah.

No less than eight hands shot up when students were asked if they had trouble logging in. They couldn't remember their username, didn't know they had a username, weren't entering the right sequences, the keyboard didn't like them...

Needless to say, it's 2:20 before we finally got most everyone up and running, and the tests could commence. I could tell our supporting teacher was getting frazzled - I can't say I blame her - and the kids weren't helping by being their chatty little selves. Thankfully, I settled their butts down under threat of detention.

When the period finally came to an end, a handful of students still hadn't finished. A few of those who had, I glanced at their results. Sigh.

After this, I need to be reminded...exactly how is this benchmark test thing supposed to be even remotely helpful?

The kids hate it because they can't study for it (never mind that they are geared to hate tests in general - again, who can blame them?). I don't like it because it's merely another cog in the high-stakes testing machine that is chewing up our kids' individual worth and spitting out meaningless factoids. And it's darn tough to work it, even when we try to incorporate technology.

Oh well. Decent day otherwise.

Thoughts from Writers Club

So we held our first meeting of the Writers Club this afternoon. Had only four kids, three of them from my regular classes.

It was marvelous.

Hands down, it was the highlight of my work day. I got to spend an entire hour (albeit with a few random interruptions from co-teachers about boring report card stuff) doing what I love: writing workshop. The way it's supposed to be done. The way we should do it in school each day, but we can't thanks to standards, policies, and the soon-to-be-defunct (I pray) No Child Left Behind act.

We started with a prompt, and my foursome took off. No prodding necessary, no need to push or cajole. All I had to do was place a notebook on their desk, and they were away like a shot. I even had to duck out of the room for several minutes to sign off on a handful of student letters. When I came back, they were still plugging away. I could get used to this.

I let them share and used their entries to talk about some basic insights on writing. We read the Writer's Oath (see previous post), talked about each others' expectations for the club. I kept it very straight-forward. Standards don't matter in this club. No pressure to conform to the rigid expectations of grammar, mechanics, or obligation. Here, we write because we want to. Because we must. It's what we do. It's the life we live. Our life-blood.

I think they came away impressed. I did urge them to spread the word and tell others about the club; we could always use more members. They even wanted to take their new notebooks home with them so they could come back to what they started.

Off to a promising start. :)

The Writer's Oath

From Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine's Writing Magic (she is also the author of Ella Enchanted):

"THE WRITER'S OATH:

I promise solemnly:

- to write as often and as much as I can,
- to respect my writing self, and
- to nurture the writing of others

I accept these responsibilities and shall honor them always."

Snow Day

Well, I feared it wouldn't happen at all this winter. The long-range models didn't give me much hope. But here it is: the eve of our first shot at snow. More pertinently, a snow day. Would that more people could have a profession that offers a day off at the first flakes of white stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of confidence in tonight's and early tomorrow's forecast. From the looks of it, a few things need to come together just right to not only give us snow, but enough to pull the trigger on schools tomorrow.

One is temperature. As I write this, it's a balmy 38 degrees out there. Still half a dozen above what you need to stick, but it did drop a few degrees in the last hour since it began drizzling on my way home from Anna Kate's. Here's hoping evaporational cooling will do the rest.

Another is moisture. The risk of living within an hour's drive of the North Carolina mountains is a virtual certainty that they will get all the good stuff, leaving the southern Piedmont out to dry, so to speak. If enough moisture isn't allowed to downslope from the Charlotte area into the Upstate, we're going to end up with a dusting or nothing at all. Bare ground is a sorry sight to wake up to.

Finally, there's timing. Like I said, we got a few sprinkles this evening, which I'm hoping will take care of two things: moisten up the atmosphere and kickstart a cooling of temperatures. But if the low pressure center currently parked over our area spends itself too quickly or moves just a bit off shore before moist air from the Gulf can erode the dry air pocket over the Upstate, this will be a non-event.

I'll be up at 5 AM (roughly) to see what happens. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. :)

Previewing "Boomerang Express"

Yes, I'm an overachiever when it comes to all things VBS. I first heard the 2009 theme during last year's VBS week. This evening, I got a quick opportunity to check out Lifeway.com for the rest of the songs for the upcoming year.

"Boomerang Express," huh?

The theme song is a little more simplistic this year. Not really challenging lyrics-wise, which sometimes disappoints me. But in some cases, less is more, and the core message is most important.

The big news is that they finally made a change on the A-B-C theme. I'd griped in years past that the A-B-C song usually gets short-changed because, in a lot of ways, it's the most important one of the bunch (because it presents the plan of salvation), yet it's always set up as a mouthful to try and sing. Either too fast-paced or too many words for the kids to grasp the deeper meaning.

Day 3's song "Because" nicely gets around that. It nixes the peppy, high-octane riffs for the slow pace usually reserved for Day 4. Add in a beautiful violin backdrop, and the effect is stunning.

The rest of the songs, at first glance, aren't too bad either. I'll have to listen to them more to get a better feel for them. Good blend of fast-to-moderate pace, some simple lyrics, some a little bit more complex. Day 2's "This is Why" takes what worked in last year's "Jesus Is" and kicks it up a notch - I like songs that go beyond merely "what is" and try to tackle the often stickier part: "why it is."

PRAXIS Update - 1:24 PM

Wow...amazing how things can change over a lunch break.

While at Bellacino's for lunch, I spoke to my friend Alice about the Middle School certification. I figured she might know something, seeing as we shared the same education program at Furman.

She told me that taking PRAXIS and PLT was unnecessary. All I have to do is submit the proper paperwork to the supervisor, and I'd be cleared for certification.

Man, that's incredible. Total shift from my thoughts this time yesterday.

That sound you hear is my wallet sighing in relief.

PRAXIS Update - 8:01 AM

For some reason, things don't seem as bleak on the dawn of a frigid, bone-chilling morning with the bright sunshine on your face.

I got word from one of my connections at the ED Department on the Middle Level certification. She's looking into the issue now and will contact me as soon as she knows more. According to her, part of the confusion has to do with the difference between being highly qualified and certified.

I'll update again if I learn more. Long work day ahead...

The Horror That Won't End

There was a time back in my pursuit of a career in teaching that I struggled. I'm talking about the end of my time at Furman, during the tail end of my senior year. Back then, the most vital thing in my path to a B.A. and a teaching certificate, other than student-teaching, was passing the PRAXIS exams.

After some struggle, I finally rid myself of the pesky beast. And yes, PRAXIS is a beast (which makes its surrogate sister, the PLT, a beast as well because both are required to be a teacher). It leaves you a very broad field to prepare for, which practically guarantees clamminess, sweaty palms, and a sickly feeling in your stomach the day you show up for the test. But I studied the best I could, and although one had to be re-taken, I slayed the beast just in time to graduate.

Or so I thought.

Got the following e-mail this afternoon:

"Your name appeared on a report as not having your Middle Level Certification. Part of that process is to take and pass 2 exams: the Principals of Learning and Teaching (PLT) test #0524 and your Middle Level Content PRAXIS."

...

...

What. The. Heck.

Based on my information from the Furman Education Department, I was under the impression that I was covered with secondary certification. Which, last time I checked, included 6th through 12th grades.

When did that change? And what will be the point of putting down money for a test that assesses my capabilities on a field I'll have taught for nearly two years by the time the date rolls around?

Plus, how can there be more than one PLT? These are general principles that every teacher, regardless of field or concentration, need to know.

Again, I ask: What. The. Heck.

I jumped on my FirstClass network and hammered out emails to a few friends in the Education Department. Hopefully they can clear this up for me. I'm more than a little confused and upset by this sudden turn of events. Stay tuned...

Snippets

Some reactions from my kids and fellow teachers on yesterday's article (see previous entry below if you'd like to read it):

"Last year, we got a Math assignment that made us do 100 problems in one night. The next day, everyone was tired and upset because it was too much, and we could hardly get any sleep."

"Why can't we just do more homework in class?"

"On Wednesday nights, I have church and stuff to do with my family. I don't get home until 9:00 or so, and that's almost my bedtime. So sometimes, I just don't do the homework because I can't find time for it."

"I can't remember stuff I did for homework last night."

"One of my highest class grades is the one that gives me the most homework at night. I do it, but I don't feel like I'm learning anything."

"I don't like homework because it's boring and doesn't do anything for me."

"After being in my seat for six hours, I'm ready to go home and relax and talk to my friends. The last thing I want to do is another school assignment. I just got done with school."

Homework is a Bad Thing?

Found this on TODAYShow.com earlier in their Parenting & Family section.

An intriguing read, to be sure. There's lots of truth to be found in here.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28624181/?GT1=43001

The less-homework revolution
Fed-up parents are changing the way schools think — and you can, too
By Nancy Kalish
Parenting magazine
TODAY
updated 10:34 a.m. ET, Tues., Jan. 13, 2009

I used to be extremely pro-homework. In fact, I once wrote an article for this very magazine telling readers how to get kids to stop whining and knuckle down to work. Back then, I could afford to be smug: My second-grader was happily zooming through her ten minutes a night.

But a few years later, Allison started coming home with four hours of homework each night, and everything changed. Now there was not only whining but also begging, yelling, and crying — sometimes from both of us. The worst part: hearing my previously enthusiastic learner repeatedly swear how much she hated school.

I'd always assumed homework was essential. But when I finally looked into the research about it, I was floored to find there's little to support homework — especially in vast quantities. While not every child gets too much, many kids are now overloaded as early as kindergarten. I was appalled (I even cowrote a book about it, "The Case Against Homework"), so you can bet that this time around, you won't be getting any "how to be a good homework cop" tips from me.

Instead, I'm here to call you to action. You can change things for your child — even for the whole school. There are more and more frustrated parents and wised-up schools around the country, so why should your child keep suffering through hours of work? A less-homework revolution is brewing, and you can join it.

Taking back family time
Like me, Christine Hendricks, a mother of three in Glenrock, WY, had always believed in homework. Then her daughter, Maddie, entered elementary school. "By the fourth grade, she had so much, there was no time for after-school activities, playing, or simply enjoying our evenings together. We were always stressed, and I knew many other families were also miserable."

Hendricks decided things had to change — and she had a unique advantage: She's the principal of Glenrock's Grant Elementary School. Together with her teachers, she looked into the research and found what I did: Homework's not what it's cracked up to be.

"We decided to do an experiment and eliminate most homework," she says. The one exception: occasional studying for a test.

"This is only our second year without it, but there have been no backslides in the classroom or in test scores," says Hendricks. "Parents say their kids enjoy reading again because there's no pressure. In fact, there have been no negative effects whatsoever. And there's much less stress at our house, too."

We're not all in a position to fast-track a solution as Hendricks did, but we still have power.

In Toronto, Frank Bruni decided to do something when a pediatrician told him that his 13-year-old son should exercise more. Says Bruni, "I thought to myself, 'And when would he do that?' " So Bruni organized other parents and lobbied the Toronto School District to hold public meetings, presenting the research behind homework. The result is a new policy that affects more than 300,000 kids, limiting homework to reading in elementary school, eliminating holiday homework, and stating the value of family time. Canada's education minister now wants all the country's school boards to make sure students aren't being overloaded.

"It's so gratifying to know that this year, Toronto's kids are going to have a life," says Bruni. "It shows you just how much parents can do when they try."

Why it’s worth a fight
Homework is such an established part of education, it's hard to believe it's not all that beneficial, especially in large quantities. But the truth is, a recent Duke University review of numerous studies found almost no correlation between homework and long-term achievement in elementary school, and only a moderate correlation in middle school.

"More is not better," says Harris Cooper, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and neuroscience who conducted the review. In fact, according to guidelines endorsed by the National Education Association, teachers should assign no more than ten minutes per grade level per night (that's ten minutes total for a first-grader, 30 minutes for a third-grader).

Pile on more and it can backfire.

"Most kids are simply developmentally unable to sit and learn for longer," says Cooper. Remember: Many have already been glued to their desks for seven hours, especially at schools that have cut gym, recess, art, and music to cram in more instructional time. If you add on two hours of homework each night, these children are working a 45-hour week. Some argue that we need to toughen kids up for high school, college, and the workforce.

But there are other ways to teach responsibility, such as the chores that parents often have to let slide because of studying. Too much homework also means that kids miss out on active playtime, essential for learning social skills, proper brain development, and warding off childhood obesity.

All this work doesn't even make educational sense. "It's counterintuitive, but more practice or the wrong kind of practice doesn't necessarily make perfect," says Kylene Beers, president of the National Council of Teachers of English and author of "When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do." For example, children are able to memorize long lists of spelling words — but many will misspell them the following week.

To learn more about the less-homework revolution, visit parenting.com
© 2009 MSNBC Interactive. Reprints

Productivity

Mondays are my most productive days in the work week, it seems. I don't know why, but I seem to come off the weekend with a full head of steam and by the time I arrive in my classroom, I am ready to cut loose.

Got a lot of little things done today. Finished my receipts, returned a borrowed laptop, gave both digital and hard copy portfolios a massive updating in addition to my gradebook, fixed my sound problem on the Promethean Board, cleaned up the Reading Center (with a little bit of help from my students, of course), sent off my positive contacts log, e-mailed a parent or two, and updated my website and homework board. Those little things tend to creep up on you if you don't dust 'em off every now and then.

One reason to be thankful for Mondays, anyway.

Thoughts From the Globes

Not sure how much this post will have to do with the Golden Globes itself. More or less my latest thoughts while watching the festivities...

- Spent nearly four consecutive hours this afternoon unit-planning and updating my website. Then I had to take my flash drive to my Dad's office to print out some documents for my PAS-T, as well as lesson plans from my site. Definitely the most non-lazy Sunday I've had in some time.

- Fortunately, the day ended nicely. Pizza Hut dinner, Golden Globes, and some snuggle time with my sweetie.

- I think I'm getting thin 'n crispy from now on at Pizza Hut. I'd forgotten how much I liked it.

- Hooray for WALL-E, winner of Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes. Now if the Oscars would just throw my little buddy a bone, I'd be really impressed.

- I got gas this evening at a station with two police cars parked at the corner, lights flashing. My first thought was, go for it. It's dark out, but I'd never be safer. But then I remembered my car has a rather glaring problem: the back brake light's loose. I've been meaning to get it fixed, but work kills my free time. Thankfully, the cops didn't notice, and I tanked up in peace.

- Wake 92, UNC 89.

I don't know what's more surprising. The fact that the Holes stayed so close with Hansborough shooting only 3-of-12. Or the fact that Hansborough actually picked up four fouls. In the ACC.

Either way, the Deacs are gonna be a major handful. The Fighting Tigers will need every day of this off week to get ready. Hopefully, Boston College can slow Wake Forest down a little bit with a Wednesday night contest. Anna and I will be at Littlejohn Saturday. I expect it to be rockin.'

Daunting, Part II

So here I am, unable to go to sleep because I must make some progress on a revised unit plan for my Strategies kids.

You know, if they gave out degrees in paranoia, I'm pretty sure I'd get it. Because I'm probably the only teacher to (literally) lose sleep over stuff like this.

It must mean something's wrong with me, but I'm too busy to figure it out.

So...I'll just...go back to planning.

Sigh.

Daunting

You know, I was all set to mark down today as a good day. Not as great as yesterday, but still good. Then a couple different things happened.

1. I found my Reading Center in a pitiful mess. This was after I spent a whole day two days ago on procedures, expectations, taking responsibility for your actions, etc. Obviously, a few ingrates are not taking me seriously and are bent on making things difficult for the rest of the kids. I'm probably gonna have to close down the Reading Center for a few days next week, if not the whole week, until the kids show me they're willing to honor our expectations. This kind of sloppiness can't continue.

2. I checked my email and found the latest online newsletter. The second quarter's ending, which of course means the year is half over. Which also means little buggers like portfolio reviews, mid-year goals conferences, and report cards are forthcoming, plus individual meetings to check up on things. I'm awfully worried about my paper consumption. I've already gone over the limit on copies in the workroom, and now I've been made aware that anything I have printed in my room means even more expense for the school. That's not good.

I guess I haven't yet learned to rely fully on the Promethean Board to accomplish those tasks for me. But I'm just worried that I realized it too late and I'll get reprimanded. Sigh. The minute you think you've got things figured out...

A lot of things will have to be accomplished this weekend on into next week. I need to finalize my record of positive contacts and get a second peer observation done on Monday. I need to review my hard copy PAS-T portfolio and see if more items need to be added; the digital version is well stocked, and I'm ready to show it off whenever the time comes. But if that's inconvenient for an ADEPT evaluator or my principal, then I need to have the hard copy ready at a moment's notice.

My grade book needs updating. I've got a few clutter spots in my room. Ugh. Too much, too fast.

At least we've got a much-needed work day coming up in about a week.

Pleasant Surprise

Now today was a good day. A very good day.

Considering the fact that today kicked off new units for my GT and Strategies classes, we had two IEP meetings (including one at 3:15 after bus holding), and I made a major change to one of my long-term unit plans, the end results left me feeling pretty happy.

First, the major change. Originally, I had decided to go with Bridge to Terabithia as the novel study for my Strategies kids. But I got a heads-up from our inclusion teacher who helps me out in 1st period that it might be too heavy for them content-wise. Plus, the novel didn't appear on our sixth grade reading list to begin with. Not that such an occurrence would preclude me from using it anyway, but considering this is my evaluation year, the last thing I want to do is bring unnecessary attention to my planning strategies.

So I abandoned Bridge and started a hasty search for a replacement. In the end, I went with Chasing Vermeer. I dug up some interesting unit plan ideas on the Greenville County School District curriculum page that I can definitely put to good use. I sent in a request to the warehouse for a class set, but obviously, since I'm doing this so late, it's gonna take at least a week for my books to arrive.

That means I'll have to drag the preliminaries out longer than planned. Which is no huge deal. I can manage that.

Both IEPs went well. No major surprises.

But the real highlight was the successful beginning of both new units. My 1st period sparkled under a new seating chart that eliminated some hot spots (i.e., talking) in the room, at least for now. The remaining three did great too, but 1st period really set the tone for the rest of the day. Without meaning to brag, I was on my game, the kids were paying decent attention, we had varied activities - journal-writing, read aloud, author share, large group discussion, a summative activity...

Would that an ADEPT evaluator could have visited at any time today. :)

Vision Statements

"The vision of our school is a create a strong, lasting community of learners by investing in the virtues of character, academics, and leadership."

I hate vision statements.

Well...check that. I don't hate the statements themselves.

I hate writing vision statements. Especially by committee.

Clemson 66, Alabama 59 - Sweet Revenge

Okay, so a basketball win doesn't exactly make up for the despicable football loss by the Clemson football team to Alabama in Atlanta four months ago. But even still, it's nice to think about regardless.

It's getting late, so this entry is gonna be spotty at best. But tonight's win was as ugly as they come, so it was a good thing our defense brought its 'A' game.

We held Alabama scoreless for more than eight consecutive minutes in the second half after we squandered a 33-29 halftime lead. We didn't shoot well enough to turn off their lights but our full court press and traps, added with our immense depth off the bench began to take a toll on the Tide.

Trevor Booker played great, getting 19 points (14 in the first half) and hitting the clutch free throws at the end to effectively ice the game. K.C. Rivers came alive in the second half and finished with 12 points. Demontez Stitt had 8 points to shake a minor scoring slump, but he still looked lost out there during a few stretches.

Our freshmen played some solid minutes. Andre Young had a pair of good-looking three pointers, and Tanner Smith was a terror on defense. Bryan Narcisse disrupted things down low on a few occasions (although he didn't have to land on a guy trying to go up for a rebound).

So Clemson basketball is sitting pretty. Now one of only three unbeaten teams, #12 in the country, 15-0, and about to enter the heart of ACC play. Now we'll find out just how good we really are. Should be fun to watch.

Dare to Dream

Showed my kids this poem today...


"What If..."
by Jackie French Koller

Did you ever stop and think
how the world would be
if folks had turned out
differently?

For instance,
what if Ben Franklin
never tried to fly a kite,
or Shakespear never tried to write?

What if Einstein never
used his brain
or the Wright borthers
never tried to fly a plane?

What if Lincoln never tried
to free the slaves,
or Susan B. Anthony was
afraid to make waves?

What if Alexander Graham Bell
was content to just yell?

What if Ford never tried
to make a car,
or Walt Disney never
wished upon a star?

What if Beethoven
never tried to play?
What if Mother Teresa
turned away?

What if Babe Ruth
was afraid to swing a bat?
What if Columbus accepted
that the world was flat?

What if Lucianno Pavarotti
never tried to sing?
What if dreams were enough
for Martin Luther King?

What if Jim Thorpe
never entered the race,
or Baryshnikov let another
dance in his place?

What if Michelangelo thought
he wasn't good enough,
or John Glenn feared
he didn't have the right stuff?

What if all the folks
who've changed the world
had lived and died
and never tried?

What if you had a dream
and you held it inside
and never tried?


I found it interesting that most of my co-workers jumped right into new units on the first day back from winter break. I thought about doing the same to save time. Then I decided "why overwhelm them with a lot of new information right off the bat? It's likely some have forgotten some of the basic principles of the English Workshop, and if that's the case, anything new I try to teach would be futile."

So we did a transition lesson. More in tune with the free-form lessons we did back in August (and which I still try to sprinkle in here and there). Started out with the poem, which led into today's EQ: "What is our vision for the English Workshop for the 2nd semester?" Not the typical question geared toward any specific unit, but I think it works. And it's relevant to them.

(By the way, that's not intended to be a slight to my diligent and hard-working co-teachers. They're doing what works for their kids. Likewise, I'm doing what works for mine.)

I probably talked more than I should have, but for some reason, I felt compelled to speak to my kids on the importance of dreaming and hard work, which in keeping with the message of Jackie's poem means more than success. Too often, I feel that we make a success-at-all-costs vision the one and only option for our kids, and then when it doesn't happen, their spirits are crushed. So much that they fear stepping out and trying again. That's where a phobia of mistakes creeps in. They should never quit dreaming, and dreaming big. But they must understand that real life will knock them down. Repeatedly. And that's when their ability to think for themselves, and their self-confidence can either pick them up or crumble to dust with them.

I let them know repeatedly they must not be afraid to fail. Failure is a key step to learning. Mistakes help us grow. It's how I came to be a teacher in the first place. Not only because I made mistakes, but because I used them to learn and to try again. It resonated with quite a few of them. Some looked stunned at my words. Like how in the world could I, an established teacher, have failed at some point? Who was I to say that it was okay to be wrong, to make a mistake? Aren't I an adult? Should I not have all of the answers by now?

No way. In fact, I haven't even asked all of the questions.

Movie Review: "Valkyrie"

Anna Kate and I had the chance to see Valkyrie this evening, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Tom Cruise. She'd dropped the idea of seeing a movie earlier in the afternoon, but it came up kind of last minute while chatting with my sister. We thought it'd be a nice way to cap off our Christmas break.

Quickie thoughts:

- A solid film. I haven't heard much from Mr. Singer since Superman Returns (which was severely panned by critics, much of which I felt was undeserved), but he directs a fine one here. It's moody and somber in most of the right spots, but there's enough fast-pace action sprinkled in to keep you engrossed in the plot.

- The big trick in these kinds of movies is sustaining your attention. If you have any rudimentary knowledge of WWII and Nazi Germany, in the back of your mind you know the plot to assassinate Hitler is going to fail, and Colonel Staffenberg and his men are ultimately doomed to die. So it's got to work to hold your attention and hopefully make you forget the fact that you already know the outcome.

On that note, I think the film succeeds. Tom doesn't have to do very much other than be bold, daring, and assertive. Fortunately, he's tailor-made for such qualities. A far better outing than, say, War of the Worlds.

- The music gets a bit too deliberately intense at key points. Particularly during a critical scene in which Colonel Staffenberg meets with Hitler. You want to sense an undercurrent of danger, but the music kind of hammers it home that our lead is in a meeting with the most dangerous man in the world who could execute him with a flick of his finger.

- The supporting characters are mostly good and well-acted.

I give the film ***1/2 stars.

Clemson 79, East Carolina 66

Found this write-up on the Clemson basketball game this evening. I originally glanced at it on Anna Kate's Wii, but decided to take a closer look for myself.

http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/jan/04/no-20-clemson-outlasts-east-carolina-79-66/

Pete Iacobelli, to his credit, made the bulk of his write-up about the continuing contributions of a key bench-player this year in Jerai Grant. I'm glad to see it. Grant is a rising star and should be getting more credo for his efforts. And he looked terrific out there today, scoring 14 points, including a nice 6-of-7 effort from the charity stripe, and hauling down five offensive rebounds.

But I take issue with his assumption that Clemson "seemed to be looking past the [East Carolina] Pirates as their big lead shrunk at the end of the half."

Like many typical AP sportswriters, Pete makes the assumption that since the Tigers are not only ranked, but undefeated, beating ECU was supposed to be little more than a breeze. A foregone conclusion. We should have been shocked at getting a 13-point win rather than a 35-40 point rout. Since we "seemed" to struggle at putting them away, we must have been looking past them to the Crimson Tide and the upcoming ACC.

I imagine a seasoned Clemson beat-writer such as Larry Williams, Andrew Miller, or even Bart Wright could set Mr. Iacobelli straight on the matter. But seeing as they are likely busy covering other deadlines, I, as a fan who witnessed the game seated in Section 210 in the upper section, will attempt to settle the issue.

First off, where do you get evidence that Clemson "looked past" East Carolina? Last time I checked, the Pirates had a winning overall record at 8-4. Sure, they've lost three in a row, but it's not like those losses reflect a Daisy Hill school beating the snot out of them. Two of those losses came against fellow ACC stalwarts Wake Forest, a team that will significantly test us this year (can you imagine the hoopla if both Clemson and Wake stayed unbeaten in Littlejohn in a couple weeks?) and N.C. State. No doubt Oliver Purnell looked at ECU's record and let his players know that this opponent was no weak sister by any means.

Was it because we never delivered a knockout punch? Considering we held leads of 26-13 in the first half, then 63-48 and 78-58 in the second, I'm surprised that we sustained momentum for the stretches that we did. We punched those leads out with mostly our bench players providing the minutes. Grant was our main offensive player out there other than Rivers. Tanner Smith hit some big shots from long range with Terrence Oglesby struggling. Bobo Baicu played his role and shut down players in the paint - and come on, did you really expect a 7'1 big man to hit free throws?

So considering that, yes, we treated this game as our last real 'tune-up' before the real action hits in a few days, but still managed to win it in solid, work-man like fashion, how much did we have to win by to say we were indeed focused, Mr. Iacobelli?

Oh well. Onto Alabama.

New Year's Resolutions

Disclaimer: I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions. Mostly because I'm a flake and don't ever make good on them, so it's rarely worth the trouble. But considering the fact that I'm getting married this year, I'd like to take some steps to become a better man. Some big, some small. Hence the reason I'm doing them this year. And so, without further ado...

- Write in my blog every day.
Wouldn't it be something to look back on this blog next year and see 365 more entries? Just for the challenge if nothing else.

- Run in a 5K.
To do this, I've got to get back in shape. Running shape, that is. My fiancee will say I'm already skinny as a weed and I don't need to lose any weight (in fact, me gaining it is likely on her list of resolutions). But I'm not talking weight loss. I'm talking conditioning my legs.

- Go a whole week without getting gas.
Seriously, this can be done. If I plan my outings carefully and only go places that I absolutely need to, I can get a full tank on Sunday night and not need to fill up again until the following Monday afternoon at the earliest.

- Socialize with family and friends more.
I only have a little over five months left to live under my parents' roof. I'd like to be remembered as more of a socialite than a bachelor who may as well stay there just to eat, sleep, and pay rent. And I'd like to stay in contact with friends more than just the occasional Facebook Wall message now and then.

- Pass ADEPT and become a full-fledged teacher.
So far, so good.

- Quit losing my cool at Clemson sporting events.
Anna Kate doesn't believe I can do this. More motivation, I guess :)

- Go to bed earlier.
I used to be pretty good waking up at the crack of dawn. Not so much anymore. I want to get back in my traditional early-bird routine.

- Re-join a Sunday School class.
Anna and I are still looking for the right class that blends a good dose of teaching and fellowship. Here's hoping that this year, we find it.

- Tell my fiancee/wife I love her every day. Multiple times.
I love you, sweetie. :)

- Learn to like rice.
I get this side item so often now, I may as well stop being a big stick in the mud, swallow my taste buds, and learn to enjoy it.

- Learn to play the guitar.
Anna got me my acoustic last year for Christmas. It deserves more than to just sit in the corner gathering dust all the time. Or even to occasionally take it out and fiddle with the strings or something like that.

- Put "Words Fade" to music.
This depends largely on the above resolution panning out.

- Get a cavalier king charles puppy for my beautiful soon-to-be-wife.
Yeah, right. Me and what gold mine?

- Drink less Mountain Dew.
Psh.

- Drink more lemon-lime flavored Gatorade Tiger.
Now we're talking.

- Start a successful writing club with my students.
I'm working on it. Check back at the end of January. We'll see how things are going.

- Go to at least one "chick flick."
Somehow, I'm thinking Bride Wars will be it. Hoping, too. Based on the previews, it actually looks halfway decent.

- Make a habit of leaving work by at least 4:30.
I'm terrible at getting out of school at any remotely decent time. Often, I have to pry myself away from revising lesson plans and cleaning up the Reading Center to get my butt out of there in time for the janitors to start making their rounds. Hope I can do a better job at leaving work for the next day.

- Make a difference in the lives of my students.
Wishful thinking? Maybe. But it's why I teach.

- Be a son, friend, husband, teacher, and man that pleases and honors God.

That's my New Year's list. Where's yours? :)