Why oh why

am i so gosh-darned in love with my students right now? Is it the pained look of concentration on their faces as they attacked a full-length practice regents today, the delight in their eyes as we chatted about WWF, the pseudo-porn of Zeferelli's R and J, x-men, and their jamaican pot-smoking uncles (that was only one of them), or was it both? Or is it that the end is so... damn... near?
Who knows... but I feel, in a very perverse way, that things haven't been so bad after all. I'm glad I'm here and not even that bitter. Now how's that for a storybook ending?

Been a Long time...

Since the fwavl-o-sphere (or the peeps-o-sphere) has quieted down, and teachers like me now get to school so soon before they must actually teach that their blog-browsing time is cut off, AGW has experienced a dearth of visitors. I'd say COME BACK! but I've gotten so apathetic, even I don't visit my blog, or any others. Not even gawker. Now that's sad.

Nonetheless, faithful few, I have an observation or two to share.

*First, filed under the "aren't they precious?" category: Today, while talking about the "Rose by any other name would smell as sweet" speech in R &J, one of my students kept insisting it wasn't true. She kept saying "if my name was Bungkwana and I had huge braces that stuck out, you wouldn't still love me miss." And I kept saying, "no, your beautiful personality would be the same." And so on. It was SO CUTE. wooo.

*
Second of all, filed under the "I am an eavesdropper" category: Today on the long, long, long subway ride home I tried to eavesdrop on two older teachers chatting passionately about the profession. One of them made an amazing point which I want to highlight here: he was commenting on the way the litigious nature of our society keeps disruptive students in the classroom because of their "right to an education." But what if, he suggested, a group of average, diligent students kicked up a fuss and sued the Board of Ed, saying that by keeping said loudmouths into the classroom, it was cutting their (good kids') learning time in half and denying them THEIR right to an education. Oho! Whose rights matter now, bitches?

Okay, so my response to this is WORD. Dude, it would really bring a shitstorm flying down on the old permissive crappy BOE. I know in charter/public schools in boston and baltimore, some teachers can throw kids out of the classroom. But in New York, with its macho culture, teachers are all about the "hey, I can handle these punks" and admins are like "hey, what are YOU doing wrong that these kids are threatening and harassing each other?"

Now don't get me wrong. I love my punks. I mean, I really love them. That's my main problem; I spent too much time this year trying to coax, tease, and cajole them into being good, so that by the end of the year their behavior at its base had barely changed. But kids need to understand that their right to an education ends when they stop someone else's education. Or their right to anything (say, freedom from incarceration, freedom to work) ends when they violate other's rights. Whether I agree with our punitive society or not, this is the society into which we're sending our kids. And it's not such a terrible thing to impress upon them how important it is to respect their peers-- to understand that doing all your OWN classwork does not somehow make up for interrupting, being loud, or bothering others. For self-centered teenagers in a "me" culture, this lesson needs to be drilled in harder.

So average joes out there, my message is: SUE THOSE BASTARDS!

*Lastly, filed under the grad school sucks category: Grad school sucks. Particularly the part where you have to write 10 page papers in one night about theories of literacy. Not that this is happening to anyone I know. Or anything.

Cheers.

Fellow-ette

Romeo, Romeo...

So picture this: It's Thursday afternoon, and you've just had two fantastic days in the classroom, introducing Romeo and Juliet to your freshman, preparing hard for the regents listening passage with your sophomores, being uninterrupted by fights and disruptions thanks to the suspension/cutting of your favorite delinquents, you're felling misty-eyed about the bonds you've made with a couple of precocious, emotionally self-aware students, and you sit down at the end of your school day and pour it all into a blog entry that includes the word "fuck". You put the finishing touches on it, check for typos, press "send" and suddenly you get your favorite message: "Access Denied; the site has exceeded its tolerance of questionable words." Just like that all your writing and emotion vanishes into cuberspeace, irretrievable despite back clicks galore.


Somehow it's a metaphor for the whole experience of working for the BOE... those of you who share an employer with me will understand the metaphor without my having to go into it.


Anyway, lost are those reflections, but I will try to recapture them briefly:


Listening passage prep: We practiced for Regents Task 1 all week and took a quiz on Friday. It was really fantastic to actually watch my students' minds and their skills grow. And then there was this: one passage was hardly relevant to my kids' lives. It was Virginia Woolf speaking about “The Angel in the house,” the voice of Victorian propriety that haunted her when she tried to write. As the angel warned her to mask her mind behind art and deceit, one of my students, unable to contain himself, shouted out, “but that’s racist!” Then realizing his mistake, he said “I mean, I mean, umm, sexist.” It was totally brilliant.

Romeo and Juliet: a mixture of success and failure. The kids are entranced by the story and the format of reading a play in class, but they hate the language. Plus, everytime there's a "what, ho!" they dissolve into giggles. I'm looking forward to playing them scenes from both Luhrman and Zeferrelli, not to mention playing them the Indigo Girls singing "Lovestruck Romeo..." and Lou Reed singing "Romeo had Juliette" as the weeks go by.

Getting rid of "bum-ass you know whats"-- the success I've had in my 10th grade classrooms minus two or three superpunky ADHDers just confirms my belief that certain students need to have their sorry arses hauled out of the mainstream classroom and into somewhere where they can have individualized attention.

Spring Cleaning...

Man, is fellow-ette tired. She woke up this mom's day early, and has been erranding, cleaning out her closet, gathering laundry, unloading/re-loading the dishwasher, stacking shoes with their mates, sticking earrings with their mates, throwing out old receipts/menus/professional development flyers, folding up winter clothes and packing them away, sticking loose change in a body butter canister, and vaguely pondering her future. She's also been discussing the new gmail photo feature with shook:

fellow-ette: have yougiven thought to your gmail pic?
shook the spot: haha yep!
but i dunno...
fellow-ette: no one wants to be the first!
[redacted gossip about people we know vis-a-vis their pictures]
shook the spot: the question is, does it need to be a presentable pic?
fellow-ette: right... is it a facebook-style glam shot, a professional-looking mug, or the stonedest-looking pic you got?
shook the spot: i'm thinking professional-with-a-twist
but i'm pretty stoned in every picture i have of me
fellow-ette i feel ya

it goes on... then i picked a photo, but it was sideways, and much drama ensued. Yahoo.

But I meander. So back to my school, with its pearly gates of metal detectors, with its sentinels of bored cops, with its citizens sporting nikes they often can't afford, that memorable place for the discussion of which this VERY blog was created. The days have been pretty manageable since vacation-- nothing too horrible or exciting. I'm feeling a lot of separation anxiety about my kids. They are so good, for the most part, and so unmotivated too, and that combination makes their teacher worried all the time.
Plus, they are so alive and funny and interesting and stimulating, even in negative ways, with their new slang expressions, their observations about my wardrobe, their melodramas and insights, and their amazing litany of pop lyrics. They really amaze me. I don't know how to tell them I'm not going to be back next year.

IMPACT folks were in the building on Friday, leading to a flurry of surpsise "GIVE US A TYPED LESSON PLAN" visits-- for some odd reason, fellow-ette was omitted from this search. Which was good, because fridays are official bullshit days in her classroom. She did quiz her students on the literary elements though, which many of them are beginning to understand much better. Conflict, dialogue, setting, characterization. Say it after me!


That's it for now... have a lovely mom's day; shout-out to fellow-ette's mom in Yosemite hiking the gorges, her grandmom socializing uptown, and all the other moms who raise their children right and get lots of shit from us nonetheless.

Today's Science Times...

actually read it cover to cover.

Let me know if you agree that this interview with a departing congressman is not, like, seriously and unexpectedly sad and moving.

And also, for all those educators and sex-advocates (just kidding on the latter [not]!) who are concerned with these abstinence-only pledges and chastity rings and whatnot, this somewhat confusing survey result just goes to show that if anything, teens need an open, frank diaolgue about sex and its consequences, not some mystical born again hocus-pocus bullcrap. Like the pamphlet entitled "God Created Sex" which I found resting on a students' desk after class one day. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

Thank you for smocking

WARNING: incoherent rant follows

One of my students insists on spelling smoking that way when he freewrites about his weed-laced exploits,much to my chagrin. The spelling, that is.

I also just saw the movie, which was amusing and sharp. But I've been led to digress from discussing the spinmeister portrayed therein by Aaron Eckhart. Why do I digress, you ask? Well, it's because of a thread on the imdb message board for "Thank You" star Maria Bello which discusses the amount of pubic hair she showed in a "History of Violence." Apparently, the posters generally agreed that the pubes were too much/unnecessary.

ARGH.

I like to talk about women's bodies as much as the next guy or gal-- they're more interesting in general (and infinitely more portrait-able) than mens'-- and I'm also in a personal not-so-feminist mood these days, but pricks (and I use the word on purpose) like these always get the Steinem in me RILED UP. Note to people like this: stop complaining about women's bods when they're portrayed in any way that de-pornificates them or makes them seem human or real, and then take a look at your own flabby or scrawny and probaly hairy ass, wasted away from too much time on the computer salivating over actresses' nude scenes. You pervs are DEAD TO ME.

On a similar note, I gave all my sophomores a lecture on the connection between Piri Thomas' homophobia/sexism and the racism he encounters to the tune of "If white society makes him feel emasculated, he decides to take it out on even more disadvantaged people so that he can regain his manliness but in the end he's only adding to the hierarchy" blah blah blah. I wanted them to understand that in writing about his homophobia, Thomas isn't condoning it, but rather confessing. It was the quietest my sophomores have been in ages. I hope their discomfort was productive to their self-growth.

Finally, today "M," a student I've bemoaned on AGW before, told me I was his "favoritest" teacher; after all the "This class is boring" and "fuck school" I endure regularly, I was suprised by how moved I was. A little positive reinforcement goes a long ass way.

Got them Sunday Blues...

there is so much to catch up on in fellow-ette land, including

*fellow-ette and her fellow are officially shacking up in washington heights!

*fellow-ette has a horrible run-in with a delinquent five minutes before the bell rings on a friday!

*fellow-ette grades final exams!

*fellow-ette teaches with a hangover!

But since my eyes are tipping towards closed, and I missed the sopranos, I durst not tarry, or dally (or tally, for that matter), and thus we shall re-encounter each other on the morrow, readers fair, whereupon thou shalt be learned of the things discussed herein and heretofore.

Here's to another week.

PS Check this out.

Colbert Scandal A-Brewin'

Truthiness, part II.

Looks like I'm not the only one peeved at the friggin' NY Times for ommitting any mention of the Colbert speech at the White House Correspondents' dinner... so now the Grey Lady has changed its tune to "Cry Me a River." Does that make any sense? Whatever, I'm going with it.

Check out this string of livid comments from smart people. If the Times doesn't publish the angry letter I sent on Monday (I'm giving them til Friday-- you here that Times:? You're on notice.), I will posts its contents here, because frankly it was so unbelievably witty i need to show it off.

So stay tuned, faithful readers.

The Circle Game

Today in my 6th and 7th period class, the usually-dominant and obnoxious clique (with frustratingly regular attendance) was gone... all, i learned, either "in" or "at" a fight. sigh. the class was deflated without their perky and bullying and often amusing presence, and so, halfway through, i dragged all my students and their desks into a circle. it was an amazing experience... they resisted, but there was something about it as it happened, when they realized it wasn't kindergarten but rather, college that they were preparing for, and that I could see all of them, and they could all see each other...and suddenly books opened, voices quieted. I really liked it, the mellowness, the sophistication. But then I started thinking, oh f*ck, what if all high school classes in the inner city were like this, this small, and in a circle, with everyone accountable from day one, and that just got me all pissed for a change.

So we shall see if i decide to keeo the circle thing going. But it gave us a moment, and Joni Mitchell would be proud.

**Oh, speaking of badass sixties figures, I also played Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" and we compared it to Piri Thomas' description of junkies...

Good, Bad and Ugly

Bad: M, a super-hyper active student with severe problems [with whom I'm in a pseudo-detente all the time] walked in late today and proceeded, within minutes, to make two girls horribly uncomfortable/distraught by "cutting ass" on their appearances. A phone call home and a long talk about how women's appearances are an off-limits subject for "playin'" as well as ten minutes of silence for the whole class cause i was pissed ensued. More discipline to come tomorrow.

Good: A particularly thoughtful student,"D" who had previously made some sketchy comments about the immigration protests watched the news, reflected, came in today and told me he regretted what he'd said. [admittedly, this might have to do with his learning that some protestors were in an ethnic group closer to his, but still, i was so proud of him]. That's a huge thing to happen to a teenager at my school. Yay, "D"!

Ugly: my garbage can springing a leak halfway through the day.

"Truthiness to Power"

Stephen Colbert is more my hero than ever.

Watch an excerpt,



or

Read this story about what he said at the White House Correspondednts dinner.

Some key quotes:

And though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.


Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.


I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished. Over the last five years you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes Bdecisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

Because really, what incentive do these people have to answer your questions, after all? I mean, nothing satisfies you. Everybody asks for personnel changes. So the White House has personnel changes. Then you write, "Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!


Okay,I could obviously keep going and going and going. But seriously, this shit is amazing.
So in honor of the man himself, here's my own anti-dead-to-me list:

Badass celebs who stand up for shit:

Neil Young (hear living with war here)
Stephen Colbert
Pink
The Clooneymeister
Brangelina (mostly cause they be so hot right now)

Alright, that's it for now. I am in awe, Stephen.

and don't forget to THANK STEPHEN!