high highs and low lows

Well hello there. I know it has been days, weeks, even months, since I last updated this thing. There are numerous factors that have kept me from even thinking about wasting 30 minutes of my time to write a blog about myself. They are as follows:

-1O scholars.

That's right, scholars. I do not call my class students. The very first day of school I informed my class that this year, as 7th graders, we would now be scholars. This means that my class will act more mature than they did in 6th grade and from here on out they would work even harder than they had before. So there you have it, 10 little scholars keep me busy nearly 24/7. 10 scholars who have become used to my "no shortcuts, no excuses" motto and my class wide Positive Mental Attitude (PMA).

These 10 scholars have surely given me a run for my money. I have yet to master the necessary ability of planning ahead, and instead I am scrapping by day by day. With each day beginning at 5:30am and ending at 11:30pm on a good night I feel as if I am barely surviving. Planning hours of lessons for Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, a homeroom period and now an elective, occupy every minute of my time. Even sitting here now, hazy-eyed on a Friday night, I have this feeling of anxiety knowing I should really be reading over Reader's Response Journals and entering grades into an online database. Welcome to my new life. If there is one word I can think of to describe the way I feel I would go with anxiety.

Now I know what you are saying, "Planning? Oh come on man, that sounds easy!" Well, I'd hate to break it to you- it sounds much easier said than done. It's planning multiple lessons for a range of multiple intelligences. I work in a self-contained classroom educating 10 students with special needs. This has a wide range of implications varying from emotional disturbances to extremely low reading levels most likely due to dyslexia. Not a day goes by when I don't have the hardest time of my life calming a student down simply to have them stop screaming and slamming their notebook on their desk, or having outbursts of students claiming bed bugs. Their personal difficulties have become both my difficulties and the difficulties of my classroom. Every four seconds it seems like someone is calling someone else a name, or someone is threatening to smack someone else up, or someone is becoming increasingly defiant. (As I type this I realize this description is not even a glimpse into what it's like, but it also makes me sound super whiny.) I have had students judge me, compare me or jump to conclusions about me more times than I can keep track. I'm now Jewish, too boring to possibly be Dominican, sweaty, cheesy, hair, old and "tight" (tight no longer means the same, "Oh man that's tight," that it did in the '90's. Instead it means something like uptight, stupid, "whack".) And just to give you some insight into the complex thought process of my students they often act like this or tell me these things one second, then the next they breakdown, cry or tell me that they misbehave for attention. It's insane. Just when I think things are going pretty smoothly, BOOM! I'm back to square one correcting behavior and having to raise my voice. Needless to say these variations of behavior and attitude have had an effect on me.

In the past two months I have been on an emotional roller coaster ride that I never imagined when I decided to chase my dreams of becoming a teacher in the big city and fighting the good fight against educational injustice. I would be lying if I said I didn't have to face a feeling of depression and anxiety I have never felt before. A mixture of feeling lost in the big city, homesick, stressed out, overwhelmed and worn thin have all added to this insane trip I've been on. Worrying every waking second about how well my lessons will turn out for the next day, or how I can help my students to learn better has really taken it's toll. I've cried, I've had to convince myself to keep going and I've even given myself pep talks in the school bathroom mirror to reassure myself that I can and will do this.

Despite how rough it seems on a daily basis and how terrible I may have made it sound from my above description, it is worth every minute of it. To see the look on a students face when they see how easy it is to find out if two ratios form a proportion, or to have the kids laugh when you teach a whole ELA lesson in your best NYC accent are just two incidences of what keeps me going. These two incidences are perfect examples of what I have realized will help me make it through. Small things. Small things. Small things. I can not do everything, but I can try my damn best. So with a new found attitude of knowing that I am doing the best that I can things have been much better. I know I am doing the best I can because I show up every day. I show up every day and greet my scholars at the door and I ask them to share one positive thing that happened to them the day before. That, in and of itself, is a first step in the right direction.

When you have had a student look you in the eyes and tell you that they pray for you everyday because they know what you're doing is not easy, it is a fullproof ticket to ensure that there is no turning back now. So there you have it. Two months in to my new life and I am just as confused and invested as I was the last time I wrote a post.

Thanks for reading. Much of this may not make any sense because I am falling asleep on my couch, but eh oh well.

Yours,
-Mr.

D-Day

That's right, D-Day. Today marked the beginning of my career as a teacher. Sitting here at 11:25 after the first day of teaching and knowing I have a billion other things I should be doing instead of updating a blog is somewhat daunting. I am no longer in charge of only my life. Instead, I have been enlisted to teach six 7th grade girls for the next ten months. So it begins.

Today was my first day as an official teacher at the Bronx Writing Academy. I can not even begin to express the range of emotions that I felt during those many hours before greeting my students at the doorway of classroom 321. I felt anxious, nervous, excited, sick and somewhat lost. The task ahead seemed larger than life.

Yet, there is good news! It comes in the form of six 7th grade girls, who even just from the first day, have easily won me over. Before the start of the day when I had these six ladies line up at the doorway I was nervous. I was nervous that these six girls would walk all over me, that they would not want to listen to me and that I would not be able to relate to them whatsoever. Luckily I was incorrect. My first day as a 7th grade teacher probably couldn't have been better. Aside from the occasional "I'm tired. This is boring. I already know this stuff!" from some of my students everything went well. My timing was just on target and I was able to pace being with thee students all day. The activities and procedures covered today were all over the board, but I feel confident to say that they will surely be able to remember many of them when we enter the classroom tomorrow. After all I had them line up to practice our dismissal policy about 5 times, one of which included a straight line, hands to your side, stay to the right side of the hall, no talking march through half of our floor at the BWA.

The personalities of each of these six students are unique and large. The excitement that I felt throughout the day can not compare to anything I have ever done. Although I am drained and a little worried about the coming days, weeks and months, I feel confident that the spark I had today with these students will continue on throughout the year. I have such a unique opportunity of working with such a small number of students (even though I am expecting 4 more tomorrow).

That's all I have for now, but trust me it's only the beginning.

Special Note: In this post you will find pictures taken of my class after the first day. As you can see it is no where near where it should be, but DAMN setting up a classroom is hard work. I got that PMA. Check out the progress from the last post to these! Come on! Awesome, right?

Let the Games Begin

Mr. A

It has been a while since I last posted anything. Honestly, updating my blog is the last thing I should be doing right now. I have a whole laundry list of things that need to get done before my 7th grade students arrive to Mr. Acosta's class at the BWA. I have less than a week left. Less than a week to write two weeks worth of lesson plans, a solid unit plan for Math, ELA and Social Studies, all three subject Unit 1 assessments, and the finishing touches on my investment and behavior plans. Oh, and set up my entire class room while going to two days of training starting tomorrow. Needless to say much needs to be done, and a new blog isn't one of them.

Before moving anything (left)












Because of that I am going to keep this short and sweet (as per usual) and fill in some of the gaps since last time.

-NYC rules. I am having a great time here, but often find the transition difficult.
-Have some great new friends. Many of whom came to my place for my birthday! Which was great. At the same time I really, really miss a lot of my friends in Seattle.
-Wilfred came to visit for 10 days. It was great! I hope he had fun. He easily made my transition to NY a little easier.
-I somehow find myself running into old friends from Seattle or even as far back as middle school. It's such a small world.
-I need a dresser.

Anyway, I want to continue this update with some of the happenings going on in the teaching world. So in the essence of time I decided to just post some pictures of my classroom. These were taken today. My first time being at my school and seeing my classroom. As you can tell I have some decorating to do. So along with the pictures I decided to photograph some of my rough plans for the classroom space. Enjoy.

After arranging desks (above)

Plans for the front of the class. PMA!
Historians Corner

El Barrio

I had nearly given up on this whole blogging thing due to several reasons, the biggest of them all being a lack of time. For the last six weeks I did nothing but Teach For America. Because I spent so much time teaching, lesson planning, going to workshops and making assessments I lost all dreams of keeping anyone up to date on my time at Institute via blog. Even though it is all over I still have no real desire or will to fill in the gaps of very detail from those six weeks because it would be impossible. Instead, I am going to point out some highlights and lowlights from my life the last six weeks.

I am going to start with the outline for my daily routine:

5:40 am - Wake up and shower time
6:25 - Breakfast
6:37 - Board big yellow school bus to PS 165 in East Brooklyn
8:30 - Pick up students from breakfast then begin teaching
8:30-12:30 - Teach and attend sessions
1:00-4:15 - Attend sessions then board big yellow school bus
4:40 - Arrive back to Queens
5:30-6:10 - Dinner
6:30-12:00 (depending) - Work time, lesson planning, sessions, etc

IT WAS WILD! I am just now beginning to feel the lack of sleep from those weeks.





HIGHTLIGHTS


1) Meeting some great people including, but not limited to the following:
-My Institute roommates Patrick and Nate, both of whom really could have made Institute a living hell but the laughs that we shared made everything bearable.
-The E 116th St. Crew (Jaqui, Alex, Liz, Michelle and Andrew). These five people always made dinner a riot and we now live together in the same apartment building. Andrew and Liz are now my new roommates, and after tonight I feel like I know them a little more than I would have liked...
-All the other awesome people ranging from my fellow teachers at PS 165 to Jenn, Jessica, Dylan, Zach, etc.

2) My awesome 6th graders. Although there were only eight of them they each had such unique personalities and traits that made teaching difficult and worthwhile all at the same time. I feel as if many of them did learn from our experience this summer, and some of them really challenged themselves to succeed and work hard come the fall.

3) Seeing friends from Seattle! So over the past six weeks I have somehow hung out with/run into people I know from Seattle. This has ranged from my roommate Nate's sister dating the brother of a friend in Seattle, whom had actually been in NY at the same time all the way to seeing random people from SU at a party. I was fortunate enough to be able to see one of my best friend's Timm while his band Wait In Vain was out here playing two shows. Best time!

4) Moving into my apartnement in Spanish Harlem, or the Barrio. I now live in a rockin apartment with two great new friends, that will be great new teachers. The place is in a really vibrant neighborhood rich with culture and I feel good about living here. Even if the Metro North passes right by my window every 5 or 10 minutes. I have no complaints so far.

5) I live in New York City! I mean come on, what do I have to complain about. The other day we unpacked and walked to Central Park where we proceeded to sit there in the sun, people watching and conversing. IT RULED! There are so many crazy places to eat, the subway takes you everywhere, the people are so different and the possibilities in this city are seemingly endless.

6) I fall asleep to the sound of the Metro North train right outside my window, which is then followed by the sound of sirens and people's voices.

7) The Straight Edge


LOWLIGHTS


1) Not blogging for six weeks, therefore not wanting to really go into depth about my experience at Institute. Also, taking 4 days to just get this one going...

2) Missing a ton of people in Seattle.

3) Being really broke and having to wait until mid-September for any income.

4) Not having decent coffee on a regular basis. Sure Dunkin' Donuts is somewhat cool, but I am dying for a nice Vivace latte.

5) Being hot and sweaty all day, every day. It's whack.

6) Awkward situations.

7) Not having decent furniture that would allow me to take clothes out of my suitcase.

8) Waking up to the sound of the Metro North train right outside my window, which then sets off numerous car alarms. New York living I guess.


Overall, I guess it is fair to say that I can not complain too much. Life is good, really different but good. It will take time for me to come to the realization that not only do I live in New York City, but that I am also going to be teaching a group of 7th grade students starting September. I will make every attempt to continue on with this blog, but seeing as how this entry literally took me a number of days to complete I can not make any promises.

I would like to end this entry by saying that today I stood in the middle of the street between The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park and was unable to see the horizon.

First Impressions

Hello. Hello.

It has been quite sometime since I have been able to make a post with any substance. And there is still no time...

I moved to Queens, NY three days ago for Teach For America induction. So far so good. For the induction part of the summer we have been doing a lot of hanging out, meeting new people, various workshops and city activities. I don't want to spend too much time writing on this thing because I don't want to be perceived as the nerd who just sits around on his computer. Therefore i will only highlight certain things from the past few days:

-SO MANY PEOPLE. 580 something to be exact. All recent graduates from various universities and colleges across the U.S. I have been able to meet a number of solid people, which is very humbling and exciting.

-I feel more motivated than ever to be a teacher just based off the small conversations I have had with fellow corps members. I can only imagine once all the educational jargon really begins.

-My two roommates are bomb. Both very, very nice guys. We have been hanging out these past few days and it's been rad. Both different which makes for a great time. My 5 other suite mates are also cool people.

-Did a city scavenger hunt yesterday. Started with a long train ride from Queens to Brooklyn. Man, Brooklyn rules. I got a very Seattle-like vibe from the areas we were in. There is an awesome place called the Tea Lounge which resembled a mix of Online Coffee Co. and Bauhaus.

-Went to the base of the Brooklyn bridge.

-Went to this awesome Caribbean restaurant that is way eco-friendly. They use rain run off for the toilets, a bicycle for the margarita mixer and solar energy!

-Walked around Manhattan last night. Ruled. Had an expensive Chipotle burrito ($7.75!!). Then me and my two roomies (Nate and Patrick) stayed and watched 'The Bride of Frakenstein' in Bryant Park. It was packed and it was awesome.

-Say a dude in a Verse shirt yesterday. Didn't get a chance to talk to him so I wore mine today. His name is Brian and he is edge. Way stoked to talk with him.

-I don't have the following items: a towel, bedding, soap, phone charger or very much time.

-I miss Seattle, and the people there.

More to come in the next couple weeks hopefully. All the insanity of Institute begins on Wednesday. Wishe me luck.

And nothing changes if we don't change ourselves... -DANGERS

NYC COUNTDOWN: 16 days

I am going to be teaching at the Bronx Writing Academy.

Life is insane. Sacha is hot... Way more to come after graduation maybe. Not too sure. Let's hang out.

Perfect Example of My Life Recently

I am working the Chardin front desk, and all of a sudden I get really hungry. So I pull out my wallet to see if I have enough spare change to buy a .90 cent bag of pretzels from the machine. I am .15 cents short and soon become discouraged. Just my luck. Just as things have been going lately. I feel like I have just been a little short of a lot of things in my life. Having not given up hope quite yet, I decide to scour the surrounding area for any change on the floor. After 10 minutes I find a quarter peeking out from beneath one of the machines. YES!

Totally my luck; the last couple months of great and not so great. This interesting back and forth of good and bad. As soon as I feel ontop of the world knowing I gained an extra .10 cents from my find, I decide to begin feeding the quarter into the vending machine. Clunk. The machine takes the quarter. I follow that quarter with the other I had recenetly found. Ching. The quarter falls helplessly to the return change part of the machine. I try a second time. Then a third. After my fourth try I give up and press the button to ask for my first quarter back. No such luck.

Such is life. A relentless back and forth of things that have been better than I could have imagined and things I wish I didn't have to deal with.

I'm burnt out.

NYC COUNTDOWN: 32

Straight Edge

The only constant thing in my life right now. Everything is crazy.

NYC COUNTDOWN: 42 days

It's all coming too fast, yet not fast enough... right?

Global Reading Challenge High

Last night Bailey Gatzert Elementary, a school I have tutored at, went to the Global Reading Challenge City Final for the first time in years. I can honestly say that I had a GREAT time!

This past quarter I helped out at Bailey Gatzert by acting as a reading circle book leader. I read two different books, The Warriors and Year of the Dog, with two different groups of 5th grade students. My experience working with these 5th graders was amazing. Bailey Gatzert is one of the schools in Seattle facing numerous educational issues such as a majority of the students receiving free and reduced lunch, segregation, large underprivledge student population and many students in foster care programs. These students were extremely grateful for the fact that I came to hang out and talk books with them, when in fact I am the one who should have been grateful. The students I worked with were very, very bright and excited about learning. At the end of the Global Reading Challenge they made me some 'thank you' cards which I plan to keep forever because they were very meaningful to me.

So once I found out that students from Bailey Gatzert were going to the Global Reading Challege City Final, where 8 other Seattle Public schools competed for the chance to compete with two other schools from Canada and Michigan, I jumped on the chance of showing my support. We rounded up a good group of SU students to go this event. It was amazing! We had huge signs to cheer on Gatzert. One of the students from my reading group was in the 6 person Gatzert team!

While they didn't win it was a great opportunity for me to see how enthusiastic students could be. When I went to say hello to Cindy, the student that had been in my group, she was really excited to see me. She said she wouldn't have ever thought I would come. It made me stoked. All students need is support! It put me in a really good mood. I am more than excited to have my own classroom next year.

Aside from the Global Reading Challenge things are good. I had my first cup of coffee in 7 days after a bet with my roommate. Boy did that soy latte taste great. Thank you Stumptown.

Busy, confused and anxious can only describe the way I feel right now. Ah well...

NYC Countdown: 49

LIFE RULES BECAUSE OF THE FOLLOWING:

- New Wait In Vain track 'Seasons'

-New VERSE track 'The New Fury'

-Bailey Gatzert

-New Friends

-Old Friends

-The Big Apple

All Things Insane

Things have felt insane lately. I'm at this awkaward point right now where nothing makes sense, but makes sense at the same time, especially in terms of finding little connections and motivators that seem to fall in line with the way my life is going right now. If you don't get it you can only imagine how lost I am.

The last two days have official sealed the deal for two of the crazier/intense things that I have experienced. I am going to roughly try and paraphrase the different feelings and happenings that have caused this near emotional rollercoaster.

-Tuesday, April 15:
As part of my Addiction Studies class we are required to attend two different support groups for people facing addiction. So myself, my roommate Mark, and two other students decided to attend an Atheist/Agnostic Alcoholics Anonymous. As soon we arrived I began to feel real nervous and anxious, not really knowing what I would experience. Upon getting there I introduced myself to the first person we saw who then introduced herself as Crystal. She must have thought she knew who I was because she said "It's nice to see you again. The meeting is downstairs." So the four of us went down to the empty room. Crystal came down to join us, and we then told her we were students who had come to observe. At this point she began to talk with us about the program, and the different meetings this particular facility holds. Midway through her introduction she says, "We are very service oriented here. It helps to keep our minds off of things. I have to go make the coffee now, because if I don't I will want to go smoke crack." I was completely blindsided by this comment. She then followed up this comment by saying that there may be people who will ask who or why we are here, and may even seen upset by the fact that we were here. She just reminded us to mention that the meeting is listed as "Open", meaning anyone is able to attend. This should have been a signal of what was to come.

Three minutes later the "moderator" of the meeting comes in, seemingly very unorganized and absent minded. We introduced ourselves, and he seemed ok with our attending. Others began arriving and 5 minutes later the meeting began. The "moderator" read the preamble, and generalities of the meeting. He then began his story. He didn't make it 2 minutes into his story before he stopped, looked at us and said "You know what, four of you is too many. Two of you just need to leave. We can't handle all four of you." So, Mark and I began to gather our things and go and BLAM! Crystal begins yelling at him saying that this is not fair for him to make this type of decision because it is an open meeting, and that some of the other people may want us there. Long story short. A 7 minute yelling debate ensued. The four of us sat silently. My hands were gripped tightly together, not really know what to do or when to speak up. The shouting match soon spread to the others in the room proclaiming, "This is an AA meeting. This type of thing is BULLSHIT!" After 7 minutes they decided to take a vote to see whether or not they would like us to say. Everyone but the "moderator" was comfortable with us staying. We stayed, and this where everything else comes into play.


I have been fortunate enough to have never had to deal with addiction within myself, my friends or my family. Before attending the meeting I would have maybe been as naive to say that addiction was a problem of ones own self control. I would have been both wrong and right in saying that. The stories we heard at the AA meeting were some that had me on the verge of tears, while it had others on the verge of leaving the meeting to drink. We were told stories of individuals being addicted to crack since 13 years old (and are now 50), people loosing their entire families, lives, money, everything because of the way they had lost control both with alcohol and crack. For me the most crushing part of it all was hearing a 50 year old man say that he had dreams, hopes and ambitions for his life but he has ruined all possibility of those things due to the actions he has taken. He talked about how he would get depressed, and upset then go out for his next fix. He would then be coming down, look in the mirror and realize he was just as, if not more, depressed and alone as he was before doing drugs and drinking. He said he looks in the mirror and the only thing he knows himself as is as a 50 year old with little to nothing, who has been and is addicted.

I noticed one common theme within everyone's talks that evening. AA was all that they have. Crystal was turning herself into jail the next day for a crime she did not commit, but has been convicted. Another man, a graduate from Sealtte University in the '60's was at his third AA meeting of the day because it is the only thing that helps to keep his mind of his addiction. Another man had just moved here after his house in Philly burned down, his first partner died of aids and has been sober for 12 years, yet still needs to attend AA. The implications of community and human connection from those who spoke about their experiences are huge. I am sure I did a very poor job at recreating the emotions I felt. I literally sat there hands clenched together, toes constantly tapping and eyes watery.

I have never been happier to know that I somehow have found a lifestyle where I have been intrinsically motivated to avoid substances that I know 100% I do not need. I never ever want to be caught in a situation where I have lost my ability to think on my own, or control the way I feel. I want to be able to push myself to reach a feeling of happiness and content about myself and the world around me without having to depend on some substance to facilitate. Long live my edge!

-Wednesday, April 16th:
The day was shaping up to be a pretty good one. I woke up early, did some homework, conducted a mock principle interview with my Teach For America placement associate and "did a very good job", ate a sweet PB&J, played a little Wii. No too much of what I was supposed to be doing to keep me a little sane. Then I had to table to the Children's Literacy Project. I had a great conversation about education with Kyle Smith, another SU student, about the state of education, a lack of emphasis on education from our society, and mediocrity as one of the biggest challenges to overcome when working with students. GREAT CONVERSATION!

The day was only going to get better knowing I was going to see Blacklisted later that evening. I got home from class, the sun was out and it ruled! Wilrfred and I went on a bike ride to Safeway where we met up with Mark. Then all three of us dominated the streets on the way home (two bikes and a dude on a skateboard) taking up a whole lane on 15th cruising in the sun. What a great feeling. After getting home we had to go and meet Mosher Matt downtown for a ride to the show. He was an hour and a half late, but Mark and I made the most of an adventure downtown. We hung out in the Seattle Public Library for a while, went to this rich gym club at the top of the Key building or something, then went to the 74th floor of the Columbia tower. It was fun. I am going to miss Mark.

At the show there was this girl I don't remember having ever seen or met before, and she kept looking at me. Turns out she is from Budapest and has been staying in Seattle for a month, and has seen me around Capitol Hill. So she came over to me, introduced herself and we talked. She was really, really nice and it was crazy meeting and talking with someone from so far away. She had a lot of interesting stories, and of course somehow the conversation turned to education. We talked about the educational system here compared Hungary. It ruled!

BLACKLISTED! The show was wild. I had a great time. Vanguard played really well. They will be a band, and a good group of dudes I am going to miss. But BLACKLISTED. Oh man. I had been waiting for this show. Something out Blacklisted's music gets me going. Maybe it's the human emotion and ambiguity of the lyrics to the human experience, or the intensity and heaviness of the music. Whatever it is, it gets me going. So I had a great time. Running around, singing along and seeing a ton of friends I hadn't seen in a while. After the show I went up to ask George about the meaning behind the last four lines of the song 'Memory Layne'. I didn't really have any expectations for this conversation except that he would tell me how he came up with the four lines and what they are about. Little did I know that I would find this almost eerie connection to the song in a way that I would have never have guessed.


Below are the four lines of this song that for some reason when I first heard them I instantly felt some sort of connection. For me these four lines hit the nail on the head in terms of the way I often view the world, and the things that I am involved in:

How do you criticize, when you stand so safe inside?

How do you climb, when you built your walls so high?

How do you fight, when your hands are firmly tied?

How do you rise when all you know is the downside...

After approaching George, his explanation of the song and those lines was something I wasn't really expecting to relate to my life right now. He began to explain the meaning of the song and how it was about someone he used to know and how they left to do Teach For America in Houston. Obviously there is a little more to the story that I am leaving out, but I just found it really weird that in this confusing time in my life something I felt a strong connection to is inadvertantly connected to what I am about to do. Some friends said, "whoa that is weird" while a couple of others told me that it was a dumb story. Just thought I would share it. I thought that the connection to the song for me and story behind the song was one I wouldn't have ever been able to guess.

NYC Countdown: 55 Days

Randoms

I started this blog because I felt there isn't a day that passes by when a billion little things creep into my head and provoke thinking. Yet, I still sit here "ready to write" and everything slips my mind. I think this is due to the combination of being spread so thin doing different things, and my growing sernioritis. With that in mind I am just going to bullet some of the things going on. Maybe one day I will get better about writing coherent blog entries with some sort of substance.

- I have been working on a conference to be held at Seattle University about advocating and working towards educational justice. It has been keeping me fairly busy. When I first thought about the conference I had no idea it would grow to the degree it has. It will feature key note speakers Paul Loeb, Gary Howard, and Michael Vavrus. Should be pretty awesome.

- I seemingly have a million things to do/read for Teach For America before leaving Seattle. All of which include mock principal interviews, reading 1,000 pages of pre-institute work, actual principle tests, and certification testing in May.

- The second issue of The Catalyst newsletter is coming out tomorrow. This is a social justice newsletter I have helped start and worked with the last couple of months. So far, so good. I think it was much needed. This month's issue is immigration. Next months will be.... EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITY! Stay tuned.

- I am going to hear Greg Mortensen speak in 15 minutes. I am excited. Check him out, he has built schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Read his book Three Cups of Tea.

- Tonight I am going to hear Jeff Sachs speak on campus. Check out his book "The End of Poverty".

- School hasn't been too bad this quarter. I have started to concentrate more on spending time with people I know I will not be seeing for a while, if ever again after graduation. This has been awesome because I feel that the last two quarters I spent way too much time busying myself. So it is time for me to take a step back.

- There was a documnetary on National Geographi about straight edge last night. The first ten minutes were cool. It included some people from the NW, Verse, Have Heart and The First Step. After that it seemingly went downhill, focusing on the "violent side" of straight edge, terrible Reno edge bands, and whack kids moshing in hockey masks... This morning at work someone stopped by the desk and said, "I watched the scariest documentary on straight edge last night. I hope you're not into stuff like that." Thank you National Geographic.

- Grave Maker: I miss Brian and Wayne a lot. They have been gone for about a month or two now. Just recently saw a video of Grave Maker performing 'Time Heals Nothing' in Guatemala City. It was pretty crazy, kids were into it. I can see these dudes blowing up very shortly.

-Blacklisted in 6 days.

Well my work shift is over, which means this entry is at an end. Today is PACKED with stuff to do.

Chris

I have worked with an 8th grade student named Chris since October. In the beginning he was 100% defiant, and unwilling to work with me. It has taken me months to have him come around. I enjoy every Monday and Wednesday when we get the chance to hang out and work together. He is very, very far behind in most of his school work. So for the past couple of months we have worked fairly hard on increasing his organizational skills, and his being on top of class assignments. It seemed to have been working well.

Today I found out he has not been to school in almost two weeks. I spoke with one of his teachers as to whether or not he was at school today. She said that he most likely was not and that he "probably has decided to give up because he is so far behind. He knows his situation." It is moments and times like this where my heart literally breaks.

Why is it that this 8th grade student is so far behind? Why does it seem that even his teacher has given up on him? What is holding him back from fulfulling the potential I know he has because I have seen it in our one on one work? Right now I am somewhere between teary-eyed and extremely heated. I want nothing more right now than for Chris to show up to school on Wednesday and work. I want to see him gradute from 8th grade. I want to see him succeed.

On a side note. I have 66 days until I leave Seattle and begin my journey to New York City where I will be a special ed teacher in America's largest school district. I am nervous. I am scared. I am confused. I am excited.

NYC Countdown: 66 days


This was a pretty loaded post...something that was on my mind all day. Hopefully the rest won't be so heavy hearted.