Jack Bauer is a Rich Man

Random fact of the day: Kiefer Sutherland makes 400,000 for every episode of 24. That computes to 9.6 million every season. Not a bad paycheck, I daresay.

Despite the money he makes--or maybe because of it--he's still the man. Though I suspect some senators (can anyone say John McCain?) would have serious issues with his interrogation methods...

Rosh Hashana Rap

For those of you feeling the need of a little inspiration to celebrate Rosh Hashana, here is a link to a Rosh Hashana Rap that might just do the trick to rekindle the enthusiasm. Or maybe you'll just find it amusing, and insightful into the marketing techniques being employed these days to reach the younger Jewish generation...

http://www.aish.com/movies/raphigh.asp


And for those of you who are freaked out by this and think I've gone over the edge in my music tastes, don't worry. The link came to me as an email advertisement, and my curiosity got the better of me. It's not on my favorite ten list or anything...

Student Blooper?

I had a laugh out loud moment correcting papers today. It's a good thing I was at home! I was grading some papers in which students had to write a biography based on limited information of a person. This was the assignment to which I alluded in a previous post. Here is one sentence from a dear girl, who I'm sure is unaware that her voluntarily returning to my classroom for a third semester is resulting in such fun at her expense: "He seems very neutering." I assume--even hope--that this is a spelling mistake, and she meant to say "nurturing"!

Another Week in the History Books

School week two is done and gone, though not without some emotionally draining moments. One of them had to do with getting called into an administrator's office and being asked about comments I made in class the first day of class. I won't go into any detail about what I said, but I thought they were pretty harmless. They were intended to dispel certain rumors that have been known to circulate about me at school. But one girl claimed that what I said made her uncomfortable, so she went to her guidance counselor and asked to switch classes. Her counselor told her she needed a letter from a parent explaining the reason for the change, because generally the school does not allow lateral transfers (from one teacher to another teaching the same subject and level). It's a good thing, too, because if students had a choice of teacher for their required course, I probably wouldn't get a lot of signups, and that would make me look bad to some! After all, most teenagers would gravitate to the easier teachers if they had a choice.

Anyway, I digress. The parent wrote a letter, stating their daughter was uncomfortable having me as a teacher. So I get called in to an administrator, who wanted the story about my comments from me. I had to explain myself, which came across ok I think, though the administrator thought I could have avoided the situation by not saying anything in the first place. He also made it clear that I wasn't in trouble, which was nice to know, but that he simply wanted an explanation before he granted the transfer. I felt frustrated, as it seems that no matter what I do or don't do, nasty things result, be it rumors or upset parents. I think I'm slowly resigning myself to caring less and less about what people say about me behind my back, which is probably the healthiest solution to it all. The skin is getting thicker and thicker, in other words.

This is difficult, and a slow process, as naturally I tend to be a very sensitive soul, but thick skin is necessary for working in an environment with nasty teenagers, to put it bluntly. I already don't care that much if students talk about how difficult/demanding I am behind my back. That's a given. And since it's true, it doesn't make sense to be upset if they complain about it! :-) I can even feel positive about this type of complaining because I know that challenging students academically is a good thing for them in the long run. It's like I have a trump card over them, I know a secret that they don't, that some day they will realize the positive good that being made to work hard and achieve was. Since I can focus on that good, it is easier to put up with criticism.

The knowledge of attacks on my personal life is in a totally different category, and requires another measure of grace, I think. I have a harder time seeing the good in that. If it was an attack because of my faith or something along those lines, it would again be easier to take, because we're taught to rejoice about such things, and we know there is a reward for such suffering. But what about attacks of a personal nature, motivated no doubt from a dislike of you as a person or teacher, yet not apparently because of your faith? There seems to be no trump card here. You can't think to yourself "but someday they will be sorry for saying nasty things about me." Thick skin in these matters is something that, while thickening in me, is a little thinner right now that I'd like it to be.

Those of you who are not sensitive by nature would probably give some simple but unwise advice to this dilemma, with something along the lines of "You just need to have thicker skin!" But thick skin does not appear simply as the result of willpower. If it were that easy, we would all have it, and life would be much less agonizing. I suppose this is the same thing with healing. You can't just say "Get over it" and expect it to happen. Thick skin, healing, or whatever the need is often takes time. Would that I could be hardened right now to anything I hear said about me that is untrue! Maybe by next year?

Switching subjects abruptly, I lost several students out of my advanced class this week, including two seemingly bright girls who I think would have done very well in the class. However, they felt like they had too much on their plate, so they dropped it. The good news is that both of them are still planning on coming back next semester, so I know it isn't something personal against me. I also gained a student this week. Even so, the class has only 11 in it now, which makes me feel quite guilty because other teachers in the department have as many as 37 in one class! Yet it is a different subject and level, so there is solid justification for keeping my class, despite it being an elective that students do not have to take. And if I can put my guilt aside, it is a sweet situation for me, as it makes correcting the many papers I will have them write that much easier...

We only had four days of school this week. One day was free due to elections taking place. This was nice, as it gave me a chance to get some correcting done, and catch my breath a little. Starting the school year up with a 3 day week, then 4 day week before having a full week is a good idea. But next week things will be extremely busy, with a full week of school, the start of rehearsals for Fiddler, auditions and casting for the school play I'm directing, and the start of rehearsals for that. Whew! I'm so glad for a chance to rest now!

Acting Again

The other day I auditioned for Fiddler on the Roof. Despite my busy schedule, I decided I like the show too much to pass up a shot at a good role in the show. After the audition, I was starting to get really afraid that they were going to offer me the role of Tevye. I was scared not because I wouldn't love to play that role sometime, but because I knew they would be getting mighty desperate to cast me in such a role! Then I thought about it more and decided it would be fun to play, but it still would be a sign of not such a great cast if they had to choose me to play the role. I was happy when they offered me the role of Motel, which was my first choice going into it all. So I will soon be back on stage, singing and acting like I love to do. So I'm pretty excited!

Because I am loathe to give away my location, I will not say more. Astute bloggers who know my circle of friends will be able to make some connections... How is that for cryptic?

And I know this entry will not win any awards for best writing style or anything, but I'm too busy to try and fix it now.

Various Aspects of the First Days--Ramblings, to Put it Another Way

The first days of school have come and gone, and I'm still alive, rejuvenated in spirit though weary in body. I think the last time I got up this early was in mid June, the last time I was teaching! I've been close to exhausted by 4 o clock in the afternoon. That's sad.

The first day was all about introducing myself, giving a little autobiographical spiel, then telling those classes that needed to hear it how hard the course was going to be. I suppose this sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to some of you mercy-minded people, but it is really important to establish a tone of academic rigor and high expectations at the beginning of the year, so students know what they're getting into. And in case it makes you feel better, in addition to telling them horror stories about students that failed my class and are repeating it, I also told them that none of these students did much work. Moreover, if you do all of your homework, it is very easy to do well. Which is very true, in case any of you thought I am a terrible meany. I bend over backwards to ensure that students who put in significant effort to do well do. I also provide plenty of extra credit opportunities to help students who stumble on some things pull themselves up.

I could tell within the first five minutes of one class that they were going to be a rambunctious lot. I had to tell some of them to be quiet the first day, even in the first few minutes! That's unusual. Usually students are subdued enough the first day at least to listen up and hear what they're supposed to. Not some of these students. Fortunately, the next day the word of the day from my calendar was obstreperous, and being the kind of teacher who doesn't mind adjusting the day's plans on the fly, if necessary, I introduced the word to this rambunctious class, then used it in a sentence: "Obstreporous students do not do well in this class." We'll see if any of them got the message. It seemed to settle some of them down temporarily.

I also decided kind of last minute that teaching students how to make inferences would be a good thing to start the year with. After giving them a student interests and background survey to complete the first night, I wrote several inferences on the board, mostly about myself, and had the class evaluate each one.

Incidentally, I learned through this process that very few teenagers are interested in 24. This confirms a suspicion I had earlier that for whatever reason the show may attract the 20 somethings and up demographic instead of the teenagers. Out of 120 or so teenagers surveyed, probably five said they had interest in it. There was more interest in Lost, and even more interest in American Idol. As far as favorite movies they saw this last summer, I hadn't heard of most of them. And forget about it when it comes to knowing a thing about their favorite bands/music groups. I guess there are some things that even I won't get into in order to be able to relate better to these kids. It's one thing to go to their sports games or plays, but trying to learn anything about Kkdowdopkeifkxda?! Forget it.

This is the first year that I have younger siblings of students I have had in the past. I strongly suspected one girl was the younger sister of a girl I student-taught, based some on her looks but also on her smile. Weird. I asked her if she was her sister, and got confirmation. Then there are several siblings of students I taught two years ago. And there's a daughter of a professor I know from my undergrad. Also weird. A veteran teacher in the department told me at least I wasn't teaching the children of former students, as she had done several times. Very true. And she said she had heard that you know it's time to retire when you get grandchildren of former students in your class! That hasn't happened to her yet, and I can hardly fathom the day that might happen to me...

In my classes we have also played an icebreaker game so each student and I know something about everyone else. And I have reamed everyone out about the evils of plagiarism and cheating, and given them an exercise to help them learn about different kinds of plagiarism, since sometimes it can be accidental if you are not well-informed about what it includes. You have to emphasize that it includes not giving credit for IDEAS, as well as words of another. The fact that if you paraphrase and don't cite it is still plagiarism is something some high schoolers struggle with. But not my students anymore! (Said with some degree of anxiety, as I did this same exercise last year and STILL had students massively plagiarize, in some cases possibly accidentally!)

Today I sprang a "fun" (I put it in quotes because even though I am convinced that it is fun and interesting, I'm not sure I can convince all of my students to agree!) exercise on two of my five classes. The other three will get it on Monday. I showed them a video clip that focused on a person, and had them take notes on all details in the clip that might shed light on the character or background of that person. They are assigned to write a biography about him, making inferences based on what they see. Since the video is not all revealing, it makes for an interesting challenge to hash out a biography, but roughly replicates what it is like for the historian working with limited evidence from the past to try and create a narrative that makes sense. In other words, my students are becoming historians within the first week of class! I hope this challenge will excite them about history and enable them to continue to make inferences about things throughout the term, while at the same time limiting themselves to the evidence at hand.

My most advanced class is quite small, currently 14 in number, but I've heard that some of them are going to drop it when they have the chance (the window opens up next week). I've been worrying a little that I'm going to lose good students who if they stuck with it could take the AP exam and do well on it. It's interesting how obsessed I'm getting to be with seeing students of mine do well by passing the AP exam. I announced with confidence on the first day that they were all going to pass it when they take it in May. This may sound like a bold promise, but if I do my job, and they work hard (which I added as a condition to them passing it), I think it is doable. But I have my work cut out for me to bring them all up to speed with all of the demands of the AP course, which are significant. Some of these kids need a confidence boost desperately. Most of them are sophomores, and though they are really hard workers, I think most of them are not in the top 5 percent of their class. Maybe the top 15 percent. That means a little more of a challenge to get them where they need to be. If I can do it, however, it will be a small vindication to me, make me feel good, and provide justification for my teaching this course in a serious manner to all of the smartest sophomores next year. Currently, for some reason, there are basically no AP class options for sophomores. I guess some people think they're too young to handle the work, but I know from my experience interacting with smart high school kids from other parts of the country that there are a number of schools that have such options. So if we can get it into my school, all the better. And even though I have only had them for a few days, there is something great to be said about highly-motivated students!

I was very pleased to learn that one of the two seniors in the course, who had thought she was going to drop my class, told me after the second day that she had decided to stick with it. I guess I gave plenty of tricks the first two days to make her want to stay! Little does she know how I am going to stop being enthusiastic about the material as soon as the drop period for classes is over, leaving all of my students bored stiff by my monotone voice, which will be confined to monosyllabic grunts such as "work" and "quiet," forsooth!

My schedule has changed from what it has been the last two years with regard to my prep period. It used to be that I taught the first period, then had the next as a prep. No more. Now I teach two classes, have homeroom, a study hall (I got a study as a duty again, something that was not a given but for which I am very thankful, as it allows me to get some work done!), another class, lunch, then two more classes. Then I end the day with my prep mod. It makes for a long morning, but it's very nice to be done for the day by 1:44. Then I can get paperwork done, copies made, or whatever at the end of the day. In theory I might even be ready to go home by the time we're allowed to, instead of always having stuff to do that keeps me late. But in reality, because of the drama group I run, I will frequently be at school until 4:30 or 5.

And that, folks, ends my ramblings on the first week of school.

I May Have Jinxed The Boys

I think I may have jinxed the boys this year. Shortly after I got my new computer in June, I set this as my background wallpaper. I thought it was pretty cool at the time. Little did I realize that it ended up being a description of the Red Sox season this year. Sigh. There's always next year...

Was Hannah's Promise Kept?

Recently I read about the birth of Samuel, and Hannah's promise that he would be a Nazirite, with a razor never coming to touch his head. This has gotten me thinking about Samuel's hair. If her promise was kept, and Samuel never cut his hair, I figure he had a mighty amount of hair by the time he died.

I learned from a bit of research that the average hair growth is six inches a year. You figure Samuel lived eighty years, and that makes his hair forty feet long. Maybe less, since some of it probably fell out due to length. Even so, I think this gives new meaning to a full head of hair. And it puts Absalom's hair to shame. (After all, he cut it regularly, right?) In addition, it means any Sunday School type pictures out there depicting an elderly, or even a young Samuel, should be a little more dramatic than they are. Of course, it could cause some confusion among youngsters, who might mistake Sammy for a girl. But what young tyke wouldn't be fascinated by a picture with a guy whose hair is anywhere from ten to forty feet long?

On a more serious note, if you want to get something serious out of this post, consider the sight it was to see a Nazirite, a man wholly dedicated to the Lord. Though being a Nazirite probably isn't your calling, perhaps this is to be expected of all those who are completely committed to following God: they will stick out dramatically.