Busy, busy couple of weeks.
Just finished my first week of my second student teaching placement. I am in an 8:1:1 Special Education classroom in Spencerport, which aside from the commute time is not that different from teaching at Freddie Thomas.
The days are busy and there are a million things going on. The hardest part for me is that I am actually only teaching social studies for about 40 minutes a day. The experience is great and my cooperation teaching has been awesome. I just have a hard time seeing myself taking over the room and doing all she does in a few short weeks.
Avi has been awesome. We are taking her ice skating this evening so I should have some new video and pictures up soon.
The teaching portion of my Master's degree is quickly coming to a close. I have a lot of loose ends to tie up so that I can say when this is done is a few months that I am going to be certified by September.
Went to go see "How to Train Your Dragon" last night with D. Not to name drop but my best friend is a producer for Dreamworks and he strongly recommended we go see it. Absolutely loved it.
Not sure if I would put it ahead of "Kung Fu Panda" as far as Dreamworks animated movies go. I really loved the Fu. But I would place it ahead of a few Pixar films on my list of favorite animated films.
The visuals were just amazing. It was almost the Anti-Eragon (don't get me started on my hatred of Eragon). I loved that the kid needed the dragon as much as the dragon needed him, it made for a very touching story.
I love leaving a theatre feeling content with the cash we just laid down.
As far as what is exiting me right now.
Check THIS OUT
Best. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen (thanks Drew)
Those who know me know that the list of things that I hate consists of the following in no particular order:
Aliens
Robots
Vamipres
Zombies
and Diseases
(Although I love Alien Robots)
But if there is an alien I love, it's Predator. At least Predator makes no excuses about what he is going to do to you. He is going to kill you. And if you put up a good fight, he is going to tear your skull and spine out of your carcass, he is going to polish it, and he is going to hang it on his wall with all his other trophies.
Unlike Aliens, who impregnate you with thier offspring and use you like some twisted incubator, Predator finishes you quickly.
And, Predator loves to kill Aliens, which is awesome.
This movie is going to be awesome. (Which is exactly what I said after seeing the trailer for Alien v. Predator Requiem, which failed, epically)
Showing posts with label Deep Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deep Thoughts. Show all posts
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Speaking of Race in Sports
Continuing the theme from the other day and the Torii Hunter comments. I ran across This... while I was drinking my coffee this morning and found it very interesting.
I bookmarked the website The Mo'Kelly Report
Wide receiver and father Plaxico Burress ... jail (Home recently foreclosed) Star guard and unwed father (2 children) Gilbert Arenas ... on his way to jail. Rapper Lil Wayne, unwed father of 4 children (two born simultaneously to different women) ... just finished tucking himself in ... you got it, prison. Black male pathology is in full swing. It's not funny and it's not a figment of one's imagination. It's true and we should recognize it for what it is.
I am using the Torii Hunter statements as a mini lesson on Race today, as Sid said, this is either going to be very good, or very bad.
I bookmarked the website The Mo'Kelly Report
Wide receiver and father Plaxico Burress ... jail (Home recently foreclosed) Star guard and unwed father (2 children) Gilbert Arenas ... on his way to jail. Rapper Lil Wayne, unwed father of 4 children (two born simultaneously to different women) ... just finished tucking himself in ... you got it, prison. Black male pathology is in full swing. It's not funny and it's not a figment of one's imagination. It's true and we should recognize it for what it is.
I am using the Torii Hunter statements as a mini lesson on Race today, as Sid said, this is either going to be very good, or very bad.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Impostors
I love Torii Hunter
But he said some really stupid things about race in baseball.
Now, like the author of the post quoted above, I do not assume to know more about race and baseball than Torii.
What I do know, is that African slaves were brought from the West coast of Africa and brought to locations all over the New World.
Ask my U.S. History classes, we covered this topic in depth.
Someone being Dominican, or Costa Rican, or American, is just an arbitrary function of where their African ancestors were brought.
The author of that post pretty much sums up my feelings on race and athelets in baseball.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Plastic
Which only fuels my don't use plastics fire:
Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy can cause permanent abnormalities in the uterus of offspring and the reprogramming of genes, said new research from the Yale School of Medicine. The study is the first to show that exposure to the chemical, commonly found in the epoxy linings of food cans and in polycarbonate baby bottles, may permanently affect sensitivity to oestrogen, said the team led by Professor Hugh S Taylor.
BPA, like the kind found in plastic drinking bottles
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Reflection
As part of my student teaching seminar, we are asked to write reflections about our experiences. I will have more to share in this space regarding what I have encountered when time and energy permit. For now, I would like to share my most recent reflection, where we were asked to write about a student who has had an impact on us, either good or bad. This is what I had to say:
There is a line at the film “The Devil’s Own” starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford, where Brad Pitt’s character is telling his father figure Ford that their story was always going to have bad ending. Pitt, who is Irish and a member of the IRA tells Ford “Don't look for a happy ending. It's not an American story. It's an Irish one.” What Pitt’s character is saying is that we want so desperately for every story to have the miracle ending that we as Americans have come to expect, that we forget that so often in life, there are no happy endings. For people all over the world, they spend their whole lives, and then die, waiting for that miracle ending. In literature it is called Deus ex Machina, or “God from the machine” where no matter how desperate the situation, things will find a way of working out for the protagonist. I have made this mistake when working with my students at Hillside prior to starting my student teaching. Sometimes there are no happy endings. After talking with a student and a parent about the issues that are going on in the home, it is my expectation that from week to week, day to day, things will begin to get better. The harsh truth however is that sometimes things don’t get better. Sometimes a young person who is struggling against all that they are dealing with in their lives, will simply continue to struggle.
Sometimes, even though we are in America, the stories don’t have a happy ending. I would like to sit and write about my student who in three weeks I have turned from an underachieving problem student, into a social studies whiz-kid (it’s not as if I don’t have a few of them) but the harsh and brutal reality is that this is by and large not an American story. The students that I have spent the last month plus working with will go on after they are done with me, and I them. Some of them will succeed in both school and life, and some of them wont. The hardest part is that there is shockingly little that I can do to alter that course. I am not so naïve to think that in seven weeks I could alter the course of all 45 or so student’s lives. But I do also realize the impact I am having, if only for an hour and a half five days a week for a month and a half. Do I have students who have made an impression on me? Do I have students who I will remember long after they have forgotten about me? Of course I do. I far under estimated the impact that student teaching was going to have on me as a professional and as a person. Having worked in my school for two years, I arrogantly believed that I knew more about this than I did. This has been the single greatest learning experience of my life, and I say that knowing full well that I have two weeks left where I am now, and seven weeks at my next placement.
I am sorry for the negative tone to this, the ironic thing is, I write this after having what has been my most successful week here. You asked me to write about a student who has made an impression on me, and I could easily have filled these few short pages with stories about this young person or that, who has surprised me in a good way or a bad. I could talk about the young lady who has shocked me day in and day out with her ability to think at a higher level. Or the young man who is so confident in his abilities in social studies, but is so close every day to exploding on me that I have had to navigate a mine field with him. I could have written 10 pages on each and every one of them. But it would not have been enough. Instead, let me take these pages to talk about the group as a whole. They are wonderful, awful people, just like all of us, who for the most part are doing the best with what they have, and what they have been taught. I cannot move heaven and earth in 7 weeks, but I can alter the course of a young person’s life, even if just slightly. Maybe after all is said and done, it will be an American story after all.
There is a line at the film “The Devil’s Own” starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford, where Brad Pitt’s character is telling his father figure Ford that their story was always going to have bad ending. Pitt, who is Irish and a member of the IRA tells Ford “Don't look for a happy ending. It's not an American story. It's an Irish one.” What Pitt’s character is saying is that we want so desperately for every story to have the miracle ending that we as Americans have come to expect, that we forget that so often in life, there are no happy endings. For people all over the world, they spend their whole lives, and then die, waiting for that miracle ending. In literature it is called Deus ex Machina, or “God from the machine” where no matter how desperate the situation, things will find a way of working out for the protagonist. I have made this mistake when working with my students at Hillside prior to starting my student teaching. Sometimes there are no happy endings. After talking with a student and a parent about the issues that are going on in the home, it is my expectation that from week to week, day to day, things will begin to get better. The harsh truth however is that sometimes things don’t get better. Sometimes a young person who is struggling against all that they are dealing with in their lives, will simply continue to struggle.
Sometimes, even though we are in America, the stories don’t have a happy ending. I would like to sit and write about my student who in three weeks I have turned from an underachieving problem student, into a social studies whiz-kid (it’s not as if I don’t have a few of them) but the harsh and brutal reality is that this is by and large not an American story. The students that I have spent the last month plus working with will go on after they are done with me, and I them. Some of them will succeed in both school and life, and some of them wont. The hardest part is that there is shockingly little that I can do to alter that course. I am not so naïve to think that in seven weeks I could alter the course of all 45 or so student’s lives. But I do also realize the impact I am having, if only for an hour and a half five days a week for a month and a half. Do I have students who have made an impression on me? Do I have students who I will remember long after they have forgotten about me? Of course I do. I far under estimated the impact that student teaching was going to have on me as a professional and as a person. Having worked in my school for two years, I arrogantly believed that I knew more about this than I did. This has been the single greatest learning experience of my life, and I say that knowing full well that I have two weeks left where I am now, and seven weeks at my next placement.
I am sorry for the negative tone to this, the ironic thing is, I write this after having what has been my most successful week here. You asked me to write about a student who has made an impression on me, and I could easily have filled these few short pages with stories about this young person or that, who has surprised me in a good way or a bad. I could talk about the young lady who has shocked me day in and day out with her ability to think at a higher level. Or the young man who is so confident in his abilities in social studies, but is so close every day to exploding on me that I have had to navigate a mine field with him. I could have written 10 pages on each and every one of them. But it would not have been enough. Instead, let me take these pages to talk about the group as a whole. They are wonderful, awful people, just like all of us, who for the most part are doing the best with what they have, and what they have been taught. I cannot move heaven and earth in 7 weeks, but I can alter the course of a young person’s life, even if just slightly. Maybe after all is said and done, it will be an American story after all.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Student Teaching
Half a week into sort of student teaching, I would have some observations, if I had done more than plan and hang out to this point.
Monday will be a completely different story as I pick of the reins and run with two sections of U.S. History.
As Sid the Sloth says, this is either going to be really good, or really bad.
Just watched the State of the Union Address with D, and I come away feeling both positive and negative about it.
I liked the tone at the end. We will see where this all goes.
Looking forward to the Super Bowl. K.C. was very fun, and the wedding was beautiful.
Monday will be a completely different story as I pick of the reins and run with two sections of U.S. History.
As Sid the Sloth says, this is either going to be really good, or really bad.
Just watched the State of the Union Address with D, and I come away feeling both positive and negative about it.
I liked the tone at the end. We will see where this all goes.
Looking forward to the Super Bowl. K.C. was very fun, and the wedding was beautiful.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Flight to K.C.
I have only flown a few times, and I wasn't ever sure how I would feel about it, bring one who is not crazy about heights.
It is safe to say that I love the idea of being up in the air.
The view on our flight from Chicago to K.C. was amazing. We got above the cloud level, and the clouds from above looked like the ocean floor where the waves have left ripples in the sand.
So far, loving K.C. and the neighborhood the hotel is in.
I was at : 560 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO 64111,
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Avi yesterday.
God she looks so big.
I was going through some old pics and videos on my external hard drive (long story about what I did to break my laptop), and I can't believe how much she has grown in a year.
I always told myself that I wouldn't get misty about how fast she is growing, instead, just enjoy each phase.
But when I look back at the older pics and videos, wow.
I was at : 167 South Ave, Hilton, NY 14468,
Friday, January 15, 2010
2-Week Notice
So I am done with Hillside until the middle of May as of next Wednesday. As I sit here on the couch (in my PJs, fulfilling every sterotype of Bloggers save the fact that I am at my house, not my mom's basement)it is 7:38 and I should have left the house 8 minutes ago to get to work at 8.
I haven't finished my coffee yet.
Definately on two-week notice time.
Student teaching starts the Monday we get back from Kansas City, and it would be fair to say that I am mildly panicking.
I haven't finished my coffee yet.
Definately on two-week notice time.
Student teaching starts the Monday we get back from Kansas City, and it would be fair to say that I am mildly panicking.
Monday, January 11, 2010
I'll Go See It
And yes for you UFC fans out there, that is Quenton "Rampage" Jackson playing the role of Sgt. Bosco 'B.A.' Baracus...Looks like a lot of fun.
I will say that I think it says a lot about the state of Hollywood that they continue to remake old movies/shows, and as it has been stated ad nausem, the highest grossing film currently, Avatar "Borrowed" most of it's material from other sources.
Blog Updates
So, if you are here you will notice a few small (and some large) changes to The Head.
Out is the orange layout. I loved it in the fall, but it felt like it needed a fresh coat of paint.
If you look to your immediate left and scroll down a bit, you will see I added a "Followers" widget, which shows who is following the blog. If you come here often, or even every once in a while and have a google account (I don't know if you even have to have a google account, I think Yahoo works as well) set up a profile and Follow so I know who is out there. I think it will help with the community feel of the blog.
The whole purpose of this space, at its inception and as it continues today, is to give me a place to empty my head of all the thoughts that are floating in there, freeing me up to be a bit more sane on a day to day basis (I picture some like a digital version of Dumbledore and his Pensive)
And I continue to be pleased with how it has worked for the space it has created in my head.
It is definately more fun when we get some back and forth going. I love hearing what people feel about what I am writing. In an effort to please the masses...I added a One Click option at the bottom of each post so I know what people are thinking.
I also took Danielle's advice and added Labels to each post. Now on the Left Sidebar you will see a list of labels that will help with sorting through what ever the hell I am typing about. I am in the process of going through my posts and labeling all 604 of them. (Check out D's blog, she is mucho excited)
Student Teaching starts in a few weeks, and as always, the unknown is causing slight to major anxiety. I don't know how the new schedule will effect (you know, I never know whether to type 'effect' or 'affect', I just guess) on my ability to spill my brain's contents here.
Out is the orange layout. I loved it in the fall, but it felt like it needed a fresh coat of paint.
If you look to your immediate left and scroll down a bit, you will see I added a "Followers" widget, which shows who is following the blog. If you come here often, or even every once in a while and have a google account (I don't know if you even have to have a google account, I think Yahoo works as well) set up a profile and Follow so I know who is out there. I think it will help with the community feel of the blog.
The whole purpose of this space, at its inception and as it continues today, is to give me a place to empty my head of all the thoughts that are floating in there, freeing me up to be a bit more sane on a day to day basis (I picture some like a digital version of Dumbledore and his Pensive)And I continue to be pleased with how it has worked for the space it has created in my head.
It is definately more fun when we get some back and forth going. I love hearing what people feel about what I am writing. In an effort to please the masses...I added a One Click option at the bottom of each post so I know what people are thinking.
I also took Danielle's advice and added Labels to each post. Now on the Left Sidebar you will see a list of labels that will help with sorting through what ever the hell I am typing about. I am in the process of going through my posts and labeling all 604 of them. (Check out D's blog, she is mucho excited)
Student Teaching starts in a few weeks, and as always, the unknown is causing slight to major anxiety. I don't know how the new schedule will effect (you know, I never know whether to type 'effect' or 'affect', I just guess) on my ability to spill my brain's contents here.
From Phone
Trying out a few Blogger apps from my phone. So far, I would be lying if o said I loved any of them.
I was pumping gas this morning with Avi in the car on my way to mom and dad's and a thought occurred to me... We live in a world where we replace anything that is broken or worn out. If my jacket wears a hole through the elbow, I just replace it. How, in this world, do we ever learn to value anything? It is moments like this one this morning that I realize that the hard part of parenting is not changing a two year old at 7 am because her Nana gave her too much to drink at night and she soaked through her PJs. The hard part of parenting is figuring out how to teach a child the value of things in a world that tells her everything can be replaced.
There is my deep thought for Monday.
I was pumping gas this morning with Avi in the car on my way to mom and dad's and a thought occurred to me... We live in a world where we replace anything that is broken or worn out. If my jacket wears a hole through the elbow, I just replace it. How, in this world, do we ever learn to value anything? It is moments like this one this morning that I realize that the hard part of parenting is not changing a two year old at 7 am because her Nana gave her too much to drink at night and she soaked through her PJs. The hard part of parenting is figuring out how to teach a child the value of things in a world that tells her everything can be replaced.
There is my deep thought for Monday.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
2009
No long list of "Best Ofs"
No funny film clips today.
2009 was a weird, wonderful, awful, blur in a lot of ways.
It say Avi go from phone calls to "Head Start" to find out if her language was delayed, to her running through May's house Christmas Eve singing "Jingle Bells"...the whole song...at the top of her voice. She has begun spontaneously saying and doing things that I did not expect she would be doing at this point.
Part of me wishes I could bottle up 2009's version of Avi and keep it for ever. The other part of me cannot wait to see what 2010 hold for her.
2009 started with me single, weird, still married and confused. 2009 started with me really focusing on school and getting my first 4.0 of my academic career.
2009 ends with me sharing my house, my daughter and my life with a woman who I am going to spend the rest of my life with.
It has been a weird year.
2009 started with the innauguration of Barack Obama. 2009 ends with major questions about the direction of this country.
2009 has been a weird year.
I guess this is also the end of the decade, and it has been weird too. In 2000 I was still in High School.
In 2009 I am finishing up my Masters degree, I own my home, I have a 2 and 1/2 year old daughter, I am divorced.
It has been a weird decade.
I lead a wonderful life, one I would not change for anything. The bad times (and they were REAL BAD) are made infinately worth it by the good.
I am excited and a little scared for all that 2010 holds.
No funny film clips today.
2009 was a weird, wonderful, awful, blur in a lot of ways.
It say Avi go from phone calls to "Head Start" to find out if her language was delayed, to her running through May's house Christmas Eve singing "Jingle Bells"...the whole song...at the top of her voice. She has begun spontaneously saying and doing things that I did not expect she would be doing at this point.
Part of me wishes I could bottle up 2009's version of Avi and keep it for ever. The other part of me cannot wait to see what 2010 hold for her.
2009 started with me single, weird, still married and confused. 2009 started with me really focusing on school and getting my first 4.0 of my academic career.
2009 ends with me sharing my house, my daughter and my life with a woman who I am going to spend the rest of my life with.
It has been a weird year.
2009 started with the innauguration of Barack Obama. 2009 ends with major questions about the direction of this country.
2009 has been a weird year.
I guess this is also the end of the decade, and it has been weird too. In 2000 I was still in High School.
In 2009 I am finishing up my Masters degree, I own my home, I have a 2 and 1/2 year old daughter, I am divorced.
It has been a weird decade.
I lead a wonderful life, one I would not change for anything. The bad times (and they were REAL BAD) are made infinately worth it by the good.
I am excited and a little scared for all that 2010 holds.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Twitter?
So although I think that it is borderline pointless, I am officially on The Twitter now...@In_Terrys_Head
I am unsure how I feel about this still. But my sweet new phone (see below) makes it so easy to use that I thought I would give it a shot. I can easily follow of few of the baseball writers I like, a few blogs, and news outlets.
We will see how this goes. I was very Anti-Facebook for the longest time, and look where coming around on it got me (Hi Danielle).
This is an experiment, and like anything could blow up in my face. We will have to see.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
iPhone Syndrome?
If you know me at all, you know how I feel about the iPhone, and more importantly how I feel about iPhone users. It is a wonderful device that has completely revolutionized what we use our phones for and how we live our lives.
I don't think we have even begun to scratch the surface of what a "phone" will be able to do for us in the future.
Actually, as someone who lives in a pretty constant state of panic about the inevitable robot revolution, this thought is causing a fairly severe anxiety attack as I type this...but I digress.
I write this because I stumbled upon this... which references this and I found it interesting, and probably true to a degree.
Seeing as I live with someone who suffers greatly from iPhone Syndrome, I have first hand experience dealing with this.
The fact is, iPhone users tend to be snobby and irrational when presented with reasons why their phone does not represent the absolute pinnacle of what a phone can and will be.
I often wonder, what they hell is someone supposed to do with 100,000 apps? How much time would someone have to spend on their phone in a day to be able to appreciate all the apps they have available. They may "Have an app for that", but when are iPhone-ers supposed to use them?
The most common refrain among iPhone users is that it is not their phone, but the network that is the problem. It turns out that may not be the case.
I hate iPhone users (except the one that I live with)but I love what the iPhone has done to the market place for phones. I quit on my Blackberry Curve last week, which was a slightly traumatic experience, and purchased an HTC Droid Eris. I preferred this phone over the much hyped Motorola Droid for a number of reasons.
I could not be happier with this phone. It is basically a slimmer, sleaker iPhone available on the superior Verizon network.
The only thing my phone doesn't do that iPhone does is support iTunes, and with Pandora, and access to my music library at the touch of my finger, I think I will get over it.
If there is one good thing I can say about the iPhone, it is that they have set the bar high, and the competition is rising to the challenge.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
People Scare me
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
"Dude, it's YOUR BOOK"
More...
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Scary, scary stuff.
Take a group of people who are already feeling conflicted about the disconect between their sexuality and their religion. Then use their confusion and insecurity to make a profit all while promising a "Cure".
Like I said, scary stuff.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Interesting Read
Interesting article Here, which presents some interesting points about ESPN and its dominace of the Sports News Market.
If you know me, you know how I feel about ESPN. My complaints are not new or original, but they are valid.
Because there is no competition, they set the agenda for what is and is not a story in sports. They have had entirely too much influence for way too long.
I will get behind any legitimate challenger to their Empire any day.
I watch ESPN for the games only at this point.
If you know me, you know how I feel about ESPN. My complaints are not new or original, but they are valid.
Because there is no competition, they set the agenda for what is and is not a story in sports. They have had entirely too much influence for way too long.
I will get behind any legitimate challenger to their Empire any day.
I watch ESPN for the games only at this point.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thank You Portia
It's not about words. It is not about your religion. It is about basic Civil Rights.
adding... can someone tell me how to fix my blog? I don't know how the left hand sidebar got bumped to the bottom of the page, but I don't know how to fix it.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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