I Could Come Up with a Pithy Title, But I Need to Go Take a Dump, So, Nah.
No clue what I'm going to say here; I just feel like posting, so don't be surprised if this isn't a triumph of American prose. Typically, this happens when I'm waxing nostalgic or sentimental about my friends, and this is no exception.
The school year's been going well so far, without the fear of falling on my face that I expressed in my last post coming to pass. I haven't done my formal observation yet, and that is always nerve-wracking. Saying, as others have, that you don't need to worry as long as you're doing your job well can only bring so much comfort to a guy who constantly second-guesses himself. Otherwise, things are, as I said, going well. I particularly am fond of my two classes that consist entirely of kids retaking English 9 and 10 respectively. Studies have shown that retention is typically harmful to kids' productivity and eventual graduation rates, but that doesn't seem to be proving true with these students. The small class sizes (9 and 12 respectively) help immensely, I think. Small classes are virtually always fun to teach, too.
My tenth grade students are currently learning about Transcendentalism, something I was sure they wouldn't enjoy, but to my pleasant surprise, I have a few students who really seem to dig it. Some of them seem surprised that a teacher is enthusiastically presenting them with such a nakedly anti-authoritarian philosophy. It's a great opportunity to offer an alternative to the money-driven, careerist mindset that schools often try so hard to instill in their students. I wish I could teach Into the Wild like I did during student teaching, though; as much as I love Walden, I think something more contemporary would reach more of the students.
I'm most excited, however, about our next novel: Fahrenheit 451. If I can get just one of these "I don't like to read" kids to pick up a book of their own volition as a result of that unit, I'll consider that mission accomplished.
My social life has been healthier during this school year than it was last year. I've been out bowling with Ken on many of my Friday evenings and have found fun ways to occupy my time most weekends. Hell, I've even gone out on a few school nights.
I threw a Halloween party the day after that wound up a fun evening of playing Cards Against Humanity, an extremely off-color Apples to Apples pastiche. It was wonderful to see Beth, Jamie, and Heather again, and most especially great to have so many friends in one place again for an happy occasion, for a change. I'm largely over the initial trauma of so many folks moving away in so short a time frame, but I still miss folks. That party did my heart good, to be sure. If I can get the pictures from Jay, I'll post them here.
Next year, Halloween is going to fall on a Friday, so I was thinking we'd have the party the day of and spend some time walking around during trick-or-treat hours. Obviously, we're too old to get away with actual candy-panhandling at this point (we were pushing it during our '08 excursion), but there's nothing to stop us from enjoying the atmosphere... provided it's not rainy and shitty again.
This weekend has shaped up to be pretty good so far. Tim and I went to see two movies: Interstellar and Nightcrawler. I'd say that everyone I know should check out Interstellar. Christopher Nolan's new movie, while it doesn't necessarily deserve favorable comparisons to 2001, is a wonderful space odyssey in its own rite. Nolan's slavish devotion to expository dialogue did lead to an unfortunate scene in which one astronaut explains to another how wormholes work, but the story has a lot of heart an a breathtaking scope that makes it a pretty safe bet for most of my friends. Except Ken. Ken doesn't like things with heart.
Nightcrawler, an off-kilter tale about a young, success-obsessed sociopath who takes up the grisly and ghoulish profession of filming car wrecks and violent crime for local L.A. news, is also highly recommended, especially for Jake Gyllenhaal's amazing, weird, evil Dale Cooper performance. It's also a great exploration of our the voyeuristic character of American news.
After this, I did some birthday present shopping. I'm not at liberty to disclose, but I think I chose well.
In any case, enough rambling. I have Thanksgiving Break coming up soon, so I hope to see everyone (the two people possibly reading this and everyone else, of course). Until then, don't let anyone pressure you into sex in exchange for exclusive footage of home invasions-- even if he looks like Jake Gyllenhaal.
-Dan
The school year's been going well so far, without the fear of falling on my face that I expressed in my last post coming to pass. I haven't done my formal observation yet, and that is always nerve-wracking. Saying, as others have, that you don't need to worry as long as you're doing your job well can only bring so much comfort to a guy who constantly second-guesses himself. Otherwise, things are, as I said, going well. I particularly am fond of my two classes that consist entirely of kids retaking English 9 and 10 respectively. Studies have shown that retention is typically harmful to kids' productivity and eventual graduation rates, but that doesn't seem to be proving true with these students. The small class sizes (9 and 12 respectively) help immensely, I think. Small classes are virtually always fun to teach, too.
My tenth grade students are currently learning about Transcendentalism, something I was sure they wouldn't enjoy, but to my pleasant surprise, I have a few students who really seem to dig it. Some of them seem surprised that a teacher is enthusiastically presenting them with such a nakedly anti-authoritarian philosophy. It's a great opportunity to offer an alternative to the money-driven, careerist mindset that schools often try so hard to instill in their students. I wish I could teach Into the Wild like I did during student teaching, though; as much as I love Walden, I think something more contemporary would reach more of the students.
I'm most excited, however, about our next novel: Fahrenheit 451. If I can get just one of these "I don't like to read" kids to pick up a book of their own volition as a result of that unit, I'll consider that mission accomplished.
My social life has been healthier during this school year than it was last year. I've been out bowling with Ken on many of my Friday evenings and have found fun ways to occupy my time most weekends. Hell, I've even gone out on a few school nights.
I threw a Halloween party the day after that wound up a fun evening of playing Cards Against Humanity, an extremely off-color Apples to Apples pastiche. It was wonderful to see Beth, Jamie, and Heather again, and most especially great to have so many friends in one place again for an happy occasion, for a change. I'm largely over the initial trauma of so many folks moving away in so short a time frame, but I still miss folks. That party did my heart good, to be sure. If I can get the pictures from Jay, I'll post them here.
Next year, Halloween is going to fall on a Friday, so I was thinking we'd have the party the day of and spend some time walking around during trick-or-treat hours. Obviously, we're too old to get away with actual candy-panhandling at this point (we were pushing it during our '08 excursion), but there's nothing to stop us from enjoying the atmosphere... provided it's not rainy and shitty again.
This weekend has shaped up to be pretty good so far. Tim and I went to see two movies: Interstellar and Nightcrawler. I'd say that everyone I know should check out Interstellar. Christopher Nolan's new movie, while it doesn't necessarily deserve favorable comparisons to 2001, is a wonderful space odyssey in its own rite. Nolan's slavish devotion to expository dialogue did lead to an unfortunate scene in which one astronaut explains to another how wormholes work, but the story has a lot of heart an a breathtaking scope that makes it a pretty safe bet for most of my friends. Except Ken. Ken doesn't like things with heart.
Nightcrawler, an off-kilter tale about a young, success-obsessed sociopath who takes up the grisly and ghoulish profession of filming car wrecks and violent crime for local L.A. news, is also highly recommended, especially for Jake Gyllenhaal's amazing, weird, evil Dale Cooper performance. It's also a great exploration of our the voyeuristic character of American news.
After this, I did some birthday present shopping. I'm not at liberty to disclose, but I think I chose well.
In any case, enough rambling. I have Thanksgiving Break coming up soon, so I hope to see everyone (the two people possibly reading this and everyone else, of course). Until then, don't let anyone pressure you into sex in exchange for exclusive footage of home invasions-- even if he looks like Jake Gyllenhaal.
-Dan