Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

Super cold out today. In fact, last night was the first time I’d ever plugged in my car’s block heater.

Today was interesting. I’m working on new ways of keeping the kids engaged until xmas break. They’re on edge and, while still coming to school, can get super distracted easily. All the teachers agree this is one of the most challenging times of the year. This afternoon for example one of my more difficult student decided to build a house out of popsicle sticks instead of doing any work. Was it a big deal? Not really. Did he cause any problems? Nope! This kept him busy while I did some one-on-one stuff with the student who resolved to come to school more often, (who is also writing his first final exam of the year tomorrow!).

During gym class I worked closely with a super volatile student on his badminton skills. He didn’t want to hear anything I said at the beginning of class, but by the end he was all “I see what you mean by keeping the other guy running around”. This was the door to training, my badmonton prodigee. I want to get him up to a skill level where he’ll be able to compete against the best player in class. He’s got the potential and today was the first time he stayed for the whole class. (He usually gets sent home for mouthing off a teacher).

Plane tickets for Cuba purchased.

Here’s a draft itinerary for the Cuba tour.

Jan 13 – Arrival in Santa Clara

Jan 14 – Sancti Spiritus

Jan 16 – Camaguey

Jan 17 – Ciego De Avila

Jan 19 – Tinidad

Jan 21 – Cienfeugos

Jan 22 – Santa Clara

Jan 23 – Matanzas

Jan 25 – Havana

Jan 27 – Home.

As I was talking with a student at my desk about the Canadian coat of arms and the war of 1812, another student was busy writing on the whiteboard. Later, I looked up to see:

“Mr. T was in war & took over 20 peoples lives”

“Quitting weed on Dec. 10″

“Canadian Code of War!!!”

The kids have been ramping up like crazy. I’ve seen more suspensions this week than in the past month! I’m really happy with the one student I have who has been coming on a regular basis though. We’re getting through a ton of work and he’s shown himself to be bright and dedicated. This kind of thing keeps me stoked when I’m leaving my warm house in the morning.

But onto some news from the Holy Shit Department: We got the full grant for the Cuba trip in January. It’s cutting things pretty close since we have to arrange flights, visas and gear transportation post-haste but I’m used to this kind of thing by now. The whole thing has been on the back burner of my mind for a while now, and I told myself I wouldn’t even think about it until the grant came through. Now I’m kind of speechless. I’ve been playing in bands for half my life now and I’ve never been awarded this kind of opportunity; none of us have. This is going to be a heck of an experience and I’ll make with more details in the coming days for sure.

Lastly, it pays to troll craigslist for bikes in the winter. I just picked up the sweetest late 60’s Raleigh cruiser for dirt cheap!

A good one today. One of my students caught shit for not coming to school and has resolved to come to school more often. This gave me the opportunity to get my two cents in there explaining how coming to school is not exactly a bad thing and with regular attendance over the next week and a half he’ll be able to finish one of his classes earning, 3 easy credits. He agreed and told me that’s his new goal. That and to cut out one of his favorite extra curricular activities so he can work out more.

Another student and I have been butting heads lately but it also ended on a positive note today. It stems from a disagreement he had with a punishment I gave him the other day, and how he thought I should’ve looked the other way regarding something he did. I told him that was not in my job description and he couldn’t wrap his head around it. Our discussion headed down the tubes as I clarified our relationship to him in a business-like mannor and I was able to make light of it at one point which helped ease the tension. In the end, I think we came to an understanding. We’ll see first thing tomorrow, a lot can change over night.

Now that I’m coming up on a month being at the school, things are starting to make more sense. My role as a teacher, daily routines, individual attitudes and the ability to sense that something weird is going on are falling into place. I’m still using all of my support outlets, but I’m also starting to flex my muscles as an educator. There are ways to get these guys through things and I’m slowly but surely figuring out ways to motivate them. In fact, there are a couple who have really latched on to a some ideas I’ve brought to the table and have been hounding me for some extra credit work. It’s much less babysitting than it was when I started and I’m jazzed on my ability, when I’m not frantically searching for explanations to their seemingly erratic behavior.

Band practice on the other hand is going well. Since releasing the album last month we’ve already written 9 new tunes. I think we’re going to play a few of them at a show we’re playing on NYE, as well as a Clash cover we’ve been working on. I’ve brought a couple new ones in to get hammered out and have been challenged to put words on top of it. I haven’t sung since high school, but I’m up to it so I grabbed a mic the other day and have started to slide some backing vocals in here and there. I had no idea it would be so hard so sing and drum though, holy smoke.

It’s cold. I’m going to make some tea, get under the covers and watch and episode of the Simpsons.

Week 3 down. It was a gooder and started off really great. With the exception of a kid losing it before the first bell on Monday, the first couple of days were really smooth. Another teacher (who we’ll call Mike) has been mentoring me a bit. He’s got a handful of years worth of teaching experience and has been at the school for just over a year. I debrief with him a lot and often watch the way he deals with some of our more challenging kids. He’s super good at jumping from being jovial to really serious and it works well with the kids who clown around.

We started playing basketball in gym class and the kids are stoked. They’d been complaining about volleyball for a couple weeks and as soon as we broke out the b-balls monday morning we upped our gym attendance. Of course there was one kid who complained about volleyball the entire time we played it, and then complained about the switch to basketball and how he liked volleyball more. The nets are pretty ghetto. The school is an old elementary so the basketball hoops are old, have no mesh and the backboards are shitty. After the second day, Mike and I decided to find some paint for the rims and to put some boxes on the backboards. The kids were mildly amused when they noticed the next day.

I’d been working closely with a student who was suspended from gym for the week for throwing snowballs and mouthing off staff. We were making some progress later in the week; he set some goals for himself ad I was pushing him to complete a couple of units early so that he could return to gym. I ended up having to suspend him from school on thursday however for something that happened in class.

I’ve also been working with another student who rarely comes to class. He is one of the students who has a pretty intense history and is just looking to get enough credits so that he can sign up with the armed forces. He’s very street smart and bright during conversation, but is severly lacking when it comes to critical thought and writing. A lot of the time I end up spoon feeding him class material which gets him through and he is able to retain for quizes, but that’s about it. This is one of the two that I’m really trying to push when he comes, but since it’s so rare that he actually does there’s always a gap in productivity because of this transformation from street to student in class, which can sometimes take the entire day.

Anyways, towards the end of the week students started getting really riled up. A couple were suspended over an incident that happend after gym class and we tried to calm things down on friday by having homeroom all day and getting some pizza for lunch. It worked a bit, but I have a feeling they’re just going to get more stirred up the colder and the closer to xmas break it gets.

It’s been a very busy and eye opening week. I’ll write about it on the weekend when I have a moment to catch my breath!

Today as I was helping a kid try to understand why it’s important to save money, he asked me about “those  GIC’s or R.S.V.P.’s or some shit”. The same kid threw snowballs at me after school and I had to call his Mom to tell him he’d be missing gym for the next few days.

Holy smokes, what a busy last few days. It started with working a good 15 hours on Friday, then heading straight to the Municipal Waste show to shred a few beers with some friends. The show was great, even though there was no boogie boarding the band was fantastic and people were off-the-hook stoked.

My weekend then consisted of hawking wares at a local arts and crafts fair. My wares being books and records that I’ve had a hand in putting out. A ton of people came out, I think 2000 paid or something? Now I’m more or less sold out of books. Unless you put in a request for copies, that’s it until I print a third edition! It’s neat and I feel a bit accomplished now that I know people are actually into what I’ve put together. I’ve been thinking of getting it pressed professionally next time. I’ve got some ideas that I’ve been tossing around and if I can get the dough together, it’s going to be pretty neat.

The thing about it is that I like to keep the cost as low as possible. Of course, the better this thing looks the more it costs. The first edition cost me about $3 a copy to put together. The most recent edition was in the 8-9 dollar range. The next step is going to be more like $15. I wonder if anyone will want to pay that much for these compiled journals.

ANYWAYS, back to the grind tomorrow and week three with my class. I was really happy with the way things went last week. I’m making some serious headway with a couple of my students and I have developed some high expectations for them as a result.

Well, I just ate a burrito and I’m riding of 5 hours sleep. Time to pack it in.

My Vice Principal is an amazing lady. An aboliginal woman with a Ph.D in Psychology and some incredible ideas as far as alternative forms of education are concerned. A day hasn’t gone by in the last couple of weeks where she hasn’t given me some great advice. Today she hosted a wisdom circle; all the high school teachers got together after school and shared some strategies we use when working with particular kids. No one made comments after everone spoke, we just listened. It was a new experience for me. Usually you read something to get feedback from your colleagues, advice or agreement to make you feel like you’re doing the right thing. This excercise was more about building confidence as a teacher and knowing to trust your gut, something absolutely key when working with these kids. Anyways, it was great.

Then I went for a message, now I feel like a million bucks. If I didnt have to DJ tonight, I would be calling it off early. Tomorrow I’m going to see Municipal Waste. Can you say stoked?

Volleyball is really coming along with the kids. The irony is how they’re always complaining about how “it’s gay” and “a girl’s sport”, yet they’re getting really good at it and having a lot of fun. They think they’re pretty tough and all this, but I’m seeing a lot of smiles on the court these past couple of days which is encouraging. They even played full game today with only one staff on each team, a huge feat for these guys!

Anyways, we’re going through some sexual harrassment stuff these days. I was talking to one boy this morning and we were talking about making inappropriate comments. I told him that come-ons and one-liners can sometimes be included in this. He asked me what I meant. I told him a line like “you must be from Tennassee because you’re the only ten I see” is the type of thing I was referring to. He looked puzzled and said “what the hell does that mean? Like if a girl says that to me, she thinks I have a 10″ d—?”. This subject is obviously going to take some more discussion time.

I got a fiver at the end of the day from a kid who cussed me out a bunch of times last week. Progress!

Man, Monday mornings: harsh times. I was not feeling it this morning and it took me a while to get into a reasonable shape at school. To my surprise, I set an attendance record with a nearly-full class as well. Now, managing 30 students in a “regular class” can be a chore but nothing compared to 8 in a behavior class. I had to have my wits about me as there were a few who came to school agitated for reasons I can’t get into. I did end up making a lot of one student who didn’t show up at all last week, and who also informed me he spent some time with the police this weekend. We got through an entire unit of science, which was a lot for him. He was stoked to learn something in school and admitted that he just needs focusing. He also told me I look like the type of guy “who listens to the Misfits or some shit”.

Before lunch, two of them started playing a game of chess which was fine with me. Then during their break, I decided that was enough and they were going to get some work done. Sometimes I forget that I’m in a school with hot-wired kids. After lunch they came back and one of the two was super-pissed I put the board away leaving the class yelling about how that’s why he hates teachers. He didnt return (neither did a few others) and I had a quieter afternoon and was able to get some work done with one of the girls (who I also had to keep reminding to pull up her pants).

After school I started my Non-Violent Conflict Resolution training, learning holds and whatnot.

I also started counting down the days until Xmas break.

Day 11 – I spent most of this day thinking of things to eat once the damn cleanse was over. Oatmeal w/ berries & almond milk, apple, pomegranate juice, chickpea vegetable thing, coffee 1 cup, vegetable stew with spelt bread.

Day 12 – I decided that to reward myself for making it through the first week at my new job I would celebrate by going to town when it came to dinner. Oatmeal w/berries & almond milk, pomegranate juice, coffee 1 cup, apple, brown rice, rice cakes w/ almond butter. Then it was off to my restaurant where I enjoyed a big-ass helping of curry “chicken”. Also, even though I was dog tired at the end of putting in a 14 hour work day, I went out for a few wobbly pops.

So I made it through my first week! Friday actually ended on a high note, I didn’t get cussed out by any kids and met another new student who I helped with his math for a couple hours before he insisted we play a game of chess over lunch. He is autistic and though he struggles with school work, he’s got a pretty good handle on what goes down in the street. Or at least that was the impression he gave off. The day ended in a game of volleyball wherein I eventually saw a smile on each kids face. Furthermore there was actually some sportsmanship going on at some points at the kids would encourage each other with every serve or rally.

I spent this weekend binding 50 more copies of the book while listening to the Who’s Who’s Next. I’m taking it to a craft fair next weekend and needed to have it sorted out before the week starts. They’re all done and ready to go and I feel stoked that I didn’t leave this work until the last minute.

Tonight I have a ticket to see Bill Cosby. It’s an early show, once it’s done I’ll decide if I’m going to go see Vic Chesnutt afterwards. Apparently his backing band tonight includes members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Guy from Fugazi. I don’t really know much of his music, but I think it would be cool to see Guy on stage again. I would also like to laze around and watch sunday night television though too. It’s been a busy week and I could use some time to relax.

Day 10 – Almost caved when I found red Panda licorice at the market (it’s been unavailable for years!) Oatmeal w/berries, glass of pomegranate juice, 2 apples, rice cake w/almond butter, coffee 1 cup, vegetable casserole, vegetable soup w/spelt bread.

Started off with some more volleyball this morning. We had some good drills ready for them and were working on three hit rallies. There were a few times where I actually saw some bump-set-spikes. Evidence of learning! After that I tried to put this multimedia course together for my students. It’s one credit and I thought they’d be into it. My proposition at best received a lukewarm response, so I shelved it choosing to search for something a bit lower level. They’re not dumb, but they need more experience with computers before they can do what I had planned for them.

Smoke break and students return. One of them grabs the chess board and proposes we play a game. I say after he’s done some work. He ignores this request and starts playing with another kid. The two play for the remainder of the period and the vice principal notices his behavior. After lunch, she informs me he’s gone for the day for being so uncooperative. I’m stoked because I wanted to give some time to the remaining students.

I got to tell one of them that he’s got an interview for a job tomorrow. I printed him off a map with directions and asked him if he wanted to go through some possible interview questions. He softly refused any help, par for the course as far as this student and I are concerned. So I asked another one (who’s only there half the time) if he wanted help. He refused my help a couple of times before calling me over and telling me he doesn’t like to read. I went over, worked with him and we finished a unit.

I told these two boys that if we got an hour’s worth of work in we’d go play some basketball for the last 20 minutes. They busted their butts and were on my case as soon as they thought the hour was up. I got a ball and we played a couple of games of 21.

Day 9 – Spirits up! Don’t even miss coffee! oatmeal w/berries, broccoli chickpea thing, pomegranate juice, vegetable cassarole, kamut bread 2 slices, apple.

Today was kind of a doozy. Actually, once again it started really well. A student I hadn’t met yet came in early and we went through some of her psychology assignments. We were just getting on a roll when she decided to leave. Apparently she does this; only comes to school for a bit then goes home but she gets all her work handed in.

After the first smoke break I had two more students. One of them worked well on his own, the other was having difficulty. It was the reward kid again. I told him that I’d play monopoly with him if he finished a work book, which he did. When he handed it into me, I noticed that he was really doing the bare minimum. I asked him what the deal was, the questions weren’t hard. He told me he didn’t care, he just needed to pass. I played monopoly with him for 20 minutes and he went for lunch.

After lunch he wanted to finish the game. I told him he had to do some more work and that I didn’t want to see as many crap answers because I knew he was capable of doing better. He grumbled about it for a bit, then got to it. He actually worked a bit harder and I played more monopoly with him (which he beat me really badly at). He was stoked and I took the opportunity to get to know him a little better. The Vice Principal told me the school is really about relationship building first and marks next. I’m trying to get some relationship building in with all of my students this week to show that I care to be there.

Then we went to gym class, which started well but devolved after 20 minutes on account of this student who was having a really bad day. It was kind of a bummer and the older kids, who are actually improving their games, were even calling him out on his shitty behavior. The student was sent out after mouthing off all of the staff in gym. This had a ripple effect on a couple other kids whose attitudes turned sour. We called off the game a bit early and sent them home.

After school we debreifed on a few situations that happened that day. The sharing part was really important to me and I was really glad to be a part of it so I could hear everyone’s opinions, and use their experiences to bounce some opinions off of. All of the teachers have told me there are 3 things to keep in mind at this place so it doesn’t get to you. Using as much humour as possible, never taking anything personally and keeping a strong life going outside of school. I’m really looking forward to band practice tonight.

Day 8 (yesterday) – Sucked. Tired and underslept. Spent most of it hating this cleanse. Oatmeal w/berries, apple, cashew bar, vegetable soup, broccoli w/chickpeas and brown rice.

Today started out a little rough with some bad attitudes in gym class. The kids were playing volleyball and started getting super competitive which led to a bunch of annoying shit-talk. I can’t count the number of times I told this one kid to leave one on the opposing team alone. It stopped when we told the student who was egging him on to can it or he was done. So then into my class and they were still all wound up and annoying. Then a kid I hadn’t seen yet moseyed on in and the dynamic changed a bit. They settled down and the boy who did nothing yesterday asked if he could go to the computer lab. Another teacher told me yesterday that the best way to deal with this particular kid is by using a reward system, so I told him that he could if he got to work first and I saw evidence of learning. Wouldn’t you know it, he got to work (after reading the Guiness Book of World Records for 20 minutes), and started firing through assignments. During the next period, when he went to the lab, he burned through even more while listening to Lil Wayne on full tilt. Way more productive than yesterday.

At lunch, I grabbed a basketball from the gym and started shooting hoops in the back. I was waiting for a few of my guys to return from lunch, hoping I could entice them into shooting some hoops (relationship building, you know). They came around the corner 5 minutes bofore the bell and joined me for a few rounds. Since I had some of them playing together and actually opening up to me a bit, we went a little late.

In the afternoon a girl (who didn’t show up yesterday) sauntered in. Good lord, the boy’s chests all puffed up as they all put down their pencils to get this girl’s attention. After a few minutes (and breakdance moves), they settled as I told her and another student to go work in the hall. This worked wonders and everybody worked until our last gym class. This class was also rad as the kids are picking up some volleyball skills and, besides one girl who got tossed for cussing out staff members, there was some good team spirit on the court.

Otherwise, I was stoked today. I got some more help from colleagues as far as how to deal with certain kids goes and I’ve got some good ideas for classroom building. I think I’ll be ok in the school. Actually, I think  it’s going to be more than fine. Once I get the hang of working with these kids, I can see how it has the potential to be a really positive experience.

Day 7 – Pretty sure Mike and I were the only football fans watching the game not drinking beer or eating wings, but sipping tea and rice crackers. Oatmeal w/ berries, apple, hummus, avacado, rice crisps, vegetable soup, bbq tofu, kale salad.

Well today was my first kick at the cat. I got NO sleep last night as a result of anticipating my introduction to the class but showed up feeling not too shabby. I picked up my keys, headed to my room, met my teaching assistant than went to the morning staff meeting. From there it was to the gym where a few staff members played some volleyball with a few kids who showed up early. They have PE set up in the beginning of the day so the kids can blow off steam, and at the end serving as a reward for those who make it in.

My students started wandering in at around 9:30. Now, lots of things happened today and I learned a bunch of information that was at times overwhelming. However, there’s simply no way I can share it on here and for the next while I’m going to figure out what I can put on here and what will have to stay confidential, please bear with me.

In the meantime, I’ll gladly talk about myself though. I think this job is going to be really challenging and rewarding. As one of my colleagues said today, “this is a great place to start teaching. If you can deal with these kids you’ll be able to take on anything”. So I think that’s going to become somewhat of a mantra for me and I’m going to work really hard at getting some results out of these kids. The school has worked hard to create a safe environment (for both students and staff), and the other teachers have been very helpful in getting me started. A couple more days and I’ll be right in there no doubt.

Day 6 – Grumpy morning with no coffee. Oatmeal w/berries, apple, hummus, rice crackers, hot and sour soup, rice.

I went back to the school today to sort out where I’m going to be with my students tomorrow. I’m excited, but a bit anxious. I haven’t had my own class for two years. Will I remember how to do this? Are my student going to buy into it? After spending the afternoon talking to the Vice Principal, it seems like the first couple of days will be a lot of them sizing me up. I’ve really got to establish relationships with these kids so they take me seriously, but they’re hard off the street which is a new ball game. I remember back at the skate park, I had a couple of these kids. I’ll be ok, just have to set up some boundaries. The VP (and an amazing native elder) suggested that I think of myself as Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid when making a first impression.

You know, there’s a recurring thread here. Everytime I get one of these jobs. I get all nurvous, unsure of my own abilities and think about backing out so I can just do something easy that I’m familiar with. But it’s always fine, and I always grow as a result. From the sounds of it this experience is really going to be something else, so I’m just going to try and embrace it.

Day 5 – The biggest drag is going to work at the restaurant and not being able to eat about 90% of the things of the menu, which is already entirely vegan. Oatmeal w/berries, tofu scramble, rice cake w/almond butter, apple, seaweed tofu soup.

I also saw Dinosaur Jr Last night, a band I never thought I’d see live. While they riffed their asses off for over an hour and a half, they looked kind of bored to be on stage and were unengaging with the audience. I could’ve just saved myself 30 bucks staying home and listening to their records. Ah, but it was still pretty cool to see old J Mascics’ gut hang over his guitar and damn man, talk about loud. J played in the middle of three Marshall full-stacks (six speaker cabinets), all cranked. I think they may’ve been the loudest band I’ve ever seen (a record previously held by Big Sugar).