Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

Jeeze, apparently 160 people read my blog the other day. Until that point I was pretty sure the only people reading PRP were members of my family. So if you’re a new reader, hello!

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the inspiration for this blog. A friend of mine, who has an incredibly impressive collection of zines and indie-books, recommended a book to me called On Subbing (by Dave Roche), right around the time when I was starting to think that I might go into teaching. The book was basically a compilation of a journal he kept during his first 4 years of subbing. In it, he described how not everyday of teaching is the greatest, but if you look for it, something will happen everyday that will put a smile on your face and keep you going. It was a good read because it pushed me beyond my initial anxieties, (and the author was also into the, how do you say, punk-rock?). Anyways, after only 3 weeks in school, I can verify that it’s totally true. Some days are the worst, but even if 6 hours and 55 minutes of it sucked, there were probably 5 that were great. Personally, I try to take that moment home with me. Stack it up with all the other ones and build momentum to keep going. I could use this thing to complain about how the system sucks, how people should have to take tests to breed or how some kids are just jerks, but that would be pointless. Complaining isn’t very inspiring, is it?

Speaking of inspiration, I’m teaching a class on study skills and the other day I talked about how you can really benefit from organization (you know, you can find your notes and blah blah blah). So I go back to my little room, (where I spend most of my day writing lesson plans under the flickering glow of florescent lamps), pick up my binder and watch all this junk fall to the floor. It was a mess and I was pretty much a hypocrite. So I spent this morning re-organizing my stuff, filing my notes, plans and tests in an effort to try to walk the walk. This was a momentous occasion too because I think I managed to make it through 7 years of higher learning by jamming papers into binders with little regard for structure.

Moving on, the last few days have been long, difficult but very interesting. I went to parent-teacher interviews last night. It was really neat to see the different personalities of parents, and how they act in the same room as their kid and teacher. You build perspective, and are able to understand the kids you deal with a little better. K gave me words to live by, “always approach a parent with a smile”. I tried it out last night too and let me tell you, smiling makes a huge impact on parents, especially the hostile ones (and there were a few).

Another lesson I learned yesterday. Do NOT presume students are going to act the way you expect them to around your expensive equipment. I almost lost my brand new computer when a student attacked by another with a felt marker. Thankfully, a visit to apple.com and a boot disk saved my (veggie) bacon.

Yesterday a kid (one of my favorites) wanted to help me with my slide show. I said “go right a head, hit the space bar for me”, and he reached over his desk and hit the space bar. When he did that, his crack reached out of his pants and towards everyone behind him. The class gasped, recoiled and laughed. He was so embarrassed. I tried to get a couple of kids on my side and said something to the effect of “it’s ok class, everyone’s got an arse”, but that couldn’t stop his face from flushing. He was really bummed out and I felt so bad. Probably the first time I felt really bad for a kid. Anyways, I saw him again today and things were reset, he survived. Things happen, whatever, kids can obviously deal. He asked me if he could call me Timmy instead of Mr. T. I said he could if I can call him goofball. I hope he doesn’t actually start calling me Timmy.

Lastly, I heard something today that I thought was cool. It was Chuck D from Public Enemy and he was talking about intelligence. Chuck said that you want to impart upon people common sense, because sense unfortunately is not that common. That is all.

Ooooh ooh! One more thing, in case you’re interested, here is another reason the taser shouldn’t be used as a tool for law enforcement (re: the completely irresponsible use of them by people who are supposed to serve and protect us).

Alright, do yourself a favor and have listen to the new record by the Boss. Bruce is tellin’ it like it is for like the 30th year now and the jams are fantastic. Don’t believe me?

Dig the soccer Moms. But seriously, dude is 58 and still totally rockin’. Oh, and here comes Clarance (65) with a gnarley sax solo! Yesssssss.

Tomorrow, tales from parent-teacher interviews!

2! 3! 4!

I had a rough sleep last night thanks to a particular companion animal that shall remain un-named. I get pretty grouchy when I don’t get enough sleep and couldn’t do anything to shake off the foul mood before I left the house. It got really cold here too last night so the car was really cold when I started my drive to school. I also heard some stuff on the radio that ground me gears and all of this plus the extra 15 minutes tacked onto an already 35 minute drive had me arriving at the school with steam pouring from my ears. It all disappeared within seconds of my entrance of the school as I was high-fived by a line of 7’s before I could even get my mitts off. (Awwww, I know).

Best line of the day; when the students were talking about how one of their peer’s marks magically increased by a percentage after he skipped a bunch of school, a girl suggested it was the work of inflation.

Today went really well. I had my interview with the press and made sure to specify that our Red Friday campaign is meant to show support for the families and the troops, NOT our involvement in the current conflict in Afghanistan. I do not believe that us being in Afghanistan is helping secure Canada (as those commercials would love to have us to believe).

So today I punted a kid from class for the first time. He was stirring up the pot while kids were writing a quiz this morning, so I gave him a couple chances and he was out of there. The kids were really surprised too. It worked and the class was quiet until the tests were all finished.

So as promised, here are some photos (hopefully they work):

img_2001.jpg – worm reproduction, as described by a grade 7.

img_2003.jpg – halo 3 flowchart.

The student gave his presentation on earthworm reproduction today and it was really, really good. I’m going to try to get him extra credit for it as apparently he never turns in homework, let alone spends the night doing research.

Today a girl asked me if bats can orgasm. Then if plants can orgasm. Then how plants “do it”.

The girl who wore the misfits shirt yesterday wore an Adicts shirt today. She now has 5 punk points.

I also got a student who wasn’t really into putting together a project on flow charts to draw me a flow chart for the premise of Halo 3.

Hopefully I’ll have some photos up by the weekend:)

Today I gave the grade 8’s a computer assignment on simple machines. While googling one of the simple machines, a screw, a student found a picture of a rhino getting up on an elephant and the class went nuts.

Students are also really funny when they’re chewing gum and see you catch them blowing a bubble. Their eyes widen and they look away with a motionless jaw. My favorite way of dealing with the gum chewing was taken directly from one of my favorite Junior High teachers. Go up to the student and present to them an open hand in which they must place the gum. It’s almost an invisible way of dealing with it.

Some of the teachers that I work with blow my mind. They invest a ton of heart into their students, it’s truly inspiring.

A student that was sitting beside a girl yesterday, who’s Misfits shirt I commented on, wore a Misfits shirt today. It was cute.

I had a post here but the blog decided to delete it upon my request that it’d be published by the electronic powers that be. Unfortunately, it’s late and I’m running on sleep dep so I’m not going to re-write it. However, I will tell you that today I was both informed that I “look like a cool Elvis”, and that “Pearl Jam sucks”.

Alright, here goes. I start full-on teaching tomorrow. First up, a worm/grasshopper lab for science 7 in the am followed by a lecture on radio telemetry for science 9. Apparently the kids hate space too so this should be interesting. Excited, nervous, stoked, anxious, ready, not ready bah! One thing is for sure, with 06:00 starts, coffee is going to become my greatest companion. Even more so then in the past. Also, the school I’m at is nut-free. Totally crappy news for a vegan as well, I derive a large portion of my protein from eating peanuts, almonds and the like during the day. Usually in bar-form. Gotta rummage around the grocery store for something substantial to snack on.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gives us 10-15 years to get our act together before irreversable damage is done to the planet vis a vis climate change. The good news is that there are tons of things we can do to prevent this. Here are good places to get started:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org

http://www.treehugger.com

http://www.veganoutreach.org

http://www.ndp.ca

Don’t worry, starting Monday, I will likely be less of a wet blanket with more tales from Jr. High!

I’m posting this video so you can see how the improper usage of tasers by the RCMP ended up in the death of Robert Dziekanski. Like guns, tasers are an unnecessary tool for law enforcement. How about translators? How about negotiating skills, or the ability to talk someone out without having to brutalize them? If you want to leave a nasty message for the Vancouver Airport Authority for being partly to blame by letting this incident escalate to the point that it did, go here. Maybe if enough people write in, it will reach the right ears and the airport workers will be provided with proper training and a wage that will give them a reason to care about someone’s life. (Note, I worked at an International Airport here in Canada, and actually heard people responsible for your safety say that they weren’t paid enough to really care about their job, sad I know.) If you want it to trickle down to the RCMP, I suggest not voting for Stephen Harper next time around as his agenda includes increasing police presence and the further criminalization of people who are victims of our racist, classist, pro-violent society, (or at least policies).

On a slightly lighter note, I’m done finals! Definitely a “woo-woo” moment.

In leu of the proof that Vancouver police officers murdered an innocent and confused man, (not the first death of a civilian by a taser in Canada btw, there have been over a dozen such incidents since 2001), I thought I’d post a video by one of the greatest. I probably say that a lot when I talk about punk-rock bands, “oh these guys are the best”, “it doesn’t get any better than ____”. But the fact is, as far as punk-rock bands go, some of them ARE the undisputed best regarding the impact they had on music, minds, lyrical stylings, touring, DIY, you name it. I dare any fan of music to argue that this list would not include the likes of the Clash, SNFU, Fugazi and Black Flag. Common. Exactly. Anyways, I just finished writing a final, so allow me to introduce to you, the (pre-royalties law suit) Dead Kennedys.

Notice an authentic performance by an actual punk band (as opposed to the contrived dance moves of current emulators). The inherent artistic merit of it all makes me want to weep. Seriously, do you know how many shows I’ve been to that make me wonder if the bands are backed by a team of songwriters and choreographers? MANY! TOO MANY! If you’re going to start a punk band, you might as well not. Actually, if you’re going to start a band in general, please don’t. There are too many around using electricity to pursue rock-star fantasies (brought to you by CBS) or trying to “get their message out”, while not really saying anything relevant and meaningful or contributing to the common good. Whew… where did that come from? Nah sometimes, or rather, most times I really just don’t like bands and music in general.

But on a lighter note, Soy Dream has a fantastic line of dairy-free iced “cream”. I highly recommend it. Any flavor of it. Serious! Yum yum!

Also, the movie Happy Feet is so cute it makes me want to die, and it’s got a great environmental message too!

I’ve been in semestoral limbo for the past couple days. I have to write my finals this week as well as prepare for my first set of lessons that I have to give to my Science classes, which begin next week. Not a whole lot new or interesting to report on.

My band is readying both our first full length recording as well as a 7″ vinyl single for release in December. We’re trying to book a couple of shows in cities around western Canada and with any luck we won’t have to deal with the notoriously crappy winter prairie roads. There were a few times my other band experienced hairy roads out here in the winter. Once when we were following Minus the Bear to Winnipeg, we passed about 30 ditched cars between Yorkton and the ‘Peg. Another time I almost took us into a ditch when we were driving over the rockies (after which we sprung for new tires at $200 a pop). But I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a while since I’ve been on tour with a band. University life has kept me pretty sessile over the past year and I’m starting to get the itch.

Oh check out my mullet paranoia:

Need a haircut this week before I start singing Skid Row.

Oh oh oh oh, I got it. I watched the Neverending Story this weekend. Check out G’mork’s speech on power:

G’mork: If you come any closer, I will rip you to shreds.
Atreyu: Who are you?
G’mork: I am G’mork. And you, whoever you are, can have the honor of being my last victim.
Atreyu: I will not die easily. I am a warrior!
G’mork: Ha! Brave warrior, then fight the Nothing.
Atreyu: But I can’t! I can’t get beyond the boundaries of Fantasia!
[G'mork laughs and Atreyu gets a little angry]
Atreyu: What’s so funny about that?
G’mork: Fantasia has no boundaries.
[Laughs]
Atreyu: That’s not true! You’re lying.
G’mork: Foolish boy. Don’t you know anything about Fantasia? It’s the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries.
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying, then?
G’mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G’mork: It’s the emptiness that’s left. It’s like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G’mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control… has the power!
Atreyu: Who are you, really?
G’mork: I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing.

Dig?

We’re doing our best.

Back on campus for 2 weeks. Finishing assignments, writing finals and that’s it. Today I gave my second ESL lesson to my class and it was markedly different than the first. The biggest difference, I approached it with an I-don’t-really-care attitude and it was probably the best presentation I’ve ever given in 7 years. Spending the week in the Jr. High last week really forced me to face up to getting used to being in front of a class. So slap together a lesson plan, throw on some Propagandhi and go to town.

Anyways, I heard today that presidential hopeful (and fellow vegan!) Dennis Kucinich is pushing to impeach Dick Cheney. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see some payback for the awful things that crazy administration is responsible for?

A couple things I’ve learned about recently that you might find interesting. Let’s talk about people following orders and submission to authority. There was an experiment in the 60’s that determined that the majority of people will do what their told by authority figures, no matter what kind of harm their actions may be causing another being. This experiment (which is way unethical by today’s standards), saw people being told to administer shocks of increasing voltage to a subject in an adjacent room to the point where the shocks would have been lethal. The people didn’t know they weren’t really shocking the person (who was actually an actor), but the majority of them continued on even after they displayed concern for the well being of the guy. I can’t help but think of how this psychology applies to slaughterhouse workers.

Speaking of the inhumane, I saw a documentary called the Ghosts of Abu Ghraib. An incredible look at the prisoner abuses that took place in Iraq by American soldiers that broke Geneva Conventions, were condoned by Donald Rumsfeld and were brushed off by the Bush administration as an event attributed to just a few bad apples. But the actions were institutionalized. It’s crazy. Anyways, check that out.

So here we go, smelloscope!

I get to use that image in a grade 9 science presentation next week. Pretty sweet.

Lastly, I’m really enjoying the new records by Pinback, Minus the Bear and the Evens.

Oh yeah, CBC enthusiasts remember this?

Alright, so a week down in the school. Now back to University life for 2 weeks. I’m going to enjoy sleeping in until 7, but not having the added pressure of preparing a month’s worth of lesson plans on top of two assignments and studying for finals. Whoever put this semester together was a total nutbar.

The week in the school was a really positive experience. Getting to learn the kids names, watching how my mentor teacher runs his program and deals with behavior management issues as they arise. Interesting to watch it from this perspective to say the least. I’m going to keep this post short and sweet however, since my program adviser already has me extensively reflecting on a daily basis.

Real quick, best lines to come out of the mouths of Jr. High students this week.

Student instructed to copy out lab, word for word-”boring”

Student responding to idea of cats having 3rd eyelids-”sick!”

Student responding to K talking about the button a vet sewed above his cat’s eye to keep it closed and prevent infection-”did you hang anything off of it?”

Student during lab on water pollution-”is time travel possible?”

Different student during same lab-”my old principal was retarded”, K-”that’s not very nice, why do you say that?”, student-”she actually thought that if she prayed, something would happen! But she was always praying and nothing ever did!”

So according to George W. Bush, Nelson Mandela is dead. Killed by Saddam Hussein. No Joke, check it out: