Filed under: Uncategorized
2 more days. My dear mother says I appear to be running out of steam. I don’t know if it’s steam so much as just being worn down from being isolated, broke and homesick errr. catsick. Nevertheless, spirits are still up. I’m enjoying my last week with the kids and working like a Japanese beaver trying to finish everything up. My UF comes in tomorrow for my final evaluation and I get my papers signed. Tonight I have the task of putting my portfolio together, my professional growth plan and my final reflective paper. Being that I just ate a quart of chocolate-peanut butter ice cream, it shouldn’t be that difficult.
Today the students threw a surprise teacher appreciation breakfast for us. They even presented each teacher with a little laminated award. Guess what? I was not exempt. Oh no, I was the proud recipient of the “Coolest T-Shirt Award” for my “cool shirts and hard work while at the school”. It was given to me by one of my favorite students and the whole thing was a nice touch.
Classes were good. Pretty lax. I couldn’t help but ease off a bit. I gave my Bio kids an assignment none of us could figure out so I told them to take it home, mull it over and not worry too much about it. We’ll deal with it tomorrow. Thing is, those canned assignments are usually ripe with errors which is why I’ve been putting together about 90% of them.
In Science, I gave my students the task to put together a flow chart relating everything we’ve talked about in the Bio unit. I outlined 12 terms I wanted them to tie together, but gave them free reign for everything else. I want to see what they’ll come up with when left to their own devices. Some of them were confused at the beginning, being that they’re trained to obey commands and follow detailed sets of instructions, but during the end of class I was seeing some really creative stuff. They are a smart bunch and I’ve haven’t done anything like this yet, so I’m eager to see the results tomorrow.
Lastly, I asked my bio kids if anyone would be interested in “water and fries” at the pub after class on friday. It was the most alive I think I’ve ever seen them look. I told them that topics of discussion would be university, biology and the finest brews this place has to offer. So that should be fun. I don’t know if I would do it if I wasn’t leaving this town, but they’re bummed that I’m missing their grad so I’m hoping this will make up for it. I remember how much a big deal my grad was and I’d like to have the opportunity to tell them that I am proud of them. It’s true. They’re good kids and they’ve worked hard. Besides, like my Prof said when we left class this winter (and I’m paraphrasing), no matter how busy you are with school, work and life, there’s always room for a beer.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So I take away a kid’s ipod in Science today and tell him he can come get it from me after class. He does and I question him: “what is the rule about ipods?”
Him: “No ipods in school”.
Me: “Right, so why were you listening to your ipod in my class?”.
Him: “Because it was Turbonegro“.
Good enough for me.
So this morning I arrived to school to find that my band has been getting some press back home. You can check it out here and here. We’ve also been charting on CJSR for the past couple of months. Neato!
Anyways, not a lot of action today. Gym was uneventful. Bio was fairly uneventful, except I was invited to the grad kegger next weekend. Hilarious. Apparently, it’s the party no teachers are supposed to know about.
Science with the 10’s was a bit ridiculous. I caught a kid in the middle of a lie and I gave him the opportunity to redeem himself, but he didn’t really get the point of the exercise. “Look”, I says, “I don’t want to have to punish you. Tell me how you’re going to earn back my trust”. He kept telling me that he couldn’t think of anything and finally I had to walk him through the fact that it wasn’t him flipping the desk in the middle of class that made me pissed, but it was him pinning it on his buddy when I inquired about the culprit.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Here’s some neat news, Greg Graffin was nominated by Harvard University for the 2008 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism. In case you don’t know, Dr. Graffin has a Ph.D in Zoology and is a professor at UCLA as well as singing in the highly influential band, Bad Religion. I’m sure I’ve told BR stories on here before, but here’s a new one:
In 1994 a friend of mine gave me a copy of their record Against the Grain. I was instantly hooked by the first track, Modern Man, which basically describes mankind as ecosystem destroyers and (my favorite line in any song ever I think) “pathetic examples of earth’s organic heritage”. In fact, I can still remember where I was the first time I heard it, at a campground in Skagway, Alaska. Anyways, along with a constant tour schedule, the man has maintained a constant affair with academia and being that he’s got an evolutionary biology background, current social and environmental concerns frequently appear in the lyrics he writes. I can’t get enough. Some people say he’s too wordy. I say if you think his prose is too wordy, try making it through his dissertation (I’ve tried twice). In my opinion, the last lingering threads of punk are connected to music that continues to challenge people be it wordiness or song structure.
But on to my last Monday at the school.
I arrived to find someone had left me big yellow balloons in one of my classrooms. I’m assuming that they were left by some of my students, probably girls because they contained messages such as “LOL” and “Call me!”. But they were mostly “happy last week” or miss you-type messages and I thought it was funny and sweet.
Gym was alright. The weather is nice so we finally got out to play some soccer. There were three girls who were being complete bags. I couldn’t figure out what their deal was. Another girl claimed it was because they were all PMSing at the same time. HUH? These are grade 8 girls. But I got thinking, if that’s the case, is it fair to hold them up to the same assessment standards as the boys? I know girls who’ve been plagued with awful cramps and I can’t see the equality in comparing them to the boy’s performance. Kind of interesting.
I gave my 12’s their Genetics test. They couldn’t finish before lunch so I let them go and brought them back in after lunch to finish it off but I only gave them their last page. After enduring all kinds off belly-aching I told them that if they had any other questions to finish, they could see me after school. 4 girls showed up and one wanted to know why they had to come after school to finish it up. I basically told her that they cared enough to do it and that’s what I was looking for.
The 10’s were being a pain in my arse today. They were the chattiest bunch and I couldn’t get them to settle down. I punted a girl at the beginning of the class for calling another kid an A-hole, I kept two after class after they used a bathroom break to get coffee down the street and one boy wouldn’t stop snapping the girl’s brastrap in front of him. This was a fraction of the ridiculousness. I just went with it though, I guess it’s not atypical behaviour for them on Monday and Friday afternoons. All the teachers concurred.
Here we go, 4 more days. 88mph. 1.21gigawatts.
Filed under: Uncategorized
For some reason I’m feeling super morose today and because of this, the Texas is the Reason full length is getting a ton of rotation on my ipod and in my mind. I dropped the ball when they played a reunion show a couple years ago in NYC. I bought a ticket and was waiting for flights prices to come down. At one point I found a flight for 300 bones and thought I’d give it one more day to see if another $20 would come off. The next day I checked and the price had risen $200, and basically kept increasing until the day of the show. Kind of a bummer.
But, to make it up to myself, I went out to Ontario where I hooked up with a good friend of mine. During my 5 day visit, we attended 4 Propagandhi shows, not too shabby. At two of the shows they played Hard Times and at one of them, they covered the Daglo Abortions song Wake Up America. Scott Hopper (their first bass player) was playing roadie and he’s this intense looking old dude who looks like he stepped out of a 70’s punk scene. Anyways, one of the funniest parts of the shows was watching Hopper on projectile recon and deflection duty because he’d maintain this constant scour/look of confusion. Anyways, I’m digressing.
Texas is the Reason were one of the best emo bands before the term became bastardized and if anyone knows where I can find audio for their last show, please get in touch.
I went for a walk around town this morning. It was beautiful outside. 15 degrees at one point. I walked to the edge of town where I found some elk as well as a giant hollowed out tree. I took a few photos of the elk and decided it would be a good idea to climb the tree. It was sketchy but it lent itself as a nice vantage point to see the town.
This evening, one of the teachers came by to get me out of hermit mode. I think he was watching my from across the street as I spent my afternoon on the deck watching episode after episode of South Park. I went out, met some people, ate a veggie dog and played some Guitar Hero. It was ok, but being that I’m moody today for some reason I wasn’t really enjoying myself. I don’t know if this moodiness is a result of being homesick, being sad that I’m leaving, being broke off my ass, being bitter about a few things, rolling my ankle at the skatepark, having a ton of work I need to finish for Monday or just being plain ol’ malnourished.
On the upside, I picked up some wicked coffee and am looking forward to brewing up a pot in the morning and drinking it in the morning sun with the view of the mountains.
Filed under: Tunes
Two nights ago, the original lineup of Jane’s Addiction played together for the first time in 17 years. I found the videos on youtube. Eric Avery is the man but unfortunately Dave Navarro is still a d-bag. Listening to Ritual was a ritual of mine in Grade 10. Before Three Days, I’d never heard a song longer than 10 minutes. At least a song that wasn’t a complete wank-fest.
Face to Face are back together and playing some shows this summer. They’re going to be in my town the day after I leave for Ghana. I’m kinda bummed. I’d love to see that band again. In fact, first song I ever played with a band was a cover of their song I’m not Afraid. It’s the lineup with Chad Yaro too. He was always one of my faves and the band wasn’t the same without him. That Big Choice record, dang. Good stuff.
Hot Water Music are also back together and doing a few dates this summer. Man live, no one I’ve seen has topped their performance. Totally pro and totally 100%. One time they came through town and were playing a club in town that’s kinda sketchy. The power went on stage a couple of times and at one point both guitars went so the rythym section took us for a ride. They pulled it off with no attitude or complaining, just giving ‘er and getting through. Dig it.
So with that in mind, here are the top three reunions I’d like to see.
Fugazi – I know they have another record in them.
At The Drive In – I know this is most unlikely but Sparta and the Mars Volta will never compete.
G’n'R – Scott’s out of the picture dudes, Axl what are you waiting for? That new album is not going to pay for itself. Reunion Tour. I’d go. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t.
I’m off to see my kids play an open mic night. They want me to do some drumming. I told them that if they supply a kit, to count me in.
So just as I’m putting this entry together, I hear this thump against the window beside me. It sounded like a snowball and since it’s snowing, that’s not an unreasonable assumption. I turn to see two objects descending. Crap. I go outside to check it out and sure enough there’s a bird on the steps. I instinctively pick it up. I have this motherly nature about me where I want to get things out of harms way and try to help them. What can I do though? It’s possible this bird has done serious damage to it’s cranium. But I don’t know. It can’t talk. I’m not an ornothologist. Damn. Put it out of it’s misery? Not an option. First; I don’t know if it’s that miserable, second; I can’t kill things. It’s one of the reasons I’m vegan. So I sat there on the porch holding this confused little creature. It’s not the first time. I’ve had to wrangle birds from my cat’s mouths on the odd occasion and I don’t worry about parasites as I’m sure to wash my hands. So I don’t know, the best thing I could think of was to put it in a tree and if it’s going to die, then at least let it die in it’s “natural” environment and not in the hands of the species responsible for placing windows in such an erroneous location.
This post isn’t meant to bum anyone out. But think about how we indirectly contribute to harming other beings on a daily basis. It’s kind of a staggering idea but as we embark on this “green revolution”, let’s keep in mind the survival of other beings on this planet.
Well, it’s snowing like crazy which is cutting into my outdoor soccer lesson planning big time. This isn’t so much a bad thing as I’m anticipating the introduction to the sport as being kind of a pain. Wait, that’s a self fulfilling prophecy waiting to happen. No, the unit is going to be super fun and I wish the sun would come out so we could get on with it!
In gym today a kid called me dumb because my reffing was unfair, to him at least. I told him that unless he wanted to spend the rest of the morning in the office he was to keep the insults to himself and he nearly started to cry. There’s something weird with that kid. I’ve noticed it since day one. He’s a little off. His buddy fell on his keys later on and spent 5 minutes on the ground howling. I thought he broke something but he insisted that it was just the wicked charley horse. He walked it off and was fine.
My 12’s and I talked about puppy mills a bit in class today since we’re learning about selective breeding as part of a genetics unit. It also opened up the floor to discussions on fish farms and how genetically modified fish roaming wild might not be a hot idea. Though some of them were convinced it would be since it would add genetic variability to future offspring. That one stumped me for a sec.
My 10’s were fun as usual. I gave a girl the boot today for noogying another boy during my lecture. During the lab section, a group confessed that they were going to miss me when I left. It was kind of touching. I am going to be saddened when I leave these kids, they’re total characters. One of them wanted me to admit I spend all my time outside of school at the gym and that we need to call a plumber because my “pipes are about to burst”. I assured him the only thing that keeps me in decent shape was the diet and the occasional band practice. His buddy told me I should try eating onions. I told him that I hate onions. He said they’re good to eat like apples and that they clean you palate. I told him he was full of it and he said that tomorrow, he’s going to bring an onion and that we’re going to “chow down”. His friend then told him that his breath is bad enough as it is and that he should probably just stay away from anything that would make it worse.
Filed under: Students
Grade 10’s are ridiculous and apparently want me to spoon-feed them the material. I get them to do a lab and follow the procedure and they hit me with a barrage of “what do I do now?” questions. Are the all illiterate? Lazy? On hormones? Who knows. One thing’s for sure, they had no idea who I was referring to when I called one kid Professor Grif today. (See: Public Enemy)
For the last couple of days I’ve been the hallway cop during lunch hour, moving kids along, putting a halt to the PDAs etc. I have a feeling these patrols are much less eventful then they would be in a bigger school.
Lots to do tonight. Have more parent-teacher interviews and a ton of lesson planning to get to.
Filed under: Students
Back in the saddle. A ton of snow forced us inside for gym today. Both classes played some indoor soccer and couldn’t have been better behaved. Honestly, I can’t find any patterns in the 8’s. It’s gotta be hormonal.
Bio was fun. I got my students to draw little monsters using the genotypes they came up with through tossing coloured popsicle sticks. If that didn’t make a lot of sense, I’ll reiterate. For 30 minutes my kids worked on drawing make believe monsters. Biology.
Science with the 10’s was a delight as always. They wrote a test. One of the girls did pretty poorly and saw me about it after class. I asked her what her problem was and she told me she didn’t get it. I asked her what she did during her review period and she didn’t really respond. In fact, she left in a huff when my mentor teacher started to get on her case for her crappy attitude. Her parents were called and her Dad came in to have a chat with us. To summarize that meeting, there is huge drama happening in the family and it’s really good that she’s just showing up for class right now.
I punted a kid with 5 minutes left before the bell. He came in to see me after class and I asked him why he chose to waste my time hitting his friend in the back of the class. He told me he was retaliating. I told him he had a choice to be an ass and cause a disturbance. He told me he understood and would refrain from being an idiot next time. I don’t care that much, but it’s good to put them in the hot seat once in a while to let them know they’re being goofs. Actually, I’m surprised I made it so long without having to boot anyone out. During my IPT I was punting kids into the hallway left and right.
Anyways, here are some photos of my weekend.
This is slogan the group I was working with used after putting together an action campaign to ban bottled water, an idea we got from the City of Seattle. The reusable container in the cape and underpants is fighting off other bottles of water.
On to the icefields. Here they are from afar.
The crazy monster truck bus we took to get up close.
Glacier!
After the tour, I asked our driver (a surly Francophone man) what the funny yellow looking vehicle was all about and if it still ran. “That’s a snowmobile from the 40’s and it still runs!”, he said. “You know why? It’s a Bombardier, built in Quebec!”.
It’s snowing like crazy and I’m stuck in the city. I’m waiting for a call from my mentor teacher so we can figure out what I should do. The idea of a 4 hour drive on the highway in a crazy snowstorm makes me very nervous, my car is small, I’m traveling alone and I don’t have a cell phone. So while I’ve been waiting to hear from him, I’ve edited my interview with Marc Belke. Here is the first of many interviews I hope to do with the musicians who have inspired me along the way. Anyone I feature here has had an impact on me in someway that indirectly led me to where I am today at 27, hopeful for the future and giving ‘er everything he’s got.
I’ve been agonizing over how to introduce Marc and the band he devoted 25 years of his life to. Throughout the years, SNFU became legendary in the world of Canadian punk rock which makes it really hard for me to be happy with anything I come up with. How can you use words to give the credit due to a band that paved the way for countless Western Canadian punk-rock bands? A band that perservered through countless lineup changes, break-ups and being dropped by their label at the height of their popularity?
I guess it comes down to what the band did for me on a personal level. How I found an SNFU record at age 14 and listened to it endlessly. How it would serve to charge me up at the beginning of the day, help me through the rough times, teach me how to play guitar and teach me how to read between the lines written by a vocalist who would emote by using some of the most absurd concepts. But if you have an SNFU record, you already know this. If you ever saw the band, you probably share my memories of leaving the venue covered in cake, your underpants strangely containing grains of puffed wheat from Mr. Chi Pig’s one-of-a-kind stage performance.
But enough of that, here’s a lesson in Punk Rock History 101.
VT-Hello sir, would you mind introducing yourself? I’ve heard you played in a couple of bands?
Marc-I’m Marc Belke. I played in Snfu for over 20 years as a guitarist. I also played in Wheat Chiefs after Snfu broke up in ‘96 and I had a project called Based On A True Story we played for about a year or so around Vancouver in 2002.
VT-Can you tell me about how you were introduced into punk rock?
Marc-My first introductions to punk rock were through the son of the pastor at the church my parents used to drag me to. They had just moved to Edmonton. He played for me, for the first time, the Sex pistols, Ramones, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads.
My first exposure to live punk rock was the first punk bands from Edmonton, Calgary & Vancouver. The Diefenbakers, The Rock & Roll Bitches, P.J. Burton & The Smarties (Everybody hated The Smarties) and the Sturgeons.
I also remember hearing a news story on CBC talking about this horrible new music trend in England and how horrifying it was. When I later heard the Sex Pistols I thought it was very cool and exciting. More fun than horrible.
VT-Legend has it that SNFU met at a skate competition. To set the record straight, is this true?
Marc-Sort of. Me and my twin brother Brent knew Chi from the Skiers Sportshop skate team. Skiers had the first real half pipe in town and Chi and his brother Dan used to just shred that thing. We were on a different skate team. You must know that “team” is sort of a random word for what we were, just different crews of skaters in Edmonton. Anyway, there were a few contests and we would always see Chi at them but didn’t really talk to him until we started seeing him at the few “punk” shows around town. There was hardly anyone at those shows so you sort of talked to everyone and we sort of knew him before so we started up hang out and listen to records and stuff.
VT-What other bands existed that were getting Edmonton kids stoked around the time that SNFU was starting out?
Marc-You have to understand that scene in Edmonton was so small that it barely existed at that time. There wasn’t hundreds of kids in the scene. We would have been the kids at that time and we were younger than most of “the scene”. But the local bands at that time were SNFU, Down Syndrome, Ghost Shirt Society, Blank Generation, Malibu Kens and the few I mentioned earlier.
VT-What was the process of booking a show, or a tour for that matter in the early 80’s, as a punk-rock band from the prairies?
Marc-Booking shows wasn’t that easy. Bars didn’t really want us to play so our best bet was to book a hall and piece together a p.a. We were very lucky to discover the Spartans Mens Hall. It was in a part of town where no one lived, it was close to the LRT, rarely booked and had a stage. that hall was a big part of the growth of the scene in Edmonton and Western Canada.
As far as tours went, we would just stay in touch with out of town bands that came through town and they would help us with shows in their towns. There was no “circuit” of clubs or bars to play at that time. Gubby Svboda did a lot of booking shows and tours for us. He helped the scene in E town big time.
VT-Digital recording techniques have made it so bands can put records together without having to be in the same room together, edits are heavily relied upon and drummers can be made to sound as though they have perfect timing. How does this compare to working on a record with Cecil English in the 80’s?
Marc-The differences are pretty obvious. You had to rehearse a lot, but we didn’t let that stop us. When we recorded with Cecil we were at a point were we needed more help with arrangements and direction on a producer level. Cecil interacted with us on the smallest level. He was really concerned with capturing our live sound and he did. But the record we did with him would have been better with some technical help with the arrangements. Our rhythm section and really the whole band were not in sync at all on that record. It’s unfortunate because it was Chi Pig’s finest moment as singer and lyricist. That record could have been better.
I think that recording enables you to make a more perfect sounding record so why not. Speaking generally, live and recording are different environments for creativity so they should be approached differently. Again, I’m speaking generally.
VT-I’ve read many early interviews with you guys in which you were referred to as a hardcore punk band. What do you think you guys did to have you slotted into this category?
Marc-Well hardcore is a much more defined thing now thanks to evolution. But back then hardcore to me meant your music was punk to be sure, but it also had an element of social consciousness or importance to what you were singing about. At that time we did have a bit of that. We also had fun, but up until “Stick in the Eye” Chi was singing about some serious issues. So I think we were a little “hardcore” anyway. Labels are for librarians and the media.
VT-There are a lot of legendary shows that Edmontonians still talk about. One of them was the Clash at the Kinsmen in ‘82, another was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in ’87 at Club John’s, X two days later (still referred to as one of the loudest shows) and of course, SNFU with the Dead Kennedy’s in ’84 at a roller-rink. What are your memories of that night?
Marc-I don’t remember alot about the DK’s show in Edmonton but we did the Saskatchewan shows with them after that. They were very proffesional in thier attitude. really capable musicians. We learned alot about playing live from them. I still love the DK’s because of thier uniqeness and political content. It’s terrible what’s happened to them.
The Clash show I remember the new songs off Combat Rock sounding better than their classic material. They were into the new songs more than the old ones. It was obvious.
I met Mick Jones in the late 90’s in Paris at a Green Day after show party. Sometimes it’s great to meet your heroes.
VT-Are there any other noteworthy shows that you remember being at in Edmonton? I remember you telling me about a Black Flag show that happened, years before they came through again with Henry…
Marc-I think you misunderstood me about Black Flag. They never played in Edmonton without anybody but Henry. Too bad. I think they were better without him. Some of the shows that stand out. M.I.A. showing up late to Spartans and totally rocking the place and the scene totally pushing them to play better/ harder.
Any Personality Crisis show, for real, ANY. DOA at the Masonic Temple downtown on thier Hardcore ‘81 tour. I’d seen them before but they finally blew me away. DOA with Dave Gregg, Randy Rampage and Chuck Biscuits. So much energy. Fang and Code of Honour at Spartans. One of the first punk shows, 999 at the SUB U of A. The cover of the Sun the next day….Punk Rock Riot! Hilarious. Travelling down to Calgary see Minor Threat at 10 Foot Henrys. There was maybe 50 people there. I loved Riot 303 from Calgary.
VT-Thanks for sharing Marc!
Marc-Thanks, this was fun!
I just heard an accapella version of the Weakerthans song “Aside” on the CBC. It was pretty awesome. Did I ever mention that I think their new record, Reunion Tour, is fantastic? There is yet another song about a cat named Virtue that makes me want to cry, but only because it’s such a terrific description of a situation I swear I’ve found myself in vis a vis my companion animals.
So I’m back in the City. Yesterday was crazy busy. In the span of 12 hours, I gave my presentation at the youth conference then traveled to the Columbia Ice Fields (which I have photos from, but I forgot my USB cable, so I can’t upload them yet) then drove home (through some miserable weather) for a band practice that ended up being a warmup for an impromptu performance at a house party. It was a great way to take my mind off of school. It seems like my practicum is all encompassing these days and I’m getting desperate to find ways to not have to think about lesson plans, lectures and gym class.
10 days left though, this week is my last week to teach a full course load. Then I’m bumped down to 20% in order to give me time to put together my final reflection as well as my professional portfolio.
Anyways, the conference. It was great. I got to know a couple of the other teachers outside of a school setting, the students came out of their shells a bit and I had a lot of great conversations with young minds regarding environmental stewardship and responsibility. I also had the chance to converse with Brian Keating, the keynote speaker a bit who happens to be a friend of Jane Goodall’s. Our conversation took an interesting turn when I asked him if he was veg. The man has done some magnificent work in the field of conservation but I was curious to know where he stood. I’m always befuddled by environmentalists who aren’t veg, it seems such a natural progression for me. You see the fisheries are collapsing, so you don’t support their exploitation, you know? He wasn’t and from what I gathered his excuse was something to the effect of it being to hard. I tried to explain how being vegan isn’t really that hard and doesn’t take much time, but it was cold and late, and I find these conversations don’t really go that far with people who are three times my age. Anyways whatever. He was an awesome dude and gave me some tips on what to look for in Ghana. Coincidentally, he started a hippo sanctuary there and encouraged me to go check it out while I’m over there.
Wow, the snow is really coming down here. People were bumming out this morning when I went to get some groceries, but it’s the way it goes in this climate. It’s a drag, especially since we’ve had that first taste of spring but I remember a few years ago when we got a snowstorm in May. These things happen and there’s nothing you can do about them. I guess it will be good for the trees! Hopefully the roads won’t be too bad and I’ll be able to make it back to the school in the morning.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Grade 8 Boy: “Why do you always act retarded in the hallway?”
Grade 7 Boy: “Why do you care?”
8: “Because you’re embarrassing me”.
7: “Well it’s exhilarating”.
8: “Do you even know what that means?”
7: “No, do you”.
8: “No, but cut it out anyways!”
I’m headed out to a hotel in the rockies for a youth conference entitled Summit on Sustainability. I think there are 40 kids from the region coming out. The school board is picking up the tab for kids to be transported into this thing and the schedule looks pretty good. I’ve been to a ton of these with adults but I always find the interest level drops off half way through as adult start over analyzing things and doubting the effectiveness of action strategies. I’m excited to be on the other end and am anticipating a bunch of bright eyed, bushy tailed kids ready to take on some of the challenges that our consumptive patters have left us facing.
After that, I’m heading back into town for a show on Sunday. It has apparently sold out so it should be a good time. Our singer is apparently going to play the show on crutches since he slips on some icy steps this week.
Filed under: Students
I’m pretty burned out today. Didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Woke up this morning and realized I had nothing to eat for breakfast so I had to get out early to see if I could rustle up some flapjacks in town.
Gym was alright. One of the kids (who’s got an incredible temper) got his glasses knocked off his head. A screw fell out and he was upset that they were broken. I told him not to worry about it, how screws cost very little money. We went to the office and I fixed them up with a paper clip. He stop crying and I wonder if he would make it through the day without decking a kid.
In Bio, my kids were totally out of it. The classroom was hot and the energy was sucked out of the kids. If they’re putting in no energy, it’s much harder for me to put it in. Like performing in front of any audience, you feed off each other and one way streets can be incredibly draining.
The 10’s were fun though. I made two diagrams on the whiteboard that were supposed to be cells, but totally looked like cartoon boobs. The kids were amused and it gave me an opportunity to laugh at myself. I like these moments because I think kids think I’m too serious sometimes and I don’t know if that’s what I’m still going for.
Went for a skate after school. The kid who called me Mr. Turkey, then Mr. Terminator is back to Mr. T. He was on a bike, I was on my board. We had a little skate park jam and it was neat to see him outside of such a restricted environment.
Now I’m sitting on the couch feeling completely burned out. I’d love nothing more than to just sit in a quiet room alone right now but I have way too much work to do. It’s alright, tomorrow’s a half day and then I hit the conference tomorrow night and Saturday.
I also forgot my razor in the city and damn, do I ever grow facial hair fast these days.
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The best part about writing tests is putting together the bonus question. I enjoy coming up with something that I think will provoke an interesting or creative response from the students. When I’m marking their papers I can’t wait to get to the last page to read it. It’s like a reward for my compiling and marking of the questions. Sometimes I’ll use it as an opportunity to get a reading on what they think about current affairs, or sometimes I’ll just ask them who would win in a fight; an angry elk or their V.T. Anyways, today the bonus question for my Bio 12 kids was basically: what should we do about garbage island? Unedited, here are some of my favorite responses (Each worth a total of 1 mark).
“As punishment for all the wrong, ill-decided choices that the american government has made, george bush and all other american government wrong-doers must sort out the entire mess, recycle everything and insure that others do not polute by demonstrating against polution by living in the plastic waste for the same amount of years that bush served!”
“We should get a team of scuba divers together to collect as much garbage as possible!”
“swap it for Texas”
“We should clear as much out as possible with large fishing nets and those, you know, huge military ships. Right? and then we should split it up into smaller sections of garbage and condense it on one of those garbage-mashers that turn it into squares o’ garbage and either put them in a variety of landfills (lame idea) or send them into space (wicked idea)”
“I think we should send criminals out to live on it because we probably won’t be able to get rid of it”
“Use gene extraction & manipulation to breed a fish/bacteria which feeds on the plastic. If it were a fish, a very strong digestive system”
“First off, we should stop throwing trash in the ocean or find some solution to that effect, then we should clean it up. Every country should have to help with the financing and cleaning.”
Today I committed to do a presentation on post-consumer waste at the big youth conference that’s being held out here on the weekend. I also get to go check out the ice fields as part of my chaperoning duties. Other than that, today was pretty great. I have a whackload of work to do here tonight which doesn’t leave me with much more time to write.
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Let’s start off with a posi-point today before I even get to anything school related. I think I’m going to buy a slowcooker when I get back home because I left some soup on the cook all day and let me tell you, the results were incredible. Also, I’m pleased to report that CNN.com covered garbage island for the first time ever yesterday. My Science 10’s think someone should take advantage of the free plastic for recycling purposes. I told them they have more ideas than politicians and that they should be in charge of environmental conservation.
Anyways, let’s get into the meat of it. Today I totally lost it on a kid. The grade 8 gym class was out of control. Kids were throwing pylons, trying to score baskets with medicine balls and laying around on floormats while they were supposed to be doing a fitness circuit. One of the boys in particular was really grinding my gears by running around like an idiot and being completely defiant. As he was running past me for the 4th time with a basketball or skipping rope, whatever it was, I grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him in and told him that his misbehavior was frustrating to deal with and that he was pissing me off. He immediately got it together and seemed a bit shocked that the laid back student teacher was all of a sudden getting all up in his grill. The class finished up and I dismissed them.
This incident hung over me like a black cloud for the rest of the day. Where did that come from? How could I let a kid get to me to the point where I’d actually grab him? Rule number one, you’re not really supposed to touch kids. At least that’s what they’ve been drilling into us. Besides that, grabbing kids by the shirt (in my opinion) is completely outdated and unprofessional and I couldn’t believe that a kid could illicit such a reaction from me. It is apparent, the holiday period is over. The grade 8’s are showing their true colours and are presenting me with this huge classroom management issue.
I talked to other teachers about the incident all day. My mentor teacher said that the kid needed to have someone get in his face because he’s been behaving badly and there is a phone call to the parents that seems imminent. Another teacher told me that “unless you’re a magician or 7 feet tall, forget it with those kids”. Another told me that “the reality for subs and new teachers is that your presence means next nothing to junior high kids”. Encouraging hey? So what can I do? I reflected on this all afternoon. Green sip him next time? No, you don’t want to develop a pattern of letting administration taking care of your dirty work. Office? Again, that probably won’t do the trick. When it comes down to it, after many discussions I only deduced that for the most part, this is just going to be the way it is for a while until I’ve clocked in the time. There are some things I can do to try to prevent things from degenerating like that in the class like ejecting the lead dog right away and such. I guess I’m cool with it, I’ve just got to meditate on not letting them get to me. If they push my buttons, I lose. Ironic since I was just writing about this yesterday. But it’s different when they’re just being dumb, and when they’re being defiant little jerks. When I was in Jr. High I remember how we treated some subs. We were little dinks and couldn’t wait for them to blow their stacks. I guess it comes down to the idea of control and the power laying in not letting them grind my gears.
So that was that.
The good news is that it only got better from there. My next gym class was kind of funny. I was on a lot of gum control and I had this one student who said she was ordered by her doctor to chew gum because her teeth were coming in. “Really?”, I said. “So you’re teething? Do you have a note”. She goes to the locker room and comes back with two pieces of paper towel. On one is written: “D. has to chew gum do (sic) to her molars”, while on the other the message reads “D. can’t do medicine ball”. Both are signed Dr. Slack. She’s a funny kid, one of my favorites in fact. If you’re going to bullshit me, you might as well try to go all the way.
The 12’s were good. One kid kept farting and his lab bench reeked everytime I went over to help the group out. I didn’t want to make a thing of it but eventually I couldn’t help it and stated “my god, it smells like farts over here. What’s the deal?”.
At lunch I saw the kid who once asked if he could call me Mr. Turkey. “Hi Mr. T”, he goes. “Can I call you Mr. Terminator?”.
Thankfully I ended the day with the 10’s. An incredibly bright group who were trying to convince me to sing during my lecture. I told them it didn’t have much to do with bio. What about Borat? “Can we talk about what Borat has to do with bio?”, one asks. “No, I don’t really think anything in Borat has to do with Bio”. Then a kid talks about the running of the jews and the egg that is laid during that scene. Oh how off topic we can get sometimes. I take them through endocytosis. If you know anything about this process, you know what I’m about to go with this one. Yeah, cell eating. Phag -(rhymes with gag, I looked it up)- ocytosis. That’s the one. “All right class, all together now…”. It didn’t help when later I said something to the effect of, “ok just remember, pino = cell drinking, phag = cell eating”. While they were completing the assignment I gave them, one of them asked me if I wanted to see a trick. Sure, we’ve got time. Go for it. She stands up and dislocates her shoulders passing them under her legs, behind her back and over her head.
So there you have it. Gotta take the good with the bad and just like my Grandmother says, keep on truckin’.
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Here we go, back into it. It’s funny, when I have a weekend off I start getting all anxious about class on Monday. Then I step into a classroom Monday morning and it’s on. Today most of my anxiety came from not knowing what I was going to do with the 8’s in gym class. They can be so badly behaved and it used to really get to me. However, today was the turning point.
My assignment was to take them through an activity they’d never done before. It started off with a new rendition of dodgeball that went pretty poorly because the kids are still getting used to the handover between my mentor teacher and I. So, after 10 minutes I called it of and called them into a semicircle. Begin the most impressive failure of my career thus far:
I begin by telling my students we were going to play a new game called Battleships. Instantly the class was polarized with half of them mildly curious and the other half instantly judging the idea as either “gay” or “stupid”. The girls were not impressed at all and I told them to bear with me. I explained that the point of the game was to make little ships out of floor mats and scooters with 3 people acting as the rudders/propulsion system, one acting as a captain (who is to fire a ball at another ship) and another as a lookout (who’s job it is to collect stray balls to use for ammunition). Holy Hanna. 5 minutes later there are kids running around using mats as shields, hurling balls in every direction and taunting each other. The girls remained on the bench. They were interested in the game but found it more amusing to watch the boys act like idiots. Near the end of class there was actually a moment when there were a couple battleships having at it while the rest of them ran amok. The bell rang and the little hellions left me alone with my thoughts. The game was a complete disaster and half the class didn’t even get to participate. So why was it amazing? It was the first time I’d experienced a total failure with a class and was able to completely maintain. No stress, zero, nada. I was happy with myself! My mentor teacher thought it was pretty funny and I also decided that next time I was to introduce a new game, I’d change a few things. But I couldn’t have been more pleased! Keep in mind, this all comes from a guy who used to suffer from stomach ulcers and cold sores due to the stress I used to take on. I guess it’s like this, you may teach the kids a thing or two on any given day, but some of the most fulfilling moments are when the kids teach you something about yourself.
Bio was good. My students worked on some computer projects and I had the opportunity to shoot the breeze with a couple of them regarding their summer plans. There are a bunch of kids who are applying for collage/university next semester and a few of them are going to specialize in science! I’m supposed to help a few of them with their applications this week. It’s funny, I feel proud of them when they talk about pursuing science after they graduate. Actually, I feel proud of the one who aren’t too because they have great attitudes and a bunch of them are going to make fantastic adults. They were bummed when I said I wasn’t going to be able to make their cap and gown (I’ll be back in E-Town). Awww, today I started to realize how much I’m going to miss them when I go!
Science 10’s were a pleasure as always. I handed them back their unit test and after we went over it I told them to challenge me if they thought they deserved extra marks. A line formed and we commenced with the mark haggling. It’s the best part of a test. This is where you tell them to tell you why they deserve more marks and try to hold the laughter in when they tell you that you added wrong, your marking sucks, you’re not fair or you want them to fail. All in all, I handed out 8 higher grades and gave a girl (who works 20 hour weeks while going to school) the opportunity to pull up her mark by building a plant cell diorama. Next, I gave them a short lecture on cell membranes and active transport. For some reason, this made me think of garbage island so we had an impromptu info sesh on it and I asked for their opinions. They couldn’t believe it existed and were confused by the inaction of national governments. Onto the lab portion, my agar didn’t quite solidify but they took some samples of bacteria with q-tips and swabbed their petri dishes. I really hope it works out, they’re very eager to see the results.
Lastly, the girls who have the school radio show played my request for maiden this morning. So at 8:15, the classrooms and hallways were treated to Aces High on the P.A., in mono!
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Tonight I made vegan jelly out of agar for a science experiment tomorrow. It it works out well, the substance should nourish bacteria cultures the students collect from various places around the school. I’m looking forward to it.
When I got back into town I saw about 50 elk on the outskirts of town. I think caving season is right around the corner. I hope I get to see some baby elk before my time here is up!
Alright, I left all my marking for Sunday night. Dumb idea. It’s going to be a late one…
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I’m taking the day off from thinking about school. I’ve got a ton of marking to do, but this week was rough and next week is not shaping up to be a walk in the park. Ergo today, I will sit on my stoop in the sun, drink an expensive root beer and hang out with my cats.
I went to a cohort meeting this morning with all of the students who are headed to Africa in June. The group is a good mix of folk and I’m anticipating the formation of a few great friendships during the trip. A good musician friend of mine is also going. I had coffee with him this morning and we waxed on the dissolution of our past relationships. If you know me at all, you know what this last year has been about. It’s neat to have a friend who has gone through similar events to talk with as it seems to put a lot of things into perspective. Specifically, how good pain is to experience in order to cleanse your soul and give you an appreciation for what you have. I don’t think I’ve ever felt better in my life and it’s strange to think about how a lot of my feelings are a direct result of an emotional tsunami I was hit with this winter. But I digress.
In late May, the band I play in is going to do a few shows on the west coast with a band on Swami Records. I’m pretty excited about the whole thing since it really just seems to have fallen into place with little effort on my part. I’m not sure if we can chalk it up to experience, luck or dues paid, but things are coming together nicely for this project and I’m glad we’re taking advantage of the opportunities that come our way. My goal with this band is to do a tour of Europe. Who needs the U.S. anyways? No one, that’s who. Touring down there is pointless (from an economic standpoint at least) unless they want you down there. Besides, when you get to be my age, you don’t have time to screw around and play for 3 people. You take what you learn from being on the road and build on it to have more successful tours. Which is what we’re doing, which is why I’m really happy to be playing with these guys.
Continuing on with my Saturday afternoon rambling, I read something in the paper today about how atheletes are being told to can their criticism of China in Tibet if they want to compete in this summer’s Olympics. People are saying “oh, you shouldn’t politicize the Olympics, it’s all about the sport”. I say really? First of all, why not politicize it? China has been giving Tibet a raw deal for decades and no amount of serious attention has ever been paid to the crisis until now. The lid is finally being blown off the issue and for the first time China is being openly criticized for the massive human rights violations they are committing by continually oppressing the Tibetan people. Tibetan Freedom Concerts sure didn’t work, let’s hope the Olympics shine a light on the shaft that is China’s occupation of Tibet. Also, watch for the media’s use of loaded terms when describing the Dalai Lama. It’s pretty amusing to hear them spin the stink out of some of the things he says. Anyways, secondly, it’s not all about the sport anymore. Who are they kidding? It’s about money, sponsorships, advertising and creating environmental and social facades to have people pay more attention to (ie. throw money at) international cities/business hubs. Yeah right, the 2010 Olympics are all about the sport. How about the destruction of forests to widen roads to Whistler, the gentrification of downtown, the shipping of homeless people to smaller towns in order to sweep under the rug the increasing problem that is the widening of the gap between the haves and havenots.
Huh, I guess that’s my little rant for the day. I think I should probably get this computer off my lap and soak the sun while it’s still up and why do I have this desire to listen to Fleetwood Mac all of a sudden?
Horray! It’s friday and I’m back in the city getting ready to find some eats. The cats are good and it’s supposed to be 20 degrees here this weekend. I smell a cookout tomorrow! If there’s one thing we’re good for this far north, it’s going hard when spring finally hits and not wasting a moment.
Anyways, today was great. In Bio, we were talking about bioethics and I can’t remember how it came about, but one of my female students asked how old you had to be to adopt a kid. I said I didn’t know and then a boy proposed adopting a 17 year old with the intentions of marrying her. This gave me an excuse to call him a “gross little pervert”. Class erupts in laughter and we talk about ethics until the bell rings.
Gym was kind of a pain in my butt because some of the kids really couldn’t care less that I was in charge. It was friday, I told them they could do the activity or sit in the office. The girls said they’d rather do yoga.
In science the kids got a unit test. They were freaking out and I think they were anticipating a much harder test. After they were done we made cell walls out off bubbles and screwed around until the day was done. Everybody wanted to split today. I think it was that taste of 2 free weeks that’s making everyone even more anxious to get out of there.
Just something interesting I thought I’d share before I sign off, and really the main reason I’m blogging today. A follow up on that link I posted to garbage island. Since we can’t depend on the mass media to keep us informed when it comes to the things that are truly detrimental to our well being, (see: CNN’s report today on why Heather Mills dumped water on her lawyer’s head), the folks at Vice continue to impress me with their guerrilla reporting. You’ll remember them from that like I posted to their documentary on the oil sands. This month, they posted an excellent feature on actually sailing out to garbage island in what I’m pretty sure is the first thorough investigation of the mass. Check it out! Yet another reason to curb our consumption of plastic crap that ultimately ends up littering the planet with particles that will take eons to break down.
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16 days left.
Getting worn down, am looking forward to returning to the city this weekend. I think a bit of it has to do with my living situation and yearning for a place of my own again.
The kids today were good. Science 10 always puts a smile on my face. I handed my students back their stem cell posters and told them to challenge me if they thought they deserved extra marks. I also told them that if they were trying to challenge a 95%, they were wasting my time and I’d dock them marks.
A kid barfed after gym class and I got my ass handed to me in a game of skate after school.
