Matching Tracksuits

Fun in Fours

Results For "Month: October 2006"

Curriculum Concerns

In planning my lessons and the general shape of my course, there are a few things I have to take into consideration.

  1. The state curriculum
    Since most of the students are in eighth grade, I generally follow the eighth grade curriculum.
  2. The standards the program director wants implemented
    Hands-on is what he suggests, and I try to make as much of my teaching “hands on” as possible.
  3. The materials and facilities at my disposal
    Our program is relatively new, and while there are plenty of teaching materials available to me, the facilities are somewhat lacking. To everyone’s relief, this is due to change within the year.
  4. The worldview and experiences students bring into the classroom
    Most of the young people in the program don’t necessarily see the importance of education. Further, because they’ve been thrown out of school, they do not have a lot of trust in the educational establishment, which I obviously represent to them.

For these first six weeks, I taught basic chemistry. It’s part of the state curriculum; it’s very hands-on; at the level I’m teaching it, the course doesn’t require a lot of materials.

Beginning tomorrow, I’ll be switching to social studies. If I follow the state guidelines, I’ll be teaching North Carolina history.

In both cases, I wonder I am (or will be) teaching anything useful to these kids. Who cares if they can tell how many protons a given element’s going to have in its nucleus? Who cares if they have a vague understanding of North Carolina history? How’s that going to help them in a future that likely doesn’t include college and might not even include a high school diploma?

Even more troubling is the thought that I’m not their permanent teacher. I — like the rest of the staff — want them all out of the program as fast as possible. That being said, shouldn’t I be teaching them things that will help them succeed better once they do return to “regular” school?

The frustration mounts when I consider the academic level of many of our “consumers” (as the kids have to be referred to in Medicaid reports). Sadly, not one is on grade level; tragically, several are two, three, even four years behind. And I could add perhaps “predictably” to those sentences: if they’re having problems coping with anger and frustration, problems with showing respect toward others, they’re certainly not learning very much.

Of course, the first obvious answer is to throw out the state curriculum, to some degree. Going strictly by the book is not going to reach these kids — the fact that they’re in our program to begin with is ample evidence of that.

Second, meet the kids where they are in their academic achievement and — most critical — interests. At the moment, I have groups of four students when everyone is present and accounted for. Sometimes, I have two students. That means I taylor something specifically designed for each student and monitor them all as they work.

There’s not much I can do about changing their worldview except by giving them an example of a different one. And so I try to be enthusiastic even when — indeed, especially when — they’re dead in their chairs.

Sometimes I feel that being an example is about all I can do — and that’s not meant as a comment about their inability, but mine.

Evans, Ellington, et. al.

We got some new music today joined BMG again, with the intention of getting out within the month and doing it again.

Visions of high school, except the selections are a little more mature. Since I organized my music by genre ten years ago, the “rock and pop” collection has remained virtually static.

Among today’s arrivals:

  • Bill Evans Conversations with Myself
  • Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, Max Roach Money Jungle
  • Thelonius Monk Monk’s Dream
  • Chick Corea Now He Sings, Now He Sobs
  • Bach Mass in B-minor

It’s too early to pick a favorite, but I’ve listened to the Monk and Evans and find them to be everything jazz should be. Evan’s version of “Blue Monk” could make anyone smile. It’s anything but blue.

Well, okay – I do have a favorite, previously unmentioned. Dave Brubeck’s Time Out. I burned a copy of that many years ago and finally got an original. If you have only one jazz album, it should be this one.

As AMG says, “It doesn’t just sound sophisticated – it really iss ophisticated music, which lends itself to cerebral appreciation, yet never stops swinging.”

M$ “Security”

The latest news about Micro$oft’s new “security” for their Vista operating system is its apparent ability virtually to shut down computers using pirated versions of the operating system.

According to the Bangkok Post (chosen from Google News at random):

If Microsoft thinks you are running a pirated version of its next-generation Windows Vista, it will shut down your access to the operating system and, within a month, to most everything on your computer.

Microsoft is adamant that these technologies “cannot and will not turn off your computer.” But the measures raise the question of: What’s the difference?

According to a White Paper issued by the company yesterday, Microsoft will severely limit what the operating system does when the product hasn’t been properly activated, using a product key, after 30 days.

Like a frog in a slowly heating pot of water, the PC of a user using an allegedly unlicensed copy of Windows Vista will gradually lose functionality, until he or she can do nothing but surf the web one hour at a time, then be logged off by Windows. (Source)

MS still does not take into account why much of the world uses pirated software: cost. Microsoft does not offer tiered pricing in countries where the average earnings are much lower than in the States, and so many users resort to piracy. In Poland, for example, a legit copy of Windows XP would have cost me at least half my monthly earnings.

akacoolpeople.com

I work at a day treatment facility for troubled youth. They wind up in our program either through long-term suspension or via adjudication.

It can be a tough bunch of kids.

Recently, I set up a blog for the whole program with the aim of using it as a way for students to write for an actual audience, instead of just writing for the teacher, as is often the case.

But for that, we need an audience.

That’s obvious enough.

Since I’m just trying to get the kids excited about the idea of writing on a regular basis, I’m not having them do much of any correction. Small steps”

Read it with a smile. So I’m asking any willing readers to pop over to akacoolpeople.com and read what the kids have written so far, make a few comments (even if it’s “Hey, that sounds really great!”) and – most importantly – to keep checking back from time to time to make comments. It’ll be slow for a while (right now, there are only a few posts – two of them mine), but I’m hoping that as kids get comments, it will encourage them to write more. (And obviously enough, I’m looking for comments to the kids’ posts, not my own!)

Additionally, if you yourself have a blog or web site and would be willing, give “aka cool people” a mention and see if you can steer some more traffic our way.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tragedy’s Soundtrack

One of we regular listeners’ favorite aspects of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered” (other than the bookend effect it gives work day) is the musical interludes between segments.

Enough listeners apparently wrote in, asking for details, that NPR posts this information on their website.

It even spawned a new show: All Songs Considered.

Looking through ASC’s archives, I stumbled upon a link to the music NPR played on September 11, 2001.

As NPR covered the events of September 11th, it was music that gave listeners time to reflect, to digest the images and the impact. So many letters came to NPR telling us how comforted they were by the music. We’ve put together some of those songs here, in part to answer some of those letters wondering what we played (precise record keeping was impossible), and also to create an aural snapshot that in some small way tries to capture the tone of a nation shaken and changed.

It includes Philip Glass, John Williams, Pierre Bensusan, Ben Harper, Michael Hedges, Mark Isham, and Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G Major (played on a double bass). Many of the selections are from film soundtracks, and that makes sense. The music has been composed with the visual element imagined, or even projected on a large screen. It’s naturally conducive to subtly underlining the visual.

I’m not one usually to get sentimental about such things, but listening to the music, I couldn’t help but recall the footage we were shown over and over and over. At the time, it was tragedy only — no one had started using it for political gain. We didn’t know what lay in store.

The music brings back the overwhelming emptiness we all felt that day and puts some things back into perspective. It’s available at NPR.

Resistance

Some days, working with troubled youth means everything is an encounter. Everything is an issue. Everything offends. Everything upsets. Hairs are split, then split again, and yet again.

Morning Walk II

We tried again this morning.

Sunday Sunrise I

The light was not as great as it certainly will be tomorrow morning, driving to work. But still, better than yesterday.

Sunday Sunrise III