The man of twists and turns

I made a fine Odysseus today, and my colleague next door, the one all the students think I'm having an affair with, made a fine Calypso. There were chains and whips involved. I felt like a star as we walked through the 9th grade lunch period, she dragging me with a chain and whipping me. Teaching is so fun.

It was a pretty tiring day, though. It's hard to get the kids in line when you're wearing a toga.

The whole English department dressed up - sirens, Antinous, Charibdis, Scylla, Polyphemus. It was a lot of fun. The first kid to match all the parts got a $50 gift certificate.

Teaching is pretty fun.

Essays go back

My Juniors' essays were turned in two weeks ago, and, in that time, they have been the bane of my existence. I try not to spend this much time usually on essays, but, for this first one, I tried to put as much as possible into them. I numbered all grammatical errors, and they'll be going back and finding their errors and explaining why they are errors. I made a huge amount of comments. Each took a good 15-30 minutes, depending on the quality. Most were very low quality. The class average was 40/75, with the high score being a 65 (a "B") and low scores falling into the teens. Yes, some of them are that bad.

They'll get there, but we'll struggle through it until then. Today was not a pleasant day for them, I'm sure - a long speech, explaining that it is not my goal ever to cut down students, but that these were poor efforts for the most part, that they had to get to a certain point by the end of the year, and this was the first stop on that journey. The problems range the entire gamut - one girl makes 75 grammatical errors in an essay, while another has flawless grammar but plays it too safe to say anything interesting. One kid makes broad sweeping generalizations in thesis statements and topic sentences, while another says interesting things but pays no attention to the devices or literary features that create the effects about which he is writing.

I met with several students after school about it. There were tears. I suspect some of them have never done badly on an essay before.

*****

I'm starting to grow resentful of the second job again. Whenever I'm overworked for a bit, this occurs. I've been there three nights a week all school year, even a couple of four-nighters, and that's on top of my two graduate courses. And after tonight's menu meeting (where at least we were fed the new items from the menu), I've swent four of the last five nights there. I'm just tiring of not having any weekends, ever. My debts are stating to dwindle, though, and I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. There is nearly zero chance I'll still be waiting tables at this time next year.

This weekend, I am flying out of town, so that's a weekend off. Even though I'll be traveling (a lot, and not necessarily fun travel), it will at least give me some time away from the restaurant, which I need.

World Series

What a disappointing post-season it has been. I haven't been able to watch hardly any games, because I wait tables or have class on every game night. And the Red Sox have decided that now is the time to get hot, as they've had their first six-game win streak of the year. So many things are making me mad about it - the fact that Goliath is winning, their huge payroll, their stupid luck in developing a Rookie of the Year candidate despite their huge payroll, the long layoff which killed the Rockies' momentum and put the World Series squarely in the Red Sox' favor, the fact that the Yankees spent the time screwing over Jim Torre so I can't just declare the Red Sox as my most-hated team (it still has to be a tie with the Yankees), stupid Japanese pitcher who makes you pay $50 million to even negotiation with him, their smug fans, a combination of smugness and victimization, leaving Tim Wakefield off the roster, the fact that this will increase the size of Red Sox nation even more and make Orioles games against the Red Sox even more annoying, etc.

But it's really about jealousy. I want my Tigers there.

Weekend

Phew! Saturday is here, and the week is over. Thursday and Friday were a couple of jam-packed days. Thursday was the big 9th grade field trip, and it went as planned. We planned for it to be a hot ghetto mess (H.G.M.) [or, at least, that's what our colleague dubbed it], which is what it was. Too few busses, not enough seats in the auditorium, about a $138 that we had to pay out of pocket. Still, all the kids got to see a slightly-too-erotic (one kid, afterwards, said he wanted Circe to perform at his birthday party, preferably coming out of a cake) stage version of Derek Walcott's translation of The Odyssey. The kids were pretty engaged, which is a feat for a 2.5 hour stage production without an intermission.

Yesterday was also a big day for the school, including an annual three-hour assembly and shortened classes thereafter. These days mean minimal breaks and - in Thursday's case - not even a lunch, but they break up the routine and are pretty cool. Two days in a row, though, are pretty exhausting.

Midterms, Disappointments, and Field Trips

1. We just got our midterms back. 88%. Not too bad. Class average was 82%. I only received 33/45 on the multiple choice, but got all the points for the writing. We're allowed to re-submit our wrong answers, explaining why the answer we didn't circle was correct, for half a point each. I'll probably do that. But I really don't know how to write a narrative about why "A and B" was right instead of just "A." I just didn't know that the Surgeon General had something to do with IRBs being created, okay? I knew the Tuskegee Syphilis study, but not the Surgeon General thing. How am I supposed to explain why I was wrong? Uh, because I didn't know. I still maintain I've learned nothing in the course.

2. And, sadly, I'm at Towson right now, not the Sinead O'Connor concert. I just kept thinking about how I'm spending $2300 on these courses, and not going to a class is just isn't something I should consider. That damn sense of unneeded obligation I have! Today, they posted Boston Globe review on the Sinead O'Connor website, and I'm a bit more disappointed now that I didn't go. Starting with "The Emperor's New Clothes"? Wow. Oh well, I'm sure she'll tour again. Not before retiring again and coming back again, though. She's playing in Philadelphia on Oct. 30. Ridiculous, but I could swing it if I really feel too disappointed. It's not the end of the world.

3. My not going, to be honest, has as much to do with my general exhaustion right now as anything else. I usually get out of school pretty early on Wednesdays, since I have class until 10, but today, I left at 6:30, leaving me just enough time to drrive up to Towson and arrive four minutes late to my 7:00 class. See, tomorrow is the big 9th grade field trip, and we I spent a lot of time tying up loose ends and getting shit together. The biggest stress is the money cycling through me right now. The field trip is $13 per student, and the current book we're reading is $14 per book. I just went and paid a $2076 bill at the bookstore. I've already brought in $1352 into the bank for the field trip, turning it into money orders for the university and the bus companies. I still have a few hundred left. I've been carrying around so much cash lately that I live in fear of being robbed, like my colleague was over the weekend - she had an undetermined amount of around $400 stolen from her classroom for this field trip. We're all sort of pitching in to get the kids busses still, but it sucks nonetheless. Now she hands me all her money because I'm - ha ha - the responsible one, or at least the one who doesn't get money stolen. By the end of it all, I'll have had several thousand dollars worth of dirty ones, fives, and tens cycle through my pockets and into the hands of others. I wonder how much I'll end up losing on the deal? Hopefully minimal. At this point, it's impossible to know. Field trips are hard work and stressful, at least big field trips (this is over 200 kids).

Epiphany in Brooklyn meets Epiphany in Baltimore

This blog is named "Epiphany in Baltimore" as an homage to the great Brenda Kahn album of 1992, Epiphany in Brooklyn. She hasn't released an album since 1998's Hunger, which was most somber music related to the death of her friend Jeff Buckley. I know she's had a couple of kids in the meantime, and her website is mostly inactive (though I noticed a gig in NYC this past summer).

Anyhow, I decided to email her yesterday, to get myself excited about house concerts again. Like a lot of things, that's been waning. But it's always been a dream of mine to host a concert for her. She's one of my favorite artists of all time, and that album - Epiphany in Brooklyn - is my one Desert Island Disc... an epic, wonderous piece of songwriting.

She replied today. She's in. Woo-hoo. She's opened up for Dylan and now she will play my house.

****

Tomorrow I have an interesting dilemma: my horrible graduate course or Sinead O'Connor in DC. I've been a fan for twenty years, and my only time I saw her live was a (transcendent) six-song set at Lilith Fair, way up on the hill at Pine Knob, where I could only hear her, not see her. If I go, it will be spur-of-the-moment, probably alone because it'll be last minute. But it could be a really good thing for me. I need to get away a bit.

****

By the way, top five Desert Island discs: Epiphany in Brooklyn, College Dropout, August and Everything After, Weezer, Dan Bern.

Room 227

As much as I whine on this blog - and I know I go through stretches when I whine a lot (last week, I'm pretty sure it was doing my taxes that set me off, plus my pretty extreme exhaustion I've been feeling lately) - this has been a pretty terrific year in the classroom. My ninth graders are great little kids, full of wonder and need. Second period and tenth period are wonderful little classes, full of funny, smart kids who need a lot of work and do a lot of it as well. My eleventh graders are usually pretty good, as well. Out of the two classes at this level, I have the bigger (37 to 33) and rawer of the group, and the group that will grow the most. I look forward to that. I love that a lot of kids decided to take on the challenge of the course because they love to read. If you love to read and work hard, I can get you where you need to be.

Anyhow, here are things going on in my classroom:

1. In what has become an annual tradition (last year, we did To Kill a Mockingbird), the entire English department is dressing up as characters from a work of literature this Halloween. Kids win a contest by matching everyone with their parts. This year, it's The Odyssey. It should be a blast. I'm Odysseus, and actually bought a Greek costume to portray him.

2. My Juniors really can't write very well. I feel like saying things to them like Mr. Weurding used to say to us in high school, things like, "I wouldn't even use these to blow my nose on." And, tomorrow, or whenever I get these essays all the way done, I definitely am preparing a speech, not quite that harsh but harsh. I never want to read that sort of crap again. Then I've got to back up and do more teaching of writing, not just assigning.

3. In general, my 9th graders can't read very well. Or, a significant portion of them can't. I'm going pretty slowly through The Odyssey, though, and giving license to "skim" a few of the books (with other ones being close readings), and I couldn't have asked for the unit to have gone any better than it has so far. Some kids genuinely love it. Some kids love figuring it out. Other kids have bad attitudes, but that's okay. They'll figure it out.

4. I don't know if the 9th graders can write yet. I know they have terrible grammar and that this will be a problem and we're already working on it with daily grammar practice. We're going to write our first essay at the end of the unit. We'll see...

5. Very busy Coach classes.

6. The big 9th grade field trip is Thursday.

7. North Avenue sent some silly benchmarks, giving a day's notice. I decided to send it home as homework. It worked just fine. Then I got to teach that day. I've lost instructional days to a guidance visit, the PSAT, picture day, and professional development in the last couple of weeks. I bet I've had 8 days of instruction this month.

8. Big dog and pony show today with people from "the state" coming in, as well as some bigwigs from North Avenue. Administrator types told us we had to have graded student work on the walls (in high school!), as well as Core Learning Goals posted. Just before they came, folks scurried into my room and made sure I was okay. That my interior decorating skills were up to date. Because that's the only thing that these visit are about - the "look-for"'s. And I barely even mind anymore. My tolerance for system ridiculousness is apparently becoming stronger and stronger.

What I'd look for in a new school

A comment on yesterday's whiny entry asked, "I wonder why it is you stay in Baltimore." Certainly a fair question, and it's certainly something that I've thought about a lot. I'm feeling pretty let down by the city lately. Maybe I just miss the "Believe" signs, but it just seems like the city has lost its verve or something. It's just so trashy, so crime-ridden, so disorganized, so apathetic in so many ways. And my family is far away. Why is it that I stay here?

It's mostly about the job. I think I really have a unique teaching job. The more I take classes up at Towson, and listen to those county teachers talk about their horrible jobs, where they have a mandated curriculum where people check whether you're on page 172 the day you're supposed to be on page 172, the more lucky I feel. Could I find a job where I can do the work I'm doing now, somewhere else? I don't think one exists in Michigan, especially in that current job market. Maybe somewhere in the Chicago area, maybe. I'll be here next year and the year after (BCPSS requires this for its reimbursement of my tuition costs), but after that, the epiphany probably won't be in Baltimore anymore. We'll see, though, of course.

Here is what I would look for in a school, which are all things I have now:

1. An International Baccalaureate school: I think the program is great, and I know I've developed some systems that work very well with it.

2. A school where the parents are almost always supportive

3. A school with an at-risk population

4. A school with kids who want to do well, where rigorous standards are set and met

5. A school where you can get away with teaching almost anything, as long as you can justify it according to state standards

6. A school with a lot of flexibility of curriculum, where I get a huge say in what I decide to do in my classroom for any given day

7. A school with a lot of great young teachers, who challenge me to be a better teacher. I literally work with two Nationally Board certified teachers, plus several others who are just great

8. A decent pay, for a teacher with my experience

9. A school where I get to coach baseball

10. A school where I have some clout. I'm committed, people know it, and my words hold some weight.

A night without Espon Salt

A few weeks ago, my podiatrist called me, and left a long message explaining that my insurance does not cover Orthotics, but that I can purchase something called Spencos and that might help that pain in the ball of my feet. Ever since I started running this summer, and then sprinted to get a triple playing softball, it's pretty much been in pain non-stop. It's not a sharp pain, but a long slow stupid pain that, at this point, feels like it can be described as chronic. According to the podiatrist, I have no cartilage in that area between the bones, and, according to some internet searches, this is pretty much another word for arthritis. Anyhow, I finally made my way up to Charm City Run today, and bought the $30 Spenco orthotic pads. And, believe it or not, my foot is actually feeling better. It feels fine even now, after a 90-minute workout at the gym, and six hours of waiting tables. No Espon Salt tonight!

*****

I have to admit that things are feeling not that great lately. The week was bad, and the city of Baltimore decided to add an exclamation point to it last night, when, at the second job, I got a $42 parking ticket. I was parked in an area that I circled around the block several times to find a good spot at, because it's always the "safe" block - the block where I don't have to worry about feeding meters or anything else. I could not believe that I got the ticket, but the owner of the restaurant said they added a sign about two-hour parking except for residents in the last week. I checked, and the brand new sign was there, about thirty or forty feet from where I parked, way at the beginning of the block. To add insult to injury, my car was (according to the ticket) marked at 9:30, and I received the ticket at 11:30. I punched out at exactly 11:31, meaning I literally missed a ticket by less than five minutes. It all just made me really hate this city.

*****

Today, I feel much better somehow. It was my "day off," meaning I only worked six hours in a week that saw me log 91 hours of work/commitment between my two jobs and two courses. It was a busy week, and a big downer, a bit of a valley in my time in Baltimore, to be honest. But last night I bought a plane ticket to spend a weekend in Michigan in a couple of weeks, and all my grading over the last few days makes me pretty excited to start the week with my students next week. And I'm hoping I'll get out of this funk soon.

The Red Sox leading after six isn't helping matters any.

exhaustion, delerium and obsession

My colleague walked into my classroom at 7 tonight, and told me to leave, and asked me to walk her out. "It's dark," she said. "And we're the last two left."

I hemmed and hawed, and then she looked over my shoulder, and she saw I was creating an extra credit grade category in Easy GradePro. "What?! You're making it extra credit?" she asked incredulously. I barked a reply back to her, but I was exhausted and it came out like a slur. We had just spent about four hours straight, grading together. "Yu're clearly delirious. It's time to go." I agreed.

And so we packed up, and left, and, indeed, we were the only two cars in the parking lot on this Friday night. If ever I give up a Friday afternoon happy hour in favor of grading, you know I'm in the weeds in a big way. And I am right now. Wow. My school work fell behind this week, so I could get my grad school work done. Plus, I found myself grading homeworks from back in September today.

I did hang out with a few friends afterwards, though, and had a pretty good time before having to duck out quickly to prepare for class tomorrow. But I feel like I'm faking it a bit lately. Not only am I perpetually exhausted, but I was hoping that my thirties were going to be grand, but so far I barely feel like I've been living my life for the last two months. More like it's living me, or dragging me along or something. I'm clearly not overly happy with things, and that of course affects everything, but I need to see the forest for the trees quite a bit more. I mean, the dramatic surgeries that my family has faced in the last few weeks - and I'm not counting my own little one as one of them - have all ended pretty good, considering. Yet the feelings associated with them, as well as a lot of things, just cling to me, their tendrils wrapped around my fingertips and ears and back. And my life feels a bit like that scene in Labyrinth, where Jennifer Connelly is falling down that shaft, and hands are grabbing her from all sides. Everyone needs a piece of me. I'm just too busy, disorganized, and unhealthy. I need to get away and gain soem perspective. I need to get home and see my mom. I need to go into the woods and not worry about things for a while. I need to stop skipping gym trips because I'm "too tired". I need to do a lot of things; why am I not doing them?


The weekend: Saturday - Class 9a-4p, Wait tables 5p-1a; Sunday - Meeting with colleague about new unit - 2a-4p; wait tables 5p-11p.

On a lighter note, I'm totally obsessed with this new-ish Lauryn Hill song, "Lose Myself," which I guess I missed when it came out in May. She's so great - just love the voice and lyrics here, and that electro beat in the background. (I'm someone who actually enjoyed her crazy Unplugged album, too... something about an artist being so totally unrestrained and revealing that I find powerful, like Paul Thomas Anderson in Magnolia.)

Judging from this song, I think it's time that Ms. Hill came back and saved R&B.



Update: This guy has a really good review of the song here.

rest

Oh my gosh, I just can't keep it up much longer.

Got the results back from my surgery today, by the way. Benign, as well. It took all of five minutes at the doctor's to take out my stitches. And I bled. Probably could have had it done in three minutes but for that little detail.

Great article in the Sun today about the teacher contract. Very balanced.

So tired I can't see straight. Waited tables tonight. Made good money. Home now. Grading a little. Too tired to keep it up, though. Tomorrow should be a good, productive day, though.

Actually, I wouldn't mind a 5 day break

Had a rather interesting department meeting today.

Today, as an official part of the meeting, we heard a story of a teacher at another school who was suspended without pay for five days after the superintendent visited and the teacher did not have a lesson plan (or lesson plans). I recognized this as one of the urban myths that Voice For School Truth outlined in his post here (point #6).

And I said so.

She said she trusted the person who told her this story, that this person was not a rumor-spreader, but, come on... if a teacher was really suspended without pay for not having a lesson plan, don't you think the union would be all over that? Wouldn't we know his name? His school? Wouldn't there be media coverage? I mean, yeah, it's bad not to have a lesson plan, but there is a process that happens when something like this occurs. He might get a letter in his file. He might even get put on a Personal Improvement Plan. But suspended for five days? I think not.

So, is the union spreading lies about Alonso in order to make their case better? I mean, they must know that calling for his ousting is ludicrous on its face. So they have to do this, I guess.

Or maybe the fear is being generated from other ways, like from all the firings/forced resignations at North Avenue.

All this political intrigue, I'm not sure if my heart can stand it...

Teacher questions

1. I am searching for books to pair with The Odyssey. They can be YA books, or short novels. Generally, I'm looking for novels that might have a character on a journey of self-discovery. So far, I have Manuel Luis Martinez's Drift, and Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad. 9th graders will be reading them in book circles.

2. I am seeking a program where students can "blog" about a book, or have a conversation about it. I'd like to use blogger, but it is blocked at school. Any thoughts? A discussion board of some sort?

One day at a time

I feel really swamped right now:

Grad School: I wrote the 27 pages of my two papers over the weekend, and turned in my paper within my extended time. The next on the horizon is the midterm due for my other class on Wednesday. It's a take-home midterm, and I finally downloaded and printed it out today, and it seems like it's written in another language, with symbols that I don't even recognize. I don't remember feeling this clueless about a test (the class is Educational Research, but it might as well be called Research and Methodology) since Organic Chemistry my sophomore year of college, when I decided to throw in the towel for the class after a couple of months of trying and failing to get help from this particular professor (in a class of 500) and just decided to go on exam days and get the tests for study next semester. Somehow, though, randomly guessing gave me a "C" for the course - must have been a heavy curve, and I'm guessing most felt as clueless as I did - and that was the moment I decided to switch from being a Science major to being an English major. I don't think randomly guessing will get me to pass this Educational Research midterm, though. I should just thank my lucky stars that I can learn the answers (somehow?) in the next 48 hours, and that it wasn't a closed test taken in class. I also have a 2-3 page paper to write for that course, also due on Wednesday, on some sort of project that apparently we'll be doing soon and is due at the end of the course. I have vague ideas about it, but feel so disassociated from this particular course that I barely realize what it is.

School: It's a weird week. I was expecting to have Monday and Tuesday with my students, though, so I could get a ways into The Odyssey and feel alright about sending them home to read over their long weekend. However, I found out at at 8:03pm that all of my classes would be taken up by Picture Day. No notice of this was given at all, and, for the second time in five days, all of my classes were taken over (the first time was because the guidance counselor had to come). This frustrates the hell out of me, because it made for a stressful day of bringing kids down and getting ID cards and walking through the halls with 14-year olds, when I could have been reading about Telemachus setting sail. Hopefully tomorrow will be a regular day, and then the rest of the week is shot: the PSAT Wednesday, and professional development on Thursday and Friday. Maybe I'll be able to catch up with grading, though.

Second Job: The boss asked me if I wanted to come in and do some marketing for him. Sounds really interesting and intriguing, but how in the hell can I find the time to do that? I'm already working three shifts a week!

Personal Life: Back on April 15, I filed a six-month extension for my taxes. I'm a procrastinator, though, and didn't end up doing them for the entire six months. A friend helped me tonight, though, and I'm supposed to be getting a bunch back. But I doubt I'll see a penny of it. I'm sure the IRS will figure out a reason why I shouldn't get any of it, and my ignorant, too-busy ass will just end up eating it. Dealing with money makes me think/realize I'll just never catch up and just depresses the hell out of me. That's why I procrastinated six months.

Stitches and biopsy report on Thursday.

Somehow, though, I managed to read the 561-page graphic novel Blankets over the weekend. All on the eliptical machine, in two 45-minute workouts. It's no Fun Home, but it's still pretty good.

Extensions

When I asked for my extension on Thursday - the first extension I've ever asked for in my decade as a student at Michigan State and Towson - I asked for 24 hours, until Saturday night at 11:59pm. The professor was sympathetic to my surgery, as well as the other things going on, and said that even sometime Sunday would be fine.

I'm glad she said that, because I didn't factor in the Red Sox / Indians game distracting me a bit last night. (Go Indians! Even though that hurts me to say a little!) Nor did I factor in the extreme nausea I felt most of the day, which culminating in throwing up all over the bathroom. I think it's the pain meds for the surgery, reacting unpleasantly with something I hate. I've stopped taking them.

I still wrote twelve pages, though, and have probably eight or so to write this morning before I can move on with my life.

On Wednesday, I have a take-home midterm exam due for the other class I'm taking. It's already posted and ready to print out, but I haven't bothered printing it out yet, because I know this particular project that I'm working on this weekend has to be my priority. It's after all due in a few hours. But that's next.

This week will suck in many ways. Grading will have to be on the back burner, and my Juniors are already snipping at me about their grades.

Democratic candidates

Even with the Noble Prize, I think my preferences for the Democratic candidates (or possible candidates) still look something like this:

Obama > Richardson > Gravel > Gore > Edwards > H. Clinton

It's interesting, because I am a supporter of Ms. Clinton; I will vote for her without grimacing if she is the Democratic nominee. This demonstrates the strength, in my eyes, of the Democratic candidates. But I definitely prefer someone I see more as a uniter, though, as well as someone who is more of a thermostat and not a thermometer. Hillary is too safe for me, too much of a politician, too much like her husband.

Obama has had a tough time of it lately. It's clear that the right wing spin machine knows that he is the stronger candidate in the general election, so they're inventing controversy around him (like the US Flag lapel). And I don't know why he's not getting more success. But I'm still hopeful things can turn around. A Rudy vs. Hillary campaign would be a nightmare. So much vitriol.

End to a long week

I just asked for, and was granted, my first extension on a paper in my history as a college student. Instead of Friday at 11:59pm, my major papers are due Sunday evening.

*****

I've listened to it for a week, and am ready to make it official: Kanye West's third album is a major disappointment. There are flashes, but not cohesion. I am heartened by the fact that several of my favorite artists - Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, Weezer, Dan Bern - all can claim that their third album is their worst (it doesn't always happen, though: Counting Crows' third album was better than their second; Brenda Kahn's third album was better than her first). Let's hope he makes a comeback, like Chapman (she made one of her strongest for her fourth), Vega (she made her masterpiece for her fourth), and doesn't do like Weezer (who haven't made a good album since their second). You have 25 years to write your first album, then two years to write your next album. For some (Chapman, West, Vega), that second album is still insightful, because the issues of dealing with life after fame can make some compelling art. Then, you run out of things to say, and make songs called, "Drunk and Hot Girls." Not impressed, Kanye.

*******

9th grader at my school shot over the weekend. Unbelievable. He's okay and out of the hospital.

More embarassment from my union

I think I'm even more disillusioned with the union now that they have called for the ousting of Dr. Alonso, the new CEO.

The man has been here for all of three months, and that's just not fair. I like the things that he is doing. It finally feels like someone competent is in charge. He's firing (or forcing resignations) of folks left and right at North Avenue, and that's a place that needs plenty of change. He talks a good game and comes off as intelligent and diligent.

Unfortunately, that is not how the union is coming off.

Judging from the comments for that particular article, the union is certainly not doing a very good job of winning over the hearts or minds of the public, either.

I do not want to give in about the planning period. You give an inch, they take a foot. The "principal's discretionary" use of our planning period could turn in to walking the halls or bathroom duty, for all we know. It's demeaning and belittling to think that we don't collaborate every single day, all the time.

But I wish the union had concentrated on more important issues, like class size (mine has leaped from average of 24 to an average of 35), materials, building safety, and a 12-month contract. And I wish they wouldn't come off so whiny and petty. Because that's what happening here. Dr. Alonso and the board (and don't get me started on the school board, or certain members of it) look like they're the ones fighting for the kids, and the union seems like it's fighting for 45 minutes. It's not a fair portrayal, and it's not true, but that's how it's looking.

This is not going to end well for the union. I can feel it. I wish I could call for a vote of no confidence in our union. (And, remember, I'm a huge pro-union type of guy!)

Thoughts on baseball

Oh, the chagrin of a baseball fan without cable during playoff season.

I spent $14.95/month during the baseball season so I can watch baseball on my computer, but it's blacked out during playoffs time, when I'm apparently expected to pay for cable to watch baseball games (despite the fact that my credit card was charged on October 1... grrrr). Therefore, I have been unable to watch even a second of playoff baseball. This is a bummer, of course, what can you do?

1. Part of me was really excited to see a Cubs vs. Yankees World Series. Oops.

2. I hate both the Indians and the Red Sox, but, as someone on the Detroit Tigers mailing list reminded me, I probably should root for Indians since they're from the AL Central. Sort of like how I root for the Big Ten team in the Bowl games. It's good for the rest of the baseball world to see that the AL Central is the toughest division in baseball. Still, I like players from the Red Sox a bit more (except for Schilling, of course), so it will be tough. As before, I guess it's "Go Diamondbacks!" because of Tony Clark.

3. Wouldn't it be great if the Yankees blow their team up a bit and start rebuilding, so they can see what it's like. I assume Torre is gone. Hopefully A-Rod is as well (and playing for the Tigers). They're an old team and they're just not very good. I look forward to their descent with glee.

"Are you alright? What's wrong with your face?"

It could be that I just got done with a little surgery and my stitches hurt, but today it was so hot that it felt downright unhealthy, and I was shocked that we weren't dismissed early. I felt ill and left home early, cancelling coach class and booking out after my last class. It's that hot. Actually, it's probably more the humidity than the heat that is making me weak, making me feel like I want to faint, and making the skin behind my ears peel.

Long, long day. When will this heat end? When will the school be equipped with a/c? It really feels wrong that we make kids sit in this heat and that we have to teach in it.

I love my 10th period, though!

Recovery from decapitation

A colleague commissioned a student to make me a get well soon card, and the front cover illustration was a man getting decapitated. That was the big joke this last week, that I was going in for a (a) lobotomy; or (b) decapitation. My dorky English teacher colleagues took to calling me Ichabod Crane today, in fact.

So she got the girl to make this huge card, and tons of students signed it, and almost every kid used a clever pun having to do with the word "head." "Head back in as soon as you can, Mr. E!" they would write, or maybe, "Keep your head up". It was sweet and funny.

But my favorite line was from a former student.

I taught him as a 9th grader, back in the fall of 2003. He's one of those kids whose teeth are so bright that they seem to glow, and he smiled all the time. He played baseball for me that spring, and I looked forward to what he might be able to do for me in the next few years. There aren't too many spindly tall left-handed pitchers in high school baseball, especially in the city.

When he was a Junior, he was chosen to attend a Ripken baseball camp. I helped him fill out the huge application, and, the next summer, he was flown to Florida to attend the camp for a week.

He never became a star pitcher, and, in fact, was always just sort of okay - usually my 4th or 5th best pitcher, my 7th or 8th place hitter. He turned into my best outfielder, though, and I always fended off other coaches who thought he dogged it at times - that was just his way. He just had a way that made it look easy, but he did work hard.

His message on the card?

"Coach, I'm sorry I missed you. Get well soon. I came up here to tell you something. I'm up at Coppin with a full baseball scholarship. Thanks for all you taught me."

I could have cried. The last couple of years of coaching have been more tough than not. I often don't feel worthy. I mean, especially when you coach a kid for four years in a row, there's a point where you wonder if you teach them anymore. For some, I'm sure I didn't - my baseball knowledge is finite, after all. That, combined with athletes throughout the years that had more of a sense of entitlement than they should, and did more whining, I just lost some of the joy in the last couple of years (plus, all these other pressures, but that's another story). So, last year, despite the great record and the farthest stint in the playoffs in a decade, I was stressed more often than not. All the work just didn't seem worth it.

But Jerel was in the first crop of kids who I coached, and I coached him for four years straight. He'd been with me through the thick and thin. He knew me; the whiners and the entitlement seekers did not. What a great group of guys that I lost last year to graduation. This will be the deciding year for me and coaching, to see if it's something I want to do for the rest of my career or not. Jerel's words helped, one way or another.

So, it might have seemed to be a pretty bad day. Too hot and humid to think straight. The kids were loud and wiggily, to the point where I had to stop class in 10th period and ask for a page-long essay about why we read books that are 3,000 years old by the end of class, because they were talkative during our discussion. After school, I showed To Kill a Mockingbird - a film I dislike quite a bit (despite my adoration of the book) - for extra credit and the kids were hot and whiny and wiggly during it. I got home so exhausted and sweaty that I immediately collapsed into a nap.

But, looking back (I can't sleep now, because of the nap), the day wasn't so bad. Thanks, Jerel.

So hot

I don't know if I can express to you how unbearably miserable the heat and humidity in the school building was today. I feel like my classroom was completely oppressive. I felt unhealthy and horrible all day, and was so drenched in sweat by the end of the day that I went home to change into shorts and a t-shirt before I went back and spent a few hours grading.

Ugh. Isn't it October?

My head wound was also quite sore for most of the day. The pain meds helped, though. They also made me a little woozy. It made period 4/5 pretty interesting.

Odyssey Unit (or, guess who has a skeletal plan all the way up past Thanksgiving?)

I'm so excited to be starting The Odyssey (Fagles translation) tomorrow. I'm sticking my neck out a little by doing it - my two colleagues are using excerpts of the terribly dull Fitzgerald translation in the text (books we can't have them take home because we don't have enough), while I'm having my students shell out $12 for the Fagles translation, of which we're reading pretty much the whole thing. Still, I'm really excited. The last time I taught the whole thing like this was three years ago, and those kids are now seniors, and several have told me that it was a very memorable unit for them.

I get so excited about this, because this text represents a major reason why we read literature, at least to me. When I think about it, I recall the time when I was a sophomore in college, and read The Color Purple for the second time, and met Alice Walker, and I just remember wondering why this book was so powerful to me. I mean, Celie was a poor black woman growing up in the south in the early part of the 20th century, and, here I was, a dumpy white guy in the last part of the century, in the midwest. Why was this book so powerful? And it was if something clicked, and I had an epiphany, and figured out that, yes, this is why we read - to experience someone else different from yourself, and bask in the similarities that make you both human. Sure, it's great to be entertained, and stuff like that, but we read to inhabit the humanity of another person.

In The Odyssey, we will read a text that came out of a society more than 3,000 years ago, yet we will recognize this common humanity between modern society and that of the Greeks. We are all on our own odyssey. We all have our own growing to do. We all have obstacles, as well as people who watch over us. These thoughts give me goosebumps. I hope I can get the kids excited about it, too. And the Fagles translation is just beautiful.

This is a chunk of my unit plan. The kids get a handout with this sort of language on it - what I want you to get out of this unit by the end, in terms of facts, concepts, and skills.

***

By the end of the unit, this is what you should have learned

I. Facts

* Characteristics of an epic poem and an epic hero
o In media res
o epic
o Homeric simile
o Muse
o Epithet
o Repetition/stock phrases
+ Reasons for this
o Epic Hero
+ How Odysseus is not a traditional epic hero
* Major figures of The Odyssey and their characteristics
o Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, the Suitors, Teresius, Laertes, Eumaes
o Athena, Calypso, Circe, Charybdis, Scylla, Sirens, Nausicaa, Cyclops (Polyphemus), Lotus Eaters
o The Gods: Zeus, Poseidon, Helios, Cronus, Athena, Apollo
* Basic structure of The Odyssey
* Basic plot of The Odyssey and its relation to The Iliad
* Define archetype and identity which archetypes The Odyssey establishes or repeats
* Some basic elements of ancient Greek society – oral tradition, geography, Rhapsodoi, Homer

This is what you should understand

II. Concepts

* That The Odyssey helps establish several literary archetypes – students should be able to analyze and identify archetypes in different texts
* That the characters of Telemachus and Nausicaa as young people who are just embarking on the road to maturity
* That the characters of Odysseus and Penelope as examples of adult people who are mature, although in some ways they are still growing
* That themselves, as young people, are encountering their own initiation into adulthood in an unjust world and the establishment of their own sense of identity, just like characters in The Odyssey

This is what you should be able to do

III. Skills

* Recognize/discuss/write about characteristics of epic, and their effects
* Recognize/discuss/write about universal human characteristics and values in two divergent societies spanning thousands of miles and years
* Recognize/discuss/write about coming-of-age elements in the characters, and relate them to their own lives and to previous literature
* Recognize/discuss/write about elements of epic in pop culture and society (Forrest Gump, Star Wars, Watership Down, etc)
* Compare and contrast two different translations of a section and analyze their effectiveness (great Socratic prompt)



Textmarking

In addition to the usual Inferences-Connections-Questions-Literary Terms (with particular focus on Homeric similes and other epic characteristics), I want students to mark for the following four topics. At the end of the text, they will choose two and write a response.

1. What qualities does the text hold up as heroic? Keep track of heroic qualities and the episodes in which they are most evident and necessary. Are there different kinds of heroism? Mark with an “H” or a color, then your inference.
2. What kinds of behavior are treated as contemptible, or flawed, in the Odyssey? Keep track of these qualities and the characters who embody them. Mark with a “C” or a color, then your inference.
3. Several characters change or grow as people in the epic, based on their experiences and realizations. Keep track of realizations (epiphanies, coming-of-age moments, milestones) and what is learned. Mark with a “G” or a color, then your inference.
4. How does the poem represent mortal women? Since Penelope is the most important woman in the Odyssey, what qualities does she possess, and how does she respond to the troubles she faces? (Some of the other women are of note, too-Eurycleia the serving woman, the faithless maidservants, Nausicaa the Phaeacian princess, and Helen of Sparta, Menelaus' queen, whose elopement with Prince Paris sparked the Trojan War.) Mark with a “W” or a color, then your inference.

This is like my life because…

Also, in preparation for their “My Life as an Odyssey” essay, students should make note of things they notice that can be compared to their own lives. Mark with a “L” and explain the connection to your life.

Assessments

* Daily reading questions and quizzes

* Group Presentation – present on a book of The Odyssey
o The Odyssey as a talk show – create script and act out.
o The Odyssey as a radio show, with sound effects
o The Odyssey as a short play, with costumes

* Individual Project
o Students create a board game based on the experiences of Odysseus
o View illustrations of The Odyssey and create your own
o Create a soundtrack for The Odyssey and explain how the song choices illustrate the themes of the text

* Writing
o Several examples of BCRs, Thesis Statements, and XYZ
o Write your own myth (sequel or other adventure) in the style of Homer, perhaps from the perspective of another character
o Odyssey personal essay: In this essay, you will relate events of The Odyssey to your own life – we are all on an odyssey. You will describe the experiences, initiations, ceremonies, adventures, and crises in your life that have moved you from one phase of your life to the next. You will write about several experiences in depth and explain how the experiences helped you to develop your identity and to become more mature. You will also explain important experiences that you think will happen to you or that you wish or fear will happen to you. You should consider how your past and present experiences have affected your sense of identity and your maturity.


Tentative Schedule
Monday, 10/8: Introduction (HW: Answer Introduction questions)
Tues, 10/9 or Wed 10/10: Oral reading of Book 1 (HW: Answer Book 1 questions) (Session with counselor other day)
Thurs 10/11: Read Book 2 together (HW: Answer Book 2 questions)
Fri 10/12: Read Book 3 together (CW: Answer Book 3 questions, HW: Skim Book 4 for information on Telemachus and Odysseus; textmark their character traits)
Mon 10/15: Read Book 5 together (CW: Answer Book 5 questions; HW: Read Book 6 and answer questions)
Tues 10/16: Review Book 6 (Quiz); Start Book 7 (HW: Questions for Book 7, Read Book 8 and answer questions)
Wed 10/17: PSAT
Thurs 10/18: Professional Development
Fri 10/19: Professional Development
Mon 10/22: Begin group presentations (HW: Book 9, read and questions)
Tues 10/23: Book 9 presentation (HW: Book 10, read and questions)
Wed 10/24: Book 10 presentation (HW: Book 11, read and questions)
Thurs 10/25: Field trip
Fri 10/26: Book 11 presentation (HW: Book 12, read and questions)
Mon 10/29: Book 12 presentation (HW: Book 13, read and questions)
Tues 10/30: Lesson: Archetypes Search for archetypes (HW: Book 14, read and questions
Wed 10/31: Lesson: Planning essays / Socratic (HW: Book 15, read and questions)
Thurs 11/1: Planning essays / Socratic (HW: Book 16, read and questions)
Fri 11/2: Planning essays / Socratic (HW: Book 17, read and questions)
Mon 11/5: Project week – work on own myth
Tues 11/6: Explain book club assignment
Wed 11/7: Have text finished
Thurs 11/8: Begin Fences
Fri 11/9: Individual project due (CW: Fences)
Mon 11/12: Textmarking and two journals due (CW: Fences)
Tues 11/13: Book club selections due (CW: Fences)
Wed 11/14: Personal essay due: “My Life as an Odyssey” (CW: Fences)
Thurs 11/15:(CW: Fences)
Fri 11/16: (CW: Fences)
Mon 11/19: (CW: Fences)
Tues 11/20: (CW: Fences)
Wed 11/21: (CW: Fences) Fences essay and projects due
Thurs 11/22: Thanksgiving
Fri 11/23: Thanksgiving
Mon 11/26: Book Club Presentations
Tues 11/27: Begin A Lesson Before Dying

So this is what it feels like...

I've waited tables for five years as a second job, and pretty much haven't had any real weekends off not used for travel during that time. So when I do have a weekend off, I'm just amazed at what they feel like. I feel so caught up on nearly everything - the house is clean, the lesson plans are wrote, the handouts created, the grad school work started (a little, still got tons to do here). I had all of Friday off (though I had surgery) and all of Saturday off. Amazing. I even went to the movies and worked out twice.

It makes me want to quit the 2nd job. But I also did a lot of billpaying this weekend, and, of course, that just makes me want to keep it, until I'm totally out of debt (except for student loans). I'm not nearly there yet.

Head's a little sore, and I am heading in to wait tables tonight. But I'm feeling good otherwise.

Kanye, Common, and Sinead

I took $12 of my tips the other day and bought Kanye West's new album, Graduation. Unfortunately, I bought it at Wal-Mart, where I also bought a watch and some protein shakes (can't get either cheaper anywhere), and upon listening to it over the next couple of days, it's clear that I got the "clean" version. I checked the packaging again, and nowhere does it say this anywhere, so I'm a bit pissed off, but I figure that's my punishment for buying a CD from Wal-Mart. I got what I deserved, I guess.

But now I'm left in a quandary: should I buy the CD again, perhaps selling the original to Soundgarden? Or should I just stick with what I have? I don't buy myself pleasures very often, and I certainly can't afford to throw any money away.

In addition, it appears to be West's least satisfying CD so far. I do believe that Kanye West is the most talented and revolutionary music artist to emerge in the last decade, and that he has contributed more to the music culture than just about anyone in that time, but nothing is grabbing me like his epic "Spaceship" or "Jesus Walks" or "Never Let Me Down" from College Dropout, nor his "Goldigger," "Roses," or "Addiction" from his second album. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of soul there. I must say, though, that "Stronger" is right up there with his best tracks ever. Unfortunately, the bleeping of a curse word in it makes the song lost some power for me.

Speaking of albums, I was totally ready to declare Common's Finding Forever as the best album of the year, but I think I was entranced by its production more than its lyrics. The production is some of the best I've ever heard, and, at times, the lyrics matches its power. But not all the time. It's a 4-star album, not a 5-star album. West's is a 3-star right now, after a 5-star and a 4.5-star album before that.

Next, I'd really like to get Ben Harper's new album, plus Sinead O'Connor's and Suzanne Vega's. I'm holding myself back, though, for now. Sinead O'Connor is actually coming into the area at the end of October, and I think I might go. Like Suzanne Vega last month, I've been a fan of Sinead's for twenty years. I think she's the most misunderstood artist in American music during that time, and that she's produced some of the most daring, insightful, powerful, and influential music during that time. I'm not so much into reggae Sinead, though, nor into Sinead singing traditional Irish songs nor Gershwin songs. But according to some blog posts I've read, she's going all the way back to The Lion and the Cobra in her set lists, playing "Mandinka" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" and "Black Boys on Mopeds" and this song, my favorite of Sinead's:

It's over

I'm back home now and resting comfortably. I'm trying to go the night without the pain meds.

The surgeon removed something that looked like a lima bean (same size, shape, and color) from the back of my skull today. It's getting biopsied, but he doesn't think it's anything. The surgery was uncomfortable, but not very painful. I was awake for the whole thing, which took half an hour. Nurses paid more attention to me today than people ever pay attention to me in real life. Since around four, I've been at home and sleeping - I'm groggy and a little sore. One of the dogs woke me up tonight by licking around my head wound. He didn't end up shaving my head, just cutting some hair around the point of entry. If I didn't tell you about it, you wouldn't see my stitches unless you were looking for them.

Yesterday, my grandmother had a major four-hour surgery on her back. She's been in terrible pain for months, but her legs are feeling better already. She's in an out of consciousness, but had grandpa call me this morning and leave me a message. It was the first message grandpa - who hates to talk on the phone - has ever left me in my thirty years.

The source of the major strain/stress/pain in my life right now isn't over. That's next week. But two out of three ain't bad, for now.

Voice for School Truth

If you're not reading the Baltimore Sun's Classroom Connections blog, you should be.

Today, Sara Neufeld, the reporter who posts most of the Baltimore City Public Schools stuff (and seems to have a genuine desire to use her position to start to eliminate the cronyism and ineptitude of North Avenue), received a comment from a Baltimore City teacher about the union contract dispute. It's linked here.

"Voice for School Truth" isn't me, but s/he offers many of the same sentiments that I feel. It's worth a read.

(Surgery update: I leave in 15 minutes)

More Baltimore teacher contract stuff...

Today's discussion about the contract changed my view a bit. While my earlier disappointment with the union remains, and taking away a planning period isn't a big deal for me (I'm asked to give up planning periods fairly often), it is a big deal for elementary teachers, who only get three planning periods a week. Giving up one is a big deal for them, clearly.

It also really weirds me out that the school board is so into taking this one planning period away. It makes me think that something drastic is in store. Will they lay off the paraprofessionals and have teachers take duties that paraprofessionals would normally take? I can just imagine an administrator asking someone to take the phones for their planning period, or to take on a lavatory duty. The fact that this is being asked to be written into our contract is a scary thing, especially since actual collaboration - which is what they are purporting this to be - occurs naturally without contractual obligations.

I still wish my union fought about materials and class sizes, though. It still feels so petty. But, the most important issue is the lack of a contract. It's now been four months and the Baltimore City teachers don't have one.

If I wasn't having surgery tomorrow, I'd be making my placard and marching.

Get in (picket) line: More talk about the lack of a contract

The contract talks with the city have intensified, and now the union has called for picketing and a vote of no confidence for Alonso.

My feelings haven't changed, except that I'm perhaps more frustrated with my union than before, because I think going after Alonso is unfair. I'm happy with what the man has done so far, and attacking this new guy with the credentials who says all the right things and works his butt off seems like a poor political ploy. I will not be signing any vote of no confidence against Dr. Alonso. I would be much more likely to do it for Marietta English, the President of the Union.

To recap:

A. I'm embarassed to be part of a union that fights for 45 minutes of planning time a week, rather than class sizes (one of my classes hit 37 this week, and I've got 170 kids), materials (still no overhead projector, still no textbooks for the kids to take home, still no working printer or computer that I didn't buy myself), or a 12-month contract.

B. I'm frustrated and embarassed by the "work to rule" tactic. It's ineffective and hurts kids.

C. While I'm embarassed by the above, I'm also frustrated with the school board for not giving teachers a contract. The planning time is something I don't particularly care about - we're asked to attend meetings during our planning period fairly often, and it's just a necessary part of the job, and no professional teacher refuses unless it's totally useless - but I do not want this time dictated by North Avenue nor administration. Professional teachers take time to collaborate without it written into the contract. Writing it into the contract and allowing North Avenue to control that time is ridiculous, and I'm glad that the union is standing up against it - I'm just angry beyond belief that this is all they are standing up for.

The union head at school is calling for teachers to wear yellow t-shirts on Friday and to picket in support of getting a contract. If I wasn't having surgery, I'd be doing that, because I do want a contract, and I do think it's important that this issue is publicized. But I'd also be disappointed and embarassed by the details behind it all.

Dump Day

A full night of sleep. That's what I want.

I'm exhausted and cranky, and the week in the classroom is - unsurprisingly - not going well. Somehow, all my classes have gotten onto different schedules, and my lesson plans working much different in some classes than in others. I discovered today that I was going over something I had gone over the day before with one class that I thought was behind. That's the sort of day it was, the day a kid yells out to me and says, "Didn't we do this yesterday" and another chimes in, "Yes, thanks a lot for wasting my paper!" and rips it to shreds.

I just can't believe how tired I am, and how much I feel like I'm being pulled in every which way. Hands seem to be grabbing for parts of me wherever I go.

A friend looked at me the other day and said, "You know, we're all just concerned, because I think if you really analyze it, most of your issues come from being lonely." And it's interesting, but I have felt lonely before in my life, in fact very lonely, and now is not one of those times. I have 100 friends in Baltimore. I have friends that I wait tables with. I have friends that I teach with. I have friends that I blog with. I have friends who I attend grad school with. I have friends back home in Michigan. I have friends who I've recently reconnected with after years apart. I have friends who I would die for who live ten minutes away and I see once a month. I have a good roommate who is a friend. I have some friends who know me better than anyone has ever known me. I'm not lonely. No, what I'm longing for mostly now is time for myself, time that is nearly extinct this semester, this long semester that hopefully will be over before I know it.

I'm in my Wednesday class now, a class of concern for me because I'm now four or five weeks into it and haven't hardly learned a thing. And it's not because I already know the material, but, rather, because I just am having a hard time finding it in me to care about it. Next week was the midterm, and that was scaring the hell out of me, but the folks here just convinced him to make the midterm online. This is good, because I'm sure I'll be able to figure out the answers to it. Most of the course will be my research and research proposal, and I'm formulating something about reading comprehension and strategies. It would be a huge bummer if I spent all this money and took all these courses and didn't end up passing them and getting my Master's.

Being a reluctant student helps me identify with my students, though. I wish I could tell this professor things that I'm sure the students wish they could tell me: "Don't you have any idea what my life is like right now? Don't you know that just being here in this seat was a major feat? I see you're trying, but can't you make things just a little bit more interesting for me? No, I didn't do the reading. Does that make my presence here useless?". Hopefully it'll pass. I have a sense that most of the class is actually this final project, and I can do that.

My week ends tomorrow, and, ironically, I'm looking forward to my surgery on Friday. I'm looking forward to a day just between me, myself, and my health, the latter of which I have been neglecting. That should help focus me a bit. The surgery is fairly minor, certainly the least of my worries right now in the area of health, and getting it over and done with after so much anticipation is something I'm looking forward to. The only thing that scares me is the whole shaving of my head thing (if you missed it, I'm getting a lumpectomy/biopsy for a lump on my scalp), but only because I'll have to make the decision about going with a patch of shaved scalp or just doing the whole thing afterwards.

A view and the playoffs

My classroom is on the second floor on the south side of the building, and I spent a good part of the month of September soaking through my shirts. Kids started calling me the sweaty teacher, and, in one spirited skit about mocking authority figures that I was invited to in drama class, one of my favorite students parodied me by dousing himself with water and pretending like he was sweating to death. However, while my classroom location leaves much to be desired for the hot months, it provides a beautiful view of the city. One good thing about staying late is watching the sun set over the city from my classroom windows. Baltimore looks beautiful from up there.

*****

After the Tigers are eliminated, I tend to root for baseball based on personalities on them. Most of the teams have former Tigers on them, but only one of them has Tony Clark, my favorite Tiger between, say, Matt Nokes and Carlos Pena. When Tony the Tiger came up to the Tigers in the early nineties, I thought he was going to be a star. It never quite happened, but then he turned into another kind of player I love: the underrated one, in need of constant defending. I also love what Clark has done with his career; he's turned himself into one of the premier backup first basemen and pinch-hitters in the game. Good for him. Go Diamondbacks! I'd love to see Tony the Tiger get a ring.

Of course, Craig Monroe is on the Cubs, and Monroe was a lot of fun to watch over the last few years on the Tigers. Not a great player, but he hit two of the most memorable home runs of my life. Plus, I've got a couple of friends who are big Cubs fans, and I'd like to see them happy. So, Go Cubs!

Three of the four AL teams that made it in are my three most hated teams of all - the Red Sox, the Indians, and the Yankees. I like the Angels a bit, but their type of offense annoys me. Guerrero is fun to watch, though. So is A-Rod. So is Youkilis. It'll be a good playoff season, I hope.

Monday adjustments

I used to think that I had enough guilt to start my own religion, but in the last few years, I haven't felt too guilty. Maybe I have shaken off my catholic elementary school upbringing, or maybe I just realized that I tend to feel more guilty than the normal person and needed to adjust.

One way I'm adjusting this year is by staying late on Mondays. Part of the tough part about teaching is that the work is, almost literally, never done. And, while this might be true with other jobs, I think it's different with teaching - you take your work home, the results of not doing the work affects young people and their future, etc. So, it's entirely possible to stay at school until deep into the night, and always have more to do.

This is especially true when you have a load of 170 students, and classes filled with kids up to 37 in number. I could stay every night, sleep on a cot for seven hours, and still have more work to do. It's a job that consumes you unless you set boundaries.

I'm not that good at setting boundaries, but I like how I'm adjusting so far this year. Part of the issue is my two courses, and the second job, so I can't extend myself deep into the evening as often as I'm used to. So, my adjustment started a couple of weeks ago. I decided that Mondays, I would make my work day. Mondays would be the only day I stay until dark. I know it, I plan on it, and that's the only unreasonable night I'll have.

This does two things. First of all, it allows me to finish a lot of stuff. Right now, I am completely caught up with all the grading in all of my 9th grade classes. That's an amazing feeling, especially heading into progress reports and my surgery. Secondly, it helps curtail my guilt about my courses. Tomorrow, I will jet out of work at around 4:30, right after Coach Class, so I can make it to the 2nd job and not feel guilty about leaving school early. On Wednesday, I will literally leave at 2:30pm to get to my class, and will harbor no guilt about it. Thursday, I'll stay a bit longer - have to get the sub plans ready, have to show To Kill a Mockingbird after school (I promised) - but it will not be unreasonable.

And it's staying late tonight that allows this. One night, and that's it. That's my rule this year. Compartmentalizing the stacks of work to one night should help me cope in a healthier manner, plus get the work back to my kids quicker. We'll see.