run today

Home stretch...

I am sitting here in the computer lab two weeks away from finishing up all my course work for the first semester of the credential program. I have a whole bunch of stuff due as well including a unit plan for social studies. This is probably the most daunting immediate task facing me as I make my way towards becoming a teacher. I think I can handle it though, I am going to create a unit on Imperialism and Africa. Students will study the experiences of Africans and their interactions with European colonizers. They will learn how Africans were treated and how they lived before and what changed when Europeans arrived. The hard part of all this is addressing content standards for the state of California. I feel like standards are not stressed as hard at Tam where I am observing/subbing as opposed to schools that I am likely to work at in the future. Many schools have to focus solely on the standards and have pacing guides dictating when they should be covering what so that students learn everything that is covered on the STAR tests. I wish that high school history curriculum could be more flexible as to allow for my in depth discovery of history. oh well.
I finished up training for fire crew and will be going on call on 5/18, so hopefully there are some forest fires. I am not sure when I will be going out and I may have some dead time on my hands when school is out. I can still sub and hopefully make a bit of cash. Gotta get back to work...

word up

Hey there I am back from Spring Break and things are pretty crazy. I am super busy with school projects and just trying to keep it together. I still have a couple weeks left of fire crew training, so hopefully I can get er done and do school and work at the same time. Blah blah blah, not sure what to say. I have been checking out blogs for one of my classes. We are all considering a different cultural group and the information out there is pretty intense. Some groups of students have the odds stacked against them to the core. How are we going to help these marginalized groups while serving the entire student population? There is not enough time or resources to reach out to everyone it seems. I have spent a lot of time in the schools in the past year and it is a daily struggle for teachers to get through all the curriculum let alone take time to help out trouble kids. If only we had 36 hours in a day maybe there would be more time. Money is probably one of the largest obstacles for students in tough situations. I don't mean because they don't have money, but there isn't money out there to help them get out of their situations. At some level there has to be some self determination and good things for marginalized students to look up to. I think that I can provide a good example for students and hopefully be real with them so they realize that effort has to be put out on their end for them to ultimately be successful. It seems that teaching is sort of a tight-rope walk where one side is all the bureaucratic bullshit while the other side is the students their needs. Can we walk the line and still be successful on both ends, no idea at this point? I will find out when I get a job and I am going to carry my motivation with me. Everyone tells me that I will become jaded or whatever and that teachers can't keep it up. I think that if you let yourself get bogged down and do not have any outlet to free yourself from frustration then yeah you can get stuck in pessimistic thinking and a negative attitude for teaching. TEachers with a negative attitude about adolescents and the education system should take a seat and let, young motivated teachers take the stage and move society forward in the 21st century. I hate to get down on those who are teaching now, but it is part of the problem. There are so many obstacles to success that we just try to do what we can, but we must always strive to do more. Getting complacent is going to bring everyone down. I think a large portion of society is complacent with the way they live their lives and change seems too difficult. We don't have any options other than to strive for progress on many levels. Obama is out there doing his best and we should as well. People are so critical of him and his policies, but at least he is trying other than the "war president' before. All Bush wanted to do is fight and let the free market run itself. Well the trickle down theory is debunked for the fifty-thousandth time and people are struggling around the US and the world. We all need to do more and step up... the issues facing society today are greater and more complicated than ever before in history. We created global warming, yet folks out there still think it does not exist. Fuck, how can we get everyone on the same page? not likely, but I am going to try with the most effort I can give to do good in this world. Everyone should do this in their daily lives, I am not saying to become consumed with the lives of others as we all have basic needs we have to take care of, but think of those who have it worse and set an example. Teaching is a profession that is highly complicated, so how could we simplify it while addressing everyone's needs, not sure. I am going to set out to become part of the next great generation of teachers and help students of all types succeed as citizens in the 21st century... whew!

almost spring break...

Hey people whats up? I am just about to go to class and I thought I should write some stuff on my blog. I have been super busy lately and it is exhausting. I have been substitute teaching a lot and training for fire crew on the weekends. I am excited for this summer, but still I am stressed to the core. School is going well, but there are big projects looming that I am nervous about. The major source of my stress is financial. I am working my butt off, yet the way my pay schedule works I can not seem to support myself. My financial aid money is gone and subbing is not cutting it. Fire crew will net me a good pay check for training, but not until mid-may at the earliest.
My mom is back in Visalia which is really great. I think things are going really well with her and I wish I could take a more active role in her recovery. It seems that each day is better, I hope she gets more speech therapy so she can gain back what was probably her most valuable asset. I am going to visit Visalia for a week soon, so that should be a nice break.
I got pretty under the weather this last weekend because allergies hit me real hard in Sacramento. The grass and pollen does not agree with me. Hopefully I have this under control and I'll start feeling better. I am tired.

Blah

I have been pretty blah for the last couple days. My mom is back in the hospital and once again I can not be there to help her through this. I hate being so far away and that she is stuck in Memphis. Why does this shit have to happen to my mom? When is it going to end? What has caused all of this? These are only some of the questions I have been pondering in my mind. Keeping faith with myself that she is going to get better so far has not worked because she keeps ending up in the damn hospital. I hope that she can come home to California soon and she can start to work on getting better with her mind. She is the smartest woman I know, if she could just get healthy enough she could start making new connections in her brain and maybe I would get my mom back for real. No, no, shes back in the hospital. I am pretty upset if you can't tell, I got my hopes up too high and was wishing that she would just start getting better and she would be home in a couple weeks. Having an end in sight for when she would come home probably got me too comfortable with this whole situation. Maybe I should have gone to Memphis for a third time because I hate being so far away and she is not coming home as of now. Just sitting and waiting is what we are supposed to do, not very reassuring if you ask me. They don't know what the hell is happening, aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!
On a brighter note, I reached the quarter-century mark last week and had a good time in San Francisco on my birthday. The weekend was ho-hum and I mostly just took it easy. Oh I ran a race on Sunday, Emerald Across the Bay 12k(7.2mi). It was a really rainy day and I was soaked head to toe, but it only took me 49:54, not bad huh? I really want to start running more races, but I am not going to be able to for a while. I am starting training for fire crew in April and will be gone every weekend and just to keep things interesting I am poor again and couldn't afford entry fees into any races anyways. I guess my goal of running a marathon will have to wait another year, but we will see. If I am around for the SF Marathon I may try it, training beforehand of course. I hope I am not around because that would mean I would be fighting fires and making money! It is really weird to hope for forest fires, but I just keep in mind that they are natural... doesn't hurt that we are in a drought. So I'm going to be a teacher and a firefighter, quite a combo if you ask me.
As I prepare to be a teacher, I have to do a lot of work. I am going to have to do this thing called PACT(Performance Assessment for California Teachers) to get my credential. I will probably do about 50 pages of typing throughout the whole process of PACT, not to mention all the typing I am doing this semester. I am actually feeling ok with the idea of PACT right now because it will include a lot of reflection and ways to consider how I can be a better teacher. I think I will always strive to get better at what I am doing. Teaching can become so mundane and boring, but really it should be an exciting thing. Each year I will teach students new things, why should I not learn new things as well? I think having a positive mindset about teaching is very important because being negative just brings you down. When dealing with teenagers I can see how teachers wall up and shutter themselves in their classrooms. Teenagers are not easy to deal with. No one ever said it was going to be easy. I want to reach into kids minds and make them really think about what life is all about. Learning about history is a starting point to understanding the progression of humans on Earth. At such a critical time, students must be prepared in a different way than ever before. Awareness is key, they should be aware of their surroundings and what is going on with them, such that good decisions can be made to make their lives better. I am not sure how all this is going to be accomplished, call me idealistic or whatever, I don't care. I am going to keep pushing on with relentless spirit and determination... I know my mom would want me to.

in a rush

So I am actually in the middle of writing a paper about learning.... woohoo! Procrastinating... Actually I have been honing my skills and working to become the best teacher possible. I have learned many new things and approaches to teaching that I believe will help me in the future. I hope that these things that I have learned are easily applicable to the classroom and that I am able to use some of these strategies when I student teach. My experience has been good so far, observing and subbing at Tamalpais High School. I have been getting to know some of the students which is always a plus. I am going to spend about 6 days at the end of the month subbing for one teacher, so more experience is a plus.
Mom should be out of the hospital today which is the biggest relief ever... I feel strongly that she is on an upward path and is going to progress greatly from here on out.
My birthday is this week, but I can't think about it too much right now because I have to do so much damn school work. After I finish this current paper I get to work on critiquing the California Social Studies Standards... fun. Anyways, it is much easier to type here on a computer than my iphone, but I will update the blog as much as possible.
I think I am going to use my blog as the story of my quest to become a teacher... peace out.

Iphoning

Hey people I just got a new app for my iPhone that let's me update my blog mobilly.

back from memphis, etc.

I arrived in Oakland last night during a rain storm. Probably the worst flight I have been on in a while with all the news about the plane that crashed into the Hudson. I am not sure but I think I was flying on a similar type of plane. I am back at school and went this morning to do observations at Tam. It was a good day and I got to observe four different classes. I still have a lot of school work to do, but I am trying to stay on top of it. I got to do a lot of reading on the planes this weekend, since I spent a total of 13 hours traveling I had some extra time. It is nice to be home, but I am stressed out with all the stuff I have to do.
It was really nice to spend time with my mom and I think she is doing really good. It is still going to be a long road ahead and today was a little scary. Hopefully they can get things figured out and she will move along. I hope that nothing bad happens, but I worry every day because I am so far away and because of how scary it was when she first went down. I have to stay positive and understand that this is going to be a long recovery. I have been trying to carry my mom's spirit around with me in the last couple weeks, I am more motivated to do good things and be successful than I ever have been. My classes are going to be tough and I know I can do it because my mom would want me to do my best. I think of it as if when she stopped being able to "be Donna" in all her pride and glory, I synthesized who she was and what she has taught me about being a human being. I know she is still strong and her spirit is still in tact so that she will be motivated to get better and all that good stuff.
This weekend I will get a little break, I am going to Pebble Beach for the AT&T National Pro-am... it is a PGA tour event and I am going there with my dad. The cool thing is that along with the professional golfers, celebrities are there along side. I am looking forward to seeing Peyton Manning and Justin Timberlake among others. Anyways, I will post more later when I think of more stuff to type.

In Memphis

Hey everyone I am back in Memphis to visit my mom. I am really excited to visit with her and be a part of her rehab. I am a little nervous about interacting with her and communicating, but I think I will get used to it. She got moved to a different facility today and they have limited visiting hours which sucks. I am going to talk to them and see if I can get some more time with her since I came out all the way from Cali.
I have been doing a lot of work for school, reading and reading some more. All the things I have been reading are going to be directly applicable to teaching social studies at the high school level. I am just trying to soak in as much information so I can be a better teacher. I think they greatest test will be once I am in the classroom, but learning as much info as possible will help me understand the challenges I will face as a new teacher.
I started observing at Tamalpais High School last week and I think it is going to be a good situation. I have had a lot of work to do for school, but I am going to be more organized to make sure I get plenty of opportunity to observe. Tam is a great school and the student population there is comprised of many high achievers. They are ranked in the top ten high schools in California and almost 70% go away to school. The focus of my credential program has to do with being able to teach in diverse settings, so I think I am getting a different kind of diversity at Tam. I will have students from affluent backgrounds as well as less well to do kids from Marin City. I am interested to see how it all plays out when I get more experience.
I am getting sleepy, it is midnight here, but only 10 in California. Anyways, I guess that is all for now

Growing up

Donna Martin is the strongest, most capable woman I know. I can not believe what has happened over the last few weeks. My mother has always been my go-to person and even more so as I step into the education field. I have done a lot of thinking since my mom went into the hospital and I realize I must take hold of my life and work harder than ever. I want to be successful and do great things in my life just like my mom would want me to. I have been very busy working and going to school, but I keep thinking back to my mom. thinking of her provides me motivation and kicks me into gear.
This week I start observations in the classroom, I have had a couple days so far but I actually have not done much observation due to scheduling and just gaining familiarity with the high school. I have been reading a lot of material about teaching and issues in education. this has made me think a lot about what kind of teacher I want to be, but I also wonder how receptive students are going to be to me. I want to be a guide for students learning new things and exploring ideas. As a history teacher I am going to be constrained to the dreaded standards, yet I think I will just have to be creative and mold lessons around the standards that are both engaging and stimulating for the students. This is not going to be possible all the time, but I believe that if I get the students on board we can go on a great journey together.
I may be idealistic about all this, but I think writing down the things that I have been thinking about is going to help me make sense of it all. Life is tricky and teaching makes it trickier... I will have to teach in a multidimensional fashion where I can address the needs of all my students. I am trying to soak up as much information as I can right now in my classes so I can apply it in the classroom.
Well I am going to go read more education stuff and then its off to class

Officially Blogging

Hey everyone, not sure who is going to read this, but I am starting an online journal. It has been a crazy past couple of weeks with everything that has happened to my mom and starting my teaching credential program at the same time. Many thoughts have been rushing through my head with new experiences and information coming at me each day.
I am going to begin observation at Tamalpais High School this week and I am excited. I am very interested in learning about teaching from other teachers willing to share information. My teachers from high school have a tendency to complain about teaching, but I am a new teacher and I have to focus on the positive. A positive attitude has been my motto as I have ventured into the field of education. Things certainly aren't going to be easy, but I am going to try my darndest to do my best. My classes are covering some very interesting material as well. I am sitting here at Sonoma State's computer lab about to go to a class about learning and literacy. I think this is going to help me a lot to be able to teach all types of learners. Some of my biggest challenges substitute teaching have to do with unmotivated kids or those who have trouble reading. I have not been able to spend significant amounts of time with these kids, so I am sure when I am able to make a connection to students they will try more when they see the effort I make to teach them.
Much of my thinking has been about education due to the inundation of reading material I have for all my classes. I am trying to take it all in, but my mind keeps wandering off to Memphis. My mom is sitting in the hospital essentially recreating her life. I only wish I could be there to help jog her memory with all the information she has given me throughout my life. I am going to have a hard time without my mom by my side which she has always been. I understand that things happen for a reason sometimes and I am taking this seeming tragedy and it has become my motivation for living productively and doing my best at everything I can. I know it is what my mom would want me to do because that is the example she has set for me my entire life. I miss her so much, but I know she will get better... it is going to take time and my mom taught me one thing and that is patience. We must all have patience with my mom as she reorganizes her brain and bounces back. We must also still treat her like Donna, not someone who has lost their mind. Anyways, it is off to class now and then I get to read like the dickens about teaching kids. I got a lot out here, so maybe more later...

i guess i have a blog

I was trying to post on my mom's blog, but apparently I now have my own. woohoo... more later?