Another year in the books

That's right, today is my birthday.  I plan to celebrate it with my wife, who is basically the greatest woman in the world.  This has been a tough year of life, and I am certain it would have been 10 times more difficult without her.  If I ever take her for granted, I need someone to smack me.  Hard.

Truth be told, that someone would probably be her, yet another reason why she is awesome.

I miss teaching my "ghetto" kids

Despite what you may think about teaching, sometimes the uninterested, illiterate, and disenfranchised students from the ghetto are much more fun to teach and can be more adult than the so-called "honors" kids. I would never have thought this when I was teaching only lower levels. At one time, I saw honors classes as The Good Life, where learning was appreciated and respected. After one year of suburban white kids, I am now thoroughly disillusioned.

Upper level students lie and cheat and complain constantly. They believe they are entitled to a good grade regardless of effort or ability. Its really fucking annoying. The parents of these "good" students are often despicable, encouraging their children to lie and cheat and bullying teachers to lower standards in order for their student to pass. Ask any AP or honors teacher and they'll tell you all about how annoying honors parents can be.

While "ghetto kids" have a whole range of very real problems, and can be problematic to deal with on a behavioral level (fights, language, parenthood, etc), they can impress you with a flexibility in thinking that I have not seen in honors classes. When caught cheating or doing something incorrect "Urban" kids are far more likely to simply tell the truth and accept consequences.

Go ahead, say I'm overgeneralizing...I'll write you a visitor's pass for my school and you can see for yourself.

Sometimes Bullshit Corporate Inspirational Posters Speak The Truth…

We’ve all seen them, usually in cheap framing, a black background and a photograph of a man climbing a mountain, a group of people skydiving, or an eagle with one large print word a the bottom of the photo like, “Persistence” or “Collaboration” and then underneath some quote or aphorism. These posters often serve no other purpose than to cover drywall in suburban office buildings, and they are everywhere. We tend to ignore them or make fun since it is clear that they are nothing but ham fisted attempts at creating a false sense of purpose. But sometimes if you are willing to admit it, sometimes, they can be exactly what you need to hear.

Very recently, I’ve been feeling mighty down. I won’t go into details but, in the midst of my sadness I have decided two things: I want to start a family, and I want to own my own sailboat. Simple as that…what I want.

To an outside observer, these may seem too simple, or maybe too easy, but fuck that, these are MY dreams and I’m taking them seriously. Sometimes I look at every obstacle and I get downhearted and even a little self pitying, but ultimately there are those that get what they want, and those that don’t, and I want these things.

So when I saw another piece of crap poster on the wall saying “A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline” I paused and thought, “right on” without scoffing at the stupid photograph. Maybe I’m finally growing up.