Congrats c/o 2009

One of the highlights of each school year is definitely the graduation ceremony. As purely symbolic and highly unoriginal as it may be, it celebrates achievement. It signifies the end and the beginning. I have been looking forward to this year's graduation very much given the difficult times this year. I was given the honor to lead the faculty line along with the incredible Ms. Kwak. (I have no clue who made that decision, I thanked Evelyn from Activities for informing me.) At first, I was hesitant to do so, I felt that another veteran teacher would be a better fit. But nonetheless I am extremely grateful of this symbolic honor. I rocked my UCI Honors chords, Phi Chi Honors Stole, and Harry Potter's Gryffindor tie.

Mockingbird

I put together a photo slide show at the end of each school year. I fill it with fun snapshots of the kids taken from my classroom. This has been an emotional year; I had an idea to take the show up a notch. I recorded a rap song to Eminem's Mockingbird. Using my MacBook Pro, I wrote the lyrics in Pages, recorded my vocals in GarageBand, exported it to iTunes, edited photos in iPhoto, and finally pieced it together using iMovie. The whole Apple iLife suite was involved! In all, I'd estimate that I put in about 20-25 hours into this four minute song. The kids seemed to have enjoyed it. I have no plans to post it on the web, it was just a song for my students, for that moment in time.

Why School?

One of my favorite bloggers, Seth Godin, provided this starter list for the purpose of school. I would have to think hard to find what more to add, and what to remove.

Become an informed citizen

Be able to read for pleasure

Be trained in the rudimentary skills necessary for employment

Do well on standardized tests

Homogenize society, at least a bit

Pasteurize out the dangerous ideas

Give kids something to do while parents work

Teach future citizens how to conform

Teach future consumers how to desire

Build a social fabric

Create leaders who help us compete on a world stage

Generate future scientists who will advance medicine and technology

Learn for the sake of learning

Help people become interesting and productive

Defang the proletariat

Establish a floor below which a typical person is unlikely to fall

Find and celebrate prodigies, geniuses and the gifted

Make sure kids learn to exercise, eat right and avoid common health problems

Teach future citizens to obey authority

Teach future employees to do the same

Increase appreciation for art and culture

Teach creativity and problem solving

Minimize public spelling mistakes

Increase emotional intelligence

Decrease crime by teaching civics and ethics

Increase understanding of a life well lived

Make sure the sports teams have enough players

Senior vs. Staff Soccer Game

For the second year in a row, we played a student versus staff soccer game. We had a lot of clean fun in this friendly game under the sun. Of course, I competed and wanted to win. It was great to see the students have fun with us. Soccer is a great group game, it allows players of different abilities to be involved. After the narrow 6-5 win, Mr. Dolter reminded me that this really was about and for the kids. He showed why he's such an amazing teacher who is super popular with the kids.

(I wear Nike Tiempo Mystic, pictured above. They are relatively inexpensive, comfortable, and durable for recreational play.)

Sunday Basketball

I played basketball with my younger brother this Sunday. I got these Jordans when I bought the shoes for badminton about a month ago. Like academics, sport at the recreational level, is often won by those with better effort. I certainly played with a lot of energy that day; my brother played high school ball and is quite good. We rolled five 4-on-4 games in a roll. Who's next?

(I wear these Jordan Dentros. They were a bargain purchased from an on-line store. After a few weeks of use, I found them to be comfortable and durable.)