Bling Bling

Badminton finals results - seven medals total! Our boys doubles Alexis and Sam won 4th place medals, Tony and Eddie finished 3rd place with bronze medals. Our #1 boy Juan finished with a silver medal in singles. The story of the season is Mayra and Lizette. They finished undefeated (20-0) in league play. In the league tournament, they went 3-0 to win a pair of gold medals. Mayra played with so much class and confidence. Lizette showed me that she was a true fighter as she played through her shoulder and back pain. When they won the final point, honestly, I almost cried. I'm so proud and happy for Mayra and Lizette.

Our first round CIF match will be Monday at home against Redlands High School. Bring it on.

More cuts

Azusa Unified cuts classified staff positions to cope with budget deficit.

League Pre-Lims

We played the first round of league individual pre-lims today. We were on the losing end in one of the upsets. Nonetheless, our team will have both boys doubles team, one girls doubles team, and a boy singles in the semi-finals tomorrow. Good luck to these seven kids who will earn league medals!

We also learned that our school will host Redlands in the first round of CIF match ups on Monday.

New avatar

My new 8-bit avatar from 8bityourself.com by LP.

Strike is over.

Looks like the teachers returned to the classrooms on Tuesday: Strike is over - The O.C. Register.

Strike resumes Monday

Looks like it's Day 3 of strike in Capistrano U.S.D.: Teacher strike resumes Monday - The OC Register.

One of the many concerns is that students will be taking standardized tests soon, including AP tests for which they've prepared all year.

Capo teachers strike

More coverage on the Capritrano U.S.D. strike from the OC Register: Capo strike closely watched across state.

Summer 2010

My mentor teacher once gave me this benign advice: "Be poor, but be happy. Don't teach summer school." I taught summer for the only time in 2008, and it was fine. I submitted my application to teach both sessions this summer. Whatever it takes to keep my body and mind busy...

(The beautiful image is from www.socksoff.co.uk)

Teachers on Strike

There's a brief commercial before the short video showing teachers from Capristrano, in Orange County, on strike. The strike started Thursday April 22th and continued onto Friday the 23rd.

Saturday CAHSEE

Teaching Saturday mornings is no fun. I lose my Friday nights and get to sleep in, at most, only once a week. I teach the math group, and have had as many as 37 kids for four and a half hours of remedial math. Yikes! But I value the opportunity to work with a few dedicated and talented teachers. I also gain an appreciation for special education teachers. For the past few weeks, I've been working with several RSP students. They're great boys, but teaching them posts a different level of challenge. It's uplifting to see them trying their hardest. I hope they'll earn their high school diploma soon.

Renaissance Rally

We have awesome teachers! They rehearsed and performed the "Thriller" dance for the students during an academic rally. Well done, teachers!

Looking forward

Though the completion of my thesis is progressing slowly, and my work load is at an all-time high, I remain optimistic. Coming up in May, I will attend a LINK CREW training in Temecula. LINK CREW is a high school transition program that increases freshmen success. It will be an fantastic four-day leadership development. I have heard many good things about this training. I thank Mr. Perdomo, my school's assistant principle of activities, for his selection. I am very honored. And frankly, it'll be good for me to go away for a few days.

More importantly, towards the end of summer, I will attend another four-day advanced placement institute for Statistics in Palos Verdes Peninsula. I thank Mrs. Gayton, my school's assistant principle of curriculum, for this opportunity. An AP Stats teacher told me that the institute is a critical part of developing a strong program. It is happening much sooner than I hoped, my goal and dream of teaching statistics is slowly becoming a reality.

Not this year

Our team lost another tough match Monday afternoon. While we improved upon our score (9-12) from Friday (6-15) against the same school, our lost eliminated our chances to be league champions this year. I reminded the players that we are winners as long as we give it our all, respect the opponents, and play the game with dignity. We still need to prepare for two more league matches this week.

Take a day off to work...

I rarely take days off from teaching. In fact, I've never taken a sick day. Today, I took a personal necessity (PN) day from teaching to do homework as a graduate student. Due to my coaching duties after school and teaching Saturdays, I don't have much time to do my homework. I'm working on my thesis at the Cal Poly Library, the topic is on using technology in the classroom. My busy schedule, heavy workload, lack of exercise, and personal challenges have kept me from concentrating fully in this beautiful building. I'm almost convinced that it will never be complete...but to achieve my goals, I must press on and move forward.

6-1

Our team fought a tough matchup against our rival school Friday. We lost 6-15 to a very strong team. As long as we play with full effort, I'm proud of my players regardless if we finish first or last in the league. We're currently 6-1 in league play, with three more matches this coming week before individual league Pre-Lims and Finals.

Not Too Old

This is a big week for the badminton team. We play three matches, including one against the top team in the league. During practice today, I decided to play competitively against our players. I beat our #1 singles guy 11-3, 11-8. Then, I played doubles with the boys. While down 2-12 in the third set, we came back to win 17-16.

I'm not too old for this....yet.

Quick Chat

By chance, I spoke with a senior kid while walking back to class during lunch. I simply asked how he was doing. He said that he's sensing some anxiety as the year is coming to an end. He is unassured of how the changes will be like after high school. Knowing that he is a good kid (he is the president of Link Crew - a leader among leaders), I told him that he is ready to move on. I also told him that people, in general, fear change, and that we need young leaders like him to make changes to improve the world. He was never my student, but I'm excited to see what changes he'll bring in the future. Go Andrew!

11 - 10

Our JV and varsity badminton teams both won today, both scores were 11 - 10. It's as close as it gets. I told the players at the end, even had we lost, I'm still proud of them. Huge credit to Sierra Vista - good players and better kids. We will face tough challenges this week.

Truth be told - I had no intention to coach badminton when I started here at Gladstone. Yet, I see this opportunity both as a responsibility and as a blessing.

Music

A reason to keep music education...

Alicia Keys said that this is one of her favorite songs. It was my favorite performance of her show.

"Pray for Forgiveness" - Live/Abridged Version

Beautiful garden, where have you gone?

my self delusions are leaving me in the storm
Taking for granted, all the goodness that I've found
somewhere I lost all, the control came crashing down.

and I pray for forgiveness, look for the answers
cause its hard for me to pretend
I look to my mother, call to the captain
can't you see this state that I'm in
and nobody knows this, nobody noticed
that it's me where it began

and I pray for forgiveness within
I swear that everyday I feel like my mind is haunting me
I think of every little stupid mistake that has been made
This time I don't have the strength to gather myself
I'm falling to pieces

And I pray for forgiveness, look for the answers
cause its hard for me to pretend
I pray for forgiveness, looking for justice
searching for answers, call to my mother

nobody knows this, nobody noticed
that it's me
where it began

Varsity Badminton Shirts

The varsity kids wanted a different shirt. I remember when I was a high school player, the shirts were the same for both varsity and JV players. I think it's better to have just one shirt...but I know it's not about me.

JV Badminton Shirts

This local company does a lot of T-shirts for our school. I just picked up the order earlier this week, the kids are excited about the new shirts.

Food Revolution

I'm not a fan of reality T.V. I rarely watch T.V. since I don't own one. Here is a great talk, however, by a show host who strives to make big changes in the American school.

I have not seen his show, but have heard positive things about it.

Did You Know?

A short video shown to me during one of my multimedia classes...

Doing Math with iPod Touch

A Florida school is experimenting the use of iPod Touch for math practice. As with any new idea, it is controversial. Arguments over how tax dollars are spent is all over the discussion board. Twenty iPod Touches were distributed to students who scored below grade level on math. Are we again rewarding low-performers and ignoring high-performers? I am all for trying something new, and believe that we should try anything to get kids excited about doing math. However, we need a way to make sure kids are using the devices to do math (and not only listening to music or playing games/apps). Just because some devices are popular does not mean that they are effective. I'm anxious to see the results of this pilot.

Video of John Wooden

Acknowledge others, preparation, enthusiasm, patience, self-confidence, honesty, dependability, enjoy what you do, do your best, and never stop learning.

"If one fails to prepare, then prepare to fail."

New Bag

Got a new bag for my badminton gears. Gotta look like a coach, right?