A very sad week for our campus. Two freshmen students, twin sisters, were struck by a car in a traffic accident on their way to school Monday. Students in my class, some of whom are band members, put this together to support the Fukui family in this very difficult time.
It may have been long overdue, but my grades are finally online. I have not dabbled with any grading program; I've simply been using Excel. In part, the reason was that I never spent too much time on grading. As a teacher, I prefer to focus on lesson planning. This weekend, I explored JupiterGrades.com. I like it. I have uploaded all homework assignments and grades. Ultimately, I think this will benefit the students.
When you spin this exquisitely crafted spinner, it would spontaneously flip upside-down after several seconds and continue to spin. This is a gift from two of my best friends: Sunny Wang and Cathy Ou. They got it at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. It came to me via London, England. Definitely one of the coolest treasures. Thanks guys.
My sixth year with GHS starts tomorrow. This will be my seventh year overall as a public high school math teacher. This year, I've once again accepted an overload. My assignments are one Algebra 1, four Algebra 2, and an AP Statistics course.
After two days of training this week, our Link Leaders welcomed our freshmen class of 2015. Mr. C. and I are very proud of our leaders. As I roam their classrooms through their group activities, I was most please to see leaders giving me the thumbs up. It's a sign that everything is going well. It was a hot and humid day, our leaders persevered and thrived. Go Big!!!
I was invited to presented at the first ever Virtual Graduate Research Symposium for Cal Poly Pomona. I shared my masters thesis and project. What a neat experience. The recording will be available soon at this link.
Cookie Monster's Paradise on Prezi
A well-designed project by Kalene, Ke, and Nicole. Albeit too much zooming, the presentation is solid. A great first attempt in using Prezi. Great work, girls!
A fun and creative project by Ashley Mendoza, Kylie Petrovick, and Konner. Their results support buying the cheaper brand of ice-cream! Very nice project.
I've been invited by my masters thesis advisor to take part in an online symposium. The presentation will take place between 2pm to 3:30pm on Saturday June 11th. Seven to ten presenters will be alloted about 5 - 10 minutes to speak about his/her masters project. The idea is for alumni to talk about how the idea of the topic came about, and to give current students an overview of the process of the thesis was put together. I would prefer to present in person, but I'm looking forward to this unique opportunity.
One of our counselors started an annual Staff vs. Seniors softball game three years ago. I played in the first one in which we lost. I didn't play last year due to my night graduate classes. Today, we had a lot of fun. We won 15-12 in six and a half innings. The kids were great sports, giving the teachers a few close calls. I hit a triple, scored a run, and had an RBI. Tomorrow, the Link Crew coordinators will also do a bowling outing with the Link Leaders. Lots of fun activities as we close into the end of the year.
I remember how special it was to receive awards from badminton at the end of the season when I was in high school. This year, the coaches decided to hand out two MVPs, two Coaches Awards, and two Most Dedicated Awards. Additionally, I bought mini-birdies for the girl players and attached them to keychains made with our leftover beads. Here are two for Maria and Emelyn who couldn't make it to the banquet last Friday.
We had our year end banquet at the Arcadia BJ's, a very nice restaurant which accommodated our large group. We enjoyed a lot of pizzas and poozookies. It was a pleasure handing out awards and gifts to student athletes. It's been a while since we have hung out together. Sadly also, it may be the last time that this same group get to spend quality time together. I hope the players enjoyed the season and our dinner together. Special thanks goes to Coach Kilmer (left), who really is the heart of the program, and to Coach Aldo (right), who provides a wonderful playing environment for the kids.
Our first Talent Show turned out to be small and informal. Yet we had a lot of fun. Two Think Together coordinators and one of our beloved campus safety personnels served as judges. The students sang and danced. Brandon's dance crew, which included Brandon, Celeste, Josh, Angel, Temo, and myslef, won the "contest" and received a small prize. I let the kids split the prize; I am just happy that the kids had some fun. Hopefully those who attended enjoyed the acts. Our choerography was mostly based on YouTube videos that we found on a crew called Kaba Modern. They are based from UC Irvine. Below is a snapshot of Brandon and I taking the center stage in our opening piece. I don't normally post students' pictures online. But since these photos are backlit, you really cannot see the dancers faces. Although you should know that the old man with the hat is me. = )
After several days of practice, Brandon has taught our small group the entire dance routine for the upcoming talent show. He is one of the captains on the school's dance team, a talented good-nature kid. We are covering some of the routines done by Kaba Modern, who is a dance crew based off of UC Irvine. We are memorized by their creativity and talents from YouTube videos that we found online. The dance routine is three-minutes long, and we're just having some good fun.
I wore a loaner hood when I walked with my students during the past few graduations. This year, I will have my own. The green and yellow are Cal Poly's university colors, while the sky blue is from the College of Education and Integrative Studies. I may also wear my honor cords from my undergraduate days. The ceremony will be on June 12th at 8 p.m.
The GHS award winning Dance Team put together a fantastic show on Friday night. The dancers were very talented. One of the routines even featured alumni. It was nice to see the students do what they love. Also, it was uplifting seeing the parents being very supportive. During the last song, the dancers invited members of the audience to join in on the dance floor. Of course, I got suckered in. I hope I won't end up on YouTube, again.
The JV players had a great time. Coach Kilmer presented awards to the 18 players who came. We also played card games. Frankly, I don't know Mr. Kilmer too well except I know that he like chocolate chip cookies. So I bought him a box of cookies and had players sign a simple card to thank him for a wonderful season.
Our badminton team finished a successful season by making it to the semi-finals this year. As a fan of the sport, I went to watch the finals between the Cerritos (red) and Azusa (blue) teams at Azusa HS on Saturday. Both teams are strong, well-coached, and very skillful. Cerritos won 12-9; congrulations to both teams. In Division I, my high school coach's Diamond Bar team lost to Keppel 12-9 (see also SGV Tribute article). I thoroughly enjoyed watching hours of quality play on Saturday. The players inspired me to play more badminton.
Today was the AP Stats exam day. About 20 of my students took the exam from 12:30p to 4p. During their halftime break, I brought them juice and snack. As they went back into the library for the open-ended section, I picked up Costco pizza for their post-exam early dinner. Whatever the results, I'm glad that I've brought AP Statistics to this campus and to give students an opportunity to learn this wonderful subject.
ASB students made a beautiful poster for the test takers.
At 12:30pm tomorrow, my AP Statistics students will take the first AP Stats exam ever offered at our school. It will be a proud moment for me. I've dreamed of teaching statistics since about a decade ago. It's been an experimental year for both me and the students as we explore this wonderful topic for the first time at this level. I have made plans to deliver snacks to them at the halfway point of the exam. When they have completed the exams at around 4pm, I will serve them pizza from Costco back in our classroom. Good luck, students!
From Seth Godin's Blog:Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:
Our team lost to a very strong Cerritos team, 3-18, at today's CIF semi-finals. The players gave a valiant effort; the Cerritos players were just too well-coached. I am very proud of my team and our accomplishments this year. On paper, we earned 11 individual league medals. As a team, we improved from finishing in the quarter-finals last year to the semi-finals this year. But it is more than that. We've bond a lot this year. After our lost, we still laughed and joked in the huddle. When we got back home, I took 10 of the players to Hometown Buffet and had the best of time. We joked so much that one of our players literally threw up. Good, clean, innocent and genuine quality time spent together.
In today's quarter-finals, we defeated Cypress, the team that ended our season in the same round last season. Last year's score was 6-15, we won 13-8 today even though several of our players were sick. The key today was getting to a quick start in mix. Everyone played hard in the humid and hot gym. I'm very proud of my players. Though our co-head-coach Aldo couldn't make it today, I'm sure we made him proud. We expect to face last year's division champions Cerritos in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Our team played well today. Our players simply had higher skill levels today. Gahr was a good team with a couple of athletic boys. I was especially proud of our girls, who swept all of the games today. The final score was 18-3. Tomorrow, we face Cypress HS. Cypress beat us last year in round two. I think we have a stronger team this year. With home court again, I like our chances.
The badminton post-season starts Monday. While I never stressed winning matches upon my players, I do expect us to advance past the first round. Last year, we lost in the second round to the eventually runner-up Cypress team. Our team will play the winner of Gohr and Redlands East Valley on Monday, and will likely compete against Cypress in the second round. I am proud of our team and hope we can play well this post-season.
Our badminton team wrapped up the season with a loss to Azusa HS. While the score was not close (3-18), I was proud of our progress throughout the season. In particular, our most dedicated players Elida and Tony beat an undefeated mixed doubles team. Elida and Jocelyn also beat an undefeated girls doubles team. We finish the 2011 season second place in Montview League to a very strong Azusa HS team.
