Presenting...

Ms. Lydia Valencia and I presented to the faculty today. We are thankful for their attention and support. Check out our slides in this choppy video (I'll work on improving it):

Mike

I lost a dear friend yesterday. I've known Mike since about fourth grade, that's about 20 of my 30 years. We lived together for three years at UC Irvine. It was pure good times. We studied together, we worked out together, we ate together. Mike inspired me to teach. He was a LARC tutor before I knew anything about LARC. If it wasn't for Mike, I may have never became a LARC tutor at UCI, and may have never became a teacher. Teaching is a huge part of the present "me", I often feel that aside from family and friends, teaching is all that I have. Mike will always be a major part of what I do as "Mr. Yip".

Mike, I miss you. I know you fought with all that you've got. I am so proud of you, and as proud to have spend so much quality time with you.

New Role

This may be my important role yet as an educator: My principal and district personnel director appointed me as a site supervisor for a new student-teacher from La Verne. I got an email late last week asking if I would oversee a student who has an urgent placement need. I replied "Of course". Ms. Lydia Valencia and I met Monday. It is going to be an interesting five weeks for the both of us as we go through this new experience. Thankfully, Ms. Valencia is bright and enthusiastic about teaching. I have no doubt that she will have success in the near future. But more importantly, I feel an obligation to be at my best. I strive to be consistently positive, helpful, and encouraging. Considering my super tight schedule, this is going to be a very challenging task. Nonetheless, I am grateful for this opportunity for me to develop as an educator.

Night Classes

After an unexpected summer break due to Cal Poly's budget cuts, I returned to taking night classes in the Educational Multimedia program this Fall. My first night of class was extremely interesting. It was a DVD Productions course. I was expecting more of the same in terms of introductions to educational technology. To my pleasant surprise, the instructor taught the class as if we were film school students. It was his first day on campus, and because of technical difficulties, he couldn't present with his prepared PowerPoint slides. Though I was curious to see the quality of slides presented by a film instructor, I treasured last night's lecture very much. It is rare these days to sit through a lecture without PPT. And since most PPT decks are bad, many lectures are bad. Mr. Scott was so knowledgeable and fun to listen to that I was glad there weren't any PPT slides.

I now wonder how my students feel about my visual presentation each day. Are they so tired of it that they wish I wouldn't use it? As I was walking to my room this morning, I also wondered what it feels like to be a student walking into Mr. Yip's class each day.

T.O.Y.

Our district held a reception for the Teachers of the Year this past Tuesday. I was blessed with the opportunity to be in the same room with some of the best educators. Before the ceremony, I had brief chats with different members of the district. Each of the school's administrator introduced the school's teacher of the year. I was awed and humbled by these outstanding teachers' dedication and grace. My principal could not be there that night, I am grateful for Mrs. Gayton's classy introduction. She continues to be a huge inspiration. The highlight of the evening was the honoring of Ms. Walker as she was our district's teacher of the year. We wish her the best as she progresses to future rounds of the county selection process. I strive to continue to work hard and improve as a math teacher.

Old Veteran

I am a part of the "chain gang" for our school's football team. It can be an enjoyable duty, though I joked that it's really detention for teachers and that the half-time is our recess. During the game, an old veteran GHS math teacher came to visit us. To my surprise, Mr. Anderson knew me. He has taught for 36 years, 18 with our school. I took advantage of the opportunity and asked him many questions. Mostly about how I can improve and stay positive in the long run as a teacher. I learned that there are no secrets - he highlighted working hard and treating everyone with respect as keys. Also, Mr. Anderson complimented Ms. Kwak's amazing work ethic and talent as an educator. He said that he thought he was a good teacher up until he met her. Lastly, he said that the students are ultimately responsible for their learning. I still have more questions...

Buddy Teacher

My principal gave me the honor to be a "Buddy Teacher" for one of the new math teachers. This "new" teacher was actually the valedictorian of her class at our high school some years ago. Also, she has already taught at LAUSD before. She is very bright and enthusiastic. Frankly, she doesn't need me much at all. I recall the difficulties that I faced during my first year and how thankful I was for Mr. Mulfinger's support. I must have gone into his room to whine each day during the entire first semester. Yet, he stayed positive and encouraged me each time. I hope to stay positive as the year progresses and maybe, just maybe, someday I can be like Mr. Mulfinger or my current department chair Ms. Kwak.

Tabula Rasa

The new school year officially begins tomorrow, with students coming in on the day after. This will be my fifth year as Mr. Yip. The excitement and nervousness is at a higher level than ever before. The biggest tangible difference this year is that I've spent a lot of time preparing in my classroom throughout the summer. Mr. Yip - version 5.0 - is looking forward to a good year.

My First Keynote

On the last day of a three-day Algebra Symposium, I presented a lesson using Apple's Keynote for the first time. Though I've presented numerous times using PowerPoint, I was anxious to give Keynote a go. I actually tried to do it on the second day of training, but I had difficulty forming the connection between the laptop and the projector. I was very excited when I solved that problem on the last day. The Keynote went smoothly. I also used the Apple remote to help with the transitions. This experience has encouraged me to use Keynote in future presentations.

Summer Basketball

Earlier this summer, I practiced with the boys' basketball team. Two hours a day, five days a week. It was a great way for me to get back into physical shape. I walked away with more than just the fitness benefits. Coach Kilmer was such an inspiration. During each practice, he kept every kid involved through his coachings. We warmed up (anticipatory set), ran drills (guided instruction), and received motivating talks at the end of each practice (closure). Coach Kilmer is simply awesome. Coaches are easily the most under-appreciated and under-paid people in education. Yet, they often have the biggest impact on our students. Personally, I have been greatly inspired by my high school badminton coaches: Mrs. Wells and her son Mr. Kemp Wells.

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.)