It's late for me, so this won't be long.
After another quick week teaching, I had the pleasure of spending most of my MLK Jr weekend in the Black Hills. The Black Hills are a beautiful area of huge hills (mountains for those from NJ) that are heavily wooded with large coniferous trees. Within these hills lie old western towns such as Deadwood (made famous from the HBO series). Towns of a couple thousand or less that thrive on tourism and gambling. And throughout the Hills there are HUGE cabins that are often rented out for weekend getaways.
Well, I had one such getaway. The first night a three story cabin with a hot tub, enourmous kitchen, flat screen TVs, and foozeball table housed 27 teachers. The second saw around 20. And on that Saturday morning and afternoon I had my first trip skiing in over 10 years. And it was great! Even with it being my first skiing excursion since I failed a beginner course over a deade ago, I managed to ski intermediate slopes with only a few bailouts and bruises.
Next weekend will find me to the East instead of the Black Hills with a teaching conference. I hope to meet a few more national certified teachers and get more ideas for making progress with my students.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Afternoon Off and Freedom Writers
It's two o'clock and the last bus has come to the middle school to take the kids home. There were very high winds throughout this morning, at 40-60 mphs. That with some flurries caused some blowing snow that got the superintendent worried and called the school day at 1pm. Of course, it looks fine out now, but that always happens when we call school early.
Getting back from break as gone surprisingly well. The students have had less referrals and write-ups and morale seems to be good. It might have something to do with having a 3 week winter break, but who really knows. Or it could have been the movie and assembly last week.
Last Wednesday we watched a movie called Freedom Writers that stars Hilary Swank. Not an incredible movie, but as a teacher that works in an impoverished school system, it was quite moving. And the kids seemed to pay pretty close attention to it.
The next day, the students were bused to the high school and met the teacher that the movie was based on, Erin Gruwell. There, Erin talked about three of her kids stories and what it was like to make a difference to her students in classroom 203 in Long Beach, CA. At the end, she ask some personal statements to the audience, and after each one she asked for you to stand if you could relate to that statement. She started with: Stand if you are a tribal member. (Almost everyone stands) Stand if you have lived on the reservation your whole life. (Not as many, but most everyone is standing) Stand if you have never left the state. (Less stand up) And then she went deeper. Stand if you know someone who abuses alcohol. (Almost everyone in the room stood up). Stand if you are someone you know has been abused by an alcoholic (Most people are standing). Stand if you speak Lakota in your home (Only a handful out of the hundreds in attendance are standing). Stand if you know someone who has killed by gang violence (75% stand up). Stay standing if you know more than 1 (Most stay standing). More than 2 (Half of those standing sit down). More than 3 (Another half of those sit down). 4 or more (A handful of students are still standing).
It was a moving moment to actaully see these kids stand up and realize that they aren't the only ones going through the same problems. For me personally, it was a moment to give thanks for wonderful life I have been provided by my family and by making the right personal choices.
The biggest suprise out of that whole assembly was to see that more then 3/4ths of the students want to move off the reservation. I had no idea that so many of those kids wished to move away. If that's what these students truly want to do, then they have to realize how important there education is to fulfilling that goal. Perhaps that will motivate more kids to work harder. Without an education, these kids have zero shot of moving off the rez. But, let's hope that in the end they all get their education and give back their knowledge to the reservation and improve the conditions here. Now that's a real goal for these students.
Getting back from break as gone surprisingly well. The students have had less referrals and write-ups and morale seems to be good. It might have something to do with having a 3 week winter break, but who really knows. Or it could have been the movie and assembly last week.
Last Wednesday we watched a movie called Freedom Writers that stars Hilary Swank. Not an incredible movie, but as a teacher that works in an impoverished school system, it was quite moving. And the kids seemed to pay pretty close attention to it.
The next day, the students were bused to the high school and met the teacher that the movie was based on, Erin Gruwell. There, Erin talked about three of her kids stories and what it was like to make a difference to her students in classroom 203 in Long Beach, CA. At the end, she ask some personal statements to the audience, and after each one she asked for you to stand if you could relate to that statement. She started with: Stand if you are a tribal member. (Almost everyone stands) Stand if you have lived on the reservation your whole life. (Not as many, but most everyone is standing) Stand if you have never left the state. (Less stand up) And then she went deeper. Stand if you know someone who abuses alcohol. (Almost everyone in the room stood up). Stand if you are someone you know has been abused by an alcoholic (Most people are standing). Stand if you speak Lakota in your home (Only a handful out of the hundreds in attendance are standing). Stand if you know someone who has killed by gang violence (75% stand up). Stay standing if you know more than 1 (Most stay standing). More than 2 (Half of those standing sit down). More than 3 (Another half of those sit down). 4 or more (A handful of students are still standing).
It was a moving moment to actaully see these kids stand up and realize that they aren't the only ones going through the same problems. For me personally, it was a moment to give thanks for wonderful life I have been provided by my family and by making the right personal choices.
The biggest suprise out of that whole assembly was to see that more then 3/4ths of the students want to move off the reservation. I had no idea that so many of those kids wished to move away. If that's what these students truly want to do, then they have to realize how important there education is to fulfilling that goal. Perhaps that will motivate more kids to work harder. Without an education, these kids have zero shot of moving off the rez. But, let's hope that in the end they all get their education and give back their knowledge to the reservation and improve the conditions here. Now that's a real goal for these students.
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