The Substitute

2010-12-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

THE INTERN

I have been subbing lots and I intended on writing more! The last time I subbed was at Dos Pueblos, my favorite school to sub at ever because the students are just amazing. Case in point:

When I subbed for a math teacher on Wednesday, I got to talk with this hilarious girl I've subbed for before. I actually was a teacher's aid for her 5th grade class, and her playground supervisor, but that's another story. I told her I did photography full time now, and we got excited talking photo stuff and before you know it, I LANDED MYSELF A NEW INTERN. How awesome is that?? If all things go well, I intend on bringing her to weddings with me, teaching her how to edit, grooming her to the point where she has the resources to run her own business or just work with me all the time. Geez I love my life.

Photos I've been working on (all taken in the last couple of weeks):

2010-11-29T13:48:00.001-08:00

Today I am substituting for a Spanish class at Dos Pueblos High School. I've watched the first half of Take The Lead five times now. It's a pretty great start to a movie! But now I have to rent it to find out the rest...

Subbing high school is simply the best (sorry junior highers, but it's true)! I've finished a book, had kids smile and cheer at me as they come in, edited through some wedding photos, replied to emails, played a couple of games of Dominion online, followed up on a couple of blogs, and had time to write this little post here.

Enjoy something I've worked on today!

2010-11-22T18:15:00.001-08:00

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and I’ll tell you what--I’ve got no excuses! Since you saw me last, I’ve turned down a teaching job and am pursuing photography full-time. Well, pursuing is not quite the right word. I’m succeeding at doing photography! Taking pictures, coupled with tutoring and substituting is earning me more than I did last year teaching 50+ hours a week. But it’s not about the money, baby! For me, it’s really about not getting burned out and doing what I love. Substituting keeps me connected to the youth, another thing that I love.

Speaking of which, I’m in a classroom right now! Subbing for a math class that is showing the movie Stand and Deliver for the next two days. Easy? Yes. The best thing about today was that I’ve seen SO many of my past students in the classes here. This is my first day subbing at Santa Barbara High School, which is the school that receives nearly all the students that come from the Junior High where I worked that past three years. And one JUST walked in and said this: “MR. VAN NOSTRAND! Oh my gosh. This is the best teacher in the world!” Great way to start my day.

And here is what I got to work on while I was ‘working:’

2010-05-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I went through this entire year without crying. Haha, does that sound ridiculous? Well, I consider it something like a minor accomplishment, especially in my first year; especially teaching three classes of the lowest eighth grade math students in the school.

More than that, I've actually built something like a business on top of teaching my first year. I shot five weddings this year, two proms, traveled to Austria, New York, art gallery openings, political campaigns, four birthdays, family shoots, model shoots, theater shows, dog sweaters, and more!

What a rush to get paid doing what you love!

xo, Phil
ps. To see some of those images:

http://www.phillipvn.com
http://www.facebook.com/phillipvn
http://phillipvn.smugmug.com

2010-05-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

One month and counting until school gets out! Did you know that the last day of school is on my birthday? This year I've taught two kids how to solve the Rubik's cube, I've given tons of riddles for students to solve, I've talked with countless parents, I've gotten frustrated a lot, laughed a lot, slept with my head on my desk (after work!), helped with the skateboard club, bike club, and photo club, went to Austria and New York, and taught for my very first year ever.

Junior High Math.

2010-04-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

You know you're doing something right as a teacher when a student asks with kind eyes if there are going to be any teachers like me next year in the high school.

Awwww

2010-04-11T02:26:00.000-07:00

Excerpt From an Intercepted Note Between Two Girls Talking About One Guy:

"...Ohh yeah then he aske m 'how am I a manwhore' and Im all like OMG yew seriously dont know. dude you go out with one girl then you break up with her. then the nxt day you have another girl. how could you NOT know."

Response:

"hahaha wooooow he's stoopid I also told him to slap himself bt I 4got y oh nd I 4got y I called him a dumass =D haha wooow!"

Yes, she really drew a sideways smiley face.

2010-03-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I gave a warm up question that said: "1. What's up?" The next two questions were math questions, don't worry, but I like to keep the kids entertained every once in a while. Some students raised their hand and asked how to answer the question... Most people did NOT answer "Not much," or "Nothing." Almost everyone got all smart-alecky and answered literally: "The sky," "the ceiling," etc. One person that I called on got very literal:

"The ceiling, the floor, a classroom, another ceiling [we are in a two story building], the sky, birds, clouds, space, stars..." and this cute little wandering-lost-puppy of a girl pipes in with eyes wide "and then Jesus."

Haha, you had to hear her to understand, because she's not religious or anything, maybe Catholic background, but it certainly made me smile.

2010-02-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

Now, I'm not usually one to complain, but allow me to take some time and...vent.

I'm not sure if this day could be more stressful. The day started off fine and I got to school on time. But by second period I had a student jumping around swearing because he burned his arm on the old fashioned heating vents in the classroom. After swearing once I asked him to stop and he proceeded to curse in the next sentence ("Yeah, but that s*&# is hot!"). So I asked him to step outside since by this time class was clearly disrupted. He refused, swearing again, and I asked him to please not make me call a security guard to take him out of my classroom. At this point he jumps up and throws his desk aside, storming out of the class with the cloudiest look on a kid's face I have ever seen. ps. This guy is like 6'2", maybe 180-200 pounds and in junior high.

Am I done? I wish. My little cold starts getting worse and I sneeze about 8 times during fourth period. Throughout the day I am trying to talk to the principal because on my watch during Young Life last night some students left early and were seen smoking pot by the custodian.

Fifth period I've sent out two or three students throughout the class for disruptions, talking, laughing, etc. The girl I accused of smoking weed (turns out it was not her) asked me why I "had to rat [her] out like that."

And sixth period a girl scratched the face of one of this ADD kid that would not do a single thing if I didn't hound him all the time. He had three welts across his cheek. He said she just did it out of nowhere. So I sent them both to the office.

I feel like I am in an urban school in New York or something. I know it's not as bad as that, but seriously some of the kids I teach are messed up in the head, in the home.

2010-02-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after school these two 13 year old girls stayed and we talked. Well, first I kept them after because they don't know anything and to be quite honest I have a problem with taking it personally when students don't learn crap, and then I feel like I have to teach them no matter what instead of just letting it go. I'm working on it!

After I showed them how to do their homework, they just stayed and one of them started sharing about her life. Now, these are the lowest achieving 8th graders in the school, and I have three classes of them. I think these are representative of a lot of my students' situations at home.

•She said she might get sent to another school for her poor grades.
•She said that her whole family is stupid. That the only one who graduated...HIGH SCHOOL... was her cousin or aunt.
•She said her dad calls her dumbass "and worse."
•She said her brother doesn't even work anymore, and he tells his mom he is going to school but she thinks he is just taking money to buy pot.
•She said her brother comes home at 5 or 6 in the morning and sleeps on the couch.
•She said her whole family comes from bad blood and indicated the general direction of her future by making a funnel in the air. All going downward.
•She said her dad is from the worst part of Mexico.
•She told me about her grandmother's revolver and how she keeps it in the kitchen (in Mexico).

And on and on...It's too much for me, people! What can one person do? I told her she is going to change her family's bloodline, change the direction of her life. She could be the one to bring them honor. I don't know. It's so ridiculous. I feel very discouraged at this public school.

ps. This whole conversation started when we were talking about what she likes or what she wanted to do. Her answer: nothing. At all. No hair, makup, teaching, kids, nothing. No reading, writing, acting, fashion, nothing. She said her brother is the same way and wanted to kill himself but he is going to go into the army so he has some purpose in his life, and if he dies at least it will be with some meaning...

2010-02-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. I know.

A couple of weeks ago we hit the half-way-through-the-year mark. I asked the students for feedback and received some pretty great responses. Most involved just asking for more bathroom passes and less homework. Here is a cute one that I responded to:

"Dear Mr. V
What I like in this class is that when we see videos everyone is quite. Also that I like to sit next to E. because she's smart and I am to but when we work in group me and her always use are brain and we also help each other in our work. That's what I like from math class."

And here is one to keep me my ego in check:

"I like hand on activities. Just work sheets. To improve you could not be so boring and not talk as much and be more caring, and let us eat in hear."

Last:

"Nothing has to be improved or deproved. :) "

2009-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I'm a few days late, I know. I've been having such a phenomenal vacation, I can't believe I have to go back to school in a week and start teaching again.

My homework assignment to the kids over the break was to "Find Mr. V downtown over the holidays." So far I have seen three kids but I don't think they saw me.

So far this break I've seen a bunch of movies, did a photo shoot (or three), hung out with lots of friends, and slept a ton. Wish it could last forever!

xo, Phil

2009-12-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

Break time! First day of my winter vacation and I was very productive. I helped my dad set up a concrete bench in his yard, went to the farmer's market, had lunch with friends, delivered some wedding photos, went to the movies with a couple of kids from Young Life and Felipe and his crew, and now I am going to have dinner with those guys! Sweet.

Yesterday I gave quizzes to all my math students... AND a Christmas party :) I had kids sign up to bring stuff, and they pulled through! Two different classes had their parents order pizza and bring it to class. Crazy, huh? Little Ceasar's $5 Hot-And-Ready pizzas are hard to beat.

Here's a wedding photo!

2009-12-14T17:20:00.001-08:00

The other day, perhaps in a dream, or maybe while daydreaming, I had a minor bout of inspiration. I do dream about my teaching sometimes, which is a little sad, because that means even when I am sleeping I cannot escape the stresses of my job.

My moment of inspiration had to do with discipline, and I was thinking of effective ways to keep kids in line. Now, let me pause right here and say that this is why I *&#@! hate teaching in a public school. Why should I be thinking of ways to keep kids in check? Does that sound like a fun way to live my life? Do kids hate school?

Anyways, I thought it would be funny to make a kid write something over and over again like Bart Simpson does at the beginning of every Simpson's episode. So this boy in my class was giving the double bird towards some student outside of my class (TWO MIDDLE FINGERS!) and I saw him and I said, "K____, what the heck?! Take a break." I always make kids go outside immediately if they are being terribly distracting. Then when he came in I made him write

"I will think before I act."

on one side of a sheet of paper until he filled it up. That's only about 33 times, but I think he got the idea.

It was awesome.

2009-12-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

I've been offline for a long time! I actually went to Austria over Thanksgiving. Well, I actually took FIVE DAYS off of work before Thanksgiving plus the three days I already had for vacation. I was in Europe for 12 days total, and it was amazing.

I totally screwed up my substitute lesson plans somehow, and I was quite dismayed to come back to rumors of other teachers having to figure out what my kids were supposed to be doing. For someone who is terrified of off-putting others and caring a bit too much about what people think, I feel a little sick thinking about my reputation in the eyes of my colleagues at the junior high school.

I tried to make amends by giving Austrian chocolates away at our math meeting on Tuesday :)

2009-11-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

I should be in bed but I just wanted to say this: It's Veteran's Day and I got a day off in the middle of my week! How great is that? I was worried it would be an unproductive day, but I did so much!

I deleted bad photos from a wedding I just took pictures for, went bowling, finished grading a stack of tests, starred the best photos from the wedding, had dinner with my sister and then a second dinner with my good friend Felipe, then played board games with him and some of his Young Life guys.

And by the way, I went bowling with a big group of junior highers, many of whom are my own students. I was VERY reluctant to spend my day off with my students, but I did, and it was fun (mainly because I kicked their ass at bowling).

2009-11-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, there is nothing more satisfying than feeling caught up.

There is this student teacher at my school right now who I have a bit of a crush on... I'll just leave it at that, because I don't want trouble, or drama. :) But she's super sweet. I hear her heels clicking through the hall and I freeze, waiting for her to pass my door.

She wears sexy glasses and is quiet but beautiful-- my favorite type.

2009-10-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Halloween Costume

There is a girl in my class who I'm pretty sure views me as some type of father figure. At the very least, she looks up to me, which is nice. That is probably the only reason why I put up with her ridiculousness so much, because she is the quintessential Class Clown.

At the beginning of this week when students were talking about costumes for Halloween, this particular student announced "I'm gonna be Mr. V for Halloween!" This is a 12 year old Mexican girl. She continued, "But Mr. V, I don't have curly hair so you're gonna have to straighten yours."

What kind of backwards logic is that?!

2009-10-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

THE KIDS THE KIDS THE KIDS

Sometimes teaching feels amazing and sometimes I feel despair. One of my classes out of five (1/5 or 20 percent or .20) is just so smart! It has 33 students, all seventh graders, all simply beautiful, precocious, able young people. That class happens to be in my first hour of the day, and the rest is downhill from there.

In one of my lower-level classes, I am constantly telling this one kid who thinks he is SO smart to just show his work. He is able to do a lot of the problems in his head, but I insist that he shows his work so I know that he knows. Right? One of his recent homework assignments actually had this written on it:

"Uhhh!! Mr. V look I showd my work happy now! ?! :] Erick"

I just wish you could hear his voice. This kid talks sooo funny! Just imagine Al Pacino in Scarface as a 12 year old boy. The kind of guy that says "Say hello to my little friend." Cuban-Miami tough guy speak. Now read that again out loud. It makes me smile every time.

2009-09-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

The Librarian

I've officially finished one month of full-time work at Santa Barbara Junior High and boy am I tired! I think I've figured out that if I go to sleep by 10pm each night I will be feeling just perfect for the next day. But I haven't actually gone to sleep at 10pm yet!

There is a girl who is in 9th grade this year who I taught last year. She is a quiet little Mexican girl who I taught how to solve the Rubik's cube. She is a pretty good artist and her family is very poor. Every time I talk to her, she lives in a different place with another family. Her mother and her and her two younger siblings take over a room or two in a place with another family and that's how she lives. Without much.

So she stops by the junior high as she walks home from school sometimes and visits her old teachers, myself included. She was asking me how she can do community service hours and I told her she could work at the library! I told her she should just get a job there afterwards and wouldn't that be nice to get paid so she can buy her own stuff and not have her mom take her clothes and give them to her sister? We were dreaming about all this stuff and guess what?

The next time I saw her she had picked up an application to work at the main library (that she had never been to before) and was already filling it out. I need this sort of encouragement when I begin to think that my kids are worse than squirrels on coffee.

2009-09-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Alright alright. I'll try to be a little more diligent here since I know you are all dying to hear about my escapades in the classroom.

I've been teaching full time for three weeks now. What the heck?!

Today in class this 8th grade girl says to me, "Mr. V. There's a rumor going around that you have a six-pack. Is that true?"

Whoo hoo! Welcome to junior high. I don't know where in the world that sort of rumor started, but I kinda liked it so I didn't really confirm or deny it.

For those who are unsure, a six-pack in this situation refers to abdomen muscles, not alcohol.

2009-08-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

I got a job! I'm the new, official, 7th and 8th grade math teacher at Santa Barbara Junior High school. The day that I interviewed the principal wasn't there, but I got this text message from him later in the day:

"Word on the street is you did exceptionally well today."

How about them apples?

Oh, and I'll be making 42K this year. A nice step up from my baby 15,000 last year haha. So if you want, I'll buy you lunch. But you gotta ask first.

2009-07-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hello followers. You still there? I haven't given you very many tasty morsels to snack on this summer, I'm well aware. I'm just not teaching right now, so there are no stories to tell!

But that is not entirely true.

At the farmer's market last week I saw one of my favorites from this past year, Karinna. She had asked me to take pictures for her and her friends on graduation day and I did, but I never gave her the pictures. She saw me on Tuesday and I felt incredibly guilty and went and burned her a CD right there. And met her and her dad, and her best friend Daniela (plus mom). It was really great to see them, and Daniela gave me a big hug. Those girls make me smile!

And now that all of the GATE kids are no longer at the junior high, I caved and accepted their incessant friend requests on Facebook. Those kids are chatty! But very bright. Here is an excerpt from a book a couple of my OTHER favorite students are writing (and they sent me chapter one in an email):

"The music blasting from Blake’s headphones sounded, to me, like some sort of musical mosquito, hovering on the edges of my hearing. It harmonized with the hidden bugs singing around us. The clouds above me hung as if suspended by fishing line, like something from the set of a elementary school play. Fake, that’s how they looked. Like some soccer mom volunteered to make the set, and then realized what she had just gotten herself into. I could just see her, futilely trying to stick the cotton onto cardboard and ending up with fluff hot-glued to her French-manicured fingers."

Damn! That's good.

Here's a recently taken photo for you:

2009-07-07T00:02:00.001-07:00

This summer is absolutely flying by! Who let July sneak in the door? Seriously. I haven't had a chance to breathe yet. One of my favorite things this summer has been going downtown and seeing old students. I see these punky ones ALL the time. Ones that I have definitely sent to the office before when I was subbing. Now they slap my hand and say "What's up, Mr. V"

I took pictures for a mormon wedding last week! And I am shooting a wedding for an old friend of mine, Addie Brown. I am super excited about that! Whoooooooooooo

2009-06-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm done for the summer! School ended and I was so shot. It's been a crazy summer so far. I moved June 1st and I think I've only slept at home 5 times in the past three weeks. I've been camping out, at a Young Life camp, housesitting, etc.

All I really want is to be downtown editing photos. Here's a couple for you!

2009-05-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Good Lord, people!

Apparently some junior high girls that I taught last year got ahold of my phone number and decided that last night was the perfect opportunity to leave me 27 prank calls. I'm assuming they stopped either because they used up ALL of my voice mail space or it was something like 2 in the morning. After the third call I turned my phone off and when I got up this morning my voice message lady told me, "You have 24 new messages."

But honestly, it made me smile.

2009-05-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. Honestly, I'm tired of school and all I really want to do is be taking pictures. All the time. Here's one I took yesterday:

Cool, huh? But I am still teaching every day. Our school got canceled two days last week during the crazy crazy fires that happened. If you read the news, you heard about the fires. So I had a nice four day weekend.

I'm writing because this kid today in my fourth period class just said some ridiculous stuff that I thought I would share with you. First of all, he has this terrible attitude every single day. He's not dumb and he's not poor. He just "hates math." His attitude causes him to give up so easily on stuff that I know he can do.

Anyways, today before class I was just talking to him and trying to encourage him a little. I told him I thought he could do everything that we've been doing so far. I said he's got to enjoy it a little because he's going to be taking math for the next four years. This was his response:

"If I had a choice between taking math for the next four years or slitting my wrists, I would slit my wrists."

What the heck, man!??! Geez

2009-04-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

I implemented the most fantastic homework management policy today! I mentioned to the assistant principal that I hated calling kid's parents whenever they are missing homework; we are supposed to call home if students are missing 3 or more assignments. Since math has homework nearly every day and I have so many low-level students, I end up calling something like 15-20 parents and it takes forever! Imagine two hours of your life every week just contacting parents. And it's not like it's news to the parents. I've already called them two or three times before..

So the assistant principal said "Just have the kids call their parents themselves." And in my head an inspiration flower blossomed. It's beautiful. The kids call the parents. Of course! I don't spend time looking up numbers, practicing what I'm going to say in Spanish, etc. The students call. And not only that, but oh my gosh it was hilarious watching some of the students call. I heard one kid call and say in Spanish, "Hi dad, I'm missing 6 assignments in my math class. What? No, my teacher told me to call you. It's an F. But I'm gonna do it this weekend. No, I just have to call you. I know! I'm going to do it this weekend. I have to finish by Tuesday or I get a mandatorial. I know! I love you."

My favorite part was hearing the dad ask what the kid's grade was. This kid is one of the noisiest kids in my class, too. But he was very timid on the phone, haha.

Another kid was on the phone for like 10 seconds and I asked him if he had talked to his parents. He said, "Yeah, I'm grounded." Haha, "What did they say?" He replied, "My mom said I was grounded."

Oh man. I suppose this sounds a little mean laughing at kids getting in trouble from their parents, but I promise, it's not. You have to know these kids and the crap I get from them every day. And their parents are supposed to know about their grades anyways because I send home a progress report each week to get signed. I imagine a lot of them forge the signatures. I laugh because the solution is easy:

Do your homework each night. No problem. 10 minutes, maybe 15.

ps. If you think a kid could just fake a call to themselves or not dial anything, believe me, I am a sharp, young, no BS kind of teacher. I caught a girl doing it already.

2009-03-28T09:05:00.001-07:00

I'm writing this post from Fort Collins, Colorado. Outside of the window there is a city blanketed in snow. I made 10 new friends last night.

I am on Spring break!!!!!!!!

I bought tickets to visit friends in Colorado and in Utah. After I spend a weekend here in Ft. Collins (and go snowboarding!) I will head off to Provo, Utah to visit my great friend Katie Houston from high school. She's a teacher, too! She teaches junior high choir, which sounds infinitely harder than teacher junior high math. Guess what? We are going snowboarding in Utah, too. How awesome is that?

So yesterday when I had to leave my darling junior highers one day early I had my friend Felipe bring pizza to one of my classes. He owed me 40 bucks so I just had him buy 7 pizzas from Little Caesars (5 bucks a pizza!) and hand deliver them to my class while they were watching a movie.

Don't you wish you were in my class?

2009-03-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty burnt out lately teaching 8th graders math. It's not the math part that gets me. And it's not the teaching part that gets me. It's the part where the kids are dumber than most rocks and on top of that their home life is a mess and they don't care about school, or me, or anybody really. That's the part that really gets me. I need some compassion in my heart.

2009-03-09T13:09:00.001-07:00

Recently these latina girls have been hanging out in my classroom at lunch. They gossip and one of them raps. Two of them take boxing "because some other cholas wanna get down." They are so precious and sweet and mean and everything. If I could, I would adopt them all. But I don't have a very big house (I have a room in a shared apartment) and I am a poor substitute.

I have a big heart for them.

2009-02-25T09:30:00.001-08:00

Out of the mouths of babes...

For two of my 8th grade math classes I have a "Daily Quiz" set up every morning to prep the students for what lies ahead in the hour. Most of the time I give them three easy-to-difficult math problems to work out. Sometimes, after (or before) a long weekend or a lazy day, I put up a non-math related inquiry, such as "What did you do over the weekend?" or "Ask Mr. V a question!" Here are a few responses:

(from Ask Mr. V a question!):

"Can I move seats?"
"Hi. Why are you tall?"
And then virtually every other question was "Why did you get a haircut?" because I had just cut my hair rather short.

(from What did you do over the weekend?):

"got beat up by brothers"

My favorite was a combination of the two:

Question for Mr. V: "Why do u call home alot?"
What did you do over the weekend: "My dad yelling at me."

2009-02-20T08:19:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain! I worked all day at school, picked up a bunch of students and left for the rides. I went with an organization called Young Life, which is something like a Christian mentorship program.

It was FANTASTIC. For 25 bucks, we arrived at 5, ate all-you-can-eat hot dogs, potato salad, BBQ chicken, etc, for an hour, watched a funny skit, and then pretty much just walked onto every ride after that.

I had 5 little seventh graders following me around like a flock of baby chicks and we had a blast.

Unfortunately I still had to work today at 7:30 this morning and my voice is a whole octave lower than it was yesterday.

Signing off- Phil!

2009-02-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting interaction today with one of the administrators at the junior high today. It made my day!

She asked me how everything was going for me (in my third week of taking over three math classes). I replied that everything is going great so far. And she said, "That's good. I heard you were kicking ass in there." haha, I suppose on paper that statement can be misconstrued, but I assure you it was a compliment on my teaching abilities, and not a reason to be arrested for assault.

2009-02-06T17:49:00.001-08:00

Ok, ok. It has been a while, I know. I have officially taught for two weeks now, and I am doing my best :) Today a kid drew me a picture of Barney.

This job makes me SO tired. And I can't complain, I'm only teaching three classes. But still, I'm back to something like 6 hours of sleep each night which is no good.

In other news, I'm stepping up my photography skills. A lot. I want to put up a new website soon. I will start a new photo blog. I am shooting a wedding in one month.

ps. I teach at Santa Barbara Junior High School. Two 8th grade pre-algebra classes and one 8th grade regular algebra class. "8th grade PRE-algebra you say??" Yes, they all pretty much failed it the first time.

2009-01-22T15:54:00.000-08:00

I got a job! Not only did I get a job, but it counts towards my teaching credentials!

I'm not student teaching, but rather Interning, where I get to teach my own class and get paid while I earn my teaching credentials. Not bad, eh?

I start on Monday.

2009-01-16T12:13:00.001-08:00

Today a student asked me if I liked being a substitute teacher. She didn't ask me for any particular reason, like the class was being terrible or something. Just curious.

I do like subbing, and I'll tell you why: A kid brought me pancakes from Denny's this morning. He even put syrup on them and stole a fork from the restaurant.

Also, this is week is finals week and the only instruction for this period was to collect the students' final projects. Some students are watching a movie on their laptop. Others are chatting, or finishing up work for other classes. I checked my email, looked up photoshop stuff online, and created a masterpiece of a photo that I took yesterday with Mark.

I'm getting paid 105 bucks for this, so yes, I suppose I do like subbing. And here is my photo:

2009-01-12T17:24:00.001-08:00

I FINALLY have a job tomorrow. Subbing for Science/Math at Dos Pueblos. It's finals week in the schools here, so I will probably be sitting through five study periods. Not bad, not bad at all.

In other news, it's been a long process, but I think I am working out the details of my student teaching. I'm a bit disappointed in my school, National University. I am supposed to be starting my student teaching next week, and I hadn't heard a word from them in about a month. That's stressful!

I'll let you know the details when they come!

As for yesterday, I went to the butterfly preserve in Goleta:

2009-01-08T20:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks, I haven't had a single job of subbing this week! What's up with that? I did get a haircut, though, and I'm sitting in a sweet little coffee shop, waiting for a gypsy jazz band to start playing. Ah, Santa Barbara!

2008-12-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

Even though I am on Christmas vacation right now, I am still seeing kids that I have substituted for. Especially Amelia Badish. But she graduated last year! She was a student who, in order to come in late every day, would buy me something from Starbucks each morning. That was when I subbed for a week.

I have been seeing Amelia for almost every day of the break somehow. She keeps saying "Mr. V! This is getting kinda ridiculous!"

2008-12-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while substituting for junior high math, we watched the movie Stand and Deliver. There was a scene that caught my attention because I didn't know the Spanish term being spoken, and I usually pride myself on having a pretty good comprehension of Spanish.

This pretty Latina girl went off with a guy in a nice car and her friend said after her "She thinks she's so hot 'cause she dates cavachos."

I asked my class what that cavachos meant and about three or four kids pointed at me and said "You."

Apparently a cavacho is a white guy.

That kinda made me chuckle.

2008-12-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

Hi there! This week has been pretty great in terms of subbing, and life. I subbed four days, took on a couple of extra tutor sessions that I didn't plan on (which meant I got some Christmas goodies as well!), I bought a fantastic new digital camera, and more.

I got to work yesterday and today but I also got to sleep in each day-- each class didn't start until 9am. Perfect. And tomorrow I think I will be done by lunch.

Today after a simple three-period day (during which I watched Stand and Deliver, the most fantastic math teacher movie ever), I called my good friend Felipe and found out he was going bowling with a bunch of the junior highers on a field trip with the school. I kind of invited myself as a chaperone and got to bowl two games and get a free lunch! I bowled a 140 and a 125. Decent.

I also got my test results for TB. I don't have it!

Here is a picture of Felipe and a picture of my new camera, which is one of the best out there :)

2008-12-09T22:45:00.001-08:00

I received two compliments today!

"Mr V. I don't know what I wanna be when I grow up, but all I know is right now, I wanna be just like you."

"Phil, your curls are very luscious today."

These are from two high school kids. Funny stuff :)

2008-12-05T09:21:00.001-08:00

I have been subbing at the junior high all week. Somedays I really really resent those kids. Somedays they are a joy. Today is a mixed day. I often think about how my days are dictated by my attitude or amount of sleep or my hunger. I don't know if I can quantify it, but I do believe that there is some corelation between my internal state and my response to the students.

Today I woke up rested, listened to heavenly music while I got dressed, rode my bike to work, and I feel pretty great. I also gave a kid a rubik's cube earlier this week and taught him the final steps on how to solve it today. He did it three times in class (AFTER he finished his test, of course).

Now I get to cruise the internet and do blogs while my shining 8th graders take their geometry quiz.

ps. Did you know that I tutor? I tutor for two hours every day after school, Monday through Thursday. I tutor rich elementary school kids. It's awesome. I just found out that the father of one of the girls that I tutor is a pretty phenomenal photographer. Browse his website, you'll see:

Michael Haber Photography

2008-12-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

Guess what?

I passed my math exam to become a teacher!

This is one I had to retake because I didn't really study the first time around. Now that I passed, I hope to student teach this Spring, and be a fully certified teacher by next year! Whoo hoo!

2008-11-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hello! Subbing for two days in a row: 8th grade math. Today we are watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!

I actually learned something new about America. Did you know that the first settlers didn't even settle at the first land? They had to travel up and down the east coast to find good land. And two people died on the trip over, but one baby was born.

2008-11-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I substituted for some 11th and 12th grade English classes.

I have a pen pal named Lisa who lives in Iowa. We exchange mix-CDs.

I asked a student to help design the cover of an envelope that I was sending off to my friend across the states (hi Lisa!). I've had students draw me things in the past, for my refrigerator, and I've received some pretty awesome pictures. I like this one a lot:

2008-11-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, my hope is renewed for junior high. I had a great day today! Really mellow classes, nothing terrible like razor blades under desks, etc.

Something that I love is that kids actually give me hugs when they see me! How awesome is that? I'm not even a teacher there and kids stop by and hug me with big smiles and ask why I'm not subbing in their classes.

Let's see, anything funny to reproduce here? During lunch, I was sitting at my desk reading and eating a sumptuous Subway sandwich with my door open. Some guys started running by my door to distract me or trip me out or something. When I ignored them, they stepped it up a notch and started sliding past my door. I would hear a patter of feet and then a horizontal body would breeze by on the ground.

It was pretty funny, but I still didn't give them my attention. I'm a mean old man like that.

2008-11-07T23:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and today I subbed for an 8th grade English class at a junior high in town. I get so tired of some of those junior highers sometimes. Just over it. I was talking with the school psychologist for a bit and she was agreeing with me that the main difference between high school and junior high is behavior management. Junior high is like 50 percent behavior issues, 50 percent teaching. 1/2 reigning them in, 1/2 getting stuff done. In contrast, high school is maybe 5-10 percent behavior management, and over 90 percent teaching. And that means that the teaching doesn't have to be boring or strict. If the teacher is relaxed and trusts the class, things can actually be fun. Believe it or not.

But for junior high, all this means is that most of class is just a brutal waste of time because of a handful of, well, let's be honest, assholes who don't care about school and their classmates and the teacher.

In other news, I found a razor blade underneath a trouble girl's desk.

2008-11-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

One of the most beautiful things about substituting is that I can take whatever days I want off. I didn't work yesterday and I didn't work today. It's nice to not feel too stretched and stressed.

Watching the news!

Obama WON.

2008-10-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Say hello to Mr. Van Nerdstrand

2008-10-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday while subbing at Dos Pueblos High School, a student was telling me about her dad, whom I know. I mentioned how energetic he is, and she agreed. She said she felt bad for him because he didn't have any boys (it's just the girl and her little sister). She said he builds things like tree houses and forts but he usually spends more time in them then the girls do!

2008-10-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am subbing for a Special Ed teacher. The Special Ed classes are simply classes for students with learning disabilities or severe emotional problems.

My first period class right now has only four students and there is an instructional assistant in the class as well, which means there is a 1:2 teacher to student ratio. Not bad, not bad at all...

Not only does every class have about eight kids or less, but I am done by lunch today! Whoo hoo!

I rode my bike to work and a kid just informed me that it is supposed to rain today. I really hope it is not raining when I have to go home!

Riding my bike is about 2 minutes faster than driving my car. Isn't that crazy? I don't usually wait for stop lights on my bike, so that gives me the edge.

This my bike! Well, this particular picture is not MY bike per se, but mine is the same color, same gears, everything. My seat is lower, though, and my handlebars have red tape on them, not grey. It's pretty bad-ass, and I feel great cruising around town, passing cars on the street, listening to my iPod. My good friend Dave, who sells pistachios at the farmer's market, gave it to me. He has a tendency to collect things like squirrels collect nuts.

2008-10-22T08:49:00.001-07:00

There is a kid in my first period Spanish class, we'll call him Grady, because that's what his name is, who is very, how shall we put this?... loud. He demands attention, from before the bell rings until the minute class is over. Throughout the class kids tell him to shut up. Nobody thinks he is terribly funny.

--
Ah, in fact, I just sent him outside.
--

It's always interesting having students like that in my classes. I can handle the disruptions and they generally provide light humor. The disruptions are funny not for their content but by the pure absurdity that the student embodies. Everyone shares the experience of witnessing someone who lacks nearly all inhibiting reflexes. Haha, type in "Lack of inhibition" and the first entry that Google gives you is a page on ADHD, or attention deficit hyper-active disorder.

2008-10-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Estoy enseñando español todo la semana.

I got asked to take over for a teacher at Dos Pueblos whose wife just had a baby. Today we are learning how to conjugate -AR verbs, such as "hablar," or "caminar."

For example, "Yo camino en el parque."

This teacher is great, because he leaves incredible notes, has a lot of time filling activities, and I get to actually teach stuff. Some teachers just have me show movies, and that's ok, but not fulfilling.

Today we played Matamoscas (flyswatters). This was a great review game! All the vocabulary words are written on an overhead in a random order around the page. One student from each team comes up with a flyswatter and when I say the word in English, they have to find the word projected up on the overhead in Spanish and swat it first, and then pronounce the word in Spanish. We played for a bunch of rounds and team B killed team A.

I went up against a student and beat him soundly. At the game, mind you, not literally. :)

2008-10-13T14:58:00.000-07:00

Oh, by the way--

Last year, my seventh grade students set up a "wedding" for my girlfriend Elissa and myself. I came to the classroom one day and, lo and behold, all the seats were arranged differently. And students brought flowers. And made tinfoil rings. It was very cute. Anne was a bridesmaid. And Carter was the father who walked the bride down the aisle. Definitely a memory for a lifetime.

2008-10-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello.

I should have written last week but I wasn't terribly motivated to do so. I have time now, since it is a lazy morning and I am only subbing periods 4, 5, and 6 today. This is the best kind of morning...the sun drifts into my bedroom sidelone through my sliding glass door. I can tell from the very first moment that it will be a gorgeous, sunny day. I awake easily on bright days.

Last week I substituted for a Special Ed teacher. All of her students had some sort of learning disability, and the range was great. There were pretty high functioning students and there were pretty low functioning students.

The incident of the day occurred when R kept getting riled up by a couple of the other students in the classroom. A small little girl would discreetly tell him to get to work. Amazingly, almost without thought, R would respond with contempt, "Callate, pendeja!" Which, for you non-Spanish speakers, translates to "Shut up, F____"

Um, that's not ok. In any classroom of any school. Especially for a couple of little 8th graders. So I came over to him and said, "R, please don't swear. I speak Spanish and that's not ok. Ok?"

Then he slaps me on the arm with his book and says "Stop." At this point, the teacher's assistant, a lady who has been working with the students all year long, interjects from across the room with "R, GET BACK TO WORK."

Naturally, R replies to her, "Shut up."

And with that, he was gone. Sent to the office. Has detention for two days.

2008-09-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

One of the funnier things that has occurred in the past two weeks that I have subbed at Santa Barbara Junior High is this:

Every morning I put up a PowerPoint slide to be shown at the beginning of each class. It usually says something like,

"Happy Tuesday! September 23rd, 2008. Please take out:
•Pencil
•Agenda
•Science Log
•Homework from last night

HOMEWORK: Complete vocabulary list"

Boring, right? Well, on the days that we don't have homework, I like to throw in this line: "HOMEWORK: Enjoy life." And invariably, more than one student will ask me "What does it mean to enjoy life??" What's ridiculous is that they are seriously asking me what I mean for them to do that evening. They aren't quite sarcastic enough to be joking about not enjoying life because school is getting them down or something. They just want to know, "What does it mean to enjoy life?"

Seriously? Seriously.

2008-09-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

Hello, people. I don't have much to say. All my days are a blur. Here is my note to my teacher yesterday (I'm subbing for the same class for two weeks):

Per. 1: Noah can't be with others.. always distracting
Per. 5: Gave Sal a referral for getting out of his seat for the 1000th time AND for poking/hitting a girl in the chest.
Per. 6: German still hardly working. It's like pulling a mule. I talked to him after class yesterday and today.

Ok, but that's all boring. What is interesting, in my opinion, is how much I tutor every week. Since last week I have added on four new tutoring clients, which puts my total at nine hours of tutoring every week. That is an added income of about 1200 dollars a month.

Yesterday I tutored a girl in the nicest house I have ever encountered in my entire life. She sometimes goes down to Los Angeles for acting auditions, and her mother and father are gorgeous, of course. Cars owned: New Mercedes, and Porsche 911. That's from what I've seen so far--there may be more.

I think the term I am looking for here is "exorbitant wealth."

2008-09-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

This week has been hell. I am so tired and worn out! I substituted for the same 7th graders all week and I picked up all of these tutoring clients recently so my schedule has been something like:

Set alarm for 6:30, get up at 7am.
Leave for work by 7:15.
Teach periods 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 + a 20 minute reading period right before lunch.
Leave school at 2:30 and drive straight to tutoring.
Tutor from 2:45 to 3:45.
Drive to other tutoring, from 4:00 to 5:00.
Practice music with Brendan. (Or help someone move for three hours, or perform concert with Brendan)
Grocery shopping, etc.
Come home at around 10-11pm.
Catch up on emails, facebook, youtube, music.
Go to sleep at 12:30-1am.

Repeat.

ps. The 7th graders...suck. I sent students out of the classroom EVERY SINGLE DAY for misbehaving, talking back, having attitude, not listening, etc. It got so bad that the principal came in and lectured my 6th period class today. It was awesome. Then he took out four specific imps and spoke with them in private. Nice to know I've got support, eh?

2008-09-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ok! I'm back to substituting again. Today was decent. I would give it 6 stars out of 10. I would say the best part was the totally gorgeous student teacher who will be accompanying me today, tomorrow, and Wednesday.

The worst part was students just talking and talking and talking and talking and talking...

2008-09-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

Today I taught a student to solve the Rubik's cube.

In other news, I got a job at Santa Barbara Junior High for two weeks in a science class! The teacher's daughter is having her first baby in another state, and the grandmother-to-be is VERY excited.

2008-09-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

Today I substituted for advanced 8th grade math at Santa Barbara Junior High.

It was fun! I had nearly all of my GATE students from last year spread out among my 5 classes. And, like I wrote about yesterday, they are still as wonderful as ever. Some of them still haven't stopped talking in class (just like last year), some of them still have braces on, still have the same haircut, and so on. And some have changed slightly, which is cool to see.

Being in the same town for 27 years and working with so many youth in so many different settings has allowed me to see all kinds of people growing up, and I like that. I like that a lot.

On a side note, I rode my bike to work, which was wonderful and quick. I rode downtown afterward and played on my computer in a Starbucks and a few of my students from the day saw me in there. "Hi, Mr. V!" and some giggles.

Later, at 10pm, I was grocery shopping (because grocery shopping at 10pm on a Friday night is a beautiful thing to do and it is never crowded) and saw two students that I have subbed for a lot at Dos Pueblos. We talked for a moment and that was cool, too. I know kids from all these different generations, and it's a bit trippy. I see styles in Junior high and high school, I see who is partying with who (on Facebook), I see people making college decisions, and I just have this sort of omniscient view of a lot of little lives around town. Sometimes I feel like a wise old grandfather who is watching his offspring grow up like a wild garden around him.

2008-09-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ok. It has been a few weeks now and I am definitely back from traveling around Mexico. In fact, I am so back that I have started substitute teaching again around town!

I almost got my job back, at Santa Barbara Junior High, where I worked for four months last year. Almost. The school wanted me, but, long story short, I basically didn't have enough credentials (or any sort of background whatsoever) in History and so the school district couldn't hire me.

So I am subbing. And guess what?? I've subbed three days already, and school has only been in session for two weeks. I got to do some pre-calculus for my friend Matt Long who teaches at Dos Pueblos High School.

Tomorrow I will be back at the junior high. For math. For advanced math, actually, which means one thing: I will get to see all of my beloved GATE students again.

Today, my friend Felipe went to visit some of his Young Life kids over at the junior high and so I went with him to visit.

IT
WAS
AWESOME.

I basically walked out of the hallways into the lunch area and was more or less mobbed by what seemed like my entire two GATE classes from last year. They are all still super funny and weird and beautiful and going to change the world. I just talked to a big huddle of students for the whole lunch period. It was wonderful. I got to hear how they went to Israel, Seattle, the movies, motorcycling, etc. I got to hear new inside jokes, hear about school and how all the little seventh graders are (not cool, apparently).

The principal was out there and when all the kids mobbed me he started telling seventh graders that I was a famous character from The Hills television show and that's why they were all so excited to see me. Just so you know, I look nothing like any of the people on The Hills.

2008-08-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

This was Tulum, Mexico. Site of one of the last Mayan ruins before the civilization collapsed. The ruins are beautiful up on the cliffs over the great blue Caribbean ocean. The one random picture that looks like guys are being tortured upside down is actually a Mayan ceremony, and you can see a live video of it (from the exact same place I took the picture, actually) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWOGb_WroDk

2008-08-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

That last post took place in Chichen Itza. It was a gorgeous location for Mayan ruins. Rather large and spacious with amazing structures. I was there early enough to beat any sort of crowds as you can see in my pictures.

After Chichen Itza I headed for Playa del Carmen, a beach city on the Caribbean. Think Cancun, but smaller. My girlfriend, Elissa, had plans to visit her family in Texas around the time I was going to be out in this part of Mexico. She found tickets to Cozumel that included a layover in Houston, Texas on the way home, so this opportunity to have company on my trip transpired quite perfectly! We had so many adventures in four days it was amazing!

I wasn't able to take pictures from our two snorkeling adventures, but they included: snorkeling in underground caves that Mayans used to make sacrifices in; snorkeling in the Caribbean Ocean right in the middle of all kinds of blue and white and beautiful fish.

These two pictures (above and below) were taken at my FAVORITE food place in all of Mexico. It was away from the strip in Playa del Carmen (read: locals spot) and the food offerings were substantial and exquisite.

My main form of transportation: The bus. Contrary to what you might think, they had the most amazing coach buses in Mexico. Way nicer than most found here in the states.

2008-08-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

CHICHEN ITZA

2008-08-14T00:49:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Palenque. The Mayan ruins in the jungle. These are quite beautiful, as you can see. It was very hot that day, and I walked around feeling tired, sweaty, and sticky (due to the humidity). You could hear howler monkeys in the jungle while walking around the ruins. It was spooky.

One cool thing, I hopped a "No Entry" sign and followed a path to some more ruins that were not open to the public. They were not very spectacular but it was absolutely splendid to walk in the middle of the forest among ruins and be completely alone.

2008-08-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

I spent just one night in San Cristobal de las Casas, but somehow I managed to walk nearly the entire town, visit a small village nearby that specializes in pottery making, take a four-hour nap, hang out in the center with my Canadian friends, and watch a movie. Then I left the next morning at 6am.

The pottery town is called Amatenango and the people there are basically old-school, pre-Spanish groups. They don't even speak Spanish! I mean, they do, but not at home or amongst themselves. I believe the word we are looking at here is called Indigenous.

I sat down for a bit and befriended Alberta, the girl pictured below. She is 24, and was very sweet. She said she paints about 40 of those birds a day. Oh man, if you could hear those girls talk, it is SO BEAUTIFUL! Like sighs of despair and love mixed together. Their language lilts and whispers. It is enchanting.

On my way back I caught a ride in the back of a Nissan flatbed truck. You will see a lot of these trucks being used as public transport. It cost about fifty percent of what a normal bus would cost, and the locals use them all the time.

2008-08-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

In the city of Oaxaca there is not too much to see, and I decided to leave early, adding a city onto my schedule that I hadn't intended to see originally: Puerto Escondido (literally "Hidden Port")

It was two of my most relaxing days on my trip. I found a little cove that was away from the masses and settled down to read, swim, sun, read, nap, eat, read, swim, and so on. I read Eat, Pray, Love in three days. I had fish tacos for brunch, home-made french fries, and sodas in glass bottles, which is the best way to drink a soda (pop).

2008-08-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I enjoyed Oaxaca quite much. I got to see the Guelaquetza Festival, Monte Alban, and the city was quaint, colorful, and clean. I like clean. It was a wonderful change from the hustle of Guadalajara. Here are a few pictures from my last day in Oaxaca city:

2008-08-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

This took forever to upload, and I am SO SORRY! If you have been checking on here at all in the last week you have probably asked yourself: "Where the heck is Phil??" Well, my friend, I have been everywhere. Swimming underground, watching movies, seeing even MORE ruins, taking overnight buses, biking, meeting indigenous peoples, etc. Enjoy these photos from Monte Alban. And try to imagine clearing off the top of a small mountain to make your religious/civic center for your city. 1500 years ago.

2008-07-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak preview of what is to come:

2008-07-31T15:58:00.000-07:00

Dang, I forgot to put up some last pictures from Guadalajara! So please take a moment and go backwards one city to la gran ciudad de Guadalajara. On my last day in Guadalajara, Sunday, the city shuts down a big main avenue for MILES and MILES and people bike and rollerblade and run through the streets. It's beautiful and I took a few shots to capture the event. There are literally thousands of people out and about biking. Also, the parks are full with people jumping rope, doing Capoeira, playing giant chess.

Let me just say that, since my study abroad trip in Spain about three years ago, I have really taken notice of the personality of cities, how they cater to tourists and to their own, and what they have to offer. My city of Santa Barbara is fantastic about this. We've got free concerts in the park two days a week in the summer, fireworks for the Fourth of July, parades, tons of benches and water fountains and parks. Guadalajara was pretty good about this, as you can see. The bigger the city, I think, the greater the resources. There is nothing worse than coming to a city with nowhere to sit but the curb.

And lastly, my gracious couchsurfing host, Ernesto, who is a very talented Jazz guitarist and whom I got to see perform at a ritzy restaurant in the rich section of town.

2008-07-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

This was at a HUGE festival in Oaxaca called the Guelaguetza that happens only once a year. I was going to stay overnight in Mexico City after Guadalajara but I made the spontaneous decision to take an overnight bus to Oaxaca from Mexico City instead. I arrived tired and bleary eyed in Oaxaca at 6am. Found a hostel, layed down my bags, made some friends with a couple of Canadians, and came to this, a 10,000 person arena with dancing, free sombreros and fans and stuff, and lots of heat.

2008-07-28T21:42:00.001-07:00

Here's some more from Guadalajara! Just cruising around the city.

I'll be putting in just a couple more from Guadalajara (tomorrow?) and then some from Oaxaca, where I am now!!

2008-07-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm changing the size of my pictures now so they should load faster and you can click on them to see them at a decent size.

As you can see, I went to the market! And downtown there are fantastic old buildings, like Europe, and statues. I asked my hosts who Jose Antonio Torres is and they had no idea. "He's not a musician" was their response. Ha!

2008-07-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

I am in Guadalajara, staying with my couchsurfing host who is a doctor and looks like a doctor from a Spanish soap opera. This is where I am staying. It's a little gated, 12 apt complex.

Cute, huh? Next, I will go to a musicians' house (note where I put the apostrophe) and see some live music tomorrow night!

Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico, after Mexico City. There are buses everywhere and they drive really fast. They are always either speeding up or slowing down. There's a street here called '16 de Noviembre.' Do you know what happened on that date? It's the main street in the city.

2008-07-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

I drove to Phoenix, Arizona, where my good old friend Sarah lives with her husband Lee. I took a bus from there for freakin' 31 hours or so. That was a long ride.

I count Sarah and Lee as my first couchsurfing hosts. Couchsurfing.com is a place where you can seek out people to host you for free, stay on their couch, and see a place from an insider's perspective, which I think is wonderful. And it is very safe, for all you old-world skeptics out there who don't even make deposits from an ATM machine but wait 30 minutes in line at the bank. Seriously, now.

With Sarah and Lee I played Scrabble (and won tremendously), went swimming, ate BBQ chicken and fruit salad, played Beyond Balderdash (and lost terribly), saw a mall, witnessed heat, and met some cool friends, Matt and Chris, who drunk dialed me once at 1:40 in the morning trying to impersonate Arnold Swarchenegger.

2008-07-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I am going to Mexico. I am going to Mexico on a bus. I will go to at least 15 different cities and I plan on seeing some phenomenal jungle ruins. MAYAN jungle ruins.

I should be posting on here as often as I can get online. And I'll include pictures, so stay posted! Save this website!

Love, Phil

2008-07-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

At the Summer Solstice Parade 2008

2008-07-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

From a photo shoot with Mark S.

2008-07-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

In Boston over Spring break:

f/11, 1/80, ISO 400, 48mm, post processing [overlay]

f/9, 1/640, ISO 400, 28mm

2008-07-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

Here we are, one month later. I leapt into summer like a warm puppy into a cool pool. Sorry I haven't written. It's not that I don't care. It's just that I was a little burnt out. So for now, I will be posting photos from the summer. The photo blog is inspired by Mark Skovorodko.

From the Live Oak Music Festival, June 14-17:

f/4.5, 1/250, 105mm, post processing

f/4.5, 1/500, 45mm, post processing

2008-06-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

THE SURPRISE

Well this just tops them all.. My first period class just threw me the most amazing surprise party EVER! One of the first things I thought of was that I wished I had a camera to capture all of the streamers, the balloons, the kids' faces, the cupcakes and candy and bagels, and more.

They made a toast to "The best sub EVER!" Ha ha, it was truly wonderful. I felt quite loved.

For those who don't know, my birthday was on Tuesday, and I was planning on having a party on Wednesday with the students, but then they convinced me to do it next week because a student wasn't going to be here, and so that was the plan, or so I thought. Yesterday they were passing around a sign-up sheet for students to bring food, and I still thought that was for next week, not today. One of the counselors sent me to the office at the beginning of class and I thought I was in trouble for something, or that they were talking to the kids about the teachers' awards assembly next Friday. What they were really doing was throwing streamers over everything, pulling in food from next door, and hiding in their spots.

It has always, always been my wish to have a surprise party thrown for me. And they did it perfectly--I had nary an idea. :)

2008-06-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

THE BABY'S DADDY

I've had so many stories lately! I just haven't the time to write them down. I'm trying to think of some of the ridiculous things I've witnessed lately. Well, here are some responses to a warm up question I created recently:

"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" (Don't forget, these kids will be about 22 or 23 in 10 years)

"I see myself getting a good job with a nice home on Malibu on the beach"
"In 10 years I see myself living in Cambria and selling my art. I will also travel the world when I get out of college."
"I'll be working in construction with my dad to pay for my studies and my own apartment."
"I will be in Japan."
"Maybe prison or a good job."
"In 10 years I will be a part time photographer. I might be in college studying robotics and math. I hope to get into MIT or some other good technology college."

And my favorite... "w/one child living w/my baby's dad in SB or Oxnard or Goleta in a nice house w/a good job."

2008-05-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

THE MAYA

Hello! This week we are studying the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the American civilizations. You want to hear some crazy facts about the Mayans?

• They played a game called pok-a-tok in which they tried to hit a small rubber ball through a hoop and they could not use their hands or feet. The losers were sometimes sacrificed and the captain of the losing team was often beheaded.

• They would sacrifice people to the gods by dropping them down a 60 foot well. If the person survived, they would pull them out and then ask them what message they had heard from the gods.

• They believed having a flat head was beautiful, and tied boards to their babies foreheads to shape their skulls.

• The ruler wore a headdress that was as tall as a person!

That's all. Hope you enjoyed your lesson! My students thought pok-a-tok sounded amazing. I also told them that many people would bet on the games, betting away their slaves, cattle, and/or homes.

2008-05-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

You know what is cool about my GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) students? No? Well, let me tell you. Besides being your future doctors, explorers, scientists, famous actors and actresses, lawyers, and Presidents, they rock!

They are present at every single school function. If I just taught all general classes, probably 1 percent of my students would be represented. But that is not the case. I teach GATE social studies and my students are the movers and shakers of their generation. No lie. They give me hope for the future.

If there is a Renaissance Faire, they are the ones dressing up, and they are the ones making the calligraphy bookmarks. If there is a talent show, they are in one half of the skits/songs/dances. If there is a chalk festival in Santa Barbara, half of the students assigned a block to chalk for Santa Babara Junior High are in one of my GATE classes.

I love those kids! They are going places.

2008-05-19T15:29:00.001-07:00

Hello lovelies. The party was awesome! Two days of pizza, movies (Night at the Museum), candy, cake, jelly beans, etc.

This week we are studying the Age of Exploration! It's not as glamorous as it sounds. Especially when you consider the consequences of Westward expansion, such as death, disease, slavery, and so on.

I only have three more weeks left until school is out, and I feel like I could spend months teaching the Exploration times, the Mayan and Incas and Aztecs, the Scientific Revolution...

Last, my birthday is in two weeks and I think I'm gonna do another party on that day (Tuesday, June 3rd).

2008-05-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

THE PARTY

Things have improved tremendously since my last post. So much so, in fact, that my fourth period class has earned themselves a party! They have been earning class points towards a pizza party, and that is what I am going to give them on Thursday and Friday. Two days of relaxing, pizza, brownies, maybe a movie, some games, etc.

Should be good!

2008-05-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

THE PRINCIPAL THAT CARES (AND SWEARS)

Wednesday was a terrible day. But it was amazing in a lot of ways, too. Either way, nothing in my fourth period class will ever be the same again.

On Wednesday, my fourth period class made me cry. There was not one particular thing, but many little things, like poison darts, that broke through my defenses and just tore me down. Students blaming me for picking on them too much (they bring it on themselves), telling me class is boring (they bring it on themselves), telling me I don't pick on OTHER students when they talk (they bring it on themselves, too, but in a positive way), not listening, not respecting, talking too much, never doing homework (ever), and so on. After class, with my heart in my throat, I went to talk to the principal, a fantastic man, about my woes and more or less plead for help.

"Write down the names of the people causing trouble. We'll have a meeting right now."

So I wrote down the first six names that came to mind--student who give me grief every day; when they are absent, class is smoother. I could have written more, but the others grief-makers that day were not so bad, so I wasn't thinking of them.

Then all six of them were called out of their class, filed into my class with the principal, and sat down.

In the most angry, serious voice I have ever heard, he started, "Ok. Right now, you are going to do something you normally do not do in this class. You are going to shut your mouths, and you are going to listen. And nothing I say is going to be funny for the next 10 minutes."

He then proceeded to detail every action that he assumed they did in class, with amazing accuracy, and told them how they should respond to me in the future. I now feel more empowered than ever before, and know how I can respond to their actions. Hopelessness gone.

But this is awesome.

Favorite line: "What you have been doing so far this year is BULLSHIT! [pause] That's right, I said it. It's bullshit. And if you wanna go home and tell your parents I said it, do it! I'll tell them the same thing. That your behavior this year has been shitty and you need to change."

2008-05-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

THE STILL CALM VOICE

Whenever I get to read to my students I invariably say "Ok, now you can relax and do nothing but listen to the soothing sound of my voice."

They usually laugh and kind of relax. I don't pretend to have a soothing voice, I just like to say it. I actually get really tired of the sound of my voice. Apparently so do some of the others, because yesterday one of my girls said, "Mr. V, I'm sorry, but I just have to say this. You don't have a soothing voice."

My only consolation was the boy in third period who wrapped himself up in his big jacket and lay on the floor while I read to him. In my soothing voice.

2008-04-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND I

There is a girl in my fourth period class, who I will let remain anonymous for the time being. I swear she had a black nose from being punched in the face last week. She said she fell.

That was not the only indicator that things were going badly in her life. She normally does really well in my class, turns in all her work, displays thoughtfulness in her answers. But the last couple of weeks she has missed, let's see here.. Ah! Seven assignments, which puts her grade at a 38.8 percent. The lowest F in the class.

Today I asked her to stop talking (please) and she didn't, so I wrote her name up on the board. (That is called a verbal warning, then a written warning) When she continued to make it impossible for her table group to get stuff done, I asked her to please step outside. She said no. I said, sternly, "Go outside, NOW, please."

"Damn, Mr. V. You're stupid!" She exits.

Now, my first response as a teacher is to report that kind of disrespect to the highest authorities. If any student calls a teacher stupid to their face, they are done. There is no excuse for that sort of behavior.

But listen--

My heart broke for her. It did. My heart broke for her. After a few minutes I went out of the class to talk with her and the first thing I asked her was if she was ok. I asked her if her heart was ok. She knew exactly what I meant and I felt like we were both about to cry.

Folks, some of us grew up never knowing uncertainty and pain. Fear and distrust. Some of us had two parents and home-cooked meals and sack lunches. You remember sack lunches? Well, come to school sometime and observe the socio-economic implications of a student with or without a sack lunch.
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If you do this sort of thing, pray for my students. Pray for the one whose nose is bruised. Pray for the one who has letters on her binder from her father in jail. Pray for the one who buys three cookies for lunch. Pray for the one who cries when I say I will call his mother at home. Pray for the one who sells weed to my other students. Pray for the girl smoking dope before school. Pray for the one who did nothing this weekend.

Pray for the ones who will have to fight, claw, struggle, and push their whole lives to have any semblance of the life that was handed to me the day I was born.

2008-04-23T22:37:00.000-07:00

THE ABSENTEES PUT MY MIND AT EASE. YES, PLEASE

Today was an awesome day! Do you know why? Today was an awesome day because my fourth period class was pretty mellow. Do you know why? Today my fourth period class was pretty mellow because SEVEN FREAKIN' STUDENTS WERE ABSENT!

Is that what it comes down to? In order for me to have a functioning class I need to have seven students gone from class? I'll tell you where half of them were.

Two of the missing students were W and A. W sold 20 dollars worth of weed to A. The weed in question was actually yard clippings from the school campus. How ridiculous is that? I actually intercepted a note that W wrote to D explaining the details of the drug deal.

Stupid. Kids.

I also kicked out two other students, K and E. K was insulting E and in response, E took K's paper that had all of his assignments and crumpled it up, just as I was turning to witness the dishonorable act. Boom. Gone to the office. To the principal, in fact. I already had warned E just about three times already during that class period. If I tell you that I will send you to the principal if you act up again, because I am tired of telling you to stay in your seat and stop throwing things at people and please get back in your seat and can you stop talking while I am talking, and where are you going? I don't have a pencil sharpener, please sit down. Sit down in your actual seat. No not that one, no you can't sit next to her I already told you, no. No. No. What? No.

If I tell you I will send you to the principal,
wouldn't you just relax and stop? Wouldn't you?

2008-04-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

THE PAINT

"Hey, is that paint on your cheek?" I asked the little seventh grade girl in my fourth period class. She had a streak of pink paint on her left cheek, but it was partially covered by very long bangs combed over the western region of her face.

"Yes," she replied.

"You had blue paint on your neck two days ago! Why do you have paint on you?" I inquired.

"It's called having fun with your Life, Mr. V!" And then she leaves--slams the door, actually--with no further explanation.

What the heck?

2008-04-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

THE CONNECTIONS

Not much to report these days, but I want to keep my (few) readers happy, so I will write about two things that have struck my fancy recently.

1. There is a talent show coming up at our school, and the teachers are being encouraged to get involved. I have slightly considered showing off my hackey sack skills or maybe solving the Rubik's Cube in under a minute.

2. Today in class we had discussions that I always dreamed I would have as a teacher--we were talking about patrons in the Renaissance (the Medici's!) and I brought up all the different libraries and theaters in town that are named after philanthropists. Making the connections, you see? And then we talked about how the arts in Florence inspired more artists and raised the bar in terms of artistic standards, kind of like what my friend Brendan has been experiencing in Nashville, Tennessee. The Luria Library in Santa Barbara, named after the "patron" Eli Luria.

Making the connections, you see?

2008-04-12T08:42:00.001-07:00

THE TOUGHEST CLASS

My fourth period class is my most recalcitrant. I don't know if I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Normally a typical class of 30 students will have about one to three rough personalities--the ones who make class hard to get through. I have 12 of those personalities. Even the principal, the assistant principal, and the counselor all agree that my class is ridiculous. They wince when they think about my classroom management dilemmas.

Imagine this: The tiniest seventh grade girl, Mexican with big hoop earrings, always with a dark blue oversized sweater, and a voice that you can hear through the walls of other classrooms. Two days ago, when I about 10 names written on the the board as a warning for bad behavior, and five students were outside in the hall for being disruptive, she shouts out

"You can't handle us, Mr. V!"

Haha, what am I supposed to say to that? I tried to be stern, "Yes, I can!"

"No you can't!"

And I laugh and respond "Well, what am I supposed to do?" This is a legitimate question because I really don't know what I am supposed to do with them.

She proceeds to tell me that I need to yell at them more, like their last teacher. But I hate yelling, I say. I can't do that. She offers to yell at people for me.

They warm my heart. But they make me tired, too.

2008-04-08T12:36:00.001-07:00

THE POLLS ARE IN

Monday came and went, no problem. I guess I am good at winging it. I did go to sleep Sunday night at around 3 in the morning, though. Amazingly, I didn't feel a hint of tired until I went to bed Monday night. I slept in my clothes. With the lights on.

But that is not what I am here to write about. Today, unsolicited by myself or anyone else, a student in one of my GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) classes decided to conduct an informal survey during third period. We were having a busy, work-in-groups sort of day, so he was asking people his questions during the in-between moments. And here are the results of his survey:

"Favorite Teacher:

Mr. V: 22
Mr. Croshaw: 0
Mr. ..... : 0
Ms. Robertson: 9
Other: 0"

Not bad, eh?

I'm Mr. V, by the way.

2008-04-05T19:28:00.001-07:00

THE RETURN FLIGHT HOME

So I am in Boston for the Spring break. Boston has been awesome, albeit a bit cold. Boston is definitely not Santa Barbara.

The timing of my flight's departures and arrivals was perfect, or so I thought. Leave Sunday evening, get back Sunday afternoon with time to spare for me to plan my next day at school.

Um, I just checked my flight return time and I am arriving at midnight in Los Angeles on Sunday night. I left my textbooks for my seventh grade history classes at home because I thought I would have all of Sunday afternoon to make something up. Unfortunately I probably won't be arriving at home until about 2am. Which will feel like 5am due to the three hour time difference that I've finally gotten used to.

Guess I'll be winging it come Monday morning!