netflixed

A ghost and his interlocuter tour the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.* The ghost is fortunately an art lover, and knows Italian sculpture and painting quite well. His interlocuter controls the POV and we get some long lingering shots of great paintings, reminding me that this is one of the places I must see before I kick off...

But Russian Ark is no mere tour of the museum. As the ghosts prowl around they move through various epochs of Russian history and interact with the denizens of the palace, its ball guests, its visitors, its management and restoration crew. There are lavish ball sequences as well-managed as any in cinema history, with the camera weaving in and out of the mazurka and lovely period costumes and decor. A very lovely and strange film. I just learned of its director, Alexander Sokurov, in the NYRB a couple issues back. I shall seek out more of his work, most def.

*At least I think that's what's going on. I won't explain out of fear of spoiling things.

Day 104

According to B'more school policy, cell phones are forbidden. But the kids are ingenious at smuggling them in through the metal detector and they know how to hide them so the door monitor with the wand misses them too. They conceal them in shoes, in undies, in bras, in hoods of coats. And they text and listen to music and take pictures during class. Half the time when I bust them making calls or texting it's their parents on the other end.

It's getting ridiculous: hard enough to teach, after all, without competing with games and the Internet on phones. And today a girl in my homeroom called up her crew after she was insulted by another girl, and there was a gang of outsiders all of a sudden in our building trying to beat down a sixth grader. Imagine back to the ridiculous drama of middle school which you endured, and then imagine having the ability to broadcast your fear and rage out to adults who "got your back." That's what kids do these days, and often the adults decide to come into a school building and "teach a lesson." That's what happened today. Oh, and there was a melee outside involving 7th and 8th graders. I'd been hearing about it all day, and when my 6th grade class complained about me not taking them outside last period, I said "you are staying right here. I know about the plans for the fight, and you are not going outside for anything until I decide it is safe." They were very upset, and every time there was a noise in the hall everyone rushed over to look forlornly out the windows while I stood blocking the door.

2.5 weeks until spring break...
The fight happened but the school police were outside and stopped it quickly.

Day 102

Day 1 of the big fat annual assessments. This week we have two days of language arts testing. Next week there are two days of math tests. Based on the data collected from these tests teachers will be described as lazy, ineffective, and incompetent, regardless of the home situations of their students, regardless of the level of family or community support at their schools, and without consideration of the lack of leadership and management skills in the administrations of many schools. Also ignored will be the lack of resources and the absence of required special education teachers in general ed classrooms.

Yes, some teachers manage to achieve huge data gains despite these obstacles. Some manage the gains honestly and through hard work and a kind of genius which is hard to explain. Some teachers have this genius, others develop it over time. Some hardworking teachers never attain it. I don't have it yet, and I regard with awe those who do.

Other teachers give their kids the answers to the tests, or coach them. The kids have all told me that their elementary school teacher used to feed them answers on Benchmark and MSA exams. These kids get to sixth grade and they test at 9% (the average of my incoming sixth graders this year on the first test), and we get blamed because their test scores were so high the year before. We give those tests the first week of school--what could possibly be done in such a short period of time to ruin previously high scores?

Even though I dislike this type of high-stakes testing, I am optimistic about my results. My kids made huge gains between the 2nd and 3rd tests. Again, I think it's mostly because I paid them to pass with a $10 incentive, rather than any particular teaching skill. When they give a shit about the test and try, they automatically do much better! But I think many of kids will do well. I was quite proud watching them work today.

We took them outside today to let them play for once for an hour. This was a reward for trying hard. It was a great deal of fun, even though some adults crossing the field stole some cones and a soccer ball out of our equipment bag. At least that's the story--it's quite possible some of the students stole the gear (it's also possible a member of the faculty stole it) and the random adults story was made up.

The boys were really hot-dogging on the field, showing off their moves. Only a couple hot-heads, angry that kids who are inferior athletes were able to tackle them, got upset and tried to start trouble. But it was fine overall. I'd hate to be their parents and guarians tonight. Their school uniforms were rather muddy and grass-stained.

MLS

Last year we played four gigs in five days on St. Patty's weekend. This year you have only one chance to see the mighty Move Like Seamus in March: this coming Friday at Mick O'Shea's Irish Pub. Get your Celtic rock fix starting @ 9:30!

Down in the Hole

WBFF FOX45 :: Top Stories

Ah, Baltimore City, where 8-year-olds tote .380 handguns in their backpacks. My wife was visiting the school yesterday and was ambushed by Fox 45 as she left. At the time of the interview she hadn't heard about the incident, and you can see her interviewed near the end of the above video clip.

Day #100

West Side earned 30 minutes of detention for jawing the entirety of second period on his second day at the March. I kept many of his class mates as well. When I was done the math teacher wanted West Side for more detention. West Side kicked a chair and yelled expletives, and Mr. E said "that shit might work at your old school but it don't work with me. Kick another chair and you'll be here until 4:30pm."

I busted through a crowd of 30 cheering 6th and 7th graders to get into the Boys room outside my class where there was a six-man Fight Club in process. I had to fling kids aside who were trying to prevent me from breaking it up.

I'm tired, cranky, bored teaching the required testing materials. I wish they'd let me teach the way I like. The kids are bored and acting out because they can sense when I ain't "feelin' it." Everyone is on edge and the kids bust my balls and I punish them with detention and phone calls.

Mr. C, one of the Filipinos, is so sick of getting cussed out that he's taken to giving as good as he gets. I heard him telling a kid "oh yes? Well give the fucking to your mother as well!" This is a man whose every second word is Jesus or Our Lord and Saviour. The City schools went to Manila to recruit his ass and drag him away from his family so 11 year old East Siders could cuss him out. A damn shame.

Day #99

I knew we would start getting chuckleheads put out of other schools. It's only my 3rd year in the City schools but I've learned some things. Sure enough, I had a transfer in my second period class today and he already throwin' up gang signs in class and talking about bringing his pistol up in school. I looked at his paper and he from some West Side shit-hole a couple miles from the Book. School where they had a police shoot-out with gangs two years back and a six-hour lock-down.

So West Side calls one of my troublesome East Siders a "stupid whore," which precipitates a bit of a mess in my room. After I clear things up and get East Side under control I have to take West Side aside and tell him "Things a little different over here. They play a little bit but if they don't know you they assume you are serious. I know you were joking but you best learn who you can and can't mess with before shooting your mouth off. Some of these kids got friends in the streets who go hard. Watch who you call names on your first day."

West Side is a punk. I know it already. He's defiant, rebellious, and he is going to make class time fun. But I will watch his back until he knows better or he doesn't.

Day #98

My best and brightest kids are dropping like flies: their parents are transferring them out to other schools or they are moving to the GT class downstairs. I used to have 65 students, now I've got 44. And we're starting to get the trickle of students kicked out of other schools with no place left to go. Wonder how many of those knuckleheads I'll end up with.

The big annual MSA exam starts next week with three days of Language Arts testing. I'm taking things pretty calmly, reviewing skills the kids have down as well as those they don't. If we review only the hard stuff they lack confidence going into next week.

It's an exciting time of year because after the MSA I can actually give the kids a bit of an education, instead of simply teaching to the test. We need extensive writing practice; most of my students can't write a sentence, let alone a paragraph. I have a biography of Obama published by Townsend Press which I hope to read with the kids. Along the way I want them to do projects about WW2, segregation, Hawaii, Kenya, Indonesia...

A major problem with the MSA (there are many) is its timing. We stress it so much that once it's over the kids think school is done for the year, even though we've still got 3 months left. It's harder than ever to focus and engage them. But so be it. What is likely my final year at the March is winding down.