Minnesota

If anyone ever tells you that Minnesota is not beautiful and wonderful and just about the best place anyone could live just look at them and with a small sad smile tell them "i guess good taste is not a gift God thinks you deserve."

It has lakes, parks, (my) family, less humidity than Houston (which is nice) , more heat than Alaska (which is amazing), and smells like Love, happiness, and home.

This IS my secret garden. It is good to be home with my family.

Age over Beauty. (Not the story of a Gold Digger)

Ms. H is in your face. Big time. She must be only 5 feet 2 inches tall when she is stretching up to her full height. She fills out horizontally almost as much. She has been teaching in rough areas of Houston for 23 years. She must be between 40- and 50 but has a sort of age-less energy that creates an interesting contrast to her from-the-block/been-there-done-that sassy wisdom. To me she epitomizes archetypally the sassy black woman.

When she talks I listen, half out of intrigue and half out of pure terror of what might happen if I didn't. Ms. H came and joined our CS training sessions for the last 3 days of institute in the same way that Lebron James might join a fourth grade in house girls basketball league.

She was my partner for the last 3 days of institute. Right away I knew I was out of my league and I loved it. We would play role-playing games to learn how to interact with difficult parents, principals and students. While the rest of my corps members role played with each other to easy outcomes and text book results, Ms. H made my afternoons a train wreck of learning and amusement washed down with a healthy dose of embarrassment and humility. In our role playing sessions she would run circles around me as angry parents, stressed out grandparents, gang member kids, and authoritarian principals. Then as we wrapped up and the timer rang she would look around her and hoot a bunch of times and say "he thought he had me that time!! you thought you had me!!! woooohhhh!!! Wuuheeeeee!!!! Boy you shoulda seen your face!!! You didn't see that coming!!" Ms. H would laugh and laugh and i would turn more and more red and get frustrated, but at the same time I realized that I was gaining way more from testing my problem solving and mediation against her than some other scared corps member from Berkley. Still I couldn't figure out why she had picked me as her pet Corps Member to pick on/ work with. On the last day of institute I found out.

I was walking down the hallway wearing my "thinking cap" that i used when teaching science. She stopped me and said "Mr. B. I wanted to thank you for working with me the last few days. My first husband was an Irish guy from Boston and your energy and flair reminded me of him. Keep up your earnest effort and sass and you will do great!" In my mind the scene kept rolling and we hugged, she told me I was a one in a billion teacher and she was honored to know me. We talked of Irish things, I referred to Ireland as the old country, and eventually we bumped into each other 15 years down the road while I was receiving a teaching award and she told me she learned a lot from me those three days in the library. She only hoped I learned as much as she did. In actuality she said. "That hat looks great on you. Remember to record everything or you will be eaten alive. You've got a good head, but need to keep records or you flounder and look terrified. See you later."

Well Ms. H- I learned a lot from you. Thank you.


Institute wrapped up neatly. The kids had fun the last day, wrote their big goals for the next year, promised to read every night and Adalberto gave me a really awkward hug. It was precious. I then moved all my stuff to my new apartment, watched Harry Potter (two thumbs up!), bought furniture from Target, drank beer/assembled furniture, and then caught a flight to MN. Here I am in my parents' house reflecting on the last couple days of institute and ecstatic that i get to see Chris in less than 12 hours!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank God he is home safe and sound.

Late Night Reflections...

It is late. I am tired. Tomorrow is the last day of summer school and institute. I am ecstatics, or would be. But right now my emotion is fatigue. I am waiting as my printer finishes printing the stories my students wrote that i promised foolishly to "publish" and not just staple together. They look pretty cool, but have taken all night and I still have about an hour left. But tomorrow is the last day so I know I can survive just fine. It just means tomorrow night I will only need to have like one beer at happy hour and i will be buzzed. That is nice (note to self: now that I am a teacher i certainly do sound more mature...).

For all those I Love and haven't talked to enough (pretty much anyone that reads this page) I wanted to give you all insight into my classroom. As part of one of my assessments (for TFA's checking my progress as a teacher) on of my CS's transcribed 10 minutes of my class: here is a copy of that class. Now you know what it is like to be in my room for a science lesson:

( Warning note to readers- I have told my students that I am from Alaska. I make up stories and steal them from people that actually have them (in or out of Alaska) to give lessons a practical and personal note. In the teaching profession this is not considered lieing. It is considered investment. Don't judge :) )

Observation Start Time: 12:30
Observation End Time: 12:40

Teacher: Matt Brossart

Teacher	Student
This is something I know you’re all familiar with (shows graph) – how ice can turn into water and can turn into steam. Has anyone here ever burnt themselves on steam?	No!
OK, good. Just making sure.
So when I lived in Alaska, the first place I lived in was like from here to…here. (shows students about a 10 foot by 5 foot square)	Ohhh.
So what made this place so nice is that there was a sink in it. One night I was sleeping, and it was about -50 degrees. One night I heard a noise, and I woke up, and there was water spraying all over my room. I didn’t know what to do – I’m not a plumber – so I made the wise decision to go back to bed.	Kids laugh
So I woke up, and my boots were frozen to the floor…water is amazing. Amazingly powerful. We can use it to power steam engines, to push whole trains, to freeze all of our stuff to the ground…so it’s the same material, and it can come in all of these forms or phrases. We’re going to look at a quick experiment that shows us how powerful it can be.	Experiment!
Directs kids to computer.
Stops computer Does anyone know what liquid nitrogen is?	I can’t really see. I can’t hear that well. AH
Liquid nitrogen is about -300 degrees. It is VERY cold. It’s used with thermometers; it’s a fantastic tool for scientists. Yes, Nicole?	If you stick your finger in it, it’d be filled with be ice in a minute, right?
Less than minute. If you were to dip your hand in it and hit your hand against something, your hand would explode, and you wouldn’t have your hand anymore.
You do not mess around with liquid nitrogen, and you’re going to see why.
Did you all see what they were wearing on their eyes?	Safety goggles!
And is that one of our tools we use as scientists?	Yes!
OK, just checking.
What would we use to measure how thick an inch and a half is?	The…balance.
Would you use the balance to measure that? Look up here. What would you use?	Student in spanglish: ruler
That is exactly right. And an inch and a half of metal – is that strong?	Yes!
Could you bend an inch and a half of metal, Wendy? You could? Wow. That’s really strong. Generally NFL football players aren’t that strong.
Continue watching experiment	Kids laugh; enthralled.
So that just gives you a picture in your head of how powerful ice can be.

So, there it is. That is what it is like. Confusing, low on actual content, but engaging. So, maybe there is hope that in the end I will be more than an educated babysitter with a penchant for hyperbole. Maybe.

18/22 is bigger than 1/2. My kids could tell you that now!

So, I made a rather base realization today as I read and reflected on my life, my students, the purpose of "it all", Teach for America, and the slight fog still in my head left over from the 6 hours at the Karaoke bar last night. I realized that I am 22. Then I started making some calculations: I spent 12 years in primary school: 1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th,8th,9th,10th,11th,and 12th grade. Add onto that one year of preschool and one year of kindergarten (sidebar: The school I am working at in the fall, Garcia Elementary, has the mascot The Gators. The kindergarten staff has cute little t-shirts with a smiling cartoon Gator on it holding a crayon and underneath the picture the t-shirt says: KinderGator Teacher. That is far too cute and puny for its own good. I almost asked for a grade level shirt so I could wear that shirt everyday). Then add onto those 14 years total 4 more years of college. I have spent 18 of my 22 years in school learning. I have now spent 4 weeks back in school teaching and in a hyperbolic way I am not sure in which period of time I have learned more. I know for a fact that despite sitting through classes taught in Spanish, despite studying advanced mathematics and statistics. despite learning i know virtually nothing about the vast world history in regions east of Russia and south of Egypt, despite all of that- in the last 4 weeks I have finally actually learned how little I know. Also, how little life experience I have.

Something about having to explain concepts to tiny people with no background and not being able to skirt around the areas I am less clear about really exposes weaknesses in content areas. Also, something about having to teach all subjects (even at a fifth grade level) really opened my eyes at how much I want to learn if I want to become a truly great teacher. I have SOOOO much i want to learn not only about content but about how to teach and how to reach so many different learning styles. I am reading a book from a friend (Donut) called Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. In it he reflects linearly about his experience teaching and the book has really struck a chord with me. He writes of the thousand little things that effect (affect? so many things I don't know) a classroom and the students receptiveness to learn. I feel so small up there- equipped mainly with energy and a few tricks I have picked up along the way- I feel like I am walking through life with too much to learn.

On a contradictory note: I am now one step closer to becoming certified to teach officially!!!!! Today I got the test results back from the state Texas Exam I had to take to pass certification. I got a 287 out of 300. A 240 was required for certification. If I had gotten 13 more points I would have nothing more to learn from anyone.

More later on actually teaching this week.