And One is Incredibly Pathetic!

alright....i go to dolores park to play basketball! i start warming up by hitting all the shots imaginable. this guy, who was about to leave, decided to stay and clearly wanted some competition. cool...i figure this guy is tall, lean, and seem pretty athletic. what more do you want? we picked up two other guys and made it two on two. cool....it was very competitive, physical, smart, and experienced. they won and clearly we were ecstatic about the level of competition.

after the game ended, two other guys decided they wanted to play with us. they looked like ballers! long shorts...pulled down, shaved heads, extra extra large shirts. when i see guys like these....i think they either are ballers or dipshits! well, after playing with them, they were both dipshits at the exponential level!

they not only know how to play basketball but they tried to play like those guys in And One. They were making violations before the ball was ever dribbled. i wasn't sure if they realized that they were playing against pretty experienced players, not to mention that we were ahead by ten points going to twelve and they haven't even scored a point. they decided to keep on dribbling for half an hour without even shootin a basket. one time, one of them, tried to pass the ball, but it was such a bad pass, that he literally threw the ball almost over the fence. you would think that one awfully, horrible and embarassing mistake woulod humble him and compel him start to play with a sprinkle of fundamentals. NO...he didn't.

after giving them a whoopin'...12-0...they wanted to play again! one of them started to dribble for over two minutes...it seemed like an hour! the only reason why he stopped dribbling was because he ended up hitting the ball off his knees and out of bounds. his friend trying to support his efforts of clown ball, decided to show off his skills. of course, he made multiple violations before he even dribbled the ball!
what was worse is that he tried doing it against this athletic dude who was mightily annoyed. without fail, the guy loses the ball off his knees, and bounced to the athletic dudes hands. he turns around and emphatically dunks it!!!! told the two dipshits to, "take that shit out of here....you can do that at home!"

it wasn't addressed in a confronting manner, its just that he was expressing his frustrations. it really is hard to play ball against clowns!

so you think that was the only pathetic thing ever....their friend, who was just sitting on the sideline, decided to ask them. "should i take it out?"

i'm thinking maybe they got offended and they were going to pull out a gun or something. but i figure they were high school kids. there would be no reason for them to make anymore rifraf. so he ends up taking out a camera!!!! a video camera!!!! i wonder to myself, i had no idea they wanted to film their own version of mediocrity. i was mildly offended with the fact that they were going to film us.

there needs to be an understanding amongst players. if you are going to do that crap...if you are going to violate the game...do it at home! do it in front of your parents, your friends even. but don't do it in a common area where everyone expects to play competetively. it just makes no sense. keep that and one crap at home!

okay...post 9/13 8th period classroom

wow....wow...different day today! 9/14 was a celebration! my kids today were relatively wonderful.

i told them firmly and in a threat like manner,"i will not tolerate you guys from ruining your future by not taking this class seriously. i will kick you out, i will call your parents, and i will remind you that i care about you, but you better behave because algones is no joke in your town."

actually, the last part was just a public enemy reference. i can't keep flava flav out of my head. subsequently, i've been watching his show because leyla has been watching it as well. i figure leyla doesn't like football either. and since we have one television, we are watching flava flav.

anyone want to help me here!??!!? i know football isn't so quality....but freaking flava flav?!?!?! by the way, this will not be tolerated during basketball season.

ohhhh...sorry! back to my classes. my kids have that twinkle in their eyes again. they see me as someone who will inspire them again. phew! tomorrow we will see how much they know about early hominids.

however, the reality is that two of the retainees were not present today. one is doing one-on-one work with my para (aide). by the way, she is my savior. one of my students is illiterate. it really isn't his fault, and he really wants to learn. you can see that in his behavior. i really think he will be the project of the year for myself and my aide...and i want to make it work!

but don't get me wrong, i will not allow that child or any of my difficult children to occupy my whole existence and discount my other kids, who have been the majority respectful, understanding, and supportive of me.

george clooney wants to stop the genocide in sudan and all i want is equity in my 8th period class!!!!!that's all.....

Oh My God! 9/13 Is Etched In My Mind As the Day of Algones Infamy

the worst teaching day of my career occured yesterday. holy crap! i know that i have over thirty kids in my 8th period class. i also know that i have four retainees mixed in that group of impressionable six graders. and the retainees have been notorious for ruining lives last year and this year. i don't mean just other former six graders last year, but teachers! oh my god, they are all in one class. now you are probably saying to yourself: "what the hell are they doing in one class? what the hell are they doing back in the same school?!"

answer: to make life hell for Mr. Algones on 9/13/ 06!

the period started fairly healthy. most of the students arrived on time in class. staying after school for being tardy is becoming cumbersome for a lot of them. of course, the retainees have yet to arrived.

we start the afternoon with the Do Now, disrupted half way through by the stragglers. (ie. retainees) they come in ignoring me. they look for their buddies, and realize they all came in together.

i started to model pair work activity when all hell brokee loose. one of them decide to throw an eraser to a friend across the room! of course, the friend retaliates. but before he retaliates, he screamed out loud, "what the hell was that!" i saw the whole thing and did the noah salzman hand gesture thingamajig. i wanted to kick the throwee out but the day before, we have decided to ease up on the referrals. it turned out too many of the same boys have been out of class. duhhhh!

so i tell the throwee to stop it. he didn't acknowledge me. i went over there and touched him in the shoulder and told him to stop and he still didn't look at me. finally, he said okay because i would not continue the modeling until he acknowledged me. as i was about to continue, the toher boy retaliates by throwing an eraser back at him. did the hand gesture thingamajig and told him to stop. another one throws an eraser and to top it off, the ffourth decides to walk toward their area to pretend to talk to me but only really to give himself a good angle for an eraser throw.

i am pissed at this point but calm on the outside. i looked at my other six graders and they wanted me to ring them up. i could tell they really want me to give to them. but again, i was reminded of what was considered severe and what wasn't. so i just took a deep breath and allow them to work in pairs even though i have yet to fully model it.

quickly hands go up for clarification! other hands go up to protect themselves from the erasers being hurled up in the air. i was still calm. i didn't want to be the aggressive-uncontrolled-teacher-who-strikes-fear-in-the-minds-of-their-students and instead showed calm. i stared them down and they setteld down for about thrity seconds then all hell broke loose. one of them had a hissyfit and stormed out of the classroom. he did me a favor.

the others continued to make a raucous and slowly but surely, the negative energy spread. another stern look, silience, stare kept them at bay. but one of the retainees decided to run around the classroom. still, not that big of a deal. clearly, grounds for a referral, but decided to to talk to him.

the time that i spent talking to him, took several minutes. there were lots of them that wanted clarification but i couldn' get to them. of couse, they had no recourse other than to talk. so now half the class aren't even on task. the other half are looking at me, and i'm sure, wanted me to do something about the chaos.

i was still calm, but i can tell my students are loosing cconfidence in me. the retainees are still screwing around and i was amazed by the fact that there were still groups that wanted to do their work. at this point, i knew they didnot learn a lick of the early humans. i knew a lot of my students lost confidence in me today. that hurts!

i think that is an inequity! to not be able to service the majority of the class because i have to continuously give the misbehaves my constant attention, is preposterous! i want to help the retainees just as much as anyone, but their needs are beyond a classroom of freaking over thirty students. they need special attention and i can't service that. what does admin expects?

come next tuesday, during back-to-school-night, there will be a lot of angry parents wanting an explanation why their child is not learning anything about the early hominids! tht's it...i'm going back to my old self.

My Government Thinks I Am Stupid!

holy crap....have you heard this one?!?!?!? the IAEA (that would be the international atomic energy agency) have protested against our government (the bush administration) and the congressional committee against their findings of iran's nuclear aspirations. the IAEA noted that their findings were "dishonest and outrageous."

bear with me here, i believe it was a few years back when the same administration found the IAEA to be inaccurate. Nooooooo, iaea, there are weapons of mass destruction in iraq! of course, we know there were very little evidence of that. but the administration belittled the IAEA and undermined their committe findings so they could attack iraq! did we end up finding anything? nope!

hmmmmm, are they doing it again??!?!?!?! are we going to put up with this crap?!??! i hope my government understands that not all of the people in our country are that stupid. we still remember iraq, and we are reminded everyday on the cnn news reel. are we going to attack iran this time? let's make it a package deal and take out syria as well....

and i love the way that when we make enemies, they come together to band themselves against us....what do you expect? hehehehehehehe

It Ain't Easy but I Like my 8th Period Class.

"oh my god...what am i getting myself into."- i have been saying this five minutes before 8th period starts since the second day of school. not that everyday is a mess...in fact, there have been more days that the class have done well than have been chaotic. my true 6th graders have constantly turned in their work! its just that a few students that do not care can really make an impression on the younger 6th graders. and i have a few of them in my class.

however, it has been almost two weeks now and i am getting used to the class i dread. clearly, when you have two spectacular classes, one mediocre behaved class at the end of the day can rally ruin your pleasant disposition. its like your confidence is built up during the day and suddenly, in a span of 55 minutes, you are humbled by the youngest group.

but now i am getting used to the group. and they are getting used to me. most of my true 6th graders do their work and turn in their homework. we will see how much they learned after the test. but even my retainees have made an effort to volunteer or raise their hands to answer questions. on tuesday, everyone followed direction and almost everyone unexpectedly completed their assignment. so thy didn't have any homework.

but today is a different story! i had a hard time getting a few jokers in line. they fooled around for most of the period and they ruined the activity for their partners. once i got them to calm down, it took all of five minutes a couple to act out again. but they listen to me when i do give out directions. they do try as long as their short attention span will allow them....heheheh

anyways, i'm beginning to understand them! they're getting to me, they're rubbing me the right way, and i am starting to like the class....that sounds so strange but its a lot better than hating them! now if i can just get them to arrive in class on time!

Six Suspensions and One Arrest!

yes....that's right, it has been only a week and we already have chaos! i have kicked out students already! actually, my two two-hour sections of eld are incredibly well behaved. they all want to learn and they all want to impress their parnts and their teachers. they all believe that they can havve a better future if they learn another language. i feel very lucky to have two groups all wanting to improve themselves. don't get me wrong, there are stragglers, one in each class that i may have problems later on the year but that is a godsend.

so here's my problem, i have a crappy last period. 6th grade ancient history is slow disintegrating to a bad experience for my real 6th graders. i actually have an amazing 6th grade group. they consist the brunt of my class. unfortunately, i also have five students that were retained last year in that same class. they are disrespectful, unmotivated, emotionallly unbalance, and oh yeah, academically low performers.

they need so much attention! i reckon it will only be a few weeks until my 6th graders will resent me for not giving them attention. they are also intimidated by this group. and its so draining. i mean i have these great classes, then i am pushed to the limit for the last 55 minutes! and it tires the heck out of me. so what do i do? i shot baskets with one of the incorrigible 6th graders. one of the flunkies would have played as well but dinghead got kicked out of my class right before the bell rung. i would have given him a break but he decided to make a raucaus outside. now he is referred to in-house suspension...heheheeheh i don't care...i just want to play and i hope i can get this guy to calm down.

i dare anyone to give advice!