Men are from Mars, Women are from wherever!

at times, my wife is very strange to me. tonight, it was one of those tests! i mean she would ask me the weirdest questions. and before she allows me to answer the questions, she would tell me, "don't be so puritanical about honesty."

the question: did you miss me? this question was asked after we have not seen each other for a distant 8 hours.

corollary: this reminded me of what my friend told me a couple of weeks ago. he said that his father has rarely ever been an influence on him. but he wasn't hesitant in admitting that his father really cared in teaching him anything. but the one thing that his father did, was to put him aside...."shoved him to the corner of the room" and told him that he needed to understand one thing about your wife (if he ever gets married)....learn to say "yes dear", " you're right dear", and "i'm sorry dear"

i answered: yes pooks, i missed you! the whole event took no more than a minute. but the question...rather the answer felt expectedly profound and seemed like the clue to unraveling the questions of the universe. my feelings for her at that moment was inconsequential, its what she wanted to hear was important. i was able to anticipate this time around and i know...i just saved myself a night of silence, a bittered looking face and a temporary unrequited love. phew!

Love Thy Crazy Incorrigible Students

its been six weeks in the school year and we have a couple of teachers that are really on the verge of quitting. i'm glad that one of them rely on me for some guidance and just an ear to vent out his frustrations. he tells me his kids are out of control. they can't sit still and they just will not listen. they don't really care about school and he doesn't understand why they come to school at all.

i can relate to how he is feeling. our school serves the low income and low performing students in san fran. a lot of our students have serious domestic problems and problems at school is of little consequence. they come to school to have fun with their friends because they don't have that luxury at home or their neighborhood. some just act out because they don't want everyone else to know that they can't read! some just act out because that is the only behavior they learned that will give them attention. the same attention that they may be lacking at home. the point is life for our students isn't easy and maybe, they are exhibiting these negative behaviors just to subconciously show their peers that if their life isn't easy, then they are not going to make it easy for others either. but i think they are not that conniving, and i prefer to think they are making life hell for teachers because they truly believe that to be cool, one needs to agonize the teacher, or any authrity figure as much as one can. its like cool points for them when they are out on the yard!

so what? how does this summation help the teachers that are about to bail? maybe it won't help them at all. but i always remind them that they have to find a way to find something good in each and everyone of them. they have to look deep inside, and swipe all the anger, vindictiveness, and find something truly genuine about each student. don't be afraid to get angry with them, just so you know that after the tirade, you will give them a chance to make it up to you. be angry because you have high expectations for them and they are not meeting it. and not because they are ruining your plans.

i'm afraid to say it....but i want to say to them that if they do say the most horrible things to you in your face, in front of the students, don't get all flushed. find a reason to hug those dipshits! believe me....do it...hug them...or maybe just put your arms around their shoulders....and don't worry if they try to shove you off....do it and you will feel the most profound and genuine feeling you will have toward that student....and it won't be malicious. your touch, if genuine, will shudder them to their senses. i'm telling you...humility pays off in the end!

so remember love thy incorrigibles

Michael!

all of you project runway viewers...i'm calling it...michael is going to win! yes, i like uli(za german dam zat livz in miami!) but i really really like michael. he seems more modern and exciting with a great understanding of the woman's form. sheik...sheek...or shiek....i don't know how to spell it but i think "sheek" is good in fashion. i also like the old pregnant lady but it would be kind of hard to present a line in the posh gramercy park during fashion week if she is in labor.

and what the hell happened last week? everyone gets to go?!?!?! can we get rid of the pompous dude with the tatoos on his neck!?? he annoys me and his work isn't that exciting unless you live in west hollywood.

anyways, its fun watching the show....and to all of you who think its unmanly to watch this show...please....get a life! wait till you invite a friend or friends over to watch this phenomenon and youre the only dude there......that's freakin emasculating! but that's when you bust out the beer!

oh...a friend just told me that its "chique"....

Word Sort, Word Sort, Word Sort!

wow....i learned a lot of strategies over my SDAIE teaching career but there was one strategy that i was hesistant on doing....the word sort. ahhhhhhhhh....its too hard, too time consuming, too much paper, too long before i realize how neat and effective this damn strategy really is.

first of all, its a great way of starting the kids out into group work. i use word sort to review lessons my kids learn the day before. i use it to help my kids identify sentence structures. i even have a student that can't read! well, hell he can put words together and create sentences and can easily identify words once he gets help putting a sentence together. for my social studies kids, they fill out graphic organizers with words by sorting. it helps them to identify key concepts. i even use sorting to help my kids identify parts of a paragraph. imagine, i will use it to help them sequence stories together.

why the hell it took me this long to convince myself how neat this strategy can be. it isn't even that time consuming to make. since i have them in groups, i just have to make eight copies, and cut it up. its so easy...its so easy! my kids say that all the time. they have no idea how much they are learning!

so here are my jewel strategies: sure fires cuz kids love it.

1. vocabulary bingo
2. sentence/paragraph makeover
3. word sorting
4. word puzzle
5. cloze activity
6. posters of words, concepts, grammar rules, their visualizations, todos man!
7. round robins
8. sentence starters
9. think aloud/ read aloud
10. tpr stuff
11. think-pair-share
12. reciprocal strategies (this should actually be in fourth place!)


as you can see, word sort has become my top three! and if you have ell's, please don't afraid to try any of these because they really really work for me.