They Like Me, They Really Like Me!

Today I received an email from the teacher for whom I subbed Tuesday at Atascadero Middle School. It went as follows:

"Hi Mr. Noyes,

I felt you should know that every class has commented that you are a wonderful teacher.  The girls in SB wrote a note saying[:]

'We agree that Mr. Noyes would be a great teacher for the high school. He is supportive, a good leader, and wise.'"

Needless to say, I was blown away by this and not expecting such feedback after only subbing/teaching five days at this school (the final four days before Christmas break and then Tuesday this week). I also heard some encouraging positive feedback from students (some of which made it into the ears of staff) the week I subbed there last month.

Picture of the Day - My Most Precious Possession

In the coming days I shall share some of the delights contained within this tome. It cost me $85 and some of my fellow student teachers were not willing to shell out that much coin for it. At times since slapping down the money for it late last year I have wondered if it was an excessive splurge on my part given my student starvation status. However, today, the last day of my student teaching career, I am so incredibly overjoyed I acquired this volume and that I invited all my kids to sign it, of which most did. There are many beautiful, charming, poignant, humorous, encouraging, inspirational, et al, things penned within its precious pages. Some of these things I intend to share within the coming days. Wherever life takes me next and for the duration, one thing will remain unchangeable: I met some amazing young people and they touched my life and from their comments it is clear I touched some of their lives. I am humbled and thankful and blessed beyond measure or words.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - William Arthur Ward

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
~ William Arthur Ward, American writer (1921-1994)

The Great Martian War (1913-1917)

Yesterday and today, I executed my second consecutive and second-ever fully original lesson plan created by me for all six 85-minute block periods of standard tenth grade world history that I and my co-operating teacher split this quarter. He is gone this week due to a family health emergency so instead of doing what I did the first two weeks of the quarter and of my student teaching career which was follow the general game plan of my co-teacher with my own spin on it, this week I created wholly original and organic lesson plans. In the just-ending today lesson plan, I used THIS World War One - War of the Worlds mash-up video as an anticipatory set in our current World War One unit. You might notice I posted that blog piece back in 2014. While researching it, I found this longer clip (below) from whence its footage was derived which is a faux preview of a full-length "mockumentary" for which I have heard conflicting reports as to if its existence is fictional or real, such as that would be.

Taking the Good With the Bad

Today I taught periods 1,3, and 5 at Atascadero High School and I did just fine for my first day. With this day behind me and given how it went down I have a huge amount of confidence moving forward. I also feel much more comfortable in front of a classroom than before. My hang-up about being up in front of a class seems to be gone which is an answered prayer. The down-shot is that I was heavily distracted today by being pulled down the rabbit hole with Loved One by her ongoing and recurrent and escalating issues. I'm not sure our friendship is going to survive this latest crisis unscathed. Something bad happened to me today while being trapped off and on all day in Alice's Wonderland. Trust and respect are now quite gone. I need a vacation.

My Mind Reels Tonight

Tomorrow I teach for the first time working three 85-minute block periods. I'm ready for it. As stressed as I was about this in the weeks and months leading up to now, I'm fine about it tonight. Yet, I'm utterly distracted with a heart-wrenching recurring family wound that never seems to go away for very long. It blew up again tonight.... timing is always perfect with this person. I fear this is headed to a tragic end. At least the raging storm outside is comforting me and the knowledge that my loving Creator is with me through this no matter how things turn out.

Scripture of the Day - David & Paul

Today, as I observed in my school placement classroom and assisted my cooperating teacher to the degree possible given the nature of today's lesson plan, two passages of Scripture kept ringing in my head over and over and over, to wit, "Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling." (Ps. 2:11) and ".... my strength is made perfect in weakness." (II Cor. 12:9)

I soon recognized what the Lord was communicating to me as I have been stressed for months about how I will deal with being in front of a classroom full of high school sophomores and my cooperating teacher and at times other adult monitors who are grading me either for my credential program or whom I have invited in to watch me so I can get a letter of recommendation from them. Part of my problem has been losing my mojo over the course of a rough quarter at Cal Poly and part of my problem has my inability heretofore to self-actualize the persona of my being a teacher.... that is until the past several days. Talking to my history mentor Dennis Judd on Sunday I shared with him some of my concerns and he told me he never entirely lost the sense of being uncomfortable teaching in front of a community college class and felt that was a good thing as it kept a teacher honest and humble and being more careful about their teaching. I really took that sage counsel to heart. Then today's passages of Scripture reminded me that I am a servant serving my loving Creator who created me to be a teacher as everybody around me for years has observed. God's power is perfected through human imperfection and weakness as the chaff and the dross of human brokenness is purged out in such situations and all that remains is God stuff.

Picture of the Day - Two Hams Hamming

Today while student teaching at Atascadero High School, I espied across the H-Quad a familiar face headed into Mrs. Highland's classroom. It was a sub subbing who was a friend from church I then at that very moment remembered had told me he was subbing this year instead of other duties on campus more relating to the football team. This is Andy and me, two hams hamming, and soon to be two subs subbing. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved). 

Word of the Day - Salutary Neglect

Today my master teacher at Atascadero High School shared a non-in-the-textbook expression with his 10th-grade world history classes to which I have never before been exposed: Salutary Neglect
This act of effective teaching on the part of my master teacher is in accordance with one element of my personal teaching philosophy: use scholarly language and terminology that is useful and appropriate but not to be found in the core curriculum or textbook.

10 Things That Require Zero Talent

The other day I saw this posted on Linkedin and was immediately struck by its simplicity and the fundamental truth it reveals. It comes to us courtesy of High School Principal Van Phillips at Center Point High School in Center Point, Alabama.

Sir Ken Robinson Preaches It

Today, myself and three of four other members of one of my Cal Poly "Early Start" Single Subject Teaching Credential Cohort collaborative teams met at the Cal Poly Kennedy Library which we had nearly all to ourselves as classes start about a month from now. Anywho, we brainstormed about what we want to do in our upcoming class presentation regarding historical perspectives on education in America. One of my team-members shared with us this Sir Ken Robinson speech presented at some Royal Society of Arts event, the audio to which has been accompanied by a catchy animation suite. I have always liked this guy and agreed with most if not all his ideas. As a historian I like the historical aspects of American education presented here in all its flawed glory. 

Quote of the Day - Hiam Ginott

A week ago today, Atascadero High School hosted two major staff meetings in the Ewing Gymnasium. The first one was emceed by AUSD superintendent Tom Butler addressed the entirety of staff of AUSD from teachers at all school levels to classified staff to admins with a rousing ra-ra speech competitively comparing AHS to the other two main school districts in the North County against which it compares favorably. The second meeting of the morning involved only the staff at Atascadero High School and was emceed by Principal Bill Neely who gave a similar speech but relating specifically to Atascadero High School.

At one point in his speech he pointed to a quote on a piece of card stock paper placed at each place setting at each table. Neely revealed that his brother-in-law, former AHS and AJHS coach Mark Anderson shared the quote with him. I was blown away by both the insightfulness of the quote and the fact Anderson ever took any interest in it let alone shared it with anybody. I still remember the day back in Fall 1984 or Spring 1985 at Atascadero Junior High School when Anderson caught young stoner Jason Flood spitting on the blacktop near the P.E. offices and grabbed him, yelled at him, and either forced him to lick up his spittle or choose between that and suffering some major administrative sanction. I suppose he matured and mellowed with time and in later years would have handled the situation differently given his interest in this quote from the late Haim Ginott.

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It’s my personal approach that creates the climate.
It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.”

Graphic of the Day - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

In my education theory class today we once again discussed Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which takes the conceptual form of a pyramid. I accept that it is mostly valid for most people in most instances, but not all. It also reinforces my observation that human beings are driven to attempt to explain everything and do so in as narrow constraints as can be achieved. Image courtesy of Edraw Visualization Solutions (all rights reserved).

Quote of the Day - Jefferson

Today I encountered this wonderful quote from former President Thomas Jefferson in regards to the importance of knowledge and education within the functional framework of the United States system and indeed to any non-authoritarian system. This was part of a letter from Jefferson to James Madison in 1787. Aside from being generally relevant, I find it particularly interesting now given my current career path.

"And say, finally, whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is the most certain, and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them…. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."

Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool LIII

In an Eclectic Arcania first, I have posted Random Musings columns on consecutive days. Tonight's installment is different as it will be a reflection of this day now coming to a close. Typically with this column I am inspired to varying degrees by the structure of Herb Caen's column which I so enjoyed when I discovered it in the early 1990's in its twilight years.

A Day of Detours

As I revealed in the previous Random Musings column, today I was supposed to take the CSET Social Sciences Subtest III. This was to occur in Santa Maria, CA, at a test center at 2 p.m. (Note: Santa Maria is the murder capital of the Central Coast) Today was also President's Day and holiday traffic moving along Highway 101 through the Central Coast was noticeably more pronounced. In fact, it was even worse than typical for a Monday on a holiday weekend.

Right before I left my house to drive down to take the test, I heard on my scanner a dispatch for fire and medics to a traffic collision on northbound Highway 101 at the 13th Street bridge. When I got on Highway 101 southbound from 17th Street in Paso Robles I noticed that the traffic accident I had just heard about on the scanner was blocking traffic on the northbound side creating a rapidly-lengthening of congestion extending southward. I would later learn that this was a matter involving a semi-truck rear-ending a travel trailer which created a huge mess lasting most of the afternoon.

The trend of jacked-up holiday traffic congestion of one sort or another continued the entire drive down to Santa Maria (and back) with some such zones being due to ongoing traffic collisions/mishaps, or due to earlier accidents by-then-cleared but with phantom congestion continuing, or simply due to the sheer volume of traffic overwhelming particular sections of highway.

The ongoing, unseasonable, un-El Niño-esque, mid-winter heatwave continued today with Santa Maria crushing the previous daily high temperature mark by 4° F to 88° F while Arroyo Grande (through which I drove going and coming) hit 90° F.

I got to the Pearson testing site about 45 minutes early so I would have time to study and time to get signed in and set up before starting at the assigned time. I tried to study in the waiting room but they didn't want my text books in the room (lame rule) so I headed back out to my car to study. If only I had checked my wallet before leaving the office at that moment and saved myself 45 more wasted minutes... or had checked my wallet before leaving my house earlier.... or before leaving the testing center at Cal Poly four days ago where I apparently left my drivers license after taking it out of my wallet, but not returning it prior to leaving the building.

That's right, four days ago when I took the CSET Subtest II at the Cal Poly test center, I had to show a government-issued proof of identity because the testers don't want ringers coming in and taking tests for people. I was only allowed to bring to my testing computer my drivers license and a key to a locker containing everything I brought to the test other than the clothes on my back. After the test, when I was gathering all my stuff from the locker and getting ready to rush off to a stressful mid-term test in my Nuclear Science & Society class, I somehow left my drivers license there. Therefore, in the four days since then, I have been driving around without a drivers license on my person. I always keep my license in my wallet so I never thought to check for it in my wallet before leaving for Santa Maria this morning.

Upon realizing my error, I was forced to confront the unpleasant reality that I had burned $99 for nothing (the cost to take the test which is not refundable) as well as the cost of my gasoline and wear and tear on my car as well as the cost of my time which was also an opportunity cost of whatever I did not accomplish with that time instead had I elected to do something different during that time slot.

At this point something interesting happened. I didn't sweat it. I accepted what happened and moved on by getting in my car and driving home the way I came. Of course, I was concerned not to get pulled over by the constabulary now that I realized I was driving without carrying on my person my drivers license. Aside from that I simply let go and reasoned that God had me in that spot for a reason. "What was it?", I internally asked Him.

My first concern was that I was operating outside His perfect will and being subject to a lack of blessing or perhaps more seriously had erred in some way and was suffering slap-on-the-hand consequences. I started with that possibility (Ecclesiastes 7:14) and soon was able to eliminate that possibility and thus moved on to other possibilities. Was to I meet somebody in my path and talk to them? Was I to drive up on a traffic collision right after it happened and render aid and change somebody's life? Or was I simply to get out and take a drive and clear my flustered head on the open road like I used to do in my youth all the while awash in a bath of photons streaming in from the sun on this glorious summer-like day and just listen to Him and realize my personal growth and grow yet more? Yep!

This internal process caused me to realize something: I have changed over the course of the past several years. My zen-like reaction to this day's events was tangible evidence of growth in my being and character over the course of recent years. Dare I call it a measure of spiritual maturation? I'm afraid to jinx myself and get all self-congratulatory and then go fall on my face in spectacular fashion in short order. However, I have grown and I don't typically respond to minor adversities in ways I usually used to. I'm far from perfect and still sometimes overreact to disappointments or setbacks by feeling sorry for myself or feeling exasperated or being tempted to despair. However, I don't usually react in those ways and I did not today.

But wait.... there's more! I noticed yet more about myself. On the drive home I soon realized there was a traffic back-up in Atascadero just north of San Anselmo Road. Without hesitation I did not follow the herd into the morass of traffic and jumped off northbound Highway 101 at the aforementioned road and got onto northbound El Camino Real and paralled the freeway around the problem site (an overturned car resulting from a tire blowout) and then jumped back on the northbound Highway 101 in the clear...

.....until I approached North Main Street in Templeton, CA, and espied an even worse traffic back-up. Again, without mentally skipping a beat, I automatically responded to the situation by choosing not to be a lemming and follow what was before me, but rather I jumped off of the freeway and zipped over the overpass and got onto northbound Theater Drive to go around the traffic and get on Highway 46 West a short distance and then turn northbound onto the South Vine Street frontage road in Paso Robles. I soon encountered gridlock in and around the big Target Shopping Center up that road and near unto the Highway 101/46W intersection. This told me the traffic gridlock (as in not one iota of visible forward motion by any vehicle) extended from in front of Target up Theater Drive around the bend adjacent to the hotels and OSH and through the intersection of Theater Drive and Highway 46 West.

Once again, without the slightest hesitation or dithering, I flipped an illegal U-turn and proceeded back to North Main Street and got back on the freeway southbound to the next exit at Las Tablas Road in Templeton, where I left the freeway and headed west to Bethel Road turning north and taking it to Highway 46 West further out to the west of the congestion having gone entirely around it.... but not entirely. No sooner had I turned eastbound onto Highway 46 than I noticed gridlock up ahead..... meaning the gridlock extended miles east to the 101.... headed towards the back of the back-up and was just barely able to angle turn left onto northbound Arbor Road and took it through the countryside, sometimes on pavement, sometimes on dirt roadbed, to Kiler Canyon Road which I took eastbound back to South Vine just south of First Street/Niblick Road in Paso Robles, CA.

From there it was smooth sailing back home. By now it was apparent to me that the previous accident on Highway 101 many hours ago at the 13th Street Bridge was the culprit of all the gridlock on the waning afternoon of a holiday weekend Monday. This was confirmed when I soon headed back to mom's house in Atascadero. I got back on the 101 Freeway at 17th Street as I did earlier in the day. As I headed south I noticed CALTRANS retrieving all the cones closing down right lane. With the increased road load as people headed home from the holiday at the end of the way, the back-up was even worse now as it extended from about 13th Street in Paso Robles all the way southward through Templeton to just south of Vineyard Ave.... something I have seen before.

Through all these successful detours, I realized a few things. I inherited the tendency from my mother's side of the family to be a great and imaginative driver, if not a bit impulsive and restless. I noticed that I am in many ways, not just in my driving, that I am not so much a follower-type but rather a free-thinker and leader-type. What happened here was allegorical of that in addition to being an expression of it directly. Most importantly, I realized there was symbolism in all the days setbacks and detours and yet I was constantly moving forward and yet staying safe and getting other things done, merely not the ones for which I planned.... just like my life has been more generally in recent years and undoubtedly will continue to be.

God is good.

Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool LII

It has been nearly two months since the previous Random Musings was posted which is an unusually short interval in recent times. During that span this blog has received over 25,000 distinct visits. This edition will only feature the latest stuff going on with me which unfortunately seems the trend of late with these columns unlike a few years ago when I often included my observations or shared interesting factoids about a variety of topics. Next time which is soon, I plan to return to that model with this column. In the meantime, here's the latest on my efforts at getting from the classroom (where I learn) into the classroom (where I teach).

Winter 2016 Mid-Term Update

I am now mid-way through the current quarter at Cal Poly. This term took longer to get settled into than it has ever taken me in any term at any level of higher education. This was due to my inability to get into the four-unit Healthy Living (Kinesiology 250) class which I had initially attempted to add during my official sign-up period late last quarter. At that time I was automatically blocked from taking it due to KINE 250 being considered equivalent to Multicultural Health (Kinesiology 255). At Cuesta College I took a multicultural health class that was transferable to Cal Poly as the equivalent of KINE255. I also was informed not to worry about the block as I would be able to easily add it by crashing the class the first day and receiving an "add" code from the instructor. However, this did not work as the block persisted and I was informed in no uncertain terms that I would not be allowed in the class. For the teaching credential I must take either KINE 250 (which is no longer an option) or Health Education For Teachers (Kinesiology 443). The single-subject history teaching credential grad program prefers students take KINE 443 (which includes first-aid and CPR unlike KINE250 or 255), but allows for KINE250, too. Whereas, the multi-subject teaching credential grad program through the Education Department at Cal Poly only accepts KINE443. For some reason my buddy Blake who has been my wing-man at Cal Poly, was able to get into KINE 250 after taking the same multicultural health class at Cuesta College. The only explanation I can come up with is that since he took KINE250 a year ago there has been some sort of requirement change.

In any case, by the time I realized all of this, Week One had ended. I looked into crashing KINE443 a week late, but it is only offered as an evening class in a bad time slot in the week for me and thus is not an option quarter. Later, I discovered that it is not even offered at all next quarter, my graduation quarter. Fortunately, I am allowed to take it concurrently with my teaching credential course-load next year. However, my inability to take one or the other of the kinesiology classes created a problem for me. I need to be taking 12 or more units per quarter to receive the maximum amount of grant and loan money with which to attend Cal Poly. Without a kinesiology class this quarter, I was stuck at 10 units. I scrambled to switch the two education-related classes I ideally need to take before entering the teaching credential grad program, to wit, exchange Historical, Philosophical, and Social Foundations of Public Education (Education 300) in place of KINE443. The time slot worked and there was room for me in the class, but the two instructors were out of town at a conference and being un-tech-savvy were unable to reach their emails until their return at nearly the end of Week Two by which time I had missed the deadline to get into a class without applying for a special waiver costing $20. Fortunately, I did get into the class being granted my waiver but was by that point two weeks behind everybody else. I am doing well in the class but am still getting caught up. I absolutely love my two instructors, to wit, Dr. Frances Mayer and Dr. Sidonie Wiedenkeller.

This quarter I am also taking the four-unit History of Prostitution (History 421) with Dr. Christina Firpo (with whom I took Research & Writing Seminar In History or History 303 during my first quarter at Cal Poly). This class "double-counts" as it satisfies my requirement that I take (and pass) three 400-level history classes and three non-European/non-American history classes in addition to a host of other requirements. This class focuses on prostitution and other forms of "unfree" labor in Southeast Asia, mostly during the Colonial Period but reaching back often to what existed before Colonialism as it pertains to the changes that Colonialism wrought. I am also taking the first half of my senior project, to wit, History 460 or Senior Project I which is good for two units and is the research half of the project. I am very behind in that class unfortunately. Fortunately, I am taking it with Dr. Lewis Call who understands my situation and what I am having to deal with both with school and my ongoing family dramas and traumas. I am also taking a class I have had my eye on since I first arrives on campus over a year ago, to wit, Nuclear Science & Society or SCM335 (Science & Math 335) with Dr. Jim Eickemeyer. This class has thus far been fascinating and the most useful class this quarter. In it next week I shall be giving a PowerPoint presentation on the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident in Japan.

Last week, I signed up for my classes next quarter, my final quarter as an undergraduate student at Cal Poly. I will be taking Senior Project II (History 461) with Dr. Call again as well as my last history major requirement which I neglected to take a year ago this quarter when I should have, to wit, Political Economy of Latin America and the Middle East (History 214) with Dr. Cameron Jones, one of my favorite professors at Cal Poly. I will also be taking Introduction to Shakespeare (English 339) a Dr. Fitzhenry whom everybody seems to agree is wonderful. This class will satisfy my C4 requirement (Literature/Philosophy/Arts Upper Division Course). I had hoped to get into either of the two movie classes which involved watching movies and writing papers on them, to wit, Film Styles and Genres (English 371) or Film Directors (English 372). Unfortunately and rather surprisingly, neither is offered the last quarter of this academic year when seniors could most use them. Lastly, in order to remain at full-time student status (12+ units) I have signed up for the Air & Space class I have heard about (AERO310).

Getting Into The Classroom

One of the requirements of  for completing the teaching credential grad program is to sit on on classes and observe and if asked, assist the instructor. However, I feel this is probably more relevant to the lower grades where multi-subject teaching is occurring and instructors can use more hands on deck to help in the classroom. In any case, I had to be LiveScanned and checked per Megan's Law as well as take a TB test to make certain I have not been exposed to the disease. I occurred to me that I could probably get that done at no additional coast in the campus health center and I was correct. While I was in getting that done I elected to go ahead and get my long-overdue tetanus shot which I upgraded to a Tdap vaccination at no additional cost to me.

They Like Me, They Really Like Me

In the case of Paso Robles Unified School District, they seem to realize they have had some problems and seem to be taking solid steps to address those issues. They have also had to deal with a great many retirements in recent times and that is not unique to PRUSD. It appears that now is the best time in a very long time to get into teaching before the window of opportunity shuts again when hiring catches up to demand or when the economy goes in the crapper next time which it will given that capitalism is a boom & bust cycle-driven system.

While talking to the admin at PRHS regarding sitting on on classes I was given a bit of a hiring pitch from the assistant principal whom I really like.... he's a cool but no-nonsense sort of guy. The principal recently left so there is a temporary management situation there which seems to have the assistant principal probably having to do more than usual. He made it clear to me that they like teachers who are willing to do extra stuff like coach or lead in some other activity when I told him I wanted to help coach. He also informed me that the health care package is about to get better at PRUSD. The head headhunter at human resources in the PRUSD in the district offices I had to go into as part of the process of getting on campus was very cool and she seemed keenly interested in me and even gave me her card and asked that I keep in touch with her.

Given I was given no such pitch at the Atascadero Unified School District offices or at  Atascadero High School and that there seem to be no openings there I suspect I will not be working in Atascadero fresh out of grad school. However, things can change and over a year from now who knows how the battlefield will look? It's also possible the only places hiring will be junior high schools or middle schools upon my graduation from the teaching credential program. I might be facing the option of leaving the area or at least the North County to teach high school or else settle to teach junior high or middle school in order to stay in this area.

Finally In The Classroom....

In Week Five I finally got in to observe some classrooms being taught. I got accepted into Paso Robles High School first so I checked out  two classes there, Mr. Land's standard U.S. government and civics class and Mr. Bradford's Honors world history class. Both seem to be effective teachers and showed me how different things are done now compared to when I was in high school.

In California, sophomores take world history, juniors take U.S. history, and seniors take a semester each of econ and civics which I believe was the case when I was there 1985-1989. Within that horizontal framework of class track by grade level there is a framework of three levels of ascending difficulty: standard, honors, and advanced placement (AP).

In Week Six (last week), I finally got into Atascadero High School (my alma mater) and stayed all day watching four class sessions. I watched two consecutive sessions of my old school mate and teammate David Donati teach standard world history to sophomores. Then I watched Ben Tomasini teach AP world history and finished the day in Christine Williams' AP civics class. All four class sessions and all three teachers taught me something(s) useful. I also spent the lunch period talking to Athletic Director Sam DeRose who was an assistant varsity football coach back when I was in high school playing varsity football for Larry Welsh. Sam gave me some interesting insights and it was good that I let him know I'm getting into the teaching career locally and soon.

....And At A School Board Meeting

Last week I also attended a Paso Robles Unified School District Board meeting and I wasn't bored. They welcomed two new hires to the athletic department, including a former Greyhound football star who went on to some success in Arena League Football.  They also went over some generalities regarding remodeling and new construction at various district facilities within the context of a bond measure. They also discussed and congratulated themselves over how the district handled a recent student death. That death turned out to be a 12 year-old girl killing herself after being bullied by other girls, at least one of whom was a freshman at the high school and was heard to say something to the effect of "good, she deserved to die." This is hardly the first and surely won't be the last such case but for some reason this one bothered me more than most.

Networking Baby!

I worked an event at the Colony Inn in Atascadero last Friday night. There, one of the important organizers of the performing arts event was Kathy Hannemann, a long-time educator within Atascadero Unified School District. She and I hit it off and I learned a lot from her in a short time while just chatting with her and I got to network with her and let her know I'm getting into the biz just so word can get spread via yet one more avenue. Also notable there was that a very nice lady representing Rio Seco Winery was pouring her wine at intermission. Carol Hinkle and I talked at length during the show about local schools and such as she, too, is well-connected locally to a lot of what is going on and who matters so yet another score for me and I hope she was entertained by her chat with me.

Of CSETs & CBESTs

Last month I took the CSET Social Studies Subtest I. Last week I got back the results which are that I passed the test. It is worth noting that I took the test "cold" which is to say, I did not study for it. Last week I took Subest II and I took it cold, but by accident. I thought that test was for civics so I reviewed my old textbook from Cuesta College. However, as it turned out, that test is history so my studying did me no good. Apparently, Subtest I is world history and geography whereas Subtest II is American history. I have to wait about a month for the results from that test. Tomorrow I take Subtest III which I have learned is civics and economics but focusing on the U.S. and California. I shall study for it tonight and tomorrow morning by reviewing my political science and macroeconomics textbooks from Cuesta College and bone up on my U.S. Constitution again as I did before Subtest II last week. After I take my third of three CSET tests tomorrow, I plan to sign up to take my CBEST test which is also required in order to get into the teaching credential grad program. It is worth noting that each of these tests cost me $99 and I am supposed to have them all passed by April 30, 2016, despite the fact that one wait 30-45 days to get results before knowing if one need retake a test. At least on have one of them knocked out.

My Top 25 Most Pretentious Academic Words

I have encountered a number of words used in secondary sources which I have read in my various history classes at Cal Poly. Below is a list of words that while I feel they are good to know and even quite useful when used appropriately. I even use some of them to varying degrees. However, these same words are often employed in scholarly contexts to quite effective affectation. That others sometimes (okay, often-times) use these words pretentiously and ostentatiously does not mean they are not wonderful words when used appropriately. I invite you to know what they mean and use them yourself when appropriate. However, I do declare that each of these words has been employed in scholarly literature that I have personally read that in the manner used annoyed me on more than one occasion.
 Note: these definitions are in my own words but are verified for accuracy and contain hyperlinks to more information each.

1. agency ~ The capacity to make personal choices.
2. deviant ~ Outside of norms. Non-normative.
3. dialectic ~ Discourse involving people of differing perspectives with the goal of establishing the truth.
4. discursive ~ In a Foulcauldian sense the word is pared with "formation" or "practice" to refer to the qualities of modes of framing research or establishing rules for knowledge-marking..
5. epistemology ~ How do you know what you know?
6. gendered ~ Of or pertaining or dominated by traditional gender norms.
7. hegemony ~ Control by means of indirect control and implied threat.
8. hermeneutics ~ The study of the interpretation of texts.
9. historiography ~ What others have written about history.
10. homosocial ~ non-sexual same-sex relationship.
11. metropole ~  The imperial center as referenced in postcolonial studies. 
12. normative ~ What is considered normal or has become normalized.  
13. ontology ~ The study of the nature of being.
14. other ~  A non-conforming group.
15. patriarchy ~ A male-dominated social system.
16. philology ~ The study of the written word.
17. reification ~  Giving something physical form.
18. semiotics ~ The study of meaning.
19. space ~ In a Kantian sense of the word to suggest that space is subjective and artificial.
20. subaltern ~ Those without a voice in the colonial period.
21. tautology ~ Something perceived as truth by means of its being oft repeated.
22. teleology ~ Explaining how/why something is the way it is. 
23. typology ~ The classification of things.
24. unfree ~ coercive or otherwise lacking complete personal agency 
25. vernacular ~  The distinct language or dialect of a particular people.

Bobby Thinks

If I graded this work I'd give the kid full credit because he did answer the question.
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