¿Dónde quedó la inocencia?

Dicen que más sabe el Diablo por viejo que por Diablo. Pero quizá en esa frase pendemos algo mucho mas importante que el saber por saber. ¿Se acuerdan si quiera de su inocencia? ¿Se acuerdan de cuando temian hacer algo malo por temor a una eternidad de tormento? Realmente, cuaando “maduramos” perdemos mucho más que nuestra inocencia, perdemos nuestra esperanza.

Entre más aprendemos, más aprendemos de las injusticias mundiales, de compañias que apoyan actos condenables por deliberadamente oprimir a comunidades que no tienen de otra que maquilar la ropa que usamos y los aparatos que consumimos, conglomerados que colonizan paises enteros con sus promesas de trabajo y un futuro mejor, pero que a su vez violan a la tierra y destruyen sus recursos, gobiernos que prefieren el bienestar de sus inversiones corporativas antes que a sus ciudadanos. Entre más salen a la luz casos de lideres religiosos pederastas, abusos a los derechos humanos que impiden obtener el más minimo estándar de vida, más quiero volver a ser un niño y vivir en la inocencia de no saber que es pagar renta, ni tener que pagar impuestos.

Quisiera una vez más poder, si quiera por un momento, tener esa tierna ignorancia y no ser responsable por causar más sufrimiento al mundo. Que bueno fuera poder regresar a esos dias cuando podía imaginar que Batman Y Superman podian componer el mundo y terminar con los problemas mundiales y erradicar todas las carencias. Quisiera perderme en el mundo de el Tío Gamboín y cositas, tener aventuras con las tortugas ninja y volver a creer que el bien siempre vencerá al mal.

Pero hoy, con la edad que tengo, y en un ambiente “profesional,” ese punto de vista no es muy respetado. Hay mal en todas partes, y a fuerza se aplica la ley de Herodes por todos lados. Cada quien procura asegurar primero satisfacer las necesidades de su pellejo y como dice el dicho, asegurarse “primero los dientes y despues los parientes.” Por que al fin y al cabo, entre mas viejos, mas diablos somos.

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Human Condition/La condición humana

English

Here goes a bilingual post. Aquí les va un post bilingüe.

I have been thinking for a few days about the human condition. What do I mean by that? I mean what does it mean to be a human being in modern society and how does one cope with the recent onset of technological advances and natural destruction?

Well, I have found out that on many levels, and in many social interactions in daily life, we all seek some sort of acceptance or validation for the “good things we accomplish.” We seek to be rewarded for a job well done, we desire a pat on the back when you finish typing the concluding remarks on that report, we want to have the teacher/professor acknowledge the effort we put in our classwork, etc.

We all feed off of that, face it. No, actually I take that back, Facebook it.  If you look at any of the mainstream social network sites, it is a constant battle for attention. We live in an individualized egotistical universe, where your day is not complete if you do not get a reward for just being “you”.

On the other hand, I have found that nobody likes a negative person. Negativity is social media suicide. Maybe the first time you receive what you were looking for, societal attention, a barrage of “I’m sorry you feel that way, things will look up,” and other messages of encouragement. But that’s a one shot deal. Constant whining about how your life sucks or how you were yelled at by your boss gets old very quickly. The instinctive reaction is to run away, not deal with that persons problems and not have to listen to their “baggage.” I guess in a sense it is a type of defense mechanism.

So I wrote this whole post just to really say one thing: BE HAPPY. Yes, I know how cliché that sounds, but really, marinate on that for a while. It is a simple statement reminding you that you don’t have control over the Universe, but you do have control over your state of being. Your mood is not imposed on you, rather it is chosen. BE HAPPY is a command to just let everything else go and enjoy what you do have, making that conscious choice will benefit you in the long run.

ESPAÑOL

He estado pensando por unos cuantos dias acerca de la condición humana. Pero, ¿qué quiero decir con eso? Quiero decir, que significa ser un ser humano en una sociedad moderna y como lidiamos con la creciente explosión tecnológica y destrucción natural?

Bueno he encontrado que en muchos niveles, y en muchas interacciones sociales en nuestras vidas cotidianas, todos buscamos algún tipo de reconocimiento por las “cosas buenas que logramos.” Buscamos la recompensa por un trabajo bien hecho, tenemos el deseo de que nos den una palmadilla en la espalda cuando terminemos de mecanografiar las últimas palabras en el reporte de ingresos, queremos que nuestros profesores y maestros reconozcan el esfuerzo que demostramos haciendo el trabajo en clase, etc.

Todos vivimos de eso, vamos a encararlo. No, retraigo lo dicho, vamos a verlo en la cara del Facebook. Si vemos cualquier página de redes sociales, pronto nos daremos cuenta que todos están batallando por recibir atención. Vivimos en un mundo que gracias a la tecnología se ha vuelto individualizado, ergotista, un universo que revuelve al rededor de nuestras más recientes aportaciones a los medios de consumo social y no te sientes a gusto si no te recompensan por ser “tu mismo.”

Por otro lado, he encontrado que a nadie le gusta una persona negativa. La negatividad es el suicidio de los medios sociales. Tal vez, la primera vez recibas lo que buscas, atención social, una cascada torrencial de mensajes de “siento mucho que te sientas asi, las cosas van a mejorar,” y otros mensajes de ánimo. Pero esa no es la norma. El quejarse constantemente de como tu vida vale sorbete o como te regañó tu jefe, se hacen noticias viejas pronto. La reacción instintiva de cualquiera es de evitarte, salir corriendo. Nadie quiere lidiar con tus problemas y mucho menos contigo. Creo que en cierto sentido es como un mecanismo de defensa propia.

Así es que escribí este post solamente para decir una cosa. SE FELIZ. Si, ya se que tan choteado suena eso, pero en serio, marina tus pensamientos en eso un rato. Es una frase simple que nos recuerda que no tenemos el control del universo, pero si tenemos control sobre nuestro estado de animo. Nuestro animo no es impuesto sobre nosotros por un agente insensato o invisible; nosotros mismos decidimos como sentirnos. SE FELIZ es una invitación a que dejes todo lo demás a un lado y disfrutar plenamente lo que tienes a la mano. Hacer esa decisión consciente te beneficiará a largo plazo.

Mamá, ¿quién soy?

La realidad de la situación es esta: la población de Mexicanos, Hispanos o Latinos, (dependiendo a la auto-denominación del individuo) ha incrementado considerablemente en los últimos diez años. Esto es en comparación con la población de asiáticos y afro-americanos/negros. Pero el punto no es ese.

Según la oficina del censo, cada 10 años se administra esta encuesta, que por primera vez es la mas corta en la historia del su administración (sólo consiste de 10 preguntas) para poder calibrar que áreas son elegibles para recibir una mayor parte del presupuesto federal para proyectos sociales. Aparentemente el gobierno tiene apartado cierto dinero reservado específicamente para ciertas étnicidades o razas.
Con este fin, el censo de este año ha sido diseñado para ser “inclusivo” a las étnicidades y auto-clasificaciones raciales. Y aquí es donde me paré en seco.

Aunque ayudé a mis padres llenar el censo del año 2000 no recuerdo cual fue la respuesta a la pregunta de la clasificación racial. Es más fue algo tan mecánico que recuerdo solamente volver a sambutir el formulario en el sobre y ponerlo en el correo.

Este año, el censo estipula que el origen hispano no es una raza, por eso es que hay dos preguntas que responder al respecto. En la primera se pregunta acerca del origen hispano, latino o español. Siendo nacido en México, de padres mexicanos en Michoacán, muy fácilmente contesté “Sí, mexicano, mexicano americano, chicano.” Pero la siguiente pregunta, no la supe contestar tan automáticamente como la primera. “¿Cuál es la raza de la persona 1?”

Al razonar momentáneamente, me dí cuenta de que es posible que una persona sea de origen hispano y a la vez negro, blanco, “indio americano” o cualquier otra opción en el formulario. Pensé en Johnny Laboriel, Cristina Fernández de Kirschner, Evo Morales o Rigoberta Menchú. En si, pensé en todos los cursos universitarios que tomé en el tema de la colonización de las Américas y entendí el porqué de esa pregunta. Al mismo tiempo, empecé a buscar en mi propia genealogía y me dí cuenta que no puedo trazar mi linea ancestral mas de dos generaciones. Fue en ese momento que tuve una crisis de identidad. No entro en ninguna de estas cajitas azules que pretenden englobar distintas razas ni mucho menos ¿Acaso pertenezco a la raza “café”? ¿Pongo que soy Mestizo? Ninguna de mis opciones parece tener sentido. Los filipinos tienen su propia casilla y eso que ellos también comparten raíces españolas e indígenas, los chinos, vietnamitas, y japoneses tienen su casilla propia y eso que en algún ayer eran todos considerados asiáticos.

Sin sobre simplificarme, pondré que soy blanco e indio americano; tribu de los purépecha. ¿Tu que pondrias?

Announcement! Expansion of ELD Teach

I guess a blog isn’t really a blog if you don’t update often. In an effort to continue to nurture my inner muse and continue to provide insight to education and the life of a man in Oakland as a whole, I am expanding my blog to not only cover ELD strategies and my failures as a teacher, but also my artistic creative writing side, my intellectual side, and of course, my playful side. I will do my best to tag my posts appropriately so you can always find what you are looking for. From time to time, I may feel the need to blog in Spanish, as it is my mother tongue and would hate to not say what I have to say in the way that comes most naturally to me. With all the chaos in my life, I find it hard to try and find one container to fit all my contemplations so look out for me in other venues, like twitter, facebook, etc.

Please note that at the time of this writing, my following is far and wide, and not many people actually know I keep a blog. I want to organically create a community where people feel drawn to read what I have to say rather than feel a social obligation to me. If you find my posts useful or thought provoking, feel free to share them with whom ever you feel might have some thing to add to the conversation. And as all good blogs, I feed off the feedback my readers provide so by all means, leave a comment.

Pop Quiz! How do we fix our Broken Education System

It is quite clear now that just as the health care system is a broken down institution, our education system needs to be overhauled, extensively. You may not hear debates and talks in either the senate or in the White House any time soon; but just like “The Big One” in California, its coming.

The March 15 edition of Newsweek, features a series of articles featuring some of the faults and possible fixes for our education system. The Very bold statement “we must fire bad teachers” resonates with me as a feasible way to reform our schools and get better results. At the same time it makes me wonder: How does one go about evaluating the effectiveness of a teacher based on student’s test results? As it is, not many credential programs offer out-of-the-box success strategies for the first year teacher.
What provisions if any would be made for “teachers in training”?

We have all heard horror stories of child molesting teachers, educators who sleep on the job and recently under qualified teachers who refuse to tend to their responsibilities as mentors and educators. But where in the labor market would these people fit if they were to be let-go? Often times, teachers have been at the same site for over 15 years, and throughout their tenure experienced varied degrees of success. If we were to follow the recommendation given by Newsweek, we would put even a bigger burden on all of the social programs such as welfare and unemployment. Realistically how can
you

In a sense, the March 15 issue of Newsweek serves as a pink slip to the thousands of teachers who just don’t make the numbers on the tests. And I just don’t know how to feel about that.

Whats the truth about EL research?

With all the research floating around language acquisition, it is not hard to get lost in all the terminology. The comprehensible inputs, the froantloading, scaffolding, schema building, etc. There are many competing theories out there affirming that they have a unique approach for teaching ELD. However I have attended two different “trainings” in which the same example was used for different purposes.

You may be familiar with this example on reading comprehension:

The bogo also recognizes the need to invest more in cucio themselves, 40 percent of which now lack basic sumwalz. Ligachev said cucio for 28 million monos will be frazequack by the year 2010, and that capital expenditures in blocka will increase drastically.

In one case it was used to illustrate the fact that being able to answer a few questions about a specific topic does not translate to comprehension. At first, that made sense to me. Just because you can answer that “expenditures in blocka will increase drastically,” does not mean you understand what blocka are. There was a huge emphasis on getting the point across that explicitly teaching vocabulary in the ELD class is a must. “Frontload new and unknown vocabulary as much as possible,” they said.

In the second case, the same example was used to express the opposite, that you don’t need to spend time teaching isolated vocabulary, but rather focus on getting across the meaning of the overall passage. “Focus on the communicative function,” they said.
This was further emphasized arguing that the more students are exposed to words they don’t understand in context, the faster they will be able to determine what the unknown word is.

So, as a teacher whose job is to teach language, what interpretation do you accept, who is one to say one is more effective over the other? If there is a lesson to be learned from this anecdote, is to not be fooled into thinking there is just one right way to teach language. Learning a new language, after all is a never-ending process in which we all engage at in different levels. Stay open minded and don’t swear by just one system. Even though a teaching methodology might fit your needs, it may not meet your students’ so keep teaching, keep trying, keep learning.

The Ups and Downs of Being a Teacher

The new school year is well underway. As a matter of fact, the first semester has slipped through our fingers like sand through our fingers. It is impossible to believe that all those emotions I didn’t feel last year are catching up to me. I mean the horror stories a first year teacher faces. A huge sentiment of inferiority, helplessness, and overall incompetence. It is not the kids, It’s me. I don’t think that there is anyway that I can describe exactly how I am feeling right now. I know I have a deep desire to help the youth I serve, I am committed to not let them slip through the systematic cracks or be pushed aside. But I have one flaw. I am human. I get tired, often times, to the eye of an outsider too easily.

Truth is I plan, I think of activities and language I am going to teach, but honestly, half the time I don’t know where I am going with that. And that is a problem that cannot be resolved on the spot, while giving instruction. It is something I keep telling my coach and my boss, “I’m working on.” Often times I sit on my couch for hours, just thinking about all of the commitments I have to fulfill, all the reading I have to do for my credentialing program. Sometimes I am worried because I have yet another payment to make and the well is dry. In other words, I ask myself: “How can I take care of my students, if I can’t take care of myself?”

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

I think Maslow had an idea of what I am talking about. In his theory published in 1943, he explained that one cannot reach self actualization or, in my interpretation, be cognitively prepared to help others, if your basic need are not met. Looking at the four levels leading up to self actualization, I feel I am lacking self-esteem. I honestly sometimes question my choice to do something I love. It makes me feel frustrated and stupid when something I worked hard to develop (i.e. A lesson plan) goes out the window. It must be that I too was an EL, or maybe that I am left-handed. Perhaps it is the fact that I learned to speak English for the sheer joy of being able to do something good. And quite frankly, there are very few things I can do as well as I speak English. Yes, I can seem to know how to do a lot of things, but in reality I have just mastered a keen ability to know where to look for the answer. But not on this. The more I think about what to teach and how to teach it, the blurrier it all becomes, and the less time I have to work on actually developing it. I spend most of my time making handouts and worksheets, some of which are completed before I am finished passing them out. I feel I am in a rut. If someone out there is reading this, please help.

Regarding Teaching Methodology, I Wish I Had Known That . . .

I found this in the interwebs while planning my next unit. Very true about teaching methodologies.

Regarding Teaching Methodology, I Wish I Had Known That . . .
By Sharron Bassano
• In teaching, there is no such thing as always and never.
Flexibility.
• I have to start with exactly what they expect, if I want them to trust me and if I want them to come back.
Validation.
• It is a good idea initially to look like a teacher and do what they think real teachers do.
Teacher Presence.
• The human brain is lateralized, and it learns through many channels.
“Whole-brain” Teaching.
• I have to teach the way they learn best, not the way I learn best.
Modalities.
• If I don’t know where we are going, how will I know when we get there?
Objectives, Coherent Lesson Plans, and Assessment.
• The most powerful student motivator is proof of success.
Concrete, Measurable Achievement.
• At the lower levels, consistency builds comfort.
Routine.
• I might need to get them “organized” or show them what students do.
Learning Strategies.

Welcome a new semester

The summer days are now but a memory and school is now in session in Oakland, California. For first year teachers, this time of year can be daunting, draining,stressful, challenging, dubious, but most of all unforgettable. That is what it was for me last year. This year however, I feel more at ease. It can be challenging to teach what you don’t yet know or even measure what you have taught. The new school year opens up possiblilities to put to practice new strategies, to test new procedures, and overall to improve as an educator. This year I am committed to providing a rigorous, engaging curriculum to all my students.

There is a wealth of lesson plans that are already made, and handouts quizzes and tests to pass out, but the realiity is that you won’t fully understand how to use them if you don’t know the thinking behind creating each of these tools. Of course some of them take little thinking or are just redy made graphic organizers to sort your student’s ideas or to guide them to discover a certain aspect of writing.

I will be sure to blog about my experiences as a teacher this year and definitely hope to receive some feedback in the process.

First Semester Down, One More to Go

Look at the image at the right. That is exactly how I feel right now. At some point during the course of the second and third marking periods, I lost grip of why I am teaching. I lost focus, I lost something. I am not going to lie, after my students failing miserably in the district benchmark test, I feel like I have no one to blame but my self. My students obviously have something to do with it, but I am not one to say “Oh well its their fault because they have poor study habits,” or “I did what I could.” I honestly don’t think I did everything I could. Looking back I realize that I could have been more rigorous, more mean, more attentive. But there is no excuse. The damage is done, and all I have left to do is to pick up my morale and increase my expectations of my self before I can expect anything from my students.

Truth be told, my students are wonderful. They do their assignments, they participate in class, they are engaged. But their lives get in the way. In my not-so-scientific research, attention spans seem to be constantly on the decline. Finding something to retain a 15 year old’s attention for even 10 minutes is a daunting task, there is always something more interesting in the classroom to do than to listen to Mr. Calderon drone about present continuous, or pluralization rules.  Out of all the district standards and suggested scope and sequence, I must have only accomplished to touch on less than 5% of the material. Standards don’t make anyone smarter, don’t include human engagement, but are meant to be used as a framework. Ultimately, as a teacher one is the master of the class’ destiny.

I am trying to make progress in planning for more than content or activities or standards, but ultimately plan for every day living, so that my newcomer class can gossip about who is dating who in coherent english.

In creating this blog I promised to provide practical advise for new teachers of things that work and how to reproduce such outcomes in your own classroom, but I have failed miserably at that too. I pledge to update this blog more often and provide solutions rather than just whine about how brain tired I feel.

For starters, I propose a poster with procedures about what to do when a student is “finished” with their handout/activity/whatever. In the poster I have in my classroom, I ask students to check for

• Is your name on the paper?
• Did you answer all the questions?
• Did you remember to capitalize the first word in each sentence?
• Do you have the right punctuation () . , ” ” ? !

I would really appreciate any exchange of ideas or lesson plans I could use with ELD 2 students in California.