Thursday, November 12, 2015

Substitute Teaching in "Inner City Schools"

Hey! I'm back on my blog, is anybody still there?

Updates:  I live happily in Koreatown, LA, California, USA, World.  I like it here.  I got an awesome girlfriend and even though it's been truly trying, life is pretty good.  I've found work as a substitute teacher, and a tutor.  I want to develop my career in education, and I know that involves reflection.  So let's get back to it.







As a substitute teacher, I'm an outsider in almost every possible way:

I'm white.  99% of the students are not.  However, some of the teachers are.

I'm not from California.  (Sometimes when I tell people I'm from Ohio, they follow up with questions about Idaho, Iowa, or another place.  Living in California has given me as much culture shock as living in Asia or South America did.  But maybe that's because I'm re-acclimating to American life.)

I'm not teaching many English classes, or grades that I'm familiar with.

I'm a country guy (which I never thought of myself as being until I lived here.  Even though I lived in Mexico City for several months, the city life there never manifested itself as such.)

And lastly, most importantly, I'm not their regular teacher.



Being an outsider certainly has benefits, it allows you to see things that people within that system never see.

So, I've got a lot to deal with on a given day.  I'm also tutoring part time and trying to settle into this megalopolopolis.  It's not easy.  It feels like life lessons come several times a day.  Then those really profound, perspective shifting incidents come almost as often.  I heard an interview with Gloria Steinem where she discussed turning points in life, where there is a split between before and after the event.  I've had a lot of those concentrated in 2-3 months time.

What I can definitely report is that I've stepped into a pretty chaotic system, this must be what new presidents feel like.  I mean, every school I've ever worked at exists on this thin line, or crumbling (literally) foundation held together with duct tape.  You wouldn't ever realize that as a student, but that's just the reality when so many teachers are working long days, administrators are exhausted working on the most pressing things, and the culture at large doesn't really see education as a profoundly important ...thing.

A fellow teacher mentioned one of the schools I had real difficulty in was difficult for everyone.  The P.E. teacher said he could barely take roll and it was plunged into chaos.

We have to constantly reexamine our jobs, us in education.



What even is education?

To me it's always been tied to learning, sharing wisdom, finding out answers.  But as I continue to work and teach in these schools it's clear that education is not something that happens in school.

In poor, urban, economically and racially oppressed areas, education is more about connections, conversations, ideas that stem from experience in the community-- not from lessons in classes and books.

It's that simple.  The school system isn't serving students in many of these schools, so they lash out, at one another, at the school building, or at me.  I know part of the problem is just teens being teens, hating things and doing stuff without thinking of the consequences.  But the main problem persists, as I've written about before, school isn't on their side.



I read an article that had to do with intervention that uplifts students by simply asking them what they need, offering resources to their parents, and directly treating any issues of crisis the students may face.  This approach is beautiful, and the results speak for themselves.  The school and everyone involved should be upheld as a beacon of hope.

This is the type of teaching I always hope to do, when students act up it is almost always because of another need- they don't understand, they don't feel comfortable, etc.  You really have to ask them what's up, instead of yelling at them.  But I've been forced to scream a few times, which resulted in no impact whatsoever, the students are totally desensitized to screams.

If I have the mental energy, space, and/or time to engage with an errant student during class, I always ask if they understand the assignment or the topic.  They usually say no.  When they don't get it, they act out.  My girlfriend shared another article I found important.  It leaves you wondering what to do next, and that is exactly how teachers feel on a daily basis.

The idea that students would rather be the bad kid than the dumb kid resonates with my experiences, for sure.  I'm still working to adapt and learn with each student and class as I go.  Taking that extra minute to engage, rather than scold, is so valuable.  And it applies to life in general.  Seeking to understand the people around you always provides more benefit than treating people as problems.

But right now I'm not at work, and I know my attitude may be significantly different after a long shift.  But the more I teach, the more I want to teach.  I still hope to get that degree in Geography so I can teach social studies in college, as I've dreamed about for years.

Does anyone else have experience substitute teaching?

I'll try to keep my blog more updated.  See you next time!


Sunday, July 12, 2015

This blog will re-boot and bloom in a new way soon.

Thanks for sticking around.

I have a lot more to share about learning words and teaching words and learning about the world.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Mongolia: Homeland of heroic Genghis Khan and the Greatest Empire in the World in a long weekend

Part 1

Some ashy gray background


I went to Mongolia last October.  Reflecting on it, October seems like a bad time to visit such a northern country, especially considering we only had a long weekend.  And due to wind delays pushing our flight back 12 hours, we basically just had a weekend.

Despite the logistical hangups and lack of a tight plan, the trip was amazing.  There are cheap, daily flights to Ulaanbaatar from Seoul.  The opportunity to visit wasn't going to come by again so easily so I pounced.


The hostel had the option to stay in gers, we opted for indoors since we arrived at 2 a.m.  Oasis Hostel gets my recommendation.

 
The decision to visit came as the result of using skyscanner.com and looking for cheap flights out of Korea.  I recommend the website if you don't have a planned destination because it lets you search for the cheapest flights from your location to anywhere.  Mongolia looked good by comparison.  I booked the flight and the hostel.
 
Just in time for arriving, I finished reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford.  The biography (by one of my favorite non-fiction authors) really illustrates how revolutionary Khan was.  By the end of the book, I understood the strategic brilliance and unprecedented human rights conditions of the Mongol empire.
 
 
                   
 
Did I say "human rights" and "Mongol empire" in the same sentence?  Yes. 
 
Besides conquering in 40 years more than Romans did in 200, the Mongols had a disciplined, honorable way of life.  They outlawed slavery and sex-slavery.  Women were given far more control over their lives than in most of the other parts of the 13 century world.  The Mongols outlawed torture, and the death penalty.  Genghis Khan also knew the power of a free press and freedom of religion.  He fostered a religious freedom that was completely unmatched anywhere else in that period- and even today.
 
Some of these policies are what helped the steppe people reach great new heights.  Their original life ways have sort of remained intact, sort of.

They got damn good food. And like most of Asia, it is extremely cheap.
 
Khan also had a great love of stuff, he wanted to open up trade routes and get more fancy things because the Mongols had so little.   This would regress into a form of greed that would be the undoing of his successors, but the trade routes and international relationships he forged helped pave the way for Pax Mongolica- a long period of peace.
 
The empire splintered over the centuries, Beijing was actually founded by Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan.  Mongolia was mighty, but a little less mighty over that time. 
 
Unfortunately, the Soviets suppressed Mongol independence for decades and really tried to erase the great legacy of Genghis Khan.  Long story short, they blew it, and now Mongolia is stuck between free consumer capitalism and the hollowed out remains of communism.  A precarious position for sure.


The capital, Ulaanbaatar usually gets a bad rap.  I found it delightfully garish.

Mongolia is the 19th largest country, but the population is only about 3 million, half of the people live in the capital. 
 
I don't imagine many people come to Mongolia for the city life.  Nonetheless, the center of the city was pretty vibrant and congested with cars and trucks.  I remember seeing a lot of Toyota Prius hybrids.  There were a lot of abandoned or incomplete looking apartment buildings and what I'm guessing were factories.  The skeletal reminders of the cold war, perhaps.  I can certainly imagine Westerners or people unaccustomed to less-industrialized countries seeing the place as horrible to look at.  I didn't feel that way though.  It was pretty relaxed, despite the hubbub.
 
It was interesting to hear our tour guide speak about his experiences with communism.  He mentioned his grandparents actually missed the old days when the community was closely bound together.  More on him later.



On the edge of the city people live in gers, albeit in a sedentary way.  Part of the genius of the Mongol empire was its ability to turn its nomadic life way into a war tactic.  Khan turned his strengths into weaknesses.  The nomadic herding way of life is quickly becoming a weakness in 21st century Mongolia, but it does still exist in the countryside.


This was at Gandan Monetary, an amazing place.  One of the largest Buddha statues I have ever seen.

 
 
 

Part 2

Why Tour Guides Are Underrated

 
I never appreciated the benefits of a tour until I started traveling outside of America.  In that case you really need someone to bring the place into context.  I don't mean a tour group, per se, since that is a lot like being on a field trip with adults.  If you get the chance to hire a private guide (which sounds fancy, but it's really informal, and usually cheap), do it.  Your experience will be much more rewarding.
 

After a day in Ulaanbaatar, we ventured out to Terelj National Park and the largest equestrian statue in the world.  The same driver who our hostel arranged for our airport pickup became our guide again.  He was a gentle, intelligent man who spoke English almost without an accent, in addition to 4 other languages.  We arrived at the Genghis Khan statue before it opened up, so we took a little drive around.

 
The beauty was expansive, rugged and a cold.  The photos explain better than I can. 
 


 

 
 
One of my heroes. 
 
The monument had a nice museum inside.  I highly recommend it for history nerds.


This would be green in the summer, but I still found it stunning.  I suppose this might look drab to some eyes.

Terelj National Park is basically the main tourist excursion of the region, about 90 minutes outside of Ulaanbaatar.  The park was dotted with empty tourist camps and full of yaks and cattle grazing freely. 
 
It's not only worth the trip outside of the capital, but it really made the vacation feel complete.  The respiring winds and vast, austere silence were the perfect counterpoint to the struggles I was facing back in Korea.



This was a beautiful bathroom


The Siberian pine is apparently not evergreen



These meditative signs dotted the path up to the mountain temple.  You'll notice everything is in Cyrillic and not the vertically-written Mongol script (another Khan invention).
 
I still got a very strong sense of religious freedom in Mongolia, even though the only visible religion was Buddhism.  Our tour guide spoke of his studies of Sanskrit in India.  He shared the basic ideas behind the rituals like spinning the drums in the temple, and the meaning behind the symbols we found.  He said he respected all religions, I agreed completely.

 
Our tour guide gave us just the right amount of assistance and background.  In addition to being our driver the entire weekend.  Mongolia is impossible to see without a fast form of transportation.  I have a feeling I will be back some day to do the "overland" motorcycle journey.

 
The temple was peaceful, but I didn't get any good pictures of it.  The view from the top was enough to make me want to come back, hopefully when the timing is better.

 

 
Saying good bye

 

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Poem - "Beirut"

Pussy
Cowboy Killer
Wrapping Paper
Beirut

Can you use a dollar bill for joint paper?
It's called wrapping paper and idk, lemme google it

Cowboy Killer-
Her friend called the Marlboros
I found it clever, with my wine

Tobacco is an Indian herb, sacred herb
not supposed to cause cancer originally

Hipsters stole leather and cigarettes and mohawks
from Native Americans.
Indians have been killing Cowboys
since 1492

I have had two former significant others express concern
at my pejorative use of the word "pussy"
once to describe pussy music- Beirut- watered down
like a bad Andrew Bird

We danced to him and other funk foundations
Sly Stone
on the porch

They wanted to be stars of indie music,
my friends, distant friends.
Who knows if they'll make it, I hope they do.

I don't remember the other time I felt bad for using "pussy" negatively
too long ago

She loved my homemade hummus.
My Lebanese-Italian American friend told me the secret to perfect hummus
Don't tell any white people, he said
and I haven't.

I'm about to fly to Cebu
Lapu Lapu airport, named for
Lapu Lapu
who killed Magellan
to defend his people

I hope my plane doesn't crash.