Time Zone Woes

Just got back from the movies. It's 10:00pm here. I feel like calling a long distance friend to catch up. BUT you're all asleep... or it is 1:00am your time and I'm not sure if you're asleep yet and don't want to risk waking you up. Grrr. Not matter how hard I try, I only think about calling you, beloved Eastern Time Zone, when it is the evening.

Another Chance to Graduate

In the state of California, recent laws have stated that in order for a student to graduate from high school, they have to pass a test called the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Students get 6 chances to pass the test while in high school. The first in February of 10th grade. The next two are October and March of 11th grade. Then October, February, and March of 12th grade. The last ditch test is July after 12th grade, but then you don't get to "cross the stage" with your classmates at graduation. There are two sections of the test: English and Math. Once you pass one of them, you never have to take it again. You just keep retaking the test that you failed.

I'm not sure what is on the English test, but the math test is not hard. Basically, you have to know math up until Algebra 1. A quick list would be converting and working with decimals, fractions, and percents, solving basic equations, slope/intercept/graphing, area/perimeter/volume/measurement/unit conversions, basic probability and statistics. I have tons of released questions and several books that have been created to help me help students pass this test.

This year, I am teaching two sections of "CAHSEE Math" for junior and senior students who have not passed the math test. In all I have about 20 students, although there are others out there who just didn't have time in their schedule to take my class. The pressure is on because they take the test on Wednesday. On Tuesday, most of them are taking the English test. So that leaves one more school day to help them prepare.

I'm worried for them. I would hate to see them get all of the required credits they need to graduate, yet not graduate just because they didn't pass a test. Yet, I also think that it is ridiculous that some of them have not passed the test already... it's not that hard. What's even worse is that some of them have just been sitting in my class for the past month doing little to no work or thinking about this test. How many times can a teacher say, "this is your test, your graduation!" to a student before giving up and thinking that the student really doesn't want to graduate? But, when it is so easy to drop out of school, and the student is actually in the classroom, how can you not think that they want to graduate? Some would say laziness (which we do have alot of!!) others would say test anxiety. I think both and a bit of ego. They can't get over the fact that they don't know stuff and they can't admit that they need help, so they just sit. Perhaps some of them think that they will just magically guess all of the right answers and just squeak by the minimum number of points to pass. I'm praying that they are using this weekend wisely and are gearing themselves up for the test.

A bonus for them is that if they pass the test, they could transfer out of my class and into something else that they need to graduate. Unfortunately, the test results will not come until late December or early January. So the class changes will have to take place at the start of the spring semester.

The test is on Wednesday and that means we still have 12 weeks left of the semester. What will we do? That's a really good question. I want to focus on real world situations where a person needs math skills. I have some ideas, but I need more. So I'm asking you, those few of you who read this blog, where do you actually use math in real life? What is this math thing good for, anyways?

Happy Fall!

Almost... fall really starts on Sunday but it might as well have started today since it the beginning of the weekend and we've just received our first rain splattering in about 4 months. It lasted a brief moment as Grant and I were walking home from blockbuster after dinner. Just enough to make the sidewalk look wet but not enough to soak through clothes. I told Grant that we should move the car out of the garage and onto the street... because we haven't washed it in a long time... if ever come to think of it. But parking is hard to find on the street in the evening and the rain really wasn't hard enough so we decided against it and walked into the apartment building.

So I'll be spending the weekend with a couple of flicks, working on getting rid of a last little bit of my week long cold, getting school work done, and attending the reenactment of marriage vows ceremony of two friends of ours that got married last month in Kansas. They are both seminarians, one from PSR and one from SFTS. And they both attend our church and our church.

Oh yeah, and we'll also be balancing eggs this weekend... ya know, since it's fall and all.

After School Activity #2: Advanced Studies Program

Also known as the "200 Hour Teacher Training Class" at PYS.

Sometime late last winter, perhaps in February or March, I got an email newsletter from PYS about an Advanced Studies Yoga Program that they were planning for the fall. The newsletter said that more information, including an application, would be coming soon. April came and went and nothing changed on the website. So did May. Finally in June, the application appeared.

The first part of the application was easy. Name, address, health concerns, current teacher, length of time practicing. Then came the writing section. For the first few weeks of June, questions like "Describe your home practice," and "Why do you want to be in the class," started taking over my brain. Fortunately, I had answers to these questions.

By the time I got to the last question, I was really wondering if I still wanted to be in the program. "What is yoga?" What? Was this a trick question? What kind of answer were they looking for? What do I actually know about yoga, really? Isn't it just that stretching thing that middle aged rich white women do with bare feet on mats in their fancy designer yoga clothes, taking classes during the day time when most of us have to work?

I fumbled my way through an explanation of yoga being this journey of discovery... connecting mind, body, and spirit... stress reliever... appreciation of my god-like temple... confidence builder... and somehow they thought it was all good enough to accept me into the program.

It's a 200 hour program designed for people who have lives. So, meeting every Thursday night for 3 hours will take us until June 2008 to finish. We also have one Saturday a month where we have a 6 hour intensive class. Our first Saturday was just a few days ago.

There are 18 people in the class, of which 2 are men. (surprise, surprise!) This is similar to my after school yoga program which has 15 girls and 2 boys. I am close to the lower end of the age range, but that's ok. I have concerns about my abilities, but so far no one has said anything to me to make me feel like I don't belong amongst this group of students. I'm relieved that flexibility isn't everything! Just a willingness to show up and learn a ton, because we do learn a ton since we have great teachers.

Our first month's focus is on standing poses. So, as one who practices yoga might imagine, I feel alot of stretching in my hips and hamstrings.

(for those of you who don't practice yoga, what's up? what are you waiting for? get to it! your body is not getting any more flexible just sitting here reading my blog!)

12 hours down, 188 more to go!

Living the Vision

At the end of July, I attended a workshop with a beautiful and amazingly talented artist named Shiloh Sophia McCloud. She is a member of our church and many of her paintings are on display around the building. She is the leader of a monthly women’s spiritual and bible study group called “Holy Cow” (council of women).The purpose of this workshop was to build a vision plan for our future vocations. This is similar to writing a business plan; however, it incorporates more of what our life style will look like, not just our business. This is especially good for women since we seem to have our energy put into many different areas and all areas seem to flow in and out of our personal lives. Any teacher will tell you that you can’t leave school at school. Lesson plans and ideas come to you at the most random times, you think and even dream about your students. You are a teacher, even when you’re not teaching your subject area. I’m sure this is true for many other career paths that women choose to take.

It has been almost two months since taking the workshop, so I decided to re-read my vision plan and see how I was doing. I was pretty surprised to see that things are starting to fall into place, just like Shiloh said they would.

When I was visioning my vision, three career paths were swirling around my head. So I decided to include all three in my plan.

1. Leading Backpacking and camping trips for inner city youth and women of all ages. There would be a focus on educating people on how to backpack, a spiritual component with meditation and journal writing, and in addition to the hiking, we would practice yoga to get into our bodies.

2. Teaching Yoga to inner city youth and people of all ages. I would provide free classes for impoverished youth at their schools on a regular basis. Grants would pay for my time and the equipment. Then I would also rent studio space (or start my own studio) to teach classes to paying customers.

3. Jewelry Design. I have been interested in jewelry since my junior year of high school. I started out stringing necklaces and bracelets. Since Christmas 2006, I’ve been collecting supplies and tools to start creating more pieces for myself to wear. Eventually Grant and I want to get booths at arts fairs to sell his prints and my jewelry.

It’s hard to work on all three while still maintaining a full time job. After our successful backpacking trip with friends in July that Grant and I planned, I wanted to plan a women’s weekend trip this fall but it has been very difficult to find a weekend that everyone who is interested can go, and I haven’t been that motivated to plan.

The jewelry design has been put on hold for awhile since my desk currently has my sewing machine on it and several other projects that would first have to be moved. I also feel like I need to take a few classes to help my skills. I’ve read about techniques (such as wire wrapping) but it might be better to have an experienced person show me.

I'm proud to say that I'm working really well on #2 (as you could tell from the previous post). In addition to teaching my own class twice a week with my students, I am enrolled in a 200 hour advanced studies / teacher training program at a local yoga studio. I'll talk more about that in the next post!

Surprise!

When Tosca and I started talking in the spring about starting a yoga club, we both agreed that we would be happy if we had 5 students show up on a regular basis. Last Thursday when 8 students came, we were ecstatic. Today we had even more show up, 17 in all, most of who were in appropriate clothes. (no jeans, sweat pants or long shorts)

It's hard to take credit for this early achievement. Even though we want to think that the kids are really into the yoga, or they're in the class because we're teaching it, we have to remember that we did put a carrot out there for them. If a student has good attendance (attends 32 out of 36 classes) they can receive PE credit towards graduation. Unfortunately, several students have failed PE in the past and all of them want to take our yoga class to make up their credit. I'm cool with this. I'm glad for a captive audience to experiment with. This is an invaluable experience that will really help who I will become as a yoga teacher, if that is what I intend to do in the future.

The picture below was taken today in my classroom. The yoga club takes place in my classroom because I have 6th Period prep and students to help move the desks and sweep the floor. There are not many large spaces available that aren't already booked with sports teams. So hopefully, we can maintain 20 students in this space. On Tuesdays, my friend Tosca (a spanish teacher down the hall) leads the class. She is in the center top row in the picture. On Thursdays, I take the helm. Then we debrief for a few minutes after class. All in all it has been a fun time.

(PS sorry for all the butts in the picture-- these are kids and there are laws about taking pictures of kids, so until we get signed waivers from parents, there will be no faces!)

After School Activity #1: YOGA

2 high school teachers (1 math, 1 spanish)

8 teens (including 1 boy-- we're so proud)

24 brand new yoga mats.

Us, laying down in the middle of my classroom, all the desks moved off to the side.

We're stretching our hamstrings and I tell them to relax their groin muscles (because that's a place were I tense up). After I gave them this instruction, I thought out loud, "I hope you went to the bathroom before class."

Then the boy asks, "Why?"

The girls giggle at the boy.

I say, "I guess it must be a girl thing."

The girls giggle some more.

Teens are soooo much fun. Especially when they are a part of my new after school yoga club.

School Update

Life's speed has definitely increased fro us this week. First, this was Grant's first week at his CPE internship. CPE stands for "clinical pastoral experience" and Grant's CPE is taking place at St. Francis hospital in SF for the next 53 weeks. This week was all orientation-- getting to know his crew and learning about hospital procedures. I'm sure he'll be writing about his experiences... when he has the time! (ha, ha, welcome to the working world my beloved husband!)

In my world, I'm am just loving my job right now. Right before spring break each year, the school district asks us to fill out a form with our tentative plans for the next school year (are we returning?). Last year, one of my math colleagues was unsure of his situation. He is older and has some health concerns. He loves teaching the students but didn't know if he could survive another year at the castle. (we have a tough school in a very impoverished part of Oakland... lots of teachers burn out here real quick). So I approached him and asked him what he thought about us splitting one math position for the next year. We each thought about it over spring break and then asked our principal about it, explaining our situation. She was very willing to work with us (one of the perks of my job... a great principal).

So a normal school day is teaching 5 periods and having 1 period as a conference/planning time. This will get you 100% pay (which is dependent on your education and working experience). This year, according to the deal that I worked out, I am teaching 4 periods and have 1 conference/planning period, so I only receive 80% of my salary. The other teacher is at 40%, teaching 2 classes. We know this adds up to more than one position, but again, we are very lucky to have a principal willing to work with us. And both of us are very, very happy with the situation.

Because of my new deal, here is a typical day...
5:45 alarm, Grant wakes and takes shower, Robin snoozes until 6:20.
7:10-7:20 we leave the house and Robin drives Grant to "casual carpool" pick-up on her way to school, Grant goes to the city and you'll have to read his blog from here...
7:30 Robin arrives at school, students may or may not come in to say hi or get some help
8:10 official starting time of school... no students for Ms. Kinney, because she doesn't actually exist until 9-ish. Instead she just sits at her desk and works. Did you hear that? NO one can ask me to sub for a class 1st period because I don't exist.
9:14 2nd Period = 19 eager and well mannered advanced algebra students
10:18 3rd Period = 13 hopeful CAHSEE Prep (students who still need to pass the CA high school exit exam)
11:22 4th Period = 23 more high energy but still enjoyable advanced algebra students
12:22 = LUNCH
1:06 5th Period = 9 tired after lunch CAHSEE Prep students
2:06 6th Period = Conference time and collaboration with the math department
3:10 official end of the school day, but I work as I need and then go home, leaving school at school where it belongs.
4:00 and after = various evening activities depending on the night, then we try to get to bed by 10pm. Yes, various evening activities that don't include school work. None. I only bring home my computer. No books! No papers to grade!

Can it get any better than this? I only have 64 students, compared to 120 for some of my colleagues. Sometimes I'm sad that I won't be getting my full paycheck since I'm at school the same amount of time as usual. Then I remember that I now have my Sundays and evenings back. I am happy in the classroom. I can give my students the attention that they need. I have energy. I have a life after school (which you'll hear about in the next post). It is worth the trade and I highly recommend this alternative schedule for teachers in high-risk, stressful, urban schools.

More Excitement about Food... I know you're all interested!

I guess I'm on a food kick for these posts. Don't worry. I start teaching a yoga class later this week at my school and start my "Yoga Advanced Studies Program" at Piedmont Yoga Studio on Thursday night so the topic will change!

A while back Grant and I went to the Thai restaurant about 6 blocks from our house and ordered my favorite: pad thai.

When ever I order Pad Thai, I ask for the vegetarian version since shrimp is a normal addition. But at this particular restaurant, they thought that it was still ok to use oyster sauce in my vegetarian pad thai.

When the plate came to our table, we took a couple of bites and looked up at each other trying to figure out what went wrong. My initial taste was dog food. The wet kind. We called the server over and they tried to make the dish again. It was only mildly better.

This episode prompted me to look for my own pad thai recipe to try at home where we could control the ingredients used. The search brought me to this site, where many types of food get discussed.

The first time we made the pad thai, we followed the recipe almost exactly. The second time we ventured off and used different vegetables. This time, our third attempt, really only looks like pad thai because of the sauce. But is was still sooooo good.

More pictures here!

Tomato Season

You might remember a few months ago, in this post, I was writing about the seasons. In our part of California, we don't really have seasons. The weather is always delightfully mild except for periods of rain in the "winter" and heat waves in May and September. Since it doesn't snow or get too cold, you really can only measure the seasons by the amount of daylight and the produce available at the farmer's market.

These past two weeks at the farmer's market have given us many beautiful tomatoes. Yummy tomatoes to make soup with, and soup we did, two weekends in a row! We have this really simple tomato soup recipe from our favorite cookbook, "The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest" (thanks again Christine and Paul!) that has never failed to be absolutely amazing. Of course the beauty of the soup is more about the quality of the tomatoes than the recipe. Honestly, what is better than in-season, fresh from the vine, organic and locally grown, hand picked tomatoes that you buy straight from the farmer?
You can't forget the required Tomato Soup Carrying Device: Grilled Cheese Sandwich! yum yum!