Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments but all of this is transitory; it leaves no permanent mark. And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken.
Paulo Coelho (via paperlover)

(via teachingliteracy)

Source: thefreenomad

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Teddy Roosevelt

crepuscolo sul mare.

The 10 Undeniable Realities of Teaching I Have Learned So Far.

  1. There will be a lot of papers.  Do the math: 54 kids, 4-5 collected papers a day from each one, excluding test taking weeks.  
  2. As a result of number 1, you must be organized, not for yourself, but for the kids.
  3. You will lose some of those papers from time to time.
  4. There are many tasks to accomplish in a day, you need to keep a master list of them all.
  5. The kids will misbehave, say rude things, and generally give you cause for distress at least once a day.
  6. The kids will do something wonderful, so magnificent in fact that you will forget all about number 5 until they remind you by doing something ridiculous.
  7. Spend enough time with them and you’ll come to love them.
  8. If you’re honest and genuine with them in the time you have with them, they’ll come to love you too.
  9. Your administration demands your best at all times, no excuses, ever.
  10. Your administration REALLY demands your best at all times, no excuses, ever.  For real.

The Okuji Complex.

Joel Okuji walked with his head held high into room 606 during breakfast.  His smile shone brightly forth, this African child arrived to conquer the day.  This buoyant spirit lasted for about 20 minutes.  As soon as English/Language Arts began, he was back to his old tricks.  Giving up before he had begun, raising his hand before he had even tried.  It was not that he couldn’t do the work, it was that he chose to play the victim at the slightest sign of a challenge.  And it was for that reason that he received so many demerits on a daily basis.  This was his daily mode of operation.  Come into class, give up, and whine about some extenuating circumstance.

His frustration became my frustration.  He could not remember why he received the demerits he did.  He could not remember why he got in trouble so much during the school day.  After about 3 private conferences with him in one day, he could not remember by the third that anything had gone wrong before.

I call this phenomena the Okuji complex.  The ability to be completely joyous, capable, and charming while maintaining an unhealthy level of self-destructive tendency.  All diagnoses and subsequent remarks patent-pending.

ATM.

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  • The Roots - Right On (feat. Joanna Newsom & STS)

we should shine a light on.

Source: SoundCloud / loudersoft

“How vain to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live!” -H.D. Thoreau I have been in the classroom for a solid couple months now, and I can say with certainty that my most difficult day has yet to come.  Mind you, there have been very difficult days, on the weekend and during the week, but I have weathered them, and I know from what I’ve been told that the dip is deep.  Knowing that I have been able to make it thus far, with the help of friends, family, and mentors, provides me with immeasurable hope. But here’s the thing. I have yet to have a day where I feel writing anything here would prove of any use.  The days are roller coasters, emotional peaks and valleys.  Writing about them on the internet is not constructive or productive, I am able to see that now.  There is, I believe, a reason why I was not and have not been chosen to share my views on the experience.  I am too inconsistent in my feelings about the road I am on.  There are those who are much more stable than I, and their words are by extension infinitely wiser and truer to the core of the experiences we share.   It’s for this reason I will reserve the posts on this site to images and micro-posts.  I am not in a place to offer the complete, coherent, insightful posts I set out to provide on this blog.  My students have somehow stumbled onto the site as well, and I would like to keep things as positive for them as I can (hello Brianna!).   I have included the Thoreau quote because I believe there is a slight discrepancy between what I have envisioned myself living and the way I am actually living.  I have no business writing about my experience until I can find a balance of peace.  Rather than sitting down to write about that, I am choosing to get up and live it out. Love, ATM
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“How vain to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live!” -H.D. Thoreau

I have been in the classroom for a solid couple months now, and I can say with certainty that my most difficult day has yet to come.  Mind you, there have been very difficult days, on the weekend and during the week, but I have weathered them, and I know from what I’ve been told that the dip is deep.  Knowing that I have been able to make it thus far, with the help of friends, family, and mentors, provides me with immeasurable hope.

But here’s the thing.

I have yet to have a day where I feel writing anything here would prove of any use.  The days are roller coasters, emotional peaks and valleys.  Writing about them on the internet is not constructive or productive, I am able to see that now.  There is, I believe, a reason why I was not and have not been chosen to share my views on the experience.  I am too inconsistent in my feelings about the road I am on.  There are those who are much more stable than I, and their words are by extension infinitely wiser and truer to the core of the experiences we share.  

It’s for this reason I will reserve the posts on this site to images and micro-posts.  I am not in a place to offer the complete, coherent, insightful posts I set out to provide on this blog.  My students have somehow stumbled onto the site as well, and I would like to keep things as positive for them as I can (hello Brianna!).  

I have included the Thoreau quote because I believe there is a slight discrepancy between what I have envisioned myself living and the way I am actually living.  I have no business writing about my experience until I can find a balance of peace.  Rather than sitting down to write about that, I am choosing to get up and live it out.

Love,

ATM

Each of us has his own rhythm of suffering.
Roland Barthes (via sometimesagreatnotion)

Source: sometimesagreatnotion

The Fighter.

One of my favorite movies of late is The Fighter, with Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo.  There are two main reasons why I have grown to love this movie, one regarding the plot itself, another regarding the circumstances surrounding the making of the movie itself.

1. It is a story about people who lose, a lot, before they win.

Mark Wahlberg’s character isn’t accustomed to being a prize-fighter, in fact, he’s considered a stepping stone.  Most of the movie is him getting beat up, beat up bad.  Then you have his brother, played by Christian Bale, who already lost his shot at being a great boxer and is losing his life to drugs.  Both of them have to turn it around, take all that has made their lives hard and do what they do best, work hard and box.  

In the end, they do, and they win.  But not before getting the life near well beat out of them.

2. The movie took awhile to get made.

I watched a short news piece on the story when it came out, Mark Wahlberg was talking about how he trained to get in boxing shape for the role, which is now easy feat, only to be told that the film would take a few more years to begin shooting.  At that point, he said alright and kept on training to maintain his boxer-like stature.  He kept it up for years.  You watch him in interviews and he’s very reserved about it, just a necessary thing to do to make the movie happen.  Talk about perseverance, grit, and taking pride in your work all while remaining humble.

__

I think about this movie now because, after teaching for a week, I feel like a boxer who’s been doing his best to hold his own in the ring.  On Friday, the bell rang signaling the end of the round.  This weekend I’ve been sitting on my stool in my corner, shoulders rubbed by my coach, tons of feedback about how I can do better thrown at me.  I appreciate it, I know I need it, but I also realize that what’s more important is my mindset and the structure within which I will box.  The bell rings again tomorrow, a 5 day round starts up again.

I sent a couple emails to some old professors today who encouraged me to get into this teaching game.  Excited to hear back from them!

Aaron.

It’s been almost a month since I left California for New York City. I’ve had two interviews, averaged 5 hours of sleep, 12 hour work days, and two lesson plans a night. After nearly four weeks of that, it’s about time to take the teaching certification tests. There’s the CST and the LAST. I’ve yet to take the LAST, that’ll come up in about an hour, but the CST is down and away. No one has really been studying for these exams, and having taken the first one I can understand why. If you made it through college awake, you’ll probably be fine. I’ll report back after the results come in. There’s a smattering of people here, all ages, all creeds, to take these tests. Everyone here to become certified to teach the children of the greatest city in the world. There’s not much of a visible continuity amongst everyone. Only thing that seems to unite the people here is caring about the kids. That’s a very liberating thought for me. Being a part of TFA has meant becoming more than a decent or solid teacher, but a transformational leader, bearing full responsibility for the children in our sacred classrooms. It’s daunting, and every day I wonder if I’ll be able to hold my own. I am comforted that there are many people rising to the same task and questioning, just like me.
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It’s been almost a month since I left California for New York City. I’ve had two interviews, averaged 5 hours of sleep, 12 hour work days, and two lesson plans a night. After nearly four weeks of that, it’s about time to take the teaching certification tests. There’s the CST and the LAST. I’ve yet to take the LAST, that’ll come up in about an hour, but the CST is down and away. No one has really been studying for these exams, and having taken the first one I can understand why. If you made it through college awake, you’ll probably be fine. I’ll report back after the results come in.

There’s a smattering of people here, all ages, all creeds, to take these tests. Everyone here to become certified to teach the children of the greatest city in the world. There’s not much of a visible continuity amongst everyone. Only thing that seems to unite the people here is caring about the kids.

That’s a very liberating thought for me. Being a part of TFA has meant becoming more than a decent or solid teacher, but a transformational leader, bearing full responsibility for the children in our sacred classrooms. It’s daunting, and every day I wonder if I’ll be able to hold my own. I am comforted that there are many people rising to the same task and questioning, just like me.