Bob’s Blog

• You know, I think I’m about the only person in the world who isn’t excited about that new Grand Theft Auto game. I’m a guy – I love video games and all, but really. Is it necessary to go at Midnight to your local Gamestop to buy it? And truthfully, the series bores me. I can only steal only so many cars and hookers before I get tired of it. But, what do I know? I just bought Zelda: Twilight Princess over the weekend. Welcome to 2005, Bob.

• And on the same note, I also don’t really care about the NFL Draft and I despise what ESPN is doing to sports. Would it kill you to play an afternoon baseball game on a Saturday or Sunday?

• I kind of want to buy a (cheap) acoustic guitar this summer, because I still want to haphazardly play songs about history off the top of my head in the middle of class. I had this idea a year ago, and it included songs about Abraham Lincoln and Ghengis Kahn:

Abe Lincoln, Abe Lincoln
He sure was stinkin’
People didn’t bathe much then
His log cabin was like a pig pen

Abe Lincoln, Abe Lincoln
Boy, he sure was stinkin’
Ever so tall
He would play great in basketball

or

Ghengis Kahn!
Ghengis Kahn!
Asia was his front lawn
Eastern Europe was his back yard
He wore no leotard

Ghengis Kahn!
Ghengis Kahn!
Raped, pillaged, and pawned
Now the Mongol’s have BBQ’s
Which have won my heart over true

I’ve worked on a new one and it would be about Napoleon:

I could also work in some Geography as well.

All of them being fun, random, and eerily accurate.

• So, everyone keeps talking about Obama’s pastor. Nobody agrees with their pastor on every issue, let’s not kid ourselves. So why is this a big deal? And, it’s not like what his pastor is saying is totally off-base. Perhaps we need to learn more about US history and politics than what our elementary teachers taught us. But, regardless. When I saw those videos, I immediately thought of this guy, for better or for worse:

• I went to Dunkin’ Donuts earlier today and now I remember why I never go there: they’re totally overpriced. The one thing I miss about Bowling Green is the local coffee shops. A good coffee shop is hard to come by in these parts.

• And, on the last note. One thing I will never, ever get accustomed to down here in the south are the drivers. Southern drivers are terrible. Us Midwest folk know where we want to go and get there without driving 25 in a 50.

I’ve never really talked about some of the positive things that come with the job. For everybody who reads this regularly, they’ll know it focuses primarily on the negative things about my job and school.

The truth of that matter is, I love just about every single kid I have. I would wager that 85-90% of my kids are good and are lovable and great to know and talk too. It’s just those handful of bad seeds that seem to ruin one’s day. Sometimes the kids are annoying, sometimes they get under my skin, sometimes they’re obnoxious and don’t wear deodorant…but, I still love them regardless. At this point in the year, it isn’t the kids who really get me.

My 3rd period class is my favorite class of the day. I have three or four really obnoxious kids in there, but the rest of the class tells them to knock it off and help make my job easier. I have the most fun in there. There’s something about 3rd period where they ask (all the right) questions, they do better on the tests than any of my other classes, and are just a blast to be around. They don’t complain about the things I do and are generally respectful. In 3rd period, I can be myself a little more. I can be “Bob” more so than “Mr. R”. Sometimes, I think the kids get me more so than a lot of the people I’ve met down here since the move. We can have more fun. If I could teach 3rd period all day, it would be my dream job.

My 6th period class has come the longest way. During the first week of school, I had kept them after school 3 out of those 5 days. The second day of school, I kept them for a good 5 minutes after. They were downright terrible. I hammered them. I wrote them up left and right, and moved a lot of kids out. They’ve become a good group of kids, generally speaking. It’s been a long battle with them, but they’ve come around a lot. I think on Thursday, I’m going to buy them breakfast since our schedules are switched around this week and I’ll have them first thing in the morning. I don’t ever really do anything special with them because they’re my “bad” class. But, they’re getting better and we do have some fun in there.

My 10th graders…they’re a mixed bag. Maybe it’s because the first thing in the morning, but there’s some mean-spirited kids. Part of me would much rather teach freshmen all day than 10th graders. At least with freshmen, I can keep them more under my thumb. But, the one cool thing about my World History classes is that the classes are small; in my 1st period I have no more than 10 kids on an average day and 2nd period I won’t have anymore than 15. It’s nice and refreshing. I can be a little more laid back and we can do things that I typically can’t do in my other classes of 30.

For as tired as I am, and for how frustrating some of these kids are…I look forward teaching most of them. There’s a handful of students who “get” me, and what I’m trying to do and who never complain about anything. They’re the ones who get me out of bed each morning. They’re the ones who (somehow) make this all a little more bearable and who haven’t allowed me to walk out.

Also the same geniuses that did this:

So, I received an award last week. Kind of nice to be recognized, right?

Well, the only problem is that they still don’t know my first name and put the wrong name on the award. Not only that, but the principle read this wrong name over the PA not thinking twice about it.

I laugh about it. But it’s hard not to feel completely and utterly insulted by it, especially at this point in the year. This award does a nice job of summing up the past 8 months of my life.

I don’t know why, but I check Craigslist often. It’s some type of weird and uncontrollable addiction. It’s people watching from the safety of your own home, I suppose. There are five things that I check frequently on the internet: Gmail, Facebook, Fantasy Baseball, Myspace, and Craigslist. The five essentials to internet usage in my opinion. I weave in and out of my Firefox tabs with all five places like I weave through traffic on a busy day in Atlanta.

I stumbled across this, and I laughed. But maybe because I know these types all too well.

Dear Hipster Record Store Clerk,

Everyone Not Like You

I’ve been on a little bit of a concert kick lately. A few weeks ago, I went to go see Mike Doughty. On Sunday, I went to see Explosions In The Sky (which was without question, in my top 3 favorite shows of all time). In June, I’ll be seeing The National/Modest Mouse/R.E.M. which I’m ridiculously excited about. It’s a show I’d go to by myself if I had too.

I kinda burnt myself on concerts during college. After all, setting them up and tearing them down all the time, you kinda want to stay away from them on your own time.

Speaking of music, the new Thrice album, “The Alchemy Index vol. III + IV” totally owns me right now.

I think I’m going to spend my weekend catching up on grading papers and on movies I’ve bought but haven’t gotten around to watching yet. A while ago, I bought Phonebooth, Anchorman, Old School, Rambo, and Road To Perdition. Haven’t gotten around to watching any of them though and some of them being my favorite movies of all time. Oops.

I’m going back to Cleveland in a couple weeks; albeit very briefly. I’m excited. I’m excited to see my parents, my dog, and most especially – watching Erin and Kyle graduate. As my uncle told me a year ago when I graduated: Graduating high school is nothing and it’s something most people can do. Graduating from a university is something to be proud of because not everyone can do it. Watching Erin do it, given what she’s had to go through with art/photography, will be something special. And I’m excited about seeing Kyle before he heads off to New York City for grad school.

The one nice thing about going home is that there are people who “get” you. It’s been hard because there are a lot (and trust me on that) of nights where I want to call up a friend for dinner; a friend from college or an old friend from growing up and not be able to. Sure, the phone and IM’s are around. But it’s not the same.

I’m debating on whether or not to drive to Ohio and Michigan in the summer. It surely would be much cheaper than flying, and it would be kinda cool to do a little road trippin’. I want to spend a week in Cleveland during the 4th, but also some time in Ann Arbor to visit some friends. It’d be easier to do that if I drove and not flew.

I’m excited about summer in general though – I need it to be here. The past 8-9 months have just been a rolleroaster. The past year has been long in general. I’m ready for the 1 in the afternoon wake ups, pool laying, book reading, baseball listening days.

I’m ready for a clear head and some breathing time.

It’s April. That means I’m tired; we’re all very tired. The weather is getting nicer, the kids are more antsy, and we can all see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m beyond the point of frustration with work though. It’s been such a long year and I’m ready for it to be over.

It seems as though any type of fun we try to have in the school is sucked out by the administration.

Our principle is hell bent on faculty dress codes; sending out emails that are literally a page and a half long that go on tirades about what some in the staff wear; it’s as if we don’t have serious issues within the school, like an abysmal drop out rate. She’s very rarely in school it seems but when she is here, she goes on a rampage and hammers the faculty on the smallest things such as dress code, how “clean” our classrooms need to be, etc. She goes on the PA every now and then and yells at the faculty and kids. The kids just roll their eyes at her, and we’re starting too as well.

After 9 months of it, we’re just a little tired and frustrated with everything. At least half of the staff will not be returning next year. That’s a grim sign, no matter the reasoning behind it. It seems as though everything is our fault; never the administration. They don’t do a good job of motivating us or inspiring us to keep at it. They beat us down instead. The environment is unhealthy, no two questions about it.

I have a group of kids who have zero possibility of passing my class. We’re talking a mathematical impossibility here. I don’t know why they’re still allowed in the school because all they do is disrupt me and the other kids. They would much rather do their hair, eat their Cheetos, or talk to other kids in the class. There are moments where some of the girls just get up in the middle of my lecture and start doing each other’s hair. I don’t get it and I don’t get where they somehow think that’s ok to do. When I tell them to sit down and do their work, most of the time I get blown off. I’ve had kids crumple assignments in front of me.

I won’t bother writing kids up anymore because nothing ever happens to them. The fact that I can get punched in the face repeatedly by a student, and her not be expelled is jaw-dropping and speaks volumes of the discipline issue within the school. That particular student came back yesterday, as a matter of fact and even some kids were asking me why she wasn’t expelled. Go figure.

I just send the trouble makers out of my room. I’m not supposed to do that, I’m told. But since they won’t get disciplined and since they continually disrupt my room, I am left with no other choice.

And so, I’ve started to focus solely on the kids who want to be here. Maybe I should’ve done it earlier and maybe it would’ve saved me some headaches. But there’s me – the eternal idealist that believes I can turn some of these kids around and at least motivate them a little bit. So now, I focus on the kids who care and if you’re not going to turn in your work, or do it during class, fine. Whatever. It’s April and I’ve been nagging since August, my throat hurts. It’s much easier to score a 0 anyways.

My co-teacher is still driving me crazy; I can’t do another year like this. If teaching next year is anything like how it’s been this year, I’m going to quit the profession entirely because there has been far too much bullshit and I’m way too young to be this stressed out about things.

I have this book called Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I read about half of it over the summer and put it down and haven’t had the time or energy to get back into it. But I think I’m going to re-start it because it was good and it was inspirational. Despite only getting half way through it, I still find way more inspiration in that book then I’ll ever get from my administration.

The new R.E.M. album is unbelievably good. It might be my overall favorite from the group, but it’s too early to tell. The following song, Hollow Man, is my favorite song off the album:

That chorus is so, so good.

I’m seeing them in June with Modest Mouse and The National, and that has the potential to be the best show ever.