:::pendejo

this morning one of my students was having trouble paying attention and, thus, answering questions correctly. as is typical of sixth graders, the rest of the class was getting frustrated with him. one girl blurted out "pendejo!"


you should've been there to see how quiet it got. the girl herself felt like one, slapping her forehead complaining, "what was i thinking saying that!"


needless to say, i sent her out of the room for time out. although i should've done it earlier, at the end of the day i suggested she apologize to the boy she insulted.

:::gotta_read

finished reading an excellent article in today's times about a boy whose mom leaves him for life in el norte. sonia nazario has written a pulitzer-quality narrative in enrique's story". this heart-wrenching account of one boy's sojourn to find his mother across our north american continent is captivating. it's the story worth reading. i can't wait to read tomorrow's chapter!

:::go raiders!

the score is 38 - 7, raiders, with jerry rice just yards from breaking walter payton's all-time rushing record, and what happens? some idiot at cbs decides to switch socal viewers to the pinche charger/patriot game! what's up with that? the (original) men-in-black went on to a 52-25 point win against the tennessee tinies but do the networks care?

:::lluvia

can you believe it actually rained today!

:::reciprocal teaching

today we had an informative inservice on reciprocal teaching. okay, i know it's not a new practice but it was helpful. it added to past workshops i've attended. the presenter from action learning did a good job of disseminating the four tenets of teaching reciprocally. they are:

clarifying- new vocabulary, concepts, etc.

predicting- what will happen next, text be about?

summarizing- identify, paraphrase important info

questioning- student-generated, over-surface/under-surface

the presenters will also be giving demo lessons in classrooms. i'm gonna sign up for one. hopefully the administration will allow it. do you think i'm excited about this?

:::angels relieve theirselves of devils

finally, after more than 15 years, the angels will be in the playoffs! yup, they clinched it this afternoon in the game against the texas rangers. go angels!

:::yawn

not much to report. i'm almost finished with assessing my students. this morning we were given a memo that we need to finish by next wednesday. (despite it being sooner than the 30-day window.)

:::firestorms

damn! the wildfires up in the mountains are fierce! the air around us is awful. it made it heavier to breathe it seemed. there were ash particles all over the car when i got out to the parking lot at school this afternoon. when i turned on the car, the fans blew those particles inside. the smoke giants looked more like looming mushroom clouds. i feel bad for the people having to deal with the maelstrom.

:::low funds

after checking my balance, it appears that i may or may not make it to payday. summering in chicago, especially renting a car there, sure depleted the savings i had built up for a down on a car. i'm giving serious thought to working extra hours to try to rebuild my savings. right now i'm using lucy's car while mine just sits there with a sick transmission. if i take it in for repair, it'll only slow my progress towards getting new wheels. as it stands, i'll probably need to wait until next spring to finally obtain another auto.

:::not a monster?

can you believe this child-beating bitch! according to a cnn report, the 2good perra gets out on only $5,000 bail. some punk beating up a 1st base mlb coach gets $200,000 bail. there's something wrong when an innocent child's safety is less important than a professional athlete!

:::field of angels

oh no, the angels drop 2 behind. they can't do this! not a repeat of sixteen years ago.

:::inked

someday i'd like to go to this dance.

:::2good/2fuqt

oh, so this bitch beats her child and thinks she's cool? (so cool we'll call her cula.) news reports say she's a "nomad" yet she already has a lawyer. what's up with that? hopefully there'll be a crowd to "greet" her when she supposedly turns herself in. the bitch deserves more than just public humiliation.

:::2tired

this week has, so far, been very tiring. all this testing and other beginning-of-year tasks tend to take a toll.


to reiterate something i pointed out earlier though, being on this team makes it comfortable. we continue sharing lunch every day. that's our collegial time to discuss classroom concerns.


things are cool this year.

:::blahh

today was a blah day. began running records this morning. two students down, 28 to go.

:::angels and raiders

albert came over this afternoon to watch the raiders game. we kept switching back and forth between that game, espn, and the angels one, on espn2. he was telling me about the recent games he's been to at edison field and how he's gonna try to get playoff tickets, which go on sale this coming saturday.


listening to him go on about his interest in the angels reminded me of the times i'd take him and isadora to the games when they were little. i remember the opening days we'd cheer at, the exciting night games, the nachos, the hot dogs, and the getting up for the traditional seventh-inning stretch. and now as i think about us talking about our anaheim angels this afternoon, i see the legacy i've imparted on my adult son.


and what about the raiders game? they won of course! but that's not the whole of it. nope. albert and i made a date to drive up to oakland for the raiders/chargers confrontation next month. yup, i bought the tickets online for oct 20th. it should be an exciting game yes, but the experience albert and will share should be greater.

:::homecoming

you should've seen the faces on mayra and tony when they saw me last night. they could not stop smiling. lucy's expression when she saw the mess i left in the kitchen area was not so friendly however. (you know how in the odd couple there was that real neat and tidy guy? well that's not me!)

:::lucy

the day has finally come. lucy and the kids will return tonight. after three and a half weeks, i'm sure to notice mayra and tony's growth. it's been that long since i've held my lucybunch.


at times i wonder if she feels the same estrangement. i normally leave it as her decision whether to come back with me or stay longer. obviously, i'm no match. given a choice between partying without your husband or not partying at all, the choice seems simple. i'm resigned to always be the latter option.

:::the students

you know i've mentioned how my students are very needy? despite this fact, i'm cool with how some of them are starting to understand the value of education. little by little they're coming over. by the end of the month i hope to win over at least half the class.

:::team

two weeks into this new school year, it feels great to be part of this sixth grade team. we are united in our goal of educating our charges. although our wednesday meeting required us to meet after school, we have voluntarily met at least five times. we've lunched together just as many times. we've shared in tasks towards supporting our students. (does standing-in-line-at-the-pinche-copier to run off those grade-level packets evoke an image?) it's been a long time since i've felt so part of a team.


perhaps it's just a coincidence that all three of us are also someone's spouse, parents of kids older than our students, and raza.


because of all this, we are comfortable as familia. best of all, we trust each other.

:::notmuch2say

not much excitement at work today. this heat is getting us ready for the weekend.


talkin' 'bout hot . . . how 'bout those angels! they're blazin' through the al west. let's hope they don't choke.

:::rants

damn! i had it in me to let the post below stand alone for today but i need to vent.


across the state we were supposed to lower the flag to half-mast at 8:46am. instead, we flew the flag half-mast! doesn't anyone know the proper procedure for lowering the flag to half-mast! it would've been nice to have a few classes go out there and ceremoniously lower it.


okay, that was my first rant. my second bombast is about telemarketers. can you believe bloodthirsty dickheads trying to suck cash from us on such a solemn day? yup, some baboso called barely 2 minutes into the president's speech! to top it off, he had the wrong family but still tried to make his pitch. even when i told him who i was trying to listen to, he volunteered to call me back. WHAT AN IMMORAL IDIOT!

live, love, and make progress daily

:::mutant minds

all this media coverage surrounding 9/11 is probably feverishly stroking pig laden wannabe's to the point of creaming their pantyhose. i mean . . . just turn on cnn, foxnews, or your local station and you'll be inundated with stories regurgitating last year's tragedy.

just like common gangbangers who keep news clippings of their only recognitions in life, these girls - - ummm, boys - - uhhh, mutts (whatever the label!) must be running dozens of vcr's trying to memorialize their caca - - oops, i mean cause.


i wonder how those babosos would feel if theirs acts were completely ignored?

:::high alert

okay, outside forces have made our minds up. because of the high alert status, lucy is gonna wait 'til saturday to come home from chitown.


so what will tomorrow bring? truthfully i'm more worried about us having a bigger earthquake than the one last week. however, all these warnings from washington do merit heeding.


i'll go to work just like i did last year. students will be at school, just like last year. at 8:46, our school's flag will be lowered to half mast, unlike last year. we'll be holding an assembly to commemorate the anniversary right after the morning recess, unlike last year. and at 11am, the nation will observe a moment of silence, unlike last year.

:::anxiety v9.11

as it stands now, lucy is seriously considering returning home on wednesday. rudy told her there are at least a hundred empty seats that day so it'll be easy to get a flight, what with a lot of people suffering sept 11 shivers. it's not for sure yet, however likely. her family isn't too keen on the idea, mom and dad having safety concerns while her brother sees it as too solemn of a day to fly.


what are my feelings? well, i really miss her and the kids. it's been three weeks since we've seen each other. (i want them here, especially on such a ceremonious day.) on the other hand, it would put her familia at ease if she waited 'til next week to board a plane.


still, it's not like we americans cower before gutless pigs.

:::classroom

too tired again. remember that this is a needy bunch. had to continue with review of basics of language (subject/predicate). most of them need to improve reading fluency. the most fluent ones are the ones that were with me last year. gotta continue assessing.


the view as you walk in my room

:::9/11 anxiety

lucy is gonna try to come home this tuesday. her brother will be accompanying her to help with tony but is gonna try to fly back that same evening. jitters are up on account of it being the day before 9/11. he told me how he's noticed security getting tighter at midway (i assume it's the same everywhere).


i reminded lucy that last year sept 11 was on a tuesday (normally the least busiest for airlines) and that all those planes were california-bound (three were headed for lax). her family is also justifiably aprehensive about her flying out here that day. they're asking her to wait another week. even her sister was enticing her to stay- offering to treat her to a day at great america! her prima wants her to attend her baby's birthday party. they're all trying to stop her from leaving chicago the day before the 9/11 anniversary.


perhaps that would be a wiser choice. or perhaps it's giving in to terrorists.

:::football on fox

what could fox have been thinking when they aired the damn rams game in the l.a. market? yeah, there might be some st louis fans around here but more than raiders faithful? come on, have the rams opened up their own store here in the basin?


the irony is that the rams lost the opener while the raiders won theirs.


at least fox had an exciting game in the bears vs vikings.

:::it's begun

yup, the three cable news channels, cnn, fox news, and msnbc have already begun their 9/11 programming. you know the other networks have gotta be revvin' up their tapeheads to uplink tons of get-your-tissues-ready documentaries for the race to see who will bring closure to a grieving nation.


in the meantime, our own pendejos are still killing our own gente, latino heritage month is fast approaching, and tomorrow is nfl sunday!

:::needy

i told you my students are needy. yesterday i had to review the four basic types of sentences. more than half did not know comparatives and superlatives. you can be sure that by lunchtime they had it down.


after school i met with my sixth grade team so we could plan out our first units. we already have a problem in that one of the teacher guides for our newly adopted reading program is missing. (i think i know who has it.)


by the end of the day i was dead tired. as soon as i got home, my body was on the couch. it was around 9 o'clock when i woke up. that's why i didn't post here yesterday.

:::primer día

this first day of school finally arrived. you should've seen the looks on my students when they realized who their teacher was going to be! some of them even wrote in their journals about how nervous they were that first hour.


anyway, it looks like i'll have my work cut out this year. many of my students are . . . needy. based on last year's scores, this bunch is the lowest.

:::must see

before i go mimis, here's a website with an excellent student video you must check out. it's a very moving piece.

:::seismic update

it seems our little temblor was slightly stronger than originally reported. they've upgraded it to a 4.8 earthquake. now matter how you measure it, it still shook some nerves.


and just what do most of us do after an earthquake? we ask the obvious question- "did you feel it?" it's like, don't be a pendejo, of course we felt the damn thing! the other thing we do is step outside our door and look at our neighbors, sometimes taking a stab at the magnitude. which is the next thing we do, turn the tv on to check the score. if we're lucky, lucy jones will go on the tube and reassure us that it was only a moderate tremor. if it's during some weird hour when all news programs have long ended, there's always this website for getting up-to-date info.

:::seismic activity

whoah, i had just gotten in to bed a few minutes ago when all of a sudden it started shaking. at first i thought it was the upstairs neighbor's kids running again but then it shook fairly well. looks like we had a 4.6 earthquake to rock us to sleep.

:::weekend ends

it was another oven blast today. rachel and i went to ontario mills to escape the searing +100 degree temps. we weren't the only ones with that idea though. the place was jammed! every shade of brown was there, but then, that's the face of southern california for you.


after taking her home, i took off towards the beach. i ended up at the korean friendship bell in san pedro where i watched the sun set over the pacific.





i was not alone though.





this proud couple shared the sunset with me.

:::hot, hot, hot

should've known it was too good to last, all this calm weather we'd been having this summer. today was a scorcher! by 10am it was already 90 pinche degrees and by noon it was 100 in downtown l.a. (i finally turned the a/c on for the first time in this apartment.) and there's another extreme heat warning for tomorrow.


later this afternoon rachel and i went to see simone. it was okay. kind of slow though.


on the way to the movies we saw some humongous cumulus clouds over the san bernardino mountains but mixed in were gigantic smoke clouds. turns out there're wildfires up there.