Just when you think you got it covered...

So my blogging skills suck. This page is sure to fail within the next few months. Not that anyone actually reads it to begin with, but soon enough it will slip into the obscurity that only, oh, 1 million similar pages have managed to do.

Boulevard and Red Trolley have come and gone. Admittedly, I had spent a lot of time thinking about these races in the moments that I was not focused on lessons and teaching. The teaching has certainly picked up. The amount of focus and intensity needed to stay sharp in the classroom has increased since the semester's start. I am in full-blown "Mr. S" mode.

I was able to get the Friday night shift at the Boathouse covered by a helpful employee; an employee in need of the kind of cash that only a stressed out, frantic night serving tables could offer. There is something to be said about the restaurant business: addiction. It's very easy to see how one could settle into this business and, given a certain amount of thick skin, serve tables for a long time. If we're talking about how to make money in a short period of time, it's clearly the best way to go.

Rolling out to the Live Oak Springs Inn/2nd choice for the filming location of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a trip. Logan, Dan and myself were simply getting poured on. The Inn itself had eager racers inside, hiding from the rain and warming by a pretty cool fireplace set up alongside the diner portion of the lodge and lobby. Warm and comfortable, it was easy for me to sit down, dress, pin my number, and chat with other racers while we avoided what was waiting for us outside: pouring rain and possible snow. Overnight, the forecasters had predicted a snow level of 3500 feet, and we were currently around 4000 feet.

The snow never came. The race rolled out slowly, and after an early scare (a certain rider whom I shall not name managed to ride into a cone knocking it over in front of me), we were off into a wall of fog and rain.

Pops came along, following us in his Jeep Rubicon. It was pretty entertaining, to say the least, watching him fly by us, a blue wool beanie barely clinging to his head (he always drives with the window down). With the first 12 miles of this course being mostly downhill, there wasn't a whole lot to do. The aforementioned cone hitter and another rider went up the road. We didn't give too much thought to the move. I myself, unsure of my strength in the second 12 miles of climbing, was not about to chase down any break at all, and it was safe to say that the group of 13 as a whole were pretty confident in being able to catch 2 lone riders before our 44 miles were up.

I was able to climb well, but the final kick to the finish at the end of lap one was just a bit too much. I lost touch with the draft as we made the turn from Old Highway 80 to Live Oak Springs Road, and that was about it. I spent the first 3 miles of lap 2 chasing the group, well within sight, but unable to close the final 100 meters in the headwind. Logan dropped his chain before Tierra del Sol, the group attacked (not cool) while he dismounted, which was all it took for me to burn my final match. Logan caught on and managed a 3rd place finish. I was credited with a 10th, but with only 14 riders, it's not really saying much. Oh yea, the break was caught.

Red Trolley! Sunday Morning! A fresh start. I woke up in the morning actually hoping for rain. I figured the field would be larger, as Boulevard is a difficult and intimidating race, and I wanted it to pour buckets on all those people who thought they could avoid it on Saturday. The course was wet, but we never really encountered any sustained drizzle or rain after 7:45 a.m.

The hill on the "Top Gun" course is the only aspect

of the race I was worried about. My first races were on this course. I got shelled. Twice. In one day. It's safe to say that Red Trolley 2008 was a very embarrassing and harsh introduction to cycling. Needless to say, I had a few demons to take down.

The B's race was a huge cluster of confusion and fun. At some point in the race, early on, our wonder boy Baby Eric (I shall refer to him from here on out as ELove) made the break. At some point in the race, a little bit less earlier on, we had his older brother giving us splits as we sat on, happy that UCLA and UCSB were also represented in the break. At some point in the race, I sprinted for a prime lap, scored a few high fives with my friends in attendance and joked around

with Clod. And then UCLA lapped the field, jumped on front, and pulled us away from his two partners in the breakaway, Les from UCSB and our beloved ELove. So the race ended, I was scored with some prime points and a 10th place finish.

Later in the day I threw on the jersey of our 'older brother' club, Acqual al 2/SDBC and raced around in the 4's. The race was much faster (the course being completely dry at this point). I sat in, moved around, goofed off, and attempted to move up for the sprint, but couldn't move up close enough. Our race was cut short at 38 minutes, but all in all, it was a good day. I squeezed 75 minutes of racing b

efore 12 noon, watched Thurlow the Turbo crush the men's 45+, and managed to catch the Saints make history.

New Semester, New Season

It's about time we received some sort of winter weather. My first few days observing at Mt. Miguel high school were literally rain soaked, hail filled and foggy. Interesting, considering the East County had temps in the mid-80's on certain days during December and early January. Finally, real weather in San Diego.

It is now February, and interesting time of year on the road and in the classroom. I'm placed in 11th and 12th grade AVID and U.S. Government classes, respectively, and couldn't be more excited to start the year. But alas, the year has started, and I have not been able to teach yet. And like those awkward moments at the start line, waiting for the gun to crack/whistle to blow, the more time you wait, the more the nerves grow.

I've always enjoyed being thrown into a challenge completely unprepared, more or less. One of the things about mental toughness, you really have to familiarize yourself with feelings of being uncomfortable. Individual progress, on the road or in the classroom, only occurrs when you push yourself through moments of discomfort, confusion, stress and even pain. Being stuck in the chair in the back of the room, with 35 students starring at you, wondering who you are...well, it's not ideal.

Howard Zinn has passed on. There really isn't much more to be said other than the simple fact that humanity has lost a person who truly cared about people, and who wanted to make the world a better place. I'm very excited for his last major work, a DVD based off of 'A People's History' to be released.

Training and studying have been going well. I haven't stopped reading, not once. More recently, I've been able to finish up Ed Blum's book 'Reforging the White Republic.' I miss him as a professor; quality human with funny jokes and amazing research.

As far as the open road, the long training miles with some close friends have brought me to a fitness level that I couldn't imagine...unfortunately, that fitness level is not good enough. Must. Ride. More. The first real collegiate racing of the year kicks off this Saturday and Sunday with the UCSD Boulevard Road Race on Saturday followed by our Red Trolley Criterium on Super Bowl Sunday. It'll be nice to see how I've progressed.













Pacelining out in Borrego, repin' the Aztecs.

Last Day

Last day with the kiddies today. Middle school has been a blast. It really takes me back to when times were, for the most part, carefree. Seeing all the students walking around, running late to class, talking in class, getting smart with the teacher: that was me in middle school! And High School, for that matter. I'm always amazed at how my life has come full circle. It's a weird to think about where I may or may not be in the next 5 and 10 years. Hopefully teaching. Hopefully riding.

Either way, I'm going to miss my class. I am very fortunate to have had a class that was so smart, funny, at times testing, but in general a cool bunch. I hope they enjoyed my teaching style, even though they only got to see small glimpses of it throughout the semester.

Now it's time for high school. I'll be teaching an 11th (?) grade AVID class and a 12th grade U.S. Government class. Fun stuff, hopefully, and more learning to come.

Cross Racing, Student Teaching, and the Process

I had the incredible opportunity to race back-to-back weekends of cyclocross just recently. The perfect way to cap-off the month of November and start off the always glorious December. With my birthday being on the 14th, I could smell a top 10 spot in the cat. 4 race, in which my results had been improving (as had my fitness).

Similarly, student-teaching had been slowly winding down throughout November. There is something to be said for the modified year 'round calendar. The kids had a 2 week break in october and a week in november. Not bad.

The goal for the race was to start strong, recover, and finish strong. I knew I couldn't hang with the leaders' pace for the entire race, but I figured I could manage coming through top 10 at the end of lap 1, and hopefully, hang on for a similar finish. I came through the first lap somewhere in the top 10, which was a huge moral victory for me.

At that point, I started my painful slide backwards.

It's not that I'm a bad bike racer, it's that I'm slow, lacking fitness, and lacking awesome, grass eating wattage.

With 2 laps to go, coming into the head wind, I was able to jump on to a 3 man group and recover at a still-slow-but-faster-than-before speed. Sitting on was nice, I recovered, and managed to out sprint all 3 for a 13th out of 60 finish. A great finish.

It was at that point, immediately after the race, sitting in the infield, that my brain went right back to the classroom; to planning, the process, classroom management, all of those things. As much as I want to ride, I want to teach even more.

When I took up cycling, I was unfamiliar on how to train properly, and I lacked the fitness. My fitness held me back from my development and enjoyment of cycling. Similarly, student-teaching holds the individual from the true growth, development and enjoyment of teaching. The process is designed to inundate student-teachers with work, with lessons, and with material. One class might advoacate for the use of a standardized, Madeline Hunter-style lesson plan, while another might debunk lesson plans altogether. And ofcourse you have Guide Teachers (and I'm currently learning from one of the best), that are quick to point out the many flaws in the program.

If I've learned anything from cycling and teaching, it's that they are eerily similar. It is through personal commitment, risk-taking, long hours, and thoughtful approach that great strides can be made. Just as the cyclist spends six hours on a training ride breaking down muscles on long climbs, the teacher must spend hours experimenting and taking risks in the classroom; breaking down the comfort zones and unfamiliarity. And just as the cyslist must recover and reflect on training, the teacher must reflect on the classroom experience in order to create more thoughtful lessons.

I look forward to training and studying as the new year approaches.

Negotiating the uphill barriers.

Capitalizing on Obama's Bow: Teaching Opportunities

The one week that I'm not in front of my 8th graders, I missed out on an amazing teaching moment in our nation.

Obama. He took a bow.

Now, I've already been over it many times with a few close friends. Growing up in a conservative household has only recently struck me as being an incredibly common experience. Hearing the general public, and yes, the conservative media's reaction to Obama's sign of respect was interesting, but nothing out of the ordinary. It is almost frightening to see how quickly we can turn a sign of cultural appreciation - a bow - into a negative.

It's a sign of submission they say.

A quick look to our dictionary will show that a bow can be either a sign of respect or a sign of submission. It is obvious that other cultures use the bow as a sign of respect. Japanese and Korean cultures use bowing in varying degrees to show respect, reverence etc. It is interesting that in a "Western" culture, we view the bow as a sign of submission ONLY, and not as a gesture of respect.

Democracies, many conservatives would argue, do not use bowing as a gesture because all people are equal. By the People, For the People. Dick Cheney exemplifies the conservative approach best: “There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone. Our friends and allies don’t expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness.”

Back to Obama's situation with Emperor Akihito. Surely this bow was not an informal one. It was very formal, as sign of respect in an attempt to establish proper diplomacy. Let us not forget George W's treatment of Saudi Arabian Prince Abdullah. It was a kiss. A good one. And in the moment of George W's apparent rush and uneasiness, he managed to touch lips with the Saudi Prince. That's right. A full on kiss kiss smooch...followed by hand holding.

How my conservative friends (especially those against Gay Marriage and homosexuality in general) can rationalize the two, as to why Mr. Bush is in the clear and Mr. Obama is in the wrong, simply astounds me. If one is bad, can the other not be okay? I believe, firmly, that both of these gestures were made in an attempt to create positive diplomatic relations. Therefore, President Obama shouldn't have to suffer the obvious barrage of flack led by the Fox News Campaign Against Anything Not Republican (F.N.C.A.A.N.R. for short)

Back to my teaching moment. What better subject to stage a debate? What better topic, one that is timely and easily relatable to young students, to teach students how to be comfortable speaking in the front of the classroom? Students need to be pressed in the Social Studies classroom, every so often, to examine our current events as well, and to relate them to their subject matter in a thoughtful, positive way. No matter what side students defend, the simple fact that they are defending anything, speaking publicly, and learning to form logical arguments, is the key to this teaching opportunity.

The first of many...

It is with a great deal of regret that I type these words into this first blog posting.  I have tried to avoid all types of online networking, but in the end I have been consumed by the convenience of these networks.  This blog is something that I have wanted to create for awhile, but only as a supplementary tool used for reflective purposes amidst this time-wasting process that is my Teaching Credential Program. 

I quickly realized that this blog can be much more.  I hope to share my research, my triumphs and failures in and out of the classroom, and my thoughts on education with not only my friends but with my students and peers.  

With that said...

We've recently been discussing the creation of this country we call the United States.  In class we've covered the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and all of those oh-so important "facts" which act as the very foundation for the study of U.S. History.  Howard Zinn might have said it best in "A People's History":

    

     "There is a certain drumbeat of scolding one hears these days, about the need for students to learn facts.  'Our young people are not being taught facts,' said presidential candidate Robert Dole (and candidates are always so scrupulous about facts)...But there is no such thing as a pure fact...Behind every fact presented to the world-by a teacher, a writer, anyone-is a judgment.  The judgment that has been made is that this fact is important, and that other facts, omitted, are not important."

It makes me feel so disappointed in the California Standards for Education.  How any group of people can think for others, to create an educational system that is centered on the acquisition of these "facts", is beyond my understanding.  The students of today are drowned in standardized testing and forced to perform in order to succeed.  In all my years of standardized testing, I have not retained any of the so-called "factual" information that was asked of me.  

True, authentic learning experiences are only created when we can step away from knowledge acquisition and move to an arena where we can all search for answers ourselves.  It is my goal to create this environment and move towards the discovery of the omitted, the invisible, the oppressed and the hidden.