Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed Hunger Games, the first of the Suzanne Collins trilogy, Catching Fire increased in intensity. The story of Katniss Everdeen’s never-ending struggle to find freedom from the fate the Capitol has set for her continues with a lot of what seems to be teen angst coupled with a real threat of widespread revolt from abroad. The narrative starts slowly, painstakingly as we listen in on Katniss’ fears for the safety of those she loves.
The pace picks up quickly when the Quarterly Quell begins, with a cruel twist! More ensues than even she can imagine in her worst dreams, and she ends up caught up in a much larger movement that will conclude in the final episode.

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Sacred by Dennis Lehane

Sacred by Dennis Lehane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite Kenzie/Genarro story for Patrick Kenzie’s romanticist narrative and Angie’s ballsy tenacity. The duo are forced into a job for Trevor Stone, a powerful evil billionaire who wants them to find his missing daughter. The supposed shared grief that Angela sees in the dying Trevor convinces them to take the job. Nothing is what it seems in every aspect of the novel except the sacred bond between the two detectives.
I thoroughly enjoyed this well-crafted thriller, the crisp dialog, the precise detail, and of course the protagonists who find what matters in stark contrast to the false promises and appearances of the powerful and corrupted.

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Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this young adult novel that speaks about bullying and family conflicts. The narrator is a likable young man who spends a lot of his time searching for his Granpa Harry who went to fight in Vietnam but never returned. This event and the fear of a bully named Nader motivate Lucky Linderman to seek a way out. He is also hounded for his involvement in a survey asking how people would like to die, which results in him being identified as emotionally disturbed and possibly suicidal.
You will like the character, as well as the small supporting cast in this book.

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TRMM Satellite Shows What’s Happening Under the Hood of Hurricane Irene’s Clouds

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TRMM Satellite Shows What’s Happening Under the Hood of Hurricane Irene’s Clouds,
originally uploaded by NASA Goddard Photo and Video.

Amazing images from Hurricane Irene

NextGen Teacher Training Almost Over

I can’t believe the BAVC NextGen Music Production class is almost over. It seemed like just yesterday that I was spending my mornings at the Architectural Foundation in the Financial District learning about IT issues and design.
Now it’s been three days into the teacher training and I can put together a beat. But I have reached the frustration level of trying to put together a melody to accompany the beat. I can play the scales, but I have difficulty stringing together a melody. And now we are supposed to create the verse of a song. I really need to get some help before tomorrow, our last day!

Googoo for google apps

Yesterday we had the rare opportunity to visit the Google campus in Mountain View. Besides the plethora of greenery and those cool red yellow and blue cruiser bikes that can be found everywhere, the Google campus seemed very apropos for a environmentally and socially conscious happy world-eater of a company. We couldn’t get into a building without a host.
Thanks to John Aultman and Linda Wells from Digipen Institute and SFUSD respectively, I had a chance to learn how to use the Google AppInventor and engage in a discussion about how it might be used in our classes. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, close to a Google Teacher Institute or a visit to the Apple campus.
Google AppInventor only works with Droid phones, so as cool as it is, iPhone users can only create apps that can be tested with an Emulator tool on your computer. After this session, I realized the reasons why google called for an open app development system while Apple continues to keep things controlled. From a computer science and education standpoint, creating apps for droid devices is much more open to educators and students.
We discussed many other issues such as the impact on computer science pathways, opportunities for student entrepreneurship and what teachers would need before they start using the app inventor in their classrooms.
There were people from Youth Radio in Oakland and Youth Lab in Washington DC. They were doing inspiring work with young people, getting them plugged in to creating programs that have meaning to them and come out of their own ideas. In a lot of cases, these experiences lead individuals to pursue a career in computer science when they might not have considered it through their regular school experiences.
Google is doing a series of these with different groups of educators, administrators and teaching-related organizations, but it feels like it’s only the beginning. I think one colleague from a high school in Oakland put it best when he made a comment at the end of the session: “So when is the next meeting?”

STEAM

I spent the morning with Will Fowler in the AFSF office. We planned to discuss the broadcast studio plans, and Will was as good a mentor for my plans. In his teaching days in Novato, he made it his own project to get a computer lab up and running from scratch. He talked about the resistance from colleagues, the many opportunities that are out there for grants and funding, and most importantly, getting connected with the right people. I would add that someone would have to have a strong unwavering vision of what it is he is doing to accomplish what Will has done so far.
It’s been a while since he left that school, but it’s taken a long non-conventional path to AFSF where it seems he’s truly found a place to fulfill his vision. The program that they run here is impressive on so many levels – from the connections they have with architecture and design firms to the impact they have had on the youth who come through their program. And with the ever-increasing demand for industry-ready graduates, BuildSF is way ahead of the curve.
But we did spend most of the time discussing my computer lab/broadcast studio. The key takeaways are: 1. begin designing with the electrical outlets in mind, 2. group students in teams managed by leaders that I could depend on and trust, 3. anything short of a student-based project-based class will fail.
We worked with Autodesk Revit software to create the design of the room. In the brief session, I learned the fundamentals to creating a room, modifying different properties, populating the space with components, and creating renderings of different views of the room. It is a most-impressive tool, and the more I work with the Autodesk software, I am seeing the future of our Academy curriculum, not just for AOIT.
The last thing Will showed me was the new Digital STEAM curriculum which is represented in the form of projects, links to educational and career pathway standards, teacher resources, and videos and demos of the lessons. Autodesk has been ramping up their products as a bridge between education and professional careers in design, animation and film, engineering and the sciences. STEAM, as you can see is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) adds the A that is art. I hope to learn more about the curriculum and possibilities that could take place in our classroom.

Leap of Faith

Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite books in a long while. Halfway through reading, I hovered on every word and phrase to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Ms. Heiligman starts the book from the point in Charles Darwin’s life when he debates whether he should marry or not. He makes a list comparing the reasons for and against. He meets Emma who will become his companion for life, and knows right then that he wants to spend his whole life with her.
Right from the beginning, there is a problem. Mr. Darwin is working on his theory of evolution of species, which leads him to question the existence and role of God; and Emma has always been a devoted Christian especially from losing her closest sister in her youth. The issue of whether one believes in the after-life and where we all go looms large over the love between these two and the family and circle of friends who enter their lives.
The writing charmingly lets us into the private lives of these two, often quoting personal letters between Emma and Charles.
This is a beautifully written book.

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Heron’s Head Park/Eco-Center Visits

We completed our two visits to the Eco-center and Heron’s Head Park in the Bayview district. AOIT students took the local MUNI lines to the award-winning environmental education center and wetlands preserve for a once-in-a-lifetime educational experience.
On the first visit, we gathered under the guidance of Anthony Khalil, the resident scientist, Raynelle, who oversees the management of the park, and Jasmine Dow, from Literacy for Environmental Justice.
The day started with straight talk about where we come from, and we learned some of the history of the ecology of the place we stood on. It was enlightening to learn that San Francisco Bay Area was once a thriving wetlands rich with diverse plant and animal life, cut across with waterways and access to plenty of water. Over time, with the Spanish conquest, the Gold Rush, and eventually the development of an urban population boom, the are has transformed into the metropolis it is today.
But beneath this bustling city lies remnants of what it once was just 200 years ago.
Raynelle, Anthony and the the volunteers who come to the park are working to reclaim the wetlands and through that effort, bring back the biodiversity of the land. We took part in that effort by planting and naming the native life that we observed. The day ended with an overview of the Eco-center that we would eventually spend more time in the following week.
The second visit was directly at the Eco-Center. With a solid understanding of the history leading up to the establishment of the Eco-Center, we got to explore the deeper history of energy, water and waste as it affects humans and the ecology around us. Tracy Zhu, who heads the Eco-Center, with Jasmine, led a packed agenda for the day. We got down and dirty making burrito batteries, assembling our own manually-operated power generator, and retold the narrative of how our Bay got to the state it is today. Heavy on science, we stretched ourselves beyond our area of comfort and learned much more than students would in a classroom. When the day was done, we had a deeper understanding of how our consumption needs lead to potentially harmful results to the sustainability of other living things including future generations of human life.

After Failure Comes Enlightenment

Today was one of the roughest days for teaching in a while. It started off bad even before I got to school. No breakfast and rushing out of the house, driving a loaner, and eventually I was late for the appointment with a senior whom I arranged to let into my classroom so he can start to make up some credits to graduate.
Also, it was the busiest day of the week – three 1.5 hour block classes all back-to-back. Rushing for the occasional bathroom break of course in the boys’ bathroom. Managing to scarf a butter-soaked croissant, delicious as it was. My 11th grade AOIT students have become unmotivated, lost and unfocused. Many of them are failing and don’t even know or care. After putting the gamut down, they reacted. More apathy.
The ELD class was going to busy. Ms. Do, a student from USF, was coming to observe again. The 826 volunteers were coming in to have one-on-one sessions with my students to work on their essays. And the juniors were going to take an EAP test in another room. It was a critical day because we were going to start a sustainability exercise in which they develop a skit in small groups and act out the story to open up discussion on the sustainability of the given activity. What made matters worse was that yesterday I assigned a reading that was too difficult for most of the students. I had them answer questions to review what we read yesterday, and that took over half of class-time. I think I could count the number of times my smile lasted longer than 2 seconds.
Last was the 10th grade AOIT. I struggled to demonstrate the Flash tutorial that they should have done on Monday when I was away on the field trip at the EcoCenter. That session was not so bad, but it was the realization that they would/could not do work if I was not there. As smart and sometimes hard-working as they can be, they tend to develop the same lack of focus and procrastination that my 11th graders are wallowing in.
So when does the light come? Well, it’s not here yet. But I know it’s out there.
I am starting to realize how important it is to be real with these young people. Pretending that they are learning or putting in their best effort is not going to do them any good. Allowing them to accept their own self-defeating behaviors will only make them work much harder later.
I came up with some ideas to improve the educational experience that I can offer my classes:
1. regular conferences with each student, starting with the ones that are underperforming or struggling.
2. slowing down and focusing on the whole experience rather than reaching for the end results.
3. AOIT needs a set of principles to revolve around. I thought of the ideas that we learned at the Reynolds Institute and came up with Seek the truth, Maintain the integrity of yourself and others, Work toward bettering the world.
4. Raise the bar for the AOIT program – students create a digital interactive resume in their senior year.
5. Search for a partner or big donor for our academy/broadcast studio.

Lastly, I started to think about why I’m doing what I do. And it comes back to what are you passionate about? What started this path? And how do I sustain that passion? I hope that will continue to inform everything I do as a teacher from this day forth.