Yes I can see you girl can...you see me?!?"
As I sit here listening to Wolfmother, enjoying my first free evening in many moons with my newly installed internets, I find myself just a little bit distracted for having neglected that most sacrosanct of responsibilities, that of chronicling my every move for my family. What will they do if they don't know, for example, that I just finished my second-to-last packet of craisins (thanks, mom!)? Or that I have finally purchased my first mini-fridge?
These things are as important to them as they are to me.
And then there are the kudos which have not been doled as they ought to have been. Amy, for birthing a human child. Merin, for being born like a champ. Kindy and Marty, for having a honeymoon they both liked. Marty, for mowing down the competition and landing that job. Mom, for having three things in a row that are fun for her. Tressa, for whipping multiple sclerosis' sorry derriere. Keaton, for that trippy eye thing. And on and on and on!! All, please do consider this my belated kudos doling.
There really is too much to say about the last month and a half to even try. So I will probably write what comes to mind, and leave the rest for when you come and visit me.
Visit me? Yes, in Philadelphia! All of the Teach For America folks that came here for training (we taught summer school for the past five weeks) were always like, "oof! we can't wait to get out of this stinking city!" (so that they could return to such utopias as Baltimore, presumably).
It's true the subway looks and smells like a rotting carcass, I do concede. But overall, I have been surprised at how easy it has been for me to love Philly. It is my kind of city. It has a lot of great character, architecture, and cool city stuff, without being all full of itself like NY or DC.
It is a great place to have been teaching. But teaching was killer, and I mean killer, killer, killer. Maybe the hardest part was the sleep deprivation, staying up until the wee hours writing lesson plans. But it was happy work, and good for me. I have concluded that to be a healthy person, you need to be accountable to other people in a meaningful way, which you people with your own families probably take for granted more than you should. Anyway, teaching has that in spades, and I really dig it.
During summer school, I taught eighth-grade science (mostly matter, physical/chemical changes, etc.) at South Philadelphia High School (pictured above). It is a school/neighborhood with a lot of challenges. The school is really too hot for class (no AC), and in disrepair in quite a few ways. The school has a tense feel to it, with metal detectors and bars on the windows and doors; the toilets have no stalls around them in order to prevent drug-dealing. They are things for which I can see the rationale, but which must take their toll on the morale of the students. Also, we had a really rough time right in the middle of the session when a student attending summer school was killed in a shooting, whom some of my kids knew.
All that considered, it has been really impressive to meet some of the teachers, administrators, and students who don't make excuses in the pursuit of a good education. "YES WE CAN!" reminds a huge mural of Obama in one hallway. "No excuses" will be one of the keys to making this teaching thing work, I think: not letting my bleeding heart make excuses for my students, and not letting my own inadequacies make excuses for my initial failures as a teacher.
So, during teaching they had us in the Temple University dorms, roomed in alphabetical order. Alex Alton was placed with me in the same room because of his last name, but it is a heck of a coincidence, because he was one of only a handful BYU alums.
On August 1st teaching ended, and I moved into my South Philly rowhouse with him and two other guys after much ado and many deadends, apartment hunting. But it is a great place. I have a deck! We have a cool little neighborhood place across the street that sells funnel cake, ice cream and water ice (this last a true Philly classic).
You all need to come see me. Even with four guys here, there is plenty of space for all of you to come and stay at once, if you wanted. Really! I would post my address, but that seems like one of those things only stupid people do. But it is a little south of South Street and west of Broad Street, near Center City.
Now we will start our certification process with the University of Pennsylvania next week (college courses, basically), and then start teaching at the beginning of September. I still don't know where I will be teaching, which is very frustrating.
I will leave you with a satisfying "what the...?" moment from my classroom this last summer:
VonGrinner, trying to set up a conceptual help to reading a phase diagram: "Does anyone know what a goblet is?.....yes, Kareem?"
Kareem, one my best students: "It's an animal that flies through the air and eats dead possums."
[short pause]
VonGrinner: "uh........."
4 comments:
Goblin, maybe? I don't know what flies through the air and eats dead possums and sounds like goblet. I have a very funny student named Kareem, too (Kareem means "generous" in Arabic, he taught me). He's six years old and his interjection of choice is "holy cheese-can, barnes!" I have no idea what that means.
Anyways, sounds like you like Philly, and have already developed a sense of my-city-is-better-than-your-city, which I suppose is good. I'll probably see you on saturday.
Oooo, I LOVE it! It's ALMOST worth waiting 6 weeks for such a newsy report. I can't wait to see you next week. Are you going to have time to spend a few hours without feeling like you are sloughing? 'Hope so!
'See you soon!
what part of the animal in question's mentality would be selective about dieting on only the possums that are dead? Quite a mystery. Unless it's in the vulture family. That would make sense with the whole flying thing. Anyway, it would be cool to experience philly. I drove through it once but never got to take a look around.
Great post, Kryn. I enjoyed reading about all that you are doing because you clearly are enjoying it yourself. I can picture you as a teacher and being superb at it. But that goblet thing. Jeez. Good answer - haha. I don't know what I would've said, either. Marty and I will be in NY in October or November and hope to see you somehow during our trip. Miss you!
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