DeathKnight

Alright, so, the important thing is: fancy hats on Jan. 17. Now, there might be anti-fancy hatters around, but I'm solidly in the pro-fancy hatters camp. I was imagining small sombreros or bowlers, fedoras are OUT as a fashion statement, but I think sombreros and bowlers are still in.

SOMEONE with a username of DeathKnight-ish kinda of thing taught middle school English in a charter school district in San Antonio with a low-SES community. I mean, low-SES might be when all of your lunches are provided by the local San Antonio Food Bank. I dunno, I might be judgmental since I brought my own lunch. I did go down into the cafeteria at the school and eat the leftover meals from the food bank (hey, snack time!), but, really, I'm not sure you could judge me on that. The meat was pretty tough. I left bad reviews for the cauliflower on yelp â?? kinda of a white, chewy paste kind of vegetable, that cauliflower. Why the kids didn't eat it? I dunno, the paste flavor was endearing to me.   Now, what he (DeathDude) told me was that the classroom sizes were pretty outlandish with 28 average per period. There might have been a day when someone was out of the classroom where class sizes suddenly fattened up to 35+ for three 90 minute periods. I mean, taking first person over for him, there might not have been enough desks for the students in the portable I was assigned to. The good news is that, on that day, I had a pretty engaging worksheet on prepositional and adverb agreement to give them. It was pretty bland compared to the day that I was assigned ethos, pathos, and logos curriculum to teach a bunch of sixth graders. That was a more fun day. I mean, what is more accessible to low-SES students than learning methods of argument in essay form before they can write a five paragraph, crappy essay?   Loving reading though, or teaching a love of reading â?? well, that's not something you can grade on a metric. You can't really get a good budget off of a student's love of reading â?? you could grade them on the reading comprehension, their aptitude for dealing with definitions of parts of speech, or their identification of grammar. You don't really mind if they like to read; they just should. They should know, from a love of reading and inculcating them in numerous drills, what reading really is. It's something you reward them for (accelerated reader), but you don't teach them for since AR scores don't matter to the state.   Reading Rainbow is a supplemental teaching aid from the past that is sorely needed. It's an app or a slideshow or a video that is refreshing. It can bring into a classroom a realm of active teaching that isn't encouraged or needed by most state standards. You don't need students to love reading or understand fiction â?? not with the popularity of standards similar to the Common Core (hey, buddy! phantom of the tollbooth and the hunger games is pretty neat! now, more importantly, let's read a five paragraph essay about Thanksgiving, printed and copied just for you!). Reading is for digesting, regurgitating, and owning information.   I donated to the RR to kick start it. I had a single half bookshelf of nonfiction literature to offer my students. Me? My downtown was a short story collection by Flannery O'Connor. It wasn't the same non-ficition DISCOVER X books for Japan, China, or Africa they had to read day-to-day over and over. Fiction re-read takes you to a different place. I think they deserve a more involved, active approach to fiction that captures their attention in a way that meeting requirements can't. It's an approach that isn't me leading a bunch of eighth graders in a collective, boring reading of 'The Outsiders.' I'd want an episode with a view into 1950s America, an idea of what cliques at the time they were born really meant, and the real smell or feel of the greasers.   In the section above, what was the main argument of DeathKnight?   Did he:   A. Want to have more active teaching and involvement of fiction in the classroom across the United States B. Express disappointment with Texas' recent changes in the classroom and what needs to be done for Texas to involve fiction in reading. C. Tell you a bit about teaching in Texas and his frustration teaching there D. Let you know about the class sizes he taught in a low-SES charter school Taking it away:   Reading this, did you find a strong agreement with:   A. An argument for less class sizes B. An argument expressing the problems with current English curriculum in the United States C. An argument about how good the flavor of paste is D. An argument for Reading Rainbow's kickstarter and their goals   REVIEW: DeathKnight in this post said that â??he taught in a middle school English Charter school district. . . with a low-SES community.â?From that sentence, did you infer:   A. DeathKnight can only teach in districts that serve a low-SES community. B. DeathKnight posts a great deal about low-SES communities. C. A low-SES community is primarily full of middle schools. D. DeathKnight taught in a low-SES district.   LOOKING FORWARD:   In the next chapter, you will read about other teachers such as DeathKnight who express similar opinions. Opinions are not factual and based entirely on the recollection, understanding, or emotions of the person giving them. An opinion you might have experienced might be like this: â??Jeez, Judy, everyone knows that Main Street Pizza is the worst pizza in town,â? said Tom.   What in Tom's statement was factual? What could you disagree with? Did Tom provide any evidence that he know much about pizza?   ASSIGNMENT: CHAPTER 1   Write to Tom a disagreement about his opinion of pizza. Include no opinions of your own but focus on arguments that show that Tom is expressing merely something from his own point of view that is not universal or felt by all people. A minimum of two five-sentence paragraphs is needed.   NEXT CHAPTER: CRAZY FUN WITH CONJUCTIONS: BUT YOU CAN'T COMPREHEND THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

Something something something rpgs something something something okay   something something something I'd do it something something   something something character bio something   something

Time slips on, but we all had great times here. I even have several of my old friends on here mucking around on my Facebook.    Chins up, yeah? :)

[color=crimson][b]J.D. Salinger[/b] - [i]Nine Stories[/i]. I was bumbling, broken fool when Salinger died. He's one of my favorite authors, and I am pained that most people stop at [i]Catcher in the Rye[/i] without delving into his other works. This is a collection of his short stories that includes my favorite work by him, [url="http://www.miguelmllop.com/stories/stories/bananafish.pdf]%22A"]http://www.miguelmll...nanafish.pdf]"A[/url] Perfect Day for Bananafish"[/url]. This collection also is good place to begin an introduction to the Glass family, a recurring unit of former child geniuses, that appears in every work by him but [i]Catcher in the Rye[/i]. "For Esme -- with Love and Squalor" is also excellent, along with "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period." All of his works are engaging, though.[/color]

[color=crimson]Yes, I have! My boss at the cigar shop I worked at wants me to participate. She thought it would be amusing for a bunch of smokers to huff and puff their way through the course. I am going to try to do it this fall, heh.[/color]

[color=crimson]I think it would depend upon their stage of development. Also, I think it would depend on me actually being a father, lol. Right now, responding to this topic is about as informed as me trying to solve some issues with your plumbing or car. Still, though, I guess my point would be to instill in them a basic set of morals, a basic set of academic abilities, and, hopefully, the further into exercising the free will they get they can begin internalizing/understanding things on their own, with more me as a guide than absolute teacher? I'll get back to you in twenty years with a better answer.[/color]

[spoiler]Chronic alcoholic on the sides of important streets in american cities (I'll wash your windows)[/spoiler]

[color=crimson]I work at a hookah bar. I put tobacco into ceramic bowls, put ceramic bowls on hookahs, and prep them for the customer to smoke. I take coals out to people who smoke. I make $8 an hour to do this. I am pleased. We use natural coals and Coconara coals. Natural coals are large pieces of mesquite charcoal that are A.) messy and time consuming to start (fire required), B.) make your tobacco taste like some variety of bbq, and C.) turn to ash quickly thus requiring me to run out every few minutes. Coconara coals are compressed charcoals made from coconut shells that are A.) nice neat little squares (instead of actual logs of charcoal turning your skin black), B.) enjoy being lit on coil burners, and C.) last twenty minutes before needing a nice little ashing and flip, then last another ten minutes or so before needing to be replaced. Many middle eastern people loveeeeeee themselves some natural coals. LOVE IT! I don't know if it is the smoky taste of brisket with their tobacco, the unnecessarily vast amount of ash the coals produce, or the fact I have to run around like a small rodent to keep all of their hookahs lit, but, damn if they don't like themselves these coals. These customers specifically ask for natural coals instead of Coconara coals. They get incredibly irate if I attempt to give them Coconara coals. I am not sure why their preference goes along these lines. It is irritating.[/color]

[color=crimson]The climate in central Texas is usually divided into these main areas: "Winter," Summer-lite, Summer, Summer-lite. I prefer hotter temperatures from living here. These last two weeks (it effing snowed in San Antonio, wtf?) have been uncomfortably cold for me. Spring/Summer/Fall are my times.[/color]

[color=crimson]I dunno about pessimistic fortunes, but I received a fortune one time that asked me in spanish what my favorite ice cream flavor was. Maybe it was hitting on me.[/color]

[color=crimson]I remember this one time when I did that one thing with that guy and, yeah, it was pretty [i]awesome[/i]. <3 you guys[/color]

[color=crimson]What college do you attend? [s]Miskatonic University[/s]. St. Mary's University. I'm looking at UT for my graduate level courses. What are you studying? I am an English major. I plan to finish at a doctoral level and work as a professor. Do you live on campus? Not currently. St. Mary's is a twenty minute drive from my house. I will move on campus or in city wherever I end up for my graduate courses.[/color]

[img]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs557.ash1/32441_424771768754_508398754_5672045_2964359_n.jpg[/img] [color=crimson]Hello.[/color]