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]

[color=crimson]I feel the publicity and statements forced Obama's hand. It's unfortunate that such a strange series of events coalesced into ruining McChrystal's career. Originally, Hastings (I think that was the name of Rolling Stone's journalist) was supposed to have a limited day or so access to McChrystal in Europe before he flew out to have a very structured, typical interview in Afghanistan for the article. Unfortunately, luck played a hand in the entire affair with the eruption of E-whatever in Iceland and the grounding of flights across Europe (including McChrystal's). Instead of that structured interview, Hastings got to go on a road trip with McChrystal where he picked up those off-the-record moments. Stupid volcanoes.[/color]

[color=crimson]Hotter and stickier than a witches' cooter out here. 91 degrees and 70 or 80 percent humidity. Woo. Texas weather, man, hittin' like Georgia weather it seems. I was driving down 410 (local loop highway) with sunlight piercing through my front windshield and the rain coming down in sheets from the cloud situated directly above that section of highway. We also had a wonderful thunderstorm last week that knocked out power to 119,000 people in San Antonio from high wind and lightning. It messed up people's yards something fierce with a house down the street having an unfortunate oak tree that just kind of tripped and fell over onto the house. I need to move to Germany, apparently.[/color]

[color=crimson]Well, I don't recall which blog I drew this potential misinformation from, but a blog that focuses on Texas politics pointed out a bigger problem that may have effected this turn of events. Last election, many open positions on the State Board of Edumacations held candidates running unopposed (well, most of the ballot was like that if I remember the ballot when I voted). You combine that with a 29 percent or so turn out for the vote itself. Thus we get a few banjo playing (ala Deliverance) fools on the SBE who no one really cared to run against or vote for. I hope next time maybe a few more people will realize that, you know, voting and running for office are things that matter a little bit in a representative republic.[/color]

[color=crimson]Korey: Wow, man, I didn't know that you moved. Or that you moved far away. Way far away. That sucks. Thankfully, I imagine that learning German might be easier than you think with a background in English. You planning to go to a university there? Change of that level would be difficult for anyone to deal with, yeah? El Paso to Germany is like Earth to Mars, haha.[/color]

[quote name='chibi-master' date='02 June 2010 - 05:32 PM' timestamp='1275517945' post='694312'] Dude, you're not helping. My dog is a Pemproke Welsh Corgi that has the same coloring as yours. I think I'll go take some ibuprofen now... [/quote] [color=crimson]Oh, my bad - haha. Small world. I love corgis (have a corgi calendar and everything) and I made my parents hunt out one in our area to buy. Sorry to worsen your sorrow. [/color]

[quote name='chibi-master' date='02 June 2010 - 05:15 PM' timestamp='1275516921' post='694307'] I don't think it's very fair to ask what curve balls we've been thrown after you had your entire house burned down. But yeah, I'm going to have to give up my beloved dog. He's like a son to me, but due to many factors and circumstances, we have to find him a new home. That's about all I can explain without getting so upset that I spend hours in my closet sobbing. [/quote] [COLOR=CRIMSON]That sucks. One of my dogs died recently. Susie, my border collie, passed. She was like 14 or so, haha. She was a good dog. It's hard to watch someone who you consider part of your family to go. Butttt, in other goods news, we got a new dog - Fenix the Corgi![/color]

[color=crimson]It's been awhile since I saw a thread dealing with tragedies or what the effs that happen to you at times in life, so I thought I'd start a thread about them. The biggest event that happened in my life recently was the destruction of my family's home on December 06 of last year. My parents and I went to eat lunch on that sunny Sunday (apt weather for that day) around noon. We came back at 1:05. We exited our vehicle. My father opened the door into the house from the garage and a black plume of smoke came out. Two hours later, our entire home was destroyed. I had lived there for my entire over two decade life. I watched it go in well less than that. The fire took almost all of our possessions either by combustion, smoke damage, or water damage. The entire event is incredibly difficult to convey in words. The street was shut down by police officers, there were fire trucks lining it, dozens of firefighters, dozens of neighbors. Like I said, it's hard to convey in words the smells, the feelings, the thoughts of it so I'll leave it to the picture and your imaginations. Myself, my old car, my friend Larry (who helped us in the aftermath to try to find anything salvageable), and many parts of my old house are in these pictures. After spending two weeks living in a La Quinta Inn, my family moved into a for lease home and we've been there ever since. Our house is rebuilt and we'll be fully moved in by this weekend, hopefully. So, yeah. What curve balls have you dealt with recently?[/color]

[quote name='XeEmO' date='01 June 2010 - 06:59 PM' timestamp='1275436745' post='694157'] nice! is that cpu monitor built into windows 7? [/quote] [color=crimson]I found it via the [url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/personalize]gadget database[/url] for Windows 7 provided by Microsoft.[/color]

[color=crimson]I'm rockin' the hammer and sickle on my laptop.[/color]

[quote name='Korey']I'm from Texas too, actually. El Paso is the only blue county I know.[/QUOTE] [color=crimson][url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/tx.htm]Well[/url], if the results from 2008 mean anything to you, you aren't alone, man. It irks me that Texas seems to get in the national news frequently for controversial things Perry says or does, or weird decisions an agency or government entity made. Oh well. At least Arizona effed up now, too.[/color]