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By Kyle, September 28, 2007 10:45 pm

My former roommate Brett. My colleague Jennifer. My Dad. What do these three people have in common? Well, not much except for the fact that all three are currently reveling in the sad state of demise that seems to have enveloped my New York Mets as they have now fallen into second place (to the Phillies no less!) with only two remaining games in the season! [The above picture was taken of Brett and I this evening at the Giants/Dodgers game. With no playoff hopes for either team, an attendance of maybe 30,000 fans, and almost no regular starters playing (I heard that Bonds didn't even make the trip) this game was the closest thing to minor league baseball I've experienced in a while.]

Anyway, I wrapped up another week at school again. This week went very well and the kids seemed to really be understanding the elements we are reviewing from last year as well as the deeper connections they have for algebra this year! It’s very fun to have the same kids again this year.

Some memorable kids of the week:

• E (Period 2), who makes it his goal to try and beat me at my own game. A very bright kid who is always up for a challenge and is the first one to point out mistakes that I make when writing my own quizzes.
• E (Period 1), who struggled with math skills in her extremely dysfunctional class last year and this year seems to finally be understanding and applying the skills and concepts.
• N (Period 3) will be a challenge this year. If only I can keep her motivated! When she’s into the math, she can do great, but when she’s not interested, she’ll fall asleep!!! (“Fo reals!!!”)

Sometimes I wish I could remember stories from school with more accuracy and efficiency, but I have found that they escape from my memory as soon as I leave school often. What remains is the memories and ideas for each kid that is in my class, how they are motivated to learn, and what makes them tick. Even after 3+ years of teaching, it’s still a constant challenge to reach out to my students and help them find meaning in a topic and subject that seems entirely abstract and irrelevant.

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By Kyle, September 26, 2007 12:34 pm

Beautiful harbor, happy couple

Originally uploaded by anneniemiec

Wow! Amazing! I just figured out that you can automatically configure Flickr to post to a blog! Rather than saving a picture, and then uploading it the hard way (which was pretty easy to begin with), a simple blog configuration will allow me to instantly post regarding any public photo on Flickr!
Very cool!
(This particular photo was taken at my sister Jenna’s wedding a few weeks ago!)

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By Kyle, September 26, 2007 10:33 am

As the sun began to sink in the skies of central Los Angeles last evening, a gathering of approximately 500 congregated on the district headquarters located at 3rd and Beaudry in downtown Los Angeles. Roughly 15 or so of those represented were from Cochran Middle School, all rallying in support of a fix to the bungled paychecks that the district has been issuing for the past 6 months! While personally not being adversely affected, I know several colleagues that have received monthly paychecks far below their expected pay. I guess it’s just nice to know that I work for a district that cares so much.
Pictured left to right: My friends and colleagues, Rustum, Dan, and myself.[Does that sentence grammatically imply that I consider myself both a friend and a colleague???]

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By Kyle, September 20, 2007 12:56 pm

Hi everybody,
A few folks have requested a copy of the slideshow that was created for Jenna and Jay’s wedding. Unfortunately, the file-size is too huge to transfer electronically. So, in the next month, I’ll be taking some of the wedding video footage that was shot, along with the slideshow and maybe a gallery of the best pictures and burning it all to a DVD which I will then copy and mail to people who request it. Until then, you can watch a drastically lower quality version of the slideshow I uploaded to Google so Jenna could preview it prior to the wedding. So in other words, “just a snack until we eat right.”

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By Kyle, September 17, 2007 9:21 pm

My roommates are hilarious. Upon my safe arrival back in Los Angeles this evening, I returned to the comfort of my room only to find a lovely picture of A.J. Duffy, taped to the ceiling directly above my bed. For those of you who may not know, A.J. Duffy is the president of UTLA, the teachers union here in LA.

I have generally mixed views of our union, having realized that it is just as much of a bureaucratic behemoth as the district itself, albeit maybe only slightly less evil.

Out here in California, especially in Los Angeles, the charter school movement is in full swing. One of my roommates actually currently works for a Green Dot school, the poster-child organization for the Los Angeles charter school movement. Always trying to convince me to join their ranks as a teacher, I have to admit it’s awfully tempting, but I’m definitely sticking with the district for now. Regardless, I’m going to do all I can this year to encourage my students to apply toward a charter high school! Anything I can do to help them be more successful!

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By Kyle, September 16, 2007 12:29 pm

So, it’s been a really, really long time since my last post, but that’s because it’s been a really, really crazy week. School has gotten more fully into swing, I have roommates moving in and moving out, and most especially, I have a new brother in law that I did not have 24 hours ago! Yes, that’s right, last evening, my sister Jenna was married to her long-time boy-friend, and longer-time friend, Jason. The ceremony was great, albeit a bit chilly as it was performed on beautiful Monhegan Island, Maine. Scheduled for outdoors, we were a bit worried when Saturday came around and a cold rain had started to fall, prompting my sister and her soon to be husband to push back the start time 3 hours later until 5pm. Smart move! It was absolutely gorgeous (albeit chilly) as the sun began to sink in the sky during the ceremony. Anyway, there’s much more I could say right now about the wedding, but I’m excited about beginning to use Flickr to help wedding attendees share and view each others’ photos (tag your photos jjweignerwedding). If you went to the wedding and want to share your photos on Flickr, click “Sharing Photos on Flickr” for instructions on how!!!

Until next time…

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By Kyle, September 7, 2007 7:16 pm

I suppose the only thing worse than being inundated with non-stop political bantering more than 13 months before the election is the kind of election coverage that I’ve come to expect given what we’ve seen the past few years (a situation that, in the words of Dan Rather, “would give aspirin a headache”).

With that said, I’m hoping against all hope that Election Night ’08 will be at least as entertaining as the video above!

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By Kyle, September 5, 2007 10:05 pm

Wow! So now for the fourth time, the first day of school has come and gone. For the first time since I’ve been teaching, I found myself not very nervous at all. I suppose this is due to the fact that I’ve known for over a year that I’d be having my same students this year. So today seemed like simply a continuation of where we left off at the end of last year. Today, Thursday, and Friday, we’re spending class time going over rules and procedures, which is really too bad, (albeit very necessary) because it seems like my kids are ready to get started where they left off. Oh well, I’ve got to remember that this first week I’m not in a rush!

Anyway, I guess I’m mostly surprised at how physically tired I now am as a result of today. It’s been several months since I spent so many hours on my feet, but I guess I will soon get used to it. Anyway, one down, and lots more to go! I’ll be sure to post once the days get more interesting.

On a separate note, I was very excited because this afternoon I finished the slide show that I’m working on for my sister Jenna’s wedding! It’s hard to believe it’s only a week away now!

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By Kyle, September 3, 2007 11:08 pm

It feels like it’s been a while since my last post, but I have this feeling that that will be more and more the case now (as my life officially gets crazy). Right now, three huge things are essentially occurring simultaneously. First, and most obviously, school begins this Wednesday and as much as I seem prepared, there’s always that feeling that I’m missing something. In fact, I’m sure that I am, but it won’t become apparent until Wednesday morning at 7:59am. I can’t express how excited I am about having my students again to teach this year as 8th graders! I like the subject material more, 8th graders seem generally more mature, and I already know them! The last time I looped (i.e. 2004-2006, my first two years) I found that my students did so much better the second year and many of those who had not bought in previously did just that! Anyway, I’m excited to be doing even more with them this year. My ambitious goal is to do one college visit per month throughout the whole year. We’ll see if it actually happens!

Second, my sister Jenna is getting married in two weeks! While normally this would not necessarily cause a great deal of business, she has enlisted my help for the reception music, which I will be providing. Additionally, I’m putting together a slide-show montage (a process which is forcing me to use a generally loathsome mac, rather than my typically superior PC). As easy as you would think this to be, it’s fairly difficult to come up with playlists that are both dancible and classy.

Third, some of my involvement in Mosaic is beginning to look slightly different as the fall begins. As a result of a number of things, capped off by a great talk given by my friend Adrian, I’m being called to a new level of honesty and “realness” with the folks that I serve with each Sunday. Suffice it to say, I’m actually pretty tired, but find myself in the midst of being encouraged by the words of John. I’m a pretty cognitive type of guy, but this weekend it seems like the realities I’ve “known” for most of my life are actually sinking in deeply! Pretty cool!

Anyway, I don’t know when the next post will be, but I’m guessing it may not be for several days!

P.S. The above photo was taken from my camera phone at Santa Monica Beach. Beautiful!