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By Kyle, October 31, 2008 8:57 pm

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Tonight, my roommate and I went to see the new film Changeling, which I had very low expectations for (considering the fact that it stars Angelina Jolie). Yet, it was an amazing film which, for those of you unfamiliar with the plot centers around the true story of the 1928 abduction of a Los Angeles boy, and his mother’s attempt to fight an L.A.P.D. cover-up of the terrible (and corrupt) mishandling of the situation. Trust me, the Los Angeles Police Department (LA’s “finest“)  do not look good in this film, and perhaps can be argued that they are the chief antagonists in the film. [A brief note: for as bad as the LAPD looks in this film, LA Presbyterians look like rock stars here!]

However, what mostly surprised me was not the ending of the film, nor the characters within it, but rather, the gentleman who I walked past upon exiting the theatre after the film, none other than  William Bratton, the current Chief of Police for the Los Angeles Police Department, who was apparently enjoying a Friday evening out with his wife. As my roommate and I exited, Bratton and his wife were just walking in and being directed to “Theatre 4″ for their show. What film would the current LAPD Chief of Police be interested on a weird Halloween night (with all of Hollywood and West Hollywood going crazy around him)? The answer is simply one word…..actually, one letter: W.

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By Kyle, October 28, 2008 8:44 am

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The biggest surprise of last night’s suspended game 5 of the World Series, was not the onset of a the hurricane, the accurate call of Utley’s tag out on a double play, or even the decision to suspend the conclusion of the game until today, but rather the fact that baseball commissioner Bud Selig apparently can read!

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By Kyle, October 25, 2008 1:22 pm

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After an insanely hectic week, in which getting to teach my class was the only respite from all the other administrative and bureaucratic garbage I get to deal with, I was able to actually enjoy a relaxing morning at one of the local Par-3 golf courses. It was great to breathe some fresh, cool air in what has otherwise been an oppressively hot week.

While I certainly did not golf very well, I was able to hit a fair amount of decent shots, which led to a couple of 3′s (rather than several unwieldy 4′s, 5′s, or 6′s). I think I’m getting better.

Anyway, after a fun and very relaxing morning, I get to ramp up the tension once again as this evening I’m headed for what has become a somewhat annual tradition. A little background. I hate horror films, and as a rule, I will not watch them. Yet, for some reason, last year at Halloween, I met up with several friends at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for an outdoor screening of The Shining (you can read my one year old blog entry about it here).  Again, not much of one for horror films, but seeing it in an outdoor lawn surrounded by hundreds of other folks dressed up in costumes and eating picnic dinners made it thoroughly entertaining.

Anyway, tonight the tradition continues as I meet up with friends, bundle up for the chilly mid-50 degree outdoor temperature, chow down on a 6″ Italian BMT from Subway, and watch as they screen Carrie this evening at the cemetery.

And with that I sign off!

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By Kyle, October 22, 2008 6:37 am

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You gotta read this: http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-cochran22-2008oct22,0,5110735.story

Today’s front page of the LA Times features three former Cochran students! Yes, it takes a village to raise a child, but while Heven, Joel, and Francisco were attending school here, it seemed like there was a whole city trying to help them succeed. And now, they’re clearly on their way!

While there is so much wrong with our system here in Los Angeles, it is really nice to know that there are students who achieve great levels of success through parental support, teacher encouragement, and vast effort, in spite of a broken system.

My hope is that this will begin some positive momentum for both the school, and for families to begin to think outside the traditional box of what high schools their kids by default may be sent to.

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By Kyle, October 21, 2008 1:49 pm

Coachella 2008 from hunsbergerk on Comiqs

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By Kyle, October 19, 2008 1:55 pm

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Eating my words…..

For the past couple months, I’ve been fairly critical about everybody who’s been complaining about the upsurge in gas prices. As I look at it now, I’ve been fairly insulated from the fuel price crisis, especially given the fact that a round-trip commute puts a whopping 3 miles on my car.

However, it seems that all the money I’ve been saving by driving short distances has really come round this time to bite me. Why, you might ask?

It’s now that time of year when I try to make plane reservations to travel back to NY for the Christmas holiday. What was once a relatively affordable trip has now reached a stratospheric price! All that money I’ve saved on car gas, I’m now going to have to shell out to the airline companies (which is totally where I like to spend my money). :/

Anyway, if there’s a silver lining in all this, I’ve discovered a new (and amazing) web site to search for airfares! Airdig.com simply opens a frame from which you can enter your desired flight info once, and can search multiple flight aggregators, travel agencies, and airline companies, even making notes along the way! This way, I can feel just slightly better about flying this December!

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By Kyle, October 16, 2008 8:51 pm

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I was in OSH the other day in order to duplicate a set of keys designed to give a 4-lock level of security to our apartment, when I saw the adjacent display.

Apparently, mid-October is considered the beginning of the Christmas season now, at least in the home hardware business. Nice.

This week has been extremely long. Meetings, both on campus and off campus, online class finals and quizzes, as well as tonight’s back to school night have provided a week full of exhaustion and energy draining levels. And to top it all off, tomorrow is a full length day (in past years, we’ve gotten a half day after a parent conference night….we’re moving the half day to 10/31).

Anyway, as the weekend approaches, I’m looking more and more forward to the desperately needed sleep that will come hopefully sometime Saturday morning between 6am and about 9am (or 1pm).

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By Kyle, October 13, 2008 4:03 pm

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My classroom frequents many visitors. Given that, I fully expected Ray Cortines, the LAUSD Chief Instructional Officer (the #2 guy in the whole district) to stop by my classroom during his visit to Cochran Middle School today.

Since I knew he was visiting, I briefed my 2nd period class first thing as they walked in that in the event of a visitor (or a whole posse of them), we would simply continue with the lesson and welcome our visitors comments and questions. Second period comes and second period goes. No Cortines. Not that surprising.

Fourth period begins. I brief my 4th period class similarly as we begin our lesson with a few housekeeping announcements.

Not 5 minutes into class, my wall phone rings, with a call from the principal, asking me to come down to his office to join in a meeting with him, our assistant principals, local district 3 administrators, and Cortines. Frustrated at the last minute notice, I agree and then quickly jump straight into the lesson with my kids so they’ll at least know something before my coverage shows up. 3 minutes later, the sub shows up, I give the kids a worksheet (on ratios and proportions…. knowing full well they haven’t had ample opportunity to learn the material) and head downstairs. No Cortines, yet. Slightly more frustrated, I head back upstairs and resume teaching the lesson, during which one of my students gets stung by a bee invading our room from the A/C vents, and another student’s nose erupts in a stream of blood. Instant nurse visits for both of them.

Finally, a second call from the principals office emanates and I’m summoned downstairs to tell our LAUSD Chief Instructional Officer things that he already knows, such as how our math department is attempting to address the learning needs of our kids. Nothing really new. Am I surprised? Not really.

Anyway, back to my classroom for the last 15 minutes of class. Thankfully, my 4th period is a really wonderful group who was very patient with me today, and despite the fact that they received a largely discombobulated lesson (the educational equivalent of a Rube Goldberg machine), they learned about real life ratios and proportions very well. We’ll just have to see about how much they remember for tomorrow’s quiz.

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By Kyle, October 10, 2008 4:17 pm

LA High Marching Band from Kyle Hunsberger on Vimeo.

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Today was Friday, which is kind of funny, since it really felt like a Monday (yesterday, we had a day off of school in observance of Yom Kippur).

Regardless, I’ve discovered the best part of my job. The best part of my job is hearing about (or seeing first hand) the success of my students long after they have left my classroom. Yesterday, I was able to have a conversation with a former student, currently a junior who has it in her mind to do whatever it takes to do film at USC. I honestly think she’ll get there.

Then today, after school I came home, put on some much more relaxing attire and walked up the block (seriously, about 500 feet) to watch the L.A. High Romans play a football game. While the football was not terribly interesting (I think in total I witnessed 0 completed passes), the marching band was amazing. In fact, for all the academic dysfunction that occurs at Los Angeles High School (which the majority of my students will attend), strangely enough, they have the best marching band in ALL of the city of Los Angeles with 18 straight championships! Anyway, it’s exciting to see some of my former students participate in such a high caliber program, including 6 brand new freshmen!

With that, I’ll sign off. I’m going out to enjoy some Korean BBQ tonight with friends and then tomorrow I start taking BTSA, the final step in “clearing” my teaching credential in California. The 7:30am Saturday meeting tomorrow will be no fun, but at least I’ll be starting something I’ve been procrastinating on for the past three years.