Update

Lots of stuff has happened since the last post on Oct. 5th. I'm still loving dental school, Tara has started her job and is very busy, Thanksgiving break was nice, but short, and now it's time to finish up the semester.

It's crazy to think that 1 year ago today (well yesterday if you want to be all technical) many of us in the class found out that we were accepted to dental school! I heard back from the Texas schools and UAB and I was most excited about Dr. Filler's call. He was happy and it was the last one I got so I was a little worried but super excited. I was walking out of 20& Grand to go somewhere, then I got the call, talked to him and ran back into the gym at 20&Grand and told Tara. It was a very happy time. Today, across the nation people are finding out about their dental school futures. Many do not find out today, and may even find out a couple of weeks before classes start, but we all end up in the same boat and go on this journey together. It's been rough sometimes, (especially around Fundamentals test day) but most of the time the professors are nice and the people are friendly.
Today, I was able to assist in the oral surgery clinic with a 4th year student. It was very interesting and we extracted #31 (mand. 2nd molar on R) and on another pt. extracted #28 & #29 (2 premolars on mand R). These went smoothly and I was able to assist well because I had worked with the residents at VUMC OMFS. Other notable experiences from dental school have been the first few weeks of operative dentistry. We were able to start drilling on natural teeth and our typodonts. We first learned Sealants, then PRRs (Preventive Resin Restorations) and then Class I (pit and fissure fillings).

In other news, Tara and I are both enjoying our church very much, it's called The Church at Brook Hills and the pastor David Platt is a very gifted speaker with profound knowledge and an amazing capacity to relate the Bible to our lives today. We feel like he really gets it. He's only 30 but he is very mature and has great passion for missions around the world and seeing God's vision come to fruition in Birmingham. You can view his sermons or listen to them too - very cool. We were a little skeptical about attending such a large church (4,000 people), especially after worshiping in a warehouse with folding chairs for 4 years at Midtown in Nashville, however, we feel like this is really the place that God has called us to be and we are growing in our faith daily. I just finished a book this morning called Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell that was a great survey of the Old and New Testaments and talked about how many Christians today have lost the message Christ was bringing to the world. He also warned about empire (America) and how we are so blessed and we need to take care of the opressed, feed the hungry, reach out to people in need, etc. because those are the people He came to save. The problem with abundance is the need to spend all our money and effort to protect it (think a trillion dollar war on terrorism) and not spending our money to help people (what could a trillion dollars do to help aid world hunger, cure diseases, give clean water?) We need to rethink spending $8million on our church building renovations when 1/2 the world lives on less than $2 a day. Needless to say, it's a great read with some relevant points for today's Christians in America.
That's all for today!

Dental School and Wedding

So dental school is definitely underway (hence the lack of new posts) and I am married to Tara now!

Dental school is going great, we have been waxing a lot and learning about teeth. You can actually show me any extracted tooth and I can now tell you which one it is! Cool! We also have Biochemistry, Radiology, Entry Level Clinical Skills, and Dental Anatomy and Occlusion. It's all very interesting. I'm excited to start drilling in November with Dr. Ramp. In other news, everyone on our lab bench now misses Dr. Lin, he was amazing and taught us about waxing (making wax models of teeth). Now we have an older guy who smirks and stares at us- but doesn't ever say anything... strange. Everyone in the class is getting along well, and we're enjoying getting to know each other better. Fundamentals is frustrating, and we have to take huge tests every other Monday - which means every other weekend is full of studying! That's about it for now.

The wedding went amazingly well, and was a ton of fun! It was the best night of our lives, as it should be, and we loved seeing everyone and getting to meet each others' families. Tara has a great family and her cousins are a lot of fun to hang out with - and talented too! Tara's cousin Leigh did all the pictures and her cousin Jessica is married to a talented pianist, Craig, who rocked out the rehearsal dinner and was fun to hang out with. Tara's cousin Michelle helped her get ready for the wedding and was great to visit with. The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was a blast. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. The food was incredible and the cakes were very tasty. The only thing that went wrong the entire night was the top tier of the cake fell off during the ceremony so when everyone got to the reception it looked smaller than it should have. We just laughed it off and enjoyed the night. We were very lucky that nothing else bad happened - such as pouring down rain- it definitely threatened and even started sprinkling during the pictures, but you can't tell. Anyway, look at the pictures if you want any more descriptions, they're probably worth about a million words (1000 pics x 1000 words each...)

Stratford Class Essays

As promised, here are some of the "testimonials" from my students. These were taken from their final essays. These helped me to know that I actually did make a difference to some of the kids. I tried not to change their spelling or grammar except where it was nonsensical. Enjoy-

“I like when we got on the computer, because I signed up for a job and now I’m able to help my momma and other family. I would like to take a class next year because it taught me a lot of things. So if I wanted to own a business and do things when I get older I can! Thank you a lot Mr. Baxter” Elondria

“ I can have better job, better life, and better future. This course has changed my life now I know how to work on that which I want to have or get. This helped me to set my goals, ideas, and work on it. “ Lucia

“ Because now I know how to get a job, how to make my own business, etc. He really helped me with my career. Now I can be somebody when I get grown. Because I really didn’t know much about jobs and stuff. Now I really know what to spend my money on. So I’m really happy I was in these class because he really helped me on some stuff. So thank you Mr. Baxter” – Briana

“I think that it was an OK class for a little bit, but now I’m ready for it to be over. Overall, it was ok I learned a little of the time I listened to you. I think that all this will not help me right now, but later in life. So when I get my business I will need it, but not now. So I will thank you then.” – Corbett

“The other thing I learned was budgeting. Now I know that I don’t have to spend my money on something dumb. So that way people in my family can’t say I spend my money on dumb stuff. My family told me that if I keep spending my money every time I get it, I wont have any when I want something. If it wasn’t for budgeting, I’d be somewhere broke and out of money. I am glad you came to teach. Mr _____, our first teacher wasn’t teaching us at all.” - Donte

“My thoughts and feelings after completing this course is that I know how to set goals. I know how to find jobs on the computer. I know how to be more responsible with my money. I know what’s a high risk investment.” – Mashondra

More to follow soon.

Zoo

Relaxing

Dental School starts in about a week and I've been relaxing in Birmingham for the past few days. I just got back from visiting my grandparents in FL and we went to Sea World too. We had a good time. One of the coolest things we did in Florida was playing with the manatees in my grandparent's "backyard" (they live on the water). About 3 manatees were swimming near the sea wall outside of my grandparent's house and we decided to get some freshwater from the hose and spray it in the water to see what would happen. Grammie has told us to try this before, and nothing happened the last time. This time however, there was significant pressure in the hose and the water shot up 10 feet in the air and came down on the water alerting the manatees to its presence. Then they languidly swam over to the water and rolled over on their bellies to feel the cool water massage their skin. They enjoyed this (and so did we) for another 30 minutes or so. They hung around for a few hours after we stopped spraying them. It was a lot of fun. By the way- apparently, Manatees have fingernails- LOOK!

So for the next week or so, I'm going to try to relax like the manatee above before I have lots of work to do. Maybe I can even finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which I've been reading since last August...

Revelations

Some of you may have read my previous post about Stratford HS. I just wanted to give a behind the scenes look at what happened there and what I've learned since I left. The first time I substituted at Stratford was for Mr. Bailey, a Calculus teacher. It was a 3 day job, and I was a little scared about going there. I had substituted at other schools in Metro for a couple of months, but I had always kept my distance with Stratford.

In my junior year at Vanderbilt, I took an intro to counseling course and we had several guest speakers come by. One time, we had four students come by to talk to us about the "International Day of Peace" initiative that they started at their high school. Apparently, there was a lot of gang violence at their high school and this project they started helped to curb the violence on campus. This high school was indeed Stratford High School. And I had no idea we even had gangs in Nashville, let alone all of this violence going on in school. It was very eye-opening to me.

So back to substitute teaching. When I accepted the job online for Stratford, my fiancee was kind of nervous (I had told her about our guest speakers in the counseling class). I was nervous too, and scared enough to drive Tara's car to the high school so I wouldn't be targeted. Tara drives a newer car than mine, a 2002 vs my 1993, but hers is a Chevy Cavalier, and mine is a modded Lexus SC400. Needless to say, I figured the Cavalier would be less of a target for thieves or "gang bangers".

Fast forward to today, I'm reading a very insightful book titled When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in The Box by John Ortberg. It talks about how no matter how you play the game of life- acquiring nice toys (cars, houses, etc) it all goes back in the box when you're done (or dead). Is life all about trying to acquire the most stuff? He talks about focusing our hearts and lives on trophies that are truly worth winning because they last forever. The only things we can take with us are the love we have for Christ, the love we have for each other, and our own souls.

In the middle of the book, the author is discussing God calling us to do something to further his kingdom and his will. Here's the reason for all this set-up, and all of the background information I just gave you. This is taken from p.142:

When God calls people to do something, their initial response is almost always fear. If there is a challenge in front of you, a course of action that could cause you to grow and that would be helpful to people around you, but you find yourself scared about it, there's a real good chance that God is in that challenge.

I was definitely called to work with the students at Stratford, and God prepared me for that journey from at least the time of my counseling class, and likely before in ways I couldn't see at the time. In the same manner, this experience with these children is preparing me for a greater journey in the future to handle similar problems and someday I will look back and remember this experience and remember how it prepared me well for the tasks I have yet to do.

Finally, I had a difficult time teaching high school. Everyday was a challenge. There were students ridiculing me (seriously, ones that weren't even my students!), gang members threatening me, students arguing with me, and just a general uneasiness that I would get robbed or my car broken into. God protected me through those months. He heard my prayers at lunchtime at my desk. He kept me safe from those troubles and provided me with a larger view of the situation and of the purpose he had for me at Stratford. He even used me to influence the lives of some of the students I taught. So, I am thankful for what He has blessed me with, and the ways in which He has revealed himself to me this semester. It's not what I did that's amazing, but what He did that is truly amazing.

God makes us weak so he can show us His strength.

This pretty much sums it up... (Gas Prices)

This was taken at the Shell station in Hillsboro Village, Nashville, TN.

Nashville

So the Nashville chapter of my life is coming to a close. I might be back someday, but not anytime soon (to live that is, I'll be back in August to visit). I've enjoyed my time in Nashville- I've gotten out and seen the city through various events- Country Music 1/2 Marathon, CMA Fest, and lately, Substitute teaching and Full-time teaching. It's important for Vanderbilt students to get out of "the bubble" and see the sights in Nashville - go see the Bluebird Cafe, walk around downtown, or go to the Nashville Zoo. There's a lot to do in Nashville, and I've certainly not done it all. I still need to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame... Anyway, I look forward to our move to Birmingham next Friday, and I've been feverishly selling things on Craigslist so we won't have to take them with us. What a great website! I'm trying to relax and just enjoy my time before dental school starts July 7th. I'm reading some books and watching movies, encouraging Tara to study hard, and enjoying the nice weather we're having in Nashville. I recently wanted to study for anatomy or some subject that might help me in Dental school, but after hearing from current medical and dental students, I've vetoed that idea. First of all, you never know what you're teacher is going to focus on, and you never know when you'll actually need the information. Everyone I've talked to stresses the need to just ENJOY the time off- because once school starts, it's hell.

It's Been One Week...

It's been a week since I was at Stratford HS, and I'm glad that part of my life is over with. It was stressful, difficult to wake up at 6AM every morning, and some of the students were verbally abusive. I know I made a difference to some kids there, and hopefully I was able to be a steady force in their unsteady worlds. Many of the kids let me know that they enjoyed my class, some said that they wanted to be a teacher like me, and some said they will use the things we learned in class now and in the future. So I did make a difference, it's just hard to see when you're in the daily grind.

There are major problems in Metro Schools (just like all of the public schools nationwide), and there are problems with the school I was at specifically. Many of the students walk around doped up on SUGAR from ridiculous amounts of candy they consume. Every class period the kids would ask if they could go next door to buy some candy. I'd encourage them to do it at the beginning of class, but sometimes they would just walk out without asking. It's not that I have a lack of control over my classroom, but the kids have no respect for adults, teachers, their peers or school property. The way they would treat their peers, and me, was often appalling. During finals, we had really long class periods, so after their test, I took them to watch a movie. The movie was over with 5 minutes left in class. Two of the kids were acting up throwing paper balls all around the room and disrupting the class. I told one student that I'd write them up, but then he flipped out on me started yelling, cussing, hitting desks, and walked out and slammed the door so hard I thought my eardrum might burst. What a great way to end the semester! If these kids (the freshman that is, ) were disciplined with ISS (In School Suspension) they wouldn't care one bit. At my high school back in Dallas, a teacher would hardly ever have to go that far. A detenion would be enough to get some parent interaction and a student's cooperation. At Stratford, if you tried to call a parent, they were likely to talk back to you, be rude, deny the problem and hang up on you. You can see where the students get their good people skills! Seriously though, a lot of the problems in the public schools can be attributed to lack of funding, teacher pay, this, or that, but what it REALLY boils down to is PARENTING. Lack of good parents in these underserved areas is probably the biggest contributing factor to these kids' successes, or often failure, in school and in life. We need better parents before we can get better schools. Almost all of the problems I encountered on a daily basis- the arguing, talking back, tardiness, lack of motivation, lack of respect for others, could all be attributed to a lack of parenting or attention from parents. Many parents work two jobs to support their family. Most of the kids (75%) are on the free lunch program. Many of the kids try to get jobs to support their family. But I have a feeling that when these kids are home, they never see their parents or don't have enrichment activities. They sit down in front of BET and watch it all day long (and the white kids like BET too) or play GTA 4 (Grand Theft Auto), neither one helps them academically or with relations with people.

Also, what's the deal with the girls acting up more than the boys? In class, the girls cause more trouble than the boys do with talking (obvious) but with respect to arguing ("It's a free country, I do whatever I want") or hitting each other ("You're trifling") and simply not paying attention in class, the girls are often worse behaved than the boys. Another awful thing I noticed is that no one takes responsibility for their actions. The guidance counselors, teachers, principles all emphazise that your behaviors dictate your consequences but the students still can't grasp this concept. If one student blatently hits the other, and I see it, the hitter will flat out lie and deny it. Everytime. If they are talking when they're not supposed to be talking, they will deny it. I'll say "But I heard your voice" they respond "No you didn't" - OK, well i guess I have auditory hallucinations that sound exactly like you... (I did often have bad dreams at night about teaching, but that's a different story).

Overall, did I have a positive experience at Stratford? Yes and No. The teachers were very supportive, they helped me often and were helpful with discipline. They truly do care about the students. Some of my students were a pleasure to have in class, some liked participating and enjoyed the activities. The others, well, let's just say I prayed for them daily. I had no formal training, and I didn't even have lesson plans (!), but I survived. It's over.

In the next post, I'll post some Testimonials from my class- "What I learned in Mr. Baxter's Class".

End of School

Well, my time at Stratford HS is coming to a close. I have learned a lot from the students, and about the inner-city culture in general. I've expanded my vocabulary to include words like "triflin' " and " straight trippin' " and I've learned about new rappers like Lil' Wayne and Lil' Boosie. I asked my students recently to write me reflection papers about what they learned in this class. To my surprise, many actually wrote positive things like I taught them about stress management and hard work. One student said she had not learned anything from her parents about money and she spent every paycheck she got as soon as she got it. She said that after learning in my class about budgeting and saving, she's going to work harder to manage her money well. On each of these reflection papers, I wrote them back paragraphs about if they worked hard and kept a positive attitutde, they could acheive their dreams. Many have been discouraged by their peers and their backgrounds, and in many cases a lack of parental support. These students need consistency in their lives, and because I haven't left them (like many of their other teachers), they became attached to me. The other day, I was coming to class late from my other classroom and the other teacher told me that many of the kids were asking where I was, looking concerned. She said that when she is absent her kids rejoice, but my kids were worried- they thought something must be wrong. I guess my influence in their lives was more than I originally thought.

It's been fun, and truthfully, I'm ready to leave, but I'll never forget the students in my classes and the other teachers who have helped me along the way. I think this experience and cultural immersion will help me greatly as a dental provider and will help me to be more responsive to the problems in education and with inner-city youth in the future. I'll definitely identify better with my children's teachers and hopefully be a better parent because of my experience here. I'm excited to start the next chapter in my life: Dental School.

Wow, there's a lot to say now

So I've been teaching full time now at Stratford HS. I teach Web Design and Career Management Success. Some days it's difficult, but it's always rewarding.  The CMS classes are freshman, and the Web Design classes are Sophomores through Seniors. 

In other news, I am hoping to run the half marathon on Saturday. I hope it's not going to be raining, and I hope that my hip will feel better in time to run. It's been hurting recently while running. I thought it was ITBS, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe ice and NSAIDs will help enough for me to run. 

On April 4th, I went to the Spring Preview for UAB School of Dentistry Class of 2012.  It was a great time and it was fun to meet everyone I will be spending the next 4 years of my life with.  We talked about the new curriculum and what life will be like as a dental student. I'm excited! It's going to be tough, but it'll be fun too - hopefully. From the people I've met, I think we will have a great class and help each other out with assignments, studying, etc. instead of being crazy competitive.  Also, class now starts at 10 AM instead of 8 AM everyday, or so we think- that would be sweet! All of the people I met seemed interesting, and I look forward to getting to know everyone. 

We got the apartment at the Wildforest Apartments in Birmingham, so I have to start working on that now. We're still looking for someone to sublet our place in Nashville for June and July, and we need to sell the elliptical before we move to Birmingham in early June.  One thing kind of bugs me about listing advertisements on Craig's List and Facebook - people respond all the time, but are never serious about committing. They ask "is it still available" and I respond back nicely and say "Yeah, come over and check it out" and they never get back to me. It's so strange...

I got a new computer, it's a crapload faster than my old computer that was actually my brother's old computer from 2.5 yrs ago. This one I'm using now is a Black MacBook but I bought it refurbished so it was ridiculously cheap. Then I put 4GB of RAM in it- it goes fast :-D 

I've been working on another blog for teaching, so that's why I haven't been updating this one.  I started making a new personal blog, but I've decided I like the Blogger software better than Wordpress for simple blogging.  The best feature is the ability to email in blog posts, so I can post from my phone if I so desire. 

Finally, Tara is almost done with the Spring semester for Nursing School. She will be done after her test- right now! It'll be nice for her to relax a little bit and get a breather before the Summer semester starts in May and goes until August 3rd; Tara's day of freedom. She says that will be the best day of her life; only to be outdone 27 days later by our wedding. 

I've been reading more books lately, and I'm trying to stop getting on the internet and surfing aimlessly for hours.  I realized that I won't have time to read all the books I've been planning to read once I'm in Dental School, so I better finish before July 7th! 

Here's my list

The Importance of Being Foolish - Brennan Manning

Don't Waste Your Life - John Piper

The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini

Mere Christianity -C.S. Lewis

Harry Potter , Goblet of Fire through Deathly Hollows - JK Rowling

I need to finish Stumbling on Happiness, The Audacity of Hope (Obama), How to Read the Bible, and Christian Apologetics.  

I think I can do it.  Maybe I should start blogging more so they won't be this long again...

Alan Jackson Online Video

So Tara and I went to the Alan Jackson Invitation Only concert in
Nashville back in January. The show aired on March 1st, and it's
coming on again tomorrow (Wednesday) on CMT at 9pm central time. If
you missed it or want to watch the online video clips, they are
below. We had a great time, and we were really lucky throughout the
whole show.

Background: About 600 people responded to the email asking for
audience members, 100 were chosen. Out of those 100, 10 were chosen to
ask Alan questions. Tara and I BOTH got chosen- crazy odds if you ask
me! Then they were placing the question askers around the room, and
they put some in the back, some in the middle to the right, then one
couple in the front left. We were the last to be seated, and there
were two recliners in the very front and center of the venue- then
they motioned for us to sit up there! We kept expecting them to move
us as they were making everything look right for TV, but they never
did- so we had awesome seats and got to ask him a question!

I hope you will watch the show on TV, but if not here are the clips
below.

Tara's question is near the end of this clip - http://www.cmt.com/loaded/index.jhtml?vid=212918

Richard's question is at the beginning of this clip http://www.cmt.com/loaded/index.jhtml?vid=213991

The rest of the show is good, and there are a few other places where
there are close ups of Tara and me, but these are our speaking parts.

Richard

ASB Orientation Video

This is a sweet video that the ASB Board made for Orientation 2008. ASB stands for Alternative Spring Break, the largest student organization on Vanderbilt's campus that sends over 35 sites a year across North America to perform service for the week of spring break. I am a part of the Executive Board, and have loved my time on it. If you are interested in ASB, check out our website at Vandy ASB Website.

Maybe I Should've Been An Elementary School Teacher...

The kids we're working with are awesome! They're really cute and when
they smile its the best. I was with the 4 year olds yesterday, and
today I was with the 3yr olds. We have done lots of organizing by
completely moving a storage room into a closet and the PT, ST and OT
office into the old junk room (it was larger, so they wanted it).
Then we made several bulletin boards, a wreath for the door, a banner,
and organized the library. Below is a picture of our bulletin board.
Last night we ate with Kim who is independent and has Down's syndrome.
She was a great host. Mark, a man with Down's came over also and told
us some great stories about his public speaking and his experiences
travelling to Chicago and Nashville. The first night we had Mexican
food. Our hosts, Joanne and Nancy have been amazing! They gave us tons
of food!!

We'll be on CMT on Saturday from 8pm-9pm!!

So here's the deal. Alan Jackson performed some great songs at a concert a few weeks ago in Franklin, TN. Tara and I were invited to attend the show, and the producers asked us to submit questions. 600 people responded to the invitation, and only 100 were selected. Out of those 100, only 10 were picked to ask Alan questions. Tara and I were BOTH picked! Those are incredible odds, but it gets better. As they were seating the people who were asking questions, they put some in the back right, one couple in the middle, an older couple in the front left, and all the other seats in this small venue were still open. We were the last people to be seated in the group of question askers. The production manager then asked US to sit in the FRONT CENTER of the whole set! There were two recliners, tilted inward, and they were RIGHT in front of the stage! We couldn't believe our luck! We tried not to look stunned as we sat down, and we thought for sure they were going to move us. The whole time leading up to the show, they were filling in the crowd, moving people around to make it look right. We just KNEW they would move us. Sure enough, the lights dimmed, and the show was about to start - but we still hadn't moved!



There were about 100 fans in attendance, and probably 40-50 crew members running lights, audio, cameras, and overseeing the production. There were cameras on tracks and tons of cameramen walking around the place. After the show, the production manager came and thanked us for coming (it was free!) we were like, NO, thank YOU! It was truly a night we would never forget. And now, it will be on CMT at 8pm central time. The show is called "Alan Jackson: Invitation Only" and it is supposed to be like VH1 storytellers, and MTV unplugged. He played all of his best songs and several off of the new album.



A couple of funny things happened during the filming. They wanted us to sing along with all the songs, but some of the songs no one had heard before (on the new CD), so I was just lip- syncing... I hope they don't put any close-up shots of me fake singing in the final edit! Also, right before he started "Five O'Clock Somewhere", he said "Well, I don't have my watch on, does anyone know what time it is?" I took the bait and said "9:30" and some people said "5:30" and I was like oops... that was stupid. Then at the end of the concert they said they might need to re-shoot one of the songs because of the audio track. Then they decided that it would be OK. I'm not sure, but I think it might have been because of my gullibility. Later, during that same song, he said the line "And SHE don't care, it's Five O'Clock Somewhere" and he pointed directly at TARA as he said that! It was really exciting. I also caught a guitar pick and got a set-list from the show.



So we're not sure what the final edit will look like, but we're right up front so odds are that we will be visible in both long-range and close-up shots- so there's our 15 minutes of fame! In fact, people who want to become famous have their "agents" put them on the list in order to get good camera time and get "discovered" by people looking for actors for commercials and TV shows... sooo, if we end up on some crappy sitcom, you'll know where we got our start!

Smart move...

Today I am in the same class ive been in since Wednesday. Its been
tough, the kids dont want to learn, they don't have any incentive to
learn, and they don't have a teacher to hold them accountable. Its a
bad combination. So I have been trying to show them that I care for
them, teach them something, and enjoy my time in the class. As a
reward (since it's Friday) and I don't have any lesson plans, I
decided for my sanity and the kids' learning, it would be most
beneficial to watch a documentary in class. I rented Planet Earth and
we watched the first episode. They thought it was boring, but when
sharks started attacking seals and the wolves attacked the caribou,
they started enjoying it and asking questions about the scenes we were
watching. I asked them to write a response paper about the movie, but
only about half the class would cooperate- its better than none!
Luckily, they have a new teacher coming in on Monday, and this is
supposed to be their full time teacher for the rest of the semester.

I just have to
start strict with them and have high expectations. I have to do that
with all of my classes- otherwise I wouldn't be able to teach
anything- they would eat me alive. How else could I control a group of
wild kids that look about the same age as me? Heck, several even look
older than me.

Its been a great experience so far, and I'm sure it will help me out
in the future. It will at least help me relate more to the issues of
education, inner-city kids, and poverty stricken neighborhoods. There
are no easy solutions. If we are going to try to fix education in
this country, it will have to come with a total paradigm shift in the
systems that affect these kids, and focus on parental involvement.
More money would help too, but it has to be allocated appropriately.

Anyway, it was a smart move to show them the film, and I'm pretty sure
they learned more from the film than from me trying to talk to them.

No Dentist Left Behind

Here's an interesting email I got today. I agree with it, and as both a future dentist and a current teacher, I know how important both education and dentistry is to the low-income and impoverished families in America. I don't know how to fix NCLB, but we need something new.

No Dentist Left Behind

This is an interesting take on "No Child Left Behind." Teachers will
enjoy it, parents will be informed and politicians should consider it.

My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget
checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He
never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth.

When I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard
about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.

"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness
of dentists with their young patients?" I said.

"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities
each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a

dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as excellent, good, average,
below average, and unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which

are the best dentists. The plan will also encourage the less effective

dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could

lose their licenses to practice."

"That's terrible," he said.

"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we
should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"

"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is
practicing good dentistry."

"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."

"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't
all work with the same clientele, and that much depends on things we

can't control? For example, I work in a rural area with a high
percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my
colleagues work in upper middle-class neighborhoods. Many of the
parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there
is some kind of problem, and I don't get to do much preventive work.
Also, many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much
candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who
understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all
off, so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and
has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference
early use of fluoride can make?"

"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. "I can't believe that
you, my dentist, would be so defensive. After all, you do a great job,
and you needn't fear a little accountability."

"I am not being defensive!" he said. "My best patients are as good as
anyone's, my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count

is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to

work where I am needed most."

"Don't' get touchy," I said.

"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red, and from the way he
was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to

damage his teeth. "Try furious! In a system like this, I will end up
being rated average, below average, or worse. The few educated
patients I have who see these ratings may believe this so-called
rating is an actual measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist.
They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the most needy patients.
And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that,
how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists
to my practice if it is labeled below average?"

"I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse-making
and stonewalling won't improve dental health'... I am quoting from a
leading member of the DOC," I noted.

"What's the DOC?" he asked.

"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of
mostly lay persons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved"
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't
buy it," he said hopefully.

The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would
you measure good dentistry?"

"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."

"That's too complicated, expensive and time- consuming," I said.

"Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom
line. It's an absolute measure."

"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will
think . This can't be happening," he said despairingly.

"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."

"How?" he asked.

"If you receive a poor rating, they'll send a dentist who is rated
excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.

"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele
to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with

which I have probably had much more experience? BIG HELP!"

"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionally at all."

"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools
and teachers on an average score made on a test of children's progress

with no regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community

served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to

dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."

I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened. "I'm going to
write my representatives and senators," he said. "I'll use the school
analogy. Surely they will see the point."

He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed

anger that I, a teacher, see in the mirror so often lately.

If you don't understand why educators resent the recent federal
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT, this may help. If you do understand,
you'll enjoy this analogy, which was forwarded by John S. Taylor,
Superintendent of Schools for the Lancaster County, PA, School
District. Be a friend to a teacher and pass this on.

Oh boy!

Oh boy!

What a day! The class I'm in has not had a teacher for 6 weeks and has
had subs come in and out the whole time. Now its my turn to teach them
something. I don't have any lesson plans, nor do I have a class roll.
I have a stack of worksheets that a teacher just brought in, and my
Barack Obama book "the audacity of hope" about politics in America. So
let's make a fun class day that would teach them something, shall we?
Ok, first let's get a warm-up activity and get them calmed down. I
wrote on the board- " Writing Assignment: How can we improve this
school?" they didn't like that one... Strike 1. How about "write about
your favorite musical artist" that one got them going. After they
wrote about young jeezy or Lil' Boosie, Lil Wayne or Alicia Keyes, I
took the papers up and read each person's favorite artist (not the
whole paper). Then the class tried to guess whose paper it was. After
that we worked on the adverb worksheets. Pretty boring, but they hung
in there. Then I read some of Obama's book and taught them about
government, bills, laws, the senate, etc. Then I was saved by the
bell. Its funny, teachers (especially subs) look forward to getting
out of class just as much (if not more) than the students- shhh its a
secret ;-)

My second class tried to get to me but I wouldn't let them. Besides
the relentless cussing and yelling, here are some good one-liners I
got: "your wife is going to leave you for a black man" "you look like
the 26 year old virgin" "are you from Germany? You talk funny and
proper " "you look like Mr. Rogers" I also got justin timberlake. One
kid really wanted me to hit him so he could pop me in the jaw.
Needless to say I knocked him to the floor for being so stupid ( yeah,
right).

Here's another surprising trend, the students don't pass notes
anymore- that's old school. These kids simply text each other during
class- and if you tell them to put the phones up- "Ooo you just made
me mad. I'm not gonna cooperate wit you no more" Oh boy! Gotta love em.

PS- they put another sub in here to help me, but he just sat at the
desk the whole time. I had him to over the adverb sheet 2nd period and
the class was so disrespectful he quit. He started getting visibly
agitated and they saw that and tried to make him mad. They can smell
fear. And anger. I felt sorry for him- the other students probably
give him a hard time because of that.

TIME Article on Teaching

I just read this article on "How to Make Great Teachers" in TIME Magazine. It's got some pretty interesting ideas, and discusses the controversy of giving bonuses based on test-scores and other ways of determining the quality of the teacher.

Here's the end of the article:

" It's a good goal for an entire nation in need of better-quality teaching. As U.S. school districts embark on hundreds of separate experiments involving merit pay, some lessons seem clear. If the country wants to pay teachers like professionals—according to their performance, rather than like factory workers logging time on the job—it has to provide them with other professional opportunities, like the chance to grow in the job, learn from the best of their peers, show leadership and have a voice in decision-making, including how their work is judged. Making such changes would require a serious investment by school districts and their taxpayers. But it would reinvigorate a noble profession. "

Here's the link to the article

Sweet rock climbing wall at the elementary school

Here's a picture of the sweet rock climbing wall at the school I
subbed at this week. We never had anything like this!

Parthenon in Nashville

James and I went walking around Centennial Park tonight and watched
the geese swim by and the sun set. It was great. Then these two girls
came up and offered us free Red Bull. I didn't sleep much last night,
so the red bull was a great help!

It's Friday!

Before I started subbing, I was simply hanging out doing nothing
(since mid-December when I graduated) and I didn't appreciate the
weekend- all the days felt the same- Saturday, Monday- it didn't
matter. But now, I appreciate the weekend. It's a great time to pause
and take stock of the week and gear up for the next week if waking up
at 6am. Next week, I will begin working as a full-time sub for
highschool students in north Nashville. It will be worth it, but
draining at the same time. Waking up early, encouraging kids who don't
want to be there or learn the material, and the 20min drive will all
add up to one tough semester.

Today however, I'm teaching PE still and the kids are wonderful.
Yesterday was valentines day, and many kids were bringing valentines
for the teacher I am subbing for this week. I would tell them thank
you and I would make sure she got it. Then, one kid brought ME a
valentine! I was pretty excited because it was shiny and had a sucker
inside of it. Later in the day, I opened it up, and I saw that the kid
had actually written To: Mr. Baxter in the card- wow! I was pretty
stoked. Small acts of kindness go a long way-especially when the
receiver has had a long day. So go perform a random act of kindness
today!

Tonight is Brad Paisley at the Sommet Center. Tara, James and I will
be going; it should be a lot of fun!

Further, Ishmael Beah is speaking st Vanderbilt on Monday at 5:30pm st
Ingram Hall at Blair. You should go see him and listen to his
incredible story. He wrote a book called "A Long Way Gone" that
detailed his family's capture by the rebels in Sierra Leon and his
transformation into a Boy Soldier in the civil war that broke out
there in the 90s. Its a chilling novel that will make you ask yourself
" if we didn't have any authority, would we all turn to savage living
and go crazy like these boys did?" Think Lord of the Flies bad. On
steriods. Or "brown-brown" ( a mix of gunpowder and cocaine that the
boys would snort during the war). Luckily, Beah was rescued by UNICEF
and they started the long rehab process that eventually brought him to
New York for college and gave him the chance to write his memoir.

Have a great day!

Just call me Coach Baxter...

So I'm subbing at an elementary school for a PE teacher the rest of
the week. Its a lot of fun! The kids have been great and it's been fun
to run around and shoot hoops and jump rope with the kids. We're doing
stations, so some kids Jump Rope for Heart, some play basketball, some
play hockey, and some rock climb. Man, I wish we had a rock climbing
wall in our elementary school!

I like working with the elementary kids- its a lot different from high
school. They're all very respectful and stay out of trouble for the
most part. They're not corrupted by society yet- they don't talk back,
and they do their work.

I got to work with special ed PE- like Erin does- it was fun. We
played with balls, I helped them climb the wall, and we scooted around
the floor on scooters! Then one kid came up and gave me a big hug-
they're really sweet.

I'm worn out! Ive been running around all day!

On another note, its snowing today! It started snowing after we got
here, so we still had classes.

After this week, I'm going to be a full time sub at a high school in
north Nashville. So, I'll be there for the rest of my time subbing. It
should be fun, and I can teach the kids subjects that most subs
probably wouldn't feel comfortable teaching- calculus, physics,
biology, etc. The school is also a school with low test scores, so
these kids need help academically.

Subbing today...

I'm at high school today teaching pre-cal and algebra 1. Its fun
because I had a really small class and I could really help the
students in that class with their graphing assignment- y=mx+b. One
girl said she never does her work for her normal teacher. I told her I
wasn't her normal teacher and that we could go through if together.
She reluctantly agreed and I started helping her through the problems
by the third one she was really getting it and went on to complete
most of the assignment. Most of the kids need this kind of individual
attention, but can't get it. In my first period, many of the kids
simply refused to work, and because there were so many of them, I
couldn't work with them one-on-one. I only helped those students who
wanted help and asked for it.

There have also been a lot of girls that are pregnant in my classes
today. Its hard to see them so young and know that they have a very
hard road ahead of them and their kids have a hard life ahead too. Who
knows, some of these kids could have had teenage mothers themselves.

A girl in my 3rd period heard I was going to be a dentist and she told
me that was what she wanted to do too. I told her all about the
classes she would have to take and the DAT and encouraged her to work
hard. She thanked me before she left and told me she would try hard
to make it happen. It's moments like those that make me happy to be
doing this job. Its hard to take on a new group of kids every hour,
earn their trust, help them out, and know you will likely never see
them again. I wonder what will happen to the students I teach, and if
my being in their life for an hour will make any difference. For the
girl who wants to be a dentist, it could have made all the difference
in the world.

Next few jobs...

Ok, so after I worked middle school, elementary school and high
school, I worked at a magnet middle school. They actually behaved
worse than my other "regular" middle schoolers. One class of 7th
graders was especially bad and were throwing paper at each other, and
then at me while I tried to help other students with their
assignments. It was a madhouse! That is still the worst class i've
taught. Part of the problem was the fact that I made them sit in their
assigned seats, and I made them be quiet and do their work. I was
harder on them than on my other classes, and they rebelled- hard.

Next, I went back to high school and worked in special ed. Now, there
are two types of students in special ed. There are the ones with real
learning disabilities and there are the ones that are apathetic and
simply don't want to do their work. The autistic, down's, etc kids
are in a different class- this was a resource class, so they only came
for 1 period. But these kids didnt want to work at all. The ones who
did, had a really hard time grasping simple concepts, and I focused my
time with them. Then the clowns in the class would disrupt the whole
time, so I couldn't even help those who wanted it! Its important to
put Discipline before Instruction- otherwise, you won't be able to
teach anything. The class will be gone.

It still amazes me how many students show up unprepared- no pencils,
no paper, no homework... I let it slide in 3rd grade. By 5th grade
they should know better, and in high school I don't get why it's so
hard to bring a pencil or pen. In every period today, i've had at least
3 or 4 students without a writing utensil. I let one kid borrow a
pencil yesterday... I'll never see that one again! One student today came and
took my pencil off the podium without me knowing- that one's gone too!
Oh boy.

During my stay in one of the high schools, they asked me to sub for one
period with the autistic, Down's syndrome kids, etc. and I was looking
around the classroom. On the board, this was written:
" I hope everyone is at the Best Behavior while I am away!!! IF NOT,
KNOW MOVIE ON FRIDAY!"

I couldn't believe it. It was ridiculous- this teacher was teaching
special ed students- who need more help than normal ones. I love the
use of all CAPITAL letters too!

Another time in middle school, I was with the special ed kids, and they
were learning to read. The handout was on Martin
Luther King Jr. And it had so many typos that I had to keep apologizing to the students who could barely read! How were they supposed to learn to read with something so full of
errors? Please, check your handouts before you give them to the whole
class, especially if your kids can hardly read.

First few days...

Well, I have a long lunch period today, so I can write about my first
few experiences substitute teaching.

My first job was with 5th graders in a preetty nice school. The
principal was very nice and offered me a full time job, my first day
there! Kinds strange, but i figured out why later. I told her it was
my first day, and I was going to dental school in July, so I couldnt
work for more than this semester. I also wanted to see if I would sink
or swim with 5 different classes of 5th graders teaching 4 different
subjects. BTW, it was a weeklong job! The kids were a little antsy and
were asking whether I would be their new teacher. Their first teacher
went on maternity leave, they had another for 2-3 months, then she
left. So I was their new teacher. It was a great first assignment, u
learned a lot and met some great kids and faculty. My first day, the
principal told the students it was my first day (doh!) and I had to
explain to them that it wasn't ( I used my VSVS schools as examples of
places I had taught before- partially true, right?) Anyway, my next
class came in and asked me if I was a dentist, why was I subbing?
Again, damage control, had to explain about dental school and
graduating early- but I'm not new, so don't take advantage of me! The
rest of the week was pretty good, one class gave me hell like I'd
never felt before- but thats part of the job. It was kind of sad
having to leave- I thought I might get the full time position, but on
Friday I met their new teacher- she was nice and had 20yrs
experience... To my 5 days experience, so I guess she won in that
category. But, the kids didnt want me to leave and said they'd miss
me, so it was great to be a part of that while it lasted.

My second job was in elementary school. Now I was working with 3rd
graders, a different experience, different rules, and different ways
of going about business. All the chairs had cut tennis balls on the
bottom legs, kind of strange I thought. I guess it was partly for
noise and partly for safety reasons. They were pretty well behaved
too, and it was easier than 5th grade. Not as much backtalk. In middle
and elementary schools, the subs are expected to teach the lessons, so
I was teaching predicates and subjects; long division and social
studies. They really do just throw you in and hope you can swim!
Luckily I was on the swim team in high school, so I have pretty good
skills... Actually, nothing can really prepare you for facing a crowd
of kids and trying to teach them something without too many
disruptors. Not even reading books, I tried.

Third job was in high school, I was teaching ecology, whatever that
meant. I got there, passed out a worksheet and tried to keep em quiet.
That's all! I was amazed at how much less work there was! I could read
the book (Obama's) that I had brought with me! The hardest part was
keeping them from eating and listening to their music.

So that's my first few days as a sub, I'll fill in the rest of the
week soon. Gotta teach 5th period some geometry!

Teaching...and more

Some tips for the newbies...

Learn their names- it lets them know you care about them and it helps
with discipline. They won't act up as much if they know you know who
they are.

Keep your cool, its probably one of the most important things you can
do.

Be prepared, I try to arrive at least 15-20 mins early each day.

Act tough- either you work the crowd, or the crowd works you.

Its not that big of a deal- at the end of the day, you don't have to
go back if you don't want to.

Its easy to piss them off- tell them to do their work, sit in their
assigned seats, take away their drinks and drawings... Pick your
battles.

Today, I'm in high school teaching math. It's nice because they're
working silently and working hard. I taught about multiplying,
dividing, adding and subtracting fractions this morning- but taught
many students in Spanish. Gotta be versatile- too bad I don't speak
Arabic... They spoke English pretty well though.

I'm almost done with Barack Obama's first book: Dreams From My Father-
its really good. Its helped to explain some of the things I see in the
schools.

One excerpt I read yesterday was from a pastor talking with him who
had this to say about the public schools:

"The first thing you have to realize...is that the public school
system is not about educating black children. Never has been. Inner-
city schools are about social control. Period. They're operated as
holding pens- miniature jails, really... Just think about what a real
education would involve. It would start by giving a child an
understnading of himself, his world his culture, his community. That's
the starting point of any educational process. Thats what makes a
child hungry to learn- the promise of being part of something, of
mastering his environment. But for the black child, everything's
turned upside down. He's learning about someone else's history and
culture... Is it any wonder the black child looses interest in
learning?at least the girls have older women to talk to, the example
of motherhood. But the boys have nothing. Half of them don't even know
their own fathers. There's nobody to guide them through the process of
becoming a man. In every society, young men will have violent
tendencies. Either they're directed and disciplined in creative
pursuits or those tendencies destroy the young men, society, or both.
" p. 258

I agree with a lot of what this guy says- there are some big problems
in education- but its not the schools' fault- the absent fathers,
poverty, lack of discipline- all contribute to one big social problem.
I try to help as a positive influence in their lives. I learn their
names- even if I'll never see them again. I encourage them to work
hard. If all of the adults in their lives showed them just a little
love- it would go a long way. It takes a village...

( ps- I'm typing all of these on my phone...)

First Subbing Post

Well, I've started substitute teaching, and its pretty interesting. So
I figures I should share what happens with you. Its pretty crazy in
schools these days, so prepare yourself. Ive been teaching for 3 weeks
now, so I'll start by going back and telling about my previous
experiences.