My Best Christmas

It's hard to say what my best Christmas memory is. I had to give this alot of thought and came up with the Christmas when I was 12 years old. In my family we are allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve every year and then get to open the rest of them on Christmas morning. On this particular year I picked a present that turned out to be a motorcycle helmet. Being only twelve my parents told me it was for when I rode my bike around our property to make sure I didn't crack my head open. As I went to bed that night I was thinking this was the worst Christmas present I'd every gotten. What kid wants to ride his bike around wearing a big blue motorcycle helmet. As you've already guessed when I came down stairs the next morning and saw my brand new Honda 80 sitting next to the tree I freaked out. I had no idea my parents were going to buy me a motorcycle. I loved that bike, and some of my fondest childhood memories are of riding it around our property. I think this is my favorite Christmas memory because I was so surprised by the gift as well as it being my favorite Christmas present of all time.

Now this really bugs me.

The CIA is under investigation for the use of certain torture techniques used on detainees from the Middle East. The idea of torture to obtain information from individuals is a nasty bit of business but not the issue that has me up in arms. What has me so upset is the fact that our government agencies now see themselves as above the law. The CIA comes out and says that it is going to investigate individuals involved in the torture as well as individuals who gave the orders. Then the CIA goes and tells several judges that are involved in the investigation to stop because the CIA is going to handle the entire investigation itself internally. Does this make any sense to any of you? When an individual or group (company) is under investigation in the US are they allowed to tell the courts that they will investigate themselves and then tell the courts what they've found. This is absolutely ridiculous, it's just another example of our government as seeing themselves as above the law and not having to answer to anybody. I find the state of our government and acting agencies appalling. They preach that America is the greatest country in the world where everybody has a say but when they are in trouble the only people who have a say are themselves. Our government is starting to resemble a totalitarian state in which the leaders in this country don't have to answer to anybody.

Issue In Education

Let me start out by saying I don't have a link to any article, this blog will address an issue that came up on Thursday in an Adaptive Physical Education (APE) meeting. Next year in the Evergreen School District we will start to administer a written test similar to the WASL in that it is standardized and is mandated by the State. The test will focus on aspects of health and fitness in physical education. At the meeting we were told that all our APE students will be required to take the test. As an APE teacher our only focus is to improve basic motor skills in students, their currently is no health and fitness in our curriculum. After looking over the test the conclusion of the APE members present, is that the language of the test at each grade level is far beyond what our students are capable of understanding. Another problem that exist is that a great number of our students can't even read do to the severity of their disability. As a APE teacher I understand the importance of health and fitness but I also understand that the amount of time needed to teach this information to my students far surpasses the amount of time I have in class. An example of this is a basic muscle test that I give my higher students at the high school each year. The test gives a picture of the human body with arrows pointing at ten specific muscles. The names of the muscles are included on the test so students simply need to attach the name to each muscle. We go over this information each day in class before an activity for two weeks before administering the test. Roughly one third of my students are able to score at seventy percent and above. The state mandated test is eight pages long including seven questions that are response driven. There is no way any of my students will be able to come close to passing this test. My dilemma is do I take the time and try to prepare my students for a test that none of them will be able to pass or do I simple focus on the curriculum that is most beneficial to my students. I have gotten my first taste of what other special education teachers are experiencing with the WASL and I don't like it one bit.

When I knew I made a difference.

When working with the student population that I do (CBC3/CBC4) making a difference in a students life is often something that seems very small to some but is a mile stone in adaptive physical education. A great deal of my students are so impacted that even the smallest change in behavior can be a huge success. One of my students in particular will take off running the minute he sees an open door. This is an extremely dangerous behavior for a very mentally retarded student. There have been numerous incidents in the past were this student will take off and none of the Aids in his classroom are able to catch him. He has ran into traffic on several occasions and will keep running until he is caught. I have to walk this class down from their classroom to the gym each day making sure he and four other students don't make a break for it. I introduced the use of a rope that each student must hold when walking to class to help minimize this dangerous behavior. Over the course of a year we slowly progressed away from the rope to marching in formation (It's the army in me). After a year's time I no longer use the rope and no longer have any students who will run for the hills the moment they see an open door. This may seem like a small victory but I consider it a huge one. I have curbed a very dangerous behavior that may have eventually resulted in the injury or death of one of my students. When working with severely impacted students you often have to look at the smallest changes in behavior as a monumental success.

My Worst Job

I've worked some pretty horrendous jobs in my time. I have crabbed, salmon fished and longlined in Alaska - none of which I would recommend for the weak of heart. I worked at a lumber mill pulling green chain and worked concrete at a concrete plant. Growing up I worked on a farm from 2nd grade until my senior year of high school during the summer. I did every thing on that farm from moving irrigation to bucking hay. My parents are firm believers in Neachies (SP?) philosophy of that which does not kill you only makes you stronger. I'm going to have to say though that the worst job I've ever had was when I was deployed to Iraq. When we first hit ground there was no form of porta potties in place so guess what we had to do with all the waste - you guessed it burn it. Nothing sucks more than having to stir a fifty gallon drum of human waste, with a fence poll, while its on fire billowing the darkest stinkiest smoke right into your face for 3 hours a day. I look back at it now as a fond memory, but at the time it couldn't of sucked more. The fire is hot, it's a hundred and fifteen degrees out and your in a flack jacket with a Kevlar helmet on your head. I'm going to have to go on record as saying this is the worst job in the world.

Vacations/Honeymoons

I've had the opportunity to see a great deal of the world but haven't been able to enjoy it in the sense of a true Vacation or Honeymoon (getting married April 3rd). My definition of a vacation is a time when you have no responsibility in an exotic or historical place. In using this definition I find that I've been on only one true vacation in my 34 years, and that was last spring break. For spring break my 2 foot 9, seven hundred pound girlfriend (Ha Ha) and I decided to go on vacation to Jamaica for 8 days. Why Jamaica? We wanted to go somewhere tropical that was a foreign country. I feel like a vacation offers so much more when it's in another country. With Jamaica you have great beaches and resorts, say like Hawaii but you also have this totally different culture when outside the States. This is what I loved the most about having the opportunity to do so much travel outside of the States. I think it's because once you've been immersed by this totally different culture you truly start to see how big the world is. It makes you feel so small, but still apart of something so much bigger then the borders of the United States. I'm saying all this when I'm getting married and vacationing in Hawaii this spring, but its much easier to get people to come to Hawaii for a wedding then to Guam. OK back to my one and only true vacation.
Jamaica was a great place to go on vacation. The thing that impressed the most were the people. Never in my life have I met people so openly friendly. The resort we stayed at was all inclusive so we weren't allowed to tip. This is what made their hospitality so much more impressive. Never once on vacation did I feel like the people there weren't truly genuine. They seemed to be so happy to be just around one another, that it was infectious. The resort we stayed at (The Royal Caribbean) was amazing. It had its own private island off the beach with its own restaurant and bar. On the other side of the island through the woods there is a private cabana that you can have dinner at, during sun set, right on the edge of the water. This is where I asked Jolyn to marry me. I couldn't of asked for a better place to do it. Other than the occasional mosquito it was perfect. I recommend Jamaica as a great place to get away, or for that matter to get engaged. I hope every body is enjoying their time away from class. See you in three weeks.

Hobbies

As I've grown older I have less and less time for hobbies thanks to this wonderful thing called responsibility. The hobbies I do have, I don't really enjoy but rather am forced to do them out of necessity rather than desire, an example of this is going to the gym and working out - can't stand it but it's the only thing holding me at two chins rather than three. The only hobby I have that I truly enjoy is reading. I read thirty six books last year which I consider to be quit a feat when I don't have alot of time on my hands. I always carry a book with me wherever I go and just pull it out to read if I have any down time. I'm an itinerant teacher so I drive from school to school and whenever I get somewhere ahead of schedule I just pull out a book and read for a few minutes. Reading is a very cheap form of entertainment that can be done anywhere yet almost all my friends don't read. If your not a reader, pick up a book and give it a chance you might just be surprised. I hope everyone has had a good four weeks and I'll see you on Saturday.

Classroom Reflection

The thing that bothers me the most is the level of motivation a great deal of my students possess. I'm an adaptive physical education teacher and when working with special education students I've come to realize that a teacher can do more harm than good with these students if they continue to allow inappropriate behavior because of a students disability. I teach all grade levels throughout the week so I've had the opportunity to watch students grow and progress throughout the educational system. What I see in many cases is that teachers are allowing special needs students more slack than general education students when it comes to behavior and participation. A great deal of my students think it's okay to quit when they find things to difficult and then feel it's okay to just sit there and not participate. What kind of lessons are we teaching by allowing this kind of behavior in school. Most of my students enter a choice program at 18 to work towards finding a job. If they are pron to quit every time they don't feel like doing something or when someone tells them to do it better are we helping them become productive members of society or are we setting them up for failure. In a national survey of American prisons 63% of inmates surveyed said they had received special education services at one time or another. This is really scary considering that the average population of special education students in a school district in Washington is around 12%. We as teachers need to hold all students accountable for their actions and promote that never quit attitude in our students. An individual who is ready to quit when things get tough is an individual who is likely to have a hard time once their out of school.

I WAN'T AN I-PHONE!!!!!

The title of this blog says it all. I've just come to the end of my 2 yr contract with Verizon. This will be the fourth year I'm with this cell phone provider and there's a lot I can say bad about them. I honestly think about everybody, on any network, can say the same kinds of things about their wireless carriers. This will always be the case when the average Joe has to sign some form of contract with big business. I'm getting off track here, back to the I-Phone. With a price of around two hundred and fifteen dollars the I-Phone's aren't cheap. I currently have the option of receiving a hundred dollars off on the next purchase of a phone with Verizon. Hear in lies the dilemma. Do I buy the I-Phone and sign up with AT&T or do I take the hundred dollars and rebates and get a high end phone like the LG Prada (not in the US yet), the supposed I-Phone killer (not likely) for close to half the price of the I-Phone. Another factor that plays into my decision making is that the I-Phone is a US product where as the Prada is Koren made. I have really tried to make a conscious effort in the last year or so to try and buy American when ever possible. I think in there lies the most basic key to stopping the current decline in the US economy on the international level. An example of a country reinvesting in itself is South Korea. South Korea in the last 10 years or so has made huge strides to becoming a major player in economic power. I lived there for a year when I was in the Army and they definitely have a system in place that promotes economic growth from within. The system is part government regulation and part national pride. The people in South Korea strictly by products made in their own country. The auto industry, a thriving part of South Korea's economy has no real international competition within Korea. The government puts a hug tax on all imports making it almost impossible to afford a car from another country. On the other hand, Hyundai is selling like crazy internationally and is starting to become a much higher priced car then when first released in the US. Now I'm way of track, my point is buy American when ever possible. As far as the phone goes I think I'm going to wait until the I-Phone comes down a bit in price then change my plan and pick one up through AT&T.

Iraq

Summing up my opinion on the Iraq war is not an easy task. I'll start by giving a little background into myself because without that you, the reader, have no idea why my opinions are the way they are. First let me start off by saying that I'm a very liberal individual, I have no faith in our government and was stationed in Baghdad for the first two years of the war. I currently have one year remaining on my military contract, which I'm serving in the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). I wanted you all to know these things about me when agreeing or disagreeing with my stance on the war.
Let my start out by saying that this war is wrong, plain and simple. We invaded a country that was not involved with 9/11 and didn't possess any of the weapons of mass destruction our President kept going on and on about. What we ultimately did was kill alot of people that had nothing to do with the current state of terrorism in the world. We effectively gave extreme Muslim groups a steady supply of new volunteers who now truly believe that we are the cause for all the wrong in the world. Our government from the start has mismanaged this war to the point that its criminal. When you have a president who's military experience is flying planes in the Texas Air Army Reserve and a Secretary of Defense who was in the Navy should they be the ones dictating what the armed forces should be doing in a combat situation? The only thing this president is good at is spreading propaganda. I read in USA today about four months ago that 23% of Americans believed that we had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I don't know what scares me more, terrorism or that 23%.
I could go on and on about how screwed up things are and how inept our government is but the bottom line to this entire equation is do we or don't we pull troops out of Iraq. This is where I surprise even myself by saying no. As much as I hate everything about this war I believe that we ultimately owe the people of Iraq a few more years before we remove our armed forces. Believe me when I say that it pains me to say this especially considering that I could be called back at any time. The reason I'm saying stay for two more is this: the idiots in Washington have finally figured out that if we stop munitions from coming in that the terrorist in Iraq will eventually run out of ammo. This is evident in the decrease of fatalities by half both civilian and military since we diverted more forces to safeguarding Iraq's borders. I'm not stating that we can ever stop terrorism I'm only saying if we help secure Iraq it may have one less place to go to ground. I also believe that we owe the Iraqi people that much, we did pretty much level half their country in the last 5 years. I also believe that the majority of the Iraqi people oppose terrorism. I do believe that the majority of them hate us but hating us is a far cry from strapping a bomb on oneself and trying to blow us up. If we abandon them and let terrorism take a strong hold in Iraq those people who hated us before but didn't support terrorism will be much more likely to support it after we have abandon them to it.
I'm going to end this blog by saying in Iraq we are dammed if we do and dammed if we don't. I hold our current government in contempt for this. There never is an easy answer to any problem when the stakes are the loss of human life. I can only hope for peace but I have a feeling that it's a long ways off.