First of all, the soccer season is now officially over, which means I no longer have an excuse for having poor eating and sleeping habits. It is certainly bittersweet; for one thing, it was a great experience and I feel like I could really be an effective coach of my very own team if I were able to put all my energy into it. I am a better soccer player on my own team now, and I have a good relationship with pretty much all the JV players. A couple of them are in my classes, so the good relationship killed two birds with one stone. That being said, I'll be the first to admit that I haven't complained this much since the beginning of my teaching stint. You might say that that was not that long ago, but for the craziness that happens daily on the job, I'd say that it was a VERY long time ago. Since the beginning of November I have been saying that I really like coaching except for the fact that it is killing me slowly but surely. In all likelihood, the limited amounts of sleep each night for the last three months have actually probably taken a few years off. I'm sure the sodium level in my revised freezer food diet contributes just as much, so my first resolution is to start eating real food again.
It is going to be hard to explain to the other coaches that I can't be involved next year, but the fact of the matter is that I could have been such a better teacher these last few months. It kills me to think of where my students could be right now if only I had had the time to hold mandatory tutoring after school for students who really needed it back in Chapter 3. Then again, it would have killed me to not do the coaching bit and wonder what I could have been like. I think I can be good at both positions, teaching and coaching, but not at the same time. It wasn't too hard to realize this fact after thinking about my endless weeks of emergency lesson planning on the day of each lesson. I truly am blessed with luck to have always had an effective plan by the time the bell rang each period. There were some nail-biter days, but I made it through without any scars, so I call that a success. Naturally, I now think that I will have SO much extra time to do all the things I could never get done before, but now that soccer is truly over, I can feel myself thinking of all the procrastination tactics that I never had time for before. Isn't that pathetic? The one saving grace I guess for the last three months was that I must have been pretty efficient at getting things done. I've been in "oh shit" mode this entire time and the way I can tell is that I woke up this morning sick for the first time this entire school year. You can usually tell when I have just gotten over a very stressful experience because I'm either sick or have canker sores and/or acne.
The coaches I worked with were very knowledgeable about soccer tactics and practice strategies, and I now have a way better tactical view of the game. It was also very interesting to be involved with a primarily Hispanic/Latino soccer team to see how they play, their strengths and weaknesses, and their perspectives of the game. For one, it is a common thought in these kids' heads that the referee is racist, which was very interesting to me. There were actually many times where I couldn't decide if the referee was appearing to harbor a little racism or if he was simply one of the worst refs I've ever seen. As a coach I felt more and more like I was able to empathize with the players. This is especially the case because our away games often reminded me how different my primarily white upper-middle class high school experience was, and all I could think about was how the other team's families in the stands probably have absolutely no idea the kind of world our players live in. I could go on and on about living in close quarters with way too many people with not enough money and no health care, but I think I'll leave it at that. I take a little pride from being able to sit with our team and laugh at the fact that two home games were rescheduled to be earlier so that the away team wouldn't have to be in Richmond so late. They have no idea. But I guess if you view your surroundings based on how the local news presents it to you, you're just plain ignorant. Plus, our local news is laughable in how awful it is.
And this segues perfectly into the story of yesterday. We are on a Monday hot-streak this month, but this one takes the cake. To preface, I will remind you that all of my students also share the same English teacher, so in second period English yesterday, one of my students pleaded with the teacher to get a drink of water because his mouth felt dry and numb and he was beginning to feel nauseous. To any slightly experienced teacher, this screams DRUGS right away, and coincidentally, it was nearly identical to the incident earlier in the year when one of my students took ecstasy right before English class as well. As it turned out, he was high on marijuana, but it was because of a pot brownie he had been given. Despite what your first impressions might be, this kid had never done any drugs or anything like this before, so when shit hit the fan and his parents, the school administration and the police were involved, he was sobbing, half because of the fact that he still had such an intense body high and was still nauseous. It turned out being only the tip of the iceberg though, because there was a huge investigation into where he got it, which turned into a ridiculous list of "he/she gave it to me," involving some 15 students. In the end, all signs pointed to a student in my class with a B average who was a great kid with no behavior problems ever. I still can't believe that he was the one selling pot brownies on campus for $8 a pop. He admitted it though, and apparently he's been doing it for some four months now! There is even one girl who needs counseling now because she thinks she is addicted to the brownies. The worst part about it though is the back-story to why this kid has turned drug-dealer. According to him, and I totally believe him, his dad has been making him sell them to turn a profit. Apparently somebody owes his dad a lot of money, and the only way he can pay him is in pounds of weed. Hence the pot brownies. Of course, when the dad got called in, he denied it all; I don't know what to think about that. Personally, I would say that it is his fault that his son is now expelled from Richmond High. Usually teachers can vouch for students in cases where a student is caught doing something totally uncharacteristic, but since he's been dealing at school for so long, there is nothing that can be done. It's sad. He had such potential. This place never ceases to amaze me.
I'd rather end on a happy note though, so I thought one of my student's poems from English class would be nice to share. The structure of the poem was the same for all students, but it's still pretty awesome and it really highlights the importance of diversity in a child's educational experience. Of course, the English teacher has told me that she wishes the assignment had more of an impact on disrespectful comments in class...
Just because I'm Mexican
Doesn't mean you have the right to call me a "beaner"
Doesn't mean I eat tacos, burritos, and tamales
And doesn't mean I drink.
Just because I'm Mexican
Doesn't mean I only speak Spanish
Doesn't mean I can't learn new stuff
And talk funny with an accent.
Just because I'm Mexican
Doesn't mean there is a party at my house every day with loud Mexican music
Doesn't mean I will end up in a fast-food restaurant or a low-paying job
And certainly doesn't mean I need to have a darker skin tone.
Just because I'm Mexican
Why do you boss me around?
Why do you call me names that make me feel bad?
Why do you treat me differently
Just because I'm Mexican
The poetry unit in English is the time of year that I learn the most about my students simply from the things they write. The English teacher shares some of them with me, but most students do not hesitate to read their poems aloud to the rest of the class or to hang them on the wall for everyone to see. Right now they are doing a poem about their life, and it reads, "If you could live my life, you would see... you would hear... you would smell... you would feel... you would taste... if you could live my life." I've said it once and I'll say it again: it's amazing the amount of larger-than-life adult-sized problems that these kids deal with on a daily basis.
Darn it. I really tried to end on a happy note.
:)
There.
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