I woke up Monday morning and lay in bed peeking at Good Morning America. I wish I could say that I spring out of bed like the Caped Crusader chasing the Joker, but I can't. It is much more like a rock rolling down the hill. I start slow, and end with a crash.
After my family's Disney trip, I was worn out my first day back. I looked up at the TV just in time to see that Randy Pausch died last week. I had no idea. I wanted to cover my head and stay in bed the rest of the day.
If you don't know who Randy Pausch was, you need to watch this You Tube Video (it is an hour and 16 min long and worth every min., even if you have seen it before). He has been on TV including Oprah, GMA, Dateline, and tonight, Tuesday, July 29, on "Primetime" at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
I don't know why his death has bothered me so much. Maybe it is because his family lives just a few miles away from me in Chesapeake, VA. It could be because my Mother, and Father-In-Law died from cancer, and I hate the disease. It might be because he was close to my age, was involved in education, and had similar interests. Perhaps I am upset because he has three young children and I picture how they will miss him as they grow up.
I think that perhaps the biggest reason that I am upset is because I loved the message from his Last Lecture. It is the way I want to live my life, but somehow I have never quite been able to live up to that goal. I guess I am just selfish and afraid I am not up to the task without an inspiring teacher to show me the way.
Showing posts with label youtube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label youtube. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Most Horrible Word in the World
My son knows the "Mother" of all bad words. Calvin is 9 years old and knows the F-bomb. I know this because when a fellow boy scout asked him if he knew any curse words he jumped right in with the spelling. He didn't say it, he spelled f_ _ _. At a camp out breakfast in front of the other boy scouts, and their parents!
All the other parents turned away, refusing to meet my eye. Their public shunning was a way of saying, "You are a potty mouth man! It is your fault my child can now spell THE bad word."
In the silence of the morning I screamed, "Where did you learn that word? I don't say it! Your mother doesn't say it! Where did you hear that!?" I had to say that loudly so that everyone would know that the filthy word that slimed its way from my son's mouth in the form of four offensively joined letters, could not have come from me.
As amazingly unbelievable as that my seem, I am proud to say that it is true. I was able to master the technique of suppressing the urge to utter words from the naughty list early in my career as a kindergarten teacher. I can turn it off just like it was a light switch. My wife has this ability, too. We do not watch offensive programming when the children are around, and avoid any situation in which our children would encounter questionable language.
The funny thing is that by the time I was in fifth grade, I was a heavy user of vulgarity. I wallowed in the creative use of the f-word. Adjective, noun, verb, adverb and interjection. I would have contests with my friends to see how many times the word could be used in one sentence. Times were different then. I had limited adult supervision, and a father who had an extremely short temper and was an artistic master in the use of curse words. Good times...
Deep inside of me was a teenaged version of myself laughing hysterically at the predicament I found myself in now. I loudly tried to convince the world that I had done everything possible to keep my oldest child from obtaining this, the most secret of all words. The Ultimate Bad Word. So, again I demanded from him, "Where did you hear that word?"
I can tell from his reaction that he really has no idea of the potential extreme trouble he is in. His expression slowly changes from a smile to a frown as he sees my face contort with rage. Then he says, "I heard it from Savannah." He blames his 6 year old sister!
Unbelievable! I can't even speak now. Jumbled up sounds come out of me. I am not able to form a complete word. There is no way this is possible. Not my little angel... There is simply no way that filth has spread to my beautiful little princess.
I manage to calm myself and give him the, "We will talk about this later," line that is designed to instill fear in every child, but what it really means is that I have no clue as to what to do, or say, and I need the extra time to make a plan.
Almost as soon as we hit the car on the drive out of the camp grounds I am back to the subject. The poor kid is losing it and starting to cry. I don't want that. I want him to learn from the experience, not be crushed by it. So I told him that I understand what it is like to be a kid and say things that shouldn't be said. I told him about the time that I was 7 and screamed A-hole at the teenager on the basketball court and was dragged to the car by my highly embarrassed parents who were watching a tennis match nearby. I missed Walt Disney World on TV that night and didn't even understand what I had said. Life is unfair when you are a kid.
My son started to cheer up, especially when I told him about the time in second grade when I was sure I could roar exactly like a lion. So I did- in the middle of class. The worst part was that I was positive that I had done this only in my head. Was I surprised when the teacher yanked me out of my seat for a pow-wow!
As he relaxed we were able to talk again and I discovered some important information. He heard the terrible word on YouTube! He had been watching some movies about Sonic the Hedgehog. I thought that I was monitoring him more closely than that. As soon as I realized that he was wandering away from the areas that I selected as safe for him, I banned him from using it. But I was too late, the damage was done.
He also did not know what the F- word meant. So, I was forced to allow the memory of my innocent little baby to slip away, and wedge the image of a growing young man into its place. This was very painful for me. I did my best without visual aids to describe the human body and how things fit together in the way that nature had intended for the continuation of the species. This was not the way I had planned the experience to be. I also did not plan to be so uncomfortable about it. Where was the giggling teenage version of me now?
I guess the best thing about this incident was that we agreed on a hand signal that would let my son know he needed to stop talking immediately or he would run the risk of super trouble. The zip your lip now signal. I explained to him that there are many times that he might say something that was wrong for some reason that I would not be able to explain beforehand. This signal will hopefully allow us to avoid a embarrassing situation for the grown ups and keep him off restriction.
My little boy is growing up. You can't protect children from the ugliness of the world forever. It just has a way of seeping in and staining us all. I did my best to build a wall and hide my son behind it, but that wasn't enough.
YouTube! Gosh Darn it! I should have known better...
All the other parents turned away, refusing to meet my eye. Their public shunning was a way of saying, "You are a potty mouth man! It is your fault my child can now spell THE bad word."
In the silence of the morning I screamed, "Where did you learn that word? I don't say it! Your mother doesn't say it! Where did you hear that!?" I had to say that loudly so that everyone would know that the filthy word that slimed its way from my son's mouth in the form of four offensively joined letters, could not have come from me.
As amazingly unbelievable as that my seem, I am proud to say that it is true. I was able to master the technique of suppressing the urge to utter words from the naughty list early in my career as a kindergarten teacher. I can turn it off just like it was a light switch. My wife has this ability, too. We do not watch offensive programming when the children are around, and avoid any situation in which our children would encounter questionable language.
The funny thing is that by the time I was in fifth grade, I was a heavy user of vulgarity. I wallowed in the creative use of the f-word. Adjective, noun, verb, adverb and interjection. I would have contests with my friends to see how many times the word could be used in one sentence. Times were different then. I had limited adult supervision, and a father who had an extremely short temper and was an artistic master in the use of curse words. Good times...
Deep inside of me was a teenaged version of myself laughing hysterically at the predicament I found myself in now. I loudly tried to convince the world that I had done everything possible to keep my oldest child from obtaining this, the most secret of all words. The Ultimate Bad Word. So, again I demanded from him, "Where did you hear that word?"
I can tell from his reaction that he really has no idea of the potential extreme trouble he is in. His expression slowly changes from a smile to a frown as he sees my face contort with rage. Then he says, "I heard it from Savannah." He blames his 6 year old sister!
Unbelievable! I can't even speak now. Jumbled up sounds come out of me. I am not able to form a complete word. There is no way this is possible. Not my little angel... There is simply no way that filth has spread to my beautiful little princess.
I manage to calm myself and give him the, "We will talk about this later," line that is designed to instill fear in every child, but what it really means is that I have no clue as to what to do, or say, and I need the extra time to make a plan.
Almost as soon as we hit the car on the drive out of the camp grounds I am back to the subject. The poor kid is losing it and starting to cry. I don't want that. I want him to learn from the experience, not be crushed by it. So I told him that I understand what it is like to be a kid and say things that shouldn't be said. I told him about the time that I was 7 and screamed A-hole at the teenager on the basketball court and was dragged to the car by my highly embarrassed parents who were watching a tennis match nearby. I missed Walt Disney World on TV that night and didn't even understand what I had said. Life is unfair when you are a kid.
My son started to cheer up, especially when I told him about the time in second grade when I was sure I could roar exactly like a lion. So I did- in the middle of class. The worst part was that I was positive that I had done this only in my head. Was I surprised when the teacher yanked me out of my seat for a pow-wow!
As he relaxed we were able to talk again and I discovered some important information. He heard the terrible word on YouTube! He had been watching some movies about Sonic the Hedgehog. I thought that I was monitoring him more closely than that. As soon as I realized that he was wandering away from the areas that I selected as safe for him, I banned him from using it. But I was too late, the damage was done.
He also did not know what the F- word meant. So, I was forced to allow the memory of my innocent little baby to slip away, and wedge the image of a growing young man into its place. This was very painful for me. I did my best without visual aids to describe the human body and how things fit together in the way that nature had intended for the continuation of the species. This was not the way I had planned the experience to be. I also did not plan to be so uncomfortable about it. Where was the giggling teenage version of me now?
I guess the best thing about this incident was that we agreed on a hand signal that would let my son know he needed to stop talking immediately or he would run the risk of super trouble. The zip your lip now signal. I explained to him that there are many times that he might say something that was wrong for some reason that I would not be able to explain beforehand. This signal will hopefully allow us to avoid a embarrassing situation for the grown ups and keep him off restriction.
My little boy is growing up. You can't protect children from the ugliness of the world forever. It just has a way of seeping in and staining us all. I did my best to build a wall and hide my son behind it, but that wasn't enough.
YouTube! Gosh Darn it! I should have known better...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Why I Love S.O.L.'s
The Standards of Learning Testing Season is fast approaching. All over the state of Virginia teachers are busily drilling kids with the vitally important information that the state has said they must know. Questions like, who made the first American flag? Every American knows the answer, Betsy Ross. Except that is not exactly true. History is funny that way. You can check yourself, if you like...
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/betsy-ross-did-not-design-the-first-american-flag.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States
I bring this up because I passed a 3rd grade class in the hall the other day and there was a teacher with a handful of test questions quizing her kids as they waited to use the bathroom. I stopped for a second to join in and answer a question about George Washington Carver. Then came the Betsy Ross question. Immediately, I knew that Betsy Ross was not the answer (I am a History Channel addict). I looked at the teacher and she at me and then she quickly whispered, "Don't say it. That is not on the the test." I was shocked.
That reminded me of this little video on YouTube. I tried to embed the YouTube beneath (direct link).
Isn't it important to teach kids the truth? Or is it more important to teach what is on the test?
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/betsy-ross-did-not-design-the-first-american-flag.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States
I bring this up because I passed a 3rd grade class in the hall the other day and there was a teacher with a handful of test questions quizing her kids as they waited to use the bathroom. I stopped for a second to join in and answer a question about George Washington Carver. Then came the Betsy Ross question. Immediately, I knew that Betsy Ross was not the answer (I am a History Channel addict). I looked at the teacher and she at me and then she quickly whispered, "Don't say it. That is not on the the test." I was shocked.
That reminded me of this little video on YouTube. I tried to embed the YouTube beneath (direct link).
Isn't it important to teach kids the truth? Or is it more important to teach what is on the test?
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