If I only had a brain...

Well, fresh off the presses out of Las Vegas, city of higher intellect, comes this story of two men trying to further their economic status. It reminds me much of the WalMart million dollar bill story that came out a couple years ago. However, if you want a million dollar bill, you can buy them here for less than 10 cents a piece. Although I laugh at these stories, it also saddens me that our educational system turns out people this stupid. In my class, we write checks for class privileges. It works as not only a way of promoting good behavior with positive reinforcement, it also teaches important life skills. My kids have yet to try to pass one of my class checks. These stories serve as good reminders to what happens to people who try to commit fraud.

Comparing T.O. to my students

Terrel Owens must not have felt that he was receiving enough attention from the media latley, so he decided to spit in the face of DeAngelo Hall. What a class act. I am not sure what Terrel Owens was like in high school or what his life was like growing up, but I can imagine and guess a few things. First, he was (or at least could have been) in Special Education. I don't say that in a deragotory way. I say that from experience as a teacher of students with emotional disturbances. I see so many parallels to T.O.'s behavior to that of my students it's not even funny (although I do laugh sometimes). One of the key characterstics that my students share is the need to bring attention to themselves in any way possible. T.O. seems to need to have the spotlight in his face all of the time. My students will often throw temper tantrums, argue, swear, yell at each other, yell at me, throw things, break things, etc, etc, etc (you can pretty much plug in the behavior of an angry two year old and that's what behaviors can emerge at any given time). For fun, I found an article highlighting some of T.O.'s calls for attention and thought I would compare that to behaviors I have observed in my classes throughout the years.

T.O.: 2004 - In an interview with Playboy magazine, Owens hinted that ex-teammate Jeff Garcia was gay, a claim he later recanted.
My classes: Students will always call others names, especially when they can't accept their own short comings. It is a way for them to put the blame for something they did on someone or something else in an attempt to avoid the real problem from being exposed.

T.O.: 2005 - After hinting that he might hold out of training camp, Owens shows up with a bad attitude, refusing to acknowledge the media or speak to his teammates. After a confrontation with head coach Andy Reid, he was suspended for one week.
My classes: If they don't want to be at school that day (there might be a test or maybe they just didn't sleep well) they will have a bad attitude at best and do what they can to get themselves suspended for at least a week.

T.O.: 2006 - On July 5, Owens released a tell-all book revealing his side of the story associated with his time in Philadelphia.
My classes: There are always two sides to every story. It is usually best to make sure you are wearing your hip-waders when listening to their side however.

T.O.: 2006 - On September 26, Owens was taken by ambulance to Baylor University Medical Center for what was thought to be a suicide attempt. The following day, Owens denied trying to kill himself, claiming a mixture of pain pills and supplements caused him to be "out of it" when talking to emergency respondents
My classes: Students will often talk about killing themselves. 99% of the time I know it is not serious, but I still need to report it. I have never had a student actually go through with this threat, it is just a call for attention but still needs to be taken serious. Notice all of the attention T.O. received after this.

T.O.: 2006 - On December 16, in a victory over the Atlanta Falcons, Owens spit in the face of cornerback DeAngelo Hall.
My classes: I actually had a student fill up a water bottle with urine and dump it out on a study carrel in the corner of my room (those are the desks with sides, like mini-cubicles).

The last incident had me "pissed" off (bad pun intended). Although I did not see who did it, I know exactly who it was. I know my students and their behaviors well enough. I had two choices when this incident happened. I could have acknowledged that it happened and brought attention to it or I could ignore it. I ignored it, until after school in which I cleaned it up. I never once mentioned it. You see, much like T.O., this student wanted attention. This same student used to write in pencil on his desk, "fuck off" all the time. (He did at one time branch out his horizons and write, "fuck the world"). Funny thing is, it wasn't hurting anyone, so I ignored it and it stopped. It still arises from time to time, but not in the frequency it was at the begining of the year. That student has not yet tried to repeat his actions because he does not get the desired outcomes. As mad as it made me, I realize this kid has mental issues. Some things are his fault, some are not. He needs attention for doing the positive things that he does, like his school work or helping me with my recycling.

This is why I state T.O. could have been in special education. He needs attention. Early in his career he was getting it for all of the positive things he was doing on the field as a player. When that attention started to wane and shifted to other people, his negative behaviors started increasing so that he would be back in the spotlight.

Disappointment

Today was commencement at that other university in the state in which I finished my MA in. I wasn't really planning on going, but I had a fellow teacher who was in my cohort whose husband passed away a couple of months ago and it was important for him that she finish and walk so I went as moral support because I knew it would be an emotional time for her. It wasn't too much different from any other graduation. They still have Graduate and Undergraduate ceremonies at the same time and there were about 3,000 grads total. To speed things up, they had two readers. Although I understand the need to get things going (it was a 2 1/2 hour ceremony), the readers were terrible. They would run over each other and call names at the same time (probably happend about 50 or 6o times. Additionally, I don't think they had language experts reading the names. When my name was read, it was mispronounced, badly. I have heard my name misprounounced because admittedly it isn't an easy name to say. However, the mispronunciation was not one that is common. As I crossed the stage, I just shook my head in disgust and think I even muttered, "that's fucking bullshit," to myself. I wonder if the lipreaders were able to see that on the jumbotron that they were televising the ceremony on. I think if I were a parent who jsut shelled out tens of thousands of dollars to see my kid better him/herself, I would be a little pissed off. The amount of diversity at unlv is pretty large, so I can't even imagine how many foreign and ethnic names got butchered today. Oh well. The important thing is that the university that I care about got it right. This proves once again where the academic superiority is within the state of Nevada. Plus, I didn't pay for any of the "degree" so I guess I can't complain too much. At least my diploma was spelled correctly.

Walk of Shame

Well, tommorrow should be an interesting day at work after Nevada's disappointing loss to unlv. I can only imagine that my inbox will be flooded with comments. Unfortunately, they will be deservedly so. I watched the game on television and I was disappointed by the team as a whole. It looked fairly obvious that Faz is still hurt. It was the first time I had an opportunity to see McGee and I was impressed with what little time he was on the court. Poor ball handling. Poor shooting. Poor effort in the first half. Needless to say, despite the fact that we are still a better team, unlv deserved to win that game. Kruger had his troops prepared and Fox didn't. He marched them into what could have been an (even more) embarrassing bloodbath had the team continued their poor play into the second half.
Despite that, it may not be the worst thing for the team in the long run. We needed to lose eventually. Yes, I would rather it be against anyone besides unlv, but it still needed to happen. If the kids on the team truly understand the importance of the Nevada/unlv rivalry, then this will make them a better team. This minor setback could be what propels us up to the next level. Even though we have been playing good ball, it hasn't been dominating. We play well enough to win, but realistically we haven't been sending any messages that we are a legitmate contender. We need to regroup, refocus, and retalliate with a beating of St. Mary's. Reading the RGJ, you would think that the world has come to an end and we are near total collapse. Embarrassing, yes. Time to panic, no. Everyone needs to keep their heads and chins up. My chin will be up Monday as it prepares to take all of the shots that will be coming my way. As a proud Pack member, I will take it like a man and stand by my team.

On a side note, I will be going to the Rose Bowl. I will be having a very long day at work on January 2nd (still not as long as tomorrow), but I will experience one of the greatest traditions in college sports.

Damn you, CCSD

As a whole, I enjoy my job. However, there are things about my employer that I don't care for. At this particular moment, I am not too terribly happy with the fact that in Las Vegas, we will start school back on January 2nd. I have an opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl on January 1st. However, this would mean driving back to Las Vegas from LA after the game. Best estimate with light traffic would get me back in town around 10 pm. However, I have made that drive and on a holiday weekend, there will be plenty of idiots and accidents to muck up the roads. I have thought about taking that day off of work, but unfortunately I have a work ethic that won't allow me to do it. The real problem stems from the fact that our break is earlier than everyone elses. Oh well, I guess I will have to watch it on TV.

Back to Back

Normally I don't cheer for any team from the south. However, since I teach at Las Vegas High School, an exception needed to be made in this case. LVHS defeated Galena handily in the 4A state football championship 33-6 this afternoon. If you want to know more, read about it in either the LVRJ or RGJ on Sunday. My hats off go to Galena for surprising most people who follow high school football in the state for even making the finals. They played well in the first half and went into the locker room down by only one, at 7-6. However, the Wildcats demonstrated why they are the defending state champs and came out with their adjustments to turn the game into a romp. Congratulations are in order to the coaching staff at LVHS. Also, as a coach in other sports, the administration and boosters of LVHS need to be thanked for their continued support of athletics. I have been fortunate enough to coach at two schools (Sparks High and Las Vegas High) where the schools have been supportive of athletics. It makes not only coaching enjoyable, but also makes teaching that much easier since I don't have to stress over anything coaching related.