Today was FCAT retake day. Very little learning took place. I had 11 students in my first block, second block was skipped, and I had 8 in my third block. I had planning after lunch, in which I had to cover for a teacher who was interviewing for another job (who, by the way, is the incompetent, annoying, but nice guy who "took" my job, and has had a hellish time controlling his classes). Half of his students had no books to do their work in so I annoyed them until they helped me decorate my room.

My room looks good now. Student work is up all over the place. I had my students do an art project where they created a picture that represented one of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Most picked the 1st (freedom of speech, worship, etc), 2nd (right to bear arms), 5th (search and seizure) or 8'th (cruel and unusual punishment). So I have 4 HUGE murals around the back part of my room. I also have some Freshmen work up.

I had more kids than seats in the last period of the day because I had to take care of students whose teacher was proctoring the FCAT. I focused on my kids, but the lesson took a nosedive in the first 5 minutes. So, very little learning happened in my class today, but I got a lot done. I stayed at school to finish decorating my room and grade.

I'm sleeping in until 5:45 tomorrow which feels late now. I'm tired when I get home but I am used to waking up early. The routine is starting to feel a little bit comfortable.

Last night Jesse, my housemate, and I went to an Argentian carniceria. We ordered $27 dollars worth of "flat steak" and have been eating ever since. I really like to cook. It has become a sort of therapy for me. I am very thankful that my parents bought us a grill because I use it ALL the time.

I like to come home, have a beer, and start cooking. I find myself checking out the Food Network when I am channel surfing. I think that if I wasn't teaching I would be working in a restaurant. Right now I am cooking up some fajitas.

I went to "The Grove" tonight which is the area around University of Miami. It was fun to go back to a college bar. I found myself looking down my nose at sorority girls and college dudes, but I prefer a place like The Grove rather than South Beach. Even though I finished school 6 months ago, I feel like college is so far away from me. College women still look pretty good though.

Well, tomorrow is going to suck. I plan on grading, lesson planning, and doing some laundry. Our gas is out, so I'll be going to a laundromat. That's a whole other story.

Friday was progress report day. The students carry their reports with them for the day, and each teacher fills it out during their class periods. It was very mellow, because I saw each of my classes for about 50 minutes, and they did independent work while I took care of the paperwork. Even my freshmen were relatively mellow for most of the period.

"Linden" is one of my freshmen who keeps me up at night. I am not sure what happened to his parents, but he lives with his older sister. He can be charming, but he has a very bad attitude sometimes. He goes back and forth between trying to please and insisting on being defiant. I heard him swearing on Friday so I told him he would stay for a minute with me after class. He said, "F*** that." When I said, "Excuse me?" he said, "F*** that, F*** this class, and F*** you." I took him in the hallway immediately and told hime I would be calling home. He told me he didn't give a F***.

I was sitting next to him with three minutes to go on the side table. He asked me why I was sitting so close to him, and I said it was because I liked him. "Tanesha" snickered, and I heard someone say something about me being gay. Then, Linden seemed to snap. "Are you gay Mr. Moore?" he said. "Totally innapropriate," I responded. He mimicked me..."Totally innapropriate," he said. I ignored him, but all of a sudden he was in my face. "Do you like pussy Mr. Moore?" I was shocked. I had no idea how to respond because I really didn't expect this sort of behavior from Linden. He continued. "I bet you have a small dick," he said. I just looked at him, and grabbed his arm. He struggled a little bit and the bell rang. I tried to restrain him from leaving, but he got away. I am calling his sister this weekend, and I am not allowing him back in until we have a conference and he gives me a sincere apology.

A lot of my students think I'm gay. I'm not the picture of masculinity that they are used to. I am white, nice, respectful towards women, and some of my physical motions can be on the effeminate side. My students are used to men who are stoic and physical. I am neither, and I think it throws them off. Linden's behavior would have sent me into tears a month ago, but it hardly phased me at all on Friday. That sort of thing just rolls off me now. My armour is pretty thick.

There are different worlds in Miami. It's a big city, but it doesn't really mix. You have the Jews in North Beach, the Hatians in in Little Haiti, the Blacks in Liberty City, the Spanish Speakers in Hialeah, the Whites in Downtown. These are all generalizations, but generally, Miami is separated into parts. I teach in Liberty City. I am definitely a guest there, but I feel welcome.

Sometimes you here statistics about Miami being one of the poorest cities in the country. There is a lot of poverty here, but those statistics don't take into account the wealth in the parts right out of Miami proper. There's Sunny Isles, Miami Beach, and Aventura. Along 81st St and NE 2'nd does look like another country, but there are a lot of nice cars driving buy it every day.

The business culture here sucks, but nobody seems to mind. Stuff just takes longer to get done. For example, there's been "construction" on the JFK causeway but I have yet to see "construction" going on. People don't keep appointments. Late is a relative term.

The traffic sucks, but I don't deal with it too much.

The thing I love about Miami is the diversity I see. Normally I don't appreciate it, but when I reflect, I am very glad that I see different cultures every day. I spend a lot of time in my school's culture, but I am also part of a neighborhood culture, and a teacher culture. I see Hatians, Bahamians, Mexicans, Blacks, Brazillians, and Argentinians all the time. In the streets where I live, I hear more non-english dialogue than english dialogue.

I also really like the weather. It's been humid, but it's supposed to be beautiful all winter. I'll be swimming in the ocean in November. That is pretty cool.

I love my students even when they are bad. In fact, the bad ones are often the ones who really get to my heart. The truth is, they are all good kids. Even "Daniel," a freshmen who always walks in with a sour look on his face and sort of scares me. Let me just repeat that for all those out there who think these kids are unsavable. They are all good kids.

They're just getting f***ed. Their school is disorganized and under equipped. Many of their parents are dead or in jail. Drugs are all over the place, and their culture reinforces young motherhood and gansterism. I am finding out that my "worst" students are also the ones who have had to deal with most of these problems. "Shatha" has skipped about 80% of class periods. He seems to lack all motivation. Both his parents died of AIDS. "Shandra" is defiant and downright mean sometimes. Her father killed her uncle, and just got out of jail. I don't even know what's up with my freshmen "Daniel," but I have a feeling he's been through a lot more shit than I have.

Generally, things are going well for me. I have more time for myself now that I'm into a groove. My students are done with the Constitution. Now we are moving into civil liberties, and I am really excited to teach it. I played three sets with Alex this evening. I am glad tomorrow is Friday. I plan on grading and laying low this weekend.

In the words of Ice Cube, today was a good day. I got up around noon, had a bagel and water. After that, I played tennis with my friend Alex and sweated profusely. After a lunch of steak and eggs, we played poker with some of my teaching buddies for three hours. I lost, but it was a lot of fun. Alex and I ate dinner at Las Vacas Gordas, and the meat was amazing. I ate stomach and blood sausage for the first time. I think I'm going to bed early tomorrow and do some grading in the morning.

I think that in some ways, your occupation really does define who you are. I am still getting used to the idea of being labeled a teacher, even though that's exactly what I am. But I am more of a work-to-live type person than a live-to-work one. My job is not all of me, but it is a very important part. I am a teacher, but I am also someone who just wants to be with friends, eat good food, and relax. Anyways, today was a good day.

Today was a big turnaround. They are going to fix my driver's side windshield while I am at school. I should get the rest of my truck fixed within the week. I went to bed at 9 last night because I was so exhausted. I got up at 4 this morning, and got a lot of work done before school.

Classes are going well. I basically just have a line of work for my students to do. The teacher term for it is "differentiation" but it's basically just letting students work at their own pace. "Martin" is about 25% as far through the line of work as "Freddie," who is my smartest student. Both Martin and Freddie work hard. When it comes to grades, Freddie will get a slightly better grade. The trick is to keep all students working all the time. Needless to say, that is very difficult. I pretty much spend the class period walking from student to student, answering questions, and keeping them on task. It's exhausting, but discipline is less of an issue when each student always has something to do.

When my students ask me a question, I usually respond with a question. My students get so annoyed with it, but I think it is sort of becoming my style. There is a time for just giving the answer, but my students are too used to that sort of treatment. It's so much better when you push them and then they discover the answer on their own. But sometimes they just give you a blank stare. I hate that stare.

Well, tomorrow is Friday and a three day weekend. I am looking forward to sleeping.