Music Mondays

Everyday Sunday - Stand Up

Chorus:

I will stand up now

I will not step down

I will do my best to wear this crown

but I need You as You guide me through today

You wake up out of bed

Walk out of your castle, and then you life up your head

When will you wake up and see

it takes more than just you to get through this life?

Going around the town, maybe someone had brought him down

Different maybe, not the same, everyone thinks

He's going out there now

And all the things he has found

Everything he has is You

No more holding back as the crowd looks from afar

Everything he has is You

The Darkest Timeline

Maybe it's because I'm taking Lent more seriously than I ever have, but my attitude and disposition towards life has been rather depressed and pessimistic. Personally, this week was fraught with bad news and crummy circumstances, some of which I don't feel comfortable sharing.  But as to not keep all things in the dark, I'll expose those I can so that they may be prayed for accordingly.

Knowing that Elisabeth would be next week to go to Mississippi, Andrea and I hosted a dinner before our routine Wednesday night Bible study.  The food, the company, and the study was great, but the harsh reality of knowing that we were losing a strong, Christian woman to another place is still difficult for me to handle.  From when we first met during my senior year at college (2003), Elisabeth has been a blessing and also like a younger sister to me.  When she started living in Binghamton again after finishing college, our bond grew stronger and culminated this summer when I was teaching her how to drive.  So, for the next nine months, Elisabeth will be working with AmeriCorps to refine her carpentry skills in Mississippi.  Know full well, that I'll be waiting for her latest blog entry in The Sunshine Chronicles, and you can too, as it has been added to my blogroll on the right sidebar.

All local school districts are losing revenue and are searching for ways to close the gap.  To do so, a school needs to make sound financial decisions as well as the confidence of their taxpayers.  So, it should come to little surprise that job cuts are in the cards; it's just a matter of how many and in what departments.  Considering that I am the newest employee, I'm might be first on the chopping block.

This is the way the system has worked for years, and regardless how well a teacher does their job, when it comes to cuts, it's a hierarchy based on seniority.  If you're looking a major reason why the quality of education has been suffering over the past two decades (and especially in New York), look no further than how schools choose their educators.  If schools are looking to update and stay current with education and technology trends, then why would a school layoff those newest in the field.  Although expertise should not be thrown away at first conflict, a system to distinguish better teachers from worse ones needs to be brought into public schools.  And this system should not be dependent on years of service or age.

The last snippet of depressing news I've heard has been out of our local paper.  Two stories, released then than 24-hours apart, announced the cutting of over 100 jobs in the Binghamton area.  For those unfamiliar with the history of Binghamton and the economy, this is the last thing we need.  Between the downturn of the economy and the recent flooding (both 2006 and 2011), the economic prosperity in Binghamton is going from bad to worse.  This local region that I call my city is in a lot of need financially, but also physically and spiritually.  Although the cost of living here is low, I begin to question how many more blows can we take before move and leave Binghamton completely?

The title for the blog is pulled from a clip of the show "Community."  I haven't seen many episodes, but it looks rather entertaining.

Lenten Season 2012

Although nothing has been going terribly wrong lately, it seems like nothing is going right either.  After being sick last week, I started to notice and be more sensitive to broken people, broken relationships, and broken cities.  (And that includes my own brokenness as well.)  And all this together just made me depressed.

Given these feelings it seems appropriate that Lent is practically upon us.  If you're unfamiliar with Lent, it is a Christian season that starts at Ash Wednesday and ends Easter Sunday (or from February 22 to April 8 this year).  One traditional feature of Lent includes Christians giving up or starting a practice that will help them refocus their thoughts on God.

I've never been very good at reflecting at what things I need to eliminate from my spiritual walk, but I know what I need to start doing again - reading my Bible and praying.  Although the pair seems like it should be a basic staple, I simply just haven't done well keeping up with it on a regular basis since I started my teaching job.    So everyday for Lent, I'm going to read my Bible for 20 minutes and pray for 10 minutes.  Some days I might do more, but I'll never do less.  To help keep myself committed, I'll periodically post my readings, a few thoughts, and some of my prayers.

If you feel inclined to share what you're doing for Lent, I'd love to hear about it, as well as pray for you throughout this new season.

Music Mondays

Lecrae - Background

Hook:

I could play the background

Cause I know sometimes I get in the way

So won't You take the lead, lead, lead?

And I could play the background, background

And You could take the lead.

It's evident You run the show, so let me back down

You take the leading role, and I'll play the background

I know I miss my cues, know I forget my lines

I'm sticking to Your script, and I'm reading all Your signs

I don't need my name in lights, I don't need a starring role

Why gain the whole wide world, if I'm just going to lose my soul?

And my ways ain't purified, don't live according to Your word

I can't endure this life without Your wisdom being heard

So word to every dance, a foe, a pop star

Cause we all play the background, buy mine's a rockstar

Yeah, so if You need me I'll be stage right

Praying the whole world will start embracing stage fright

So let me fall back, and stop giving my suggestions

Cause when I follow my obsessions, I end up confessing

that I'm not that impressive, matter of fact

I am who I are, a trail of stardust leading to the superstar

I had a dream that I was captain of my soul

I was master of my fate, lost control, and then I sank

So I don't want to take the lead, cause I'm prone to make mistakes

All the folks who follow me, going to end up in the wrong place

So, let me just shadow You, let me trace Your lines

Matter of fact, just take pen, here, You create my rhymes

Cause if I do this by myself, I'm scared that I'll succeed

And no longer trust in You, cause I'll only trust in me

Add see, that's how You end up headed to destruction

Paving a road to nowhere, pour Your life out for nothing

You pulled my card, I'm bluffing, You know what's in my hand

Me, I'm just going to trust You, You cause the dice to land

I'm in control of nothing, follow You at any cost

Some call it sovereign will, all I know is You the boss

Man, I'm so at ease. I'm so content

I'll play the background, like it's an instrument.

I know I'm safest when I'm in Your will, and trust Your word

I know I'm dangerous when I trust myself, my vision blurred

And I ain't got no time to play life's foolish games

Got plenty aims, but do they really glorify Your name?

And it's a shame, the way I want to do these things for You

Don't even cling to You, take time to sit and gleam from You

Seems You were patient in my ignorance

If ignorance is bliss, it's because she never heard of this

Music Mondays

Owl City - Honey and the Bee

Don't remind me that some days I'm the windshield

And other days I'm just a lucky bug

As cold iron rails leave old mossy trails through the country side

The crow and the bean field are my best friends

But boy I need a hug

Cause my heart stops without you

There's something about you that makes me feel alive

If the green left the grass on the other side

(I would make like a tree and leave)

But if I reached for you hand would your eyes get wide?

(Who knew the other side could be so green?)

Don't remind me, I'm a chickadee in love with the sky

But that's clearly not a lot crow about

Cause when the stars silhouette me

I'm scared they'll forget me and flicker out

I taste the honey, but I haven't seen the hive

Yeah, I didn't look, I didn't even try.

But still my heart stops without you

There's something about you that makes me feel alive.

We are honey and the bee

Backyard of butterflies surrounded me

I fell in love with you like bees to honey

So let's up and leave the weeping to the willow tree

And pour our tears in the sea

I swear there's a lot of vegetables out there that crop up for air

Yeah, I never thought we were two peas in a pod until you suddenly bloomed

Then I knew that I'd always love you

(Oh, I'll always love you too)

And I reached for your hand for the rest of my life

(Who knew the other side could be so green?)

Why Grade Homework?

Yesterday, I had a conversation with one of my colleagues at school about homework.  It goes without saying that independent practice is essential to understanding and mastery of any subject or skill.  However, the traditional public school model has teachers grading homework as a means for student motivation and the main driving force for student achievement.  But, the questions that emerge from this are worth thinking about.  If teachers didn't grade the homework that they assigned, would student performance suffer, remain the same, or improve?  Are students only completing the homework for a grade, do they they actually care and study the material?  Do students want to learn?  Are they even enjoying the education process at all?

As a new educator, I would love to take the risk and see what happens if I didn't grade homework.  No doubt, I would still have students who would do the homework, not just so they do well in assessments, but also because they love learning.  However, it seems these students are far and few between.  I have a strong impression that most students would give up on homework altogether, until they realized that it was necessary to pass the class.  But at that point, they are just seeing the class as an obstacle to graduation.  Again, the love of learning and perfecting a skill is absent in that type of schooling system.  From the educator's side, the thought of not grading homework in an age where evaluations (and jobs) are weighted heavily on end-of-the-year exams is career suicide.

Personally, this says that that our schools are unable to produce many independent thinkers who are sincerely interested in learning, which could also be accurately called an educator's nightmare.  If our goal is craft the future generation into a group of people to complete menial tasks,  then we are doing the right thing.  But if we going to solve the problems of the twenty-first century, then we need an educational system that prepares those students with those goals in mind.

If you have 12 minutes to watch this, then watch and be amazed.