It's been awhile since I have blogged. This school year has been crazy busy. I had no coaching jobs or after school obligations during my first year of teaching. This year was completely different. I coached at the high school and junior high. I started the year doing high school girls' tennis. The season was so much fun. Even though we didn't win any matches as a team, the season was productive and a learning experience for everyone involved. I am proud of my girls and their efforts to get better. I can't wait for the 2013 fall season. We will be much tougher this year and my varsity team has worked so hard in the off season.
I had only one month off before the next sport. I was the junior high basketball coach. Girls and boys are so different and cannot be coached the same way. The boys were excited to get started. We got bounced in the semi finals of playoffs last year and lost our two best players. This year we were young and worked very well as a team. We made playoffs again but ended up losing to the eventual champs. The junior high seasons are so short that we didn't fully hit our stride. We have been working with the kids in AAU and am very excited for next season. They are hungry and want a championship.
Next up was junior high girls' volleyball. Uneventful really. Right after girls' volleyball, boys' tennis started. Again a team with no experience. Uneventful tennis season also.
The school year is quickly wrapping up and I have been reflecting on the past year. I have been reflecting on life at school and my personal life. There are a lot of holes in my personal life that need to be filled and things that need to change. I have decided that this summer is going to be spent on fixing those holes and fixing me. I have been so concerned with coaching and teaching this year that I have forgotten about me completely. This summer is going to be 100% about me and figuring out how to fix and fill these holes in life.
Sincerely,
Asian Andy
Monday, May 27, 2013
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Year 2
It's been awhile since I have updated this so here's what has been going on in life. I spent my summer in Montana. At first I didn't know whether or not to be excited to hang around home for two months. June turned out to be a crappy month considering it rained pretty much every day of the month. But once July came it was nothing but golf. If I wasn't on the golf course playing, I was on the golf course caddying. This job turned out to be a fantastic opportunity. I got to caddy for some pretty cool people. Some quickly finished and then it was back to Utah and reality.
Tennis started on July 30th. We have a very young team. We have only two juniors, nine sophomores, and three freshman. My number one singles player is a freshman and number two is a sophomore. My number one doubles team just started playing tennis this past year. Coaching girls is very taxing on my patience. Sometimes I just want to scream and yell at them but I know if I do that i'll lose some of them. My number one is so close to winning matches but yet has but together an i entire match for a win. She lost 4-6, 4-6 her first match and just lost 5-7, 4-6 to a girl who advanced to the second round of the state tournament. I'm so proud of the way she has handled playing juniors and seniors. I can't wait for her to get older and hit with some more pace. The season has gone by very quickly. I only have two weeks left of the season.
School started only two weeks ago and it has gone very well so far. My PE classes this year have gone so much more smoothly. They have heard all the rumors about my class from last year and how much they run if they are disrespectful and they have all fallen in line thus far. I have been hired ad the boys' basketball coach at the junior high. I'm looking forward to this season. I am already thinking we are going to be 10 deep with kids I feel comfortable putting on the court. It should be a great season. The boys are looking forward to it too. They have all heard I have been made coach and they keep bugging me to hold open gyms already. Season doesn't start until November. They remember what the feeling was like when they lost in the playoffs last year and want to redeem themselves.
Tennis started on July 30th. We have a very young team. We have only two juniors, nine sophomores, and three freshman. My number one singles player is a freshman and number two is a sophomore. My number one doubles team just started playing tennis this past year. Coaching girls is very taxing on my patience. Sometimes I just want to scream and yell at them but I know if I do that i'll lose some of them. My number one is so close to winning matches but yet has but together an i entire match for a win. She lost 4-6, 4-6 her first match and just lost 5-7, 4-6 to a girl who advanced to the second round of the state tournament. I'm so proud of the way she has handled playing juniors and seniors. I can't wait for her to get older and hit with some more pace. The season has gone by very quickly. I only have two weeks left of the season.
School started only two weeks ago and it has gone very well so far. My PE classes this year have gone so much more smoothly. They have heard all the rumors about my class from last year and how much they run if they are disrespectful and they have all fallen in line thus far. I have been hired ad the boys' basketball coach at the junior high. I'm looking forward to this season. I am already thinking we are going to be 10 deep with kids I feel comfortable putting on the court. It should be a great season. The boys are looking forward to it too. They have all heard I have been made coach and they keep bugging me to hold open gyms already. Season doesn't start until November. They remember what the feeling was like when they lost in the playoffs last year and want to redeem themselves.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Year 1 is Completed!!!
I can't believe it is over. My first year as a teacher wrapped up on June 1st. The year definitely had its highs and lows but for the most part, the whole year was a high. So many good things happened during this first year at Brockbank JHS. I got right into the activities. I volunteered a ton of my time but it was well worth it. I first started an after school fitness program. This got a wide variety of people involved, not just the athletes. Obesity is a such a problem with young people and it was great to see some of these overweight kids take the initiative to join our fitness program. Then I got involved with the boys' and girls' basketball teams. With the boys, we had our best season in ten years and finished third in our district tournament. Once the season ended, I ran the off season workouts and the boys have progressed so much in the past six months. After basketball was volleyball. I have never played volleyball and the only prior knowledge I had of volleyball was that the girls while I was in high school wore those awesome spandex shorts. Our girls had much more modest shorts. We finished 3-4 but made the playoffs for the first time in a few years. The girls were so fun to coach because they wanted to learn and they had a great time doing it. After volleyball ended, I continued the offseason workouts for basketball.
Spring
Somehow volunteering for basketball and volleyball got me roped into doing boys' soccer. This have no knowledge about. I don't know why I did it, but the boys' are a great group of kids. I am proud of the way two of the boys progressed from the beginning of the year. I had two boys in my PE class that were complete nightmares. So athletic but had no drive and didn't give a crap about anything. They were mouthy and we had a lot of problems at the beginning. I sat down with them and had a good heart to heart chat with them. I think I may have gotten through to them. I have my classes write letters to next year's classes and the students give the new students advice on how to succeed in my class. Here is Johnny's letter:
Dear 8+er
First thing, don't piss off Walker! If you do, he will make your entire year hell. Don't say shut up, don't mouth off, don't make fun of his height. As much as he says he doesn't care, he really does. The one thing he taught me was respect. He taught me that in order for you to get respect, you need to show it. I was a bad kid in the beginning of the year and he didn't show me respect. Once I started showing him respect, things got better so show him respect and he will respect you.
From a Concerned 9+er
Johnny
This kid gets it. Such a great kid. He improved in all of his classes. Not just behavior but his grades went up. He used to be below a 2.0 and now he is up to a 3.0. He came to me after third quarter so proud of his 3.1 GPA. I was proud too. I would like to say it was just me, but he did a lot of good work and he has started to put it all together. Now let me tell you about Shamar. Shamar is from Jamaica. So fast! He won every single 100m and 200m race this year in track. But he doesn't take school...actually anything...serious. He likes to goof around and just have a good time. He is still that way but he knows there is a time and a place for it. Shamar's letter
Dear 8+er
Don't ever ever never goof off around Walker. He hates it. He likes class to be serious and when he tells you something to do, you do it, or you will run. If you are bad, the class will have to run. If you piss him off, you will have bad consequences. He likes to have fun too, but not all the time. You have to find the line of when to have fun and when not to have fun. Don't cross that line. He gets angry and will yell at you in front of the whole class. Don't tell him your crush either, he will try to "help" you out by sitting you next to her. It sounds nice, but it aint. Good luck LOL
Shamwow (Shamarito)
These kids are amazing. I wish I could have been here two years earlier to have these kids more. This year has been filled with a lot of good things. I also was chosen by the district to receive a grant to get a classroom set of iPads or laptop computers. I will have enough for every student to be able to use one in the class. I am stoked for this opportunity. I also got hired as the boys' and girls' tennis coach at Cyprus High School. On top of all this, I have been asked to have a student teacher next year. I find this to be a major compliment from my administrator. Life is good at Brockbank Junior High School.
Spring
Somehow volunteering for basketball and volleyball got me roped into doing boys' soccer. This have no knowledge about. I don't know why I did it, but the boys' are a great group of kids. I am proud of the way two of the boys progressed from the beginning of the year. I had two boys in my PE class that were complete nightmares. So athletic but had no drive and didn't give a crap about anything. They were mouthy and we had a lot of problems at the beginning. I sat down with them and had a good heart to heart chat with them. I think I may have gotten through to them. I have my classes write letters to next year's classes and the students give the new students advice on how to succeed in my class. Here is Johnny's letter:
Dear 8+er
First thing, don't piss off Walker! If you do, he will make your entire year hell. Don't say shut up, don't mouth off, don't make fun of his height. As much as he says he doesn't care, he really does. The one thing he taught me was respect. He taught me that in order for you to get respect, you need to show it. I was a bad kid in the beginning of the year and he didn't show me respect. Once I started showing him respect, things got better so show him respect and he will respect you.
From a Concerned 9+er
Johnny
This kid gets it. Such a great kid. He improved in all of his classes. Not just behavior but his grades went up. He used to be below a 2.0 and now he is up to a 3.0. He came to me after third quarter so proud of his 3.1 GPA. I was proud too. I would like to say it was just me, but he did a lot of good work and he has started to put it all together. Now let me tell you about Shamar. Shamar is from Jamaica. So fast! He won every single 100m and 200m race this year in track. But he doesn't take school...actually anything...serious. He likes to goof around and just have a good time. He is still that way but he knows there is a time and a place for it. Shamar's letter
Dear 8+er
Don't ever ever never goof off around Walker. He hates it. He likes class to be serious and when he tells you something to do, you do it, or you will run. If you are bad, the class will have to run. If you piss him off, you will have bad consequences. He likes to have fun too, but not all the time. You have to find the line of when to have fun and when not to have fun. Don't cross that line. He gets angry and will yell at you in front of the whole class. Don't tell him your crush either, he will try to "help" you out by sitting you next to her. It sounds nice, but it aint. Good luck LOL
Shamwow (Shamarito)
These kids are amazing. I wish I could have been here two years earlier to have these kids more. This year has been filled with a lot of good things. I also was chosen by the district to receive a grant to get a classroom set of iPads or laptop computers. I will have enough for every student to be able to use one in the class. I am stoked for this opportunity. I also got hired as the boys' and girls' tennis coach at Cyprus High School. On top of all this, I have been asked to have a student teacher next year. I find this to be a major compliment from my administrator. Life is good at Brockbank Junior High School.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Life as I know it
This probably should have been my post for Thanksgiving but I have a lot to be thankful for this past year. I can sum up my year in three words: Patience and humility. I have learned so much about patience from waiting for the beginning of my career. I have always been told patience is a virtue but I never realized how true that statement is until this year. I waited 9 months to finally begin my career. This was such a blessing. It made me realize how right teaching is for me, I couldn't see myself doing anything else. I am so glad to be out of sales. I have learned a great deal about patience from dealing with these kids. Middle school kids are amazing but they do the stupidest stuff to make me pull my hair out. Good things come to those who are patient. Losing your temper in a class full of middle schoolers does nothing.
Sadly, basketball has just ended. We have had our best season at Brockbank in over a decade. I am so proud of my young men who fought every minute of every game and practice. It has been so much fun to coach these guys. The guys learned a lot about basketball, but I think they learned a lot about character and being representatives for the school and their community. We had a lot of learning opportunities. When we were at an away game, the crowd was taunting our boys even though we were up by 20. One of our boys got so pissed off, he turned to the crowd and threw up the double bird. It was an awesome teaching moment for our kids. We lost in our final game and it was heart breaking. It was painful to watch our 10 guys in so much pain over a loss. But I think the pain they have this year will be replaced next year when we come back to beat our entire district. Off season training starts after break. Go Braves!
Sadly, basketball has just ended. We have had our best season at Brockbank in over a decade. I am so proud of my young men who fought every minute of every game and practice. It has been so much fun to coach these guys. The guys learned a lot about basketball, but I think they learned a lot about character and being representatives for the school and their community. We had a lot of learning opportunities. When we were at an away game, the crowd was taunting our boys even though we were up by 20. One of our boys got so pissed off, he turned to the crowd and threw up the double bird. It was an awesome teaching moment for our kids. We lost in our final game and it was heart breaking. It was painful to watch our 10 guys in so much pain over a loss. But I think the pain they have this year will be replaced next year when we come back to beat our entire district. Off season training starts after break. Go Braves!
Friday, October 14, 2011
The Career Has Begun
It's been a couple of months since I've updated this. A lot has been going on in the life of Mr. Walker. I have been in Salt Lake City for over two months now. Time has flown since being down here. My career choice is the perfect profession for me. My kids are the greatest things on Earth. Some of them are a big pain in the ars but for the most part these kids are great. I work in a school with a lot of kids who live in poverty. I'm shocked at the amount of diversity in my school. We have a lot of Hispanics and a lot of Poly's. Who knew Utah had so much diversity. Well at least Magna has a lot. My new interest is soccer. A few of the girls on the soccer team are in my PE classes so I have been going to the games. After 24 years of hating soccer, I am now converted now that I somewhat understand the rules.
I have gotten a couple of different responses from the kids. My Utah Studies classes love my class. On the other hand, my PE classes think I am "the meanest teacher EVER!" My PE classes are always complaining because I make them actually work. I secretly love being called the meanest teacher ever. The other teachers say it means I am doing my job well. After two weeks of school, one of the trouble makers in one class was transferred to my class because I have a lot of structure. He's not a trouble maker anymore. Because of this, I have had to deal with discipline issues of other teachers. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. We have an amazing Fitness Center for a Junior High. Unfortunately it is empty every period of the day. I have started an after school Fitness Club and have gotten a great number of kids to join for the first year. Every day these kids do something to amaze me, good or bad.
I have gotten a couple of different responses from the kids. My Utah Studies classes love my class. On the other hand, my PE classes think I am "the meanest teacher EVER!" My PE classes are always complaining because I make them actually work. I secretly love being called the meanest teacher ever. The other teachers say it means I am doing my job well. After two weeks of school, one of the trouble makers in one class was transferred to my class because I have a lot of structure. He's not a trouble maker anymore. Because of this, I have had to deal with discipline issues of other teachers. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. We have an amazing Fitness Center for a Junior High. Unfortunately it is empty every period of the day. I have started an after school Fitness Club and have gotten a great number of kids to join for the first year. Every day these kids do something to amaze me, good or bad.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
A New Beginning
July was a very eventful month for me. I have been spending the past seven months looking for employment any where in the nation just to get me out of Montana. I have filled out over 50 applications to various school districts throughout the States and other sales companies. After seven months of no responses or failed interviews, two different opportunities presented themselves to me within a matter of a week. I have been selling cell phones the past year and quarter, so I decided to apply for a cell phone company. I was offered a job as a store manager for an AT&T store in Jackson, Wyoming. I accepted that job offer with no hesitation just to get myself out of Montana. Although I did accept the offer, I was never really excited about moving to Jackson and selling cell phones. Once I accepted that job, I had a feeling that I was not going to end up in Jackson so I never really started to pack even though I was supposed to be there in a week and a half.
After a half a week of doing nothing, I received a random phone call from Brockbank Junior High School in Magna, Utah. The principal told me that I was on a short list of candidates and wanted to interview. I had an impression to race down to Magna to interview in person rather than over the tele. Turned out to be the best decision of the year. After work, my dad and I raced down to Salt Lake City. We arrived in SLC around 3:30 in the AM. We got a couple hours and sleep and then I had to wake up for the big interview. After the interview, I didn't really know where I stood. I had no idea whether or not I would be asked to take the job. We went over to Gateway after my interview and started to shop around. We found my favorite store, Foot Locker, and looked for a new pair of shoes. As I was trying my shoes on, my lovely iPhone 4 rang loudly. It was a 435 number that I did not recognize so I answered, "This is Andrew." A happy voice responded, "Andrew, this is the principal at Brockbank Junior High and we would like to offer you the position....." I have no idea what was said after that but I do remember wanting to leap into the air and start yelling. Then I realized I was in a public store and didn't want to look like a fool.
Anyways, instead of heading to Jackson to sell cell phones, I am now the Utah Studies and PE teacher at Brockbank Junior High School in Magna. School starts in three weeks and I have to be at new teacher training next week. Life is grand. It is such a relief to know I can use my degree after all. I no longer feel like I wasted five years of my life going to BYU-I. Now I just feel bad for those kids who have to sit through my Utah Studies course, listening to a teacher who knows nothing about Utah History . Salt Lake City (aka Disneyland for the LDS) here I come!
After a half a week of doing nothing, I received a random phone call from Brockbank Junior High School in Magna, Utah. The principal told me that I was on a short list of candidates and wanted to interview. I had an impression to race down to Magna to interview in person rather than over the tele. Turned out to be the best decision of the year. After work, my dad and I raced down to Salt Lake City. We arrived in SLC around 3:30 in the AM. We got a couple hours and sleep and then I had to wake up for the big interview. After the interview, I didn't really know where I stood. I had no idea whether or not I would be asked to take the job. We went over to Gateway after my interview and started to shop around. We found my favorite store, Foot Locker, and looked for a new pair of shoes. As I was trying my shoes on, my lovely iPhone 4 rang loudly. It was a 435 number that I did not recognize so I answered, "This is Andrew." A happy voice responded, "Andrew, this is the principal at Brockbank Junior High and we would like to offer you the position....." I have no idea what was said after that but I do remember wanting to leap into the air and start yelling. Then I realized I was in a public store and didn't want to look like a fool.
Anyways, instead of heading to Jackson to sell cell phones, I am now the Utah Studies and PE teacher at Brockbank Junior High School in Magna. School starts in three weeks and I have to be at new teacher training next week. Life is grand. It is such a relief to know I can use my degree after all. I no longer feel like I wasted five years of my life going to BYU-I. Now I just feel bad for those kids who have to sit through my Utah Studies course, listening to a teacher who knows nothing about Utah History . Salt Lake City (aka Disneyland for the LDS) here I come!
Monday, June 27, 2011
10+ Things I MIss About You
Have you ever wondered if it is greener on the other side of the pasture? I have often wondered that and have pursued that greener side. In most cases I have found that the other side is not necessarily greener until a change of heart and change of mind occurs. For instance, when I graduated high school I thought that college was going to be some amazing life changing event. This was not the case during my first few semesters of college. I used to think that life in Montana was so much better. It took me four semesters to finally appreciate college life and found that the college pasture was much greener than Montana. The more time I spent in college, the more I began to think graduation was going to be the most amazing thing in my life. In all honesty, graduating college and achieving a Bachelor's degree is pretty cool. However, now that I am graduated I am back in Montana and right now the pasture isn't so green. I am still waiting for that change of heart and change of mind. This past week is definitely a positive because we have finally strung together a full week of sunshine and ZERO rain. Which brings me to my 10+ things I miss about the previous side of the pasture:
1) My college degree was earned with little to no effort. I failed tests but I made up for them during the last week of school with my writing talents. (Copy, paste, citation)
2) At least once a week a lovely female was coerced into cooking me an awesome meal
3) Little to worry about, no bills to pay
4) Finals week. As stressful as the week was, it was an amazing feeling to come through with a 10 page essay on the Civil War or a 25 page essay on Texas Western Basketball in the final hours of school and earn A's and B's.
5) I miss how stupid the Honor Code is. No shorts, no hats, no beards or facial hair (for me it was no whiskers), midnight curfew for full grown adults, and no swearing (that was a tough one).
6) Ramires at 3 in the AM and the BGs that followed, Denny's midnight runs to I.F., and SNOASIS with Ice Cream in the bottom.
7) I miss the kid in the front row of every class who was so eager to learn. Put your hand down and stop participating. The Learning Model is garbage! You have to listen to people you don't want to for most of the period instead of the teacher who is paid to educate us.
8) Old Man Coates' class. The old guy can't teach worth sheesh but he always passed me along so he wouldn't have to see me again.
9) My married friends. Although many married people at BYU-I Do are completely insane, overbearing, and annoying, some of them were normal and weren't awkward to be around. Thank you Beckstrands, Bolens, Goulds, Perkins, Rosses, Salmons, and Serras.
10) The basketball league. I caused a lot of trouble in that league but it was worth the trouble and the fun. Being kicked out of the league twice, calling grown men pussy's and them being offended, fights in practices, full grown women bickering like they were in high school, being suspended for spitting on the floor and not being suspended for dropping the F bomb, and probably one of the most memorable moments was JJ chewing out Kimmie. That kid is legit.
I could go on but I am getting tired and want to continue reading His Father's Son: Earl and Tiger Woods.
1) My college degree was earned with little to no effort. I failed tests but I made up for them during the last week of school with my writing talents. (Copy, paste, citation)
2) At least once a week a lovely female was coerced into cooking me an awesome meal
3) Little to worry about, no bills to pay
4) Finals week. As stressful as the week was, it was an amazing feeling to come through with a 10 page essay on the Civil War or a 25 page essay on Texas Western Basketball in the final hours of school and earn A's and B's.
5) I miss how stupid the Honor Code is. No shorts, no hats, no beards or facial hair (for me it was no whiskers), midnight curfew for full grown adults, and no swearing (that was a tough one).
6) Ramires at 3 in the AM and the BGs that followed, Denny's midnight runs to I.F., and SNOASIS with Ice Cream in the bottom.
7) I miss the kid in the front row of every class who was so eager to learn. Put your hand down and stop participating. The Learning Model is garbage! You have to listen to people you don't want to for most of the period instead of the teacher who is paid to educate us.
8) Old Man Coates' class. The old guy can't teach worth sheesh but he always passed me along so he wouldn't have to see me again.
9) My married friends. Although many married people at BYU-I Do are completely insane, overbearing, and annoying, some of them were normal and weren't awkward to be around. Thank you Beckstrands, Bolens, Goulds, Perkins, Rosses, Salmons, and Serras.
10) The basketball league. I caused a lot of trouble in that league but it was worth the trouble and the fun. Being kicked out of the league twice, calling grown men pussy's and them being offended, fights in practices, full grown women bickering like they were in high school, being suspended for spitting on the floor and not being suspended for dropping the F bomb, and probably one of the most memorable moments was JJ chewing out Kimmie. That kid is legit.
I could go on but I am getting tired and want to continue reading His Father's Son: Earl and Tiger Woods.
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