AFS Wolf Den

Welcome, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! This week, we celebrate Star Wars, May the 4th. In 1977, George Lucas changed the face of the sci-fi genre and movie making with Star Wars. Despite having a full epic plotted through the first three movies, and with elements and ideas that would be spread out into the prequels released later at the turn of the century, Star Wars was presented as a standalone movie, uncertain about what seems like inevitable success. Lucas’s space opera was well received and to this day the special effects Lucas helped develop for his film changed what passed for acceptable special effects in science fiction for all time. But something we tend to forget is the nature of the narrative he told, and the heroes of his space opera.

Before 1977, science fiction tended to focus on alien invasions with a horror tone, or bleak dystopian futures. Most of these movies involved cerebral protagonists and while action may not have been absent, it wasn’t a major focus for the films. On TV you could find a shirtless Kirk fighting Gorn, but most science fiction involved outwitting enemies and analyzing the causes for the dystopian future they are found in. The science fiction action characters were pretty interchangeable, as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were strikingly similar in personality. But the characters Lucas gave us in his adventure broke the mold: A young farmer boy who dreamed of a more exciting life, an elderly hermit, an outspoken and opinionated princess who played a significant role in her own rescue, and a criminal who just wanted the money. Science fiction heroes now didn’t have to be serious, noble, strong, and morally two-dimensional. They could be flawed, they could be weak and uncertain, they could shoot first.

While the chapter title A New Hope refers to Luke, Han Solo, and Chewbacca joining the rebellion and Luke learning the ways of the force, the first to do so in many years, the chapter title also captures what Star Wars did for the science fiction genre. Science fiction soon became a significant storytelling genre making movie studios lots of money and getting critical acclaim. The genre was no longer just a means to get money from kids, but also became appreciated by the more discerning adult audience.

Similarly, this year, we have had to reinvent the classroom. We’ve brought in new technologies, experimented with new methods, and reached audiences, I mean students, who otherwise would have been lost. These are developments which, as  things return to normal, we don’t abandon. Returning to normal should not lead to us abandoning the wider array of methods students have had for the past year to participate in class. Imagine suspended students still able to view the lesson while at home, students on homebound no longer being limited to 5 hours a week, because now they can watch the lesson live, or rent the video tape. Sorry, I mean stream the video. Going back to normal, for schools, should only refer to being able to not wear masks, not having to worry about how far apart everyone ism

Throughout the Harry Potter series, Harry, Hermione, and Ron developed from innocent, childish, unaware students, to learning about a growing evil in the wizarding world and not being believed, to finally proven right that Voldemort had returned and everyone was in danger. During that course, they often got distracted, early on still learning of the growing trouble, and later letting personal interests interfere with their overall goals, even spending a fair amount of Deathly Hallows part 1 arguing among themselves. In Deathly Hallows part 2, however, they were focused on their mission of defeating Voldemort. Of course they were… it’s the last film of the Harry Potter series. But then, that’s like our classrooms now. It’s the 4th quarter, heading into the final scenes of the 2020-2021 school year. Like Harry and friends, we need to remain focused. It’s easy to get unfocused in the last nine weeks. We can suffer from what I call the 4th Quarter Forgetaboutits. There are two versions of the 4th Quarter Forgetaboutits, or 4QFs, 4QF-A and 4QF-B. 4QF-A is the most common. It’s when you are tired of addressing the same students about the same behaviors. “Oh, Theo is throwing paper trying to shoot his trash in the trash can despite continued warnings and lunch detentions for the behavior. Why do I still have to tell him not to do that? Oh, well… just a few more weeks.” 4QF-B is caused by the same repetition of minor rules violations, but produces a different symptom, exasperation. “Theo! I’ve been telling you all year not to throw trash in my classroom! Go to the office! I’m done telling you! Just get out!” Both types of 4th Quarter Forgetaboutits are understandable, and I’m sure every teacher can empathize. However, we also should be aware these 4QFs take our attention off of the goal we set out to achieve at the beginning of the year: enhancing quality learning in a safe and accepting environment. Remember that your classroom management, including sweating the small stuff, is essential to an environment that promotes learning and growth, and sweating the small stuff leads to being able to maintain the big stuff… no, not completion of lesson units… but maintaining positive relationships with students, helping them develop a positive attitude about education, and leading them to become successful learners. Remember what Maya Angelou said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it." Today, Theo might not decide to stop throwing the trash halfway across the classroom for it to bounce off the rim and roll next to Hugh’s foot, who annoyingly picks it up and throws it back at Theo, who ducks, allowing the paper ball to bounce off Sierra’s perfectly coiffed hair, causing her to stand up, saying in a low, menacing growl, “Oh, I know you didn’t,” followed by a loud, profanity laced explanation of how much work it takes for her hair to turn out the way it does, and if her hair’s messed up… well, the proposed fate of both Theo and Hugh chills the spine of everyone listening and becomes the story of legend. But… maybe tomorrow will be the day Theo follows the rules. And that day will be all the sooner if we maintain positive relationships, while preserving our management of the class. And, for the record, pretty much everything involving Hogwarts can be used to show how not to teach, administer, and manage the education of students. So stick with Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me, and Freedom Writers for your inspiring teacher movies. Heck, there are good teacher takeaways in Summer School, Teachers, Bad Teacher, and School of Rock. But no, not any Harry Potter movies. Thank you for all that you do, thank you for being the best, and thank you for focusing on our students’ needs through the trying 4th quarter.

Soul is about middle school band teacher Joe Gardner who dreams of becoming a jazz musician. He gets the opportunity to play with jazz great Dorothea Williams. But an accident leads to his death, but he’s not ready to die, not when he was just about to live his dream of becoming a jazz musician. This leads to the events of the movie. Jamie Foxx provides the voice of Joe and Angela Bassett voices Dorothea. Tina Fey also stars as the voice of 22. Yep, there’s a character called 22. There’s a point in the movie where Joe is again able to live his dream and play jazz with Dorothea Williams, but he doesn’t feel as excited as he thought he would. Dorothea then tells him a story. “I heard this story about a fish. He swims up to this older fish and says, ‘I’m trying to find this thing they call the ocean.’ ‘The ocean?’ says the older fish. ‘That’s what you’re in right now.’ ‘This?’ says the young fish, ‘This is water. What I want is the ocean.’” It occurred to me, as I processed the events of January 6, trying to learn what I could about what happened at Capitol Hill, trying to see things from other people’s point of view, that many Americans are like the young fish in Dorothea’s story. They were looking for something, many wanting to be heard and their doubts about the election acknowledged, but they didn’t realize that what they wanted was already there. They already had what they wanted. Politicians were objecting to the Electoral Votes on their behalf. But they had been convinced that they were not being listened to. Similarly, many have viewed the 2020-2021 school year as hit and miss, and not quite meeting desires or expectations. But if we step back and look, we can see that, while it may not be the manner in which we wanted it, we do have everything we desire in this school year. We are able to teach and reach our students better now than ever before. Yes, we absolutely want our students in our classrooms, but we also want everyone to remain safe. Our technology allows us to do just that. It may not be perfect, but whatever form your classroom takes, whether it’s 100% virtual, or hybrid, or 100% face to face but behind plexi-glass shields and face masks, we are still able to teach the students we love and help them grow and develop into successful students. We can remain positive and see all that growth we have accomplished in the past year to better be able to reach and teach our students in a wider variety of situations and formats and addressing more needs than ever before, or we can be distracted by the pessimists and the negative propaganda that we are not fulfilling our obligations. But as 2021 I feel it’s important to focus on what we have achieved, what we are able to do and that this is what we want to do… a little different than how we want, but still a successful, albeit rocky, shift in education to protect student and staff health while continuing to guide our future leaders into adulthood. I want to thank everyone for all that you do, thank you for being the best, and thank you for the heart and soul you put into your teaching. Happy New Years!

Welcome, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! This week’s focus is a bit of a surprise for me. I randomly chose to watch the 2018 post apocalyptic Mortal Engines. But there was a particular line that immediately latched onto a concern in education. Mortal Engines is about a post apocalyptic world that exists after what is called the Sixty Minute War, which left the world devastated. Following the war, cities were rebuilt, but this time they were mobile cities travelling the land on treads. Large cities, like London, would scoop up smaller cities and absorb their technology, material, and population into their own. Some of that material would simply be shoveled into London’s engine. One of the protagonists, Tom, hears that a small city is being absorbed and rushes down to see what technology he can find to save. He’s a historian and collects ancient technology for the museum. When he arrives at the engine of London, he sees the debris of the small city being shoveled into the engine and says, “They only know how to feed the machine.” That line, kind of a throwaway line not particularly important to the plot or theme of the movie, caught my attention as it occurred to me that’s a concern that exists today. The idea of feeding “the machine” without considering the nature of how you feed it can lead to lost opportunities and treasures. In regards to education, the machine would be out students and the materials we are feeding are our lessons. However, the concern with feeding the machine is less about not sling a particularly important piece of technology, like the toaster Tom rescues from London's engine, but how fast we feed it. It’s an issue that existed before Covid hit, but it’s become far more likely and potentially problematic since we’ve had to reassess our teaching methods and adjust to a more virtual world. We need to beware of “just feeding the machine.” We can shift our focus from the academic growth of our students to keeping up with the pacing guide or the framework. We just start shoveling making sure we are getting the standards shoved down to meet pacing guide and framework expectations, but losing focus on our students’ readiness for another scoop of knowledge. If we keep shoveling and don’t check to be sure the engine, our students, are ready for more, we risk choking the system and they shut down, unable to process the new content we are teaching because it was coming too fast. Naturally, there’s concerns about our students falling behind, except… we are all behind. Teaching virtually is often slower because of streaming lag and increased distractions. We can set up our rooms and seat our students in ways to minimize distractions, but that doesn’t help when your students are streaming from home. If we are all behind, then we, as a community, can agree that when things get back to normal, hopefully sooner rather than later, we can adjust to fill in the gaps in our students’ education. Right now, we need to be sure we are not overwhelming our students and causing extra stress in these trying times. We can fill in the gaps in the future. Thank you for all that you do and thank you for being the best.

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! Winter break is right around the corner and I was wondering… what is your favorite Christmas movie? Is it a classic like It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street? Is it an unconventional Christmas movie like Die Hard, Gremlins, or Batman Returns? Maybe a classic TV special like Charlie Brown's Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Mine is 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol. There are a lot of things going on with this adaptation which cement it as my “must watch” for every Christmas Eve. I grew up watching The Muppet Show on TV and loved it, so there’s a nostalgic pull. As a lover of literature, the adaptation of one of the most adapted Christmas novels ever, written by Charles Dickens, has a place in reasons why I enjoy this movie so much. More than just that, however, is that this adaptation includes the narrator, played by Gonzo playing Charles Dickens himself, and he quotes parts of the original text as the narrator. Then, of course, he gets interrupted by Rizzo the Rat with comedic effect. Also, the film came out in 1992, the year I graduated high school and started college, so it was a time of great change in my life, and that sense of nostalgia was all the stronger for it. Now, finding positive messages in a Christmas movie is pretty easy as almost all wear their positive themes on their sleeves, unless you go with unconventional Christmas movies. Is there positivity in Gremlins? Absolutely, but you have to chisel past the surface of irresponsibility and comedic horror which spans the majority of the movie. So, when we look at an easy mark like The Muppet Christmas Carol for a positive message, I try and find something kind of hidden. With any adaptation of A Christmas Carol, the story has been seen so much and interpreted so many times it’s hard to find something new. But when I was researching the movie, I discovered something of which I was not aware. I knew this was the first Muppet project after Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, died in 1990. What I didn’t know was that the new voice for Muppet front man, or front frog, Kermit the Frog, Steve Whitmire was nervous about taking over the role made internationally famous by Jim Henson. The night before they were to start shooting the movie, Whitmire had a dream in which he was visited by Jim Henson coming from an all white hotel. Whitmire confessed his anxiety to Henson in his dream and Henson responded in a way which those who knew him were very familiar: “It will pass.”Whitmire was assuaged by the message from Henson and was more at ease when shooting began. That story struck me as we head to the end of 2020. “It will pass.” This has been a difficult year with viruses, politics, worries about how to handle returning to school in a manner that both considers the needs of students as well as teachers, administrators, and every member of a school district’s staff. But these concerns will pass. We treat midnight, that moment when December 31, 2020 passes the baton to January 1, 2021 as a chance to change, to try things differently. But we also know that it’s an arbitrary moment as we constructed the calendar we use to designate the new year. Before the current Julian calendar, with the Roman calendar there were 10 months and the new year started on March 1. Will all of our concerns from the past year evaporate on January 1? Of course not, but if the date change helps give you a starting point, go for it, and make that change. We have minimal effect, individually, on things like the virus, the direction the government we go in, and addressing all concerns with how the school year should proceed (we don’t have the manpower or money to do all the options to appease everyone.). But we have 100% control over how we respond. What can you do to help yourself handle the stresses of teaching in a pandemic world? Be sure to reflect on the positives, because 2020 was hard, but there wer

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! We are moving into the middle of December and Winter Holidays are discernible just on the horizon. WIth those most merry holidays beckoning us, we are looking at Christmas movies. I would certainly and gladly look at Hanukkah movies or Kwanzaa movies, but I am not aware of any, so if you have any recommendations, I am open to them. Until then, this week we are looking at It’s a Wonderful Life, one of the most viewed and popular Christmas movies ever. Rotten Tomatoes has It’s a Wonderful Life ranked as the #1 Christmas movie, just ahead of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. For the record, last week’s Christmas movie, Die Hard ranked #14. Christmas movies are typically easy to find positive messages in them, as that is the nature of the holiday. It’s a Wonderful Life’s message about being aware of how important one person can be certainly fits the bill of positive message, and even echoes one of Dr. Melton’s catch phrases, “Know thy impact!” And that is a great take away from It’s a Wonderful Life. Your presence in the classroom is a positive influence on multiple lives. Sometimes, it may seem to be a thankless endeavor, but rest easy knowing that there are multiple people who you have a positive impact on. But I had a suspicion there was more going on in this movie classic. There had to be more for it to get the number of TV time slots it was getting at one point. Ok, so the reason was that the copyright had lapsed and TV companies could air it for free. But it still gets a couple of viewings on public television even after the copyright was reacquired. So what other positive messages does It’s a Wonderful Life have? First, I wondered how George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, had such a positive impact on the town of Bedford Falls. In the movie, he’s described as never thinking of himself, except there are a couple of notable scenes where we see his temper. George is not always a calm oasis in the midst of chaos. He’s shown a few times losing his temper and taking his frustrations out on others. So, how does George get such patience and compassion from his fellow Bedford Falls citizens? George treats everyone with empathy or sympathy. Sympathy gets a bad rap from people saying, “I don’t want your sympathy,” largely, it seems because of the misunderstood definition of “to feel bad for someone,” akin to pitying someone. Really, sympathy is about feeling compassion for others despite not having experience with similar hardships, and we see George display that compassion throughout the movie. When he was a child and his boss, Mr. Gower, makes a mistake at the pharmacy, we are told that George shows Mr. Gower the mistake he made with the medications, and even after Mr. Gower reacts angrily and violently, George never tells anyone, knowing if the small town citizens knew what almost happened, he would likely have lost his position as pharmacist. But George’s compassion and strength of character saves a life and a livelihood, understanding that Mr. Gower had gotten some bad news that day. Another incident of compassion and sympathy was when banks were shutting down in the wake of the depression. As the manager of the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, George tries to negotiate with his clients who want to withdraw their money. However, the business model for the Building and Loan involves using money saved with them from some citizens to help build houses for others, so there’s nowhere near the cash needed to pay everyone back their money. However, this happened on his wedding day and he had $2000 cash for their honeymoon. He uses that money to give the citizens the money they were asking for. He could have said that they signed an agreement to give the Building and Loan 60 days to get the money they were asking for, but his sympathy for his clients’ concerns led him to come up with another solution.

Due to several issues, the video for this week's Positive Cinematic Spotlight is available, but the text form is slightly delayed. I have chosen to go ahead and send the video. If you prefer the text version of these, it will be available tomorrow.

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! It’s Thanksgiving week and so we are looking at the Relativity Media animated movie from 2013, Free Birds. Free Birds is the story of two turkeys who travel back in time to try and keep turkey off of the first Thanksgiving menu, thus saving turkeys from all following Thanksgiving dinner tables, in theory. The two turkeys are Reggie, voiced by Owen Wilson, and Jake, voiced by Woody Harrelson. Reggie has been an outsider in his farm flock, trying to convince the rest of the flock that they should be trying to escape and they should be eating so much, because the farmer’s just fattening them up. Jake, on the other hand, has never been a part of a flock, being a free turkey. He was recruited, as a child, to seek out Reggie so the two of them can go back in time and get turkeys off of the Thanksgiving menu. While it seems the main story is a turkeys versus Pilgrims external conflict, the real struggle is for Jake and Reggie to see past their differences, and for Reggie to find value in a flock rather than trying to be el solo lobo, the lone wolf. After being rejected by his flock for his conspiracy theories, and being selected to be the pardoned turkey, pardoned by the president from being relegated to turkey dinner table, Reggie fixates on a Hispanic soap opera, El Solo Lobo, and the idea of being a lone wolf. But Jake and the 1621 turkeys they work with to save turkeys from the Thanksgiving menu teach Reggie the value of a flock. Similarly, we need to remember the importance of a flock, or, for the AFS, a pack. Working together towards a common goal is how things get done. And the best way to work together is to be accepting of our differences. We all have our own unique experiences and points of view, interests and skills, and drawin gon our variety of strengths, we can achieve success I am thankful for my pack. Thank you for all that you do, thank you for being the best, and thank you for working together for the success of our students..

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! This week, we are looking at 1955 hit Rebel without a Cause, the last film of cultural icon James Dean, and the only film which had his name in the top billing. The film, to me, is a precursor to the 1980s hit The Breakfast Club. It tells the story of Jim Stark, a teenager new to the town, who gets arrested. At the police station, he encounters Judy and Plato who have also been brought in by the police. The venue for their meeting is a police station rather than school during Saturday detention, but the set-up is the same. A group of troubled teens meet and become friends despite their differences. And similar to The Breakfast Club, the teens’ differences find route in their home lives. Plato’s being raised by his mother, legally, but she spends most of her time on trips. Instead, he is being raised by their housekeeper. Judy is the oldest child wanting attention from her parents, in particular her father, who gives all of his attention to her younger brother. Meanwhile, Jim’s parents provide for his every want and never tells him no. As his father says, “Don't I buy everything you want? A bicycle, you get a bicycle, a car? You get a car.” But he also gets a household full of fighting and a father he sees as unwilling to stand up for himself. The home lives of these teens lead them to behaving in ways which get them in trouble, and which defines their friendship. Jim wants guidance on how to become a man. As he tells his mom, “Once, I want to do something right!” But he can’t figure out what right is. First, his parents and grandmother’s frequent arguing creates confusion for Jim, because he wants to learn how to be a man from his father, but he is frequently criticized and belittled by Jim’s mother and his grandmother. This leads to the iconic scene as James Dean screams, “You’re tearing me apart!” Shortly thereafter Jim explains, “You say one thing, he says another, and everybody changes back again!” His romance with Judy and friendship with Plato give him the structure that he doesn’t get from home. Second, his parents leave town whenever Jim starts getting into serious trouble. He doesn’t get reprimanded by his parents and he is aware that he is unable to learn what’s right and what’s not without guidance from his parents or the consequences of his actions. Meanwhile, Judy is looking for attention of any sort, and Jim gives her positive and encouraging friendship which blossoms into romance. Plato also seeks any sort of attention, but begins to see Jim as a father figure and Judy as a mother figure. A misunderstanding and assault reveals for us Plato’s fear of abandonment and sends us crashing into the climax of the film. Throughout the film, the teens are trying to get adults to see them for who they are, recognize their concerns, and listen to them, but both parents and law enforcement brush the teens away, except for Officer Ray Fremick. Interestingly, there’s almost no teacher presence in the film. I wonder if that’s a harsh indictment of the 1950s education system. What we can see is that students are looking for things which sometimes they don’t get from parents, but we as teachers can be sure to provide: consistency, guidance, and recognition of their value as individuals. But this is not an age restricted list of needs and desires. While we adults may be more mature and understanding of the realities of life, we still find comfort in consistency, are appreciative of guidance when new situations arise, and want to be recognized for our efforts. And the 2020 - 2021 school year makes these all the more important. If you feel something is inconsistent, communicate with others to address the issue, whether you are talking with fellow teachers and staff or administration. The same goes for seeking guidance when a new situation arises, and this year there’s a very good chance you have already found yourself in unknown territory. Being rec

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! This week, I’m letting everyone in on a little secret of mine: I like romantic comedies. And this week we are looking at a classic from 1961, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In Breakfast at Tiffany’s, struggling writer Paul Varjak moves into an apartment building where he meets socialite party girl Holly Golightly. The two develop a quick friendship as both discover the similarities of their lives. Holly is taken care of by a string of men she dates or had friendly relationships with, while seeking a wealthy man to marry. Meanwhile, Paul is taken care of by 2 E, a wealthy married woman willing to help him financially as he tries to earn a living as a writer. Their friendship begins to develop into romantic affection, making both characters face the possibility that they have to change their lives for each other. Paul is the first to come to that realization. He breaks up with 2 E, leading her to wonder what woman could have gotten Paul to fall in love with her. She concludes that whomever it is, she has to be wealthy to help him, the way 2 E had been helping him. Paul responds, “Curiously enough... she’s a girl who can’t help anyone, not even herself. The thing is, I can help her, and it’s a nice feeling for a change.” While it’s new to Paul, the positive feeling of helping others is not new to most teachers, as it’s a draw for many of us in the education field. It’s also something we sometimes need to remind ourselves of. We can get distracted by pacing guides and paperwork and standardized tests. But these are not the source of those “nice feelings” Paul refers to. It’s the help we can give our students. Whether that help is academic or emotional, emotional or social, whether it’s the a-ha lightbulb moment in class, or the security that some students find in school that they don’t find out of school, those “nice feelings” are most of us got into the education field. It certainly wasn’t the paycheck, am I right? But, that being the case, also be sure that you are taking care of yourself. Your ability to help your students is limited if you aren’t taking care of yourself. Don’t give so much of yourself, your energy, your time, that you have none left for yourself. Back in Breakfast at Tiffany’s Paul tells Holly how he feels, but Holly balks saying that she belongs to no one and that she’ll “never let anybody put her in a cage.” Holly views marrying someone out of love rather than financial security as being put in a cage. However, Paul tries to convince her that marrying for money rather than love is a way of Holly putting herself in a cage of a loveless marriage. Paul’s love isn’t about control or ownership, but support and encouragement. Similarly, our students sometimes respond to schools and teachers in the same way. They don’t recognize that we are trying to keep them from putting themselves in cages with limited options. We want them to have all possible options able to decide the kind of life they want after high school. Yet, they will react to us as if we are trying to put them in cages. So, what should we do? Not get angry and storm off like Paul does. We should remain patient and compassionate, understanding that, as teenagers, they are trying to hold onto any semblance of control, and while sometimes the control they exert is self-destructive, if we remain in their corner, there is a better chance they will mature and realize that we are trying to give them more control over their future. Thank you for everything that you do, thank you for being the best, and thank you for the patience and compassion you show your students.

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! We leave the horrors of October and Halloween, heading enthusiastically to both election day and Thanksgiving. As we transition into a politically uncertain election and the ever constant family mooring of Thanksgiving, we turn our attention to the 1986 hit Stand by Me. Stand by Me is a movie based on a Stephen King novella called The Body published in the collection Different Seasons. In the collection, published in 1982, King presents 4 tales related to the four seasons. The Body carried the subtitle, “Fall from Innocence”, connecting the tale to Fall. In the story, 4 friends, Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy go on an adventure to find the body of a peer who had been reported missing, and Vern’s brother supposedly found. With school starting soon, the 12 year olds are happy for one last adventure and the hope of being named heroes for finding the missing child. As you would expect, this is a coming of age story. Each of the friends have a backstory which makes their development into adulthood a matter of struggle and hardship. We also learn that the boys will not be able to hang out as much as, upon entering junior high, Gordie will be put into college courses while Chris, Teddy, and Vern will be in the “shop classes.” What resonates with me is how other people’s opinions of the boys are integral to their own idea of who they are. As preteens, the four boys place a lot of value in what others say, and especially powerful is the opinion of the adults in their lives. When Chris laments “It's what everyone thinks of my family in this town. It's what they think of me. I'm just one of those low-life Chambers kids,” rather than resolve himself to prove everyone wrong, he just accepts his label and lives to those expectations. Gordie, the narrator of the story, is a creative and skilled writer, entertaining his friends with his tales. But his father’s criticisms of his focus on writing, rather than athletics, and the prospect of losing touch with his friends, drives Gordie to say he wouldn’t take the college courses. Teddy’s father, admitted into a mental care facility after abusing his son, leads locals to view Teddy as equally mentally unbalanced. The opinions of adults greatly influences the characters, often limiting their view of their future. It’s easy to sit and question their unwillingness to fight the presumptions and judgments of others, but we can also see why children might just accept the opinions of others, especially adults, as fact. When Chris tries to undo a choice he made, stealing the milk money from the school, the teacher he confided in and returned the money to never returned it, instead keeping the money to buy herself new clothes, and leaving Chris to suffer the consequences. If an attempt at redemption rewards them with unjust consequences, then there’s little drive to try and break out of the limitations placed on them by others. As teachers, we need to do nothing but encourage our students to see their future as a setting which they are building daily and which can become anything they wish it to be. And at no point should a decision become a permanent fixture of their future. They should be able to look at their decisions, see how that decision looks in the future, and decide to alter the impact of that decision. “Time heals all wounds” is an old idiom suggesting that the further in the past the offense, less damage and hurt feelings remain. It’s an idea that many disagree with, and while I know it’s not a universal cure, I also see merit in the idea. We need to let students move beyond bad decisions rather than be reminded of them. By looking at each decision of a student’s as an individual moment, we can show students that they can decide who they are going to be, not feel like they are doomed to always be “the troublemaker”, “the class clown”, “the disappointment.” Certainly, from an administrative disciplinary perspective, there

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! As Halloween gets closer and closer, we continue to look at horror movies for positive ideas and encouraging thoughts. This week we look at another Stanley Kubrik film, this time from 1980: The Shining. Stanley Kubrik’s The Shining is based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name, his first hardback bestseller. While King was disappointed in the film for its handling of the themes King intended and the movie's interpretation of the character of Wendy Torrence, Kubrik’s movie is considered one of the best horror films ever made. In the movie, Jack is a former teacher, alcoholic, and struggling writer looking for a change of scenery and solitude to write a novel. He gets an opportunity to caretake for the Overlook Hotel, an isolated mountain hotel in Colorado which shuts down during the winter months. While he and his family, wife Wendy and son Danny stay there, the hotel is soon discovered to be haunted and negatively affecting Jack. In the original novel, a major theme is about how actions have lasting effects, as Jack was an abused child, and as a father, while trying to control it, Jack had been abusive to Danny. Similarly, the hotel had been a scene of several episodes of violence, each leaving its mark or aura on the Overlook Hotel and making it a malevolent force encouraging Jack to continue the cycle of violence. The movie leaves out Jack’s backstory and much of the Overlook’s history, minimizing that theme. What we have in its place, however, is a theme of a protagonist, Jack Torrence, who abuses himself with alcohol, overwork, and stress, leading him to become sleep deprived, uncommunicative, and abusive to his family. The Overlook Hotel is clearly prodding Jack’s negative thoughts, but there’s an impression that if Jack didn’t isolate himself physically and emotionally, under the guise of working on his novel, and spent more time with his family, things may have turned out differently. If only he had taken care of himself physically and emotionally.Similarly, we, in the field of education, need to watch out for overworking ourselves, isolating ourselves, and mounting stress upon ourselves. Many of us find ourselves adapting to the new education format, and in doing so are spending more time learning new technology tools and methods to teach, and converting lessons we’ve used in the past into virtual formats. Some districts have teachers juggling both virtual and traditional classes. We are stressing about our students’ educational progress, keeping up with deadlines, and, in reality, nothing new from last year or the year before, except… the increased technology demands, but that’s enough to put us at risk of overworking ourselves, overstressing, and isolating ourselves to maintain focus and get our work up to date. But we need to avoid this.Don’t neglect yourself, don’t neglect your sleep, your friends and family, don’t neglect your health. These stresses can, and will, have a negative effect on your attitude and enthusiasm for the job and your interactions with students. It won’t be as extreme as Jack Torrence’s reaction, but we will become less patient and less available for our students who need us compassionate and observant. And as the novel shows us, negativity breeds negativity, but we can also extrapolate that positivity breeds positivity. Tending to our own needs makes it easier to tend to the needs of others, and being positive and supportive of our students leads to a more positive teaching environment with fewer disciplinary troubles. So, what have you done for yourself? Gotten the recommended 8 hours of sleep? Maintained a regular eating schedule? Taken time off from all stresses to enjoy your favored pastime? Be sure to do so. You’ll be happier, you’ll be a more effective teacher, and your students will benefit. Thank you for all that you do, thank you for being the best, thank you for taking care of yourself, and thank you for

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! As October comes to a close, and Halloween looms, waiting for us behind the shrubbery of the workweek to jump out at us on Saturday, we wind down our horror movie focus with the eponymous slasher template, Halloween. Halloween came out in 1978 heavily influenced by writer, director, and composer John Carpenter. While movies which we call slashers have existed for many years, including the previously discussed Psycho, Halloween gets special notice, including being added to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” because of its massive success, which led to what some say were 100s of similar efforts over the next 6 years. Many slasher tropes can be traced back to Halloween: a killer stalks victims in a typically safe place until the “last” victim of the movie, called the Final Girl, although occasionally the character can be male, fends off the villain to survive. The Final Girl is typically unique among her friends who become the killer’s victims by her innocence. What’s interesting about Halloween is how little John Carpenter and co-writer Debra Hill realized the effect the film they were making would have on the horror movie genre. In fact, the base idea wasn’t either Carpenter’s or Hill’s. Irwin Yablans founded Compass Pictures and chose young director Carpenter to helm the company’s debut film about babysitters being stalked at night. Yablans also suggested that it be set on October 31st. As Carpenter describes it, “Halloween was a blast. It was just a bunch of kids making a movie.” Co-writer Hill agreed saying, “We were kids playing in the most exciting sandbox on the planet.” I see similarities in Carpenter’s and Hill’s experience creating Halloween and the experiences many of us are having this year in our classrooms. Regardless of how long we’ve been teaching, we’ve had to change so much, add so much to our repertoire that many of us feel inexperienced. But, like Carpenter and Hill, we can look at this as “playing in the most exciting sandbox on the planet.” But unlike the writers, we teachers like to help each other out, so we have support on how to make fun and engaging lessons. I have seen and heard many laments about virtual teaching and feeling disconnected from our students, and I can certainly commiserate. But rather than focus on that unfortunate effect, we can focus on creating lessons, presentations, and virtual activities that we both have fun creating, and have fun sharing with our students. Enjoy the creation and experimentation of new technologies and formats for our lessons. And if you can’t figure out how to make the lesson you envision, ask fellow teachers, investigate online, collaborate. I’ve found myself stymied by an inability to create the activity I envision because of time, distance, and technological limitations, only to find, with patient searching for answers and persistence, solutions from other teachers. We love when we see our students have that “Aha” moment as they figure out what we are teaching them and it suddenly makes sense for them. This year, we can have that Aha moment as well as we learn different ways to present our lessons and standards. Continue the good work you are doing, Wolf Pack. Thank you for doing all that you do, thank you for being the best, and thank you for your innovative efforts to educate and connect with our students.

*Positive Cinematic Spotlight is not encouraging or advocating the viewing of the movies it discusses. The message about the movie does not require watching the movie to understand.* Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! We continue in the month of October looking at horror movies, going from last week's look at the fairly recent Get Out to the 60 year old classic, Psycho. But before we begin looking at the film considered the first slasher flick, I do want to announce a slight change in the Positive Cinematic Spotlight. My producer, Ms. Helena Johnson, has suggested expanding my target audience to include students, so there will now be a student segment. Now, let’s begin. Psycho came out in 1960 and was a movie unlike had been seen before. Nowadays, it may seem prosaic, but the adaptation of Robert Bloch’s novel of the same name stepped into several realms which had not been seen in cinema at the time. The movie is about the extremes which people can go to when they feel trapped. Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, commits a crime feeling trapped in her life and unable to have the life she desires, while the Bates’s, Norman and his mother, referred to only as “Mother”, are trapped with each other and the Bates Motel. It makes me wonder if that’s not seen in Hitchcock’s extreme vision of the film, again, at the time. Possibly Hitchcock felt trapped with the limits of cinema censorship and expectation and wanted to push the envelope and get out from those trappings, and he certainly did. Hitchcock wanted to throw movie goers off of the true secret behind the murder and Mother, that he actively created a buzz around her with disinformation, including releasing several potential actresses who may have the roll, and staging press photos with the majority of the cast sitting in a director’s chair labelled “Mrs. Bates”. Hitchcock put a lot of effort into creating an illusion and expectation for Mother Bates that fueled the surprise reveal to the truth. Similarly, most of us teachers are creating the illusion of a normal school room education while teaching in new and different ways which both we and our students are unfamiliar with. Much like Hitchcock, we are putting in a lot of work behind the scenes to make our audience respond positively and productively. Unlike Hitchcock, however, we do not have box office returns, movie reviews to let him know if his efforts were being rewarded. Some of us might here positive comments from parents, or positive reactions from our students, but many of us may be left wondering if the work is worth the effort. I can assure you, every effort you are making to reach and connect with your students, both academically and socio-emotionally, is having a positive effect. Not every step we make will be universally accepted by our students, but if you try a variety of things, differentiate your efforts, you will reach everyone. So don’t feel trapped, like Marion Crane and the Bates’s. In the movie, Marion and Norman discuss the different traps life has for us, some are beyond our control, as Norman is born into his trap with Mother, and others we step into rashly and without thinking, as Marion does. But one of the often missed messages of Psycho is that we can make a mistake, we can step in a trap, and still have the opportunity to correct it, as Marion decides on her own to face the consequences of her decisions, and those who she had wronged want to offer her a chance to fix the problem she created without punitive consequences. We are teachers, school staff, district office personnel… we are smart, we are strong, and if something isn’t working, we shouldn’t let ourselves remain trapped doing the same thing over and over. Don’t runaway like Marion, try something different. And remember that with our students. Sometimes students find themselves trapped, taking classes they aren’t interested in, caught in the consequences of past decisions, and like Norman, sometimes

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! Well, it’s October, and you know what that means: Halloween and horror movies. To kick off our horror theme, I turn to a recent Academy award nominated horror movie from director Jordan Peele. That’s right, comedian Jordan Peele brought us a horror film with no comedy in 2017; Get Out starring Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams. The film features an interracial couple, Chris and Rose, as they go to visit Rose’s family for a weekend. Despite Rose’s assurances that everything would be ok, things did not remain ok for the young black man in rich suburbia. I debated using this film because of the racial component. I had seen comments about the film suggesting a divisive message, but I did my research. Jordan Peele described the film as a metaphor for the African American community in the United States and the mixed messages hidden behind smiling faces and compliments, not to mention outright racism. Also, the source of inspiration I find in this film is not about the racial thread of the movie, but Daniel Kaluuya’s character Chris Wallace. There are certain expected tropes when you turn on a movie from the horror genre. Unspoken and repressed hostility is often seen in the group of victims and the main protagonist, who may or may not be the survivor, depending on how the movie ends, has a tortured backstory. I won’t go into specifics in case you haven’t seen it and you are interested. I certainly recommend it. Daniel Kaluuya deserved his Oscar nomination and the praise it has received is truly earned. But as a child, Chris experienced a traumatic event which continues to plague him. In the climax of the film, Chris finds himself in a similar, parallel situation. As with every horror film, this is a moment where we, sitting comfortably at home or theater, possibly eating buttered popcorn, beg and plead and warn the horror movie protagonist, “Don’t do that! Don’t go in there! Keep running! Do something else! This is a bad idea!” But true to horror movie protagonist form, Chris does what we, and even he, knows he shouldn’t do. But unlike the typical horror movie protagonist trope where we are left saying, “Why would she go into the cellar with the busted light bulb without a flashlight and barefoot to see what’s making the growling noise? She’s not too bright,” Chris’s moment should not be labelled a simple lapse of judgment or common sense. Chris’s moment of doing what we know is a bad idea is actually a sign of strength and personal growth. He basically relives his traumatic event from his youth, but makes the decision he wishes he had made as a child. Sure, it complicates his escape, but his willingness to confront his trauma and fears is a source of inspiration and encouragement. After all, the teaching profession is not without its elements of fear. This year, many of us are afraid of contracting COVID-19, of seeing our students catch it, our students’ parents, and the possible consequence of the spread. Many of us are afraid of losing our students, both academically and personally, due to increased virtual separation. We fear not being able to keep up with pacing as we juggle traditional, asynchronous, and virtual lessons. But like Chris Wallace, we can confront those fears and not let them overwhelm us. Guaranteed, every teacher who escapes the 2020 - 2021 school year to return for the 2021 - 2022 school year will be stronger. And similar to Chris, not every choice may lead to success, but as long as we refuse to give up, and keep fighting to provide academically enriching, socio-emotional supporting lessons and interactions, we will grow and become stronger, more adept teachers. If you are teaching and you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, and you feel like some ephemeral voice is telling you to “Get Out,” change the script, steel your resolve, and hear instead, “Get Up!” Thank you for being your best, that you for all that you do, and thank

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! Last week, we looked at Samwise’s support of Frodo as he tries to destroy the key to Sauron, the evil all-seeing eye from taking over Middle Earth in the Fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings.” This week, we are looking at another evil eye, this time from the future; HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2001 is a movie that addresses many themes and concepts, but one of the most memorable segments of the movie deals with the artificial intelligence, HAL-9000. Through HAL-9000, director Stanley Kubrik and writer Arthur C. Clarke explore mankind’s fear of new technology. HAL-9000 is put into the Discovery One spaceship to maintain systems, but it starts to malfunction, leading to a confrontation between HAL-9000 and the crew who can no longer trust the AI. When schools had to adapt our teaching practices due to the Coronavirus, many of us had to take on a significantly different, technology based style. We were being asked to learn many new computer programs to deliver the educational content to students through the transmitting eye of a webcam. Interestingly, I recently heard a comment and was asked a question that many echo and show a concern about education’s future. I was asked recently what I thought things were going to be like for the next 2021 - 2022 school year. I also heard from another teacher that there was a feeling of defeat after virtual lessons. Both within one week told me many of us are worried about the future and are unsatisfied with virtual teaching. But one thing I know is that as much as we would rather be in the classroom face to face with a full class, parents also want the return to traditional teaching. As a father I have children who struggle virtually, but excel in person, and children who are not hindered by virtual education… except when it malfunctions… like HAL-9000. I do think virtual teaching isn’t going away, but I believe after the pandemic subsides, it will be greatly reduced and used to better accommodate student needs. Imagine not having to make up days cancelled due to inclement weather, because we can put assignments online. Students assigned to detention could avoid falling behind because we have work they can do online. We can see virtual schooling for extended periods of time doesn’t work for everyone, but short spans of virtuality can help students to keep up and teachers to keep moving in their curriculum. We need not fear virtual teaching, but use it as an alternative to traditional when traditional isn’t an option, or virtual increases student safety. If anything, people are learning how important it is for us to be in the classroom. Before, we were expected to be here. Now we are needed to be here. Being needed gives us influence. When Dave Bowman asks HAL to let him back in Discovery One, HAL respondes, “"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that!’" But our experiences with new technology, programs, and apps can now increase our ability to say, instead, “I’m glad to say I can do that,” When families and students ask for alternative solutions to accommodate their needs, But we have proven our importance both in the classroom, and in front of the webcam, and on the keyboard. It can be difficult and overwhelming trying to adjust to the increased technological needs, but we can adapt and incorporate these new tools to better reach more students. Just remember, a tool is useless without someone choosing to use it. They are here for us to use, not here to replace us. I want to thank everyone for all that you do for our students, and for being the best.

*Be aware, like any movie production of a written work, there are differences between the text and video. The theme and overall message is the same. The text is presented smoother, more polished, and has more information.* Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! One of the things that I like to remind myself, when things seem to not be going the way I would prefer, is that things could be worse. Even if it’s not a conscious reminder, it seems that many of us are comforted by that thought because we love post apocalyptic tales of harrowing adventure and survival against all odds. This week we are looking back to arguably the pinnacle era of B-Movie sci-fi, the 1980s, to look at the positivity of The Terminator. The Terminator was an early film for many Hollywood stars, so it’s easy to see how giving people a shot, looking past apparent limitations can lead to resounding success. After all, James Cameron, director of 2 of the highest grossing films of all time, had just been fired from… wait for it… Piranha II. Swarzenegger had only one real role under his acting belt as Conan the Barbarian and was considered, by both Director Cameron and co-star Michael Biehn, to be just a muscle man pretending to act. An inexperienced writer and director fired from his first major movie job and Mr. Universe with little acting experience were able to work with two young, minimally successful actors to turn what many expected to be just another mediocre-at-best science fiction B-movie into one of the most acclaimed movies of all time. Yes, from that we can learn to give people a chance to prove their capabilities. And from the plot, Sarah Connor, a 19 year old waitress with boyfriend troubles, finds herself the target of a cybernetic assassin from the post apocalyptic future, can inspire us to remember that, even when we are subject to forces beyond our understanding and control, we can find unknown strength to persevere. But what is ringing in my ears, figuratively speaking, is what I call the Skynet Fallacy. Skynet is the artificial intelligence which leads to the apocalypse, develops the terminators and other weapons to eliminate surviving humans, and sends the T-800, played by Arnold Swartzenegger, into the past to prevent the birth of John Connor, the organizer of the resistance. Skynet, in 2029, has determined it is losing against the human resistance and turns its focus on the past to solve its current dilemma. In doing so, Skynet commits a fallacy. Even with time travel, in The Terminator universe, Skynet’s solution involves trying to affect things which have happened and in doing so removes itself from influencing the outcome of its own present concern. By focusing on the past, it fails to adjust to its present and adapting. Even without time travel, we can find ourselves focused on the past, rather than dealing with the present. We ask, “Why are things this way?” which is a fair question. Understanding the past can help us plan for the present and future. But then we ask, “Why not” and “Why didn’t they”. We sometimes assign blame. We judge the decisions made. But none of this helps us deal with the situation as it is. We can learn from Skynet that we should focus on the present situation and the solutions for the problems as they exist. Sometimes, with teachers, we can fall into the other problem: focusing on what was positive in the past and determining that it should be beneficial this year as well. If it worked before, by all means use it again. Just, be sure to assess its efficacy with your current class and adjust if it’s not working as well this go round. Remember, learn from mistakes, don’t focus on them. Paying more attention to the past keeps us from affecting the present, and that’s where out students are. Thank you for all that you do and for being the best.

*Be aware, like any movie production of a written work, there are differences between the text and video. The theme and overall message is the same. The text is presented smoother, more polished, and has more information.* Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! When I was planning our week two spotlight, I was looking at some movie options, but then tragedy struck, and I knew I had to shift our focus. Afterall, reality often happens, making us adjust our plans. The tragedy which made me adjust my plans was the untimely passing of award winning actor Chadwick Boseman. I wanted to honor Boseman by focusing on one of his rolls. I knew him only for his title character Black Panther, but knew he was recognized for other characters, and I took the opportunity to broaden my experience with his career. I chose his movie Marshall, in which he portrayed trailblazing Civil Rights lawyer and judge Thurgood Marshall. There is a lot of inspiration to be found in the life of Thurgood Marshall. His strength and fortitude to seek justice for the falsely accused. Going further back in his story, which is not addressed in the movie, you can find that Marshall was willing to listen and change, being described by fellow classmate Langston Hughes as, “rough and ready, loud and wrong.” It can be shocking to learn that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was suspended from college twice for hazing and playing pranks on fellow students, and the civil rights leader opposed the integration of African-American professors at Lincoln University. But the following year, he was participating in sit-ins protesting for the integration of lunch counters. I haven’t discovered what shifted his focus from pranks and keeping things segregated to becoming one of the most influential Civil Rights leaders, but he was willing to change. As for the movie Marshall, what caught my attention was the relationship between Marshall and Sam Friedman. In the movie, Marshall was sent by the NAACP to defend Joseph Spell after determining his innocence. Marshall had just returned home and was not happy about the immediate assignment to go to Lafayette, Louisiana. However, he went to defend Spell with gusto. Friedman, on the other hand, did not want to be involved in the case. Through Marshall’s conviction and personality, Friedman found himself being connected to the case, and when Judge Foster said Marshall would not be allowed to speak during the case, his presence only allowed to insure Spell received a fair trial, Friedman was forced into taking on the lead defense of Spell, following Marshall’s lead behind the scenes. In this awkward arrangement, we can find inspiration. Much like Friendman, many of use find ourselves being required to take on rolls and responsibilities which we are neither prepared, nor interested in taking. Many of us balked at the idea of becoming virtual, distant educators. Virtual education, video classes, distance and online learning,.. These were not things that magically generated when COVID-19 hit the U.S. But many teachers dug in their heels, determined to remain classroom teachers, being live and in person with our students, only to find out… we did not have a choice. But Friedman, while he did complain some at the outset, is shown to display a determination, wanting to do as good of a job as he could, despite his desire to not be involved, and not letting missteps fester into negativity. We should follow Marshall’s Friedman into whatever aspect that virtual teaching takes for us, be it all virtual, or a hybrid paired with traditional teaching, and not allow ourselves to wallow in the negatives, and remain determined to perform to the best of our abilities. We can also learn from Boseman’s Thurgood Marshall. Marshall entered the Lafayette courtroom planning to lead the defense of Joseph Spell only to be told he had to sit silently as an observer. The virtual aspects of our school year are forcing us, to some

Welcome back, Wolf Pack! It's time to start the 2020-2021 school year. It's good to see coworkers in person again, and meet new friends. Last year, I did the Positive Rock Lyric of the Week because last year, the district's theme was that we are rock stars. This year's theme, Lights, Camera, Action led to a reimagining of my positive emails. This year we will be looking at Positive Cinematic Spotlights. The positivity may come from the movie plot itself, the making of the movie, or the stories of the actors involved. If there are any movies, directors, or actors you would like in the spotlight, send me an email and I will see what I can do. However, there are some controversial elements of Hollywood productions and people which I will not be touching with a pole equal to twice a social distance. So, this year we are starting off with 1994's Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction is a film with no shortage of questionable characters whom we should not admire or emulate. Sure, Jules has a little redemption arc, and Butch ends up seeing past his contentious relationship with Marsellus Wallace to come to his aid, but by and large, Pulp Fiction is filled with characters of poor moral fortitude making questionable decisions. The positive inspiration, however, comes from Pulp Fiction writer and director, Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino dropped out of high school at the age of 15. Growing up, Tarantino worked in a movie rental establishment. He had great passion for movies and had watched most of the movies in his place of employment and had been writing movies since middle school. He noticed three common tropes in some of his favorite films: the boxer who's supposed to throw a fight, but doesn't, the gangster who's supposed to entertain the mob boss's wife, and the hitmen sent to kill someone. Tarantino was starting to get work in Hollywood, getting critical acclaim for his independent film Reservoir Dogs. The script he wrote for Pulp Fiction was described as "the diary of a madman" by his typist. She also described Tarantino as having "atrocious handwriting", and described him as "functionally illiterate." She says, "I was averaging about 9,000 grammatical errors per page." Despite Tarantino's weaknesses, Pulp Fiction won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 1995 Academy Awards. So, as we start out in the new world of virtual teaching, remember, it doesn't have to be pretty and refined, or meet the levels of experts in the field to be effective. Perfection does not guarantee success. After all, plenty of screenplays get written every year from college graduated writers who don't have their scripts made into movies, much less get described, as Roger Ebert labelled it, "the most influential film of the 1990s." And as a post-script...when talking with students about their goals and dreams, remember dropout Tarantino. He was able to turn a passion into an award winning career despite his weaknesses. Someone's potential is not always limited to their performance in a classroom. Thank you for being the best and for all that you do. Extra Movie Trivia Moment: Pulp Fiction was struggling to get funding, until it was shown to Harvey Keitel. Keitel loved it and met with Tarantino. He asked the scriptwriter, “How’d you come to write this script? Did you live in a tough-guy neighborhood growing up?” Tarantino responded that he did not. He also explained no one in his family was connected to tough guys. Keitel then asked, “Well, How ...did you come to write this?’ And he said, ‘I watch movies.” Don’t underestimate second hand experiences. They can be rewarding and beneficial. Thank you for being the best and for all that you do. And please do sign up for our other virtual options via our school podcast at Social Media Podcast - https://anchor.fm/academy-for-success Twitter - @AFSWolfpack Instagram - @AFSWolfden Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LR5AFS/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/afs-wolf-den/id1487375229 or https://radio

Listen to this Positive Rock Pod Cast - Dec. 9 - Blvd of Broken Dreams

It's Thanksgiving Week and positivity in the Wolf Pack is palpable. Idle conversations in the hall generating laughter bouncing down the hall has increased.

When looking for positive rock lyrics for this week, I wanted to focus on the idea of being thankful, naturally. That, surprisingly enough, lead me, no pun intended, to Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin has an interesting history coming together quickly to make their first album, only 30 hours, but then slowing down after and taking the more standard multiple months to get their second and later albums made. One of the most impressive stories, in my opinion, involving the band involves their hit "Whole Lotta Love". Robert Plant sings a line saying "Way down inside… wo-man… you need… love," and while he sings you can hear his lyrics echo softly. That echo was not supposed to be there and every attempt to mute the second voice was unsuccessful. But making lemonade out of lemons, they added reverb around the extra verse and it became a permanent part of the song. They didn't focus on the problem..... they focused on the solution and their creativity created an iconic rock sound.

As for the less known selection showing thanks, I turned to "Thank You." In the song we hear:

If the sun refused to shine,

I would still be loving you.

When mountains crumble to the sea,

There will still be you and me.

The song was written by Jimmy Page and dedicated to his wife, but even as a love song, we can see some inspiring qualities that we can take into the classroom. After all, sometimes it feels like "the sun refused to shine" and mountains are crumbling to the sea. Sometimes the sun is something personal in our lives and the mountains are things at school. From wherever the difficulty comes, one thing is always certain: our students expect us to be rock steady, to give them our all, as the song goes on to say. They will learn better to control their reactions when things don't go the way they want or expect than if we just advise them to do so. We react and say, "Well, I'm having a bad day," don't be surprised when our students quote us. It can be difficult, but that's why we are a team. You need to get some stress out, there is someone in this building you can turn to.

And that is what I am thankful for this wonderful staff, our friendship, our camaraderie, our teamwork. Thank you all, from my head to my toes, for everything you do for our students and for being the best.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Never doubt me was a song that I came up with upon thinking about all the accomplishments that I made while proving all those that Doubted Me wrong.  The song symbolizes everyone that has been told that they could not achieve those goals that they've set for themselves.  The song is based upon motivation and determination.  Others may not see in you, what you see in yourself.  This song carries a large spectrum of individuals. From those in sports, to those in classrooms, at work and to those dealing with life threatening illnesses.  You must never give up or let someone (or something ) determine your path in life.  We are all unique and capable of overcoming astronomical things.  So, when friends, family, teachers, haters, etc. tell you that you can't do something, make it your goal to prove them wrong and sing proud, "Never Doubt Me".

Welcome back Wolf Pack, to another Positive Rock Lyric. This week we turn to the Billboard Hot Rock chart and the number one hit "High Hopes".  With it being American Educator Week, it's important to remember the importance of a positive attitude. Seeing the opportunity in every difficulty is more empowering and motivating than seeing the difficulty in every opportunity. In "High Hopes" Panic! At the Disco say:

Had to have high, high hopes for a living

Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing

Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision

Always had high, high hopes

Had to have high, high hopes for a living

Didn't know how but I always had a feeling

I was gonna be that one in a million

Always had high, high hopes

Mama said

Fulfill the prophecy

Be something greater

Go make a legacy

Manifest destiny

Back in the days

We wanted everything, wanted everything

Mama said

Burn your biographies

Rewrite your history

Light up your wildest dreams

Motivational speakers often say that having a goal, a target, is key to being successful. But what's your goal? We know the pessimists goal. "Make it to the weekend with a minimum of fuss." That's not "shooting for the stars" though. Aim high. Not reaching the goal isn't a failure if you made it farther than where you started.

And Mama's advice to "burn your biographies" is perfect. Sometimes we determine our goals based on yesterday. Yesterday is something to learn from, not live in. Learn and try again, don't settle for "well, this is as far as I got last time."

We also need to encourage our students to stay positive and aim high. Personally, I;d rather be wrong and hope for better tomorrow, than to expect the worst and be right. Being right is validating, true... but there's little drive to make it better if you don't hope it can be.

Have a wonderful week everyone! Remember to stay positive! After all, you are the best! Thank you for everything that you do.

Happy Veterans Day Wolfpack! It's November 11 and today we celebrate and thank our veterans for serving and protecting our country. Rock and roll has had its fair share of veterans including the father of rock, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Ray Manzarek of the Doors, Shaggy and Tool front man Maynard James Keenan. Also, Toy Caldwell served in the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War until a landmine accident sent him home. If you don't recognize the name Toy Caldwell, he was the founder of the Marshall Tucker Band. There was never a Marshall Tucker in the band, and it was originally called the Toy Factory. . They ended up with the Marshall Tucker Band when they saw on their key to the rented rehearsal space they were using the name Marshall Tucker. They later learned that Marshall Tucker, a blind piano tuner, was the previous tenant of the space. The Marshall Tucker Band is an interesting group coming to us out of our very own Spartanburg, South Carolina that incorporated blues, jazz, and country into their sound helping to establish the genre of Southern Rock.

Pulling from the Marshall Tucker Band's vast discography, today we are looking at "Bob away My Blues". This song is admittedly a little heavy on the country side, but still brings us a very positive message.

Well I'm goin' down to the river

I've got a canepole in my hand

I've got my redworms in a Maxwell house coffee can

I'm gonna sit under a shade tree on a riverbank where it's cool

I'm gonna close my eyes and dream and let the cork bob away my blues

The speaker in this song has a positive outlet for his every day stresses and ensures he takes time to go fishing and let "the cork bob away [his] blues." We all need a method to destress. A noticeable absence in this song is the lack of specifics about his blues. Throughout the song he only makes reference to his pa encouraging him to move to the city and being a city boy with the country blues. It's a noticeable departure from your typical blues song which delves into specifics regarding the source of the speaker's blues. SImilarly, while venting our frustrations can have a cathartic release of stress, if it's done without focus on a solution, and done repetitively, it can start to refuel the stress as no solution is addressed and a feeling of hopelessness can set in. Vent if you are looking for solutions. But distance yourself from the stress with hobbies and past-times which can calm your mind.

Also noticeable is that city boy who remembers his roots in the country. Sometimes we forget where we come from, and in education that can translate into why we chose to become a teacher. Usually it's not a simply "I love reading," or "I love history" or... well, insert the appropriate subject for you. There are plenty of occupations for the subject matter we chose to teach, occupations which would keep us from having to try and wrangle a menagerie of emotionally volatile teens. But we chose teaching.  Usually there's some component of wanting to help teens grow and develop. We got into it focused on the student. But we let standards and tests shift our focus to the content. Remember why you chose teaching, especially as tests creep up. Growth is growth, be it academic, behavioral, interpersonal, or that slow growing personal growth that doesn't fully develop until adulthood. Positive relations with students will garner at least one.

Thank you for being the best, thank you for all that you do, and remember to let the cork bob your blues away.

Miles of Liles Positive Rock Lyrics of the Week of November 4, 2019.

Good morning, Wolfpack! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I know we needed it after Halloweek and grades being due. Now starts the focus on holidays. Just 14 days until Thanksgiving Break.

And looking forward, finding that goal to get us through when we are having a bad day is great, but sometimes we also need to look back for inspiration. Back to November 4, 1996. 23 years ago today the Spice Girls debut album "Spice" was released  It sold an amazing 2 million copies in its first week and becoming a global hit. This week's Positive Rock looks at some lyrics from their hit "Right Back at Ya". There's a lot of positive in the Spice Girls discography and there are a variety of positive attitudes in this 2000 hit.

No looking back
And you thought we wouldn't make it this far
So we proved you wrong again
Now's the time
We're coming right back with the brand new design
Feeling fine

There's been tears along the way
But we're still the best of friends
Never needed to pretend
'Cause real friendship never ends

From the first stanza in this selection where we are told "you thought we wouldn't make it this far, so we proved you wrong again" showing perseverance in the face of negativity, to "coming right back with a brand new design" showing accountability, taking ownership in their need to change things up when their popularity began to fade.

The second stanza I chose, though, I feel is crucial. "There's been tears along the way, but we're still the best of friends." Here at the Academy, things get stressful, but we have to stay together. We might now always agree, but we need to stay together. We have to communicate and support each other. It's easier to "make it this far" when we have each other's backs, and it's more likely we will try those "brand new designs" if we have support from each other. Remember to talk before you rant, call before you brawl. Much like the Spice Girls, we don't always agree or see eye to eye, but if we keep our ears open to each other, we can find a solution.

And it occurs to me that sounds very teacher focused, but it is intended also as a suggestion for our interactions and communication with students.

Have a wonderful week, Wolfpack! Thank you for being the best and for everything that you do! ~ Teacher Clark Liles, ELA, The Academy for Success @  District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties.