garycheng's Xanga

Friday, September 15, 2006

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 12:16:36 GMT

http://www.goldenkey.org/NR/rdonlyres/089C3154-18AC-42DF-B0BE-9F32CC0C13CA/2513/CONCEPTS2006OutstandingMembers.pdf

Page 8 features an article on Gary and Teach for America! (Page 5 in Adobe)

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 22:39:43 GMT

I think I'm going to start a "Quotes Corner" in my classroom with a bunch of famous quotes that are inspirational and stuff. Things like:

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Ghandi.

"Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. And be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny." -Unknown

I'll have other quotes, too. I have a whole book, and TFA is rich with quotes. But in the middle of all the quotes, I want to post this poem that I saw at my doctor's office:

Anyway by Kent Keith

The verses below reportedly were engraved on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, and are widely attributed to her. However, according to The New York Times, the verses actually were written by 19-year-old Kent Keith in a motivation booklet for high school counselors published while he was a student at Harvard in 1968.

People are often unreasonable, illogical,

and self-centered;

FORGIVE THEM ANYWAY.

If you are kind, people may accuse you

of selfish, ulterior motives;

BE KIND ANYWAY.

If you are successful, you will win some

false friends and some true enemies;

SUCCEED ANYWAY.

If you are honest and frank,

people may cheat you;

BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY.

What you spend years building,

someone could destroy overnight;

BUILD ANYWAY.

If you find serenity and happiness,

they may be jealous;

BE HAPPY ANYWAY.

The good you do today,

people will often forget tomorrow;

DO GOOD ANYWAY.

Give the world the best you have,

and it may never be enough;

GIVE THE WORLD YOUR BEST ANYWAY.

You see, in the final analysis,

it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Sat, 08 Oct 2005 12:02:02 GMT

I got this from a friend last year. I read it again recently and it gave me a little more "oomph" to get through the past few weeks. It's a poem written by a teacher named Taylor Mali who does Poetry Slams, and with his attitude he sounds like prime Teach For America material, though I don't think he has any ties to them. I just mean he's idealistic about teaching just like TFA is. He sounds like the teacher I want to be. This poem is called "What Teachers Make," referring to how much money we teachers make.

http://taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=13

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:01:46 GMT

First week of school. Round 2.

PRAISE GOD. Guys, it's RIDICULOUS how different teaching is this year from last year. Everybody can tell the difference... my math specialist, with a big grin, said, "It's like night and day, isn't it?" as I nodded in full agreement. Guys... I've been having SO MUCH FUN the past four days teaching these kids!! It's ridiculous!! This is the best job in the whole freaking world!! Let me tell you what I think about why:

-a year of experience with kids goes a long way... i know how they think now...
-i actually did NOT plan much over the summer. i fully used the summer to just chill and relax and enjoy being married to monica. so using the summer as extra planning time actually was not a factor...
-***most significant change*** I changed my focus from me to GOD. Instead of me trying to be a good teacher for the sake of my reputation with Teach For America or for the sake of my personal reputation with my principal (or to satisfy my own pride and say "I told you I could be a good teacher!" to myself and to my parents and friends). Instead of all that, I decided to teach for THE GLORY OF GOD. And how do we do that? By getting GOD involved in our schools and in the lives of our kids. And yes, I know, that's currently illegal, but we can easily do that by getting TEACHERS together and praying for our kids. Because God is SPIRITUAL, not a physical or verbal idea, we don't have to say a word to our kids. All we need to do is pray to God for our kids and then, just like that, He gets involved in their lives. Isn't that cool? So I vowed to start up a prayer group of teachers this year at school, and I think that vision and focus has changed EVERYTHING. I think so because I think it invited GOD into my school and now He is covering everything that I do.

Let me give you some examples.

First day of school: After a brief introduction of me and my Two Rules in class ("Be Nice. Work Hard.") I gave the kids an activity that I saw last week. You can try it. Look at these four words:

horse
clock
chair
nose

One of these words is not like the others. One of these words does not belong. Can you figure out which one and why? Write down your answer.

If you guys are like my kids, you'll sit there and wonder if you have the right answer, and some were so unsure that they didn't write anything for fear that they were wrong. But when we shared answers, I'd say, "You got "chair?" Everybody else who got "chair" raise your hand." Hands went up. "Ok, now tell us WHY did you say "chair." And they'd say something like all of the other words have an "o", but chair doesn't. I'd say, "Cool! Does anyone have a different answer?" And I'd get things like, "Nose, because a horse has legs, a clock has arms, a chair has legs, but a nose doesn't have anything like that." I'd get all sorts of answers and I'd point out that some people have the SAME answer, but with different REASONING. Like the chair is the only one that doesn't move by itself. From there, I started to REALLY have fun. I started to preach.

"Guys, what I want you to get out of this activity is this -- you all came up with different answers for different reasons and they were ALL correct. So I want YOU to see that each of you in here are capable of creative, ORIGINAL thoughts. And it's a BEAUTIFUL thing, guys! That you each have a BEAUTIFUL mind that thinks differently from EVERYBODY else's mind in here. You see things that nobody else in here sees! Isn't that awesome? I mean, sometimes two people might have the same answer and same method, but only sometimes. And sometimes your answer might be wrong, but that's okay because you're learning! In math, we're always tempted to find that ONE answer. One plus one equals... two. But guys, there's other ways of getting "two." One TIMES two. PLUS three minus one. Don't fall into the trap of thinking math is a STRAIGHT line from one place to another. It goes ALL OVER like this! <arms waving in the air> Let's look at the quote at the top of your student surveys. Somebody read that for us. "A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns." -G.H. Hardy. How does a painter use patterns? <we discuss> How does a poet use patterns? Or if you don't know poetry, think of the songs you hear on the radio. How do they use patterns? <we discuss> So look, this is a famous mathematician who spent his life studying math. And G. H. Hardy saw math as a BEAUTIFUL thing...just like painting. It's not just a one-to-one straight line to every answer, guys. It's BEAUTIFUL. Because you use your mind. You use all of your creativity and your mind to paint patterns with your ideas. And that's what we'll be doing this year. Any questions?"

That totally came from God, and it was so much fun to say, guys. =) You should have seen these kids when I said that they all have beautiful minds capable of creative, original thoughts different from everyone else. The whole room brightened up for a second because their eyes just LIT UP. It was a beautiful thing.

Our classroom environment is so dang positive right now, I feel like I'm in another world. Our class motto, written up at the front of my classroom, thanks to mon, is this:

If there is a problem, WE LOOK FOR A SOLUTION.
If there is a better way, WE TRY TO FIND IT.
If we need help, WE ASK.
If a teammate needs help, WE GIVE IT.
If there is a mountain, WE CLIMB IT.

We also have a big sign that says, "There are no shortcuts." We demand hard work in our class: Be Nice. Work Hard.

In the past week at school, I can tell that these kids feel good about themselves and feel safe in class. I greet all my kids at the door every morning with a handshake and a good morning. Already, some of them won't walk in until I greet them.

God has blessed my class with an atmosphere of peace, love, hospitality, courtesy, inspiration, and motivation. He's given me time to spend with mon outside of school, time to spend with coworkers who need it (we have one new first-year Teach For America teacher who cried on her second day and thought about quitting =( so it was good to spend almost an hour with her debriefing the week), time to spend with students (I had one student already get sent to in-school suspension for almost starting a fight. I visited him, and the in-school suspension teacher insisted that I take him to my room to spend time with him because "You'd make a good mentor for him, Mr. Cheng." So we spent 30 minutes talking, and he told me the story of a little boy trying to be tough in a world where kids tell him, "I'm not gonna fight you here at school. Nah, I'm gonna git some people and we're comin' to your apartment to fight you." Have you been in fights before? I ask. Yes. Have people come to your apartment to fight before? Yes. They bang on the door and yell at me to come out and fight. Is it always a fist-fight? No. Once they brought a weapon. What kind of weapon? A pistol. He has two siblings and his mom is pregnant. I told him not to make me worry and to promise me that he won't get into any fights this year. He laughed and said that's too hard. You can pray for him. I gave him that book that I'm currently reading, "Life in Prison." It's written by the co-founder of the Crips gang who is now in prison on Death Row, but spends his time writing books and funding programs to keep youths out of gangs. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in gang-prevention outreach to youths. I hope the book will make a difference for this student and my other kids.) God has been good to me and it's only been a week. I have yet to start that prayer group, but I already know some key people who will be in it. This is good stuff, guys. I pray that the year continues as it has begun. I pray that it gets better. I pray that it's not just me, but the entire school, and all the teachers that can turn to God and pray and ask him to watch over our kids and to teach them, save them, and their families. All to HIS GLORY. "Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness." -psalm 115:1

peace out, guys. keep on livin' your life for Him. it's good stuff. =)

praise God.

i'll be in touch.

in Him,
gary

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:25:43 GMT

Missions trip was EXCELLENT. God showed up in a variety of ways, and mon and I will send out a full update letter in email form. Thanks for praying, guys!!

-g

Monday, July 25, 2005

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:10:41 GMT

hey friends,

8.5 hours from now, we will be leaving with our english pastor and a
group of high schoolers for reynosa, mexico. we will be joining
several churches from across the u.s. to partner with a local ministry
called ministerio de fe (faith ministry). this one week trip is
two-fold. 1) much of the team will be doing construction work for the
local community, building and fixing houses. after hurricane emily
swept through, there is probably plenty to fix. 2) the team will also
be hosting a children's outreach program for the neighborhood kids,
similar to a vacation bible school (but in espanol). we'd like to ask
you to pray for us throughout this week. here are a few prayer
requests.

. team unity
. safe travels and good health
. selflessness
. that we, as the adult leaders, would know how to care for each of our
kids (neither of us has ever LED a trip like this)
. that we would embrace the messiness of people
. flexibility
. wisdom
. a loose grip on our own expectations and plans

GOD WILL HAVE HIS WAY. nothing will happen without the Lord's "okay."

Here's our day to day itinerary if you want to pray more specifically:

MONDAY:
-Leave for Mexico in van at 7:00am
-Meet rest of 70 team members at Tex/Mex border
-Drive across border and meet people at Ministerio de Fe
-Orientation

TUESDAY-FRIDAY:
-Full work days (the meat of the trip)

SATURDAY:
-Go to the marketplace for "Tourist Day" where the teams can shop and
act like tourists in Mexico for the afternoon
-Debrief

SUNDAY:
-Say goodbye to everyone
-Leave for Houston

we're thankful that we can drop an email just hours before the trip
with the knowledge that you will respond.

hasta luego (until later),
mon and gary

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 06:40:52 GMT

wow... thanks for keeping my xanga updated, guys! =) i think it's time to change my password, though... =)

okay, i have to say that this year has been sooooo difficult in so many ways. but i've also been learning a LOT. i have tons of stories to share... good and bad. to keep this post short (and positive!), i wanted to share a good story (I changed the student's name for privacy reasons):

Testing for students' eligibility to take Pre-AP Algebra I next year was this week. I had the tremendous opportunity to extend only a handful of recommendations to my students. My math specialist told me that it was a very difficult test and even the top students rarely get in. She mentioned that she has yet to have a regular 7th grade math student pass the test and get in to Pre-AP for 8th grade. So anyways, I go ahead and make all of my recommendations and pray for them all, really wanting them to beat that test. Enter my student Enrique.

Enrique seems very excited to get the offer to go pre-AP next year. Then, the day before the test I get a phone call from him after school (all my students have my cell #):

"Mr. Cheng, it's me, Enrique. I just got back from my cousin's house and so now I have her Algebra book to study. So what do I need to know for this test? So far, I've been reading about... maaa...tri...ces... yeah, matrices, and I want to know what else you think I should study." So after I get over my initial shock, I go ahead and admit that I have NO CLUE what's on that test! But I start looking on the internet to do my best and find out. I gave him a short list of things including Pythagorean Theorem and irrational numbers and told him to call me back if he needed anything. We talked at least 5 more times after that throughout the night.

I gave Enrique test-taking tips; he gave me hope and joy. I gave him math knowledge; he gave me insight into his father working a 10:00am-10:00pm job every day while taking weekend classes to finish his high school diploma. I gave him the opportunity to test; he gave me the motivation, desire, and hard work to make me proud. I gave him a dang good reason to learn; he gave me a dang good reason to teach.

So I thank my GOD for Enrique. Praise God.

Enrique later told me that he thought the test was pretty easy and that he thinks he did really well on it. Now we just wait and see... =)

prayer requests:
* that i can make it through to May 26!
* that my students make good decisions in life (ie. choosing NOT to fight even if someone else throws the first punch, choosing to walk away from joining gangs or to tell an adult about it, choosing abstinence until marriage, choosing to prioritize their education)
* for my students' salvation and for their parents' and family's salvation... that they might know the God that created them and looks after them so that they might live for Him and no longer for themselves
* that I can make math FUN and RELEVANT for them to better learn it

You guys are awesome. Thanks so much for your friendship!!

-gary

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 10:50:22 GMT

No post from Gary yet (sorry, he's really busy), but here's something that Monica emailed me:

"i told gary i like chocolate because it makes me happy.

he says just because it makes your heart beat faster doesn't mean your heart is happy... just that it clogs your arteries.

does this mean gary clogs my arteries?"

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:30:57 GMT

Look out, everyone! There might be a post on this xanga that was actually written by me! I just got the password from a friend, so I can log in now. We'll see if I actually get on here and make an entry. That'll be a great milestone for this xanga. I'm going to change the colors to celebrate! muahaha... Here's "Orange Juice" for ya. Wow, this is bright and juicy!

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 02:21:00 GMT

I am now married...I am very happy...but I miss my brother.