{DFW Photographer} Featuring Jamal Turner

I couldn’t help but do a post about this guy.  Jamal is a student at my school, (he has officially graduated early because he is going to college this semester to do spring training.)

Right now I’m watching him participate in the Under Armour High School All American Bowl Game on the white team, number 3.  Jamal is our varsity football quarterback and has been widely recruited across the country to play football beginning next year.  Jamal decided to go to Nebraska after much consideration, and needless to say, we are all excited about his new journey he is about to begin.  (Looks like I’m going to become a Husker fan next year, along with a *cringe* Sooner fan as well…but that is for a later explanation, and another kid.)

Now, I normally would hesitate to post his picture on here as well as his last name, but seeing has how if you click on the links above you’ll find out his last name, where he’s going to college, and you could probably even find out his weight, I don’t think a post commending him on his achievements is going to hurt.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to take some pictures for Jamal for our homecoming court portraits, so I decided to post a couple of the shots here tonight in honor of good luck to him and his game.

One of the incredible features about Jamal is learning of how he has overcome loss and hardship throughout a lot of his life already.  The first week of school, he tragically lost his mother.  I admire Jamal for his motivation to keep going; he actually played in the game the next night because “because it’s what my mom would have wanted.” All this after loosing an older brother just a couple of years before. 

He is strong, has perseverance, and a talented athlete.  I wish him the best of luck throughout the rest of his life!

{DFW Photographer}Real Life Moments From a High School Teacher

We are officially in the second week of school here in Texas.  Another year I am glad to have the opportunity to be involved and share my love of computer technology and multimedia with high school students. 

I feel like I have had the opportunity to learn so much in my two years, going on three at my school. You see, the school where I teach is different than the one I attended. I went to a school where there were quite a few people who had attended the school district since the beginning and many others who had transferred in due to parents relocating for jobs and careers.  I was part of group B.  We moved to Midlothian due to my father taking on a new role in the company he worked for in Dallas.  We all had financial challenges, but we all were still quite comfortable and had everything we needed, some more than others, but our needs were met. The school were I teach has a different assortment of students from various backgrounds.  Some students come from a home with both parents and are as comfortable as I was growing up, others live in a home where their parents speak a different language than they do.  Some students moved to this area with their parents in order to find new work, while others move to this area ahead of their parents with siblings or other family members in order to find them some work.  Some students have a child, others have children, who must leave school to see their child in daycare during lunch, or take the baby to the doctor, or they are concerned about what their “baby momma” is telling their two year old about them and that she’s trying to take the baby away from them.  Many students are dealing with walking in the halls, expecting their first child---some are only 14 years old. 

Some students don’t live with their mom but they don’t live with their dad either. Maybe they live with a grandparent, cousin, or other family member, sometimes a friend, but they stay with their parent every now and again.

Some students are doing just fine and have two loving parents but someone in their clique got into a fight with another clique last week and then was threatened, and sometimes that carries over into the school. (For the most part though, they do a pretty good job of keeping the gang violence outside the school.) 

Some kids face having the electricity being cut off for weeks at a time because the only person able to bring in a paycheck is living off disability, and that does not do much to take care of five or six people. So there is no hot shower, freshly cooked food, and little light at night to do homework.

Some students face the unfortunate circumstance of “how am I going to be able to participate in all these senior activities” because their step parent refuses to pay for any of them in the one income household because that child is not their own offspring.

Some students are just fine.

Some students are not disciplined and just need a good, thick board whipped across their behind.

But others are despite all odds that are against them that otherwise say they should be screwed up. But they are not.  They are focused, mature, sincere, and kind.

We can’t make excuses for why students do not succeed in school. We must continue to hold them to high expectations.  If we raise the bar, they will meet it. We must teach students how to deal with keeping their life as organized as possible even when the rest of it is chaos.

We must teach our students how to deal with challenges and raise their own bar, despite the fact they have been diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, etc.

I had a moment today where I was talking to a parent over the phone regarding a student skipping out on class after lunch. I am so glad my attitude was different than the one I immediately had when I saw that the student never came back to class.  I decided to approach the situation of asking the parent if the child was okay---did they get sick or did something come up during lunch that I did not know about.  As it turns out there was something that came up….a situation that I am fortunate that I have not had to deal with while I was in school---partially due to my upbringing, and another partially due to my situation.

My students, my wonderful students.  Sometimes I would love to knock some sense into their head using osmosis, but there are other times I wish I could cradle them and love them and give them the world as well. Little do they know how much they teach me day in and day out.

Cheers to a new school year—and keeping my senses. :)

Sam Houston HS Graduation--2010

This past Sunday, I went to Sam Houston's graduation, and it was a great experience.  Last year I did not go to graduation, but I am sure glad that I did go this year.  It was a nice reminder of why I chose to teach high school.  It gave me great joy to see all of the graduates so happy that they were earning the right to cross that stage, especially some of those that we weren't quite sure if they were going to make it yet. :) Some of these students are the first graduates in their families, and it was truly a special event.  You know, some people are lucky to have children graduate a couple of years in their lifetime.  I am fortunate to have kids graduate every year!
Below you'll see a slide show of pictures I took at graduation.

End of the Year Wrap Up

The 2009-2010 school year is slowly coming to a close---yet fast at the same time.  I still want to do some super cool projects with my kiddos but alas, the school year has to end at some point.  The thing that made me smile the other day though is when a few kids asked if there was a "Multimedia 2" option in the classes.  Boy---I wish there was---we could focus more on other parts of media and we could go further in depth and make it all connect a little easier, but there isn't....oh well. 

Right now we are finishing up a super cool project called the "Multimedia Marketing Package Design" where my kids had to design a logo, business card, and letterhead for a skateboarding company in Dallas.  They had to imagine that they were hired by that company to give them a "facelift" and create some new marketing tools for them.  I have been very pleased with most of the results so far!  Some of these kids are putting together some GOOD stuff when I have not been able to get assignments out of them all year long!  I am so proud of my students so far while grading these and seeing about 150 different ways "Index Skateboard Supplies" can be interpreted.  It is amazing how different some of these designs are, and how creative some of them are as well.  There are of course, the bad apples who did not do much of classwork all year long, and did not do half their project, but the stuff I am getting from most---I am super impressed!  I've been printing out logos like crazy and posting them all over my walls!

All that said, I am looking forward to the summer.  I am looking forward to focusing on my photography more and developing it into a better tool.  I want to be phenomenal at photography.  As I look through pictures from the past in history and I see those important moments captured on film, such as the "Migrant Mother" from the Depression era, or the Frenchman weeping as the Nazis marched into Paris, I just cannot help but think, "Man! I want to have a picture like that!"  I want people who see my work to well up with emotion and feel like they are there in the action--the moment, that changed history.  I want them to feel joy, happiness, sorrow, and anger as they see my photos.  I want them to be able to see the story. I am going to make it an earnest goal of mine to practice and work on my photography this summer and be active in the community to expand my photography and allow myself to grow. 

I am a photographer.....hear me click my shutter!!!!!!

Monday is Going to be Bittersweet

There are two good things about the upcoming Monday and then there is one bad one.

I'll start with the bad and end with the good, because I like to leave you with happy thoughts.
1. School starts back on Monday.....which means I have to go back to work on Monday...boo.
However, the good thing about Monday is that I enjoy the job that I have. I like working with technology and the more I'm on my computer the more I learn about the programs I'm working with, which leads to expanding my knowledge in more than just my job. Now, if the kids are just not annoying and bothersome we will be fine.

Now on to the good. There are two REALLY good things and two other pretty good things going on Monday, January 4:
Really Good things go first:
1. My Shoot Sac that I ordered for my camera lenses comes in!!! I am so excited about this it's not even funny. I took some of my Christmas money and splurged and bought the shoot sac with a "Fling" cover. I can't wait to go out shooting with my good friend Sydni Rae with our shoot sacs and get a picture of them together so I can call it "A fling with a cowboy;" I can't help but think it's cute even though I know it's totally goofy. The idea comes from my shoot sac name being "Fling" and Sydni's being "Cowboy." Here's an example of what my shoot sac will look like:

2. My best friend will be induced for labor to give birth to her precious baby girl. I already know this little girl will be precious because first off, her name is going to be Lexi Jo, and second off, she is Terrie Smith's Autrey's daughter. Terrie already has her room set up and it is just dripping with girly cuteness with all the pink, brown, and green in the room and the fantastic custom bedding that Terrie's mom made. Terrie is fantastic at making anything cute and turning any house into a home and she's done the same with Lexi's room. This girl already has a bow holder full of bows. The really dreadful part about Terrie having Lexi on Monday is that I won't be able to be there. BOO.  I can't exactly take off work my first day back, believe me I'd love to though.  However, I will be making my way out to Mount Pleasant next weekend to officially meet Ms. Lexi Jo and of course, produce her first photo shoot for her and take tons of newborn baby shots. :) 

Now on to the pretty good things about Monday:
1. Zumba starts back up at the MAC.  I'll have to dish out some money for my annual dues to the MAC and for my monthly fees for Zumba, but it's totally worth it.  I finally found a way to work out that doesn't feel like total torture and I really enjoy it.  I love to dance and this allows me to dance my face off.  I also use Zumba to stay active and will hopefully help me in slimming down and reaching my weight loss/slim down goal.

2. Cliff and I start our 21 day body makeover/DIET.  This will suck and be pretty good at the same time.  It will suck because I have to give up some things I love to consume in my body, such as: sweet tea with caffene in it, white potatoes, red meat, etc.  However, it is a good thing because I know that this is doing something good for my body and it will help me cleanse my body of toxins and help me begin to loose the weight I need to.  The great thing is that Cliff will be doing this with me and I'm better at this sort of thing when I have motivation and an accountability partner.  I have already made some changes in my diet such as drinking more water and have cut WAY down on cokes, but other than that I've never really gone on a full out lifestyle change diet.  I need it, and I am looking forward to seeing my body slim down and back into a proper 24 year old's body.

Well, it's a pretty exciting Monday ahead of us.  I hope yours is just as exciting as well, that is, if you wish it to be.