http://interconnectedness.net Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:37:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en My second year of teaching is bittersweet. On one hand it is going much better because of I have more experience in teaching and working with my students. On the other hand I have a much more vivid understanding of my students, their potential to succeed and my shortcomings. First, the ... http://interconnectedness.net/2008/11/06/second-year-of-teaching/ There are two more days of school left: it will be the last two days of Regents Exams (New York State Exams) Monday and Tuesday next week. The Living Environment exam, the exam I have been preparing my students for the entire year, will be on Tuesday. We'll see how ... http://interconnectedness.net/2008/06/21/almost-end-of-first-year-of-teaching/ Here are videos of me teaching biology to my 9th graders. Mr. Mikhail Lomize teaching biology at the Performing Arts and Technology High School (PATHS) at the Thomas Jefferson High School Campus in East New York, Brooklyn, NY. Our co-principal, Mr. Frank Murray, was videotaping me as part of a formal observation. ... http://interconnectedness.net/2008/04/25/mr-lomize-teaching-biology/ Due to my server company, Netrillium.com, deleting my database and other malfunctions, I rebooted the whole website. Tell me what you think. You can still access all the old posts and comments at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://interconnectedness.net. http://interconnectedness.net/2008/04/25/hello-world/ Discover the growing movement in Russia where neo-Nazi groups are brutally attacking immigrants and spreading their hate by posting violent videos online. Over half the neo-Nazis in the world are in Russia! Much of it is supported by the Russian government. My family personally knows a person involved in this ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/11/25/from-russia-with-hate/ Here is a video I made before leaving to New York for NYCTF. It is about my classroom observation for my NYCTF Independent Study Guide at Ypsilanti High School. Enjoy. http://interconnectedness.net/2007/11/18/classroom-observation-for-nyctf/ It is difficult to imagine the school year is almost one third done. I feel like I am finally understanding how to teach my students. For instance, when I taught about diffusion, I would start by explaining, "Diffusion is the flow of particles from high to low concentration." Now, I ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/11/17/second-and-a-half-month-of-teaching/ I'm learning a lot about life in the inner-city. September 29th there was a 15-year-old boy, Chris Williams, that attended our church who was shot in the back and leg 9 times, because he told a few boys to stop harassing his female cousin. One of his legs was amputated ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/10/09/first-month-of-teaching-in-inner-city-brooklyn/ I was assigned to teach 8th grade summer school Earth Science with Mr. Joseph Roy. There was another fellow, Ms. Alexis Dean, in this class already. Both Alexis and Joe were really nice. The class was quite chaotic. Alexis transferred to a different class after the third (of five) week ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/08/15/fourth-fifth-sixth-seventh-and-beyond-week-of-nyctf/ Upon coming to Phillis Wheatley on Monday, I was placed in 3rd grade. They placed us without regard for our content area. The 3rd graders are great. I was a big help to the teacher. We were teaching writing, reading and math. The more one-on-one help we could give, the ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/07/07/third-week-of-nyctf/ Yesterday, on Friday, I finished the first course in NYCTF training at Pace University. It was ED 630: Adolescent Development, which was easy and time consuming (9am - 4pm every weekday). We read Random Family in two weeks and wrote daily one-page reflections about it. We learned how to make ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/06/30/second-week-of-nyctf/ I just completed my first week of NYCTF. On Monday there was a three hour reception with at Avery Fisher Hall. All of the June 2007 Teaching Fellows were present (over one thousand people). It is the only time all the fellows are together. We received lots of useful books ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/06/23/first-week-of-nyctf/ Read my notes and see my photos from Sojourners' Pentecost 2007.Speakers and workshops to explain how to put poverty on the agenda of our ChurchRich Nathan, a pastor from Vineyard Church said that no church will refuse to serve the poor, but a church will refuse a change of ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/06/11/pentecost-2007-recap/ After participating in Cru for the last four years, listening to Rob Bell and reading Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution, my view of church has changed a lot. Real church is in the small groups of people, not the large gatherings. Rob Bell calls his Sunday assembly of people, "Gatherings," instead ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/06/01/house-church-and-small-groups/ The Ryan Rodrick Beiler: Falwell Commentary Round-Up does a good job summerizing Rev. Jerry Falwell's legacy, especially Fred Barnes.Fred Barnes, on Fox's Special Report with Brit Hume:[H]e spurred one of the most important transformations of modern times and basically taking a group, millions of conservative Christians who'd been apathetic about ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/05/21/reflections-on-jerry-falwells-passing/ Taken from mothersdayforpeace.comIn the United States, Mother's Day was originally suggested ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/05/14/mothers-day-for-peace/ Is America a Christian nation?Gregory Boyd wrote a book about The Myth of the Christian Nation published by Zondervan.The Christian Right is not the only main Christian religious/political power in America. The Christian Right only describes 12.6% of the U.S. population. The rest of the U.S. population is divided in ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/05/12/christian-nation/ Please check out Pentecost 2007 to end poverty. It's hosted by Sojourners in Washington D.C. June 3-6. Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, Shane Claiborne, Ron Sider, Lynne Hybels, Sam Rodriguez, Rich Nathan, Wallace Charles Smith, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards will talk and/or give workshops there. We'll learn how ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/05/11/pentecost-2007/ Christian Right leaders used Christians' trusting and loving nature to build a movement opposed to God's call to love our neighbors. This is still happening today. These Christian Right leaders blatantly ignore the entire Old and New Testament narrative that spells out God's priority for caring for the sick, hungry ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/05/06/christian-right/ It amazes me to see a blossoming movement of Christian social reconciliation. Christian social reconciliation has blossomed before in the early centuries and the Radical Reformation. Jesus is well known for social reconciliation. In fact, this is his goal for humanity. Some prominent people in the current movement are Rob ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/04/23/jesus-revolution/ When confronted with violence and death, it is incredible to hear stories of sacrifice. A 76 year old professor, Liviu Librescu -- himself a Holocaust survivor -- sacrificed his life to save his students. He barricaded the door from Cho Seung-Hui. Librescu's son, Joe Librescu, said, "My father blocked the ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/04/17/virginia-tech-shooting/ I'll be in the top 2.44% richest people in the world when I start working next year for NYCTF ($42,500 annual income). $8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market.$30 could buy you an ER ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/03/21/global-rich-list/ In 1994, two Americans answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments and a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/03/13/two-babies-in-a-manger/ A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war [as a medic]. He was ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/03/13/wholl-take-the-son/ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 was declared the winner in a competition to design the nation's first hydrogen bomb in two decades, a major step in restarting production of nuclear weapons.The Bush administration said the program would improve the U.S. stockpile's reliability, security and safety ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/03/05/new-us-hydrogen-bomb/ Dema, a 26-day-old male Sumatran tiger cub, and Irma, a 5-month-old female orangutan, cuddle at the Taman Safari zoo in Cisarua, Indonesia. Two tiger cubs and two baby orangutans, all abandoned by their mothers, became close friends and playmates sharing a room in the zoo's nursery.CNN.comA female monkey fondly cuddles ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/03/05/peaceable-kingdom-abandonment-adoption-and-relationships/ I got accepted to New York City Teaching Fellows today! I interviewed on Saturday, January 20th, 2007. I'll start per-service training in NYC on Monday, June 18th. I'll take the MCAT Friday, June 15th. I'll move to NYC that weekend. Kamil might be moving to NYC too! Plan for the future ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/02/22/new-york-city-teaching-fellows-nyctf/ To Jim Wallis, Sojourners and friends:I am a huge supporter of Sojourners: I read it, distributed the pamphlets about "God is not a Democrat or Republican," and passionately share the message of social justice and nonviolence with my Christian and non-Christian friends. It is refreshing to read the God's politics ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/02/21/red-letter-christians/ About a week ago on Thursday, February 8th Rob Bell came to the University of Michigan for the Sex God tour as I posted before.  I  asked the question I planned, "What do you think about  nonviolence? If you favor nonviolence, how do you reconcile it with violence in the ... http://interconnectedness.net/2007/02/17/rob-bell-sex-god-tour-university-of-michigan/