Yo Mista!

I had no intention of posting this week because of a grad school project that has been killing me (or as my kiddos would say, "it's blowin' mine!"). However due to heavy snowfall, a snow day was declared earlier this afternoon. So, before I pass out from exhaustion I'd like to take some time to document an interesting event that occurred recently:  Around 3:30 pm two days ago, I needed coffee. I had a long day ahead of me because of the stupid grad school project, which goes on top of the normal routine of lesson planning and grading. Since I was out of milk in my fridge, I decided to head down to the Starbucks (sick, I know) around the corner. FYI - lack of sleep outweighs drinking the most burnt coffee in the world. They really need to do something about the fact that it tastes like shit. As I'm crossing the street, a black Lincoln Town Car stops on the opposite corner. It's interesting because these soon-to-be-extinct limos never fail to remind me...

I picked up a pamphlet entitled, Adult Children of Alcoholics my freshman year in college . Believe it or not, I was suffering from anger management issues (I know, I was shocked too); I decided to seek therapy. Okay, fine. This shit is supposed to be honest: By decided, I really mean my significant other convinced me therapy was healthy and necessary. Logically her argument made sense. However, it still took a shit ton of convincing (and I'm forever in debt to her for that) because of the way I was raised. Born to Pakistani parents with traditional values, I was taught I can "will" myself to fix any issue. Does this sound familiar? And although this terrible ideology helped me develop some wicked will power, I learned some things can't heal themselves on their own. Off to therapy. Wait, WTF? Did he just admit to seeing a shrink ? Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I'm South Asian and I sought therapy on my own . That's in bold, motherfuckers. I guess I really mu...

"So how's the teaching thing going dude?" I love answering this question. I just spent a long weekend in Washington D.C. where I stayed with a friend of mine from college whom I hadn't seen in a long time. It was great because I was able to catch up with him and explore the city. As an added bonus, this trip helped me realize that ever since I've started teaching, the tone and style of my conversations about work have drastically changed. Teaching has made me forget how miserable I sounded when talking about investment banking. Almost. It’s ironic because all I remember from my college career fairs are the polished investment bankers who spoke so passionately about the “live deals” they were on. They made eating dinners at your desk at 3 AM sound extremely cool. The managing director who ultimately extended me an offer on Wall Street told me, “Nothing beats the inexplicable feeling of working all night on a deal that gets published in The Wall Street Journal ...

The past two days have been unusually challenging for me. The majority of my school's students have been rude, disruptive and careless. I'm really feeling stretched right now given all the other shit going on. Here's the thing: I have all my lessons up online. I e-mail my students with reminders, send them review packets, make myself available by cell, text and e-mail. I even pack myself a sandwich everyday because kids feel my classroom is a "safe space" during lunch and use the classroom to socialize, study or just do homework. I can't say no to that... I also keep a spreadsheet which I update daily with all my students' grades to track trends in performance. I spend hours on each lesson and presentation to make sure it's clear for visual and auditory learners. I throw in real-life examples for those who need to be able to relate in order to understand. So why the fuck isn't everyone acing this shit??? If I'm doing everything I can t...

What, exactly are we doing? I keep asking myself this question at work lately. The state of New York just wrapped up Regents Examinations week. The Regents are state designed exams administered every January, June and August. In New York, a student cannot graduate high school unless he/she passes five specific Regents (I believe these are English, Integrated Algebra, U.S. History, Global History and Science) with a minimum score of 65 . Before I take a massive dump on this system: Kudos to New York for making Global History and not just U.S. History a requirement to graduate. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that American students today are learning geography based on what country the U.S. decides to invade next. Pathetic... I would argue that from a teacher's perspective, the whole Regents system is complete bullshit. Yet, believe it or not, there are plenty of "higher ups" in the system who praise the Regents as a great, objective measure of perfor...