Yo Mista!

One year ago, I started "Yo Mista" with this post . Documenting my thoughts and experiences over the past year has been a pretty positive experience. No wonder people keep journals. Anyway, I wanted to use this post to thank you, the reader, for continuing to support this blog. Believe it or not, "Yo Mista" is actively read on six continents. You're next, Antarctica. Note: people do not actually live in Antarctica. Scientists only inhabit the continent for short periods of time to conduct studies. Damn. Oh well, I tried.

Here's the thing: it's 31 degrees outside and snowing non-stop. If today were a Friday, I would expect no more than a 30% attendance rate. The only thing is, today is not a Friday, it's Wednesday during New York State Regents Examinations Week (I previously wrote about these exams here ). "Don't beat yourself up." That's what I'm secretly telling myself right now. Today, all NYC algebra students take the Regents Examination at 1:15 PM. They have opportunities to take this exam in January, June and August. The exam is thirty-nine questions long and covers approximately a year and a half's worth of material. It's actually not that difficult - especially since you really only need to answer thirteen questions correctly to score a passing score of 65%. You don't need to be a math teacher to figure out that's one hell of a curve! And yes, that's what she said. I sent about sixteen text messages this morning to students reminding the...

I'm Facebook friends with some of my students. I don't go out of my way to add them, that would be creepy . They find me and feel comfortable enough to add me, I guess. My experience has taught me that a no-bullshit relationship is the type of thing my students need in order to trust their teachers and succeed. At this point, one might think: "But accepting their request on Facebook? This could lead to something messed up. Especially since you're a teacher." Relax. I add them on limited profile - I have a separate list for students. It's evident however, that some of my students have no idea what privacy settings are. In fact, I have to manually add them to the hide list on mini-feed as some of their statuses definitely fall into the "too much information" bucket. Sometimes, I make sarcastic comments on their statuses which often times leads to their embarrassment. Sorry, that's what you get for adding a jackass teacher on Facebook. Put me on lim...

I've been visiting Karachi every other year since I was six months old. My parents were both born there. The bulk of my extended family still lives there. It's strange how my perspective and investment in the country has changed over the years. I hated going to Pakistan when I was younger. My mother dragged me there for two, sometimes three months at a time over the summer. The heat was miserable and the humidity was unbearable. My family wasn't well off, so it's not like I was in a huge mansion of sorts living in the tropics, eating cold mangoes. That would've been nice. The only things I enjoyed were the company of my cousins, the food and the taste of Coca-Cola made from real sugar. Besides that, I really never did anything else. I was pretty quiet: my aunts would compliment me on my lack of communication. Heh. It was not until I was a teenager that I truly began to appreciate my experiences in Pakistan. I started engaging in the family functions, weddings an...

As per my previous post , (and other related posts here and here ) attendance has been quite shitty as of late. It makes sense, vacation is over, why would students still come to school? Duh Mista, you stupid. Mike, one of my best friends and former college roommate, happens to own a clothing company out in California by the name of Hollywood&Vain . He also recently started Queen of LaLaLand specifically for women. Anyway, Mike (being a good friend) read my previous post and reached out to me with the idea that I offer my students free graphic t-shirts from his company to students who maintain perfect attendance for x amount of days. I decide the details. He provides the graphic t-shirts. That's perfect timing. The New York State Regents are right around the corner at the end of January. Attendance is crucial right now. Most of these students are setting themselves up for failure missing important Regents preparation and review days. I'm pitching Mike's challenge...

It was back to school from winter vacation today and I have to say, our attendance was fucking pathetic: I had a whopping five students show up for my first period class. And I can't just give a quiz to teach these supremely-motivated-students-who-happen-to-not-be-in-class a lesson. Apparently, you actually have to care in order to feel guilty about missing a quiz. Damn it! Then there were students who actually came to school, but bailed early. I actually greeted and said "what's up?" to several of these students in the hallway, many of whom I should have taught a few periods later. They probably just said "fuck it." This is something I really don't understand: what the hell is the point of waking up early, taking the subway, and going through metal detectors to get into school if you're just going to leave early and screw yourself later? This is literally what I hear in the hallway sometimes, loud and clear: "Yoooo.. Let's cut math and f...