Yo Mista!

Over the weekend, I went to Lucia's high school graduation party in Brooklyn. I never thought I'd get actually invited to a student's graduation party (being a teacher), but there I was, dressed to impress and ready to pretend that I am not awkward. Lucia is special to me, because she's the other student I spoke about here . She's a work horse, scoring some of the highest grades at our grade on all the New York Regents Exams. She's incredibly motivated. I'm quite proud of her: she'll go to a community college for a year or two and then transfer out. As we sat at our respective tables enjoying the company, I remembered what it was like when I was in my students' shoes in this moment. Graduation right around the corner, everyone thinking this was a big deal. My thoughts during my graduation process: Hmm. Well, I don't feel any older... I wanted my high school graduation to end as soon as possible. I didn't want to go to a "formal...

One of the best things about being a teacher is that Facebook, YouTube and Gmail's chat functions are blocked on all Department of Education (DOE) computers and wireless networks. This means, on a day like today, when there's absolutely no one in the building and no one taking state exams, I am literally bored out of my fucking mind. The school feels like a ghost town. One of my esteemed colleagues has taken it upon himself to enter my room any time he has to rip some serious ass. In the past four minutes, he has entered my room three times, and cranked out four (maybe six, if you count the little ones) loud, solid farts. Although, it might be more appropriate to say liquid farts judging by their sounds: some of them might've been a little wet. Pretty impressive, I'd say. Graduation is not until next Monday, so tomorrow looks to be more of the same. It's depressing: my room is barren, all the other classrooms are barren, and there are no gangster-wanna-be studen...

A friend sent me this link , and it pretty much explains everything.

A few days ago, I had an interesting conversation with Kareem, who as many of the blog readers know is a student of mine set to graduate soon. Kareem asked me about my opinion on several get-rich-quick schemes he'd heard of or thought of. Kareem is an interesting student who spends a lot of time trying to come up with business ideas in order to "help people get even lazier" as he says. He goes through these random phases sometimes where all he can think about is money, getting rich and making more money. "I've just been thinking a lot lately. Will Smith's kid. He's got it made. He's a have . I'm a have not . That's so unfair. All the opportunities he's already had and is going to get." At first, I was shocked I was having this conversation with him, because I thought he knew better by now than to simply say life is unfair and do nothing about it. I told him sure, life is unfair but his definition of "have" and "hav...

Two school days left until the June Regents Examinations begin. I remember last year, my first year of teaching, I was a little freaked out around this time. I didn't realize some students would still prioritize other things over school, especially in such a critical time. It's hard to generalize with my student population: some have legitimate problems going on in life while others are playing XBox live and thinking about what to get for munchies ( funyans maybe?). These are the same students rarely show up, but always come to school on Friday because they know other pot dealers don't (at least they have some business acumen). Friday is as good a day as any to buy drugs. This year, I'm a bit more prepared, professionally and mentally. I've already provided my students with comprehensive review materials. I'm coming into school Saturday for a couple of hours, making myself available to students willing to come in and prep for the test next week. I'm b...

Check out Stephen Colbert's interview of Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy. I'd previously written a post about Khan Academy here . His lessons on YouTube have had over 57 million views. Pretty incredible stuff. The Colbert Report Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , Video Archive