Yo Mista!

This November, I will be raising money for prostate cancer research by participating in the global movement known as " Movember ." Movember began in Australia, where a group of men grew out moustaches (mo's) for charity. Today, Movember marks a month long commitment for men to grow out a moustache (no beards allowed). Supported by women and other men, the point is to seek out sponsorship and raise as much money as possible to support prostate and testicular cancer research. It's like walking for charity, without the walking. I've already registered online and started my own team: it's pretty damn cool. Several friends and colleagues have joined. It's going to be super interesting teaching in my school, where most of the male staff will look like 1970s porn stars by mid-November. Who wants a moustache ride? Supporting a good movement always gets me excited, but what really blew my mind was that my campaign has garnered my male students' intere...

I received the following e-mail tonight: from: Keenan Joseph (keenan.joseph@randomschool.org) to: Yo Mista! (yomista@randomschool.org) date: Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 9:02 PM (58 minutes ago) subject: Assessment Hey, I forgot to hand in the quiz from earlier but I have it completed. Can I hand it in to you first thing tomorrow morning? I don't want a 0 to jeopardize my overall grade for the class. Such initiative. This is the kind of feel-good-shit that makes a teacher at a transfer high school feel great. Unfortunately, I think I'm growing a little jaded. I've seen so much of this honeymoon motivation over the past two years, that it's become predictable. Clearly, Keenan is a new student at my school, who probably came here to be different. To get away from his friends who acted as a distraction. To stop feeling so pressured to chill out without focusing on school. To graduate. On time or about time. In the coming weeks, Keenan will most certainly continue to domin...

I teach the last period of the school day this trimester, and surprisingly, it's quite fun. I think it's because of the particular mix of students I have in the class. I have taught many of these students before; they simply need the class for a credit they're missing. Even though it's seventh period, some of them actually show up on a consistent basis. They're also big personalities, which I like and work off of well. Today, I taught graphing multiple equations on a coordinate plane. Mid-lesson, I put up a problem on the SMARTBoard and asked the class to graph the lines. Leo and George immediately raised their hands: Leo: "Can I do this problem on the board, Mista?" Me: "Sure Leo, why don't you wait two minutes to let everyone else copy the problem down? Then you can step on up to the plate." George: "Mista! He just did the last one! I swear to God Leo, if you get this wrong, you're out of the math club. Like, completely ba...

I have a process when it comes to my job. When this process is executed to perfection, life is smooth. I get time to think about how the day went and how the lesson worked. Or how it didn't work. I'm not always perfect. But I like being close. My lesson PowerPoints are pre-uploaded to my school's e-mail from my Macbook Pro the evening before. The next morning, I arrive to school early and download them onto the Dell piece-of-shit-desktop computer connected to the SMARTBoard. In mere seconds, my lessons are open, ready and waiting to be presented. Quizzes and homework assignments are pre-downloaded to a USB thumb drive (also the evening before), which I simply plug into the Xerox printer in the main office and print. I always print five additional copies of whatever I need as I have learned from the past that having more copies of material is always a good thing. I don't lose things, but I guess students do. Humans. All quizzes and homework assignments are graded b...

In fifth period Algebra yesterday, we wrapped up ratios and proportions with an in-class activity exploring the Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio. This was one of those lessons where I thought my students would actually learn something useful, as neither the Fibonacci numbers nor the golden ratio are actually on the Integrated Algebra Regents Exam. This makes me a terrible teacher because I am not training my students to be test-takers. Obvi . I thought it'd be cool to show my students how the golden ratio is utilized in architecture, art, design , nature, etc. I highlighted how cosmetic surgeons often use a facial mask with proportions based off the golden ratio for their patients. Basically, I was setting them up to understand that proportions based off the golden ratio appear to be more pleasing to the human eye. Then the activity: I would partner students up and give each pair a ruler to measure each others' faces, hands, arms, feet, and legs. They then divide t...