Yo Mista!

I came across this brilliant video via a colleague of mine. Narrated by Sir Ken Robinson, this short clip provides a neat insight (using animation and British humor) on how and why our education system was designed the way it is and why it will never be as great as we want it to be. Watch the video in its entirety since you're probably bored at work right now anyway.

Over the past year and a half, I've had a hard time dealing with the idea that the bulk of my students don't value an education. As outdated as our education system is, we are still much better off than most other countries. I forget that sometimes. I think my students often forget that in this country, a child born into poverty can jump into the middle or upper class simply by going to school everyday and doing what they're supposed to be doing. So why isn't the system built to effectively convey this incredible opportunity? [insert conspiracy theory here] One of the more challenging questions I've asked myself this year is how the hell did I make it out of this system, given I grew up under some incredibly challenging circumstances? Most of my students and I share childhood trauma which has forced us to "grow up" a lot faster than others. I think it all comes down to the coping mechanisms we create to deal with our shit. One of my earliest childh...

I just spent the weekend in Washington D.C. to attend Teach for America’s 20th anniversary summit . Honestly, it’s hard to believe Teach for America (TFA) has been around for twenty years, but I guess that’s because education reform is just now getting the media attention it’s deserved for the last forty years. Opening Plenary Session on Saturday, February 12th Photo credit: ABCDE The summit was sold out with over 11,000 TFA corps members and alumni in attendance. As we crowded into the Washington Convention Center for the opening speaker, I remember feeling incredibly proud: I am part of a national movement to ensure every child in this country gets a damn good education, regardless of where they’re born or how rich their parents are. And I was one of 11,000 there who believed that could happen one day. That was kind of fucking cool. Here's a link to the opening plenary session. A few things I learned at the summit: Change starts with the power and willingness of the ...

Calling all math teachers with websites: there's a dude out there actually making damn good video tutorials for high school students. His name is Salman Khan and he runs Khan Academy. You can read an article summarizing all the buzz around his project here . As we know, the traditional approach of teachers imparting knowledge to students during the day then reinforcing it back at home is highly flawed at inner city schools. Poor attendance coupled with students' lack of willingness to do a lot of homework hinders the student. It also harms the curriculum progression, often forcing teachers to spend more time than necessary on certain topics. "New school" principals are in love with the idea of uploading lesson presentations online to let your kids access them. The problem with this approach is that a presentation is just that, a presentation: you still need someone to guide the student through the work unless the student is a self-learner. Video tutorials have ga...

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...