Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

Today is officially Pi Day, although we celebrated at school yesterday. Before I started teaching I never would have believed an 8th grader could recite 300 digits of Pi. Yesterday afternoon "J" proved me wrong. I also didn't think I would ever "celebrate" Pi Day but, sure enough, I did.

As part of our "celebration" of Pi Day, the student in each advisory that memorized the most digits won the opportunity to throw a pie at their (favorite) teacher. At least that's what I am telling myself. I am a 32 year old male first year 6th and 8th grade teacher in an inner-city school who runs a pretty tight ship. I didn't stand a chance. And sure enough, I didn't even make it through the 6th grade. It was a humbling and hilarious moment. I can still smell the cheap whipped cream in my beard. Thank god for the teacher happy hour last night.

Plan B

Last week's This American Life reminded me why I started blogging in the first place - to document my thoughts, reactions, and observations during this first year in the classroom. I'm going to spend the next few months doing just that.

Naturally, this brings me to last week. On Thursday, I accompanied 20 7th and 8th graders to the Alvin Alley American Dance Theater in Midtown Manhattan. As a charter school, we have an amazing network of supporters. This trip was arranged by the Robin Hood Foundation and a lot of employees from Burberry helped out. It was an incredible afternoon and watching our students give 100% in the dance studio was well worth the trip into Manhattan.

On Friday, I joined our 5th grade writing teacher ice skating in Prospect Park with 10 "VIPs" from the 5th grade. It's incredible spending time with students I don't teach. The difference between an 8th grader (and even 6th) and a 5th grader is palpable. 8th graders are a little too cool for school, whereas 5th graders couldn't be happier hanging with a teacher after school, falling on the ice, and just be kids all afternoon.

Finally, Friday night I played in a tennis tournament supporting scholarships for kids to play tennis in Prospect Park. It's a great cause and one I hope to write more about in the future.

I should mention that before Thursday I had never taken a dance class in my entire life, and before Friday I had never been on ice skates. So yes, my life is a lot different these days.

Snow Day pt. 1

As previously mentioned, my life is a lot different these days. Even though it didn't happen until March 2, we finally received that wonderful gift from the DOE known as the "snow day." Huge windfall. To celebrate, I am blogging, writing lesson plans, reading, and drinking a lot of coffee.


Here's a jam I came across today on a blog I hadn't read before:

The Thermals - Now I Can See

A lot different

I get asked at least once a week just how much different is my life as a teacher different than mine as a lawyer? Someday I will come up with a comprehensive list (that will continue to evolve), but for now suffice it to say, that a year ago my week of vacation in February would have been spent on conference calls, checking my blackberry, and angering everyone I was on vacation with. Now, it's pretty much just what you see here (which is a story for another time).