Day 164

Today's bow tie was acquired at a vintage retailer many years ago. It's the first diamond point bow I owned and what inspired me to hunt down more diamond points. If a fine bow tie is very hard to find, imagine how hard it is to find a fine diamond point. I'm thankful to have started to learn the craft that will have me making my own diamond points for years to come. Have a great Tuesday, peeps. 

Day 163

There are just about (including today) ten school days left. Someone once said "Don't count the days. Make the days count." Clearly the writer wasn't a teacher. Seriously, though, I'm excited about introducing some more rigorous material for my students over the next couple of weeks - veering a bit from the expecation to stick to 6th grade material. I've often found that, as Jaime Escalante believed, if you raise the level of expectation for kids, they will meet (and often exceed) those expectations. I don't believe that we, as a society, consistently hold the bar high enough for our children to do really extraordinary things. That's where this guy gets it right. One more battle to fight and ten days in which to fight. Keep on keeping on, my friends.

Today's bow tie of the day was hand crafted by yours truly and features a Dia de los Muertos theme. 

Day 157

The obstacles always come when you commit to something, don't they? Amazing. I was feeling so good about my physical training, about challenging myself to take it up a notch - and then I start feeling sick. And then there's laundry to do. I'm hungry. My throat hurts, my head is congested and I feel like taking a day off just to catch up. Guess what? That's not gonna happen. Not only do I have my 1,157-consecutive-school-days-without taking-a-day-off-from-work record to consider, but I have a goal in mind and my mind is set on one thing - to be better than what the expecations are - even better than what I expect of myself. It ain't easy. I told you it would suck.

You know what doesn't suck? This cool new bow tie I got to make over the weekend! After selling off my first Superman bow tie, I scrapped the template I was using and created a fuller, richer diamond point stencil out of cardboard and there you have it. Like? I do.

Day 153

It's a beautiful morning in NYC. The humidity is gone and there's a cool breeze and warm sun. It's a great day to celebrate what we call a "balance" day at work. On Fridays we normally dismiss the kiddos at 1PM and stay at school for meetings and professional development. Every once in awhile we get to leave with the kids at 1 so we could celebrate work-life balance. The sad truth is that many professionals, not just teaching, don't know how to balance their professional and personal responsibilities. I don't know that I've completely mastered this thing, but I know it's possible. If you want it badly enough you'll get it - just ask any unruly five year old. I can't believe it's taken me nearly all of my first 12 years of teaching but I've designed lesson plans, quizzes and homework through the last day of school - three weeks ahead of schedule. What will I be doing after work today? Getting my work out done with the Mrs. Is that balance? I don't know. I don't make scales for a living.

Today's bow came via the man behind LouisLien bow ties. This guy does some awesome work. Do yourself a favor and check out his collection. I'm a huge fan of polkadots and diamond point ends so this number really is one of my faves.

Day 144

Oh dear. This is becoming my 'lucky' tie, if there could be such a thing.

This double-silk diamond point with gold paisley, hearts, and arrows has been worn on days when two unrelated people make some very specific remarks about where I'll be teaching next year.

I'm just glad folks respect the love I have for the classroom enough to know I prefer to stay in the classroom, regardless of whether or not I'm sure I'm in the middle of God's will for my life at my current school.



Back to what's absolutely clear - this awesome bow tie. It was a gift from Beau Ties Ltd. of Vermont. Check out their amazing selection here!

Day 142

Something's a bit fishy with Blogger today. Hmmm.

OK, so I'm starting to lose track of all there is to count down/up to. For the record, it's been 1,142 school days (in my current school) since I decided to take a day off. With 24 school days left to this current school year I've been pondering on the fact that there really isn't much incentive to keep going year after year - not that I need one, necessarily. It's just something to think about. There are incentives (bonus checks being the common reward) within charter schools for somehow getting past one year of perfect attendance that isn't currently true for traditional public schools. What about making it to perfect attendance over two years? three years? I don't say this to brag because I know the mindset that I used to have about taking time off has radically shifted since I joined my current school, but it's been nearly five school years (not the same as dog years btw) since I've requested a full day off. I've worked through a myriad of physical pain (from the effects of running a half-marathon without training, the stomach flu, etc) to the emotional suffering of losing a loved one and never wanted to step away from the classroom - not out of an obligatory, martyrdom conviction, but because I genuinely love what I get paid to do. But what about those that don't have this same sort of passion for their profession? Believe it or not, there are quite a few people who wouldn't (and don't) mind taking a day off here and there. What's to motivate them from not doing so? If the idea is to keep our teachers happy and make the work sustainable, we ought to seriously reconsider what we're doing to keep teachers in the classrooms and I think more incentivizing might be something that's a part of that consideration.

Today's bow was constructed by yours truly. =)

Day 141

Here's another Vasquez original I constructed out of fabric purchased on ebay. Gotta love online auction sites. So who else is looking forward to the Miami Heat losing to the Indiana Pacers?

Day 139

Sunny mornings that start off at 54 degrees are among my favorites, despite the sun-in-my-eyes face I'm making. Today's bow came via the good folks over at Jean & James. I love a great diamond point cotton bow. Don't you?

Day 33

Happy Thursday, friends!

Today's wonderfully polka-dotted bow comes by way of Marcus Brown over at LouisLien.com who has an array of stylish hand sewn ties that you should check out. Not only are the chocolate and red dots popping off the warm yellow cotton, they also feature that diamond point that I am such a fan of.

Kids, if I had it my way, our uniform would consist of button-downs and bow ties. Best kid-question of the week: "Mr. Vasquez, do you wear bow ties to go to sleep?" My response - "Not yet, my friend. Not yet." I wonder if I can get a bow made out of my Snuggie.

Day 14

Do you know know that there are some folks in this great nation of ours that will try and convince you that the achievement gap doesn't exist? Yup. Well, my friends - here it is. Exhibit A and B below were presented at a recent professional development session where the staff was challenged to give a little more attention to the writing practices of our students. Take a look at the examples below. Take as much time as you need to carefully compare and contrast the responses of students to a pair of writings by Langston Hughes and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Read them yet? Check them again.

Both of these samples were written by 6th graders in NYC. Sample #1 came to us by way of a middle school in Chelsea, whose student population is 89% Caucasian. This sample was meant to reflect their mid-range performers. Sample #2 includes samples of our own students, in a school where 90% are Black and Hispanic.

The staff was then treated to some compelling data relating writing performance on the SAT to a scholar's grade point average in college. Studies showed that if you score a minimum of 500 on the SAT Writing then you'll likely sustain a 3.0 average. Currently the Black and Hispanic population in America is averaging just about 400 - meaning their GPA is likely near the 2.0 line. Why does the correlation matter? If our kids aren't making it through college successfully what good is all the effort we placed in getting them there in the first place? Our students deserve better regardless of their race, class or circumstances. It behooves me as a school teacher to do something about this. 

What does that mean for me as a math teacher? It means a couple of things. I'll be demanding slightly more elaborate oral responses that focus on clarity of thought. I'll model how to thoughtfully use evidence in a question to prove my answer. Perhaps I may find myself tutoring a small group of writers in the afternoon. After all, I do like to write.  But don't tell the kids - they know me as Mathquez.

Today's bow tie was purchased at a vintage shop over ten years ago. I really can't remember where I bought it, but it was originally a solid navy tie. Recently I added the fingerprints of our sons - each size and color represented their difference in age. I was hoping to give it a little polkadot effect, but I'm not sure I accomplished that.

Day 8

One of the reasons I love Sundays is that it gives our sons the opportunity to wear bow ties with their Papi as we attend church together as a family. The other, awfully more important, reason I love Sundays is being able to go to church with my family and spend oodles of time with other Christians learning from the Bible, playing guitar with our Rondalla and enjoying the company of my family. 


The bow tie I'm wearing was donated by Carlos over at KnotNow. There are many reasons why Carlos is just such a cool cat. He handcrafted this beauty in a studio less than a mile away from our apartment and skateboarded over to hand deliver both of these gems. Thank you, Carlos!


Luis is wearing a nifty tie from Beautiesltd.com that I purchased from their site for the four of us to wear on Father's Day 2011. Lucas and Javi are wearing ties crafted out of old pants that I decided to turn into shorts. The extra fabric went straight to Elle over at xoelle.com and she made these clip-ons for the boys (with a matching set for me, of course!). 

Day 2

On the day before the kids go back to school I chose to bring back an old favorite. I picked up this vintage  tie at Andy's Cheepees over ten years ago when I first got into the bow tie game. I was initially inspired by the style of the musicians featured in Ken Burns' Jazz documentary that ran on PBS during my first year of teaching. Ever since then I've enjoyed the challenge of incorporating my personal taste with a love for the classic, timeless look of the bow tie. If you get a chance to visit their shop, you've got to ask the clerk behind the counter for their clear plastic containers full of bow ties. They'll ask you whether you want the clip-on or the self-tie. You won't be disappointed by their selection of vintage treasures.