Day 173

My last school day of my 12th year of teaching in NYC is at hand. Here's something one of my 6th graders wrote me. I can't even begin to process how much this means. I started out the year wanting to incorporate more meaningful ways to impart character education throughout my math instruction. I'm ending the year re-embracing the idea that what I've taught means nothing if I haven't inspired my students to become better people. Today's bow was handcrafted by yours truly.



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.