back to school!

whew! it has been a whirlwind of emotions over the past two weeks. i must say all of these emotions have been positive! YES! first of all i went back to work last week and i must say that i feel very connected to my colleagues. although everyone has their own personality and style, everyone seems to be thoroughly invested in children! most importantly, everyone supports each other and SHARES materials. i love it. 

of course being in a new school doesn't feel fully comfortable yet. i don't know the students yet and i'm still getting adjusted to the building, etc. i really love my classroom. it is looking great. my school is 95% african-american, so i have lots of posters of beautiful black people everywhere. i also have tons of inspirational quotes all over the room. ahhhh. it took a while to get it together, but i am liking the final product.

my students are great. i am so happy to be working at a high school. i love how much older the kids are and also their amazing sense of style. the students are really receptive to me and interestingly enough, they like my style. haha. there have been some young men who have stopped by my room trying to flirt! i was like: OH HELL NO! i am your teacher and you better behave! period. they are too much already.

for the first time in my teaching career i know exactly what i want my students to learn for the whole year and how i want them to learn it. i think that is because all of our curriculums are student-focused and inquiry based which is so much more my style. most importantly, i am not teaching to a state test, which is AMAZING! i can think about my lessons, without thinking of dumb ass multiple choice questions or random short response questions to culturally biased articles. our curriculum is all about identity and the self which are two things i love discussing and which students also like to discuss. good stuff. tomorrow we are going to get into narrative writing and what it means to write a narrative. i am really excited. i cannot wait until they write their own personal narratives!

on the homefront, things are going really well. my husband and i have really improved how we understand each other over the past month and i am so grateful. we talk more about everything and we have learned more about what makes us "tick"! since i went back to work, N (my husband) has been making my lunch for me early in the morning before i go to work. he makes amazing sauteed veggies...ahhhh. i told him he can just make it the night before, but he insists on making it in the morning, because they will be fresh! haha. i dont argue. hehe. i love him.

i am currently on a prep. i taught the entire morning, so i was looking forward to this prep. i should probably organize some papers but i am so tired. teaching can be very exhausting and emotionally overwhelming. however, i told myself that this year i am NEVER taking work home! i always come in 90 minutes early and i always stay for an extra hour until 4:30. that is my prep time for grading, organizing, parent phone calls, etc. i have a life and my life is not my job, although my job/career is extremely important to me.

well, i' m tired and hungry. let me grab a snack from the bodega!

peace & nappiness

p.s. more to come about glamour magazine. one of the editors asked me for more samples of my work. we will see. the meeting was great and she loves "size me" and wants to use it for an article about women in the usa and body image. she is still doing research, so only time will tell.

p.p.s. finally, the book (travelogue) that i have been working on for 4 years is DONE! it is FINISHED. it's edited and ready to go. i am going to publish the book on a site called blurb.com. it allows you to create your own books and publish them WITHOUT losing your publishing rights. i am ready to market myself and sell the book. i plan on advertising via facebook, word of mouth, readings, etc. more to come about that!

p.p.p.s. my next project is a volume of poetry/essays on LOVE!