Since my leave of absence at work, my students have been inciting riots in their new chemistry class. They bang on desks, chant "We want Ms. Turner back", they cry, they throw things, and sadly they refuse to do any work. They call me at home, they call my cell phone, they e-mail me begging me to come back. They even threw me a goodbye party. On ( Read more... )

Driving on vets, someone hits my car- now I have to get it fixed and will be without wheels for sometime. I am not sure why all these bad things are happening at once.

If you guys would, please post your cell numbers. My cell phone was stolen and I do not have anyone's number.

Also, if you need to reach me you can call me at my house 504-301-3938

Many of you have asked me, "so how is teaching going?" I don't know what to say to you. Its really hard to explain. The problems are overwhelming. We all knew that. But everyone, including me, swore that education in New Orleans would get better post-Katrina. The sad truth, however, is that all that rebuilding euphoria has somehow escaped us and ( Read more... )

I know its been crazy long since I have used this thing but I wanted to let everyone know that I will be returning to New Orleans tonight after much time spent in NC. I had two family emergencies which most of you already know about. I miss all of you very much and cannot wait to return home. See you soon!

Imagine a school population formed by bringing together two of the poorest communities in the Houston area that have rivalry gangs. It sounds absurd to think about middle schoolers being in gangs but the eighth graders I teach are 16 and 17 years old. About half of my students are Hispanic and the other half are African American and they all hate ( Read more... )

Since I have so many daily rituals, I just listed those ( Read more... )

While finishing my research on a migration project about the working conditions of undocumented workers in New Orleans, I found a lawsuit enacted by the Southern Poverty Law Center against Belfor USA Group, Inc., the company responsible for rebuilding and repairing both Tulane University and Tulane Hospital. The Plaintiffs are filing on behalf of ( Read more... )

When Andrea asked me, "What is the one thing about next year that scares you the most", I have been thinking about what teaching high school biology and chemistry in New Orleans next year is really going to look like. Looking at the situation overall, I think about how these children have been subject to exceedingly low expectations that they have ( Read more... )

1) If you had to choose between being blind or deaf, which would you choose? This came up once in conversation with some of my friends, and I was the only one to answer the way I did. I'm curious to know what other people have to say about it ( Read more... )