Get into it...

Barack Obama Being Adorable with Adorable Children

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:12:04 -0500

nerdpoet:

alexleo:

this actually makes me kinda tearful

bpoppins: vintageblack2: Howard University featured in Life...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:58:51 -0500

bpoppins:

vintageblack2:

Howard University featured in Life Magazine circa 1946.

Yes she’s a Delta…. OO-OOP

Times have really changed

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:30:32 -0500

My students and I were reading “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, a young boy attempts to rob a bigger, older black woman on the streets of Harlem in the 1950’s. In an interesting turn of events, she gets the best of him, “kicks him square in his blue-jeaned sitter” and “shakes him until his teeth rattle.” If you don’t know the story, I encourage you to read the rest of it.

Anyway, I always tell my students to visualize what they read and to make personal connections. In the story, only a few people stopped to watch what happened. I asked the students what the people in their neighborhood would do.

One kid: Take out my cell phone and record it.

Me: And put it on worldstarhiphop.com?

THE CLASS: YEP!

vintageblackbeauty: coloredgirlshustle: The First Black Girl...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:09:53 -0500

vintageblackbeauty:

coloredgirlshustle:

The First Black Girl Scout Troop

via MadameNoire.com

This photo, taken in the late 1930s, is of the first African-American troop in the Dixie Region, which covered the Southern states. Source: Girlscouts.org

Photo

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:55:28 -0600

laughpotion: http://laughpotion.tumblr.com/ FOLLOW!

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:46:17 -0600

laughpotion:

http://laughpotion.tumblr.com/

FOLLOW!

I’ve been guilty of a few of these…

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:49:28 -0600

I’ve been guilty of a few of these…

If you want to laugh every day...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:31 -0600

work with kids! I won’t discuss whether I laugh with or at them but I laugh!

I have one particular student who just can’t seem to turn down her hood when she writes essays. I told the class to include a simile in their narrative essays. She gave me “it was as dark as if the light bill wasn’t paid.”

Last week, they took a district test and had to write three essays. The first, a narrative, was about doing something you thought you couldn’t. She wrote about jumping a fence. In it, she included the simile “I ran as fast as a turtle on crack.”

Sometimes, the laughter turns to tears, however. The second essay was an expository essay in which they were to explain if it was better to believe in yourself or for others to believe in you. In this essay, she was completely unfocused and off topic but had the nerve to write “R. Kelly, Amber Cole, Chris Brown they are believers.” R. KELLY?? The man who recorded his sexual and piss-ual encounters with a child?? Amber Cole?? The teenager caught on video giving oral sex? Chris Brown?? The convicted batterer??

Chiiillle…

Find a way...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:51:03 -0600

Now you caught my heart for the evening

Kissed my cheek, moved in, you confused things

Should I just sit out or come harder?

Help me find my way…

The White House Photographers are Great!

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:39:08 -0600

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:30:08 -0600

Photo

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:26:39 -0600

WOMEN TO WATCH: Dlamini Zuma The current South African Home...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:54:14 -0600

WOMEN TO WATCH: Dlamini Zuma

The current South African Home Affairs Minister may become the first woman elected to the head of the African Union Commission.

“Africa’s time is now, not tomorrow. Africa should become the custodian of its own destiny.”

MURK AVENUE: I FOUND ICE CUBES 'GOOD DAY'

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:16:37 -0600

MURK AVENUE: I FOUND ICE CUBES 'GOOD DAY':

murkavenue:

CLUE 1:
“went to short dogs house,
they was watching Yo MTV
RAPS”
Yo MTV RAPS first aired:
Aug 6th 1988
CLUE 2:
Ice Cubes single “today was a good day” released on:
Feb 23 1993
CLUE 3:
”The Lakers beat the Super
Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date AUGUST 6 1988 and the release…

Crazy Kids

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:56:48 -0600

There’s this student, we’ll call him Peter, who is a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal. He’s notorious for going off and will do it for the most simple things. For example, if the kids call him Paul, he’ll set it completely AWF! Luckily, I don’t teach this child.

So why did he follow my class into my classroom today? To tell me that one of my students called him “Stinko.” This should’ve ended there. But nooooo.

Me: Why are you in my classroom?

Peter: But NO! He called me STINKO!

M: You need to leave.

P: DON’T TRY TO PROTECT HIM!

M: Look, lil boy. You don’t know me and I don’t know you. It’s best you turn around and leave.

P: YOU’RE TRYING TO PROTECT HIM!

M: Stop talking. Turn around. Walk to your class.

P (to anybody who will listen): SHE’S TRYING TO PROTECT HIM!

Then he stood there huffing and fighting back tears. What did I do? Closed the door in his face.

Once my students and I were safe from his wrath, I told my students that if I have to deal with THAT type of crazy, it better be something more clever than STINKO.

Something tells me that this isn’t over so if you hear about me on the news, know that I was justified and defend my honor. Chiiiile…

Teachable Moments #2

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:47:51 -0600

Class management is a big deal! When it’s thirty kids and just me, I must have systems in place to keep students doing something. Since I teach English and Reading, that “something” is reading. I’ve amassed a pretty interesting classroom library and when students finish working, they are to grab a book from the shelf.

Without fail, every year the students are reluctant. “Miss, I don’t like to read.” or “Say, Miss, I don’t be reading like that.” I get all kinds of resistance but MY class, MY rules.

Two things happened today that made me smile. Before school, my assistant principal told me one of my students said I was her inspiration and I make her want to read more. They had this conversation because the student wanted to go to the library to check out a book by Walter Dean Myers. She read one of his books in my class and wanted to discover more of his writing.

During class, I saw kids RUSHING to grab their book! “Don’t get that one! That’s the one I’ve been reading!” and “Look! I’m almost done with it!” Can’t front—that made me proud.

Dear parents,

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:50:14 -0600

The teacher supply store doesn’t check i.d. so if you know your child is struggling in some area, make a small investment into their academic success. You can purchase workbooks, reference materials, supplies and supplemental aids so your child can continue the learning process at home. Your child’s teacher is responsible for ONLY a FRACTION of learning.

Sincerely,

Teachers

myambitionzasablogger: A Must See

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:45:09 -0600

myambitionzasablogger:

*A Must See*

Can you handle MORE?

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:29:39 -0600

Sometimes, it feels like certain people get whatever they want. I’m not one of those people. I crave MORE. MORE money. MORE fulfillment. MORE peace.

Many people who know me in my real, for real, life know how unsatisfied I am in my career; a career I’ve had for 7 years as of last Friday. I thought I had positioned myself for MORE by getting MORE education but I’ve had my advanced degree for months and haven’t found MORE opportunities for advancement. I’m a pretty private person so I won’t go into details but in my personal life, I also DESIRE MORE.

So why can’t I get what I want? Why don’t I have MORE?

One night a couple of weeks ago, I was on Twitter, following the #TwitterChurch topic, a nightly “sermon” of tweets from Jay Gamble, a Maryland minister. He tweeted the following:

“God always blesses who He can TRUST… Can you be trusted? If God sent the thing you have been praying for into your life RIGHT NOW, would you honor God with it? I know you’ve been praying for MORE money. If God sent it to you RIGHT NOW, would you tithe? The husband or wife you’ve been praying for…if they showed up at your door RIGHT NOW, could God trust you with them? While trusting God is CRITICAL, I’m working on MYSELF so God can trust me. Trust goes both ways. When God can trust you with the blessing, you will have the blessing.”

Now, aint that a word?! I don’t have MORE to say. I have MORE to do—prayerfully work on myself so God can trust me with MORE!

Happy 99th Founders Day to my sorors of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:42:00 -0600

“When I look at you, I see myself. If my eyes are unable to see you as my sister, it is because my own vision is blurred. And if that be so, then it is I who need you either because I do not understand who you are, my sister, or because I need you to help me understand who I am.”

- Soror Lillian Pierce Benbow, 15th National President