whole new level of party

Carnival season is upon New Orleans and I cannot even begin to tell you how electric the air is. Everyone is happy, bouncing from parade to parade and collecting beads. The high is supposed to be approaching 60 today (need I remind you that it's FEBRUARY?!). I've never experienced weather this magical.

I went to my first parade last weekend--Krewe de Vieux. This is the most crude of the parades and, so far, I've enjoyed it the most. In Chicago a parade is very simple: oversized, commercial floats, giant blimp-like characters, marching bands in uniform. Maybe some people throw candy, most don't. Parades are saturated with advertising. People stop by for a little while (unless it's a big deal parade, like the Thanksgiving parade or something). Snoozefest!!! I'd be embarrassed for someone from NOLA to visit a parade in Chicago or New York. They are so pasty in comparison.

Parades here are so...I actually don't know if I can sum it up in a word. It's kind of like a theatre-in-the-round production. There's no 4th wall; it's required for everyone to participate. Everyone goes, so it's incredibly communal. Everyone dances. Everything is so colorful and exciting. Every float is custom made. It's a contest to get the most beads--and a lot of people, including our house, use them to decorate your Mardi Gras tree.

Krewe de Vieux is oh-so crass. To give you an example, there was a flaming vagina float. Yeah, you read it right: A FLAMING VAGINA. Followed by a firetruck. The top of the float read "Fire in the Hole"--wtf?! Who does that?! There's no shame here--not even a little bit.

After the parade went through the Quarter, the crowds flooded the streets and danced for hours. What other city lets people crowd the streets and dance until they feel like stopping? We left the party a little early to walk down to Bourbon, but I imagine that people were out there all hours of the night. They probably walked to Elizabeth's for breakfast when they were tired. That's how New Orleans parties. There's no such thing as "last call" here, which can be both awesome and dangerous.

Everyone is in such a spirited mood. I've never encountered so many energetic and happy people in FEBRUARY in my entire life. It's usually this time of year when SAD kicks in and you're talking your friends off a ledge--after living here, I don't think I can ever do a Chicago winter again. I wasn't made to live in such cold conditions.


Not only is New Orleans so exciting because of Carnival, but it's Superbowl Weekend--and for the first time in the history of the organization, the New Orleans Saints have made it to the big game. Granted, I've never been much of a football person, but I think I'm being converted. There's something about this team, this town that is so compelling that you can't help but jump on board with the enthusiasm! If I must convert to be a football fan, I'll be 100% dedicated to the Saints.

The Saints being in the Superbowl--especially if they win--is giving this city a sense of rebirth. It's metaphoric for being able to take something that is incredibly horrible and turning it around for the better. After all of the controversy of whether or not NOLA should be rebuilt, it's fantastic to see something that comes from there be so successful.

All the kids at our school are feeling the positive vibe. Our hallways are all sorts of black and gold--bulletin boards that say "If the Saints can go all the way, SO CAN YOU!" People are taking to that mentality and going all out. I wonder if this might be the catalyst in making things change here.

The past few years have been full of change and I've been lucky enough to be right in the middle of it all. In the most formative years of my life, I've witnessed a whole new type of White House, a new career, a new city, a renewed spirit of American pride and energy in politics--and I hope I'm lucky enough to catch the wave of renewal here. I think I thrive on a sense of pioneerism. Even if I've tried to deny it for a long time, it's what makes me American. I've given up so much to capture new beginnings and exciting change that I can't imagine what it's like to be settled.

This new New Orleans stands for so much that I believe in. And as it continues to grow, explore, and change so do I.

I might be here for awhile.

hip-hoppin' into 2010

It's the new year and I haven't posted yet. Actually, I haven't had much time to do anything because I've been consumed with school. Second semester started last week and I'm so determined to bring more fun into my classroom. Our school is in the middle of a cultural restart in an effort to focus on the positive and really push our babies to do the best they can do--not only for on the upcoming LEAP test, but in life. If we focus on the positive, our hope is that they focus on the positive, too.

I've overhauled my classroom into a tracking paradise so they can see how much they grow in such a short period of time. My Feed Pierre campaign is working out nicely. Pierre is a cultural piece in my room to collect homework and to help introduce the concept of persuasive writing. Um, awesome. :)

For my literacy intervention class, I drew a head (albeit, an ugly head) to reinforce the three ways we learn and master language--I call him Letter Head (hahaha) and he tells us our daily and weekly objectives. The kids think he's a little weird, but when he's not around, they ask where that ugly guy is. I think they secretly like him.

My goals for 2010 are three fold:
1.) Make learning fun.
2.) Engage my students in the material so life is less stressful for me and for them.
3.) Get out more.

As much as I love teaching and I love my job, I really need to learn how to utilize my non-work time by hanging out more in New Orleans. I figure it's a good time to do that since Carnival season has begun. Notice I haven't used the word "resolution"--that word sets me up for failure.

Something to leave you with:
I've mentioned before, my students are incredibly talented drummers. Sometimes they like to drum on my tables while they are taking a test. I try to not interfere (unless it's a huge distraction to others) because the rhythm helps my kids concentrate on tests, quizzes, homework, etc. This particular beat came from one student. He had one hand on his forehead as he read a short story. He had one pen and his left hand. Unbelievable.

i'm not a cat person...

...but I kind of love this one.



Catherine was right. I'm going to die with this kitten. Ugh.

should have spent the $25 on galoshes

Never in my life have I experienced so much rain in December! Check out this craziness:




Our neighbor told us that during Katrina our street was one of the few that didn't flood. We had no idea there was so much water everywhere else until Andrew, Mi, and I went for an evening stroll. Here's some more media evidence of our journey:

That water came up to our knees.

Corner of Carrolton and Claiborne. See the dead cars?


City swimmers, fevers and all. :)

This is such a crazy, weird, beautiful place.

trashketball and other reasons i love new orleans

If I've learned anything about teaching it's that when you allow students to experience the material with as many senses as possible, they are far more likely to master content. And, thanks to Brian Darrow, my students are beyond invested in my writing lessons.

The majority of my students are male (actually, all but two of my students are males) and they have a varying dislike for reading and writing. For the past few weeks I've tried every motivation I could think of to get them to perform, to get them invested and practicing skills--nothing. I was met with a lot of resistance and behavior problems.

When I'm outside of class, I always try to seek opportunities to get to know my kids better. Through this endeavor I've learned that almost all of my students LOVE basketball. So, naturally, I thought, "how can I incorporate basketball into my writing lessons?" Enter: trashketball.

This summer Brian brought our students several steps closer to mastery with trashketball. Basically, the kids have in-class problems they must solve--and every problem they solve correctly earns them a chance to shoot a "trashketball"...or a wad of paper into the garbage can. It sounds incredibly lame, but seriously, this may have saved my writing lessons this week. My students finished all of their Daily Oral Language with about 95% accuracy! Which is awesome. It's all because they want to learn the content to play this game. And now that they see they CAN do this work, they're not as reluctant to do free writing or other constructed response type activities. I need to come up with other games that are similar in nature. Not only does this motivate them to actually learn the content, but it helps with the fidgeting and antsy behavior that DRIVES ME UP A WALL.

I really can't begin to tell all of you how much I love what I do. How can you not love what you do when you see these faces every day?






Seriously--you cannot deny their cuteness. Even when they get on my last nerve.

TFA is probably the best decision I've made to date. You never have the same day twice. I've met some incredible people who challenge me to grow in my practice as an educator and push me further than I thought I could be pushed. And the kids. My goodness, they are some of the most creative, intelligent, funny and inspiring people I've ever met. I think I found my true passion in life.

Other reasons I love New Orleans:

--This lovely 70 degree weather we're having in NOVEMBER. I wore flip flops the other day. I've never worn flip flops in November. If the weather's always this gorgeous, I may never move north again.

--These people:

They light up my world. This was from Halloween (btw: Halloween's INSANE in New Orleans). Andrew and I went as Stanley and Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire. Doc would be proud. Mi was the secretary from Mad Men. Check out her sexy, volumized hair--va va VOOM. I wish Danny was in this picture--he dressed up as a "fairy" and it was hilarious.

--French words! I still laugh about "boocoo". I have to hold in my giggles every time someone says it around here. I don't know why I think it's so funny, but I'm mildly obsessed. So much so that I made a bulletin board in my classroom dedicated to "boocoo" learning. It's like my brag board--whenever they do well on an assignment, I hang it up so they know I'm proud of their work--and they should be, too. (Also--Ian, Luke and Jeremy: notice my Boston leaves in the upper right corner of the bulletin board. They ask questions about them on a daily basis, hahaha) Here it is:



Anyway, I don't know why I'm in such a gleeful mood tonight. Honestly, I'm exhausted and really looking forward to Thanksgiving break. Granted, most of my break will be working on school stuff, I can't wait to meet my godchild, see good friends, sleep in, play with my puppy, and love on my family. Things are looking up. :)

hurricane?

I went to school this morning to help with hurricane preparations. We moved everything away from the windows, covered all the computers with plastic bags, took home curriculum books and backed up files on our jump drives in anticipation of flooding and wind damage. As we walked out of the school, the wind picked up and it started to rain. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees.

That was the most action New Orleans saw all day.

It's both relieving and disappointing that nothing really happened. Purely out of curiosity, I wanted to see a tropical storm; however, I'm thankful nothing terrible happened. I'm also thankful that I was able to use this day to catch up on sleep. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I slept through my alarm this morning. Yikes.

Luckily, everything will be back to normal tomorrow. Thanks to all who have called, texted and/or emailed to check on me! :)

a quick insight

I come home to this every single day:




I'm glad I finally had the opportunity to capture the crazy of the "burdhouse" on video for all of you to witness. How could I possibly be stressed when I come home to dancing and laughter every night? Impossible, I say.

In other news, November is National Novel Writing Month. This is the first year I haven't attempted to write the 50,000+ word benchmark. Given the amount of work I have, I didn't think it was a good idea to add another project. (Aren't you proud of me?! I'm learning how to say NO! and to better manage my time.) Instead of tackling NaNoWriMo, I thought about making November a blogging month since I've neglected this site this year; however, you'll notice it's already the 7th (8th?) and this is the first post of the month. The idea of the blogging month would be to post something daily. Why start a project when I'm already a week behind?

Thanksgiving is about 3 weeks away, which means I'll be in Chicago in exactly TWO WEEKS! Even though I'm going to freeze, I can't wait to be in the city again. It also happens to be my birthday in exactly two weeks--plan on going out so I can see all of you (or most of you)!