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)!

a strange kind of homesick

It's finally October. I keep thinking about how fall is in full swing in the Midwest: the trees changing to oranges, yellows and maroons, the air cooling off as summer slowly fades away. High school homecoming parades occupy most weekends and, I swear, there's a cozy cinnamon smell in the air that makes you want to nuzzle your nose deep into the layers of a boldly colored scarf. So many of my fondest memories are from dancing in piles of leaves and snuggling up to good friends around a bonfire on Lake Michigan, cup of apple cider in hand.

Fall is comfortable, always has been. It's a natural progression into the normal swing of life--the start of school, far less traveling and vacation; a more calming schedule as the days shorten and people pick up the pace with productivity.

Here in New Orleans the weather is still summer-like. While the humidity (that ungodly humidity) has mostly subsided, it's still in the 80s. Air conditioning is still necessary, though it's finally starting to get to the point of being able to open windows and turn on all the ceiling fans. As nice as that may seem, I kind of hate it. To me, fall is synonymous with friend-time--and I'm not quite sure I have good friends here yet.

This isn't to say that I haven't met some incredible people here; however, they don't really know me like my Chicago people do (or my Michigan people, pending the circumstance). It's hard to be so far away from home during a time in my life where there are significant changes happening.

That being said, I'm really excited for Boston in a few days AND I've started my Thanksgiving countdown. I'll be home from November 21-28. You can bet I'm expecting to see all of your smiling faces.

jazz beats boppin' through my veins

My hope for this big move to New Orleans was that I'd be able to settle down into a new career. I thought after taking this job things in my life would start to make more sense and dull down the crazy.

What was I thinking?

New Orleans has done anything but dull down the crazy. The city itself is a bebop jazz song. Everything is impulsive. The bass strings beat on the sidewalks and harmonize with the rain that tippity-taps on my front porch every morning. People here are incredibly spirited. Truthfully, I'm envious of their ability to be mellow. The presence of family here is astounding. People live next door to all of their aunts, uncles, cousins, granny and granddad--a fusion of generations sitting on the front porch sipping sweet tea, eating shrimp and grits without another care in the world. It says a lot about what people value, a slight (but obvious) shift in priorities from the place I call home.

It's been a challenge to let go of my Chicago mentality and settle into a much slower, Southern existence. I noticed this when I was at the Winn-Dixie waiting for my deli order. After repeating what I wanted at least three times, I watched Ms. May mosey behind the counter to get the brick of ham I wanted. And then she put the brick on the slicer. And then she moved the slicer a few times before yelling, "Baby, how much you say you want?" Then, Dominique wanted to know if anyone heard about Dougie Brown at the jazz club last night--which erupted into a loud mess of hollerin' and thigh slappin'. When this finally settled down Ms. May asked, "Now wha-choo wanted?" Instead of joining in with the knee slapping, I tapped my foot impatiently, thinking of all the things I could have done instead. I mean, in that 15 minutes I COULD HAVE CHANGED THE COURSE OF THE WORLD! so how dare someone waste so much of my precious free time.

And that's when I realized a few things:

a.) I've turned into my mother.
b.) I'm living in Louisiana. For real.
c.) Holy crap, I need to sloooooooooooooooooow down.

I've never truly experienced community until I lived here. In the short few months I've been in town, I can honestly say I've never been so warmly welcomed by people in my entire life. I can't imagine moving to Chicago and having your presence celebrated in such a wonderful way. Even though the tempo's a bit slower than I prefer, nothing beats the close-knit community of New Orleans. I'm finding it easy to meet new people (even some non-teacher people!), even if this town isn't exactly my cup of tea.

Even though the adjustment to New Orleans culture has been more of a process than anticipated, there some things that I've simply fallen in love with.

1.) The blend of French into every day language, especially the word "beaucoup" (pronounced "boo-coo"). It took me a good month to figure out what my students were saying to me. "Ms. Orange, you give 'boo-coo' homework!" "I have boo-coo bucks!" "We have boo-coo fun at the football game!" "You're boo-coo crazy, Ms. Orange!"

After all of this 'boo-coo' business, I finally caved and asked one of my 8th graders what that meant. He looked at me like I was insane. "Um. It's French. Didn't you go to college?" was the response I got. When I asked if he meant 'beaucoup' he told me, "Ms. Orange, where'd you learn bow-cou? You be trippin'. "

2.) The weather. I never thought I'd be one for heat, but holy lord, I love the 70s and sunny every day. Sure, we get the occasional storm, but the rain only lasts for about 20 minutes before the sun pushes away the clouds. It'll be hard to go back to Chicago for Christmas knowing it's -30 degrees outside.

3.) Live music. CHEAP live music. Anything you want to hear, from whoever you want to hear it from--everyone comes to New Orleans for music.

4.) New Orleans charm. Everything here is so colorful and alive. It's hard to be depressed or upset when everything has so much character, encouraging you to frolic and play.

Now, instead of writing a few thousand more words, I'll post some pictures to give you another glimpse into my teacher-southern fusion of a life. Enjoy!

This picture is mostly for Elise--PROOF I haven't cut my hair! Aren't you so proud?

This is Bella. I've been trying to find a home for her for about a month now--but because she's so freaking cute, it's harder than I want it to be. I'm not a cat person at all, but my lord is she precious. If you know of anyone who wants a cute, cute kitten let me know. She's free!


This is one of my favorite students. I swear this kid is 11 going on 30. We were on a non-academic field trip to the gym, so it's maybe not the greatest picture, but it's the best one I've got for now.

Now that I've procrastinated the majority of the morning, I should probably get ready for my day tomorrow. Much love--and I promise to update again soon.

victory's never been sweeter

i just killed two roaches--one of the giant variety, one of the flying variety. who knew that a battle of epic proportions would take place right here in my bedroom?!

good thing i ate my wheaties this morning. i just played like a champion.

Beyond the Bayou: a picture novella.

Hello friends :)

It's been quite some time since my last update and a great deal has happened in the past few weeks! To reward your patience (or, at the very least, mix up my promised check-ins) instead of drafting a wordy, albeit passionate, email, I thought it'd be more fun to actually SEE my life the past few months--thus the picture novella. I'll briefly guide you through my final weeks in Phoenix, then we'll hop on over to the Big Easy so I can show you around my new home, new school and introduce you to my new friends! :)

If you remember, I explained how Institute was an intricate blend of my freshman year of college and boot camp. For the entire summer, I lived here:


Welcome to Hassayampa Academic Village, more affectionately known as hell. This building housed about 500 first year teachers and countless staff members. In addition to the high stress levels, putting 500 mid-20 somethings in the same living space for 5 weeks created a lot of interesting tension--resulting in dramatic rounds of alcohol consumption and junior high-like crushes. I will say, though, that this "academic village" had everything we could have ever needed: supplies, technology, decent food, a pool, mountains, and a coffee shop.

I taught at an incredible school on the south side of Phoenix. I don't have a picture of the school (and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to post it). My school team was inspiring, especially a certain group of teachers that congregated in Room 19--and even MORE especially, my collaborative group. Together we were responsible for teaching our sixth graders remedial skills that will help them succeed in 7th grade. We worked together to draft lessons, make posters, design graphic organizers (oh, the graphic organizers!), and so much more. The people in my group were some of the most talented, creative and hilarious people I've ever met. I'm so glad they're all in New Orleans! It was amazing to work with people who had the same vision of success--which made it that much sweeter when the end of the summer came and we could celebrate with our kiddos. :) Here are a few pictures of my collab and my kids:

Two of my favorites--even though I can't technically have favorites.
How can you resist those smiles?! My heart melts every time.

Here's the whole lot of us. :) They're so fun and so, so, so smart. I genuinely love them.
Even if some of them are taller than me.

A fine display of that creativity I was talking about: Chris played the kids a "Math Achievement" song on a souvenir flute he picked up on our trip to the Grand Canyon. They ATE IT UP.
As in, they couldn't get enough. His creativity is one of the many reasons the kids loved him. That, and his awesome shirt/tie combos, as noted in the above photo.

Our last day at Institute was a lot harder than I expected. In such a short period of time, I grew SO ATTACHED to those kids. I wish I could have spent an entire year with them. But, since I can't, my Phoenix experience has been my soul motivation in getting ready for this school year in New Orleans.

I was hired to teach for Samuel J. Green Junior High, a Firstline Charter school. Firstline was the first charter school in New Orleans. It has a noteable history in this city and is well known for making significant student gains and for the Edible School Yard, founded by Alice Waters. (To watch a short clip about ESY, watch this.) Of all the schools I could have worked in, this is by far the best scenario. The past few weeks I've been learning the ropes of the school--the CUTEST SCHOOL EVER! Check it out:
The majority of the staff are TFA and Teach NOLA alumni, all the way up to school administration. I've learned a lot in the short time I've been with the school and I already feel at home there. I love the building, the people...and I get to meet the kids this coming Monday! There's been a lot of construction at the school so I haven't taken decent pictures of the inside, but when I do, I'll post them. :)

All this talk about school, school, school and I haven't mentioned a thing about where I'm actually living! I live here:
How we found this place I'll never know. It literally just fell in our laps! I mean, seriously, who moves to New Orleans and finds a house with a white picket fence?! Here are a few pictures of the inside. Don't judge too harshly. I haven't had time to decorate and I've only been living here for 3 weeks!

Here's a shot of my room. This picture doesn't really show how ginormous this bedroom is--
please note the open door to the right of the photo. That is my walk-in closet. Holy goodness.

This is our kitchen. I love the counter tops. :) We have soooo much counterspace!
Pardon the disaster zone, but you get a sense of the layout of the house in this one.

It's a 4-bedroom house about 2 blocks from the famous St. Charles Streetcar. Don't you worry--with all of this open space we plan on hosting a Tennessee Williams theme party. It may be a requirement to take the streetcar to our party, obviously belting out a hearty "STELLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAA" before entering our front door.

Well, folks, as anticlimactic as this is, that's all I have for today. As I explore more of this vibrant city, I'll post pictures and write shorter anecdotes for all of you to peruse at your leisure. :)

Love and miss you all.