Week 30: Racing

Girls figuring out how much concession snacks would cost during The Amazing Race.

This week was full of:  Putting on The Amazing Race math event, planning and holding the Recruitment Liaison Supercharger to recruit students for spring break camp, scrambling to get my kids to turn in all their work before the quarter ends, unity rally, filming a lesson for my teacher's National Boards, and finding out last minute that we need to pack up our entire room and move to a temporary location since construction is starting. 

"I noticed how much they wanted to go to school, and I do get to go to school but I don't like it......." - V, after showing him clips from I Am Because We Are, a documentary about Malawi. 

"One thing I wouldn't change about myself is my attitude.  Some people think I have a bad attitude, but it's just because you can't let your guard down." - A, a freshman 

"I'm having a good day because I was at school every day this week." - D, a freshman.  Finally!

"No, I'm not going to the school dance!  What time does that end, 11?  I'm not taking the bus home then... did you hear what happened last night?  You didn't watch the news?  They went shooting up all the bus stops on 79th..." - T, a junior,  who lives on the south side

If you could change the world, what would you change?
The violence. - A freshman.
The violence and teenage pregnancies.  - D, a freshman. 
The economy. - A, a freshman.
The statistics of African-American males.  - V, a junior, an African-American male. 

"See, the ingredient is to care about people, and to love them.  That's the ingredient, across the board." - Jim Brown, from Crips and Bloods: Made in America, a documentary about gangs, racism, and poverty.  If you haven't seen it, go watch it right now.  It's on netflix. 

"You find so many of them that I don't think have ever had any love.  And that's the main thing - love.  Whether they're right or they're wrong, or they're good or they're bad - love." - Stan, referring to teenage runaways that stay with him.  From Off the Grid, a documentary about people living in the Arizona mesa.

Joys:  Hearing kids who don't usually like math talk about how much fun they had racing around the school to solve math problems, and really good discussions with a couple lunch groups.