It's thursday night and i should be writing the quizzes/lesson planning for tomorrow or even cooking myself a lunch for tomorrow, but i'm trifling. Either way, this is a new chapter in the life of Mr. Garr. 5am mornings, midnight bedtimes and all the chaos that occurs between the two. It's the beginning of Ancient World History, 5 paragraph essays, Success for All, Think-Pair-Share, SWBAT, Rubric Rows, Beginning Proficiency to Advanced Prociency, Big Goals, Core Values, Classroom Management, and, oh, teaching. I can't say what these next 22 months have in store for me, but the last 2 and a half weeks have tried me in ways unimaginable. Tilden middle school has about 70 Math books for the entire 8th grade. That's because last year's 8th graders thought it was funny to toss books out the windows. The 7th graders thought it was funny too so they followed suit. The first day of school is not necessarily the first day you come to school. Tilden, where even 8th graders have to walk in straight lines from one class to another. Last year, one teacher couldn't write on the chalk board b/c every time she turned her back, students started throwing things at her. One girl chased her teacher and spit in his mouth. And of course, there's the infamous incident when a parent punched a teacher dead in her face at Field Day in the park nearby...

This is the world I've stepped into. The corner of 66th and Elmwood. Southwest Philly. Fiends roaming the streets and street pharmacists chillin in Chillin Pizza waiting to fill prescriptions. The 36 trolley. It's the real hood; not the rap hood. The city where the skinny niggas die.

welcome.

(walk with me)