I Have Justin Bieber Hair?

I was in another class today, sixth grade, and it pains me to say, but the ability of some of these students are very sad. I was working with a student and she asked for some help, so I explained to her that she had to read a section and pick out two main ideas. That's when she informed me that she couldn't read. No big deal, I'll help her. I was very proud that she put forth a serious effort and was eventually able to sound out the word "tectonic", but later in the day found out that she couldn't pronounce the names "Phil" and "Ann". That one hurt.

Speaking of hurting, and I hate to say this, but some of the teachers are very apathetic towards their students. In one case she was the opposite and was absolutely grilling this student. I felt bad but didn't want to overstep my boundaries. That student asked me to help her with her homework and I did and get this, she is BRILLIANT! One of the smartest students I've been around in that school. I asked her if she liked school and she said yes, and told me that she has plans on going to college, which she will because of her intellect, but the teacher has it out. We were talking and she got in trouble for raising her hand to as a relevant question. I told her, whether or not I'm her City Year, she could come to me to release the frustrations. She has so much potential, and I told her sometimes you just have to bite your tongue even when you know you didn't do anything wrong. I talked to the teacher about it and how smart she was, and the teacher didn't really care, rather she was more concerned with the discipline issue.

I ate lunch with some of the students and they asked me to shake my hair, so I did and they go, Oh my gosh Mr. Mike, you have Justin Bieber hair! I was like, "excuse me?"

My hair

Bieber's hair (I can't believe I put his photo on my blog...)

I went on to tell them how in high school I grew my hair really long and put them in twisties one day and told them that if they do their work and do well, that I might bring it out again later in the year.

stud

After school, my team put in mad hours practicing to earn our uniforms. We have most everything memorized including this wicked awesome chant which is a remix to Kanye West's "All of the Lights."