Pedagogy and Praxis Day 8

Yesterday was a good Wednesday. I started out by subbing for a Tobacco and Drug Prevention class for the first period. We watched "Traffic" so it was easy. Then I had my infamous Meta class...

But it was good!...well ok it was better. Much much better. The removal/expulsion/suspension of a few students had an incredibly calming effect on the rest of the class. It was amazing. The class was almost functioning like a normal class. We started off with a journal write on what we thought our ideal school would look, feel, smell, and be like. Then we did a rules review worksheet that the students had to fill out. Then we discussed those rules. In one of those brilliant examples of anarchy as a political thought (not anarchy with the connotation of chaos) the students make up the rules for the school. After the discussion we did a school wide and outside cleanup. Storefront owners have been complaining that our students leave trash in front of their businesses. While I believe that there are students that are doing that, I know the location of the school and don't believe that we are the only transgressors. However, in order to improve school-community relations we cleaned up trash in front of their businesses. After class Amanda and I were actually relatively mellow. Usually when that class is over our blood pressure is up 60 points or something. I think next time we will have to do assigned seating to make our lives even better