The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 29

My vocab words for this week are oligarchy, annex, denotation, connotation, and autonomy. Though denotation and connotation would usually be in the world of English, I want the students to think about the underlying meanings and messages that people use. There are explicit and implicit messages. They need to start to see below the surface of things cause that's where the sexy and juicy stuff is. I talked a bit about each word and how they related to what we are doing.

In my Asian American studies class I showed them the cartoon "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips." Then I talked briefly about the use of cartoons as propaganda to further nationalistic and patriotic messages. Then I talked about the images within the cartoon. Kowtowing soldier to the Japanese general. Made up gibberish that was supposed to be Japanese. Racist statements made by Bugs Bunny. Objectification of females. Japanese Sumo wrestler. Buck toothed, slanty eyes, coke bottle glasses Japanese soldier. Then we started in on a reading of the historical context of the Japanese internment. Class ended on this.

In my US history class, I talked about the main things that I wanted them to know about WWI. I added Woodrow Wilson, the 14 points, collective security, and the League of Nations. I really messed up and didn't include the Lusitania but I'll get that on Thursday. IMO, WWI wasn't really a war that the US was really involved in. There was sail of arms and stuff but the US didn't get in until the end of the war. I want to get through this war so that we can talk about WWII and its use as propaganda for the idea of a benevolent US foreign policy. Then hopefully Korea and/or Vietnam. Oh yeah in the beginning of class I showed them how to add statcounters to their blogs and assigned them the homework of having a statcounter on their blog by Friday. But after I lectured about the different topics I went through and drew sticks to see if students had learned anything. My one student that is great but runs her mouth really seemed to get and understand the ideas that dominated WWI. I made the not completely precise analogy of Gavrilo Princip killing Franz Ferdinand to Osama Bin Laden orchestrating 9/11. The Austro-Hungarian desire to smash Serbian nationalism would be compared to the US desire to crush Wahabiism. The US ultimatum to Afghanistan was simliar to the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to the Serbs. I also completely forgot to talk about the Russian Revolution but that can also be for Thursday, cause I was running short on time and didn't get to talk more about Wilson's 14 points, collective security, and the League of Nations.

In my multicultural ed class I played some Joao Gilberto for them while they wrote their vocabulary words. They really got into it and it helps mellow them out. I want to make it a habit of introducing the students to different types of music. They shouldn't just confine themselves to hip-hop. This class gets me off track somehow and through reviewing what we had read before in the essay "nigger and caricatures" we got onto the topic of professional wrestling. I spoke briefly about my youthful love for professional wrestling and how pro-wrestling was used as a form of nationalistic socialization/propaganda. I told them about Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik fighting Hulk "The Real American" Hogan. We spoke about racist stereotypes in the world of wrestling and how they still continue to this day. Then I showed them racist imagery from the Jim Crow Museum as I tried to show them some racist cartoons. Unfortunately, the laptop I was running off of didn't have quicktime or real player. Next time... but after that we reviewed the reading quickly and I pulled sticks and asked basic questions. I really had to bust on some people for not following along. We didn't get very far in the reading before class was over.