The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 33

I started off the day by having students study for 5 minutes for the vocab test. Then I gave the vocabulary test and hopefully students did well. Unfortunately I caught one of my students cheating in one of my classes. I was pretty unhappy but didn't make a scene right then and there. He didn't have his contract so I will have to talk to his CTM and give him 8 hours at least.

In my Asian American studies class I gave them a poem by Joyce Miyamoto called "Asian American." This is a great poem that was written in the 1970s but still holds true for today. It responds to the questions like "What are you?". It brings up the issues of pigeonholing people and the struggle to be considered American. I thought it turned out well to use this poem at this time cause it really encapsulated all the ideas that we have been talking about. People had learned enough about the relevant issues to better understand the poem. Then we talked about fighting words and slurs. We talked about all these slurs and then I asked them to give me slurs against rich white men. This question worked well in this older class. It was pretty silent and I like it when this realization dawns on people. They do that old Arsenio Hall bit "Things that make you go hmmmmmm..." I also told them to about the 49ers training video but told them that it was intended for a mature audience and that they shouldn't see the video at www.sfgate.com. Interesting thing about fighting words and slurs, people can be ignorant in their own ignorance. Calling every Asian face a gook or chink or whatever. Can't even use the right racial slur with the right ethnic background. As we say in the bay, hella stupid! The class ended with us briefly starting in on Orientalism critique.

In my US history class I asked questions about WWI and then we talked about the Treaty of Versailles and how it set the stage for WWII. I used a combination of the textbook and the US history. The textbook does have its uses, sometimes. Interesting with all that talk about Woodrow Wilson and 14 points there is nothing about the US occupation of Haiti. I also talked about the Russian revolution. What's cool about this class is that I can do an interactive lecture with them and they will ask questions, take notes, and we'll have fun. This is a fun class. Class ended on me calling on people and them telling me everything they knew about WWII. I heard some scary wrong things. I also told them stories about Hitler being a painter and not being good enough. Or Castro being a baseball player and not good enough for the majors. Interesting turn of events that change the course of world history.

In my multicultural education class the principal came in and spoke to the class. Not as the principal but as an elder black woman that's been through it. The students listened well, they'd be stupid not to. The principal had a lot of good things to say and put things into a personal historical context and also told students where she stood on it. She brought up an interesting point when she said that the students were more segregated this year than previous ones. After she left we talked about the segregation and I asked their opinions on things. It's funny but I gained an incredible amount of respect for Marilyn Manson in "Bowling for Columbine." When asked what he would say to the kids at Columbine he responded that he wouldn't say anything and that he would listen to them. That's an incredibly important thing to do. Kids, heck people need validation and to be heard. I assigned homework where they would tell me why they think our school is segregated and what can be done about it.