Day 64, 65, & 66: The Praxis of Pedagogy

So I don't really like the way that the principal handled things with the student. The kid is staying in the school in another CTM with different classes. I think it's kinda fucked up that the kid can do the shit he did and he gets a pass. I'm gonna talk to the principal and get him exited by the end of the trimester. I think part of it has to do with his mom having gone to my school and talking with my principal for an hour afterwards.

Anyways, in my 3 classes on Tuesday I gave tests. I told them they could use notes if they had it attached to a new roll of paper towels or a new box of Kleenex. Funny that some kids still didn't bring it in. And the ones that didn't I knew it wasn't because of money. It was because of lazy. I didn't want to give any new and important information that day cause I don't think they really take in much after having done a test. So I decided to do this reading about a thing I saw on the Daily Show. This fucker started doing "bum-vertising." I was trying to illustrate Gandhi's points about commerce without morality or knowledge without character but was bummed when the school district didn't allow me access to the Daily Show.

So in my 2nd and 3rd period class, I conducted a seminar on the reading. The rules were that everyone had to listen carefully, everyone speaks, do not speak until recognized, and never interrupt. My questions were

• What is Bum-vertising?
• Is Ben Rogovy helping or exploiting people?
• Is Ben Rogovy being genuine when he says he wishes he could help more?
• How does Macri feel about the situation?
• Are people who are poor bring it upon themselves because they are lazy?
• Is bum a derogatory term?
• Is this a good way to make money?

Another thing that is hard about seminars is that I'm not supposed to speak and give my thoughts. Like the seminar I've done before, this was hard. Especially when I hear particularly meathead shit that no one else speaks against. And believe me... I heard a lot.

On Wednesday we finished City of Lost Children. They were thoroughly weirded out by it...as they should be. We talked about it for a bit and then we started in on Princess Mononoke. Man I was tired as shit this day. No coffee and just tired. So for Capoeira we hung out at the park and played some and hung out lots. I phoned it in that day.

So today I started off all classes with SSR and typing tutor. In 1st period I started off with a KWL. I had them for 5 minutes write down everything they knew about Islam. Then for 5 more minutes they wrote down everything they wanted to know about Islam. Then I started to talk to them about Rumi, the Sufis and love poetry. I tied in Rumi's love for God as an example of agape love. I gave them two poems. "Art as Flirtation and Surrender" and "Wean Yourself". Then I went through it with them and broke it down. I think though that I did too much explaining and not enough guiding. We ended class with the poetry.

In 2nd period, they journal wrote about everything they knew and thought about war. Then I gave them markers and index cards to make a big Y (yes) or N (no) on. Next, I put them in their groups and I gave them the handout of "War is a racket" by Major General Smedley Butler. I read the first chapter with them while asking them yes or no questions that they would hold up the cards to answer. If they don't know the answer then they could obviously look at someone else but better to have them do that than nothing. Then in their groups I had them count off and the ones read Chapter 2 & 5, twos read chapter 3&5, and threes read chapter 4&5. Class ended on them doing this. This process is called jigsawing and I'll finish the jigsaw tomorrow.

Day 63: The Praxis of Pedagogy

What a crazy crazy day. So this weekend I was correcting journals and read a journal from my CTM that was threatening to me and suicidal. It was from the same student that decided to write chink in his notebook. Sweet... So I had meeting with parents this morning. Not the shit I want to be dealing with. Fucking draining as shit. Plus I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before cause I was up grading. Did I mention that I love grading. Of all the stuff that I do for my job that I don't get paid for... grading is most favorite. Especially when the kid isn't even trying.

So 1st and 2nd period got extra long SSR. Then, I went through the study questions on the tests with all the periods. I told them that they could use notes tomorrow if they brought it in taped to a new box of kleenex or roll of paper towels. What was really cool was that the stuff that I took Cornell Notes with them on they knew. It was the stuff in the book that they had trouble with. Rather it was the stuff in the book they didn't read. Kids were flunking tests already, I figured that having them physically write down or type the answers and taping it to something was more repetition than they would normally get. I'm thinking possibly in the future of letting them use notes but only if those notes were handcopied 3X onto a piece of paper. This would allow them to use notes but also force repetition that they normally might not do. There is a certain point in your education where you just have to memorize certain shit. History is pretty much humanity's collective memory, though somewhat more biased towards the winners. They gotta memorize shit that happened in history. It wasn't until I got to college that I learned to think beyond just the regurgitation. This is the problem with standardized tests in history. There are objective facts but why they happened isn't a memorization thing. It isn't something that can be tested through multiple choice.

Day 62: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Yesterday I used a LCD projector and laptop to show the students how to use a website to evaluate their research sources. I gave a short talk on plagiarism and how fucked up it was and the serious consequences of it. I don't want to repeat the crap that I had happen last year. But I somewhat get the feeling that it will happen again. Then after that I showed them the citation machine to show them how to go about making a bibliography and cite sources. This is a great website that does the formatting for you in MLA or APA style. God bless the internet!!! This took about little more than half the classtime.

I've taken to writing my agenda on the board. This is a good and simple pedagogical tool that students like. It lets them know what is going on and to know there is an end at some point to whatever we are doing. I must pay more attention to small details like this that improve the overall management of the class.

When working with kids, patience really is a virtue.

After the web stuff in my 1st period class we read the WB Yeats poem "The Second Coming". This is the poem that Chinua Achebe based the title of his book "Things Fall Apart" on. Brilliant title really cause the story is about Christianity destroying African culture. I gave out points for people interpreting lines. Really chilling apocalyptic poem. Then at the end of class I had an auction of keychains, magnets, rulers, and the ultimate... the homework pass. Nothing better than the homework pass.

In my 2nd period class, we began the book "Disposable People" about modern day slavery. I read a few sections from the intro just to get them acquainted. As I was reading I would glance up at the faces of some of the students. They were riveted to it. Then I broke students up into groups and had them choose chapters to read so they could jigsaw the reading. I gave them 2 weeks to read the chapters they chose amongst themselves. At the end I had an auction for them and they were all into it too.

In my 3rd period class, after the presentation I played Japanese rap music for them and made them laugh by doing the harlem shake. I also talked a bit about how much of the young world loves hip hop style. You can find b-boys almost everywhere in this world. And it's the African-American cultural responses to suffering that everyone likes. Blues, jazz, and rap. Then after that I started to talk to them about yoga and the causes of suffering in hinduism. I didn't get to do the auction for this class, but it's good cause I had a student buying points from other students and I'm going to make her return them.

Finally, I bought my CTM pizza. I've been hard on them and I chewed them out recently so I wanted to do something nice for them and not have them feel like it's always work. Shit was expensive but good. Kids had never tried a pesto pizza before and they were surprised to be into it.

Day 61: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Getting kids to do homework. That is my biggest struggle. In my classes I started off with SSR and typing tutor. In my two World Cultures classes, I checked to see if they did homework. They had two nights. Maybe 1 or 2 in each class did all the homework. 4 or 5 did half the homework and the rest... nada. So frustrating cause I was going to make the test questions off of their questions. Could I do more to help them out??? Sigh...

Anyways, in my first two period we grouped up and then they came up with questions for the chapter. I really want them to learn some skills so if I take more time to actually have them learn the skills. So be it. I just wanted to talk about other things. In World Cultures 2 I was all ready to go into a talk on Haiti but didn't get to. I just told them how their textbooks sucked cause it had nothing about Haiti and the US history textbook had about one line about the US occupation. But it was cathartic to give out a bunch of hours to people that didn't do their homework.

My Asian American class was great though. I have a low skill student that can be quite a handful all into the class. She comes in excited wanting to learn and she is all attentive. It's pretty awesome cause when I told her CTM she was shocked. Another student started paying more attention when I was talking about US forces in other countries and referred to it as us, she asked how was it us? I agreed with her that I mispoke and then gave her a bunch of my academic points for correcting me. This worked very well when I taught elementary school. The girl was so happy and said she should pay attention more. It makes them feel good when they correct me and I acknowledge it. I feel that it helps create a safe space to make mistakes when I can acknowledge my mistakes. Plus getting a bunch of tickets makes them want to find fault with me and that means they gotta pay attention. But I asked that class who had done the homework and every single one of them had. It was awesome!!! Fucking Awesome!!! Now a student that I had problems with last year and is repeating it pays more attention. Now she wants to do the homework. Had a great time with this class.

Some of my kids in CTM have been a punk to a new teacher. Throwing papers in class and just acting the fool. So I gave them a bunch of hours and told them that they were going to clean afterschool. Then I gave them 4 big outdoor bags and gloves and told them not to come back till they were finished cleaning. To their credit, they did some serious cleaning. The school lunch yard looks so much better now. They said they learned their lessons and wouldn't mess around anymore. It was sweet schadenfreude watching them clean.

Day 59 & 60: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Yesterday I started off the journal write by reading from Thich Nhat Hanh's book "Anger" This is a really good book that explores the roots of anger and really sees it as suffering. Realizing what he was saying has had a profound effect on me because I have a lot of anger. So I read to them this passage about a 12 year old boy that used to have his father yell at him when he hurt himself. The boy always said that he would never treat his children that way, yet when his sister fell and hurt herself he felt the anger well up inside of him. He wanted to yell at his sister the way his father yelled at him. But since he had been practicing he was able to stop himself and be aware of his anger. Hanh talked about transmitted anger. I asked them to explain what Hanh meant by transmitted anger? Did they have any transmitted anger? What was the root of it and how did it play out in their lives? You ain't never seen pens write that fast.

In both my world cultures class I let them finish up their SQ3R questions for the section and then groups shared their questions for each section. Then I talked to them about what were good questions and what were bad ones. I realize that I must constantly model because they won't give me feedback except on tests where they do horribly. By calling groups to tell me their questions I dispersed the embarassment out. It's that whole sociology thing about people feeling less responsible in groups. But after hearing their questions I realized that they had no clue. I mean no clue about what questions to ask. So this was good to know cause then I formulated and modeled better questions for them. Then when they see the kinds of questions they are supposed to ask they could start to get it. Everyone needs to see examples. Their homework was to read and answer the questions then create new questions for the next section. We'll go over those questions on Thursday.

For my Asian American studies class I decided to finish on the Buddhist kick and talk about Buddhism. I gave them a cartoon on Buddha from the Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick. The cartoon does a rough outline story but I tried to the best of my knowledge to fill in the blanks. Then we went over the 5 precepts, 4 noble truths, and the 8 fold path. One of the things students last year said about buddhism was that it wasn't practical cause it was too hard. I wanted the kids this trimester to understand that Buddhism has goals and that we can not always walk the path but still have the goals to draw us back towards walking the path. Same with Christianity, same with Islam, same with sikhism, and same with santana-dharma. If people were perfect then we wouldn't need religion. Their homework was to write 2 pages on what causes them to suffer? What is the root of that suffering and what ways can they see to stop their suffering. I found this writing assignment to be incredibly powerful when I did it last year.

I realize that my Film Analysis class is really a Film Appreciation class. Allison called me out on it. I talk about the film a bit with them and we discuss themes, shots, and other stuff, but I'm watching a lot of different movies with them. We finished "Enter the Dragon" and I geeked out with them about it. I went back and looked at different scenes and talked about martial arts styles. I know a ridiculous amount of trivia about that movie and I shared it with them. We talked about the racism in the movie. Black man dies and White guy with lead role next to Bruce. John Saxon was put in cause they didn't think people would want to see just Bruce. It's like always pairing the black guy with the white guy. Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Sam L Jackson and Eugene Levy. That's why Rush Hour was so great, cause it wasn't about the white guy.

In my capoeira class I taught them more kicks and had them play while I played the berimbau. I have to introduce the music more. But that's my worst thing. I can't fucking play the music. And play and sing... forgettaboutit.

Day 58: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Today has been an interesting day of human interactions. One of my CTMs is 15 years old and has 3 credits to her name. She's in one of my classes and totally bombed the test. She's got some serious catching up to do in school. I had to clue her in to the gravity of the situation. I hope she will be able to truly see it. There is no one in my CTM that has higher than a C average.

In my 1st and second periods, I started off with SSR and typing tutor. Then I had them come up with SQ3R questions. Tomorrow I am going to go over the questions with them and then have them do the reading part of it.

But I got a bully in my class. He picks on this small white kid. I didn't hear it but students told me about it afterwards. I've been kind of getting that feeling from him. He's kind of a sexist homophobic young asshole. I don't know if he'll last long at the school. I'm gonna have to talk with him tomorrow.

In my Asian American class I talked about race in brazil. Why race in Brazil for an Asian American class? To introduce the idea to them of race as a social construct. A hierarchical structure of oppression. Then to key in with the idea of race and identity, I talked with students about the difference between sex and gender. Before we even really start talking about Asian people I want them to get an inkling of understanding on how race has been used.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 57

Yesterday I had vocab quizzes for 1st and 2nd period to start the day. Then in both my first and second periods we did SQ3R reading techniques with the textbook. The fact is that the students aren't reading the text. I had maybe 3 or 4 students reading the chapter sections that I assigned. So what I'm going to do is have students be in groups and create questions for the SQ3R. Then their homework will be to read selectively through the text and answer the questions that they made for the SQ3R. That's what I am going to be doing next week. Because while I want to get through the material they also have to be reading or at least doing something to get the knowledge in the reading.

My 3rd period class was not so good. I have to hit a local asian bookstore this week to get more material that is high school level. I finished up the talk on the opium war and when I asked questions about it from the previous day a student that has low skills totally knew what was up. She really got into the opium thing. Interesting what the hooks are. Sex, drugs, death. Every student wants to hear about it. I'm always getting off track when I start talking about history cause I get so excited and start wandering, but I started talking about Europeans and germs and how dirty Europeans were and how that messed up native people that they were trying to conquer. Anyways... I need to get on the ball with this class cause it ain't so good and fuck it's my asian american class. But the other classes are easier cause at least there is a textbook.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 56

I just ate at my favorite Vegan restaurant. I'm eating there again on Saturday. Allison put it best when she said that eating there you don't feel like you are giving up anything.

Anyways, I started off the day with SSR and typing tutors. 1st period wasn't so good. I finished up a talk on Constantinian Christianity and then started in on democratic developments in England.
I was just lecturing and taking notes with them which was pretty boring. My lecture was rather unexciting to me except for talking about Constantinian Christianity.

2nd period was more fun. I decided to teach the students some basic ju-jitsu. Escaping from arm grabs. Some were into it. Some weren't. But I took the biggest kid and escaped from his grabs without using a lot of strength. This helped me intro into Japan and the Meiji restoration. Then I assigned a reading about this Japanese female anarchist that tried to kill Emperor Mutsuhito. How's that for history class not being white male capitalist.

3rd period I put up a picture of Thich Quang Duc the Buddhist monk that set himself on fire. I told them the background story on why he self-immolated. I got the picture from my Century picturebook and copied it onto a transparency. Thich Nhat Hanh said that was one of the greatest acts of compassion. Then I talked a bit with them about Zen and anger. They seemed to be engaged with that. After that I gave the lecture to them about the Opium War that I gave to my 2nd period class. But this one was better. I used a tea bag to peak their interest. Oh yeah, at the end of all the classes I went over making up main ideas and questions with them and summarizing the Cornell Notes. Good class.

The big 30

My buddy Gabe said that 29 is the worst and being 30 is great. You're young in your 30s but old in your 20s. Decade life markers.

Not where I thought I would be when I was 20. I am happy. Things are good for me. I'm married to a beautiful wonderful woman and she's my best friend. I'm teaching at the school that I wanted to be at and trying to live out my beliefs. I feel successful. I am a very lucky man. I feel very much alive. I'm a much happier and more mature person now and that's infinitely better for my personal sanity.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 55

Today was film analysis and capoeira. Most kids liked the Godfather. I fast forwarded to different scenes and we talked about the scenes. Then I geeked out for a long time about Bruce Lee and the different martial arts stuff in the movie and we started watching Enter the Dragon. So sweet. I love that movie. Martial Arts movie classic. The uncut version is so key. It has more of Bruce's philosophy in it.

Capoeira was cold. But we got moving around and it was better. I got 3 students that have done capoeira before and are the best in the class. In the roda at the end, I told various students to go in against the 3 and kick them while they practiced escaping. Fun stuff. I have to get back into better shape cause I'm getting gassed too fast.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 54

So I started off the day with the student doing a journal write. It was to think about your life. Think about your friends, family and the people that you surround yourself with. Think about your actions and the things that you do. If you were to continue down the path that you are on where would you be in 10 years? in 20? Would you be happy? What would you like your future to be? If your present path will not lead you to your future, what do you need to change to lead you to the future you want?

In my first period class, I first did a recap of ancient Greece and then asked students about cultural practices and if there were absolute truths or only relative truths. It was cool cause in a short while there was a general agreement that things were culturally acceptable unless they hurt someone. Then to intro into the Sappho reading, I took Cornell Notes with them on the 4 different types of Greek Love: Eros, Philia, Agape, and Storge. Then we read "Hymn to Aphrodite" and I broke down the poem for them. I did this cause I wanted to show them how reading poetry can be unlocking a hidden message. To speak about a mood or feeling that cannot be expressed in words, yet one still tries. After this was done, I started in on Constantinian and Prophetic Christianity all the while taking Cornell Notes with them. I talked about the Eastern Roman empire and Constantinople. Then I asked students why was Constantinople such an important place? What about its location made it so important? A really cool student talked about trade and water routes. This led me to the importance of water in moving around goods. I talked a bit about why New Orleans would be rebuilt and then about the Panama Canal. Then I started to talk about Christ and why the Romans wanted to kill him. I spoke about his subversive speech and actions and how the Romans couldn't allow for an authority higher than the Roman Empire. Class ended on prophetic Christianity.

In my second period, I started off recapping the Opium War. Then I talked about the Treaty of Nanjing and the beginning of the "Century of Humiliation." Then European nations carving up China and Chinese nationalistic responses. I had fun talking about this and how the Chinese martial arts masters thought they could stop bullets with their powerful chi. I talked a bit about chi and kiai and its purpose. I kiaied a bit for the students and they laughed. Made some jokes about kiaing.

In my 3rd period class, I had students write on the Cornell Note transparency to the overhead. They wrote out the information that they collected about each of the Asian countries that we will be studying. I want to provide them different opportunities and formats within which to use Cornell Notes. Plus I wanted them to have the information about the other countries. After they took down this information I started to talk about race, ethnicity, and nationality. Got to nationality and ethnicity but only started in on race as a social construct. I have to go over the Cornell Notes with them on writing up main ideas and questions to their notes. I have to model that behavior for the students and I haven't been. I'm realizing that I have model everything for them as much as possible. This is the only way that they will learn.

It was really cool cause I had a student come up to me today and say that she liked my class and history now because of it. She said that she never got history in her other history classes but she understood it when I explained it. That made me feel great. That's what it's all about. When the fluorescent light turns on above their head.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 53

Interesting day to say the least. I started off with students doing SSR and typing tutor. Typing skills like other skills greatly vary. There are some that can type and some that don't even know where to put their fingers and are doing the two index finger action. So from now on I will have SSR with typing tutor on Mondays and Thursdays. They need to practice and feel comfortable reading and typing.

So in all my classes, I introduced them to Cornell Notes. I want to standardize this across all classes so that the students have a format for taking notes. Then in my first period, I had them copy down vocabulary words in Cornell Notes format. Next, I talked with them about Ancient Greece and Rome, while I took Cornell Notes on an overhead with them. To draw their attention to Ancient Greece I said that we would be reading poetry by Sappho tomorrow. Then I told a little bit about Sappho from the island of Lesbos. Then I talked about pedophilia, Greek history, and judging other cultures and times. Can one say that pedophilia is always wrong or is it acceptable in Greek life because that is their own particular cultural practice? I don't have the answer but I wanted to throw the question out there for them.

In my 2nd period class, I had the students take down different vocabulary words and then I started to talk about the Opium War. The use of drugs to cripple a people is a tactic that works. Opium was illegal in Britain but the British had no problem supporting the "businesspeople" that sold opium to the Chinese. I talked about the effect of opium on the Chinese then I brought it to modern day and the effects of crack on the inner city.

In my 3rd period class, I broke people into pairs to find out information about 6 of the 7 Asian countries we will look at for our Asian American Studies class. Then I gave them atlases and made them find geographical information in Cornell Note format about that country. Class ended with that.

So the big deal was in my CTM. One of my CTM is also in my history class too and I asked to look at his composition book that he was taking Cornell Notes in. I was pretty shocked to find him referring to Chinese as Chinks in his notes. So I called his mom and she apologized profusely and then told me that his dad was going to pick him up and would speak to me. The student started to argue with me over it saying that he never said it out loud or called anyone that and that he didn't think that I would look at it. He was completely missing the point. This coming right after we had our reading on Undermining Oppression. Then he started to argue saying that I used racist slurs in class. However, I was using racist slurs in an academic point to talk about oppression and domination. Not even close to being the same thing at all. I talked to his dad and it will be interesting to see what happens.

It's interesting because I've encountered more anti-Asian sentiment from black people than white people. When I was teaching elementary school, the kids would call something strange or foreign "Chinese. Then they had their Chinese jumprope which was rubbber bands woven together. Then last year I had that offensive picture drawn of me and a student by a black student. Trip out.

Pow Wow

I am really starting to enjoy riding around on my bike and running errands. After I ran a bunch of errands I went to a pow wow that was happening in a city nearby. One of my students was dancing in the pow wow and invited me to check it out. I have never been to one before and it was pretty cool. Real mellow with people just hanging out. Different tribes had drumming groups and were doing their songs and dances.

I had spoken to this student before and she said that she danced fancy shawl style. I knew nothing about it so she told me that it came about from Hollywood and how they expected natives to dance but it got picked up by the natives. It was a pretty new style of dance in comparison to the traditional dances. She said that she really wanted to dance the grass dance but that it was culturally unacceptable for a girl to dance the grass dance.

Also at the pow wow was a two spirit table. This is like native american LGBT, except they are called two spirits. I am sure there is much more meaning behind it than what I am saying but that's the way that I was able to put it into perspective.

It was a trip to see one native in his full tribal wear with lots of American flag bandanas attached to him. I find it interesting that a Native American would be so nationalistic considering the history of the US and Native Americans, but to each their own.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 51 & 52

Yesterday we finished up the reading of "Undermining Oppression" and then I handed out a study guide for the test and we went over questions and answers. Today we had the test. Many of the test questions I pulled directly from the study guide so if the students studied... they should do well. It will be interesting to see how the students did though.

I was grading papers yesterday and once again I HATE GRADING! It's really hard to fairly and justly grade a paper of a student that doesn't have the skills of others in their grade level. When I am getting students with 1st or 2nd grade reading/writing skills then how can I grade them? I mean if I grade on skills appropriate to their grade level then they will always flunk. If I just flunk kids all the time then they will drop out of school and the thing they need to most is to be in school. But at the same time is it right to give a student the same grade as a kid that is up to grade level? I was correcting homework that was on a 1-5 scale and then I came upon a paper that was incomprehensible. After reading through it 4 or 5 times, then I finally pieced together what she was trying to say. So what she was saying did go along with what the assignment was but the paper was so bad I didn't know what to do. It is incredibly frustrating. I have to talk to more people about it. The range in skill level is so great that it's hard to conduct classes. Words that I think a high school student should know they don't know. I was talking to one teacher and he said that he was talking with the kids and they didn't know what practically meant. He had to explain what that meant... It's criminal the skill level of some of these kids.

I had one student who is a part of my CTM bomb a test and I asked him if he studied. He said that he studied a bit and that he didn't study the reading and answer the study guide questions cause it didn't appeal to him. So I guess he figured it would be better to fail the test than to suck it up and answer the unappealing questions. I've read his writing and his skill level is such that he could have answered the questions. I even had a study session after school but he didn't want to participate in it so I wasn't going to force him.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 50

Wednesday. Elective day. Take a breather day. First class film analysis. We finished up the Godfather just as the bell was ringing. Kids really responded well to it. I thought it was funny cause there is a lot of anti-black racism in the movie and the kids really got all mad at that. I mean people are being killed left and right, family is betraying family, people are getting beat down and the kids are all unhappy about racist language. But the film is great and next week we will talk about it and I'll talk about movie formulas.

The next class was my Capoeira class. This class brought a smile to my face today. I had a student that was talking all kinds of shit to me all week long. Shit like he was going to kick my ass in the roda and I better watch my back and how he'd school me. And he'd do it in front of people. I just smiled and said I'd get him on Wednesday in class. Well when class started I used my head. I started off having the kids run all around and do strenuous warmups. Then I had them practice their kicks. After a while we had the roda. I played the student first and it was really ugly. It wasn't even capoeira. I held back a lot of kicks that would have hit him in the face. I wanted to get him good. At one point when I held back a kick to the head he rushed in and tried to take me down. I wrapped his head and did a guillotine choke. Then I grabbed his leg and flipped him over. We got up and I let him go. Then I had a whole lot of other people play and towards the end I played him again. This time I played nice and slow. I lulled him into a false sense of security. Then when we were both doing the ginga and his guard was down I gave him a medium power front kick right dead center of his chest. He went flying back and down onto his knees on the ground. It was a clean clean and beautiful kick. I looked at him and said that was for talking shit all week. Then I told him to get back in the roda and continue playing. He was sucking wind and couldn't get up right away. Seeing this I stopped and decided to use that example as a teaching tool. I talked about Capoeira being a slave martial art and how they didn't want to fight force with force. I talked about how our first game was ugly cause he was expecting me to try and hit him and we were both aggressive. Then I talked about how in the last game I lulled him into relaxation with my ginga, smile, and demeanor then hit him when he was most vulnerable. That's Capoeira. I don't fear my mestre when he looks serious. I fear him the most when he is smiling the biggest. I also said that because of that kick he would get better cause he wouldn't want that to happen again and he would want to exact revenge. The front kick is called the bencao or blessing. I blessed him. The blessing made my whole day better.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 49

Long day today. Started off with me forgetting my coffee. Whenever that happens it never starts off good. Of course, I only remember it when I am right next to the school. Then I start cussing like a drunken sailor. No offense to drunken sailors. So then I had to buy coffee which I don't like doing... cause I'm cheap and poor. But have to have my fix.

Anyways, in my classes I had them do a journal write on summarizing the text and then telling me what they found from their homework. In what categories were they in an oppressed group and in what categories were they in a privileged group. Did that change the way they viewed oppression and themselves? Why or why not?

I kind of figured that most students wouldn't do their homework over the 3 day weekend so I gave out real easy homework. Those who wrote it out I told them to hand it in and I'd give them extra credit. So at some point I'll read it and see where people are at. I have to make up a test to give students on Friday. It's going to be on maps, timeline, and the reading.

After the journal write, I pulled sticks and asked basic questions on the reading to check for understanding. The text isn't the easiest. I got students in vastly different skill levels. I was just told and I need to verify it, but students in English High point C are working at the six grade level. There is a high point A & B. We wanted to have regular high school English classes this year but soooo many incoming students tested for High Point. What the fuck is up where students are coming in with such low skills. It isn't a matter of intelligence it's a matter of skill level.

It's a week into school and we are still enrolling people. I asked a senior teacher and she said it was because parents weren't fucking getting their shit together to enroll their kids. She said we could probably count on one hand all the students that just moved into the area and needed to enroll, the rest... It's a motherfucker cause I got to fucking enroll the kid and make up their schedule and then catch them up in any classes . So now I got 2 more in my CTM with more coming due to another orientation. Sigh... Didn't leave school until 5:30 and still had more to do.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 48

Friday was a good day. In all of my classes, I continued the reading of "Undermining Oppression." In that reading there is a template where the reader can take stock of their racial privileges through answering certain questions. For their homework I told them to take those statements and replace them with sex, age, and class. I wonder who will do it. I had a good number of students express interest in this reading. The focus of the school is social justice and this reading will provide the foundation for the rest of the trimester.

Next week I am going to be teaching the kids how to take Cornell notes. Cornell notes is this certain style of notetaking. Most of the kids are smart yet seriously lack skills. One of the English teachers is going to implement Cornell notes in her classes and we are talking about trying to standardize the usage across the school. Considering how small the school is that shouldn't be that hard.

The internet also miraculously started working again. The district giveth and the district taketh away. So now I got computers hooked up and I just need to get a printer going. I've really rearranged the classroom and in my opinion made better use of the space. All my CTM students now have cubby holes and there is a closet space that has been opened up. I believe that we are the only class that has that much space. We are pretty lucky in that regard. There is a lot of storage space in that school that isn't being taken advantage of. Heck we got 2 pianos downstairs in the nasty dungeon room. We could clear up a lot of space in the school. The main problem with the school is just an incredible level of disorganization and aversion to technology.

I have to write a proposal to get money to buy computer grading software... that's ridiculous. The software only costs $249. All the new teachers are highly computer saavy and the software would make life just that much easier.

I posted up the "I am" poems the kids seemed to enjoy having them up. At the end of class when I did contracts, they were up and reading the different poems. One of the mentor teachers at my credential school said that posting up student work was one of the best intervention strategies around.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 47

Today was a great teaching day. In all my classes, I had the students write I am poems while I distributed textbooks, checked homework, and had them fill out tongue depressors with their names on them. I am slowly shifting my thinking in teaching. My main concern is to create a low affective filter. That's teacherspeak for making an environment where people feel safe and comfortable to take academic risks. Even if the student gets the wrong answer I have them get help or the answer from someone and then answer the question themselves. I don't want the student to be shut down cause they messed up. I even guided some students to the answer. The tone of the classroom was then more lively and participatory. I checked for understanding by asking questions first and then pulling namesticks for the answer. We finished map reading and then we talked about timelines. I talked a bit about the terms B.C./A.D. and B.C.E./C.E. and the Christian centrism.

After that was all done we began reading the text "Undermining oppression". I am really wondering how this text will be for them. Will it be accessible to them? It's a fucking great reading and I absolutely love it. But people seemed to get into it today. We'll see.

I wasn't able to get too far into the text. When I had to stop the class to do contracts. I went out yesterday and bought rubber stamps with numbers so now I can stamp contracts instead of writing on them. I'm realizing that most of the pedagogical strategies that worked with the elementary school kids work with the high school kids. They are both still kids and want attention and praise. At the end of the day I posted up their "I am" poems on the back wall.

About my CTM... good bunch of kids. I started the morning off with asking them to help me make up rules, rewards, and punishments for them. There wasn't much participation from the younger and newer students. I guess they don't feel comfortable speaking up yet. But I want them to have a feeling of ownership in the classroom. I want them to start to feel that the classroom is ours. At the end of the day, I kept students after to do their homework and let some go after calling their parents. I talked to parents before and I'm usually at the school till around 4:00 so I said that I'd keep students there and have them do homework or read a book there.

The Praxis of Pedagogy Day 46

I taught film analysis and Capoeira today. We're watching "The Godfather" in film analysis. We talked today about different genres of film and some basic vocabulary. At some point I'm going to show "Enter the Dragon" and talk martial arts films. But the Godfather is going to take a good chunk of time to get through. It's 175 minutes. Yeah I'm fucking taking it a bit easy.

Let me just say that school is so much cooler when you start at the beginning of the year instead of a few months before school ends.

I taught Capoeira for my second period. I haven't wanted to do Capoeira and I've never liked teaching it. My mestre would said to me that he wouldn't ask me to teach Capoeira anymore cause everytime he did I quit. I taught them to ginga, bencao, and negativa. Then we practiced cartwheels. There are some kids in the class that I'm going to enjoy kicking. It's a very important teaching tool. Bencao is the front kick and it means blessing. The kids that can play a little just do moves around each other. They need to be kicked to recognize the fact that they are playing with someone. Nothing like a kick to the chest or stomach to gain someone's attention. A good blessing now will save a lot of pain in the future. If Capoeira isn't martial then it isn't Capoeira. If Capoeira isn't a dance then it isn't Capoeira.