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.