The signs of misfortune lie in four conditions: eyes that have never experienced tears, a heart that is cruel and hard, long chains of desires that never end, and wishing for an extremely prolonged life.
I had them explain to me what each of the signs meant, did they agree with it, and are there any signs that they would add. A good number of students had trouble interpreting this but I wanted them to think about it and do the best that they could. My point with journal writes it to get their thoughts but also to get them used to writing and responding to quotations. This will help when they write papers and use quotations. If it weren't for babbling... I mean expounding on things, then many of my college papers wouldn't have met the required length.
In my first period class, we used Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe III part on the history of Islam. Before I did this, I talked a bit about how people were snobs when it came to cartoons but I thought they were a great way to deliver information. Gonick's books are great history that have wonderful analysis and commentary using cartoons. But the "academic" world gets all snotty and thinks cartoons are for kids. I know kids like the cartoons because they let them see what is happening with words instead of them trying to interpret the words and create a picture in their minds. The latter is waaaay harder. Anyways, after this I gave them vocabulary and talked about the hadith, qur'an, and jihad as the struggle against our passionate souls. Then I gave the Rumi example of Jesus on the lean donkey as the symbol of how the rational intellect should control the animal soul.
In my second period, I had students get together in their groups and come up with questions for each chapter in "War is a racket." I'm going to look through the questions and use them on the test. Then after this I started to talk about World War I, but framing it as gang warfare between the Nortenos and Surenos. We'll see how this plays out. With regards to jigsawing "War is a Racket", it was crap. It totally didn't work out the way I wanted. The skill levels of some students were so low and it was such a pain that I don't think that I can do that again. It was just too damn frustrating. Live and learn.
In my third period class, we started in on the myth of the model minority. This class is easily turning into my best and favorite class. I started off with talking how I believe the use of the model minority is similar to the way house slaves were used in the plantation system. Give the house slaves some privileges and they help keep the structure in place. Divide and conquer. A very effective strategy that still works. Blame the victims instead of blaming the system.
Also, in all of my classes I told students that they weren't doing so well and progress reports were coming up soon. I told them that they shouldn't be surprised when they get bad grades on their progress reports. Classroom management is so much better nowadays, especially when I hear the complaints from the new teachers. Hopefully telling them their grades suck and getting Easy Grade Pro up so that I can show them will light a fire under their collective asses.
In my first period class, we used Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe III part on the history of Islam. Before I did this, I talked a bit about how people were snobs when it came to cartoons but I thought they were a great way to deliver information. Gonick's books are great history that have wonderful analysis and commentary using cartoons. But the "academic" world gets all snotty and thinks cartoons are for kids. I know kids like the cartoons because they let them see what is happening with words instead of them trying to interpret the words and create a picture in their minds. The latter is waaaay harder. Anyways, after this I gave them vocabulary and talked about the hadith, qur'an, and jihad as the struggle against our passionate souls. Then I gave the Rumi example of Jesus on the lean donkey as the symbol of how the rational intellect should control the animal soul.
In my second period, I had students get together in their groups and come up with questions for each chapter in "War is a racket." I'm going to look through the questions and use them on the test. Then after this I started to talk about World War I, but framing it as gang warfare between the Nortenos and Surenos. We'll see how this plays out. With regards to jigsawing "War is a Racket", it was crap. It totally didn't work out the way I wanted. The skill levels of some students were so low and it was such a pain that I don't think that I can do that again. It was just too damn frustrating. Live and learn.
In my third period class, we started in on the myth of the model minority. This class is easily turning into my best and favorite class. I started off with talking how I believe the use of the model minority is similar to the way house slaves were used in the plantation system. Give the house slaves some privileges and they help keep the structure in place. Divide and conquer. A very effective strategy that still works. Blame the victims instead of blaming the system.
Also, in all of my classes I told students that they weren't doing so well and progress reports were coming up soon. I told them that they shouldn't be surprised when they get bad grades on their progress reports. Classroom management is so much better nowadays, especially when I hear the complaints from the new teachers. Hopefully telling them their grades suck and getting Easy Grade Pro up so that I can show them will light a fire under their collective asses.
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