Day 95: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Yesterday I started off all my classes with a short SSR and then I changed their presentation schedules forward one day. On the last day of the quarter we are going to be celebrating native American heritage day with a presentation and stuff so no regular school on that day. After the SSR, I had them work on their projects.

I'm going to have to do a better job of presentations and papers next quarter. I really need to take days and lay out the steps needed for researching. The kids really don't know how and I didn't make that a priority like I said that I would. But it was hard cause I was teaching 2 new classes this year and having a CTM and starting my first full new year. Next quarter will be somewhat better cause I'm having two classes the same while only teaching one new one.

While students were working on their projects I took time out to talk with specific students and see where they are. I've been realizing that I've been taking my frustration and tiredness out on students. The more relaxed and mellow that I am, the better our interactions will be. I can be too hard on students sometimes. And a lot of the kids that I'm working with don't need to be yelled at anymore or have someone get on them. What they need is for someone to listen to them, talk to them, and take an interest in them. It's hard for me though, cause I want the students to do well and so I get on them to do stuff. But often that's not the best tactic to approach them. What matters the most is making a connection and being able to talk to someone in a real and caring way.

There are a lot of hurt kids I'm dealing with. The amount of casual violence in their everyday life eats away at their natural compassion. They all want to be good, but many truly don't know how. They lack consistent role models and their lives are hard. Then on top of this, the public education system in the US is a joke. The classroom in the basement of the school has been flooded recently cause of rain. We don't have a janitor. Windows are broken. Heaters are exposed. It's fucking criminal that the kids and the staff have to work in conditions like that. Public education is not equitable nor is it well funded. This country is still incredibly racist and classist. I guess it's better to spend $1 billion a day killing Iraqis and rebuilding that country as opposed to working on our own.