The Praxis of Pedagogy

So I've been up writing lesson plans for this Tuesday 9 unit class. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Anyways, today I decided to dock points of students that didn't have their own SSR book. Next quarter, I will make it mandatory to have one book that students read continuously and if they don't bring it then they lose points on their contracts. I didn't really do a good job of enforcing that and I should have. That aspect of SSR needs some serious honing. In my 1st & 3rd period class, I had students take out the calendars that I made for them and write that they were to bring their final project stuff on Thursday and Friday. Then I wrote that on my homework white board. I've learned that the fewer excuses they can give me for not having their shit, the easier it is to discipline them for their unpreparedness.

In 1st, I taught them SQ3R study techniques and I have to say that I'm getting better at explaining that to students. I've been learning where they will most likely mess up and been addressing that beforehand. It's still a hard technique for students to really get though. At the end of class, I did evaluations of my teaching as required by my credentialling program. Teacher evaluations are really great to do but still intimidating. But shit, I grade them... I was pretty happy though cause students said some pretty cool things. Most really seemed to like metacognition. Students wrote about applying it to other aspects in their life. That really made me happy to read. Another nice one that a student said was that they loved to come to my class cause it is always so calm. That's what I've been trying to achieve so I was really happy to read that. Mood is really important to me. I believe that creating a non-threatening and peaceful environment is essential to learning, especially with the population that I'm working with. The kids I work with deal with so much shit they don't need to get it from me.

In 2nd period, we had a discussion on some questions about "Things Fall Apart." I was pretty happy cause students were really chiming in. I mean they were raising their hands and yelling out the answers they were so into it. The boys also seem to like to break down Okonkwo and talk about how he is a fucked up guy. I even had my "problem" student participating. He was just yelling out, but I was just so happy that he was participating that I let it slide. And when he said something good I immediately rewarded him with academic points and I gave him a 10 on his contract at the end of class. My friend said it best about the kid. He starts off slow and then tapers off. Anyways, I was stoked that the kid exhibited a pulse. Usually he's trying to pass out or not do anything in class. The kid has really low skills but I also think he's high a lot. I know he smokes weed. I just wonder if he's coming to class high.

In 3rd period, we did the terrorism lesson where the students came up with their own definition then a group definition of terrorism. Then i gave them real life situations where the names of the countries and individuals had been changed. They were to apply their definitions of terrorism to the situation and decide who were the terrorists and what activities were terrorist. This is a cool exercise but I'm not organizing it right and I need the entire class period. We were too pressed for time as I read each situation and gave the actual example. i think next time I'll give out all the situations to the groups. That way I won't have to read the situation quickly and tell who the actual countries are.