Day 88: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Since my friend Jeremy was all demoralized I decided to ask the following journal question to my 1st and 2nd periods: Why don't students seem to care? What can be done to help make students participants in their own education? What can be done in the community? What can teachers do? How much of it is personal responsibility?

After I asked that question, I got into a discussion with both periods about what they wrote down. I summarized their thoughts on an overhead. Interesting stuff that I'll have to blog later about. Unfortunately, I left it at school. But it was an interesting discussion and it is good to hear from people. When they were writing their answer in the journal I walked around and noticed that were really into it. This was reflected in the discussion. I think next trimester I will have student led discussions on Friday. I firmly believe that they should have more control and say in their education and hopefully this will be a way to make that happen. If they are to be the future leaders then they must learn how to lead and be given chances to do so. After that I showed them all an overhead calendar of how much time we had left in the trimester. Not counting today we have 5 days left of instruction before presentations and finals week. Scary. Next I handed back contracts and had everyone write that they had till Thursday to turn in all their missing work and corrected tests. Nothing will be accepted after that.

In my first period, my anticipatory set was, "What is a Napoleon Complex?" One student answered something about power so I gave him a point for being the only one to try. So I explained the Napoleon complex or little man's syndrome or martinet. Whatever you want to call it. Then I tied that mentality in to people they know in life and finally to Napoleon and his coming to power in France. This got into Napoleon's downfall which got into the Peninsular War and guerrilla warfare. So I started to talk about guerilla warfare. Class ended on this.

In my second period, I broke people into groups and then had them write on all the various ways that change could be created with themselves, their school, their communities, their nation, and the world. Class ended on this.

My 3rd period I took my students to the Asian Art Museum. I told them before that if they embarrassed me that I would make it my life mission to make sure they never go on any field trip ever again. They behaved wonderfully. Most had never been to a museum before so just the fact that they were there was great. But I left them to wander around as I did the same.

Day 87: The Praxis of Pedagogy

So today was a makeup work day for the students. I printed up on easy grade pro the stuff that students were missing and I had a list that told what each assignment was. Then I let student get to work while I collected 1st draft presentations and wrote on contracts how they were doing. Nothing better than a kid that has a lot of missing work just fucking around during that time. But I guess that's what got them to that situation. Anyways, I'm really not looking forward to the grading. I have to grade all that shit that gets turned in. So I'm thinking that I'll put a deadline on all makeup work. The last week of school is the 14th so I think I'll give Thursday as the last day to turn in all missing work. Then I'll have ample time to grade without going completely insane. I'm blown away that there are only 3 weeks left in the quarter.

In not so good news, I just got off the phone with my buddy jeremy and he's thinking about quitting. He doesn't think that he has the temperment for the job and he can't put up with the disrespect. He's having a real hard time. This is completely different from anything he's ever done. He works too damn hard and internalizes things way too much. I kept telling him to slow down and that he's burning too bright and too fast.

Day 86: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Ok... so on Friday I postponed the auction till monday so that I could get some candy for the kids. I didn't want to give them slave chocolate so I went out today and bought some fair trade chocolate and fruit leather. 40 bucks!!! Fuckin expensive.

So anyways in all my classes we worked on storyboarding slides for the final presentation. It became very clear to me how important this was to do. They've never done something like this before and giving them a clear format on how to do this was very important. The biggest mistake that the kids made when making slides was that they wrote too much in the slides. It's funny cause so often they are told that they need to write in complete sentences and write more, now I'm telling them they are writing too much. So I made up 2 different slides, one with cue words and one with everything written out. I asked them which one would they rather view. They all preferred the one with the cue words. It makes the presentation far more interesting when you can see cue words and just listen to a person talk. Too many words and it's hard to concentrate on reading and listening. Anyways, my goals for next quarter are teaching how to research and cite sources, how to make a presentation, and how to make cornell notes. I just get so overwhelmed that it's hard.

After we did that for a while we watched more of the corporation while I stopped and explained certain parts. When I do this they seem to be far more interested in the video. This really is a TV world because they are far more interested and engaged watching a movie than anything else. Kids are reacting to the movie and talking back to it. Funny. It's hard though cause ideally they need to be able to interact with all kinds of mediums.

After school I had drinks with some of my coworkers. One of the new teachers I don't think is going to make it to next year. He gets punked out by the kids and some of the stuff he says I think is kinda racist. He doesn't try to meet the kids where they are at and just kind of has this negative attitude towards them. I just don't think that he's the right teacher for our population of students.

I got a Palm Treo 650. It was expensive, but I am now using it to organize my life. It is everything that I ever wanted and more. I feel very materialistic that such a gadget makes me so happy. But damn it's so damn cool. It's a PDA/phone/camera/camcorder/MP3 player. What more could a geek like me ask for??? I need to bring the birthday gift that I got for my friend Gina to her. I missed her birthday cause I fell asleep cause grading week/back to school/and credentialling classes were kicking my ass. Then I just never called her and it got to the point where i felt so bad that I didn't call her and go to her B-day party that I didn't know what to do. I'm a shitty shitty friend. I'll have to bite the bullet and just hope she forgives me. But I got her a book wedge light so hopefully that will make up for it.

Day 85: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Going to my credentialling classes always makes me really realize how bad my pedagogy is. I just don't do enough interactive activities. I'm not engaging students enough and there is a ton of things that I need to do better to get my skills better. Fuck fuck fuck.

So I changed the date of students turning in their 1st draft of their presentation. I realized that I need to show them how to use openoffice and how to make what I want. So I showed how to make a title page and a roadmap on the computer using the LCD projector and I had them draw out their presentations on pieces of white paper that I had them fold into fourths. As they were making it I came by and checked them. After that we watched "The Corporation" while I stopped every so often and commented on various parts of the film and what was happening. I did this in all the classses.

After school I got to talking with one of my more mature and intelligent students and he was giving me some suggestions about how I could teach students better. I asked him and he was kind enough to help me out. He took an incredible English class which really took his skills to a higher level and he said one of the most important things I should try to teach the kids is metacognitive strategies. Thinking about thinking. I was surprised to hear him say that of all things. Absolutely wonderful and right though. However, I've done metacognitive strategies. But I think I need to break things down even more. I am far too often presupposing that the students have skills that they should have and they don't. I am not meeting students where they are at. I am talking to them from where I think they should be.

Day 84: The Praxis of Pedagogy

On Tuesday I went to observe other teachers. I took the day off so I could get observations done for my credentialling classes. It was a good experience but I still felt like I was working. I would have rather been at work. I went to visit my fellow student and friend John at his school and it made me thankful in many ways to work where I work. I got a small school. My largest class is 20. He's dealing with 30 kids. Kids had cell phones out, they're putting on makeup, they're eating food, they're chatting quietly. I mean there were some engaged students and they were great. But having to deal with that many kids... it's ridiculous.

Conservatives are always saying that throwing money at the problem isn't going to make it better. I agree. What would make it better would be applying more money in the right areas. I think one of the biggest things is class size. There should be 1 teacher for every 20 students. Capped. That means hiring more teachers and that requires more money. One of the greatest injustices of the American education system is the fact that public school funding is tied to property taxes. It is just fucking wrong. Especially when rich people start pulling their children out of public schools and then satisfy their greedy self-interest of lowering property taxes in their cities. Lower taxes lower taxes. It's a rich person mantra. But the last thing America needs is more uneducated people, then people do things like vote for Bush. Anyways... enough of my ranting.

After visiting John I went to my old elementary school and observed my old friend Jody. She was teaching 1st grade now. I had forgotten how squirrelly 1st graders are. They have so much trouble just sitting still. But it was good to see her because I often find that elementary school teachers have better pedagogy. They have to. They are forced to be far more structured and organized because of who they are working with. Jody was doing a good job and she had some rough kids. Shit rough elementary school kids can sometimes be harder than high school kids. You can't get interact in the same way.

After Jody I went to visit Allison and did an observation of a history teacher next door to her. He was terrible. I had trouble staying awake. And this guy had been doing it for years. He had typed out shit on a transparency in paragraph form and then was covering part of the transparency and moving things down as he read and lectured from the transparency. The students were copying shit down almost verbatim from his writing. Why not just make a printout and hand it out to them??? He was lecturing on the Reformation and he was thoroughly unengaging. I mean I know I got kids that aren't doing shit in my class... but I feel that I'm not as boring as him. His homework assignments were questions out of the textbook. It was wild. Conveyor belt education. But it was good to see him cause even though he's been doing it as long as he has...he still doesn' t have skills. This is why a standardized test can't tell if a person can teach. You can have content knowledge but it doesn't mean you can teach it. Not to rip on teachers, but like in all professions there are good ones and bad ones. I mean I refuse to believe that all CEOs are good. ;)

So today was Film Analy...Appreciation. But actually I really broke down "The Matrix" today. I mean I was stopping and pausing and explaining references in the movie. I actually did some analysis. We talked about the sanskrit terms of maya and ahankara. I talked about the biblical references. The buddhist references. The martial arts references. I just can't watch Keanu Reeves though. I mean he's soooo bad. Then I handed out the take home test. Take home test. I mean the class isn't exactly rigorous. So I told them that I never call anyone stupid but if they fail my class then they were stupid. There is no reason whatsoever to fail my class. Unless you never show up it's damn near impossible. Hmmmm.... perhaps I shouldn't be blogging this... but it's fucking true. And for anyone reading... you know you take breaks at your work.

It was raining today so no capoeira class. I put on a movie and then called up various teacher credentialling programs so that we could send out our flyer to them. I made up a flyer to recruit volunteer teachers and prospective teachers. This would help take the work load off of all of the teachers while at the same time providing valuable field experience to prospective credential students. Ok... we want to exploit cheap labor for a good cause.

It was raining today

Day 83: The Praxis of Pedagogy

In all my classes after SSR, I gave a presentation on how to give presentations. I used OpenOffice Impress and talked about open source software, title pages, roadmaps, slides, and conclusions. I did a lot of briefs in college when I was doing International Relations and it was always fun for me. This was no different. It's the old drama geek in me.

Then in 1st period I finished up our discussion on income inequality and stuff. I made sure everyone took Cornell Notes and I made sure to go through the information and really help them interprete it better. I fail to realize sometimes that what seems glaringly apparent to me is not always so apparent. Kids have trouble looking at stats and extrapolating info from them. In my 2nd period, no one was able to remember what I talked about on Friday. So fucking heartbreaking. So I made them take Cornell Notes and we re-reviewed the information and I broke it down some more. Nobody fucking writes anything down. I did the same in 3rd period. I really want them to understand inequality and in particular the power of education to help decide the quality of their lives. But damn so hard cause so many students didn't do shit. But this talk on inequality is all part of a homework project that I'm going to assign next week. I haven't come up with the assignment in detail yet but it will have to do with recording their consumption of goods.

I'm going to do observations of other teachers tomorrow so I'm going to show "The Corporation" and leave a list of questions for the sub to give out. IMO, "The Corporation" is one of the best documentaries ever made. It's that good. Kids even liked it in Film analys...appreciation I mean.

Day 81 & 82: The Praxis of Pedagogy

On Thursday in all 3 of my classes I started off with Urban Acting. I had the students read a little pamphlet of what to do when dealing with the police. Then I had students get up and act things out. One was the cop and the other was just themself. Some of the results were pretty good and some were funny. But acting things out forces the kids to learn it cause they have to get up in front of people and do it. Plus it was just plain fun.

Then in my first period my native american co-worker, Bobby, came in and talked to the class about Christianity and loss of culture. This tied into "Things Fall Apart" and colonialism in North America. Interesting talk. He kinda veered off topic and started talking about Columbus but since it was recently Columbus Day that worked out.

In my 2nd period, we started to talk about Marxism and began to read the Communist Manifesto. This was a tie in to revolution cause we are starting a chapter on Revolution and Nationalism. Class ended on this but I realized that the Communist Manifesto was far too hard for them to understand. Shit it's hard for adults to understand.

In 3rd period we were supposed to have a speaker but they didn't show. So we kinda hung out and did Urban Acting and talking about due process and the law for the whole period. The speaker didn't show and didn't even call. Just a no show. That was pretty shitty.

On Friday, I wanted to talk to the students about inequality. I gave them a reading and some charts on inequality that I got from various sources. A lot of the stuff was about the median income levels for various levels of education and unemployment rates for various levels of education. While education is not a panacea... it's damn close. First period we didn't get to the data, but 2nd we did.

In 3rd period we had a speaker. A possibly soon to be daughter in law of one of my fellow teachers. She talked about her experience traveling through China. She gave a good talk but it was hilarious cause one of my students was totally trying to chat her up. Working his little game on her. I'd look at one of my male students and we would laugh in disbelieve. Now she was a white girl and I thought it was great cause everyone wants to go somewhere different from what they know. That's why I went to live in Denmark. Cause I've never lived somewhere that cold and white.

I'm fucking tired and stressed out. Credentialling courses along with teaching is wearing me out. I always have a stack of papers to grade. The paperwork is fucking nuts. The work and planning outside of school...and fuck I don't do enough of it. My coworker jeremy is totally stressing out and raging all the time. He's almost as green as it comes. He did a bit of teaching at the college level as a grad student but that isn't even close to being the same. So he doesn't even know what he doesn't know. I really feel for him though. Shit is hard at least I had some intro. Working with the elementary school kids was probably one of the best things I ever did. It really helped me with classroom management and all that stuff. Last year wasn't a good example cause I was coming in at the end of the semester at the last second. It was just ridiculous. This year is a lot better cause I get to plan things out better.

But I try to think of teaching like surfing. I want to be doing this for the rest of my life or at least for a large portion of it. I want to ride a longboard and just cruise on the wave. Short boards I could manuever better and tear things up more. The first year of teaching is the hardest. I don't want to burn too brightly in the beginning and burn out. I have to walk the line of working hard but also keeping my sanity. Watching Allison stress out over the kids made me not want to do that. But she's an internalizer. I don't internalize as much. I'm more of an externalizer. Shit... ain't me... it's you. Well to some extent cause I know that I have a waaaays to go with my pedagogy. Shit I can't even call it pedagogy at this point. Pedagogy implies art. I'm fingerpainting right now. But hey... I can only get better. If I go from 1% to 2% that is 100% better.

Day 80: The Praxis of Pedagogy

We finished up "The Corporation" today. We discussed it for a bit and then I assigned homework. Of the movies we've seen so far, which has been their favorite, what were the dominant themes and why did they like it. First homework I've given out so we'll see how many do it. I told them that they better do it cause it was a huge part of their grade. Then I gave them a reading on the hero's journey and used the example of the Matrix as the hero's journey. As much as possible, I tried to relate it to their own lives. Then we watched the beginning of the Matrix and I told them that I would show them little stuff in the movie. Neo meaning new but also an anagram for one. Mr. Andersen. Anderson. Andro son. Son of Man. Vaginal birth scene when Neo swallows the pill. All kinds of stuff in the movie.

In Capoeira there were only 5 students cause most students were taking this CELDT test. I really focused on those 5 students. Made them kick for a while.

Day 78 & 79: The Praxis of Pedagogy

So Monday 1st period I talked about the French Revolution. I have to coach them every single time to take Cornell Notes. Get out your Cornell Notes, write some shit down. But I told them about tipping the executioner back in the day so that he'd make a clean hit. But the guillotine made everything all scientific and shit. You could kill fast and clean. The big question that I think that you can learn from the French Revolution is what to do after you have the Revolution. People just went buck wild. Throwing off the king and then into a killing orgy. After talking about the French Revolution then I gave out the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and assigned them to read it and write a 1 1/2 pg. I know that it's an UN document but it was inspired by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the US constitution. THose of course being inspired by all that Enlightenment shite. After that I gave them time to work on their subvertisement.

In second period, I had people get together in their chapter groups from "Disposable People" and they summarized that chapter. I did the jigsaw with "War is a racket" and this turned out just as well. So many didn't read the chapters they had to read. So it was people in groups copying notes off the person or two that did read the chapter. Then after 25 minutes I had them get back into their original groups and explain the chapters to their fellow students. We ended on this.

In third period, I put the test off to give them a study guide that I had made. I didn't do that on Friday even though I talked about answers. Then we went over the study guide and I gave them a notecard and told them they could write the answers on the notes but everything had to be 3 times. Then subvertising for them.

So today... in first period while they did a 1 pg journal write to the quote, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong." (Gandhi) I checked homework. 3 people did it. 3. Three. 1-2-3. Out of 20. 15%. So I gave out a lot of fours on contracts and had a bunch of people bring it to me afterschool to get three hours back and only get one hour makeup. Then I wanted to discuss "Things Fall Apart" with them. Zero people finished it. 0. The goose egg. The great void. Nothingness. The essence of the Dao. Very hard to talk about when that happens. So I had them take notes while I explained things with limited student interaction. This is a fascinating story about Constantinian Christianity affecting native cultures. I'm having my friend and Native American office manager talk about Christianity and Native American cultures on Thursday. At the end I had them work on subvertisements.

In 2nd period, I had them work on "Disposable People" in groups and then on their subvertisement. Jigsaw never again. So you learn.

In 3rd period, I gave out the test and then worked on subvertisements. I have this one Asian American student that was complaining that my class was the only one that he was failing. His cousin was in the class and said that it was a shame that he was failing that class. She questioned how he could be related. I laughed hard at that. As did the class. I think he needed some social embarassment. He's always talking about it in class so he kind of got what he deserved. If you don't want people to know... don't bring it up out loud. I also got a list of students that want to go and see a ballet folklorico about the Dia De Los Muertos.

My CTM is getting too loose. But I have the situation now where students don't want to do hours with me cause they know that I'll make them work. They all want to go to other classes so they can fuck around. This is a good thing in my eyes. I want them to know that I'll make them work. They won't fail cause I don't have high expectations for them.

Day 77: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Yesterday was work on your final project day. It was made harder by the computers going on the fritz. We have a problem with the district, updates being sent and this program we got called deepfreeze. The program wipes out anything the student download and put on the computer but it also is wiping out the updates being sent. We have to change the update configuration. At least this is what we think is going on. But the symptom is that the computers are constantly restarting. Anyways, for the most part students were really good about actually doing work. This was also a time for me to get some rest and grade as many papers as I could. It has been a long week what with progress reports, back to school nights, and teacher credentialing classes.

So what was hard about the day was my CTM. I got this one student that I got into serious words with. The kid doesn't do shit. He's got incredibly and I do mean incredibly low skills and he's hyperactive. He also doesn't do shit. He just talks to people and distracts them. I talked to his mom and was just stunned when I asked her what she was doing at home to help him learn to read. Was she making him do extra work or what. She said that was the school's job. Your fucking kid can't read or write and you are just going to say that his education is all the school's job. The system is broken and the student isn't getting the help that he needs. You need to take some responsibility for your kid's education. Then she started venting to me about how he went storming out of the house with his little temper tantrum. She was saying that he was a lucky kid and that she took good care of him and he has $7000 worth of electronics in his room and that he wasn't spoiled or anything.... $7000 worth of electronics, your kid is spoiled. Why should the kid do anything with school when he's got a room full of fun? I wouldn't have. Shit I was talking to this kid and he was giving me major attitude and whining about this and that. I just straight said to him that he was the whiniest little kid I'd ever met and that he was now in high school and he needed to suck shit up.

Day 76: The Praxis of Pedagogy

My principal bought me a soy mocha this morning. I realize I'm a coffee slut cause my day became 100% better. Anyways... in my first period after SSR I handed students out cards. They had C, W, B, N, and P. They stand for Church, Worker, Bourgeoisie, Nobleman, and Peasant. I got to be king so I put a chair up on a counter and sat down. Then I had them clear all the desks from the middle. The church and noblewoman got to sit on desks below me and the peasants all stood. Then I had peasants write down their yearly income. I told them they got $100 just to make it easier to count with. They wrote it on the back of the card. Then I took half of their income and divided it between me, the noblewoman and the church. Then we talked about the noblewoman being whimsical and wanting a new hairdo and taxing a bit more to get her hair done. After that I talked a bit about how those conditions led to the French Revolution. People power. Fuck paying taxes to take care of royalty fucks.After that we read the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.

In second period I gave a test and then did my little spiel on subvertising. In 3rd period we finished the model minority myth and I had them pair up and create questions for the test from the reading. Then we finished up class by reviewing questions and answers.

Day 75: The Praxis of Pedagogy

What a long fucking day! I started off with Film Analysis and we started to watch the Corporation. Great movie that really drew in the kids for the most part. A lot of them didn't want to drink milk anymore after watching the part on cows and bovine growth hormones. Long movie but I stopped a bit before the end and we talked about some of the things in the movie. It's a powerful movie.

2nd period all the kids were doing PSAT so I only had 2 kids in my capoeira class. So I took the two guys to eat Eritrean food at my favorite place. They never had Eritrean food and they liked it. One kid said that it was the squishiest food he'd ever eaten. Then I had them practice on the berimbau for a while.

One of the kids I like a lot and I'm bummed for him cause he is in a lot of pain. He is caught up in gang life and he doesn't want to be. He was jumped in on his birthday and he didn't even know they were jumping him in. He never wanted to be in. But his mom and dad are in and all the people he hangs out with. His mom and dad. The kid drinks till he blacks out and then does crazy shit. I imagine he feels like he's in a slowly unfolding tragedy.

I think one of the most frustrating things about teenage life is the feeling that you aren't in control of your life. Kids get down and take things out on themselves. It's incredibly sad. They don't know they can be different because they aren't fully aware of who they are. Not that adults are but the teenage years are particularly painful. Puberty!!! I mean fuck that was awkward. Fuck that was painful. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Then after staff meeting I had to go to credentialling school. I left that early to get back to school and do back to school night. That was awkward cause i didn't have shit ready for parents. I just hadn't taken it into account. I had to run around making copies for parents. Ridiculous and embarassing. Got home at 8 and now I got to lesson plan for tomorrow. Lesson planning is some hard pain in the ass shit. Come up with something that interests kids everyday when I don't want to use the stinking textbook. Fuck.

Happy Bunny Thoughts!!!

Day 74: The Praxis of Pedagogy

So in my 1st period class I gave a test where they could use 2 notecards if they copied the notes down 3 times. It was pretty cool cause almost all of the students had note cards with the answers written down 3 times. That's probably 3 times more than they would have studied for the test. I don't know though, I'll have to grade the tests and see. After the test, I introduced them to subvertising. I showed them some stuff from the billboard liberation front and a gallery of subvertisements. Then I gave them a reading on how to make a spoof ad from adbusters. It was cool cause one of the billboard liberations was of Banana Republic and had 2 women playing croquet and hugging each other. The billboard was liberated and "The Sappho Collection" was added. Since this was my class where we read Sappho, they got the reference and really seemed to enjoy being on the in. I told them they could work in groups of 3 people max and it was due next Thursday. I also told them that I was going to post it up on the wall so they should make it good. I've never had so much excitement over a homework assignment. It was fucking awesome. That alone could have made my day.

Oh yeah funny and sad story. On a previous test I gave the question, "When was the war of 1812?" 4 students didn't answer it. 1 student answered, "when they wrote the Mada Carta," which I guess is the lesser known first draft of the Magna Carta. And my favorite... "In December 22". Sigh...

Second period I gave out study questions and played the game I played with first period on Monday. I am still trying to make this game better so I was changing the rules midgame. They didn't seem to mind too much. So my new rules are that whoever wins rock, paper, scissors would get asked the question first. If they couldn't get the answer it would go to the person on the other team. If they couldn't get the answer then it would go back to the winning team and they could win team points and academic points. If that team couldn't get it then it would go back to the other team. If no one got it then I would tell the answer. Now students only got 2 academic points if they got it correct. If the team got the correct answer, then it would be one for the person that answered the question and 1 point for the team.

In 3rd period we read more of the Model Minority and then I taught them about subvertising. This class was also really excited about the assignment. I'm looking forward to really good subvertisements.

Day 73: The Praxis of Pedagogy

The Praxis of Pedagogy!!! What an ivory tower elitist title. But really I love words. I love the way words can express an entire thought or concept so compendiously. I mean schadenfreude... there's a word for that!!! Germans.

Anyways, I started the day off with SSR and typing tutor. Students like the routine. Stability. They crave it. In my first period class, I had kids count off 1 and 2 and then they got into those groups. I handed out the study guide and then gave students 15 minutes to work together in groups and come up with the answers. Then I had predivided their sticks and pulled a stick from each group. The 2 students came up and played rock, paper, and scissors to see who got the question. The winner that answered a question correctly got 3 points. If they didn't know the answer they could get help from their team and earn 1 point. The team that had all their members get a point each got a point. This way students could earn points themselves but also get team points. I am thinking for my next class changing the point payoff to 2 points if they get it by themselves. 1 point for them and 1 point for their teammate if they get help from someone on the team. And the team still gets 1 point if their team wins. Students really liked playing the game. I also gave out 2 index cards to them and said that they could have notes on the index cards if they wrote all answers out 3 times. Making them write it out 3 times will probably be the only repetition they will do and at least it's something.

In 2nd period, we talked about the end of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles and how it led to WWII. I called this one student out that has major attitude and thinks he's smarter than me. I would ask him questions about things that happened to see if he knew the answer. Sometimes he did... a lot of times he didn't. I love it when the kids think they are smarter than me and know more history. What was really cool though was that the class was totally interacting with me about the history. This one kid that I got that has low reading and writing skills totally knew what was up. He remembered what I said. He is the perfect example of skill level not being the same as intelligence. He remembered what I had said and intereacting with the knowledge and asked questions that didn't fit into what he had learned. Good kid... but never shuts the fuck up.

In 3rd period, I told them about a field trip we are going on to the Asian Art Museum. The museum has a free day on the 1st Tuesday of the month so we are going to go after 2nd period during lunch. We talked about eating in the city and stuff. I want to get them hooked into this idea so that I can use this as an incentive to do well in class. After that we talked about the model minority myth some more. I'm really impressed with their insight into race.

Internet interaction

The internet is a wonderful place. I was just chatting online yesterday and I was talking to a guy from nagaland in India. I had no idea there was such a place. Christians that look more Chinese than what you think of when you think Indian face. The guy said that his people are supposed to be from Thailand.

But this got me thinking that I would like to have my blog more interactive. I'm reflecting about my bad pedagogy so you can tell I need help. Any help, inspiring stories, interesting lesson plans, people to network with, things for kids to learn about, or whatever. I want to hear them. Please leave comments. I need more feedback on what I'm doing. I don't want to just hear "Great job, keep it up" not that there's anything wrong with that. But I'm willing to take constructive criticism too, with the emphasis on constructive. A guy's got feelings you know.

Day 72: The Praxis of Pedagogy

I started off Friday by giving the students a reading on Milgram's famous psychological experiment on following orders. You know, the one where the test subject delivers "shocks" to an actor that has a made up heart condition. The experiment was to see if people would follow the orders of an authority figure. They found that 65% of the subjects delivered the highest shock to the actor at the urging of a self-appointed authority figure that had no enforcement capabilities. Afterwards we talked about the implications of that study and related it to things in our everyday lives. As much as everyone wants to say they are a leader... we are mostly followers. They really seemed to like this story, especially when I started to talk about my own interest in psychology and sociology. To make em laugh I started to talk about how when I was young and I wanted to get girls I read books about body language. Then I told them how when girls are interested in guys they will touch their hair and play with their hair. And if they really like the guy then they will reach out and touch them quickly. Then I talked about how guys will puff up and make themselves appear bigger. They will lower their voices and straighten up. I told them to go to lunch and watch for those interactions.

I want to teach students how to learn. I was thinking about the differences between western teaching and eastern teaching. In the western world we stress interaction with the students and getting them doing things. In the eastern world there is more of a stress on observing and sitting quietly. I usually think of martial arts and how people train. In Asian martial arts you don't talk so much. You watch the teacher and observe carefully. Then you go and do the movement. That's how Asians train. There is often a stress on imitation of movement. So like people that train the aikido style of when O-Sensei was young move differently from those that train the style of when O-Sensei was older. I feel that students must learn to be able to sit still and quietly and learn through observation. While this should not be the only way, this is another important way.

Anyways, after the experiment I handed out rubrics for the final project and presentation. Then I went over it with them and talked about what I wanted from them. I need to be more explicit with the students on what I want from them. Then I showed them how to make an outline or a semantic map for their final project topic. I have to teach skills. Then I had them make their own and show it to me before they left. All of this is a way for me to gauge where students are at in their final projects. I really don't want a situation like last year.

Day 71: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Today was a fun day of teaching. I had a real good time. We started off with typing tutor and SSR in all the classes as always. I find it interesting that students are asking me to put them on the typing tutor now. Maybe it's because I had a talk with them about the importance of being able to type and white collar jobs. I sweat a lot. I am a sweaty sweaty man. I got this weird skin that is hypersensitive and I've got hives as I type. Blue collar work is hard. I would be a mess. Thank God I have a job where I don't have to sweat a whole bunch. The most I'll sweat at work will be from Capoeira and that's not a bad sweat. That's not a sweat mixed with all kinds of stuff that I'd be allergic to and making me break out with puffy hard skin. Not that there is anything wrong with blue collar work, by no means whatsoever. I just know who I am and how I am. I'm the turn-the-fucking-air-conditioner-up kind of guy. Allison wants me to do a triathalon with her. I laughed at her. I have no desire to run anywhere. I'll bike around, but I hate running.

Anyways... in first period I decided to do something different from what we normally should have been covering. Since we have been talking about muslims and islam I decided to talk about terrorism. I had students come up with their own definitions of terrorism and then they got into groups and came up with a common group definition. From there I handed out fictitious stories of fictitious countries and corporations and they had to use their definitions of terrorism to decide what activities where considered terrorist activities and who were the terrorists in the situation. The trick was that of course the fictitious stories weren't fictitious. They were actual things that happened... and surprisingly they included stuff that the US and US corporations did. Fancy that. After the groups told what they thought about the story I told them who the real actors were in the story. Class had to end with that and I didn't get to go into more depth about the meaning of that.

Second period was fun yet challenging. Explain World War I. What a complicated war with so much backstory. I'm sure the students lost track of what was going on. I tried my best to explain the war using gang warfare as an analogy. All the kids understand power relationships, not getting punked out, and calling on your friends to back you up when shit goes down. World War I had a lot of that going around. After that I tried to show stuff from the internet about World War I, but was having technical difficulties. I was of course being observed by a fellow credential student when the technical difficulties happened. Of course, that's the way it works.

3rd period we talked more about the model minority myth. This class is fun and attentive and they ask serious and meaningful questions. We started to talk about racism and why does it exist. I don't have the answers... I just have my ideas and thoughts on the situation. Anyways, we ended with me showing them the website www.authentichistory.com. This website has a cool diversity section that has all kinds of racist shit of the various racial categories. I played them this crazy song during WWII called "We're gonna have to slap the dirty little jap" and they were tripping. Then to make it modern day I showed them stuff from the website that Abercrombie and Fitch had made. All that two wongs can make it white and orientalism that A&F put out. Who thought of that shit and who thought it would be a good idea to put out???

Day 70: The Praxis of Pedagogy

Film Analysis. Princess Mononoke. Great flick. The main characters aren't shallow. They have ambiguous morality. The movie ended just before the bell rang. Couldn't be more perfect.

Capoeira class was fun. Nothing like a kick coming at you to make you move. I was having kids play with each other and really try to hit each other. Surprisingly, they are picking up really quickly.

After staff meeting, Jeremy and I set up computers and printers so that teachers could have printers. We are the official IT department. Me and him for our small ass school. I gotta get that on a card or something. Co-head of the IT department or something. What I think is great is that I don't know shit about computers. I just help make things happen. Jeremy and I drink beers and think of different things we could do for computers in the school. Considering the shitty ass state the computers were in before, what we got now is a huge improvement. And given more time it will only get better. I sent out for Easy Grade Pro and we'll have that on Friday. Then we can install that in computers for the teachers. I'm so excited cause I won't have to handwrite progress reports out anymore. Taking attendance will be in the 21st century. We have to image the new computers to district specifications, but district comes with microsoft word and internet explorer. We want OpenOffice and Mozilla Firefox. Get the corporate whores out of my school as much as possible. I know that Word and Explorer are industry standards but if you can use openoffice and firefox then you can use the others. Plus anyplace a kid went to work, I'm sure they could download openoffice and firefox and use that for shit.

Day 69: The Praxis of Pedagogy

For the journal write, I had the students respond to a hadith. It was

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.

Day 68: The Praxis of Pedagogy

So I started off the day with all my classes doing typing tutor and SSR, meanwhile I checked their sources and checklists that they had due today. A lot of students didn't have shit so I gave them zeros on their contracts. Some kids didn't even have internet sources. Not even getting internet resources...disturbing. But even more disturbing was that only 8 or 9 student gave me corrected tests back. Most of the students flunked the first test and so I told them they could go back, correct the test and get half of the remaining credit on the test. I told them that on Friday and said the revised tests were due on Monday. Only 8 or 9... depressing.

I also gave all my classes vocabulary words today. The vocab words were Establishment, Zeitgeist, sophisticated, provincial, and ethnocentric. I think these are good words to talk about history and politics. I'll have to drill students on this again tomorrow though or maybe have them make flashcards.

With the remaining time in 1st period I finished up the 5 pillars of Islam. They are zakaat and hajj. I emphasized the desire in Islam to take care of the less fortunate and thus the zakaat. With the hajj, I emphasized the view of a brotherhood of equals where paupers stood next to princes before the kaaba. I talked about Malcolm X and his hajj and how it changed his views and he broke from the Nation of Islam. Then I tied in this poster I had with a quote by Che saying "Let me say at the risk of sounding ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love".

In the second period, with the remaining time I had students finalize and share with their groups all they got from "War is a racket". This class is really bumming me out. They just aren't there and it's not a fun class.

In my third period, we broke down the words myth and model. After we did that I had them make a list of Asian stereotypes. Then from that list we chose the stereotypes that were seemingly positive stereotypes. So we had things like Asians are smart, Asians are good at math, Asians are good salesmen, and Asians are family oriented. Then I used that to intro them to the "Myth of the model minority" by Curtis Chang. Class ended here.

Tiring day. I think I'm getting sick. I think it might have been from sailing yesterday. I went sailing on my friend's houseboat/sailboat. It was totally fun and I got to raise sails, tack, and man the helm. But towards the end I got seasick. I'll never drink beer and sail ever again. Not a good combination for me at all. I think the students got me sick and being on the ship didn't help, cause we came in late and I was cold.

Day 67: The Praxis of Pedagogy

On Friday I started off all my classes with a battle typing tutor. I had students get on the computers and I gave them 1 minute to play a game and type as many words as they could. Then I awarded the winner 15 academic points. In my first period, I talked about Islam and the roots and Hagar and Ishmael. I think that this was really surprising to kids to find out that Islam has roots with Christianity and Judaism. We ended class on the 3rd pillar of Islam Sawm. I had a problem with a student that doesn't want to do anything in class and has a bad attitude. One of my rules in class is no personal grooming. No less than 5 minutes before I caught this student combing her hair I had taken 5 tickets away from another student that was grooming. She got all huffy and shit.

In my 2nd period I got so damn frustrated. We were doing the reading "War is a racket" and I had students get into their groups and finish up the reading they were doing the previous day. Some students didn't know what chapter they were reading. I said for them to look over the reading and see which chapter they were on. Some couldn't figure it out. It was the fucking day before. They were only supposed to read two chapters. One of the chapters everyone was reading and the other chapter was just one short chapter. There was no reason that they shouldn't have remembered just a little bit of what they were reading from the DAY BEFORE!!!! It wasn't hard. It was a jigsaw. After student finally figured things out then I had them get into their chapter groups and go over the reading together. This way students could solidify the chapter they read with others that read the same chapter. After there was a common agreement on the main ideas in a chapter, I had them get back into their first groups to share what each chapter was about. This way everyone gets the ideas in the chapters without having read the chapters. But shit, people were having so much fucking trouble with this when it wasn't that hard.

In 3rd period I read a chapter with the students from the book "The Gangster we're all looking for". This book is somewhat like "The House on Mango Street" but with Vietnamese people. I have Vietnamese students in my class and they seemed to connect to this reading. One student got somewhat emotional as the story was being read because she had recently lost her mother and I guess it was a bit too real for her.

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.