Week 5

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH

Over the weekend, a student of FHS posted a image of herself in blackface and tagged another student whom she was mocking or trying to get a rise from. I found it really concerning that this would seem like a good way to get at a girl you have a beef with. Anyway, it was obviously a huge deal. The girl who did blackface got blasted on social media and is honestly probably in some actual danger if she were to come to school. She needs to change her name and move states in my opinion. Anyway, I knew this was obviously going to be a topic of discussion in my classroom, especially since people talk while they work. I decided I wanted to nip it in the butt right at the start of class so students didn't get offended by each others' comments. I spent the weekend drafting what I wanted to say to the class. I knew that I wanted to address the issue of blackface with out talking about the incident itself because I never learned about blackface and knew a majority of them probably hadn't either. To prove my point further, I told my friend about what happened and she was like, "Wait, what is blackface?" So I decided to use this incident as an educational opportunity. This is what I planned to say to the kids:

I’m sure a large majority of you saw what happened this past weekend and I felt like chatter during class is going to be inevitable, so I wanted to address it very quickly. I do not know all of the details of this incident and I will not be getting into the specific actions of this individual, but it has raised the issue of blackface. I believe sometimes we say and do things with out understanding the impact it has on others and the history behind it. So to understand its offensiveness, you need to understand its history. The practice began in the 1820s, when white entertainers in theatre would paint their faces with shoe polish to characterize and mock black men and women. These performances characterized blacks as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, and prone to thievery and cowardice. It was a means to dehumanize and entire race of people. These performance persisted up until about the 1920’s. Now, we see instances where individuals or groups use blackface as part of halloween costumes or to mock or make fun of African Americans even though they’re only making themselves look stupid. I think deep down anyone who sees this, even without knowing its background, can feel that it is wrong, but now that you have a very brief understanding of its history you cannot claim ignorance. It is not ever something to be joked about and I hope all of you do not contribute to the attention this incident is receiving because stupidity does not deserve your energy.

I let Danielle read through my statement and she said she felt like we shouldn't address it unless it comes up in class. Sometimes I agree with the method of not giving something attention, but I felt like this instance, not giving it attention would communicate to our students that it is something to sweep under the rug. I kept urging her that this was the right thing to do and she told me she just felt uncomfortable. I told her I felt uncomfortable too, but uncomfortable things need to be addressed too. So she let me. I was like nauseous the whole time I was speaking because I"m obviously not an expert and I didn't want to say anything wrong, but I think the kids understood the gravity of what I was talking about and it sunk in with them. Mr. Urban had also led into my discussion with an announcement over the PA system and his message was very well articulated and hit the students as well. I'm interested to see what they will do when the investigation is concluded, if they'll address the student body again.

So super heavy day, but honestly, all the kids were great the rest of the day and there weren't any horrific incidents in reaction to this stupid stunt.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6TH

Another busy day! Students are starting to turn in projects and I'm realizing that there are some gaps between my original project objectives and the end assessment. For one, I haven't included a part in the self-assessment that asks them to explain how their spirit pod reflects their identity. I think we got a little away from that concept, but they still created great products. Another gap is that one of the objectives was to consider how the object would be displayed, so while they did a good job considering this in their final photos, I don't have an explicit check box on the rubric that assesses their display of the object. Other than that, I feel like it is a solid assessment.

Patterns I'm noticing in the self-assessment is that a lot of students are commenting on how their final product doesn't look like their original sketch and taking points off for that. From this information, I know that I didn't explain thumbnail sketches well enough to them and the idea that these sketches are for them to explore ideas and things change, new ideas pop up during the creation of your project, and your project doesn't have to look anything like the original sketch. So I'm going to make sure I address that in the next project's conceptualization stage.

A lot of other fun things, but I'll leave it at that today!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH

Today was not super great. I had a tense time with 7th period. Everyone is at different stages now and I am okay with them working on other school work, as long as they've turned in everything I needed. So during 7th I notice a lot of them are talking and hanging out with their friends so I go on Canvas to check and see if they've finished their work. One by one, I called them out and told them to go back to their seats to work. Once they're all working, I get several questions about the assignments, all things I KNOW I have gone over, and I just get so cranky and upset. They are making me into someone I am not because I have to drag them by their fingernails to get anything done. So at the end of class I sat down and asked them to put everything away and listen to me. I talked frankly with them and said that they were making me a teacher and person that I am not. I said I could literally care less if they LOVE the art project or LOVE the assignment. I'm more interested them taking initiative, doing what is asked of them to their best ability and putting forth effort. You shouldn't be skating by doing the bare minimum in life. I think that they heard me, but I do think that I will still have to hold them to the line and just accept the fact that they will need more management from me. It really stunk.

At this point in student teaching I feel out of control. I don't feel like things that worked out in my head are working out when actually applied. And that is all fine because I know this is an opportunity for me to learn, but I'm such a type A personality that I don't like not perfecting everything right off the bat.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH

Since yesterday was sort of a bad day and I the kiddos were finishing up their projects still, I decided to take somewhat of a personal day. Instead of walking around the class as I normally do, I sat at my desk and worked on a watercolor painting while students worked. I found it cleansing and I also hadn't done much personal art in a while, so it was nice to get those creative juices flowing again. Definitely feeling better!