My Classroom is a Monarchy!

This is the fist time in my teaching career that I haven't taught black students or had the flexibility to design my own curriculum.  Consequently, this has also been the first year that I haven't taught novels by people of color (or with female protagonists for that matter).  I miss teaching The Bluest Eye,  but this new environment has forced me to learn and grow.

I definitely miss this class!

I believe that the purpose of education is, in part, to develop empathy by exposing students to the inner worlds of others.  Even if I am not going to be able to do that through Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Huston, or Sherman Alexie, I am determined to work social justice into my curriculum somewhere!

All private schools talk the talk about the importance of diversity, and this year the theme at my school has been socio-economic diversity.  That is my way in! And here's why it is important:

One day early in the school year the 6th graders and I were discussing the gubernatorial elections and looking at various social and political issues.  It surprised me how economically conservative, yet socially liberal many of my 6th graders were (students at The Storefront tended to be the opposite).  I ended up being disturbed by the conversation because some of my students' opinions about why people are poor would make the staunchest conservatives cringe (they are lazy, they didn't take advantage of their education, they have too many children, they waste money, etc.)  It is disconcerting to hear such stringent political views from kids who are still carrying baby fat.  Here is an except from one of our conversations:

Fabulously Dressed Teacher: Why are people poor?
Student: Because they don't work hard and didn't do well in school.
Fabulously Dressed Teacher: Well, you didn't do your homework today; does that mean you are going to be poor?
Student:  No way, my family is rich.

Obviously, this is me.

There was clearly a disconnect.

In response I decided to show them the documentary The Queen of Versailles, which is about the family of David and Victoria Siegel.  The start of the film shows the family lavishing in the excess provided by their billionaire lifestyle, but then slowly deteriorating as the economy does.  Students love this documentary because it's really character driven and it unfolds like a Greek tragedy.   I love it because it illustrates how all of the stereotypes that they associate with the poor apply directly to this family as well.

Photo: Magnolia Pictures

Students get excited about researching "where are they now" stories about characters in documentaries and this film provides lot of opportunity to do so.  The Siegels are now suing the filmmakers for defamation and have been attempting to do damage control with a reality show.

Photo: New York Times

In Social Studies we have been learning about different forms of government (monarchy, oligarchy, tyranny) and the development of democracy in Ancient Greece.  We have also looked at the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy.

This week I am going to have my students read the following article.  Afterwards, students will:

1.  Define irony (review of a concept from English class)
2.  Identify two examples of irony in this article
(Possible answers: Siegel said that he would be forced to lay off workers if Obama was elected, but has ended up richer than ever.  Siegel criticizes a system that "gives to the unproductive" when that statement describes many of the members of his household.)
3.  Describe two things that Seigel has done in order to influence the votes of his 8000 employees.
(Possible answers: Siegel put anti-Gore articles in the paychecks of his workers.  Seigel told workers that Obama's election would force him to fire workers.)
4. Discuss the following questions:
-Do Seigal's actions go against the ideals of democracy?
-If  Seigel's company, Westgate Resorts, was a country; what type of government would it be?  Why?
-If our classroom was a government, what type would it be?  What kind of crown would the queen wear?

Just kidding about the last question (kinda)

When Winter Break Seems a Lifetime Away

Teachers (and students) know that the week before Winter Break is the longest week known to man.   You're certain that you should be teaching, but when you ask your students to take out their grammar books they look at you like you're crazy and keep sucking on the candy canes that their other teacher gave them.

As a compromise you teach them about Direct Objects and then promise to show a documentary after their test.  You then spend the rest of the week watching The Queen of Versailles, smiling inwardly as they shake their flaxen heads at the ways of rich folk.  (This scenerio is entirely hypothetical, of course).

Thank goodness for documentaries.  Here is a list of other things that that are giving me life until this Friday:

1.  Chris Ofili: Night and Day 
Everything I know about art I learned from my parents or Tumblr.  I discovered Chris Ofili on the latter, and was pleased to learn that a retrospective of his work is currently on view at The New Museum.   After unsuccessfully begging Chloe to go with me, I gave up and decided to go on my own after work.  Ofili's painting are bold, funny, and thought provoking.  His work is full of contradiction: glitter and elephant dung share space on the canvas.

In one darkened room hand several canvases that look as if they have been painted black.  It is only after your eyes adjust and you look at the work from various angles that different images appear, and it feels like magic.  The photographs below don't do Ofili's work justice; go see Night and Day in person before the exhibit closes at the end of January.  Be sure to visit the fourth floor and be prepared to have your breath taken away.

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2. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Photo: theroot.com

As soon as I finished this book, I had a desire to turn back to the first page and start reading it all over again.  Boy, Snow, Bird is about Boy Novak, a woman who moves away from her abusive father and re-creates her life in a small New England town. The novel examines issues such as race, beauty, and vanity through the lens of fairy tales.  I will have to read Boy, Snow, Bird a few more times before I fully understand it, but how can you not fall in love with language like this: 

"I was new to champagne, but as soon as I tasted it, spark after golden spark, I thought, well, there's magic in this water."

Photo: Marc Burckhardt/nyt.com

3. D'Angelo's Black Messiah: The last time that D'Angelo had an album out I was a recent college graduate.  I stopped waiting for new material from him amid news stories about prostitution charges, drug arrests, and rehab visits.  It seemed as if he and Lauryn Hill had cracked under the pressure of their own genius.  But then Black Messiah came out of nowhere at precisely the right time. Apparently, D'Angelo moved up the release date for the album in response to the uprising following the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner.  Black Messiah is Protest Music. Rebel Music.

Although, I don't think that Black Messiah is quite as inspired as Voodoo, it feels good to hear music that doesn't have all of the flaws and emotion mechanized out of it.  My favorite songs are Betray My Heart and Sugah Daddy.

Available on iTunes

4. Henri Bendel:  Last year at this time I was being disrespected by a 14 year old girl who received no consequence (because we needed to 'understand her culture').  She then gave herself a shout-out during closing meeting for having a 'good day,' and finished off by doing a little dance and repeating the words "you mad" while administrators looked on sheepishly.  This year, I received my first gift from Henri Bendel.  Very simply, it is nice to be appreciated.

Because I'm worth it!