But not a cent for me.
Sigh.
So I am working three jobs. This seemed like such a great thing. Unfortunately, they only seem to make me more busy, but no richer. Its discouraging.
On another note, I figured out how to get control of my class today. I threatened to make them stand in the corner. I actually put one kid in it. Its amazing the amount of silence you can get by threatening to slightly embarrass kids these days. Standing in the corner. Who'd a thunk it?
We've also reached two of my favorite periods, so teaching has become much more enjoyable. We're going over the Civil War in US History, and the Crusades and the Medieval period in World History. Its a lot of fun. I was explaining to the highschoolers just how destructive the Civil War was for our nation. THey weren't getting it. SO I asked them what the problem was when a person breaks up with them. They were silent. I told them that when a person breaks up with you, the problem is they don't want to be with you...obviously. And this was the same problem with the states. So then I asked them what the Union had to do to fix the problem...they made jokes until I told them that the Union had to utterly devastate the South to win the war. Then they got quiet. It was really cool. And then I got to talk about what that has done to our country. How in over a hundred years those wounds haven't healed. How there are people today who mean it when they say the South shall rise again. It was one of the few times I've felt like they were really listening. And how even today, the rift that was torn into our nation is one that divides us and will probably continue to divide us for years to come.
Then in world history, I had a real challenge. They added a new student to my class today. This is perfectly fine...except I am talking about the crusades and the new student is a muslim in a predominately Christian group of middle school kids. So I had to explain the reasons for the crusades...how there was a real threat presented by the Muslim hordes before the West launched its Holy war...and I then had to explain my opinion that while tactically it was important for the West attack the Muslims and save Constantinople, that philosophically saying that "God Wills it" with regard to war is ultimately disasterous. It was a very interesting class. Next week I am going to divide them up and let them debate about it. We'll see what happens.
Good classes this week. Now I have some Primerica meetings and Starbucks to look forward too...I just wish that included a decent paycheck.
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1 comment:
Amazing the standing in the corner thing, huh? Another trick I've discovered is taking their time when they use up class time. For example, if they're too chatty for the lecture or activity, I stop and look at the clock. It takes them a little while to notice, but then they quiet down, because they know that I'm keeping track of the time they waste in class and will keep them for the same amount of time after class ends.
Oh, and I'm glad to hear that Yanky propaganda is still prevailing in California schools. :) It's always amazing to me how such a different war gets taught depending on where you are in the country. Makes it hard to figure out the truth!
And best of luck teaching the Crusades with a Muslim kid. I faced that challenge last year. It was... interesting. The best way I found (and the closest to the truth) is that in the Crusades, there are no good guys. There are lots of people who believed they were righteous, but they all ended up using evil means to their ends (and some of the ends on both sides were wicked too). What I really found was that the best way to deal with the Crusades, in a mixed-religious group of not, was to focus on the lives of the individuals involved and their motivations. That helped balance it out.
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