fist stick knife gun

i should be working on the lesson plan for tomorrow's class. my co-fellow and i are going to read a book called "my lost teeth" and then have the students make models of their own mouth by pasting in paper teeth into paper lips.  it will, of course, be differentiated for each student.  for the ones who can count, the teeth will be labeled different numbers that they have to put in order.  for the ones who can look at an image and verbally identify it, we hope to get them to point at the paper mouth (and then their own) and say "mouth," teeth and say "teeth," etc.  

the semi-irony is that today i was bit by one of my students...it was sort of inevitable, but damn, hurt nonetheless. and with the classroom not being my own, with few structures in place, i'm not quite sure what to do about it--i'm not sure that the teacher even knew it happened; i didn't want to make it even worse (he wound up biting someone higher up on the pecking order of the summer institute right after, so that sparked a lot of attention). 

Anyway! 

here is what geoffrey canada, founder of harlem children zone, has to say about school "safety." it's a clip from his memoir, Fist Stick Knife Gun, which i strongly, fervently, pleadingly recommend to anyone and everyone.. the stats are a bit old, but still ring true..

"Schools in America are dangerous places.  According to a 1991 study by the Centers for Disease Control, approximately one in twenty-five high school students carries a gun...It strikes me that while metal detectors may prevent a few guns from coming into the school, they have no real impact on the children's sense of safety.  Children simply get the message 'if you're going to shoot someone, it will not be in school. You must shoot them coming to school, or going home from school, but not in the school building."..School is too often the child's learning ground about the impotence of adult authority when it comes to violence." 

i think i can i think i can i....hmm.

it's been a while. we went away for the weekend---which strangely, even after only 4 days of PT, felt very needed.

but here are some thoughts, some others' words about teaching, will power and the unsafe school conditions that so many of our nation's children face each day.

the first: a poem that was sent out by the assistant principal of the school i'll be at next year, welcoming us newcomers.  in my household growing up, we were never allowed to say "can't."  i certainly feel that the sentiment of that is noble and good and all those things-- that if you believe in something, it is much more of a possibility to happen than if you didn't really believe. but i also strongly feel that a healthy dose of cynicism and doubt is healthy, real, and equitable-- what i mean is that saying "i can i can i can" can get me to some point, but after that, in america and in the world at large, it really is up to the conditions i've been born into to see how closely that "i can" matches what i actually do....i don't think that a positive mindset can typically  transcend the many obstacles that our stratified society puts up against those whom it has neglected... anyway! here is the happy poem, a happy thought: 

The Man Who Thinks He Can

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you’d like to win, but think you can’t,

It’s almost a cinch that you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost;

For out in the world we find

Success being with a fellow’s will;

It’s all in the state of mind.

 

If you think you are outclassed, you are;

You’ve got to think high to rise.

You’ve got to be sure of yourself

Before you can ever win a prize.

Life battles don’t always go to the stronger and faster man;

But soon or late, the one who wins

Is the man who thinks he can.

-Walter Wintle

(What about the woman? Does the same hold for her?)

Thoughts? 

(I'll post some more tomorrow.. this is getting lengthier than I thought it would be. Preview: Harlem Children Zone's Geoffrey Canada on how unsafe America's schools are, and a bit about his personal expedition to change them).