Conclave and Recycled Journals

The Freshmen had binder checks today. Grant and Shanice were the only kids who showed up. I think the SAMI kids aren't coming because they are already on Winter Break. I did tell them we had class this week.

Anyway, we did Conclave. We talked about grades, Homecoming and Wrestling.

The freshmen also wrote some answers to some questions to help them relate what we are reading about the Tacoma Achievement Gap to their own lives. They answered the following questions:

TEACHER QUALITY
Write about a time when you feel you learned more because of your teacher.

Write about a time when you feel you didn’t learn as much as you could have because of your teacher.


2. CULTURAL COMPETENCY
Write about a time when a teacher or staff member at school did or said something racist either purposefully or out of ignorance.

OR

Write about a time when you could relate to what was being taught because it included your culture or something that is unique about you. Did it help you learn the material better because you could relate to it?

The sophomores didn't get to the questions above. We just did Conclave. They are a tough crowd. I am really having to be firm with them in their constant yacking. Last time we had Conclave I had to cut class short because they were being so mean to each other. Today they were mean again! Instead of stopping class I just told them why what they had said was so mean. The kids have to learn empathy and they have to learn how to behave in a college classroom.