Today was a fairly uneventful day. It being the second day of the semester and the students where still adjusting into their new grooves (or something like that). Since science is a year long class, nothing really changed. Well the student teacher took over.
Now, I can appreciate her teaching style. Maybe it is how her mind works, but she seems to be overly organized. Which, altogether is not a bad thing, it just regiments everything. Maybe I hate structure. It's probably that I hate other people's structures. But almost every time someone tries to interject a structure on myself, I want to Kool-Aid man the hell out it. Now, that's not to say that I do not respect some structures...just some of them I find redundant. I think many of my students feel this same way about the new student teacher. She also runs a tight ship. This is something I can respect, because while I usually opt for a more fun learning environment, I still run a tight ship. No funny business with Mr. Shaffer or you're put into a dingy behind the USS Edumacation. Its always interesting watching new teachers, I hope everything turns out okay for her.
What was interesting today was, today was the first day for my Batman tie clip. Not a big deal in itself, but while I have decided to maintain a much more formal attire within the classroom, I needed something that was both stylish and served a purpose. Evidently having a Batman tie clip instantly made me the most popular educator in both of my schools today. Many students where like "Oh wow Mr. Shaffer you're so cool" or like "I didn't know you like Batman.". Excluding the fact that Batman is a mentally deranged vigilante with billions of dollars and hangs around children, yes I do enjoy Batman. Its a symbol that all children know and understand (well context) thanks to the magical world of comic books. One of my students, the same one from last week that brought up the comment about how "Mexicans can't play hockey", asked why there aren't any Mexican superheroes. Ah ha! Today I came prepared.
I told him that within the Ultimate Universe, after Peter Parker is savagely beaten by Green Goblin, that Miles Morales (a half African-American, half Latino) takes up the mantel of Spider-man. Sligshot, is also one, recruited by the crazed one-eyed bandit Nick Furry to fight against the Skrull. Green Lantern...kind of (1994 version). I also mentioned Jackie Estacado from The Darkness. These are the only ones I could rattle off (sometimes you have to dust off the cob-weds of useless knowledge). But after doing a primary search I found many Latin/Hispanic/Spanish individuals within comics have been portrayed as villains. While Comics are still very much a white washed dominated media, they have come a long way. Its sad that it was once like this, but at least we are slowly moving forward. After searching, I forgot about one villain, which I had completely forgotten about, "El Papagayo" or The Parrot.
This is an old image of him, try to ignore the glaring stereotypes, he is much different in the modern comics. Anyway, I use this situation as an example. It can probably be applied to many different minority cultures. We within the Caucasian classification have a wide degree of heroes to look up to. Can this often be said for children from various other cultures? In the past, not really. But as we move forward we are becoming more culturally aware. We are realizing the importance of inclusion of all people and the removal of stereotypes. We just need to keep working towards it, because we have a long way to go.
Anyway, this was kind of an odd tangent to go off on. But I think its an important thing within education. This idea of cultural awareness. Maybe its something that we jam too much down our students throats or maybe not enough. But simply being aware and helping implement it into the classroom is really important.
These are just to show the difference and how far we've come.
(1977)
(2011)
Personal Note:
At my one school, they have replaced my chair with a stool. Why? I don't know. I am not a big fan of stools. I feel like when I sit on them, I am constantly at the ready. Like some kind of Educational Pigeon perched on a statue of John Dewy. I like chairs. I don't like to think about balancing when I sit down.
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