Monthly Archives: February 2010
The Schoolyard Foodie: Squash is Camote–Dual Language Immersion in the Kitchen
Dave Chappelle just performed 21 straight shows in Oakland to an incredibly diverse group of people. Some nights he performed 5 hours straight without a break. And you know what he said he wanted to be when he was growing up—A TEACHER! He is of course a teacher in another sense. He helps to relieve us of the multi-cultural boundaries that exist between us.
Which brings me to the importance of multi-cultural education in schools. Youth need to identify themselves with where they came from and they also need to learn and appreciate that about others.
Regardless of where you are on the planet, food is an excellent tool for breaking down social and cultural barriers. Dave Chapelle makes a pretty good living hammering away at our insecurities around race and gender. If you visit a school cooking class, you will see that it too is an excellent space for doing the same. Continue reading
Filed under Classroom Reflections, The Schoolyard Foodie
Should high school students read ‘Push’?
Every year I’ve got a handful of students (girls mostly) who fight over the two or three copies of Sapphire’s ‘Push’ in my classroom library. If you don’t know about ‘Push’—and, honestly, at this point, given the huge success of ‘Precious,’ the Oscar nominated film version, this means either you’ve given up on American cinema entirely, or you just don’t care ‘cause it’s not in 3D—it’s basically the antithesis of that other fought-over bestseller and fountain of teenage readership, ‘Twilight.’ Only in ‘Push,’ the werewolves are real ones.
With regards to my students reading this book, my position until very recently has been, “Yeah—I know it has some explicit subject matter, but, hey, at least they’re reading, right?” Continue reading
Filed under Essays, Movie Reviews
Five Things I Love About Teaching
No doubt about it—this is the toughest stretch of the year. Which is why I thought it would do (me) some good to look deep into my cold teacher heart and reaffirm some of the things I love about this cruel, cruel job. Continue reading
Filed under Essays
