#hypeteach

[hypersolarsensei]

If you got it, flaunt it

Student: Ms. __, look. I told so many people not to come to school today and they didn’t. There’s only like 14 of us here today!

Me: (Thinks that most of her class is just on a field trip.) Oh really? You got them to do that? If that’s so, why didn’t you stay home just like them?

Student: I got my hair done! I had to show my hair off. You can’t get your hair done and not come to school.

[hypersolarsensei]

Story Time: Encouragement & ASL

(Adapted from one of my Facebook posts.)

So I started teaching myself American Sign Language  in order to try to communicate with one of my nonverbal students. This kid wouldn’t speak at school no matter what. Her mom was angry about this because apparently she was very vocal at home, but at school many people had never heard her voice. Anyway, I would teach myself some signs and then teach them to her and her group (so she wouldn’t be singled out). She seemed very visibly happy about the lessons the first day, and then she decided that she didn’t like me again and quit paying attention. She later was moved over to a different tutor. I was pretty bummed about this because I thought I finally had a breakthrough. I later noticed that her new tutor was keeping up with the signing for her and she started being a bit more vocal. I just chalked it up that some students learn better from others.

Fast forward to yesterday: The sign lessons stuck with another student in my group than it was originally intended for. This student told me about how she tried using ASL in a real life situation. She stumbled across a room full of deaf and hard-of-hearing children while visiting family at a hospital. She signed to one of the girls in the room, “hello, how are you.” The other girl was shocked and signed back, “Do you sign.” Unfortunately, my student was flustered and overwhelmed at the thought of trying to have a full conversation with her limited knowledge of ASL, and so instead of answering she just ran away. I wish she had stayed because it could have been a great learning opportunity for her, but this 11-year-old can be shy at times. I just hope that she will continue to nurture the seeds that I planted and go on to learn more ASL. I also plan to keep learning.

[hypersolarsensei]

“Sul sul”: An exploration of the Sims 4 as an educational tool for healthy relationships

5th grader: (comes in looking really sad and dejected.)

Me: What’s wrong?

5th: ...My sims got divorced.

Me: (laughs)

5th: It’s not funny! They got married, had two kids, and now she’s pregnant with the third. Her husband cheated on her with five different women and they’re divorced.

Me: (laughs hysterically)

[hypersolarsensei]

The gravity of September 11th is not lost on this generation

Student: (gets a fraction answer of 9/11 and excitedly points to it) Ms. __, OMG!

Me: Were you even alive?

[hypersolarsensei]

Student: Ms. __, you going somewhere after school today?

Me: No.

Student: Then why are you so dressed up today?

Me: ?! (Laughs) (internally) I wore this exact outfit last week. Also, why are you dragging me, child?!

[hypersolarsensei]

The things I do for student attention

Today I had to speak in a really bad British accent to get my students to pay attention to my lesson.

Also, I tried to hi-five one of my students and she swerved, then dabbed on me instead. I was honestly hurt and almost said some things.

[hypersolarsensei]

(originally posted on September 11, 2017)

Tutorial was centered around 9/11 and terrorism today, and my students were so confused...The oldest of them were born in 2004-2005 and so they didn't know much. One of my students kept asking if we were learning about 7/11 and argued with me for a while on the date.

We were told to excuse any student that felt uncomfortable. Never mind how we felt... Quite a few of the kids were uncaring and made light of the event. It was so interesting trying to teach and have a discussion around this subject with people who weren't even alive yet.

[hypersolarsensei]

Student’s 9/11 Letter | Teaching Empathy

On September 11th we had 9/11 and terrorist attack centered tutorial sessions. At the end of a 7th grade session, the students were asked to write a letter to a service worker or someone affected by the tragedy. Here is one kid’s shocking letter.

"Dear my boi Danny

Danny was good fam. How you been my guy. It's the 11th. I know you remember what happened that day. You lost your pet iguana and I liked that iguana. I miss it. I don't care what happened to you. I'm just sorry for the lizard. That lizard was my boi. I fed him crickets when you was sleep and I took him to my cookout and fried his tail but it grew back. He bit me 3 times that day but it's good. My boi Kevin in lizard heaven now so when you get this just know that I don't like you, I just liked the lizard."

I wasn’t very shocked by the letter when I realized that none of my students were even born yet. How do they sympathize or empathize with an event they couldn’t live through? I have sometimes struggled with how to handle lessons on this event because I was in second grade when it happened. I’m not the tutor of this student, but I kept asking myself about the type of conversation I would try to have with him had he been mine. I honestly don’t know. It reminded me of the news story where these children laughed at a drowning man instead of getting him help. They watched them die. People were furious that action wasn’t taken against the children, but I kept thinking of how to teach empathy to kids. How do you teach people who sometimes enjoy others’ suffering to care about someone besides themselves or someone close to them? I honestly don’t know, but I’ll keep looking for an answer.