I’m teaching summer school in San Francisco right now. I teach a language arts class, and a history class. Seems simple enough, right? On the first day, I was told that the language Arts class was a mix of incoming ninth, tenth and eleventh graders, and half of them don’t speak a lick of english. My history class is a mix of tenth grade Modern WOrld history and eleventh grade US History. This plans on being a challenge right from the start.

I’m not really one to complain, but how the hell does anyone expect me to do right by these students?

The Language Arts curriculum is actually scripted, so I didn’t need to worry so much about lesson plans. the history class however was going to take some real imagination.

I decided to teach the kids about the French, American, and Russian revolutions, along with a unit on why 9-11 happened and a unit on Globalization. This isn’t so bad after all.

The Langauge Arts class has this great kid, Edison, with cerebal palsey. He’s a hard worker, but damn, is he a pain in the ass. He just loves to talk any time he damn well wishes, gets in people’s faces, and even though he has an adult here to work with him every day, he insists on making me work with him. At times he walks out of the room, witout even asking me. That, along with the english langauge learners, makes for a very exciting time.

I’m really enjoying the history class though. I’m using the BBC’s “Power of Nightmares” doc on the history of terrorism in the 20th century as the basis of my 9-11 curriculum. I’ll use Cochabamba as a pretext for globalization, as well as showing “The Corporation”.

Gotta go. Class is starting.