jumpingfish

1. A Question

A video plays on the monitor at the front of the classroom. In it, Nikki Haley is on stage at a town hall meeting. An audience member asks, “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?”

We watch the video for a few minutes. Then I turn to the class.

“Painful isn’t it?”

No one speaks.

“So what just happened?”

And from that question, we begin to incrementally work into the deeper issues, beginning with what a Town Hall is, and why a candidate might want to field questions from audience members. The students talk about what they noticed. And they begin to discuss what they wonder.

The discussion is civil, but before long time is almost up.

2. An Assignment

I hand out a sheet of paper.

“Here is an assignment. You are going to gather some historical facts. You will collect details on what happened when. Then you will focus on South Carolina and the US Constitution. It’s all related to part of what that man in the audience asked.

“Here are the details.” I point to the monitor.

• Which state was the first to secede from the Union? When did that happen? Which states quickly seceded to form the Confederate States of America? Which states came later?
• On 03 January 1861, Delaware rejected secession and remained in the Union. Slavery was legal in Delaware. Research these facts and briefly explain what was going on. 
• On 09 February 1861, a Tennessee referendum to convene a convention to secede from the Union failed, presumably rejecting secession. But by 06 May, public opinion had evidently changed, and Tennessee seceded. Research the importance of Middle Tennessee in this change, and briefly explain what was going on. Make sure to discuss the role slavery played.
• There have been reports (in the press? online?) that the first sentence of the South Carolina ordinance seceding from the Union refers to slavery. Here is that document. Does the first sentence refer to slavery? Does the document explain the rationale for secession? 
• Here is another document which perhaps is what the reports were referring to. What is the purpose of this document? Its first sentence does indeed refer to slavery. What is the gist of that reference? 
• The above document refers to Article 4 of the US Constitution. Briefly explain what part of Article 4 is relevant and South Carolina’s complaint with regard to that clause. Make sure to discuss how slavery is related to this complaint.
• Assemble a timeline of the following events, including a title for each event, a brief description, and the date of the event: (a) the passage of South Carolina’s ordinance of secession, (b) Lincoln’s election, (c) the passage of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States, (d) the beginning of the US Civil War, and (e) passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.
• Finally, briefly explain whether or not you think that the Thirteenth Amendment closed the question on slavery in the United States. This is a big question. I am just looking for a brief outline of your thinking, backed up by some facts.

3. Wait

Oh wait. This is Algebra 2. What was I thinking? Your next assignment is this worksheet on polynomial division. 

As they were reviewing for the final, a student walked up and quietly asked a question.

“Well,” I began to answer. “Do you remember when we talked about matrix multiplication?” 

“Kinda,” she said, drawing it out in the way they do when they in fact don’t remember.

“There was a problem about four women runners and how many points they earned.”

“And you made sound effects.”

“I did,” I said.

I reached to the whiteboard and acted as if I were removing a row from a matrix (making a creaking “errrrhhhkkk”), turning it (making a hooting “wooop”), and lining it up against an imagined vector (making a tongue-popping percussive sound).

“That was it,” she said.

The rest of the answer to her question was relatively easy.

“Are you going to decorate your door, Mr. Hasan?” a student asks.

“Well, I’ve kinda started.”

“That’s it? That red paper? I thought someone was helping you.”

“They’re not finished.”

“Judging is Friday, Mr. Hasan. You want us to help?”

Easy question to answer.

And so they take the snowflakes cut out from handed-in worksheets. And they take the elf with my face superimposed. And they ask for tape and scissors and pens and more butcher paper (because the red paper on the door was ragged at the bottom and needed to be neatened up).

They’re in the hall as I write. I see movement under the door. And periodically I hear the sound of packing tape being pulled from the roll. 

“We’re going to redo the tape at the top,” they say. 

“Yeah, the top of the door is dusty, so the tape didn’t stick. If you want, you could…”

“Mr. Hasan,” Sonya says peering around the door with a smile to reassure me. “We got this,”

And so they did.

Note #1

A colleague sent me a note the other day. A student aide knocked on my door and held out a sheet of paper. The aide said that she had asked him to deliver it. I thanked him, set the paper aside, and continued with cubic functions. 

I looked at the note later. It was an Amazon receipt for clear plastic spoons with a sticky note attached. It was signed … uniquely.

Now, it is true that this colleague and I get along well. She and I really love our kids. We like foreign languages. We have both been recognized as good teachers. But evidently I didn’t realize the depth of our relationship. 

Note #2

In response to her note, I sent an email back letting her know that her secret was out: that the gift of clear plastic spoons was unexpected but … appreciated. And I attached a photo of the receipt with the sticky note attached.

Moments later a horrified reply arrived in my inbox.

It seems that the receipt was intended for the school secretary and that the sticky note was for her not me. “Oh Mylanta,” she wrote. “What will Trudy think?” 

A Birthday Party

Last night this colleague had a birthday party — a big one, a multiple of 10. She saw me when I arrived and graciously came over to thank me for coming.

“I have a card for you,” I said.

She looked at me suspiciously. “You didn’t…” 

“Well, open it,” I said.

There was a drawing of a cake on the cover. A cake with many candles — a multiple of 10 and then some. And on the inside there was a hoard of celebrating stick figures lined along the bottom of the paper. They had their hands in the air. Some were jumping. Some were dancing.

In the middle of the card there was a brief note: “We all ❤ you!” The heart was prominent. The emphasis was on all.

The party was really fun. Sadly, it appears I won’t be getting clear plastic spoons this year.

#silentsunday