WORD OF THE DAY

"O.D."

When you get upset. When you feel too much. When you go too hard. You've OD'd. Yes, that's right, 'O.D.' = overdose, and in the Bronx vernacular, OD does not only refer to excessive consumption.

"Yo - miss - that's O.D." is what they say when I assign a lot of homework
"Woah. She O.D.'d," they muse when I get angry and yell at a student

If students teasing each other cross an unspoken line and make one another upset, their actions are summed up. They O.D.'d.

O.D. can be good too, if I make them brownies, they tell me that they are 'OD good'. If they have a crush on someone, they tease them about liking them O.D.. If they get a good grade they are O.D. happy, and for a vacation, they can be O.D. happy. It's the word that gives oomph to all of their moments.

Here's hoping that everyone O.D.s a little today - in a good way.

Lessons From History

Today we went to the Jewish Heritage Museum. We have been learning about the Holocaust in Social Studies - a subject which is always challenging for me to teach. Expectations can really make a fool of you, and it seems that every year I am so invested in the success of this unit that I find myself deeply let down by their reactions to it. This year I was determined not to be derailed by their insensitivity - it was my job to break down their preconceptions.

Always I have to start by explaining what it is to be Jewish. Eager to please, they shout out what they already think they know.

"You can tell if someone is Jewish just by looking at them. Right? They all have those long beards and the funny caps."
"No, you can tell from their noses!"

I used to find myself intimidated and upset when they would throw out stereotypes about Jewish people. They would say Anti-Semetic things casually, and I took it seriously and felt offended in my first years. Now I know that they are speaking from ignorance, and they are not truly Anti-semetic - they don't have the slightest clue what it means to be Jewish, they are just trying to get a laugh. These jokes make people laugh in the same way that their gay jokes make their friends laugh - the comments are less rooted in real feelings of hatred than in deep desire for approval.

After these stereotypes have been addressed, we get to slightly more serious questions.

"What is Jewish?"
"What's a synogogue?"
"What do they celebrate?"

This is a great segway into the Holocaust, because I find it important to first drive home the fact that the Jewish people in Europe were not newcomers - rather they had been living their lives and practicing their religion there for a great many years. We talk about the culture, and at the end, I feel glad that they seem to have a more respectful understanding of the Holocaust.

Then, I begin to take them through the Holocaust. They are absolutely mystified by Hitler - why did he promote the Aryan race if he wasn't blonde. Did he hate himself? Why did he hate himself so much? This is where they ask the most questions - who was this man? Why did he believe what he did? How did he come to power?

I am surprised by their focus on this part of the story - but then I remind myself that they are hearing it all for the first time. They aren't blinded by the atrocities - so they can focus on the causes. They can ask why it happened, without yet committing to 'never again'.

They are also familiar with racism - they understand the idea of 'other' and the feeling of being stereotyped. They have faced prejudice in their daily lives, and perhaps that makes them even more concerned with understanding where it all came from.

I use pictures and videos to show the way that Jewish people were removed from society, forced to wear a Star of David, and carry identification papers. We talk about the different ways that they were humiliated. In this unit, aside from learning the key vocabulary words, they don't take many notes - they don't have to. These are the stories that children can remember.

They always giggle inappropriately at the emaciated bodies. They always react with their typical swagger when told about what was done to people.

"Yo - no way. I'd knock that guy out."

Where once this type of talk defeated me, now I find myself willing to wait it out, and provide rebuttal.

"You aren't there alone, your family is there - their lives are at stake as well. And you have no weapons, no strength. And you don't know what will happen - more than anything else you have hope - so you always believe that if you can make it through a little while longer you may get out alive. To fight may mean to give up on that hope." We do talk of the resistance, and look at those who helped the Jewish people, but to me it is mainly important that they understand that it wasn't cowardice or weakness that kept them from fighting.

There are so many lessons that they can learn from this unit - repect, empathy, compassion. I was surprised this year that they focused on the statistic that I gave them - that 85% of the people in Europe were bystanders - only 15% were victims or perpetrators. They latched onto this, and it led to conversations that were, of course, highly relevant to middle schoolers.

We are in a school where bullying occurs, and everyone thinks that they are innocent - but no one is really innocent, no one is exempt. Once you know that it is happening, and you choose to do nothing, that makes you one of those bystanders. What culpability does bystander have?

The discussion led us to all of the things that people should have done - and of course, back to our own school, where it's easier every day to do nothing.

There are big enormous truths and lessons to be learned when we study history. There are promises that are made to keep history from repeating itself. But the way that the students truly connect and remember something that they have been taught, is by taking it to the micro-level. What does the holocaust say about bullying? And what percentage do we want to be a part of?

SWAG

For those of you who are not on the cutting edge of fashion, allow me to be your guide. It's called SWAG, and while it's not attractive, it's certainly hot right now.

Within the last couple of weeks, my school has been given a make-over, with students appearing in full SWAG gear at school.

The SWAG Staples are as follows:
1. Denim - lots of denim. Preferably a jacket and jeans, or perhaps a denim vest.
2. Patches and Buttons - your denim is not complete without a full array of decorative...well....swag. The patches and buttons that you put on your denim should be reflective of your personality, but definitely don't need to. No points are lost for a pretty patch that you can't really explain
3. Thick frame glasses. I think that a prerequisite for this is that you don;'t actually need glasses. The ones you wear should have thick plastic frames and big lenses, so that your face fades to the background behind them.
4. Bow Ties - big and goofy, almost clownish, these are on every girl's neck.

SWAG is apparently competitive, with gangs being created around New York that are based on SWAG, and lots of conflict between SWAG gangs. I suppose that like many trends, this provides opportunity for self expression. But the uniform of individuality that is conquering my school means that I am teaching to a sea of clowns, whose features are distorted behind thick plastic lenses. Maybe that's a part of the plan - who in middle school really wants to be seen?

Acting Thirsty

My old students are growing up, and come back to visit me after school. As was the case when they were here, they all continue to mature at varying paces. Some remain impassive to boys, while others are crazed by them. A conversation I had the other day made me laugh, and begin thinking about things that make me act thirsty.

"Are you still close with her?"
"Yea, I guess so. When she’s around boys she always acts so thirsty though."

Phrase of the Day

Catch a Feeling

I love the slang in the Bronx - my students always say things that so perfectly convey a feeling or an idea by combining words that I never considered. Today, I talked to one of them:

"How’s Joy?"
"She’s good – she has a boyfriend but she won’t let me meet him."
"Why not?"
"I don’t know. I guess she’s afraid that he’ll catch a feeling for me."