Period 1: Genocide in Rwanda, Day 4 - Class Recap

Time Magazine cover from August 1, 1994
Dear students,

To begin, I am very glad that today seemed to be entirely focused. I think that we now realize the magnitude of the task that we have in front of us. I will talk about how everything went below, but I did want to thank you up front for buying back in to the idea of actually doing something about this horrible conflict in Rwanda. Again, I am ALWAYS here to answer questions or help you out in any way I possibly can.

Proceeding on to the day:

Soundtrack: "Love Language" by Talib Kweli and Hi Tek. I am not going to link to the lyrics for all the reasons that we discussed in class - which I will go over below. Other than the obvious parallel to the lesson on language, I chose this song because it talks about all the different ways of saying love around the world. Remember: rap and hip-hop may be plenty of things, but it is not devoid of meaning. Be careful to actually think about what you are listening to - it will amaze you!

Agenda 12/11/08
Turning in HW
PEER REVIEW/Develop Group Speeches
Hip-Hop Language
Stages of Genocide
Hutu Ten Commandments

Homework: Finalize group speeches! Remember dress clothes! Check blog and ask questions if needed! (I think I was pretty excited about all of this when I wrote my lesson plan...)

Turning in HW: Okay, the tough thing up front. First off, I asked everyone to read what I had written back to you on your letters to me and the privilege in-class writing assignment from last class. I read everything that you write. What you write REALLY matters to me, so you can expect it back and thoroughly read by the next class after you do something (most of the time).

After talking about what I had read in the letters to me (hip hop/dancing/architects/sports/crowded halls), I tried to address each one and tell you that whatever you write to me as being important to you, I will attempt to find some way to integrate into class.

I'm not really sure how to approach writing about my talk about the letter to me/speech turn in rate, so I am just going to let you read EXACTLY what I wrote on my lesson plan for that little bit:

Now, about the percentage of the class that turned in a speech: this is where most teachers would probably yell at you. I will not. But let me be very clear, because I see this as partly my fault for not expressing my expectations strongly enough. Anything less than 100% of the class turning in an assignment is simply unacceptable to me. There are EIGHT students in this class that still have not turned in a one page letter to me about yourself that I assigned over a week ago and less than HALF (15 out of 32) turned in the speech that you were all aware would be a really big deal. Unacceptable. This may not be the message you think you are sending, but this is exactly what it tells me: you don’t care. You don’t care about me being the new teacher and having a fresh start to impress, you don’t care about Africa or Rwanda (or at least enough to do anything about it), and you don’t care about your grade.

Well, I do care. I care about every single one of you in this classroom. I go home and write ridiculously long blog entries in my free time to try and help you guys out. Every single one of you that has contacted me by either e-mail or on the blog knows that I get back to you immediately. I care deeply about what I am teaching and why I am teaching it. You should have known that from the very first day. And most of all, I want you to succeed in here. So, to make sure I get speeches from those who have not turned in speeches to me, unless you turn in a copy to me by tomorrow, you will not be allowed to participate in the group speech on Monday, which is worth an ENORMOUS amount of your grade, and your group will be forced to fill the five minutes they have to speak without you and will be graded based on the entire group. Do not let them down, do not let me down, and do not let Rwanda down. They need you. I need you. The world needs you. Let's get to work.

If you got the impression that I was yelling at the class, I apologize. If you think that I have suddenly turned into a terrible teacher, I apologize. However, I suspect that everyone in the class realized that I am not kidding around when I say that I need 100% participation, and there are multiple reasons why this is so. As I said: I'm not angry at all - I'm frustrated and disappointed. It was really an embarrassment to sit down with my supervisor from Lewis and Clark (who you knew was coming, too) after last class and attempt to explain why only 50% of the class turned in this assignment. We all have to work harder - which I think we did for the rest of class, so thank you. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please e-mail me or come see me in person. Thanks.

PEER REVIEW/Group Speech Development: I gave you all a handout of the final group speech assignment, which can be downloaded here:

The Final Group Speech to the United Nations

This is an incredibly important assignment for many reasons, which you all know. If you have ANY questions, contact me or leave a comment. There can be no excuses about this one.

During this time, which lasted all the way until 8:45, I tried to go around and visit with each group, though I know that it was hard to really get much feedback from me. Basically, the individual speeches that WERE handed in were great - there are a few facts out of place and some students needed to remember that you are pretending that the day is April 24th, 1994 - not afterwards, when we know everything about the genocide. Just be sure to really go back over everything and make sure that what you are saying makes sense! Really go for that one point that you will be talking about!

Thank you for filling out the sign-up sheet so I know who will be doing what part and the plan for action to get it done by Monday. It looks to me like you guys are really committed to getting this done, which I am very happy to see.

Please e-mail me with ANY questions about anything related to this at any time this weekend.

I think we are clear on what my expectations for Monday. Please do not disappoint me - you are all SO CAPABLE of being absolutely amazing at this and you know how excited I get about it.

Hip-Hop Language: We brought the class back together and I asked you to break down the reasons why you did and did not like hip-hop/rap. I believe some of the reasons for the PRO column were: lyrics, beat, and meaning. The big CON was: degrading to women/African Americans.

We then went on to look at the lyrics of the song that I played as you entered the room, "Love Language" by Talib Kweli. I pointed out that his way of describing love was not only a little funny, but also really meaningful. However, when I scrolled down on the screen, we saw some use of the "n" and "b" word. The reason that I wanted to expressly point this out and have this a part of the class is because I think it is incredibly important to know what the words people say actually mean. The "b" word comes from the name for a female dog. I mean, how much closer to we really want to get to calling people "cockroaches" (as they did in the Rwandan genocide) or "vermin" (in the Holocaust)?

This lead into talking about the Eight Stages of Genocide:
1) Classification.
2) Symbolization.
3) Dehumanization. (directly related to talking about being careful what words we use)
4) Organization.
5) Polarization.
6) Preparation.
7) Extermination. (because the humans being killed are seen to be not real people)
8) Denial.

These are all explored in much greater detail here: Genocide Watch - The Eight Stages of Genocide. Remember to think about these, as well as the seven pillars of colonialism, when filling out your colonialism to genocide flow chart for next Wednesday!

Hutu Ten Commandments: I didn't get as much time as I would have liked to go through these (though I'm fine with that, because the group work was great), but I think the point was clear. Here they are again for those that wanted a closer look: Kangura: The 'Hutu Ten Commandments' This was basically just to show you another way that you might be able to convince the United Nations that a genocide was being organized WAY earlier than 1994, because this originally appeared in 1990.

So in addition to the definition of genocide, as well as the impact of colonialism in Rwanda, you have: Race. Privilege. Eugenics (the fake science of race). Language. Propaganda. All of these could be potential reasons (and I am SURE that there have been others you can think about) to try and convince the United Nations to do something in your speech on Monday.

The homework you all know about. Again, no excuses from either side this time. This is a really big deal and you know that I really care about it. Please don't let me down.

A few further notes: I will post another, short, blog this weekend as a reminder about the speech on Monday. In the meantime, remember to comment here, call, e-mail -do whatever you possibly can to try and get your group members involved.

I have also added a LINKS sidebar to the blog. It is pretty small for right now, but I may in the future add relevant links to things we are studying. You may find that if you really start paying attention to the news, you will know a whole lot, very quickly.

Finally, I am making the main page of the blog only have 3 posts - otherwise, it is just getting WAY too long to scroll through. You can always click on the Archive links on the side to access old posts like the Welcome blog, which has an insane amount of comments - thanks!

GO GET 'EM CLASS! YOU CAN DO THIS! GOOD LUCK! :-)