I actually missed two days in a row.  That is historical.  I do not think I ever missed two days in a row at any job.  I even missed going out last night.  Damn, this germ is rough.  Now the phlegm is loose, but not coming up.  That means no cool pictures to post.  Poop.

On the bright side, I have taken the time to catch up on reading and watching videos.  I also found a journal for the NAEA's Caucus on Social Theory in Education.  I am in the middle of reading an article form the Failure issue.  The article is about the failure to be a "good American."  This should be a good read.  I know I have tackled the saying the pledge issue before, so I will not go into that.  This piece is written by a woman who starts off the article with an anecdote form the age of five.  A boy insults her with various derogatory words for the Chinese and then proceeds to spit on her.  I am already hooked.

The caucus report that directed me to this journal mentioned how there can be art in different things we do in the classroom.  The authour writes about a class discussion.  He worries about the lack of "art" in class that day.  Someone tells him that maybe the discussion was the art.  Damn!  Validation for my tangents!  So often, I get off on a topic prompted by anything in the class.  I link it to photography in some way.  But I am fully aware of the fact that a passerby might think I am not teaching let alone teaching the subject I am paid to teach.

Here's my thinking...

I see art making as communication.  I have noticed a lack of ability to communicate.  This is in my students and my peers.  Too many of the people I have daily encounters with can put a pithy limited character comment online or make a side remark.  But can they have a sustained conversation?  On a topic of their choosing or not of their choosing?  Can they engage in discourse with someone who does not agree with them?  Are they losing the ability to hear, listen, absorb?  If so, how can they possibly know how to communicate through their art?  How can they comprehend someone else's message?  How can they learn form that message?

I do not agree with a lot of what others say or believe.  But I would be deceiving myself if I said I did not learn from them.  I learn the reasons for their beliefs.  I learn how life experiences, ignorance, hatred, or indoctrination formed their ways of thinking.  Some are understandable.  Some are deplorable.  But I took the time to listen.  If we do not listen, how can we take part in a discussion?  I don't think we can enter into a discussion with the aim to change one's beliefs.  But we can do our best to have that person understand our views and how we came to hold those views.  If I don't take the time to model that behaviour in my class, as the teacher, I am not helping my kids.  In other classes, the demand to reach some arbitrary score on a test limits those teachers from this kind of discourse.  I will continue to let my classes end up in 15 minute discussions.

I will occasionally let my students know the methods behind this.  They then understand that they did not succeed in derailing me from teaching, but I took advantage of an opportunity to hold a different kind of lesson.   Now I am working on trying to figure out a way to get this kind of discussion with my peers.  Some of them are so much more closed minded.  I offered an offline discussion to one recently.  He declined.  Perhaps I need to sweeten the offer with baked goods and coffee.  Political discussion at Casa Vasa.  All denominations welcome.  No screaming.  No name calling.  Ha!