Tuesday
Woke up, brewed my coffee, and tried to generate some positive vibes for the day. I’d be spending the morning talking about slavery, segregation, and the KKK with my students. They’re usually the most difficult groups, so I really wasn’t sure how it would go. I decided that I would make a point of recording the names of students that misbehaved, hoping to get some more support from the teacher.
The students were incredibly excited to learn that we had a new room. They had a thousand questions about it! I did my best to answer before launching into the lesson. For the most part, these students followed along and asked good questions. I had to write down three names in the first group. When I went to talk with the teacher, she was dismissive. She told me they explained that they were just asking for a tissue and there was no real problem. I disagreed and said they were repeatedly warned to stop having side conversations and were really rude throughout class. The professor shrugged and said she’d do something if there was a problem the next week.
The second class was much more involved, as usual. They were really interested in segregation and had a lot of questions. They were shocked that racism was so prevalent in the US. Students also were really curious about police brutality. We spent a lot of time talking about that together. I showed them a video of the Birmingham march where Bull Conner sic’d his dogs on the protesters. They were horrified. I connected the police violence of the past to the police violence they heard about this summer. They’re all very familiar with George Floyd and the BLM movement. We traced the history of police brutality in the US from slavery to today. It was an effective class period.
At the break, I got to chat with the music teacher. He watched my lesson on Monday with the 3ème about jazz and country music from the hallway. We talked a bit about musical genres and cultural exchange. I learned that French students don’t learn how to play instruments in music class. They can read music and are taught about different types of music, but students don’t learn to play unless they attend a specialized art school.
My final class was rough. They failed to grasp the seriousness of the lesson. Some students thought that the KKK was a group of clowns. A few of them did seem to understand segregation and we did have a chance to chat about that for a bit. I had to write down several names from this class. They too, complained to their teacher and claimed they had done nothing to deserve their name being written down. I explained to her that they too interrupted me several times, removed their masks, and were generally disrespectful. She told me that she’d consider doing something next week if there was a problem again. Ugh!!
I got out of there as fast as I could. I was so frustrated! I marched down to the Mairie and hopped on the bus home. The trip took about an hour. I collapsed and slept for a few hours when I got home. I felt completely demoralized.
I made a chickpea and avocado curry for dinner. I felt a lot better after having a chance to talk with my friends on the phone. We shared that we all felt really nervous regarding the inauguration. None of us were sure if there was going to be violence at the Capitol. News had been coming out throughout the day about vetting of National Guard troops stationed in DC. It seems that at least 12 soldiers were removed from their posts for their connections to white supremacy/ hate groups.
Mary-Est-En-France 