How cake became a teachable moment, 2001-10-29, 12:09 p.m.
Well, I had a teachable moment today that I have to write about. As I've mentioned, my class has been bringing me cakes. But today, I had to start 'The Pearl'. When I went in, there was a cake. BUT, the class still had to start. So I decided, upon the suggestion of a teacher, to get them to discuss their 'songs of the family' - their every day music in life. I got my class in a circle and 'played' the classical piece 3'17''. It's a modern classical composition where the performer sits down at the piano and sits for 3 minutes, 17 seconds. They play nothing. I did that (minus the piano) and they were confused. But they agreed that there is a sound to the classroom. A song, shall we say. I then tried to get them to discuss the sounds of their saturday mornings. All of this however, wasn't going very well. They couldn't concentrate. See... they'd brought me a cake - something that usually isn't in their classroom lives. So... I switched gears. I asked how their classes usually were - discussing the 'song of the classroom' and what that means and what they heard. But how it's an ordinary class, same sounds, same everything. Like Kino, a normal routine, normal life. Then, in comes 'the pearl' - or in this case, 'the cake'. And everything changes. People who normally concentrate, can't. Those who sit and are polite grab at cake, wanting the first piece. Etc. They have to think about that and how it relates to the pearl. Tommorrow they'll write a bit about it, after a little more discussion (as many have not read really far - I'll relate it to something before they start). But I'm very proud of it. And I have cake. Damm I'm going to be huger very soon if they keep this up!!
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