Day 13 - 4 Strikes
Banneker Day 7
Maybe it’s because it’s getting dark so much sooner, but our newspaper periods are way more reasonable now.
A good 10 kids were there again today (yes!) and we spent most of our time interviewing a senior about his tattoo for an article for this issue. We were practicing interviewing and playing off of each others questions with follow ups, not to mention taking good notes.
It was a great interview. This kid knows how to speak, and it was obvious he enjoyed the subject. He had a Native American band and dream catcher on his arm which he’d gotten after he realized his indian heritage and researched it. It was a great story - he now involves himself in the Native American community, going to drum circles and finding out more about the Cherokees. He also is very up front about how it gives him a “fourth strike” (he’s black, he’s first generation to go to college, he has dreads, and now he has a tattoo) but he says that he has three jobs and he’s not that average hood stereotype that people think of. Instead of seeing the meaning in the tattoo, people just see the tattoo. I had a great time listening to him talk about it, and I think the kids picked up a thing or two for their future interviews.
The poll data had so many variables that Mrs. Brinkman is having the statistics teacher, her fiancé, and her statistics students work on it as a project. Not bad, huh?
Because I’ll be home for Thanksgiving during our next meeting I’m going to be working on the layout for their spirit week photo spread on my computer. With any luck they can print their next issue before December.
And Day 14 is getting pushed. Mr. Spikes texted me at 7:55 when I had just finished doing my hair and was ready to walk out the door, telling me his car had broken down and because it was unlikely that they’d be able to get a sub on such short notice that I should just skip coming in today. I was honest to god bummed about it. I really like starting my Thursdays off with that class. I won’t see them for two weeks because of Thanksgiving.
