Class Aim/Objective/Theme - on Wednesday, Rachel had them work on and think about ads and stereotypes. Thursday we did life mapping. Brief Summary including curriculum exercises you did - On Wednesday, they played the ad jingle game, where you break into two teams and battle with all the jingles they could tink of. She expanded it to include slogans, because they didn't know many jingles (interesting!). She showed them the ad alphabet and had them guess what brand is what, and then they talked about how we know all those ads and brands. They also talked about stereotypes. She had them write all the stereotypes about youth, and about women, and then write all the true things. She said it was a really good discussion. However, I didn't get much detail on it, because she was out on the Thursday when I was there.- On Thursday, we were doing life/body mapping, using the handout Selina faxed. I ran into some problems, as you'll see. What worked well? - Rachel said the Wednesday class went really well. Thursday did not go as well. Some of the students were into the life-mapping thing, and I think ultimately it will be a good project, but it was really hard for a bunch of reasons. Next Time I'd... - One problem I didn't anticipate was that they were basically ALL like "I can't draw." So that was a problem. I also brought in some magazines, for them to cut up and add to their life maps, but they just got distracted by them and wanted to look at the magazines. Another problem was that the sheets with the life mapping instructions are not very clear. I think we need to re-type them if we want to use them in other Rootz classes, because there is not a lot of room to write, and the directions of what you are supposed to do and what questions you are supposed to answer for which body part can be figured out, but isn't totally obvious. I think I had sort of forgotten that my students need things really, really spelled out for them. I am looking forward to seeing where Rachel got to with them this week.Class Concerns and QuestionsWe also having some serious discipline and focus problems in class, as I think they are throughout the school. Thursday's class was really hard because Rachel was out, and the presence of the sub made them kind of wild. Three students were trying to cut class, so the principal went to the gym to find them, and then when they came in, they were really disruptive with their entry. Another student Lamour was just so out of it, I literally could not make her take her head up off the desk. I don't really know what to do in that situation. She's usually really good. That said, she then got in a fight over the weekend outside of school, and she may be suspended from school. Rachel said that she and someone else jumped a girl over the weekend, and then the girl's cousin goes to another school at South Shore campus and they got into a fight in the cafeteria, which involved punching the principal. It's upsetting.The lack of computers is also an increasing problem. We have audio about school safety, but only two computers to edit it on. I really want to finish that piece before the end of the semester, so that we can have something in hand to lure everyone back in the second semester of the year. I'd like to talk to Rootz folks for ideas on how to get that piece done, and how to deal with the computer issue.Finally, I am worried about the end of the semester. I think some new kids want to join, and I think some of our students want to leave. There will be two school plays going on as electives during the spring semester, and they are really performance-oriented as a group. I don't know how to make sure people stay, besides making them, but that will just increase the discipline problems if they don't want to be there. I want to find ways to make radio really fun and sexy and cool, and find ways for it to have faster turnaround. I have really been struggling with having there be *product* from the class that they can feel good about...I'd like to talk to everyone about those concerns and issues. Thanks!