Show and Tell, Tuesday, Period Two

[myownface]

Funny thing about teaching a no-brainer class? Sparkle looked way more comfortable up at the front of the classroom this week than he did at the front of the classroom last semester. This one, hopefully, was going to be way less intimidating to teach than that one about 'urban survival.'

Which was not a hard bar to skip over, admittedly.

"Hey, guys," Sparkle said, offering people a little grin. "I'm Sparkle," yes, really, shut up, "and this class is basically my excuse to keep my teaching cred without putting out any real effort."

He gave the students in the room a grin. Maybe he was even joking! Who knew!

"Fortunately, it's easy marks for you guys, too, right? If you aren't from a place where 'show and tell' was a normal thing when you were growing up, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Presumably it's supposed to help people work on, like, public speaking or whatever, so sure, we're gonna go with that. You bring something in, show it off, and then tell the class a little bit about it. I'm not going to leave you at a total loss for what to bring in every week, hell, I'm gonna try to keep this fun, too, but this week we're gonna have to keep it pretty simple. Name, how you ended up in this class, and show off and tell the class about one random piece of clothing or item in your pockets."

He grinned.

"I'll start. I'm Sparkle, I already told you why I'm teaching this class, and..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue, kind of plastic-looking bill. "... And I guess I still have Canadian money on me because, hell if I even know. This is five bucks. Five bucks Canadian. It's pretty useless here, but it's got some old guy on the back and space dudes on the front? I think that's the Canadarm or whatever it's called. You can pass it around if you want while you guys do your introductions, just so long as I get it back when you're done. And go."

Library, Tuesday

[spell_chucker]

The library felt a little different to Khadgar today, though he couldn't put his finger on exactly why. The sensation was easy enough to ignore once he got settled in and began looking for books to read. Since he was taking so many cooking classes, he figured it might be good to look at some cookbooks for recipes to practice.

It didn't take long for him to realize that he really should have eaten more before looking at these things, because the pictures were kind of making him drool. He was definitely going to have to stop at the bakery before going to class.

[Open and OCD-free!]

Try Not to Die, Tuesday, May 9, 2017

[sith_happened]

Anakin's workshop met outside the Travelocity office, and he greeted them in his traditional Jedi robes. "Welcome to my class," he said. He pointed to a map of the world that the Travelocity gnomes had given him. "For those of you new to this planet, we are currently here--" he poked the map, "--in Maryland, in the continent of North America. Our travels today will take us to South America, down here--" another poke of the map. "To a nation called Peru. They speak a different language there called Spanish. If you happen to speak it, that will make your lives a little easier. If you don't, well, I hope you're fluent in hand gestures."

That aren't considered rude in Peru. "You will have to complete two tasks while in Peru, and then find me at the final stop. Don't get hurt, don't get arrested, don't get lost. Ready...go."

Resolving Conflict Without Violence, Wednesday First Period [Week 1]

[retired_hero]

Anne waited for the number of students in the room to match the number on the roster she'd been given, and then she waited a couple of additional minutes to allow for a bit of socializing before kicking off class. While she waited, she simply stood at the front of the room, calmly looking over the assembled teenagers. She looked pretty average, in fact, with her hair pulled back and her glasses, she might almost look like she had been a teacher forever. The only thing that might draw any attention was the fact that she was wearing a jacket despite the weather, and that the left sleeve hung empty at her side.

"Welcome," she eventually said, voice calm, but still subtly demanding attention. "This is Resolving Conflict Without Violence. As the name implies, we'll be examining non-violent approaches to dealing with conflict, and we'll primarily be doing that examination through practice. The first thing that many people will think of when they consider non-violent resolutions is debate, or discussion, and while we will be looking at a couple of alternative approaches, we will in fact be spending a lot of time in debate and discussion. If you don't have much experience with either of those, don't worry. It is practice that primarily concerns us, not necessarily performance."

"However, while I do value non-violent approaches to resolving conflicts, I will not claim that all conflicts can be solved using these approaches. It is the sad reality of things that violence is sometimes necessary." Her lips quirked in a slight smile and Anne sighed.

"That reality gives us an excellent topic for our first exercise as everyone has a different understanding regarding which situations can and can not be solved without resorting to violence. So, in order to get to know each of you better, I'd like you each to state your name, and describe either a situation that you know of that could not be solved without violence, or a situation that was resolved with violence but did not have to be."

She raised her right hand to her chest. "I shall go first. My name is Anne Mayer. An example of a situation which requires violence to resolve is one in which someone is actively engaging in a dangerous spree of violence themselves. Sometimes violence must be met with violence."

"And, as this is a class focused on discussion, please feel free to speak up at any time to ask for clarification, or suggest why someone's evaluation of the necessity of violence is in error." She fell silent, looking around the room in silent invitation for someone to do that with her own statement before nodding to a student to take their own turn.