Bell, Lee Anne, et al. “Knowing Ourselves as Instructors.” The Critical Pedagogy Reader. Ed. Antonia Darder, et al. New York: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003.
1. To thine own self be true
As we engage our students in social justice, this reading has pointed out many relevant issues we must face head on as educators. A complete and thorough understanding of our-self will provide us with the tools needed to better serve and understand our audience and its current value system. Twenty five college faculty colleagues were anonymously interviewed for this article. Their candid comments give us a revealing look into their innermost feelings on the following issues dealing with, but not limited to self disclosure on class, race, sexual orientation, age, income, education, fears, strengths, physical handicaps, and geography. Their anonymous responses set the foundation for creating an approach to a more inclusive and respectful teaching environment, where both the instructor and student will feel positive about their experience.
In Knowing Ourselves as Instructors, the authors state that we too need to be willing to examine and deal honestly with our values, assumptions, and emotional reactions to oppression issues. The self-knowledge and self-awareness that we believe are desirable qualities in any teacher become crucial in social justice education. In most traditional classrooms, our particular social and cultural identities as teachers usually remain in the background, but in the social justice classroom where social identity is central to the content, the significance of who we are often takes center stage. With that in mind I find it is imperative that we as instructors have a clear and thorough understanding of who we are and the impact that information has on our teaching practices.
Question 1.
What are some examples of the major vulnerabilities associated with teaching social justice courses versus traditional courses? What are some alternatives to remedy this situation?
Ayers, William, et al. Teaching Toward Democracy – Educators as Agents of Change. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2010.
2. Classroom Under Construction
We are the architects of our classroom and it is our ultimate responsibility to create an environment equipped with the essential tools to insure our students embrace critical thinking and a free exchange of ideas. In this article no stone is left unturned in their quest to provide it readers with the key ingredients vital to creating and maintaining a successful place for learning. As an instructor in training for Marian Wright Edelmans' Freedom School, building our environment for learning was our number one activity in classroom preparation for our new students. This involved, but was not limited to personalization of our classroom appearance, curriculum, text, establishing and agreeing on behavioral guidelines, learning about our students goals, interests, needs, values, concerns, fears, religion, culture, etc. It is essential that our classes operate as a democracy, provide conflict resolution, a safe environment and most importantly, we have to be committed to our students and honest with our selves.
In Educators as Agents of Change, the authors state that it's up to you to decide how to build an environment that purposefully and intentionally displays what you value for yourself and for your students. Will it change and nurture the wide range of people who will actually pass through your classroom door? Will it be a space where students are visible and expected to use their minds well, to derive knowledge from information, to invest thought with courage, to connect consciousness to conduct, to tell their own stories, ask their questions, and pursue their own answers. The teacher's work embraces background, environment, setting, surround, position, situation, connection. And relationship. Teaching is tougher than learning in this essential respect: teaching requires the teacher to let learn.
Question 2.
Can you describe how you will build an environment in which critical thinking and a free exchange of ideas can be modeled, practiced, understood, debated and nourished?
- Optional Considerations:
- Knowing ourselves as Instructors: What actions can we take to help enable this self discovery?
- Awareness of our own social identities: How can we use this knowledge of self as a way to relate with students in both the privileged and or targeted groups.
- Confronting our own biases: How do we deal with the fear of being labels as racist, sexist, etc.
- Responding to Biased comments in the classroom: Maintaing a neutral position while promoting the discovery and utilization of new knowledge and ideas.
- Doubts and ambivalence about one' own competency: Accepting responsibility for your actions (pro & con) while creating a environment of mutual academic growth.
- Need for learner approval: How to create a situation where students are intrigued with a quest for more knowledge, and a desire to confirm their previous beliefs.
- Dealing with emotional intensity, and fear of losing control: Learning to accept emotional expression as a valid and valuable part of the learning process is vital.
- Personal disclosure and using our experience as example: Sharing our struggles with issues provides our students with opportunity to share and openly their true emotions.
MOEKO CRIDER, PART 1:
ReplyDeleteTony , thank you for your blog response. I think your questions about how we can create environments conducive to critical thinking, a free exchange of ideas, vulnerability, and self-reflection is at the heart of the readings this week. For me, what kept coming to mind were the complexities of balancing the classroom. How do we balance our self-reflections with those of our students in class? How do we balance the voices of agents and targets? People who are loud vs. people who are quiet? People who possess the skills to talk about their identities vs. people who are still trying to figure that out? How do we create an open and non-judgmental classroom environment for people who are in different places in locating themselves and their identities?
In Knowing Ourselves as Instructors, the authors purport that creating this open environment is in your own self-reflection as a teacher, in acknowledging your own learning processes. In many ways, I love this assertion — that learning is ongoing, that there is no “answer” to social justice, that you, as a teacher, make mistakes and have uncertainties. I think that because of the way our educational systems and hierarchies are set up, students look to teachers for answers; acknowledging our ongoing learning not only flips this model in a good way, but shows the complexities of trying to create a more just world.
I have some questions about how to go about creating this model though, that tie back to my previous questions about balance. I have been in classrooms where the class becomes about the professor. While I think sometimes it’s done from a place of self-reflection, I think other times the professor is coming from a place of feeling superior in his identity consciousness and intellect. I think when people come from this place, it makes it difficult to create meaningful dialogue between students and teachers, or even students and students. It’s further compounded by the fact that the existing educational hierarchy places greater importance on what the teacher has to say. When teachers talk about who they are and where they are from, they need to make sure that it doesn’t make it difficult for all students to participate. Sometimes it’s that a teacher uses a specific kind of language that not all students feel able to use (I think this is a concern especially at the collegiate level and in certain social justice circles). Sometimes it’s that a teacher very closely identifies with one community that not all students in the class are from (this happened to me a lot as a mixed race kid being raised by Shinto-Buddhists in a predominantly white, Christian town). I think it’s very, very important for teachers and students to find commonalities in their identities and communities, but I think the ongoing struggle is how to create a balance, to empower all students to feel as though they are able and important enough to participate in these dialogues. I loved the definition of social justice in The Mystery of Teaching; social justice is about access and equity, AND the full recognition of every human being (Ayers, et. al. 2010: 109). I think all the readings this week are concerned with this — in order to do the most important social justice work, you need to create spaces where people can feel vulnerable, where people feel recognized, and where people feel able to explore.
MOEKO CRIDER, PART 2:
DeleteI also had questions about what it would look like to model awareness of privilege or power as discussed in Knowing Ourselves as Instructors (Bell, et. al. 2003: 465). How does one do this without alienating those without such privileges or powers? It reminds me of this article (http://andrea366.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/the-problem-with-privilege-by-andrea-smith/) I read recently about how privilege walks or those types of activities are really about agents coming to terms with their privilege at the expense of the targets. On page 476 of Knowing Ourselves as Instructors, the teacher Sharon talks about the difficulty of creating this balance. How do you keep students of color from having to be the authorities on race? At the same time, how do you create an environment where people with greater privilege can talk about their identities, and not at the expense of others? How does one create the necessary tension without alienation? I loved this quote from WEB Du Bois in Teaching Toward Democracy, “To alienate people from their own judgments is to turn them into objects, to to prevent people from naming their situations, entanglements, and predicaments is a form of violence.” (Ayers, et. al. 2010: 30) I think this quote is especially important for us to reflect on as educators and as graduate students.
There are three good reminders I took away from these readings. The first is about pace, about knowing when to reveal parts of yourself because it’s relevant to the dialogue and the process. It’s about humility and thoughtfulness. Knowing Ourselves as Instructors argues, “The risk of self-disclosure needs to be thoughtfully taken.” (Bell, et. al. 2003: 475). I think this is true on so many levels, from the example of the teacher coming out to the classroom (ibid.), to teachers revealing both the goofy and serious sides of themselves (Ayers, et. al. 2010: 101). The second reminder is about patience. I think it’s important for all of us, as educators, as grad students, as people, to be patient with others - because they are loud and talk too much, because they say things that may seem as though they are not as aware when, because we get emotionally triggered by things in our own backgrounds by of what others say unknowingly. Patience is also about judgement, or non-judgement rather. About not assuming and waiting. “I can feel very impatient sometimes. But when I shift my frame of reference to one of trying to understand the process by which people can be engaged in unlearning oppressive attitudes, it kind of unhooks me,” says the teacher Lee in Knowing Ourselves as Instructors. “Then it becomes a challenge to figure out, ‘Okay, how is this person thinking about these issues now and what is going to be the way to help them to try out a different perspective.” Finally, I loved this: “Greater self-knowledge about how we typically react in situations of tension can give us more options for responding in thoughtful ways when conflicts arise.” (Bell, et. al. 2003: 469). I think this is at the core of why self-reflection is important — because by navigating ourselves, we become more thoughtful participants in conversation with others.
Thank you Tony!
ReplyDeleteAll of your questions illuminate the issues we face creating constructive spaces of self-reflection and critical inquiry. Would like to highlight one of the responses, and apply this to myopia in social justice and arts education.
Moeko stated, "I have been in classrooms where the class becomes about the professor. While I think sometimes it’s done from a place of self-reflection, I think other times the professor is coming from a place of feeling superior in his identity consciousness and intellect. I think when people come from this place, it makes it difficult to create meaningful dialogue between students and teachers, or even students and students."
This dynamic does not just happen in traditional classrooms. but can also be prevalent in 'social justice' spaces and arts spaces. An instructor can be teaching the American Revolution, or be teaching an alternative or resistance narrative to the American Revolution, but it is HOW the lesson is conducted that gives it sway as liberatory education informed by dialogue and questioning. There are some teachers who are so determined in challenging traditional curriculum, that they forget to survey students/participants concerns/backgrounds/interests. Thus a lesson that was intended to be resistant ends up being a traditional lesson about a resistance narrative. It is vital to find time for SOME lessons we do work from the participants outward. A social justice teacher can communicate in suca rebel expert way, but can forget the rebel practices of dialogue and dialectic informing the lessons chosen.
I say that we should strive to not be authoritarians SOME of the time, because much of the time we are still responding to bureaucratic demands of the systems we teacher in which dictate content and social norms, and there is often a time limit in courses governed by standards that make socratic discussion inaccessible and time-consuming. So it should be a GOAL to transgress normative and traditional frameworks some of the time--to let the participants' discussion inform the subject matter, to take the role of listener and learner rather than leader and talker, and to let go of certain goals in respect of goals the group will develop as co-developed lessons unfold.
Greater self-knowledge again highlights the need for personal reflection as educators and activists:
Who am I (today)?
What are my traditional practices, and what can I do differently?
What made me decide the topic for today?
Who are my students and how can I know them better?
What are their societal concerns and how can use these to inform my content decisions?
WHat did I learn today from interactions with my students, and what my I do differently next time?
There are a million other questions we can ask ourselves; the above are starting points for me.
Make a personal journal (even if it sounds corny). If we have to spend so much time taking attendance, can we make time to attend to our own self-growth? Hopefully...
Wow thank you both for your comments. Everyday I attend classes at SAIC my vision and purpose in life becomes clearer. It has taken me several decades to accept my calling as a teacher. I am the the son of social justice advocates, and the proverbial torch has been passed on to me. It is my blessing and responsibility to share my knowledge, wisdom, love of self and positive experiences with the future leaders in my community.
ReplyDeleteBeginners Guide to Community-Based Arts (Zuni Edaakie & Rhodessa Jones)
ReplyDelete1. Contact is key to building a strong alliance
2. Equally important is knowing who are the stakeholders and who are the gate keepers and how do you move both groups from being at times separate to sharing a vision
3. Thinking locally meaning your neighbors, local businesses, social service organizations and those that have nationwide recognition
4. Assess the community
5. Determine the need is there and need, who says so and can the work that is being called for serve a purpose.
6. Be realistic about your storytelling and stay away from stereotyping.
7. All people have strengths that can contribute to the execution of a project/ program.
8. Don’t just be the missionary be the visionary
Opening the Classroom (Chapter One)
1. Core values will navigate the classroom experience
2. These values will have a significant impact on how the students classroom experience will be impacted
3. Ten-Action Steps to realize the dream of a unified classroom
4. Activate the space with journal writing, sensor table, dramatic play, perhaps even a space to designate for music playing and kinesthetic learning
5. What are the needs of the students, what do they bring, what do you offer them and how can building community be about “universal teaching”
6. Be ready to differentiate your curriculum to include all students and all types of learners
7. Upon entering the room what do people immediately identify with?
8. Create a democratic environment
Beginners Guide to Community-Based Arts (San Francisco, California)
1. Rhodessa Jones
2. Used the artistry of dance to instruct
3. Through her work she was able to inspire them in ways that branched out of the physical nature of dance and movement
4. This co-collaboration provided a platform to explore areas if expression in the written form.
5. Power can also be found in the use of words
6. This included exposure to areas of literacy and authorship
7. She was able to empower and directly influence the energy of others to be agents for social empowerment.
The Mystery of Teaching Chapter 7
1. One to one learning between the teacher and student
2. Maybe best not to force or coerce
3. Good teaching engages students
4. Outstanding teaching goes against the grain, build allies
5. Be self-critical but welcome mistakes, try it again, reevaluate the “what happened”
6. Embrace the word and meaning of “Humilty”
Families, communities, neighbors and society. Build allies to become participants in social enhancement through collaboration.
Tony I wrote this before I saw the questions but figured i would post anyway. Thanks for leading the conversation!
ReplyDeleteThe Critical Pedagogy Reader, Knowing as Instructors
"...In the social justice classroom where social identity is central to the content, the significance of who we are often takes center stage."(465)
We are always teaching as ourselves and as artists and educators who often have to wear many different hats we are always going to be ourselves and we must be constantly aware of the convergence of all of our social identities and the way in which they create our identity, by how we have been socialized, how we are perceived to be, how we actually are, and the impact that this makes in the classroom. We bring with us the weight of our social identities with us but this also can be a teaching tool and needs to be seriously taken into account. "As teachers we can offer our experience with both dominant and targeted identities as a way to join with students, expand the boundaries in the room for discussing these subjects and model being open to exploring our own relative positions of power and privilege in relation to different oppression issues."(465) By accepting and being aware of real and perceived identities of both our students and ourselves we can be a model by which to learn, by rooting ourselves in these identities we can become active agents of change and prompt discussion that confronts these very sensitive but real topics.
Another quote from this reading that I thought was fairly profound but simple was: "Just because a student is in a wheelchair does not mean that disability is the issue that is currently primary." (466) The statement really drives home for me that it is not always our perceived identity of a person that is the thing that is the most relevant in there lives that they are coping with. We should not make these kind of assumptions for they can be hurtful and jeopardize relationships by stigmatizing people We need to super aware and sensitive to our students needs.
So to end on a positive note and to move forward in our journey together I hope we "can expose the problems and difficulties we all face in this work and support each other in being more effective"(477) I think this is so essential to not feeling overwhelmed and drowning in the issues, conflicts and problems we face as educators and even educators in training dealing with our own educnation. I am so excited about the community, peer group and the teachers that I have recently stepped into association with. I hope that I can get to know each and everyone of you individually and that we can create a community of support for each other as we move through the next 2 years and I hope for the rest of our careers and lives as students and educators. I do not believe it is possible to take on this type of work alone so in all sincerity I would like to offer whatever I can.
"I know ancestors who came before fought for freedom, equality, and justice and made it possible for me to live this life. Even if i don't change the world for me, I have faith that my work can contribute to a better world for the generations yet to come. That's what keeps me doing it, keeps me grounded, being grateful and knowing that my little part counts"(477) In reading this quote I am reminded of why I as well do this work, what drives me but I am also reminded how quickly we can lose sight of this and feel not linked to history, not creating change, not inspiring, isolated and generally hopeless when we encounter so many of the real world difficulties in the classroom or in other venues. I think is important to find time to always be reflecting around these issues and have a group of people that believe in these principles and can remind each other of their purpose and worth. We really can only be so strong by ourselves, but together...
In Opening the Classroom Door we find a similar message of hope:
ReplyDelete“As students and teachers begin to see themselves as linked to one another, as tied to history and capable of collective action, the fundamental message of teaching becomes broader, more generous: we must change ourselves as we come together to change the world.” (Ayers, et.. 35)
It is through this faith in each other and seeing the interconnected nature of the world and our actions that we can build toward change and be effective and responsible educators, knowing our constantly shifting place and relationships is a challenge. But it is from this pivotal constant change and growth that we can constantly position ourselves and not be stagnant.