Tag Archives: Diversity

Assail

18 Saturday Feb 2017

Posted by in Poetry, Uncategorized

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A festive congregation of diverse forms
Gathered in joy and celebration
Unknowingly targeted for reasons
Subjectively debated and/or ignored
The setting places those who truly
Seek to be advocates and allies
In perilous conundrums
Scared hearts and bodies
Others cold and riddled
Propaganda is the last thing needed
Or wanted to be heard
By a family, lover, and/or friend of anyone
Who was assailed
Violated
Traumatized
Or even scapegoated
Identities fractured by incomplete
Or politicized objectives
The absolute truth may never truly be known
Yet we can concretely deduce
There are no true winners if all of us
Truly embrace our humanity
Advocacy means we share our voices with those
Who oppression continues to work to mute
Advocacy means not playing the victim-blaming game
That often becomes the means of historical erasure
With each last breath or aching wound
Whether physical or emotional
We have all lost and are under assail
Race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture among other aspects of our humanity
Have been further eroded
Orlando is just one of many examples of the
Detrimental effects of hate no matter the rationale
Love is not the solution when it is cloaked in complacency and inaction that shuns levels of sacrifice
Until each breath inhales this unalterable truth
There is no true we, yet the current national, societal, and political stances
Empower an assailant that has historically mutated
Each second, minute, hour, day, year, decade, and century
Known as the “American” F
Fear…

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Amid A Changing Landscape

13 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Poetry

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Language, both constructive and damaging, is often used without thought of consequence
Impacting the thoughts and minds of all those within reach
Challenging is the nature of life’s path
Causing us to reflect on what has been as we seek to make things anew
Laws are passed with the expectations that they will
in some form or fashion
Provide a livable framework that we, the people, will experience the benefits
Our worlds are based on this idea
Whether it’s accurate or inaccurate is not often what we wish to ask ourselves
Anarchy is not an option, as it requires things from us that we are more inclined not to:
Demand
Sacrifice
Persevere
Fail
Resist
Become ostracized
These sets of circumstances are foreign to those who seek the comforts and the spoils of a system that historically and habitually negates those who are most vulnerable
And then blames them for all that these influences result
Echoing words or images of “Che” or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
on commercialized t-shirts does little to represent the struggles and ideals
resulting in their martyrdoms
Instead they further alienate us from key principles that should acknowledge the complexities that exist within our figured worlds
We are a collection of beings that range an array of beliefs, sizes, and histories
All of which only capture a glimpse of who we really are
As each are vulnerable to the limited interpretations of all who come in contact with us
As if we were a painting from one of the great artists over time
Yet, we don’t get the luxury of intense and time demanding reflection and understanding that is often afforded these inanimate objects
We are passed over as if we never existed in the first place
And then society wonders why those who are marginalized dare to:
Resist
Rise
Yell
Revolt
As if the world has gone deaf to their calls and cries
To remind all of us that they are
Still here
Still human
Still belong

Amid a changing landscape
one thing remains constant
The world can be a cold and uninviting space
for those who do not fit within the acceptable box
A box that is too rigid and constraining for many of us
Yet, we operate as if we are willing participants
of a pathological social experience that
Destroys more than it helps
Devalues more than it promotes
Hates more than it loves
Constrains more than it frees

Freedom is what we were sold
Yet, how many of us actually reviewed the bill of sale as we do when buying our favorite pair of jeans in our favorite store?
How many of us ask for a refund or exchange when our purchase doesn’t suit our needs?
Why does freedom not receive the same level of critique, if not more?
A self-proclaimed “land of the free, home of the brave”
could at least not default on its promises to all of those who it has depended on since before its inception like it’s currently attempting to do
during this present-day
Debt Limit Ideological coup d’état
that’s ultimately affecting those same persons who often go nameless
until we want to blame them for their perceived deficiencies
The members of our society who are poor, uneducated, ill, unemployed, disabled, elderly, and/or children are on our economic and social frontlines
These lines are invisible to most of us until life’s challenges place us there
To toil, linger, or bounce back
Welcome to the new age
Which is actually an evolved representation of a segregated past that maintains our separation from each other and more importantly to any meaningful and life sustaining form of an inclusive humanity

Amid a changing landscape what will your role be?
What will your actions amount to?
Amid a changing landscape…
Will you represent the change that it truly needs?
Or will you represent what’s already represented?

Living in the Discomfort

05 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by in Live In The Discomfort, Poetry

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Entering into a new phase in the journey that has become my life’s mission
Not sure what it entails and whom it touches
I have been blessed beyond my comprehension and current capacity
Imagery of what I am and who I am perceived to be varies based on the vantage point of the spectator
This point has been revisited as often as I have taken air into my lungs or so it would seem
The miracle that I have come to see my life routinely represent, finds me on the cusp of achieving an inspiring goal that will result in my being viewed in entirely new ways.
As a thinker, scholar, or community advocate to name a few.
It has not been so long ago that I was that lost soul who needed others to complete him
Make me feel worthy of existence
Today, my need is clear
My purpose is resolute
Yet my destination has yet to surface
The embodiment of a beautiful struggle
One that pulls me in multiple directions
Through multiple worlds and realities
From an abstract conception into a concrete set of experiences
that I have begun to understand and articulate for others to digest for their inner selves
This has become a beautiful space filled with much uncharted territory to uncover
An existential terrain that propagates me to unravel the mysteries that enshroud this perceived destiny of mine
Stringing together symbolic code to form a cultural representation—my very own experiential mosaic.
Repetitive in nature, harmonious to the trained ears and hearts of a developed mass of consciousness or minds yearning for something in which we both share and respect—humanity.
One that embraces difference, originality, obscure thoughts and emotions, tenderness, love, patience, perseverance, courage, and sentimentality for those that exist beyond our reach.
Accepting the struggle that was tailor-made for our broad shoulders and backs.
I welcome this challenge even as my stride becomes hampered
For as with each step that I take
I further embrace the requirements that I live in the discomfort.
The discomfort of a continued evolution of mind, body, and spirit…

Victim Blaming Rationalization: Why Trayvon Martin is Symbolic for and of African American/Black Experiences in the United States.

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Blog, Racialization Impacts

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Over the course of the many days, weeks, and months since the tragic death of a seventeen year old teen, much has been debated and said about what is justice in today’s United States. Color-lines have been drawn in many cases, as reactionary as they were during the Jim and Jane Crow Eras in this country. Sentiment remains mixed with an output of social consciousness and outrage. Protests in the streets and even a Presidential Address about race and its lingering effects on society have taken place. With all of this being said, there still seems to be something absent from the conversation. Something that is as systemic as the endemic racism that encapsulates this country even when many emphatically attempt to deny its existence.

“What is this item that I speak of?” you may now find yourself puzzlingly asking. It is the way that many of us have, due to the reality that “race” and “racism” are as “American” as “apple pie?” How dare I make such suggestions when we now have a “Black” president elected for not only one term, but two. Not when we post pictures of a “Black” First Lady and praise the couple’s two beautiful and charming “Black” daughters. We are in a post-racial society where we all need to be “color-blind” and just see each other as only human. Furthermore, we see only the “human race” as we are all “Americans,” so the story goes.

And let us not forget our Constitutional rights that are also at stake when we critically engage the tragedy that was not solely Trayvon Martin, but dare I say, George Zimmerman. For many who are of African descent and/or are starch allies, this utterance by one of their very own will seem outright blasphemous or a betrayal on the legacy of our shared struggle. Continuing to hide behind the scapegoat of the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms as some continue to champion. Since and even before 9/11, we remain fed heavy doses of fear through all forms of media. A land built on propaganda continues to manufacture reasons to shape and craft the thoughts of a society and the globe. What is this fear that I am now speaking of? The same fear that endured the antebellum plantations, the uprising of darker-skinned property, for at the time still not viewed as human. That task is still a work in progress; if you look hard enough you’ll still see measures of hatred and thoughts of superiority for no other reason than social dogma propagated for generations.

As history has told us, as it has been crafted within our educational textbooks, that the legacy of wrongdoing is still not ready to be fully addressed. We’ve had apologies and offered reparations for instances for select members of our Union yet we still find ways to avoid fully addressing the wrongs done to our Native community members. They, as the rest of “the minorities” must have done something wrong, right? They must not want to be successful? They don’t care about education? Why don’t they want to learn to speak proper English? Why don’t they… (I’ll let you fill in the blank). In each instance, one thing remains clear. We often will acknowledge there is a problem but how we perceive it beyond that is what I really want to address.

We call it, “victim blaming rationalization. A response to a social problem—such as injustice toward a minority group—that identifies the problem as a deficiency in the minority group and not a societal problem, as in ‘If poor people want to escape poverty they just have to be willing to work harder” (Koppelman & Goodhart, p. 42). In a similar vein, this is what often happens when race and racism are at the center of public debate. We don’t want to acknowledge the legacy that has driven the nation’s politics and social norms. We have short-term memories on who were discriminated against based on existing notions of privilege and whiteness within the society. Because by doing, so this often causes us to have to challenge or relinquish our own interests.

In a nation that politically and morally does what is in the best interest of itself– well, actually in the best interests of the wealthy and/or powerbrokers–in most that it does, we are confounded with fundamental issues. So when we see poverty, we blame the poor. When we see ignorance, we blame the uneducated. Yet we rarely make headway when we blame the system in which all of the social malfunctions are perpetuated and maintained. Because it will cause us to have to own the possibility that we have to sacrifice, have to struggle, have to actively become a part of the larger community without guarantee that we will get everything that our hearts desire. Interest theory explains why we discriminate and/or justify not supporting our community in the ways that we want the community to support us.

Why does any of this matter when it comes to victim-blaming rationalization and the tragedy that are the circumstances that envelope the death of Trayvon Martin and the public outcry about George Zimmerman’s acquittal? Simple, it is indicative of the legacy that is seamlessly embedded within the laws that govern this country. It is born out of the enterprise of Capitalism and globalization that fosters the extension of a set of cultural norms and values that some say only sees green. We see it in the manner in which a hoodie has become a symbol that, for some, can be likened to sad a day back in Mississippi when a young teen was kidnapped and killed for whistling at Carolyn Bryant outside of the Bryant Grocery and Meat Market. We see it in other cases that have been highlighted since the verdict across the country. Culturally, instances like these resonate with the past and current experiences people of African descent have within the United States.

We, as we’ve been socialized through the prism of racism, tend to dichotomize things to the simplest way possible. What do I mean by this statement? Well if you’ve ever said, “It’s as simple as black and white” then you’ve done it. What many don’t really know is what they’re implying with this question is that they are acknowledging their own limitations in the situation. They are acknowledging that they are limited in their ability to see the complexity, which is at the heart of this tragedy. The intellectual prison is on display in the form of either/or mentalities that many of our public schools promote as part of the greater enterprise. The ignorance of this and other aspects of injustice are running prevalent in this country, some would expect to be said. Yet all of this is exactly why our society will continue to work in a disjointed fashion. We, as a society, are fragmented, splintered, lacking cohesion in the saddest of ways. We are apathetic unless, sheepishly, we are moved to action by our twitter, facebook, and/or other social media feeds. We click buttons as opposed to working to shape lives beyond our own doorsteps. We impatiently wait for the next person to do what we ourselves need to accomplish. We do what’s easiest and most natural– we yell, we talk, we pray, and then we ultimately forget. Until we all recognize that injustice to any one of us is injustice to all of us, we will continue to be reminded of inconsequence of being othered in this othering space known as the United States of America…

To be continued…

Crush-Hopper Presentation Video (Jan. 17, 2013)

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Blog, Identity Politics, Racialization Impacts, Uncategorized

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Hello everyone,

I am including the video of both my lecture and the subsequent Question and Answer session with Ms. Mandisa Haarhoff about her one person play, Crush-Hopper. She was truly amazing as a performer but more importantly as a person.

De Walt Crush-Hopper Lecture

Crush-Hopper Question and Answer with Ms. Mandisa Haarhoff

Enjoy,

PSDW~

Onward to the Next Chapter

13 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Blog, Educational Trenches, PSDW Reflective Journal

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Hello everyone,

Today marks the start of a new and exciting semester (10 weeks). As I have taught over the years, I am reminded of all that makes teaching and learning so important to me. I see it in the responses that I get when I post here on the blog as well as through other social media sites https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patrick-S-De-Walt-MBA-PhD. As I became more aware of the ways in which my beliefs and passion for teaching was shared by others, I found that I was more concerned about everything that I was saying. I don’t take this privilege and honor lightly by any means. I thank each and everyone of you who have taken the time to read anything that I have ever posted online….

The Life of an Educator

It is a very interesting thing to learn from other educators about how they see and experience the life of an educator. Some find the joy in all that they do, others see the responsibilities that are inherent with the position, and others are still trying to figure their way through the process. In many ways, I find that I embody all of these components and feelings each and every time I nervously step in front of my students. While my exterior presents a self assured and somewhat confident person, the interior self is always wondering if he is “doing right by his students.” I find that to be one of the hardest things to come to terms with for me as an educator, I want to always help and prepare my students for all that they will face as they continue their pursuits within the field of education.

The answers that I seek are rarely found within the time that I have my students within my class, but I naively still wish to see any indication that my students get it! As I have discussed about my interactions with Jekyll & Hyde learners in my previous posts, my desires for my students’ success intensifies. I find that I am often fighting them when in comes to my undying belief that they have amazing yet untapped potentials that they seem to not even recognize. I find myself thinking back to my own educational experiences and realizing how fortunate I was to have educators who stayed the course with me even when I didn’t seem to care. From these intense feelings, my teaching philosophy and pedagogy were ultimately born. As a result, I work insane amounts of hours thinking about my lessons and, in the past, grading tons of student assignments.

My growth as an educator has resulted from these educational experiences that consisted of trial and error, long nights of anxiety, and many intense conversations with family, friends, colleagues and mentors. My ideology and integrity are at the center of all that I do and that gives me great pride. Pride in the fact that I am now seeing the seeds that I have helped to plant begin to blossom in multiple contexts as I hope that I have done for my own teachers.

Starting Anew Today

As I write this entry, I am less than an hour away from another exciting and unpredictable semester (Summer 2013). I have so much that I want to achieve with my students and hopefully they will ultimately achieve their own goals as well. I’m teaching my normal class on diversity. I’m also entering into a new area that partially resulted from all that I have done here which has motivated me to explore–a course that merges both student engagement and social media. For now, that’s all I have to say about it but in the coming months I hope that you stay around to see those finished products. So I write to all of the learners and educators out there. Continue to explore your own realities and the beauty found within them while still challenging them for their ultimate enhancement.

My excitement and anticipation have again returned to my core preparing me for a new group of learners who have all the potential in the world to achieve greatness. I just hope to be a small part of their journey as they continue to be a huge part of my own….

Until next time.

PSDW~

Outside of All Comfort Zones

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Educational Trenches, Guest Features

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The most important aspect of being an educator is often overlooked by educators everywhere: the education one receives from one’s students. Nothing can make the importance of THIS type of education more apparent than embarking upon a teaching assignment outside of your home country. I think a key term to reiterate is “home”. I didn’t understand how much I considered the US ‘home’ until I stepped my foot outside of it to work. Vacation is different. When we are on vacation, we can almost always find surroundings that remind us of home. We are not forced to step beyond our ‘comfort zone’. When you are working, however, in a university that is attended only by locals, you find your way of thinking, teaching, responding, reacting, learning, speaking, grading, and living all being forced outside of a box you didn’t even know existed. You find that you are floundering, yes I said floundering. Yes, a person with a degree (a Ph.D.), years of teaching university level students, and grand amounts of knowledge (at least I thought so, lol) was FLOUNDERING! I learned very quickly that all I had learned in my ‘home’ country, worked best (drumroll please) at home!

In order to set some semblance of organization after I arrived, I swooped in set up a syllabus, developed assignments, set up Blackboard, and started to teach. My course schedule had finals set for December. I arrived in October. I was ready to go. One of my students quietly approached me after what I thought to be a FABULOUS class. She quietly told me that although there was a break in December, the semester did not actually end until the final week in January. Also, one of the assignments I created could not be completed by many students because most unmarried, Muslim, girls did not feel comfortable interviewing males, even if they were professional, male, psychologists.

I had to take a step back. A HUGE step back. I felt like a ‘Stranger in Moscow”. I was lucky to have students who were willing to teach me and walk me through the process of getting acclimated. I found myself having to lean on and learn from my students. Of course, the start of a new semester brought sturdier footing, a new sense of self. and a somewhat increased knowledge of culture as it pertains to the psychological field. However, I did not forget the importance and necessity of constantly consulting my students.

Consulting our students, making them a part of the process rather than a mere consumer, and valuing their input are often touted as important parts of the educational process. How many of you actually do this? Most of the time? Some of the time?

How have you been educated by your students?

Teaching Who We Are: Seeing the Beauty in Student Engagement

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in PSDW Reflective Journal

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One thing that I have come to embrace about myself, personally as well as professionally, is my passion for learning and seeing others excited and empowered within educational contexts. I often forget that the passion that I have is unique to me as other things are unique to others.

“We Teach Who We Are.”
—Parker Palmer–

The more that I write, the more that I reveal…

This statement is how I also think about teaching. The more I teach the more that I reveal about myself and sometimes discover about my students. After teaching for as long as I have now, whether it was as a first grade teaching in Houston or as a graduate student in Colorado, I have been one that gets a reaction out of my students. Sometimes that reaction is hostilely posted on faculty teaching evaluation sites (I still have not really reviewed them), university student evaluations and/or the responses of my students after they are no longer bound to my class and its rules.

The funny thing that I have found out about this process is that I am what I like to call, “An acquired taste.” Yes, this statement, as the previous journal entry laid out, positions itself as a dualistic perspective. But the data so far confirms it. My passion is one that propels me to want my students to excel and I push them to the point of discomfort. I challenge them even when I agree with what they may have said. I am and can be relentless in this regard, as many who have taken my course(s) might say. However, I know in my heart of hearts that I do all that I do for what I hope they will see in themselves one day–a promising teacher. Most teachers that I know have at some point in time referenced this saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” I struggled with this phenomenon so much as an instructor here in Florida, as I did while I was a graduate student in Colorado. I wanted all of my student to be nourished by the educational process that I so love in its non-conventional forms. I teach who I am and I push them to learn who they are, so that they can teach from those meaningful parts of who they are when engaging their students.

Food For Thought

I had a very interesting conversation with my graduate assistant today and much was revealed to me, both directly and indirectly, regarding how “Teaching Who [I am]” was/is my greatest strength.  Yet, it is also the most challenging aspect of my role as an educator. My passion and perceived intellect can be too much for others even while I know that I have so much more to learn; because, as I have shared with my students today, “The more I learned, the more I realized how much I really didn’t know.” I teach from my mind and heart each and every time I step into a learning environment. I don’t know any other way to be an educator.  And as a result of this way of being and knowing myself, whomever acquires an understanding of me and my pedagogy developed palates that allow she/he to engage in varied perspectives on a host of topics. They attain the ability to engage an eclectic personality and mind who only wishes to better himself and the community in which he is obligated to serve–our future generations of learners.

My graduate student, after a lengthy conversation about the course and our preparation for future course objectives, reiterated a perspective on my way of teaching and it humbled me. In the midst of all the chaos of our conversation, key elements of my and my teaching philosophy were articulated–the allure in learning. This phrase is something that has stuck with me since my graduate days. It written and introduced to me by one of my graduate school professors–Dr. Daniel P. Liston. It, in essence, is one of the staples of what I begin each semester with, challenging my students to connect with their internal capacities for becoming the best teachers that they can be by confronting, engaging and/or understanding themselves in more critical ways.

Engaging the Toxic Word “Race” in a Diversity Course

An example of this occurred today as my morning sections began to discuss chapter 5 PulseClicker2of our text. I asked my students to answer our “Clicker Questions”– Clicker is an interactive assessment tool that always for me ask students questions and get instant feedback– for the day. This question was a short essay that they were to answer about, “Is ‘race’ still in important part of U.S. society, yes or no?” As an introduction to this topic, I decided to not run from this feared word like many others do not only in our classrooms but in almost every other place in our society. This question also required that they expound on why they chose either yes or no. And I enjoyed hearing those who said “yes” explain their answers but I also enjoyed those who said “no” explain theirs. If you’ve read my previous post, there appeared to be a lot of Jekylls and Hydes in attendance during this topic. But I pushed and pushed the conversation and many of them took the risks of sharing their perspectives and why. I truly loved it! Because it was them engaging the tough topic wherever they were in their understandings within my classroom. These moments mean so much to me. To hear a student who has been positioned as a Jekyll turn out to be more of a Hyde.

Students gave ranges of responses that said, in a sense, while they didn’t want to use race they recognized that it was still impacting their lives. Others offered positions that promote ideas of humanism. I found all of the examples to be of significance and usable in this learning opportunity. So I took a few chances with them, I did an up down activity that I’ve done before with other classes. I had all of my students stand up and asked a series of questions (paraphrased and may not be out of sequence of how I did it in class, FYI): 1) If you are not male, please take your seat, 2) if you are not Protestant, please take your seat (ironically, after the completion of my lesson it later dawned on me that I misspoke), 3)If you do not own property (land), please take a seat, and 4) (what I would have concluded with had I needed it to) If you are not white, please take a seat. But in this case, there was no need to ask #4 because all of my 50+ students were already seated. In having my students participate in this kinesthetic exercise, I wanted them to think about how we, over time, have forgotten the sacrifices and injustices that have resulted from the application of race within this society.

Now we credit “the founding fathers” of this nation without holding their actions accountable to not only communities of color, but also non-land/property owners and women who lived during the era. WE, through our contemporary gaze at history, forget that women and people of color only within a short period of time have (re)gained the right to vote and other important aspects of citizenship in the United States of America. And more importantly, if our students have forgotten or have not been exposed to this valuable information during their own schooling process; what makes us think that the students who they will some day teach will have such opportunities to critically engage these such historical moments that shaped and continue to shape this nation?

Through this activity, my point was to get them to think about race and, more importantly, history within context. Instead of viewing historical moments through contemporary lenses. As many educators may now know, this is becoming a greater challenge with each passing year as history is becoming harder and harder to get students to engage in many instances. So I try to use these moments to provoke students’ thinking any way that I can if it aids them in developing their critical thinking skills as well as their, what I like to call, “their teacher identities.”

I have often told my students that education is a “social experiment” and all involved are a part of this dynamic process. Much of what I do within my classes requires that I take some level or risk. Yet, as what those who have taught me proved only a few years earlier, that the risks we take both as educators and learners have immense power to help redirect and inspire others to keep learning. I am reminded of the many teachers–Mrs. Boone, Ms. Sullivan, Mrs. Terry, Ms. Carson, Mrs. Gobert, Ms. May, Ms. Defibaugh, Mr. Lavergne, Dr. Sigren, Mr. Haynes, Mr. Knowles and the list could continue–who shaped a path for me that I could never have imagined, yet am proud to now travel….

As I conclude this entry, I am drawn to a quote from Palmer (1997),

Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror, and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge–and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject (p. 15)

So the question becomes for any other educator and/or learner who took the time to read this, “What does your mirror show?

Until the next time…

PSDW~

Parker J. Palmer (1997): The Heart of a Teacher Identity and Integrity in Teaching, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 29:6, 14-21.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00091389709602343

The Learner as Jekyll & Hyde

29 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in PSDW Reflective Journal

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Teaching yesterday, and periodically at other times over the last 2-plus years, I have found myself in very interesting moments with my students. In those situations, I am not always sure where they are in their understanding of the course material. In terms of what I see as the beauty of learning, I find that I have a very dualistic perspective on student engagement. It is either the exchanges/displays of engagement are abundant (good) or not at all (bad)– as the saying goes “quiet as a church mouse.” As I stated in my earlier post, “I’m greedy” when it comes to my students having their own educational epiphanies.

Since I clearly know this about myself, as a person as well as an educator, I found that I have, for this entry, concretely framed this thinking in a very dualistic way by using the characters Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. jeykll-and-hydeAs many who are familiar with this story can clearly see, these characters represent the joys and challenges of what education can be and/or how we may see our students’ level of engagement at times. While I do not want to give off the impression that I think or feel that all of my students are “evil” or “sinister.” I do want to use this example as a way to highlight how a person who loves seeing others have these moments–where you can easily see when students are actively engaged–as the Jekyll experience as opposed to when they are noticeably not engaged or what I’m calling the Hyde experience.

The Learner as Jekyll

In teaching a course on diversity, I am always amazed at the ways in which students enter this space based on their prior knowledge, what they’ve heard about me or the course, and/or where they are in terms of their academic ability. When thinking about the positive aspects of the learning experience that occurred in my Monday classes (January 28th); students posted terms on the board that they felt were significant from the chapter on immigration. This activity allowed me to see what terms or concepts they clearly grasped through their explanations of the terms followed by their linkages of that term with those their peers also placed on the board, in a sense creating a word web. Such terms as xenophobia, Americanization, nativism, English-Only and among others were highlighted.

As I pushed students to 1) post their terms, 2) begin to articulate what it meant for them, and 3) how does it connect with the other terms on the board; I began to see what I love most about the class and teaching, students owning the material. I could see a level of trepidation on some of their faces as they were waiting for me to confirm their thoughts and/or answers, but they kept on going. They began to prove critical thinking skills as they not only linked terms together but also began to make connections between the terms and current events. In some cases, I had to facilitate the discussion more or perform a quasi-lecture, but the process still was guided by their own positioning and comprehension of the text.

While I intentionally avoid using explicit scenarios for student confidentiality purposes, I had several students from both sections of the class offer very clear and connected examples of how the text makes sense in their worlds. Others took risks in what I felt were their own pursuits of understanding the material, hopefully themselves, and/or the world around them. Student processing of the additional topics and questions that I posed, to have them think about, focused on how much we have been socialized to readily accept many things within our society without questioning them.  This dogmatic approach still permeates our lives and realities today. Dogma picAn example of this was the use of the two terms “patriotism” and “nationalism” and the way these terms are often used in a dualistic manner while generating an “Us” vs “Them” scenario. After one of my students surprised me by “doing my work for me,” when the student provided a definition of nationalism that lent itself to the way patriotism is currently used in the US a perfect segue was provided–educational epiphanies…

I had a hard time holding back my pleasure in seeing her provide me with a key talking point to redirect my students’ thinking in terms of how these terms are symbolic of two divergent ways of viewing a belief in/of a particular country/nation. They were getting it and being critical in the process. As in most cases, I, as the instructor, care more about the process that my students take than often the content that helps us to get there. I have, depended on the content, taken a 70% process and 30% content philosophy when it comes to teaching. I totally believe that if they have a process for critically thinking they inherently will master and comprehend the content presented to them.

These moments are what inspires me to love and continue teaching more than I ever thought that I would.  Often these educational epiphanies help me, as I know for other educators who are in the educational trenches, recharge when the lesson or activity engages the other side of the learner–Hyde.

The Learner as Hyde

I find this experience to be one of the most challenging aspects of the profession beyond the politics and bureaucracy that has continued to engage education, the unengaged and/or non-risk taking learner-Hyde. As I thought about using these two polarizing figures to frame my post, I really hope that no reader takes away that I am condemning any of my students because that is not the case. Instead I see it as two polarizing ways that students have often been socialized to receive learner (I will revisit this thinking later).

Non-verbal communication has been one the most interesting features of Hyde learners especially when discussing topics on diversity. Over the almost 3 years of teaching at my current university, I always find the level of trepidation and/or resistance to engaging these sometime difficult topics very fascinating. Was it any different during my graduate school experiences? Often it was very similar, the students who displayed some level of critical consciousness were the active ones and asking all the question or pushing the discussion forward. The students who did not seem to posses any critical consciousness appeared to be apathetic and placeholders for the course to make its required student count.

When talking about the tough subjects in my diversity course (e.g., race, sexism, whiteness/white privilege, heterosexism and religion) my Hyde learners’ body language betrayed them. They sink back into their seats or they provide even less eye contact than normal. Their faces develop deeper frowns and/or scowl that could be interpreted to be directed toward me or their feelings about the contact. As I remind my students of the “two-way mirror” that is the interpretation of one another within the teacher-student dynamic, they sometimes look perplexed that the teacher could also make assumptions about their students simultaneously as they make their own assumptions. I like to address this periodically as I remind them of the potential cognitive dissonance that they may feel when entering this educational space.

These instances with my Hyde learners does wear on me at times. I have to be honest about that. As an greedy educator, I always want to get the best from my students or at least to see them acknowledge themselves in the learning process. For me, giving up is not a viable option when my students seek to be future educators. There is too much at stake for me to expect anything less from my students.

Meeting in the Middle: Where Dr. Jekyll meets Mr. Hyde

The most fascinating part of having Jekyll and Hyde Learners in a diversity class for future educators is they way they engage and disengage each other. Non-verbal communication is so critical to observing these exchanges. The different displays of energy about a topic and the level of risk that is taken by these polar opposites is striking because depending on the topic one student can shift from Jekyll to Hyde and back.  Knowing this requires me to be able and willing to know when to push, be patient and/or insert some form of transitional strategy (which I’m finding humor to be a good tool).

Now that I’ve been in this position of engaging Jekyll and Hyde learners more often, I see it as exciting challenge for me as a teacher. Can I get my Hydes to be Jekylls and how do I maintain the Jekylls that I currently have no matter the topic being discussed. I have yet to be figure that out, but I just hope that I’m on the path to that finding the potion. (How can one end this discussion without including Luda?)

Until the next entry

PSDW~

The Power of Educational Epiphanies

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in PSDW Reflective Journal

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Background

Webster’s Online Dictionary defines epiphany as, “(1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure”. All of these definitions capture the beauty of teaching in today’s classrooms. These are some of the most meaningful moments for any passionate and caring teacher. As a university faculty member, I am no different.

This set of feelings about education and seeing my students have their own educational epiphanies has led me to write this latest reflection. While the cognitive development of all of us happens at different rates and times, it is such a wonderful sight to see those who you are charged with supporting their learning process have these moments of revelation. No matter the level or degree of that occurrence, I find great joy and pride in being a witness in their classroom. I am an active participant, but never the only holder of knowledge.

The Topic: Moral Reasoning

Talking with my students and/or anyone about moral reasoning in a critical way is always an interesting activity for me. I often find myself immediately analyzing their responses to the material and each other in the midst of our class discussions or my mini-lectures. Today’s classes provided me with more opportunities to engage the ways in which others see or don’t see this topic–I use Perry’s theory of moral reasoning. These four stages: 1)Dualism 2)Multiplicity 3)Relativism and 4) Commitment are staples for my course on diversity. Through these stages, I challenge my students to critically evaluate not only their environments, but their own ways of thinking.

Activity: Student Interaction and Discussion

Using Perry’s model, I provided examples using concrete images such as referencing how this thinking can be applied to how they have preferences for Coca-Cola A Coca-Cola logo on a truck at a distribution center in Alexandriaand its ocokebottlesther brands of soft drinks (I found that using this as an example allowed for more students to connect with the activity). Using this concrete way, I stumbled onto a means to concretize this concept beyond some abstract notion to a concept that they can see in themselves and others with time and practice. Moreover, it served as a place holder for them use until they were able to conceptualize their own examples–ownership (potential point of humor)!! This moment of student ownership is one of the most rewarding times to me as an educator. I view educational epiphanies as students’ first steps to educational ownership or, more importantly, them owning their paths in their educational journey.

The other beautiful thing about this process is that you see students begin to take educational risks. I often don’t provide students with affirmation of their answers to allow for them to grapple with their own thoughts independent of an immediate assessment that they may be accustomed to from the prior educational experiences. For me, this is a risk that I’m willing to take because I seek to offer students opportunities to share their thinking as opposed to silencing them before they even speak. Yet, I honestly admit that this is one of the hardest things for me to get students to buy into, based on how they’ve often been socialized to learn and demonstrate their learning. It’s almost like fighting Iron Mike Tyson in his prime (Yet I haven’t given up though).

With these experiences in mind, I go back to work preparing myself and the lesson for the next opportunity. As I told my students, “When you show me you can do it [critically think]. I get greedy and want you to do it every time.”

Until the next entry.

PSDW~

PSDW Reflective Journal

20 Sunday Jan 2013

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As an educator, who works with students who also wish to become educators, I have come to learn much from them as it relates to not only how they see the world but how I see their visions of it. Through this process, I have been challenged in ways that I would not have ever imagined. I have been made to ask myself questions such as:

  1. What do I really value in terms of education?
  2. How important is the content that I’m teaching compared to the process in which I want my students to undertake?
  3. How much of me do I really wish to share with them while providing the space for them to be who they are and need to become?
  4. Do I want them teaching the next generation of learners?
  5. Do I want them to make the same mistakes that I made when I was teaching as a public school teacher (1st grade and 3rd/4th grade)?

I find that these questions are always on my mind when I’m preparing lectures, class activities, and/or talking with them or others about them. This collection of questions are my basis for much that I do as an instructor and field experience coordinator. This collection has a vice grip on my consciousness in very interesting ways. These ways, I have decided to share in this new component of my blog.

In a similar fashion to what I ask of my students to do in the course that I teach regarding “Diversity”, I will also participate in by writing my very own reflections for whomever accesses this blog to read and make their own assessments. My reflections will be based on what occurs in my classes without providing details that easily identify anyone. Instead, I wish to take the overall thoughts that I have from those moments with my students and share them. While some may wonder what makes this different from the “Educational Trenches” section of my blog, I decided that I wanted to support that space for other educators as they and their stories were/are meant–to take center stage.

So with no further ado, my reflections on teaching and what my students teach me will start after completing my next classes which are not slated until this Wednesday in light of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Until then…

Take care,

PSDW~

Musical Representations of Culture

31 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Culture & Music

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The significance of culture is clearly found within the types of music created throughout the world. Within this section of my blog, an exploration of various types of music will be presented. I look forward to hearing what you think about the beautiful ways culture is presented and shared for us all to appreciate…

Enjoy…

PSD~