"you'll never be black"

When I was in sixth grade, we were assigned to write an essay on someone we wanted to be. It wasn’t supposed to be the typical “hero” essay, or “I look up to ______ because…” We were to write about someone’s lifestyle, career that we wanted. I was pumped. I wanted to be Jackie Joyner Kersee. I knew everything about her athletic career and basically I did want to be her. During the brainstorming part of class, my teacher vetoed my idea, suggesting I pick the principal, my mom, my sister, or the mayor (a woman). Those are more realistic, he told me. Really? The principal? That is not realistic or admirable to most sixth-graders. He laughed (honestly), and said, “Erin, but you’ll never be black.” No shit, sir. I’ll also never be a pro athlete—but isn’t this what the essay’s supposed to be about? Since he was my teacher and this was his assignment, I decided to write about my sister.

I didn’t (and still don’t) know how this reason was ever legitimate to my teacher. Apparently the guys in the class only wanted to be white basketball players, or Brett Favre—or maybe their dads. And the only non-white student—a Hmong girl—must’ve decided to be a family member, because, heaven forbid, she’ll never be a famous white woman.

I hadn’t thought of this for many years, until reading Kathy Jervis’s article “How Come There are No Brothers on That List?” Questions about race (and ethnicity, culture, religion, gender) are asked because students are genuinely curious. Of course these questions are difficult, but that our students ask them means they trust us. As Jervis argues; unless teachers create an environment that is safe to explore these implications, these critical discussions will never occur. To discuss—to combat—racism and discrimination is something that should definitely be part of classroom discourse. (These discussions can create discomfort for the teacher, but professionally and ethically, they should be had.) The world, the United States, the city of Milwaukee—are all very diverse places, racially, ethnically, and culturally. It is part of our profession as teachers to help prepare our students for the discourse of these worlds outside of the classroom…

sexism and photographs

Something discussed in class this past Monday really grabbed my attention, and related to part of the reading in Chapter 27. It was brought up in discussion that many of us don't think twice about when we see teachers wearing wedding rings or have photographs of their ("traditional"/heterosexual) families up in their classrooms. Many of us therefore fail to realize how how this might make LBGTQ students feel. On day one of my fieldwork, I noticed all the family photographs my cooperating teacher has up in her room—including a wedding one of the bride and groom kissing—but before Monday's class, never thought about the repercussions of this for some students and other teachers. This is most definitely part of the hidden curriculum that Peter Mclaren discusses that can lead to sexism and sexually accepted beliefs. The "unwitting and unintended granting of power and privilege" mentioned is one of the most dangerous things happening in today's classroom through the hidden curriculum (414).

What I find to be most frigthening about this is that we rarely see our own hidden curriculum to the extent that it exists or is being unknowingly taught, and that we rarely reflect on it....

Problem-Based Learning

*As I was unable to get my hands on someone's book to borrow this week, I am blogging about the problem-based learning projects introduced in class this week.

Throughout the week, I had some discussions with classmates about how problem-based learning can be made relevant in our classrooms. I didn't want to agree with those who right now see no relevance, but there was some pretty strong support behind their ideas. However, because I want my group to do our project on something with the environment (like recycling), I was brainstorming today for awhile about it.

Aaaand I found one way to make it relevant in both English Language Arts and in Social Studies. (So don't steal my ideas...) Here was my thought. In English, a problem-based learning project could stem from reading T.S. Elliot's poem "The Wasteland," because the wasteland in the poem is created from the people, and we could therefore compare it with the waste generated by people today. Aligned with this in Social Studies could be the Industrial Revolution and all the polution and such that came with it. I also think it's important that we see these relationships over time and how some things have changed drastically (thanks to technology) and some things have not changed at all (thanks again to technology, or lack thereof).

I still wonder about the question of time and how we might be able to do such a project in a 45-minute class period (such as the one I'm in now at MSL). However, I do believe problem-based learning seems incredibly engaging depending on the topic chosen, and it seems like something I would like to try in a classroom.

In the first handout on "What is Problem-Based Learning" introduced by the Association for Suepervision and Curriculum Development, it is stated that "The problems that students meet during PBL demand the same problem-solving strategies we use in the real world: making observations, creating hypotheses, conducting investigations, collecting information, defining issues, evaluating our thinking, developing possible solutions, and selecting solutions that fit our construction of the problem" (41). This statement is why PBL is legitimate in any classroom; because it is relevant. Relevant not only to the student's life by the topic as it affects each individual, but because the project probes them not only to learn lifelong skills, but to use them...