Equality 101

In addition to advanced composition, I also teach a lower-level composition class called Academic Writing (AW). Over the last year, we’ve worked together to revamp this course so that it better meets our students’ needs, which are different from the traditional first-year/freshman composition course called College Composition. The primary objective of Academic Writing is to effectively prepare students for the challenges and concepts of College Composition. One of the biggest challenges in teaching Academic Writing is differentiating instruction to work for all of the students. While there are only three sections of AW available at my institution (meaning that my officemate and I teach all of the available sections every semester), this course caters to many students of very different backgrounds: we have international students, mostly Middle Eastern, who have only begun learning English in the last five years; we have generation 1.5 students; we have first-generation college students; and we have more “typical” American students. Each of these groups has its own needs in the college composition classroom. But one need that these groups share is the need to develop a classroom community — not only because this makes learning and teaching more enjoyable, but because these classes are so diverse. Read the rest of this entry →

There are a couple of activities/lessons I like to do at the beginning of every school year to unite my students and to get them to become globally aware since they will be studying world cultures and ancient civilizations all year.  They are what I call “Where in the world are you from?”and “The Line Game”.  These lessons all have to do with recognizing the similarities and differences between us and our peers.  The students realize that it is “ok” to be different than their peers.  They also realize that they are all different from each other in some ways.  On the other hand, the students also realize that they may have a lot more in common with people they would never associate themselves as similar to.  They are all eye-opening experiences that the students talk about all year long. Read the rest of this entry →

During my vacation with my boyfriend and a couple of our friends (to Maui! So fun!), we had a discussion about whether the US should name English as its official language (ironic considering that Hawaii names both English and Hawaiian as official languages). This is a debate fraught with political, emotional, and cultural turmoil, primarily because laws that proclaim English as the official language of a state or nation have far-reaching consequences, especially when it comes to education. Indeed, my conversation with my friends bordered on dramatic simply because we all have had vastly different experiences with people who speak other languages in our work and personal lives (it should be noted that we are all white native speakers).

Before this conversation, I hadn’t really questioned what I learned about the English-only/official English movement as an undergraduate, which is summed up rather nicely by this position statement by CCCC/NCTE:

The National Language Policy is a response to efforts to make English the “official” language of the United States. This policy recognizes the historical reality that, even though English has become the language of wider communication, we are a multilingual society. All people in a democratic society have the right to education, to employment, to social services, and to equal protection under the law. No one should be denied these or any civil rights because of linguistic differences. This policy would enable everyone to participate in the life of this multicultural nation by ensuring continued respect both for English, our common language, and for the many other languages that contribute to our rich cultural heritage. Read the rest of this entry →

I had a post written about a mural in Prescott, Arizona. It was in response to an uproar surrounding Miller Valley Elementary School: “an Arizona elementary school mural featuring the faces of kids who attend the school has been the subject of constant daytime drive-by racist screaming, from adults, as well as a radio talk-show campaign (by an actual city councilman, who has an AM talk-radio show) to remove the black student’s face from the mural, and now the school principal has ordered the faces of the Latino and Black students pictured on the school wall to be repainted as light-skinned children.”

The post blasted the elementary school. It blasted City Councilman Steve Blair (who has since been removed from his radio show) for objecting to the “big ol’ black guy in the middle” of the mural that is “defacing a public building.” It blasted the citizens of Prescott for shouting epithets at the artists and the students who were painting the mural. It was a post connecting the attitudes of Arizona as a whole in light of the immigration law to the attitudes of Prescott specifically. It expressed my sadness and anger and hopelessness about some aspects of our culture. But mostly, it was premature.

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I do not live in Arizona.  In fact, I’ve never even been to Arizona.  When I was in undergrad, though, it seemed like Arizona would be an oasis for teachers.  There were superintendents and principals at job fairs that were offering contracts to teachers right then and there, without the strenuous interview process that teachers applying in the Chicago suburbs faced.  How easy it seemed to be to get a job teaching in the Phoenix area, and how wonderful the weather would be without the stifling humidity in the summer and the snow in the winter.  Now, however, I wonder if Arizona is the same sort of haven it used to be for budding graduates from teacher education programs.  So much is going on in that state that it’s hard to believe anyone would move there now, in this climate.

I am the eternal optimist, or, at least, I really do try to see the best in situations.  I have been told that Arizona legislators had reasons for passing SB1070.  I have been told that the state of Arizona is in such a bad economic situation that they had to do something.  I have been told all of these things, and more, but I can’t see any positive side to a law that creates such a culture of hatred and racism that people are comparing Arizona police to the Nazis.  And now, this law and the culture surrounding it has opened up avenues to effect the education of students in the state and, by extension, the country and the world.

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Bad things happen in our world.  Sometimes, we look the other way.  Sometimes we confront them head on.  Sometimes we stand by and watch.  But what do we remember?  How do we remember?  And why do we remember?  These questions really get my students thinking.

We start by breaking up into small groups to tackle the following questions:

1.    What is the difference between a memorial, a monument and a museum?  Explain.
2.    Explain the purpose of memorializing events.  Why do we do it?
3.    In your opinion, what is the most effective way of ensuring that people will not forget an event?  Why is it effective?
4.    Why is memorializing so controversial?  Consider 9/11.  How do you feel it would best be memorialized?  Should it be memorialized?  Why/why not?
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You know those days when everything just lines up perfectly and all your synapses start firing and things just connect?  Yesterday was one of those days.  It started with Adam’s thought-provoking post from yesterday and a conversation that keeps reoccurring with my students, continued during my grad class last night, and a conversation with Tim afterwards.

When I ask my students what they want to see from a teacher – and I do this often, whether because I sense the need that they need to talk, or because it fits in with a lesson we’re doing, or because they volunteer the information – they always start by saying that good teachers understand them.

I might be bold in including myself in the “good teacher” category, but I must ask a pressing question: Do we, as good teachers, really understand our students?  I mean really understand them. 
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I had a student come into my acting class today and declare, “I was just the victim of racism.” This student is black, has an outstanding disposition towards race and a strong vision of his identity. He was not angry about it – more amused. I’ll recount his story as best I can.

During the passing period, he was walking through the hall with a comb in his hair – the handle of the comb was molded in the Black Power fist. Just outside his classroom, a dean asked him to remove the pick, which he did after telling the dean it wasn’t a pick, it was a comb. His teacher asked “what was that about?” The student told her the story, to which she responded “Maybe you should stop whining.” The student responded, “I’m not whining, I’m simply explaining what happened. We obviously grew up in different situations if you classify that as whining.” The teacher said, “You don’t know me,” to which the student responded, “You don’t know me.” The teacher then sent the student to the office.

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On my way to work Monday morning I was surfing through the radio stations to find something that would motivate me to start the week before Spring Break (a terribly difficult week for most teachers).   I heard this on National Public Radio (NPR):

Duncan To Step Up Civil Rights Enforcement

Some of the statistics cited in this report are staggering, but by no means surprising to most educators:

African-American students are six times less likely to be college and career-ready in biology than their white counterparts, or four times less likely to be college-ready in Algebra. We see districts where only 3 percent of high school English language learners are performing at grade level in math and in English.

In addition the issue of immigration rights can get woven into this discussion as well:

Latinos, on the other hand, pose a very different set of civil rights challenges. Tom Saenz of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund says in some states, Latinos can’t even register for school without proof of their immigration status.

In a nutshell, this is why we at Equality101 do what we do.  We are striving for equal educational opportunities for all, and thankfully, we’re not the only ones.

I began teaching 10 years ago. For the New York City Department of Education. I taught social studies and English at a small, alternative school (code for low test scores) for at-risk teens who had dropped out or were kicked out of their original high schools. It was a second chance for them. A step before a G.E.D. or before dropping out altogether. They came in with baggage. Tremendous baggage. Some of them homeless. Some of them abused. Some of them neglected. Most of them depressed. It was an experience I will never forget. It was also totally exhausting.

Recently, I was going through some old files and I came upon a big packet from Youth Portraits:

Young People Recently Released from Rikers Tell Their Own Stories

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