Last week my mentor teacher was sort of complaining to another teacher about how he felt like the freshmen were "different" from last years freshmen. He said so in a really displeased manner and the other teacher paused, took a deep breath and said "yeah, ya know.. I was thinking that too but then I realized I was comparing them to how my freshmen were at the end of the year as opposed to how they started off at the beginning of the year." What he said really made me think and I was pleasantly surprised when Linda Christensen said something extremely similar to this statement in Building Community from Chaos. Christensen's main concern for her classrooms is to create a "compassionate, warm, safe place for students," something that she explains is an everyday battle that often leaves her exhausted. She says that her "recollection is based on the final quarter of the previous year," which is basically the problem my mentor teacher was working through last week. Christensen's response to this "battle" is one that I really enjoyed reading about and is extremely logical. Many times teachers assume that students know how to do these things that we deem as "basic," so basic that we never really teach them. In Building Community from Chaos, she explains that students need to be taught how to talk to each other about difficult topics and more importantly presented a "curriculum that teaches how to empathize with others.
The first step in building such a curriculum is to pick material that students are engaged in, something they can connect to. For Christensen this topic turned out to be violence which she states she was hesitant about in fears of "glorifying" violence to her class. However, the effect was quite the opposite. What I've learned in these two semesters of observing high school students is that the huge majority of students will be honest and serious about topics they feel are important, things that have touched them personally. I've seen this especially this semester observing at Juarez whenever students are given the chance to talk about violence, gang activity, garbage in their neighborhood, etc, they will talk and write non stop. Finding out what REALLY touches and motivates students is what Christensen calls the "heartbeat" of the class.
Christensen continued building her curriculum of empathy by assigning students books to read that would expose them to the troubles of people who are from a different ethnic background than themselves, such as the A Different Mirror, the book about the Filipino man living in Alaska. She stresses the importance of putting students face to face with people they wouldn't normally meet or speak to, and getting"inside the lives of others" usually through the sharing of personal stories.
This idea of building empathy and connecting to class material carried over into chapter 10 at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center School, Mr. B has his students reading The Piano Lesson, it was clear that many of the students could relate to some of the concepts in the book, for example, the mourning of the dead. Most of the adolescents in the Juvenile Detention center had been exposed to some sort of violence and death in their lives and this became especially evident when they wrote their poems. These experiences however, allowed them to connect to the characters and the text as a whole that many other students can't.
Would you be willing to talk to your students about difficult things like violence? death? sexuality? and provide material on these topics? Encouraging students to get to know each other on a deeper level to build empathy is important, would you do this? how would you do this in class in a way that ensures no one gets toooooooo personal, or disrespectful or just uncomfortable? Monique Redeaux calls herself "one of these children," what do you think she means? Do her experiences as a black student and then teacher of mostly black students have anything to do with this? How do you feel about teachers bringing their personal experiences into the classroom?
Great post and powerful questions Yehia,
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about a lot of these questions as I read and must admit became very emotional to the stories told in the chapters. I do think that it is VITAL to teach empathy in the classroom and talking about some of these hard-cord issues. Like Linda Christensen mentions in her writing, kids carry these issues into the classroom and are desperate to talk about them. But how can we do this in a “politically correct” way? How would my depart chair or principle feel about me doing this? Should it be a school wide effort or be left to one subject? I do not know the answers to these questions, but would assume that I would require the support from my administration to be able to have these conversations. I also wish we, as teachers, could be train about the proper way to conduct these types of “seminars” where students leave the classroom relaxed and not hostile. My biggest fear would be to try and have a hard conversation and things getting out of control, ending the whole conversation in the wrong way and damaging the opportunity to do it again. Linda Christensen’s reading left me enthusiastic but with a lot of questions.
Hey Yosra,
ReplyDeleteI have had several conversations with other UIC students and teachers about the idea of relating to students in an urban classroom environment when I myself have had very little experience with most of the topics you describe in your blog post. Having grown up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, I clearly cannot relate to a lot of what students going to school in Englewood have probably experienced. In fact, one of the students in the classroom that I am completing my observations in is homeless.
The answers I received from others when I expressed concerns about being unable to relate to my students has been simply to acknowledge the fact that I DON'T have that experience. Kids will know if you a trying to pull something over on them, and they will resent you for attempting to do so.
Using books and other sources to discuss the difficult topics you mention in your post is a great idea. It could lead to a situation where you establish a secure environment in your classroom, so that you could then have your students share their experiences. I remember reading a story about how an English teacher was discussing gang violence in her inner city school by having her students write rap songs about their experiences. Some of the students were even willing to perform them in class.
This is just one example of how teachers can make the curriculum relevant to their students, and address issues important to students. Bringing your own experiences into classroom at the appropriate time and level can be beneficial for your students. Treading carefully does NOT mean don't tread at all!
I truly believe in the power of having meaningful discussions and debates in the classroom. Creating disequilibrium via controversial and sensitive topics might incite student’s to question their notions and ideas to really figure out if they are correct or if there is a possibility of being wrong. I also believe that it is essential to encourage students to get to know each and build empathy in order to create a good support system and a solid community. However, in order to be able to hold controversial and sensitive debates among students the classroom needs to have clear rules of what behaviors are appropriate and which ones are not. We have to learn to be diplomatic and kind to each other. To respect the ideas and believes of others even if we do not agree with them. There are always ways of being able to get our point across without having to offend anyone nor be disrespectful to our listeners.
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ReplyDeleteI know that as a teacher, I will definitely try my best to bring in serious and powerful topics into the classroom, as it is definitely important for students to be well informed as well as be given the chance to explore such topics that can help them understand and develop empathy. Last week, I was actually able to watch two class periods at my placement school be introduced to a very serious topic as a part of a new unit. I was very surprised to see that both class periods had quite different reactions. As they were starting a new unit on middle eastern literature, my mentor teacher had them watch and respond to videos about the rights of women in the middle east as well as the current conflict with ISIS. In the first period, the students responded appropriately in their discussion as they responded with their thoughts on what they watched in the videos. However, the second period class did not handle the topics so well, as when they were watching and responding to the video, many of the students were laughing and making inappropriate remarks. Due to this, they did not even get to have a discussion since my mentor had to take time to address their inappropriate behavior. When I spoke to my mentor about what had happened, she told me that her students often have a hard time understanding or even empathizing with others in other serious situations because through some of their experiences living in Chicago, they feel that no one from the outside looking in cares much about them, so why bother caring about others? I just wanted to share this experience in response to your post because it opened my eyes to the obstacles we as teachers may face when introducing sensitive topics into the classroom, as students may have a difficult time understanding the seriousness of such topics. Students will not always be engaged in certain material that we may feel is important for them to learn, however, it is up to us to find ways to help them connect to the material so that they may work towards a strong understanding as well as a development of their own views.
ReplyDeleteYosra,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and all the people that have replied to your post. Getting students to open up and bring themselves into the mix of their education is very important. If the students do not take control of their own learning, no one will do it for them. By teaching material that is relevant to the students and makes them interested in it, it makes them more aware that they can actually participate in education. I think that many of the urban students feel they do not have anything to gain from education. To them, it is just this thing that they have to do 5 days a week. But, I think that if we as teachers can open them up by teaching them material that relates to them, we will also be able to teach them material that they might have felt means nothing to them. Everything we teach has real world application and it is our jobs as teachers to make students aware of this fact.
Thanks for the great post Yosra,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your you and the message conveyed through these chapters. It is not only an excellent method of teaching material through relevancy, but it allows the students to come together as a community. Students get to voice opinions that they may not have any other outlet to voice and talk about the things that matter to them most. What makes it even more meaningful is when there is a materialistic gain or change from all of the theoretical discussions you have in the classroom. For example, Natali mentioned earlier in the year the closing of a coal refinery near her home town that all started with a high school teacher wanting to discuss an issue relevant to students.
Yes, I completely agree many teachers at the high school level are specialized in one subject and for what seems like basic to a teacher isn't exactly to our students so as teachers we have to remind ourselves that we have to sometimes explain the basic material of our subject many times in order for our students to finally get it. Something I would enjoy involving in my classroom is the discussions of topics that might be sensitive because everyone holds and opinion (and by the way it's a great way to get students to talk in the target language especially in those heritage speaker classes)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post I found it as insightful as the readings. I agree that we do view those things as basic and, as a result, disregard the need to teach them. I completely agree with the idea of a curriculum that teaches students how to empathize with others. I think this can be achieved in many ways and in all the disciplines. Furthermore, I think that these are the things that students really take with them when leaving the classroom-things that will help them out not only in school but outside of it as well.
ReplyDeleteTeaching student's empathy is a way to create a safe environment within the classroom. Once student's understand empathy the teacher can then discuss controversial topics. When student's do in the end understand empathy this can further help them in the outside world.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! As I read your post, I couldn't help but think of the class I'm observing at Marshall Metropolitan High School. The students are in the process of going through mind-numbing, subject/predicate/fanboys, worksheets. For those unfamiliar, the students look at sentences and paragraphs and have to circle the subject, underline the predicate, and identify fanboys (for, and, nor, by, or, yet, and so). The reason I bring this up in response to your post is that the students have an opportunity to write their own paragraphs at the end of the worksheets using fanboys. Here is where a "happy accident" occurs: the students are supposed to write about the novel, "Speak," but many not reading the directions or just ignoring them, wrote personal sentences of which some were as follows: "I like to play outside, but my mom says they shoot." Here is a perfect example of how the teacher can utilize curriculum required by administration, but also incorporate student's voices, and bring about conversations in the classroom. In addition, my mentor teacher has a newborn baby and he frequently incorporates quips of his family life into the classroom. They are side notes, and like the student's sentences are brief, but these "nuggets" pack a lot in regards to empathy and creating a class environment of sharing personal experiences.
ReplyDeleteI think that the topics such as violenece, death, and sexuality can be talked about through the literature. If it is a topic that can get too personal or uncomfortable you can use the literature as a vehicle to talk about the topic. Students do not have to share their personal stories. This way, students can explore and make sense of the topic in a safe envirnment. Also, students are able to talk about the topic without directly talking about themselves.
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