Community Visits

Kim Mizell's Dinner Discussion at the Blue Moon Diner on October 4.

Thank you, Kim, for a thoughtful dialogue as we reshape our insight about culturally relevant teaching. Please enjoy our Photo Thank You to you for your time and expertise.

Picture collage made with Smilebox

Frances & Colleagues

What Does Discrimination Mean To Us: Telling our stories
Forum at Farmington Civic Center
Sept. 30, 6-8pm
We will meet at Three Rivers Pizzaria prior to the event (4:45pm)

I am always thinking about how to present topics of cultural sensitivity, equity, critical pedagogy in ways that will reach students and teachers. Historically these issues of social justice, social equity, cultural responsiveness are emotionally, religiously, psychologically, politically charged and require the sophistication of Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Cater and a SWAT Team Negotiator to navigate in a small grouping of people. In Farmington, although a tricultured plurism is touted, there remains a strong residue of discrimination, inequity that is difficult for many residents to see, yet alone begin to talk about, without becoming defensive or uncomfortable. New Mexico is a Minority Majority state, yet examplifies racist and discriminatory practices. For example, in Farmington ask yourself where the representation of our state triculturalism is represented in city government, city council, in business, in city and community leaders?

As teachers and encultured individuals, it is important for us to think about these issues, our biases, and become comfortable joining in the conversation. As professionals, we want to advance ourselves and our teaching. We return to school to learn advanced instructional strategies, curriculum development and we are eager to learn how we can become better teachers. Topics of social equity and becoming culturally responsive teachers are also important and require as much personal and insightful diligence as learning any other academic subject, do you not agree?

Emic and etic perspectives are brought to mind in thinking about our own cultured stances. Emic refers to the insider or native experience as a member of a particular group or society. Etic refers to the outsider's perspective interpreting things through analytical, methodical, educational lenses. So as educators we are probably negotiating emic and etic stances all the time in our teaching and learning. I provide emic and etic thought here as another way to look at ourselves, our own paradigms and how we relate these and ourselves to the world of our classroom and the students we teach. Emic and Etic are linguistic derivations from phonemic and phonetic and are applied in other disciplines as anthropology, education, sociology and management, to name a few.

More about Emic and Etic stances
Emic/Etic Distinctions by Dr. Lett
Case Study: Emic & Etic Approaches

Bernice Reagon brings some insight on this.

Thank you, Frances

Thank you to an online evening of chatting

Bernice Reagon: People “know that nobody can survive in a minority position with only one point of view -- we have always had to understand the majority view as well. In the effort to understand the story of America, we're still not getting enough help from many people who share the story, because they come from a culture that says that their view is the only one. Well, I say to them: Welcome to prekindergarten! You will not die if you discover that there are more lines out there than just your own. In fact, you'll discover that you will have an advantage if you know more of them!”  — Utne Reader (March/April 1996)

Thank you, all for your online conversations, reflections and collegial dialogue tonight. Let's do it again sometime soon!

I have made our dinner reservations at Three Rivers Pizzaria for 4:45-5:45pm. I have asked Carolyn Martinez from ENLACE to join us at dinner since she will also be going to the Forum.

SUBJECT MATTERS Discussion (Sept. 27)

In Oakes & Lipton (2007), Chapter three outlines philosphical perspectives and the resulting educational philosophies. How do these philosphical perspectives influence curriculum? How do they connect or disconnect with being a culturally relevant teacher committed to social justice?

In Chapter four, Subject Matters, what disagreements still exist about what students should know? Of the proponents mentioned, who do you connect or feel similarly from your teaching perspective and practice? What new insights have you gleaned or have more questions to query about?

We will read and respond to each post as we go in conversation style on Monday, Sept. 27 at 5pm.

September 20 Seminar

Christensen (2000) describes a reading and writing activity that builds upon the Jewish tradition of "making the learning sweet." She advocates using this activity to open the school year, providing teachers with information about the cultural backgrounds of their students. Writing project sites have used "Sweet Learning" as an opening informal writing activity in summer invitational institutes, leadership team meetings, and professional development occasions.

Christensen, L. 2000. "Sweet Learning." P. 23–26 in Reading, Writing, and Rising Up. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Introduction: Chimamanda Video 

FALL 2010  SOCIAL JUSTICE     Week 5         20 September 2010

Course Blog

Class Collection Webpages 

5:45pm View Sweet Learnings on Webpages

The Feather Story

6:45pm

BOOK TALKS/Discussion Circle

on AMAZING GRACE

7pm Teaching Tolerance Teaching Diverse Students Initiative (TDSi)

About the Pias Test Project

Take Bias Test

Culturally Relevant Teaching 

Professional Discourse 

More:

Not Post Racial Yet

Talking about Race in Professional Learning Communities  

Review Syllabus and upcoming assignments:

• Sept. 27: Meet on course blog (http://unmsocialjustice.blogspot.com/) at 5pm to discuss Oakes & Lipton CHAPTER 4
• What can you find out about Pecha Kucha for presentations?

Quotes for Reflection

Prompts: Reflecting on Oakes & Lipton Course Text Chapters 1, 2, 3
“One of the great challenges facing multicultural education today is the widening gap between its conceptualization as a redistribution of power and privilege in all aspects of schools and schooling and the practice of well-meaning, left-leaning educators who implement it in ways that recycle, rather than overturn, systemic power imbalances.” Christine Sleeter

Peter Hall (1997): “Schools represent a relatively stable system of inequality. They contribute to these results by active acceptance and utilization of a dominant set of values, norms, beliefs which, while appearing to offer opportunities to all, actually support the success of a privileged minority and hinder the efforts and visions of a majority” (Changing the Discourse in School in Race, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism: Policy and Practice, p. 151.)

Ivan Illich refered to compulsory education as a compulsory lottery system with a few winning but more losing. Those who fail to have the winning lottery number (grades) are stigmatized. This compulsory lottery system continues to higher education where it intentionally reproduces privilege rather than inspiring scholarship “Killing curiosity and killing students in the process” (Utne Reader, 1995, Snell, p. 93).

Similar to Illich’s concept was South American literacy activist Paolo Freire, who compared education to a banking system with students as ‘depositories’ and teachers as ‘depositors’. The banking system perpetuates domination and learners are passive consumers. Freire advocated for the liberating of education where the learner becomes empowered agents responsible for their own learning – not just what others want them to learn. This is what he called conscientization. Freire’s ideas about literacy empowerment were so controversial and in opposition to the dominant way of thinking that he was exiled from his own country. As educators, what kind of activists will we become as we teach in the name of educating students?

Are your a Reconceptualist?

Are You a Reconceptualist?


Bernice Reagon: People “know that nobody can survive in a minority position with only one point of view -- we have always had to understand the majority view as well. In the effort to understand the story of America, we're still not getting enough help from many people who share the story, because they come from a culture that says that their view is the only one. Well, I say to them: Welcome to prekindergarten! You will not die if you discover that there are more lines out there than just your own. In fact, you'll discover that you will have an advantage if you know more of them!” 
(Utne Reader, March/April 1996)
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Thinking about the nature of this course, I happened upon this conceptual outlook on AERA’s webpage.

Reconceptualists, consider the “cultural-sociological-political implications of the curriculum taught. Reconceptualists are not only, or even primarily interested in the official curriculum, as curriculum developers are, but seek to examine the hidden curriculum, the subtext that comes with teaching a specific curriculum a certain way to specific groups of students. Reconceptualists, in other words, are interested in much more than subject matter. They are interested in the messages or ideologies (hidden knowledge) that underlay not only subject matter, but also pedagogy, social interactions, and classroom settings, and educational practices as well as institutional contexts that have long come to be taken for granted. Many reconceptualists ultimately ask the question, who benefits from these configurations, and who loses…. in the cultural-sociological-political implications of schooling with respect to social justice, citizenship, or the role education is or should play in society at large.” Source: American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division B - Curriculum Instruction. (Retrieved August 7, 2007).

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Considering your emerging philosophy of education, are you a Reconceptualist? Is there a need for Reconceptual thinking in education? Please weigh in your thoughts below. Add your reflection about this to your individual webpages.
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As a critical theorist, I understand that education and language are not neutral landscapes and that they are highly politicized and controlled by the mainstream, dominant society. As an educator, I am an advocate in giving voice to those who may be underrepresented culturally, linguistically, politically, economically. I continue to challenge content in textbooks and in the curriculum and expose students to these incongruencies so they too may recognize, question and begin to think critically on their own. In preparing our students for their future, my philosophy of education has changed to better preparing our children to be productive in flexible and adaptable environments working with diverse others, culturally, linguistically, educationally, economically. Learning within environments that are meaningful, relevant and authentic has become an important focus of my methodology.

Reconceptualism is a synonym for critical theory and in this way, I do believe my teaching foundation resonates with both. Neil Postman said: "The lives of our children are shaped by what they will see and hear in the media" and "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.''

Source: Public Discourse in the Age of Showbusiness (2007).