(Re)Imagined Classroom
Alright! I already wrote this document and it was accidentally deleted. I’m sorry if you’re getting a
salty version of what I already spent 2 hours writing and must now re-write.
salty version of what I already spent 2 hours writing and must now re-write.
So I started with an explanation/examination of the students I would one day end up teaching,
because my hope is to teach at Department of Defense schools (DoDEA) and as this class as
progressed, I’ve realized the different ways that DoDEA students are privileged/disadvantaged. Some
of the discussion we’ve had in class don’t necessarily apply to DoD students. Because the minimum
requirements for army enlistment (Although the grand majority of DoDEA schools are not on army
bases given the danger and mobility associated with most army stations, army enlistment has the
lowest requirements and so stands as a good baseline for understanding military families) include
proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, and understanding English, ELL students are virtually
non-existent in DoDEA schools (unless we consider English Diplomacy Schools an extension of
DoDEA, but that’s a whole other can of worms). I can also guarantee that my students will all have
places to live and that at least one parent will be employed at all times. With the benefits alloted military
members and their dependents, none of my students will likely have experienced extreme poverty. The
US military is also more diverse on average than the rest of the US, and gerrymandering is impossible
on a military base, so although I can’t dismiss racial or ethnic tensions like I did the first time I wrote this
entry, many of the students will have grown up with classmates of different races and ethnicities even if
many aspects of their culture overlapped due to military life.
because my hope is to teach at Department of Defense schools (DoDEA) and as this class as
progressed, I’ve realized the different ways that DoDEA students are privileged/disadvantaged. Some
of the discussion we’ve had in class don’t necessarily apply to DoD students. Because the minimum
requirements for army enlistment (Although the grand majority of DoDEA schools are not on army
bases given the danger and mobility associated with most army stations, army enlistment has the
lowest requirements and so stands as a good baseline for understanding military families) include
proficiency in reading, speaking, writing, and understanding English, ELL students are virtually
non-existent in DoDEA schools (unless we consider English Diplomacy Schools an extension of
DoDEA, but that’s a whole other can of worms). I can also guarantee that my students will all have
places to live and that at least one parent will be employed at all times. With the benefits alloted military
members and their dependents, none of my students will likely have experienced extreme poverty. The
US military is also more diverse on average than the rest of the US, and gerrymandering is impossible
on a military base, so although I can’t dismiss racial or ethnic tensions like I did the first time I wrote this
entry, many of the students will have grown up with classmates of different races and ethnicities even if
many aspects of their culture overlapped due to military life.
That being said, concerns regarding religious discrimination and stereotyping, especially of the
Islamic faith, will more likely affect students whose parents are directly or indirectly involved in the war
in Iraq. Questions of ableism may also be more prevalent in a community where 95% of the work
requires its employees to pass regular physical exams. I could say something about toxic masculinity
and ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ in the military, but I think especially among the rising generation, discussions
of gender and sexual orientation are likely not too much different from a regular classroom. One thing
we didn’t talk about in class, and I’m not sure it even fits into ‘multicultural education’, though military
kids are statistically more likely to have parents who struggle with it, is substance abuse, especially
alcohol and prescription drugs. I don’t think this will change my ideal classroom very much, but it’s good
to keep in mind. Finally, according to everyone I’ve talked to currently working in DoDEA schools,
regulations on content that can be taught in DoDEA schools is much stricter than state schools, needing
to pass multiple committees/organizations, some of which have nothing to do with education to begin
with, before being approved to teach. The consequences for teaching unapproved content is also much
harsher, and a teacher may be banned from any federal education position in the future, meaning
teaching for social justice may have to be more subtle than some of the ways we discussed in class.
Islamic faith, will more likely affect students whose parents are directly or indirectly involved in the war
in Iraq. Questions of ableism may also be more prevalent in a community where 95% of the work
requires its employees to pass regular physical exams. I could say something about toxic masculinity
and ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ in the military, but I think especially among the rising generation, discussions
of gender and sexual orientation are likely not too much different from a regular classroom. One thing
we didn’t talk about in class, and I’m not sure it even fits into ‘multicultural education’, though military
kids are statistically more likely to have parents who struggle with it, is substance abuse, especially
alcohol and prescription drugs. I don’t think this will change my ideal classroom very much, but it’s good
to keep in mind. Finally, according to everyone I’ve talked to currently working in DoDEA schools,
regulations on content that can be taught in DoDEA schools is much stricter than state schools, needing
to pass multiple committees/organizations, some of which have nothing to do with education to begin
with, before being approved to teach. The consequences for teaching unapproved content is also much
harsher, and a teacher may be banned from any federal education position in the future, meaning
teaching for social justice may have to be more subtle than some of the ways we discussed in class.
 |
| DoDEA student, parent, and faculty |
The point of this incredibly long introduction is to say that as I’m re-writing my ideal classroom, I’m
looking specifically at challenges my students will likely face; discrimination based on religion, ability,
gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and culture.
The first thing I talked about in my blog was my literature collection. I mentioned specifically that I
wanted books that ‘appealed to many different students’ and I think I need to add to this revision that I
also need books that might not immediately appeal to my kids. Instead of just reflecting the background
and experiences my students can relate to, I also need books about experiences they can’t relate to. I
mentioned spotlighting different books each week and I think this could be the perfect opportunity to
recommend books from differing perspectives, time periods, ages, literally-any-culture-that’s-not-American,
etc. I realize that it’s difficult to be invested in a military conflict, and with one or more parent open to
deployment at any given time my students will be invested, without developing an Us vs. Them
mentality. Creating a classroom that respects and celebrates a multitude of experiences will be a step
towards multicultural education while also trying to deconstruction a dichotomous mindset.
looking specifically at challenges my students will likely face; discrimination based on religion, ability,
gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and culture.
The first thing I talked about in my blog was my literature collection. I mentioned specifically that I
wanted books that ‘appealed to many different students’ and I think I need to add to this revision that I
also need books that might not immediately appeal to my kids. Instead of just reflecting the background
and experiences my students can relate to, I also need books about experiences they can’t relate to. I
mentioned spotlighting different books each week and I think this could be the perfect opportunity to
recommend books from differing perspectives, time periods, ages, literally-any-culture-that’s-not-American,
etc. I realize that it’s difficult to be invested in a military conflict, and with one or more parent open to
deployment at any given time my students will be invested, without developing an Us vs. Them
mentality. Creating a classroom that respects and celebrates a multitude of experiences will be a step
towards multicultural education while also trying to deconstruction a dichotomous mindset.
 | ||||
| Lots of Books!
I also talked about having a community bulletin board for activities/events available for students to join. I was briefly worried about how this might alienate or isolate students who could not afford the time, gas, or money involved in joining a community groups, but I don’t think that will be a big problem in DoDEA schools. I still think community involvement is incredibly important, especially for students who move around and don’t often feel invested in the communities they’re living in, but I also think the bulletin board could be used to encourage cultural learning opportunities like our ‘Being the Other’ project. Most overseas bases in countries like Korea, Turkey, Puerto Rico, have incredibly strong on-base communities that mimic small American cities, but these students have a rare and exciting opportunity to be directly involved in communities from cultures vastly different from their own. I want to use the bulletin board not just as a way of getting kids doing things, but sparking discussions on social activism and involvement, and pushing my students to humbly learn about and be comfortable in and around foreign (to them) cultures.
Community Bulletin Board
I’m still pretty proud of what I wrote regarding classroom policy, but I do need to clarify my definition of ‘professionalism’. In implementing ‘professionalism points’ I need to be absolutely certain that I’m not privileging some students over others because their concept of what is professional differ from mine. We read and discussed classroom discipline issues when Black American students have trouble respecting teachers who aren’t authority figures, or students with autism who find eye contact extremely uncomfortable. Both of these are scenarios in which my concept of what is professional may clash with my students. I need to make sure if I use ‘professionalism points’ in my classroom, that I am very clear about what I expect from my students, that I’m not misinterpreting a student’s differing cultural background (which could be as simple as ‘this student spent the last 3 years in deep south US, where the concept of respect is very different from Alaska’s or Japan’s or Spain’s’) as disrespect, and that I do not shy away from authoritarian positions.
I wrote a lot about discussion circles, mostly because growing up, I loved discussion circles. What I didn’t consider is that a) the flexibility I want may be more difficult to attain because of federal regulation and b) having a discussion based class requires me to be more aware of my students. If I do have discussions in class I need to make sure my class isn’t dominated by all male voices (or all straight voices, or all traditionally, academically achieving voices, voices of students who are confident in their positions of power because their experiences and opinions reflect the majority already) and I think one way I could do that is by grading discussion with a rubric that accounts for students allowing and respecting every one of their peers’ right to speak. Students that monopolize discussion time would have a similar grade to those who don’t speak at all.
Socratic Seminar
As for my small planned lesson, it begins with a class discussion of literary devices in a required text, for which I could use the modifications above. I’d still like to have lessons as student-led as possible while maintained an authoritative presence. I also like the idea of students collaborating as much as possible. We’ve talked about segregation of students based on disability (and tracking) and the different ways its harmful to all students involved. My lesson included having students get into groups and discuss an assigned literary device within a book, and I think it’s important to make sure these groups are not segregated, and that may mean I need to assign the groups myself. Students will not only benefit from getting to know and collaborate from different peers, but since those groups will then present what they found for their class, each student would get a chance at being in a position of intellectual power.
|
Comments
Post a Comment