maria pairitz's
community of teachers portfolio
xv. expressing convictions
evidence
I believe education is critical to the development of future citizens that can think critically, have empathy for others, and contribute positively to our democratic society and the world. My classroom will be a space for my students to respectfully speak their opinion, listen, and respond to other opposing views. Students learn best through example though, so not only must I teach these skills, I must demonstrate them inside and outside of my classroom everyday. Therefore, I must participate in salient conversations with my students without making them feel that my opinions are the only ‘correct’ opinions. Even though my ability to participate in conversations with my students concerning major social issues, respond thoughtfully and appropriately to controversial issues that are brought up in class, and create a classroom that encourages the same behavior from my students is still being developed, I believe the evidence I have provided demonstrates my awareness of and willingness to bring issues concerning social justice into the classroom.
The evidence I have gathered demonstrated my ability to provide a space that students feel encouraged to bring up issues they are passionate or curious about and be exposed to new perspectives from their classmates. In reflecting on these pieces of evidence, what I have accomplished include having responded to a racially instigated attack on social media, observed instances of students sharing their convictions in my mentor’s class, writing a pedagogy concerning expression of opinions in class, reading articles and created a list of essential components I want to include in my classroom, collaborating on a lesson plan advocating conflict resolution through art, leading and participating in current event discussions in seminar and creating a current event I would use in my own art class, and researching more on practices for education for sustainable development.
These pieces of evidence are important because they have deepened my understanding of advocating for something versus activism, made me think about how I would handle conflict in my classroom, expanded my beliefs about what can be included in my curriculum, and gave me the opportunity to envision what ways I could create a classroom that encourages salient conversations amongst students and myself.
I believe I have provided sufficient evidence that shows I am dedicated to engaging with students in controversial conversations and providing a classroom environment that encourages critical thinking and expression of convictions that will earn this expectation Ready to Teach.
I created a "pedagogic creed" at the end of my EDUC-M300 course that addressed my beliefs concerning education in a pluralistic society. The statements I wrote address how ideas from this course shape the way I will teach and interact with students. There were almost no requirements for this project except that I express my AUTHENTIC convictions. This document will evolve over time, but I will come back to it over and over to make sure my teaching practices align with my creed.
The first link is an outline I have created of essential components in my classroom based on the three articles linked below. These are articles that have helped me to determine how I want my classroom to function in order to create an environment that encourages salient conversations and debates. Art classrooms are perfect for this because part of my curriculum includes learning how to critique artwork, so, through learning to critique art, they learn how to participate in conversations with opposing views. I have outlined my pedagogy concerning critiquing art and facilitating controversial topics in the classroom. In both circumstances, classroom guidelines for discussion must be establish. I think it is appropriate to have these guidelines created and agreed upon by the students instead of telling them MY guidelines. They will need to address certain issues and if they don't reach them I may prompt them during establishment of the guidelines.
Seminar Current Event: Handling Controversy in the Classroom
Kara's current event dealt with handling controversy in the classroom and asked us if students should be allowed to opt out of classroom conversations that make them uncomfortable. Below is a screenshot of her current event articles and questions, a screenshot of my response to the first question she posed, and then a screenshot of my response to another peer's post that answers the third question. As expressed below, I don't believe that students she be exempt from classroom conversations. I will not force them to say anything, but I think it's important for them to listen so they at least can have an inner dialogue in response to what other classmates are saying. It is crucial that our students are exposed to differing opinions in a facilitated environment so they know how to speak and listen respectfully in non-facilitated environments where the stakes can be high. I have wrote up a little paragraph about how I would chose to handle charged dialogue or behavior in the classroom. This is the LINK.
This resource available to everyone is a knowledge platform for the United Nation's Division for Sustainable Development. I found this website through Kappa Delta Pi's Education for Sustainable Development initiative. I believe sustainable development takes values of human rights and equity and extends them to future generations. One target of goal 4 of UN's division for sustainable development (4.7) states, “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.” This goal, specifically, is one I feel I can immediately and directly contribute to in developing my own curriculum. I have pulled more resources to become more knowledgable in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The most helpful was a paper by Rosalyn McKeown in collaboration with the USTESD Network (United States Teacher Education for Sustainable Development Network) titled "Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability: The U.S. Context". Appendix A and B were most helpful to my in understanding what ESD is, how to advocate for ESD in my school, and the benefits of an ESD curriculum. One of the key aspects of ESD is the fact that, "ESD is 'action oriented', aimed at enabling personal and collective action to improve outcomes for all, and in the future. ESD should be created for and responsive to the local cultural and economic contexts as well as environmental conditions" (McKeown, p. 28). This adds purpose, common vision, and relevance to education. I plan to incorporate ESD into my curriculum as a personal form of activism for human rights and sustainability.
My Response to Racially Instigated Social Media Attack
During my student teaching, a student of FHS posted a image of herself in blackface and tagged another student whom she was mocking or trying to get a rise from. I found it really concerning that this would seem like a good way to get at a girl you have issues with, but of course this blew up to the public arena very fast. The girl who did blackface got blasted on social media and was honestly probably in actual danger if she were to come to school.
I knew this was obviously going to be a topic of discussion in my classroom, especially since people talk while they work. I decided I wanted to nip it in the butt right at the start of class so students didn't get offended by each others' comments. I spent the weekend drafting what I wanted to say to the class. I knew that I wanted to address the issue of blackface with out talking about the incident itself because I never learned about blackface and knew a majority of them probably hadn't either. To prove my point further, I told my friend about what happened and she was like, "Wait, what is blackface?" So I decided to use this incident as an educational opportunity. This is what I planned to say to the kids:
I’m sure a large majority of you saw what happened this past weekend and I felt like chatter during class is going to be inevitable, so I wanted to address it very quickly. I do not know all of the details of this incident and I will not be getting into the specific actions of this individual, but it has raised the issue of blackface. I believe sometimes we say and do things with out understanding the impact it has on others and the history behind it. So to understand its offensiveness, you need to understand its history. The practice began in the 1820s, when white entertainers in theatre would paint their faces with shoe polish to characterize and mock black men and women. These performances characterized blacks as lazy, ignorant, superstitious, and prone to thievery and cowardice. It was a means to dehumanize and entire race of people. These performance persisted up until about the 1920’s. Now, we see instances where individuals or groups use blackface as part of halloween costumes or to mock or make fun of African Americans even though they’re only making themselves look stupid. I think deep down anyone who sees this, even without knowing its background, can feel that it is wrong, but now that you have a very brief understanding of its history you cannot claim ignorance. It is not ever something to be joked about and I hope all of you do not contribute to the attention this incident is receiving because stupidity does not deserve your energy.
I let Danielle read through my statement and she said she felt like we shouldn't address it unless it comes up in class. Sometimes I agree with the method of not giving something attention, but I felt like this instance, not giving it attention would communicate to our students that it is something to sweep under the rug. I kept urging her that this was the right thing to do and she told me she just felt uncomfortable. I told her I felt uncomfortable too, but uncomfortable things need to be addressed too. So she let me. I was nauseous the whole time I was speaking because I'm obviously not an expert and I didn't want to say anything wrong, but I think the kids understood the gravity of what I was talking about and it sunk in with them. Mr. Urban had also led into my discussion with an announcement over the PA system and his message was very well articulated and hit the students as well. I'm interested to see what they will do when the investigation is concluded, if they'll address the student body again.
In summer of 2016 I was employed to be a Co-Leader for the GALACTIC Global Infusion through Arts Workshop at the Balfour Pre-College Academy. The Balfour Scholars Program seeks to increase higher education access and success for underrepresented minority students by hosting a Pre-College Academy on IU's campus for a week. Here is a LINK to their website with more information. GALACTIC (Global Arts Local Arts Culture Technology International Citizenship) believes that all forms of art are integral to the understanding of global cultural diversity, conflict, and justice-based resolution. Here is a LINK to their website with more information.
Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances, I had to unexpectedly drop from my position before the Pre-College Academy in July. I did, however, spend a full day in May collaborating with my group to develop a lesson plan for the workshop we created: Peace through Art and working with a GALACTIC representative and other co-facilitators from different fields of study and backgrounds. This experience allowed me to learn different ways art can be used for students to unpack and better understand large and often controversial issues.
The description we wrote for the Peace through Art workshop is as follows:
"We will explore the multifaceted nature of peace in its positive and negative forms, the processes involved in conflict transformation and how visual and performing arts, media and digital media are created for peacebuilding. This workshop provides an opportunity for students to create a 'conflict transformation through art project' of their choice, whether addressing any personal, interpersonal, communal, local or global conflict and contribute to a dialogue about peace through art. No prior experience in art is required."
Again, I was unable to help facilitate our workshop and see how it worked with real students (which I am so bummed about) but my group did create a video and published it on the Balfour website so I was able to see the students at work. I believe this lesson plan can be employed in my own classroom. I plan to see if my mentor will allow me to create a mini version of this week-long workshop and test it out on her students. I do believe the arts ability to act as a vehicle for students to create an endurable and less intimidating dialogue on uncomfortable issues and I will exploit that ability in my art curriculum.
For my first time leading the current event portion of seminar, I decided to take the opportunity to bring visual culture into the discussion. I wanted to get across that no matter what subject area you teach, visual culture affects their students' lives everyday and can relate to what your teaching in important ways. Above is a screenshot of the questions I asked, a powerpoint I presented with, and the responses given by classmates.
I enjoyed having a current event as it allowed my peers and myself to connect what we are learning in our readings to the real world. I have been collecting and saving posts about making art in response to current events that I would like to share in my own classroom. This is just practice for when I do begin teaching in the classroom, but once a week I would like to show a video or an article and discuss it with the class, kind of like a bell ringer.
THIS LINK is an example of a current event "bell ringer" I would like to share in my own classroom. My students would have time to look at the article or videos, time to reflect through open ended prompts, and then engage in a facilitated classroom discussion.
Journal Excerpts
December 2, 2016
"Something very cool happened this period. A student opened up class and talked about the North Dakota Access Pipeline and actions she was taking to help support Standing Rock. She asked the class to contact her to donate blankets, food, money, etc. This was fantastic because Ms. O allowed her to take time out of her class to discuss this issue and the student took the initiative to bring up an issue that was important to her. The student seemed nervous while speaking but I was impressed that she stood up to talk about something that she believed in. After she finished speaking to the class I asked the class 'How many of you have heard about the DAPL?' and about a quarter raised their hands. I went on to explain that most of them probably haven't heard of it because there is a media blackout on the protests. Then the girl who initially brought it up explained that they really should be called protests as Standing Rock views it as 'protecting' their land, not protesting. The class discussed a bit more about the issues going on including the use of rubber bullets, high bail fees for those arrested, and the need for support. It was great to see a student taking active interest in a current issue of human rights."
"I’m having a fun time discussing projects for an English leadership class some students in this art class are taking. It’s a service project where they have to choose an organization to fundraise for. One girl is doing the women’s shelter and we were brainstorming items to donate and I brought up that bras are often overlooked and hard to get. So hopefully she takes my suggestion!"
September 16, 2016
I killed an hour wandering and then the photography teacher Kevin, ran into me and invited me into his classroom to hang out until lunch. He completely reminded me of my digital art teacher in high school so we got along really well. When it was time for lunch he pulled out his own tray, plate, cup, and silverware to get food. He told me that the school switched to disposable serving plates and utensils instead of washing plates and that he didn’t like all the waste. In a way, this is an example of expressing his convictions because he is demonstrating his convictions to any students that see him eating lunch everyday which I think is more powerful than spending a class period talking about the importance of reusing, reducing, and recycling.
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The last classroom I visited was Kevin’s and it was by far the most impacting. In a span of 20 minutes he managed to organically and effectively incorporate everything we’ve been talking about for the past four weeks. He was introducing a new assignment to his students where they had to go to a new location outside of Carmel to take photos. Exactly what we’ve been talking about! Getting kids into nature! He had a handout that encouraged them to visit Turkey Run State Park, the Canal walk and cultural trail in Indy, etc. He was so funny because he said, “Explore the world outside of your white, gated could-de-sac !” All the kids laughed because they understood he was referencing the fact that Carmel is a well-off city full of white, privileged people, but he did it in a way that didn’t make them feel attacked. In my M300 class, I often felt attacked and like I was the source of all the world’s problems for being a white, upper-class female, and I just think there is a way to effectively get students to understand that privilege with out making them feel ashamed for what they were born into. I’m finding that humor was a great way to get this across. Then he started talking about the sculpture in Carmel and how they aren’t locally made and how that’s ironic because Carmel prides itself as an arts district. So why pay someone who’s not even native to Indiana to build absurdly expensive sculptures that aren’t unique because he went down to a town in Florida and recognized the same ones by the same artists! It was just amazing how fast he was able to incorporate so many important issues in a casual dialogue with his students.