Imposing Change
what's frustrating is when people in power believe they are providing voice to people and impacting change when this involved imposing a voice.
today at circle, a student was celebrated for his acceptance into a liberal arts college and receiving a full rise through a scholarship foundation. both are great things that should be celebrated.
however, after we clapped and celebrated him, we are told that we will from now own give a standing ovation whenever a senior is announced to have gotten into college. hence, we re-announced his acceptance and students were told to stand up and clap. those students who were not standing were called out by name to stand. it was a very awkward moment i will admit.
theres this tension it seems for people of authority to distinguish the difference between fostering a culture of celebration and student voice and imposing said culture.
i think of my classroom then...today in class, we created theories about Steve in our class novel, Monster. theories were claims that came from their respective expertise as readers, thinkers, and researchers. i was a bit wary of this lesson seeing as how in my 5/6 class, their eyes were glazed over. but when we broke into creating our theories and i encouraged them to consult with one another to use as soundboards we had a range of creative, critical, and strong theories:
"Steve is the victim of a corrupt justice system."
"Race determined Steve's life outcomes."
"Steve does now know who he is."
"Steve has a sense of humor."
"Steve fears the jail system."
as we discussed these theories and the evidence we will provide to support the claims, it became very clear in their conversation with one another that what started as a challenging strategy to grasp slowly came to fruition as there was space to bring in personal experiences coupled with the text and time to wrestle through these ideas in a collaborative space where there exists equity of voice.
the classroom saw every student engaged in a collaborative work group to think through and flesh out his/her theory.
to me, this was change. *though just one day's lesson, it was a day's lesson.
today at circle, a student was celebrated for his acceptance into a liberal arts college and receiving a full rise through a scholarship foundation. both are great things that should be celebrated.
however, after we clapped and celebrated him, we are told that we will from now own give a standing ovation whenever a senior is announced to have gotten into college. hence, we re-announced his acceptance and students were told to stand up and clap. those students who were not standing were called out by name to stand. it was a very awkward moment i will admit.
theres this tension it seems for people of authority to distinguish the difference between fostering a culture of celebration and student voice and imposing said culture.
i think of my classroom then...today in class, we created theories about Steve in our class novel, Monster. theories were claims that came from their respective expertise as readers, thinkers, and researchers. i was a bit wary of this lesson seeing as how in my 5/6 class, their eyes were glazed over. but when we broke into creating our theories and i encouraged them to consult with one another to use as soundboards we had a range of creative, critical, and strong theories:
"Steve is the victim of a corrupt justice system."
"Race determined Steve's life outcomes."
"Steve does now know who he is."
"Steve has a sense of humor."
"Steve fears the jail system."
as we discussed these theories and the evidence we will provide to support the claims, it became very clear in their conversation with one another that what started as a challenging strategy to grasp slowly came to fruition as there was space to bring in personal experiences coupled with the text and time to wrestle through these ideas in a collaborative space where there exists equity of voice.
the classroom saw every student engaged in a collaborative work group to think through and flesh out his/her theory.
to me, this was change. *though just one day's lesson, it was a day's lesson.
Indeed! I think it's tough for me as a teacher not to cross that line of imposing my ideas and voice on my students. As teachers we so want our students to "get it"- whether that means an algorithim, self-discipline, or an idea. But we can be the sources of failure if we don't allow our students to "get it" for themselves, and if we don't acknowledge that getting it looks different for each person. Schools can be fascist places sometimes. Establishing a culture with positive values is important, but when does it go to far? I think what you're saying is that it goes too far when students are not actively and intellectually engaged in the construction of the values of the culture. Good point, it makes me reflect on the construction of cultural values in my class and how they are constantly being re-negotiated over the course of the year. Am I being open-minded enough while still holding firm to the core values that I don't believe are negotiable?
ReplyDeleteI agree...there is a fine line between having that balance and even asserting the balance. Thanks for the thoughts...
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