One of my chief concerns this semester has been how to incorporate perspectives outside of the known for students. I liked the idea of place conscious education, but I didn't understand how it could be used as a springboard to discuss the other. One question from Susan Swan's "From Urban Classroom to Urban Community"resonated with me as a way to make PCE a viable way to discuss others:"'What type of work don't we as a group represent?'" (88). I thought the working autobiography was a terrific idea as well, but especially when it leads to this question. Swan notes that this question usually leads to students seeing many different things as work, parenting, art, sports, etc, but it should also get them to consider why they don't work certain jobs and how job availability is linked to class.
That's why I really loved Swan's article; it focuses on understanding those of different social class in a way I'm not sure many university students see before coming here. She tells the story of one of her students speaking to fast food workers who catch three different buses to make it to a job that pays them minimum wage (91). I can only think of how eye opening that experience would be for some of my students. At the beginning of the year, I had them read some articles on vocational schooling, and I asked them if any of them had considered attending a vocational school. No one had. I asked them why. Most didn't have an answer, probably because it had never crossed their minds, but those who did answer provided thoughts like This is just what you do you go to college and The only kids who went to vocational school from my high school were the ones who can't make it in college. Eventually, this led to a really healthy conversation about the expectations of the middle class and what it means to be a member of that class as opposed to another.
Perhaps I was just in an otherness mindset, but this concept struck me in the "Toward a Sustainable Citizenship and Pedagogy" chapter as well. In it, Donehower, Hogg and Schell write about what it means to be a mobile professional attempting to connect with a rural student base. A story they tell relays the experience of Kim Donehower's husband who felt unease about working with rural Kentucky students as a native of the northeastern United States (160-161). I don't think this is exclusive to a rural setting though these three write specifically about that setting. Any mobile professional, which many educators end up being, must deal with his/her otherness upon entering a situation. I think if Mr. Donehower had used his situation as a springboard into discussing issues of place and otherness with his students, it could have been a tremendous learning experience and made him and his students more comfortable.
Another section of the Donehower, Hogg, and Schell piece stuck with me that is unrelated to my previous thoughts. My undergraduate degree is in Journalism so their section on media representation of rural communities and people was really interesting. I'm not sold on the entirety of their argument that rural America is represented in such a bad light, but I think it is important to examine how rural America is portrayed in the media and the ramifications of that portrayal. I agree with the cultural lens through which people see the plight of some rural communities: "They suggest that the ills of rural communities are idiosyncratic and cultural, denying the role that public policy, economic realities, and social complexities play in shaping the conditions of rural life and the circumstances for rural literacies" (169). This portrayal does connect to the way rural students may feel they are perceived by educators and the institutional community.
I didn't write anything on 826 Valencia or the "Stories of Home" project. Sorry. Some final thoughts on them. 1) 826 Valencia rocks, and I'm thinking of trying to do something similar in Lincoln. It's in the thought passing through a head stage right now, but hopefully it gets all the way there. A community writing center is a wonderful way to use the skills we as English educators have to make an impact in the community. 2) The "Stories of Home" were incredible, but I have questions. I couldn't find the actual art projects on the website anywhere. Are they still around? Do I have to go somewhere? I looked on the Lincoln Arts Counsel website, but I'm not smart enough to navigate the interweb.
I think there's incredible value in getting various groups to think outside the mindsets that they come into the classroom with--both students and teachers. You used the disconnect between students and vocational schools as an opportunity to dig past the surface and it sounded like a great conversation. The assumptions that students have about where they are and what they're doing never ceases to surprise me. I know that vocational schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges have certain reputations about "what type" of students go to them, but I've never really done too much to consider how that might play a part in my classroom. And, like you, I appreciated Swan's question of "What work don't we represent?" because questioning the negative spaces can be just as valuable as questioning what is there. We could also think about replacing "work" in that question with any other diversity group and see what happens. I like it.
ReplyDeleteMarcus: To answer your last question first: I've got a copy of the video made about Stories of Home, which will allow you to see the work. The pieces were all auctioned off at the end of the project in 2007 -- several were bought and donated to the families whose stories they told; a couple are now on display in public buildings.
ReplyDeleteBut your wider question is one I understand: how in PCE do students get access to ideas from outside, from perspectives the home place wouldn't ever consider? I'm glad to see you got some ideas for that from this week's reading. Obviously, if a learner never gets outside the familiar, then education becomes parochial. And that's not what we want.
The response, as you already know, is that the local is more complex than we see in a parochial gaze. See my response to Elizabeth's post for more on this too. We can always start with testing some of our assumptions about our place (like Mr. Donehower's, or like the forms of work not present in our lists) and spin out from there. (This is another reason why 826 Valencia rocks -- the writers helping writers are there, in the community, working with the writing issues community members bring to them -- making present way more reasons to write than those same writers would ever imagine when assigned 252 Intro to Fiction Writing at the local college. Who is educating whom in a setting like this?)
~Robert
Hi Marcus--
ReplyDeleteConnections--thanks for providing these prompts to make me think more deeply about my own experiences and how they connect to our authors.
I was raised in a lower-middle class family of six. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, we were poor. Dirt poor, yet I believed the words of my teachers who encouraged me and said, "You can be anything you want to be." I worked hard and studied like the stereotypical Asian student, which led me to the promised land of advanced placement and honors courses in high school. Still, I came from a family where no one had graduated from college and making ends meet was a daily struggle. Forget trips to fast-food restaurants or leisure activities with a price, our life was what we made of it. When you are a professional trying to connect with a student population different from your own experiences, it takes time, empathy, and understanding to bridge the gap and develop a shared vision. That's what it was like to move to Omaha and begin teaching at one of the most prominent, wealthy middle schools in the district. It was like moving to Kentucky from the east, but the opposite. Sometimes our physical locale movement provides a challenge, but often it is the unseen movements that cause us to question, grow, and reconsider who we are.
Second piece--considering vocational education, I work with 6-12th grade Industrial Technology teachers. Most are in the midst or nearing the end of their careers and have grown from a traditional "shop" experience; however, the curriculum is changing and the demands to be fluent in advanced mathematics and understand computer programming are real, both for them as instructors and for their students. How do traditional images and stereotypes become reconstructed to better reflect current reality? (Broad, I know, but important to consider!)
~JL
Marcus, I am excited to hear someone else is throwing around the idea of an 826 Valencia in Lincoln. I too am in this stage and just made a connection yesterday with an elementary teacher who has already done some of the leg work. He has visited sites like 826 Valencia and has been working since last year to put a game plan into action. Lincoln is ripe with local writers and educators who would love to be involved in this type of work, and I want to be a part of making it happen here. I think the writing center could be a place where projects could include place and social justice issues. Pairing writing with art would also be fantastic, and I think a push toward social action would also be critical.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest asset a place like 826 offers is sending a group of teachers into school classrooms to assist teachers in their work. I envision a teacher wanting to incorporate place or social justice work in her classroom so she contacts 826, and we would help her plan a unit and implement it. I think of my friend at Lincoln High who studies court cases from Lincoln and Omaha that span the last fifty years and all involve issues of race. I think it would be incredible to extend his work to other students in the Lincoln community, and we could make that happen. The way I see it (in my dream world) the place would be built by volunteers, thus place is instantly instituted as we work to include local businesses and make an eco-friendly building. These volunteers would be our first partners. I think of my friend Stephanie who is an adjunct professor at UNL and who worked to rebuild Greensburg, KS after a tornado to be a green town (http://www.greensburggreentown.org/). She would be a great resource for ecological literacy. I think of the assets of having an elementary, high school, and college teacher – think of all those connections.
As you can see, I have lots of ideas. If you are really interested in this, I would love to talk with you more about it.