Increase your abilities

Our class on community and inclusiveness came and went and I forgot all about one of my favorite speakers on the subject of ability. 

Aimee Mullins has overcome many obstacles in her life, but that is not why I find her so interesting.  I like her because she reminds us to look at people for their strengths and what they could be, rather than focusing on any perceived limitations.  As a pioneer in prosthetics design, she has called for artists, engineers, designers, athletes and others to use divergent thinking skills to reinvent the field.  She has taken her perceived disadvantage of having amputated legs and turned it into the advantage of having whatever form of legs she can think of.

She also points out that children are naturally curious and do not have the same fears and stigmas around disabilities as adults do.  It's not until we attach our baggage onto them that they become this way.  A reminder to keep adjusting your lens and be careful what attitudes we bring with us into the classroom.

It serves to show our students all the wonders that people can create when they ignore the limitations put on them and imagine what can be.  Art breeds imagination, which leads to empathy and creates community.

If you have ten minutes, it's worth the watch.

Capsized

We live in a country that has an ethos designed to privilege those who are white, male, middle class, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  You know the drill.  Yet we keep worrying about those "bossy kids" from Paley's book and how this new rule of "You can't say you can't play" would upset them.  Most of those kids who are in charge are going to be those very same children who have benefited from a system designed for them, by people like them, not to be discussed by anyone and therefore destined to remain.  If an outcast child can be brought into the mainstream at a minor expense to their "fun", then so be it.  Sometimes building a community can be difficult.

We tend to look at kids from different backgrounds, genders, social classes and abilities as needing to be "fixed".  I see it the other way around.  Those of us in a dominant social group have the moral responsibility to look at how we are benefiting from an unfair social structure and in what way we can change ourselves to strive for fairness.  If we are going to ask our kids to "live the way they want the world to be" and be the flag-bearers of change, then they need to learn early that equity takes small sacrifices.  I have a saying with the kids I work with; "it costs you very little, and means the world to them".

One of our colleagues was thinking of ways to try to push for gender equality in their classroom without taking an all-or-nothing stance; a way to "gently rock the boat without sinking the ship".  I think this is a noble idea that goes a long way to try to meet the needs of every child evenly.  I wish it would be this simple.  I might suggest we try something a little more drastic.

For all of these issues of inequality, maybe it isn't enough for us to gently rock that boat. Maybe we need to stand up in the bow, raise our arms and voices and tip the sucker over. That splash of hypothermia inducing water might just be what it takes to wake people up.  I want my kids to know that the status quo of society is not okay.

While it may seem a brutal reality, if kids are indoctrinated into our ideological systems from day one, then they unfortunately are as mired in it as the rest of us. My hope is that they will have the courage to climb, soaking wet, back into the boat with a new perspective on things.  Then maybe we will all be ready to row on into a better future. 

Low tech

A couple of us have been discussing how we plan to use class websites and blogs in our future classrooms to keep parents informed and involved in what is going on.  I am beginning to fully embrace the necessity of technology in the classroom and am becoming more and more excited at its possible applications.  However, as I begin to delve deeper into the benefits of a more digital classroom, I am also uncovering more and more potential pitfalls.  One of the largest of these involves social class.

I would love to have a “wired” classroom with technology being used on-site to research projects, compose creative pieces and numerous other things.  But the class day is short.  Inevitably those tasks will have to be handled outside of school, be it alone or collaboratively.  Therein lies the problem; what do we do when some of our students do not have access to a computer at home? I could definitely see this in issues of poverty especially.  Not only would those kids struggle to meet goals from not having easy access to a computer, they are operating from a deficit skill-wise simply by not being as familiar with the required technology.

Setting aside school time for them to do the work would perhaps solve the problem, but it creates that social hierarchy again of the haves (can do the work at home or use their iPhones, etc.) and the have-nots (must scramble to find time at school or library to do the assignment).  Also, these kids would lack the social capital of know-how and would most likely require added assistance (although simply by being born in the digital generation they may have ingrained abilities that I for one lack).

I'm searching for the answer of how to incorporate a lot of technology based/ creative assignments which will prepare the kids for the increasingly digital “real world”, yet not create stress or social complications for some of my potential students.  I know these types of projects develop the skills needed to succeed in our ever-changing world and I want to ensure that all of my students have equal access to them.

Ties that bind

I wanted to thank you all for sharing your beautiful poems last night.  I feel very grateful and deeply humbled to have been allowed insight into all of your lives if only for a moment, envisioning your thoughts along side you.

It's amazing how the art inspired imagination (Robinson), that led to empathy and an increased sense of community (Greene), the basis of our profession (Buchmann).  I feel like last night we all exposed ourselves through our poetry and began to knit together some of the threads that will make us a great community for one another.

I would love to get to hear your work again.  Time flew by so fast it was hard to process them all.  If you are comfortable with posting them, I'm sure people would love to read them.

Where I Come From

I am from the little house with the metal roof,

          with the drainage ditch on the busy street.

I am from rhubarb, zucchini, pie cherries,

          the stretching dogwood tree with oh so climbable limbs.

Fragile Buddha statues and German beer wagons,

          our Subaru with no seat belts and an old pick-up playing classic rock.

I’m from my father’s workshop,

          where hammer meets thumb with a resounding

               “Son of a…gun!” and “God…blessit!”

I come from my older sisters and me:

          Lazy summers with the Brady’s and “Pork chops and Applesauce”.

          Fights over Barbie’s with no heads.

          The right to get to dance front and center in footed pajamas to the Muppet Show
          theme song.

          The Belt Drawer (hide your fanny!).

I gratefully arise from the 7 Layer Dip, the Taco Pie, and the Ambrosia.
          Alas, I also spring forth from the horrors of Halibut Ragu – eew.

I’m grown from a humble brick patio and long, meandering bike rides with no itinerary left
          behind,

          from Grampa and Gramma and life down on the farm.

My old shoe box full of things I’m not sure why I kept, but am glad I did.

I am from all of these things,
          little puzzle pieces of my big picture,

               then, now and forever.

Sour

My son and I awoke some time today around 6:30am.  While he ate breakfast and played and I sipped my coffee, the morning news discussed the death of Osama Bin Laden ad naseum.

I am as patriotic as the next person, perhaps even more so, yet I just couldn't get over all the images of baseball stadiums and college campuses filled with people standing, cheering, chanting "USA, USA!"  Something about those scenes and actions left a bad taste in my mouth.  It all reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, with the Munchkins prancing around in spectacle singing "ding dong, the witch is dead". 

Unsettling.

As I watched my young son I just kept thinking about how I would someday have to reconcile this dichotomy of purpose with him, as well as my future students; that we strive to build a classroom based on community and compassion, showing our students the value of each and every person - each and every living, breathing, human being - yet we nationally revel in the death of one man, no matter how vile he may have been.