Teach Out Project Proposal

 

The Teach Out Project CHOOSE A TEXT: Review your whole blog to remind yourself about what we have read so far in class. What texts have stayed with you so far? What articles inspire you?  What topic matters most to you in terms of your own work? Are there any of these texts that you would like to share with others in your life?  The articles/ texts that are most interesting to me are Lisa Delpit’s “Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom” (Blog Post 5) and “Shifting the Paradigm” (Blog Post #4).  With “Shifting the Paradigm”, this is about building up student assets, and having a growth mindset, instead of a deficit mindset. With an asset model, schools need to build up students by focusing on positive attributes. Student growth needs to be prioritized. In my blog, I mention how I have seen this in the charter school that I work at, and other schools. Leadership also needs to model this behavior. This article details that while focusing on deficits may work in business (which I partly disagree with), this does not work in education. By focusing on what students can do, versus what they cannot do, schools will achieve better results. The other reading that most relates to my interest is “Other People’s Children”. Although I dislike the term “White Savior” as I mention in my blog, as a white teacher is an urban school, with a large majority of students being of color, including a large MLL population, this impacts me because although I am aware of some cultural biases and differences, there are some that I may not be. I mention this as one of the reasons that I made a career change almost 14 years ago from business to education, is that volunteered in a rural school in a small village in Western Kenya, Africa, and felt a connection to teaching and helping students, and was encouraged by my children’s Middle School Principal, who also went on this trip, to pursue teaching. The students in Kenya were of color. When I returned to Massachusetts, I applied and got hired as a building substitute teacher by Fall River Public Schools, an urban school district, which I began working for within 3 months. This article states that there is a “Culture of Power”, which may not even be realized by white teachers, and that there is an imbalance because of this. People with the most power may actually realize this the least. A main argument of this reading is that students of color are impacted negatively by cultural miscommunication, in addition to power imbalances between white teachers and minority students. The article states that direct communication is better than indirect communication with students of color, which is something as a teacher, to be aware of. These two particular articles stand out most to me. With “Other People’s Children”, although I am aware of some of the privileges that I have as a teacher, I didn’t always think of this in terms of race. I also have previously thought that since I am not racist, I am not part of the problem, however, with more teaching experience and with these readings and discussion in class, I see that I am in a bigger position of power than I may have realized, besides being the teacher.  Are there people in your life with whom you would really like to talk about these texts? Colleagues? Students? Family members? Friends? Children? With the Asset Model, I am a strong proponent of focusing on the positives instead of negatives in my teaching practice, although in my personal life, I can focus on the negative aspects too much sometimes. In talking with my 22 year old son regarding his first job that he recently started relating to his Communications/ Media degree, my wife and I have told him to focus on the positives, as this is his first “corporate job”, having previously been a college student and working in restaurants. We have told him to focus on the positive aspects of this job, although this role of working in an office isn’t really what he wants to do. On the other hand, we tell him he should follow his dreams, especially at 22 years old. The article that I would like to share with him is the “Shifting the Paradigm” article as it focuses on assets and growth instead of deficits. The transition from college student to working in a cubicle is challenging. My son also was a junior and senior in High School during Covid, and lost most of these years by doing work at home. I suspect this has something to do with this transition being challenging as he needs to work remotely from home 2 days per week. I just told my son to use his strengths as I just briefly discussed this with him. Use your creativity strengths. Don’t be a robot. I also have done some of what we have done in this class with my evening class on Mondays, where I am teaching a History/ Social Issues class, which is a Community Evening High School degree program at Somerset Berkley Regional High School in Somerset, Massachusetts. One thing that I have shared with my students is the Bad Bunny controversy with the Super Bowl halftime show, along with the issues going on with ICE including in Minnesota. As we did in class, I asked students to rate where they stood on the issue of ICE, and whether they agree with what is happening, from a rate of 10 (100% support) to 0 (don’t support). Then we did a debate style of why did they rate it this way. We also did this with Bad Bunny, and watched the show in class for those that hadn’t seen it. I also shared additional articles that I located involving these controversies, and shared with my class, and asked each to write a reflection on this, including the derogatory comments that President Trump stated immediately after Bad Bunny’s performance.

WHAT FORMAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU? Individual interview? Small group discussion? Art activity? Professional development workshop? Poster for your office? Pamphlet to share? Lesson plan? Etc? My evening class will be my Teach Out Project. I did not expect to teach a “World History” class this semester, as I usually teach math. Since this class started about the same time as this Social Issues in Education class, I have been incorporating elements of this class with my High School evening class, which is primarily 16 to 18 year old students obtaining credits to obtain their high school diploma. I have already created materials to use in this class, which I will be sharing as part of my project. I am creating materials, and also just had students do their own research project where they selected a social issue/ history topic, and made their Google Slides for discussion. I suggested topics relating to social issues / history including ICE Policies and Actions, Politics and Government, The US/ Iran War including the timeline of our relations, Education, The Homeless, and Health Care. Students can also select a topic of their choosing within the parameters of Social Issues and History. One group selected the impact of the U.S./ Iran War and how this affects climate change. Along with Google Slides, in my Teach Out Project I will selectively share assignments that I have created for this class, along with some student work. I even used A.I. to create questions on an assignment from an article on the impact of Social Media on teen’s mental health, that I will be assigning over the next couple of classes.  To empower students with their interests and skills, I will utilize Google Slides, podcasts, videos, current events, and history including their personal interests (for example, Colonial America and the native lands that we are on and how this ties to current day social issues including immigration). Keeping in mind an asset model ties to the texts of “Shifting the Paradigm”, “Other People’s Children”, “The Broken Model”, and others. These students may have “dropped out of day school”, but they should be exposed to a high level educational opportunity, so I am bringing elements of our graduate Social Issues in Education class to them. Students appreciate the opportunity to do their own research which engages them to be more dedicated to their own learning and success. These students will be getting a regular high school diploma when they complete this program.