Mediating Academic Knowledge Gaps
As I was reflecting on the readings and podcast from this week, it seemed to me that the most prominent and potent question at hand is: How do we, as mediators of academic knowledge, authentically connect student's lived experiences with texts that also embolden them with the skills and standards that are necessary for their success?
What the podcast Still Processing does well is breaking down nuanced and abstract ideas latent (or not latent) in the media we are exposed to. Like the hosts of Still Processing, we as educators have to be meticulous about the texts that we bring into the classroom, for as I alluded to above, we must select texts that are familiar enough to students that they do not seem daunting but sophisticated enough to push the boundaries in the minds of our students.
The title of the reading "Inclusive Classrooms for LGBTQ Students: Using Linked Text Sets to Challenge the Hegemonic Single Story" is quite self-explanatory. However, it gives teachers access to stories that might resonate more with a diverse student body. Hopefully, texts like these and others that include more marginalized voices allow us to reach our students in such a way that it blossoms new levels of understanding ourselves so that we can understand others better. At the same time, opening up the classroom to new forms of knowledge will allow for a more effective and enjoyable learning experience for the students and us.
Hey, howdy, hi Diego,
ReplyDeleteYour first point is something that I have been thinking, and worrying a lot about this semester. By that I mean, how do we connect text with students lived experience in a way that thwarts them academic the skills to embolden their success.
For instance I grew up in an all white suburb and majority white High School which makes my lived experience exponentially far removed from the lives of marginalized POC. It is not as if I can personally connect with students in this way; I can put myself in another's shoes but that does not mean that I can walk in them. So where does that leave me, or rather, us as educators when and if we are so far removed from our students experiences? I tentatively answer the question with this; students must feel seen.
But what does it mean to be "seen" exactly? Is it a matter of looking at the current state of the public education system and recognizing that it is purposely meant to create a system of winners and losers to which POC get short end of the stick? Where in, we as educators attempt to address this disparity by making academic interventions and strategies to increase student test scores to meet state standards? Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that in our current education system, standardization is inevitable and that is something we unfortunately and resentfully have to abide by for the time being. But no in the sense that this is not the over-reaching goal.
But what is the "over-reaching goal", how does this relate to students being "seen". Personally, I believe the over reaching goal is to weaponize standardization in order to create and teach curriculum from a critical perspective. But what does this have to do with being "seen"? Because, through a critical lenses we engage with the histories, stories, and content that directly relates to our students lived experience, identity, and community. Its not just about students feeling seen by and connecting with their educator but in the content that they engage with in class.
Al,
DeleteI love your response to this post and while reading it, I began reflecting on my high school years. I attended a high school with a 70% minority enrollment rate and throughout the four years, the school made many efforts to teach and engrave the beauty of diversity into each student. It was not often that I came across racism or ignorance while being at this school. After graduating and becoming more alert of the world around me, I learned that injustices towards the BIPOC communities were/are everywhere. Although as a white person, I will never be able to fully understand the experiences endured by people of color, I feel that my high school's efforts greatly affected my perspective.
With this being said, I feel that my role as a history teacher is to, just as you said, make students feel seen. That is the LEAST that we can do. Students deserve to be heard and appreciated. However, how do we do this when those who are in charge of education systems are not focused on the students, but rather their own benefits?
This also creates another question: Children may feel seen in our classrooms, but how do we go beyond that?
Your contemplation on the politics of being "seen" in education really resonates with me. I think this is such an important point, and it’s one I reflect on often as well. I think about what it means for students to be “seen” in a curriculum that is made by adults who may dramatically differ in race/culture/ethnicity/economic/etc. I think about the messiness inherent to curating texts/stories: How often is what’s “seen” made visible only because of its proximity to a dominant narrative? What are the differences between been “seen” vs “heard”? How can classroom communities affirm students’ multi-faceted identities in a culture of standardization?
DeleteHi Diego,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this thoughtful post. I very much agree with you that “the most prominent and potent question at hand is: How do we, as mediators of academic knowledge, authentically connect student’s lived experiences with texts that also embolden them with the skills and standards that are necessary for their success?” I was particularly struck by Buehl’s contention that students with academic knowledge gaps may “be confronted with dissonance of competing knowledge and identities” when “engaged in disciplinary learning” because “their background and experiences may contrast considerably with school realities” (Buehl, 92). One way that we, as educators, can mediate those identities, according to Buehl, is through “accentuate[ing] student knowledge assets rather than bemoan[ing] knowledge deficits” (Buehl, 92). In a sea of theory on how to teach, this seems like an especially profitable and practical method to employ in our classrooms. But, how do we accentuate student knowledge in history classrooms when often, the knowledge about certain events that students come in with is something I want to teach against (example: Christopher Columbus discovered America)? I think the answer lies in linked text sets and essential questions (as Buehl advises) that explore the deeper issues. In a unit on Native Americans, pre-Columbian America, and the first colonies, I’d like to explore the “big” issues of stereotypes, perception of others, insiders, outsiders, and what “counts” as American history. I think all of us have something important to say about these issues, whether or not we are well versed in American history, sociology, or anthropology. Inviting students to discuss these issues could be a way for students to engage their experiences outside of school with their learning inside school, serving as a bridge, as Buehl advises. Exploring these issues would also help students see (hopefully!) how this history relates to their lives in the contemporary moment: how we treat others who are different, how we decide who belongs and who does not, and how harmful stereotypes affect people are all incredibly relevant today. Students can use those connections to empathize with past actors, appreciate that ideas about other people are not natural, but constructed, and that these issues are not resolved in history, but enlivened again in each era. This knowledge will be relevant for students, and will serve to create confident identities, because it is bridged by their personal experiences in the world.
Hi Diego,
ReplyDeleteI connected a lot with the last part of your piece on diversifying our literature. My dad is a seventh-grade English teacher and he has had a similar curriculum for the past 10 years. Lately, I have been talking to him about diversifying his book selections as well as his other reading material. He has a good mix of both modern and classic books but I think it is important that more of his book selections reflect student identity. I know he is slightly scared to change his curriculum because it is something he and many other educators have become comfortable with additionally the new war on teachers and demand for parent involvement and input has definitely changed how teachers choose readings and design curriculum now. How can we diversify our reading material without upsetting people? I think the answer is you can't and that is totally fine.
Hey there Diego!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the meticulous nature of approaching and researching text that is both appropriate and beneficial to students’ lived experiences. I’ve been thinking about how the standards are broad and then made specific through scaffolding, text sets, and in this case – relevancy. I think you bring up a great point about researching text selection that is both approachable and advanced for our students. We want to provide text that has familiarity but also offers a challenge. I’m thinking of the Lexile levels that Katie brought up a couple of weeks ago. I’ve worked with students where it was suggested that I find their Lexile level and use it as a filter to find text through Common Lit. Often, the text provided was not challenging enough. When introducing a lesson how are we inserting previous knowledge to help transition into newer more sophisticated themes.?
Hello Diego,
ReplyDeleteI liked what you were saying about providing texts and resources to our students that are familiar to them but also sophisticated enough to challenge them in the classroom. In my classrooms, I want to make sure that my students feel a connection to the material they are learning about but I also want to make sure that they are learning all the skills that they need to know. It becomes a sort of balancing act between keeping students engaged and challenged in the classroom.
I also liked what you said about the "Inclusive Classrooms for LGBTQ Students" readings. It is important that we teach historical events by acknowledging the stories of underrepresented groups of people, so everyone in the classroom feels like they are learning something knew, including us as educators.