Ethnic Studies

I chose this topic in class because it is always an issue that has always bothered me. I hate that I had to wait until college, in which I chose a class specifically about world history to learn about anything outside of the US. Even in High school we would get "world history" class and we would learn about world wars and not actually about other countries. We constantly tell students that the more they learn the better they will become but limit them to the history written only in these books. These books however are not accurate and sugar coat the history of this land. These textbooks talk about the natives that helped settlers plant corn and not about the natives that were displaced into reservations. The history books dont mention the Japanese Interment camps, and so much more. Like one of the students in providence said African American history in the US only starts and ends at slavery.  Hearing about banning books was really upsetting. This mentality that anything that isn't this "white" america somehow means it is not american? America was to be the place of freedom and has become what it is today because of all the amazing races, ethnicity and cultures that have made this place home.

I've seen a lot of students come from their native countries and come to the US lost and confused. All they see is a language and culture they dont feel connected to at all. Many students say they dont want to learn English because they just want to go back home. However, many students find joy when they see other students from their home, and teachers that speak their language. When they get to show others and teach about their culture they find excitement and pride, but to think people are trying to take that away because "this is america" is just sad.

As someone born in the US I never had a big connection to my parents native land. I love visiting and going to museums while we are there, and I love to see the natives dressed in traditional clothing. In elementary and middle school I enjoyed projects that let me talk about the amazing food from Guatemala and the bird on the flag. However, as I got into my middle school years I found myself wanting to learn more. Not just about Guatemala but I began to want to learn about Asia. Everything about Asia, specifically Japan, was so different than US and Guatemala that it drew my attention. In class all we learned about Japan's role in the war but we didn't learn about the Shogun Era or the Samurai, we didn't learn about their bomb in production or how their Emperor was just a guy that got to dress up and had no real power over the country.

It is important to know our history and see ourselves included in the stories of our history but it is also important to learn about others. By learning about other peoples history, culture, belief and religion we can shape people to be much more open about someone seen as "different" and more accepting to those differences. 

PLAY !

Shall We Play: Part 1 [Blog post] (Henry Jenkins)

Children at Play : An American History (Howard Chudacoff)

Forum Theatre: A Tool for Social Change [Blog post] (Naomi Joseph)

Theater of the Oppressed New York [5-minute video]

In Youth Development we often hear about play. Purposeful play is one of the first things that I learned while working in an after-school program although I didn’t know I was doing it. However, after going through the readings I realized that play doesn’t necessarily need to be purposeful. Play is many things and has many benefits but as adults we tend to look at things too rationally and dissect the concept of play. With play children can build on their social skills, imagination and much more. But play is a time to let loose and not really think. This made me think a lot about youth and kids and how we don’t give them enough credit for not over thinking or analyzing. An example of this is when conservative parents’ worry about their children seeing a same sex couple. They argue “how will I tell my kids” and if you do tell kids their response is along the lines of “Okay” and they quickly dismiss it and move on with their day which in my opinion is a much better response than many adults have.

While reading these articles I also found the concept of gamification. While reading the definition given in Henry Jenkin’s Blog, I realized that this is something I have been doing in my own after school programs. I try to create lessons that will be fun and engaging but still based on learning. Although I do this, I also make sure to always leave a few minuets of free time at the end. I do this unconsciously without any thought than a break for the students and myself. Looking back at the Youth study we did I realized that it was during this free time that my very quiet and shy student joined a conversation about a k-pop group. This allowed me to see a different side of her I have not seen during any lessons previously.

The more I think of play and how play is associated as a waste of time in the adult world the more I think of the definition from the Tom Sawyer books in the Children at Play: An American History article “Work consists of whatever a body is obligated to do… Play consists of whatever a body is not obligated to do…”. I began to look back on this month and wondered if I had participated in on play. I began drawing again recently for fun, not to improve my skills or for a project, just because its fun. Due to work and class I have not been able to do that these past two weeks and noticed just how much my mood has changed, however, if I did take the time to draw I would have regretted it as well because it would have been a “waste of time” if I choose to draw instead of do my work. There was a lot more to play than I realized and it connects to a lot of the work I do, the students I service and myself.  

WHAT’S CARE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

While reading this week’s readings I noticed myself stopping many times and self-reflecting. While reading Corinne McKamey’s Restoring “Caring” in Education, I began to read and ask myself the same questions she was asking the students she interviewed. I began to answer them myself and came to the same realization that every answer I had came with an accompanying story that would help me define what this caring or lack there of was. One story that really resonated with me was the narrative of Ruby. Ruby was trying to legitimize her knowledge of a word that she knew but no one else understood. She searched for teachers, family and other adults to help her show that she knew what she was talking about. In the end she had the dictionary in class to prove her knowledge to the rest of the class. I can recall the feelings of insecurity I’ve had when saying the “wrong” answer in class and how it made me feel. I can imagine what Ruby must have felt in that moment considering she had the right answer but because the majority did not know it, she was made to feel wrong. There are different types of English in the world and sometimes its just a difference in vocabulary, but because of the way’s schools are structured to have on language and that one language be “American English” any other form of speaking is out the window.

This idea of only one way of doing things made me look at ‘Caution, we have power’. This article talks about the way the systems of schools and society make it difficult for undocumented students to continue their education. Because of the way standards in schools are set, there is one “correct” way of doing something and if you cant do it that way then you are seen as less than even if you have an alternative that works just as well. This systematic failure creates that pipeline of “school-to-sweatshop” pipeline. Students that are undocumented can not continue their dreams and goals of continuing their education. DACA the Deferred Access for Childhood Arrivals has helped many children brought to the United States undocumented by family is one resource that due to the xenophobic culture of our Government is struggling to keep its doors open, without this many young people could face leaving the only home they have ever known. I can recall classmates in High School that were brought to the United States as infants, never knowing their parent’s native countries, fearing that they would one day might have to forced out. I remember the disappointment of classmates who could not afford tuition and had to hold off of school and work “sweatshop” jobs to earn money to afford a semesters worth of tuition. I did not have to go through those fears because I was “privileged” to be born in this country. I think back to these classmates and I don’t feel like I “deserved” this any more or less than they did. My mother just gave birth to be on this side of the border. Nothing else makes me any more worthy of being able to apply for financial aid than this and it angers me that my classmates deserving of high educations had to take a step back and do a job they didn’t want just because of where they were born.

Locating Yourself

I found this week’s articles relatable to my work. I always make it a point to identify myself to my students and their families. In my experience being open and telling my students and families that I am Hispanic has really helped create an immediate bond with them. Working in Central Falls, a predominantly Hispanic community, the parents felt at ease being able to communicate with me in Spanish and showing their kids that it is possible to go to school and get a job even if you come from another country. I become a role model for the parents to confide in and a friend/mentor to the students.

In Locating Yourself for Your Students by Priya Parmar and Shirley Steinberg on of the students in Steinberg’s class said “she had never heard a white person say they were White” and that made me think a lot to the conversation we had during our retreat around race. It is not often that a “white” person openly states that they are white. In my experience peoples of other origins, races and nationalities openly and happily express where they/their families come from. There is a sense of pride within their culture. I can not recall a time where a teacher told me they were “white” it was just something that was not spoken about/ needed to be address. As if it wasn’t important.

This spoke to Jamila Lyiscott’s videos. She speaks about how the classroom structure limits one’s diversity. She sees herself as “tri-tounged”. I saw this as her code switching between how she speaks around the different people in her life. Code switching is something we all do; we speak differently to different people depending on who we are around however as students when we hear codes that are not “articulate” in schools it is deemed as wrong. We should celebrate this ability but also learn from the diversity it brings into the classroom.

YDEV Retreat

On Saturday morning we attended a retreat for our YDEV class. I was sleepy and honestly not looking forward to being in “class” all day. But YDEV has this magical way of creating such a safe and empowering space that really changes what it means to be in a “classroom”. The idea to journal our journey was an amazing place to start. It was rewarding to hear everyone being so open and honest about their journey and story. I think it helped create that safe space to have the types of discussions we did.

The theme for the day was race. I thought that by now I knew what race was but when asked to define it I couldn’t put it into words. I was most shocked with Dr. Natalia Lopez’s question on whether race was real or not. That began the discussion of the History of race and when the word came into existence. I was most shocked when she stated that Mexicans were considered “white” when needed for their labor. I found it interesting that a whole peoples race changed when it was convenient. When speaking and learning about race I had never really LEARNED the history of how it came to be and I think that it is an important piece of information that is missing from the story.

I think the pre-retreat assignment was also helped me in a self-discovery of who I am and who my people are. I liked being asked questions that really make me think. At first it seemed easy but the more I thought about it the more complicated the question became.

YDEV Ideology

For this I post I decided that it would be best to start off by describing which YDEV philosophy’s I resonate with. I remember doing an ideology inventory previously but don’t remember my outcome.  I’m curious to see if my ideologies have changed over time with my experience and newfound knowledge.

My inventory was interesting because Positive and Social Justice YDEV were tied as my most dominate with a total of 9. Where my Civic and Risk Prevention YDEV where 19 and 22 respectively and I see that’s a big difference in numbers.  I think its important to know what style suits you and which is an area you need to work on. Although the numbers were surprising, I do agree with the beliefs from both of my ideologies. My reflections will reflect how I feel and connect to the text with both ideologies in mine. The text I have chose to read and reflect on is Principles of Youth Development by Stephen F. Hamilton, Mary Agnes, and Karen Pittman.

Marcus: On Being Good

Marcus: On Being Good by Carla Shalaby was this week’s reading and my favorite so far. It brought to light the reality of a student “Marcus” and his struggles within the classroom. At first glance it would be simple to say that he is a “troublemaker” that interferes with day to day operations of the classroom, but as the reading goes into depth it makes you take a step back and observe rather than judge.

Some of the visible codes of conduct that govern the classroom are the rituals put in place by Mrs. Emily. Things like their morning circle, the take a break table, the buddy room, timeout desk,  and bathroom pass are all examples of the rituals and rules that the class follows. The invisible rule/goal that seems to govern the classroom is independence. As stated in the reading Mrs. Emily’s core principle in teaching was independence.

Trouble making in my after-school space would be in the form of someone talking over me during instruction or being rude to any of the other students. I have had students that have fallen asleep, or just constantly on their phones. One thing I like to do in my youth spaces is create those visible codes of conduct but create them with the students. Making the rules with the group helps them set expectations for themselves and for me so that we all feel heard. In order to keep my group engaged I set up time for a break and leave enough time in the agenda for free time; if we finish everything we get free time, if there are issues that keep us from going the work then we wont have that extra time. When it comes to the students, I would constantly have sleeping in my class it was easy to be upset and make him wake up and expect him to participate at the same level as everyone else. However, what I did was pull him aside and asked him why he was always falling asleep. It turned out that there were some issues at home, had I not taken a step back to understand then I would not have known how to approach the situation. Its tough on teachers when they have a classroom that is typically over the class size average but its important in understanding the students to take a moment and understand.

My experiences vary from youth space to space. Once constant is the similarity that I too want for my youth to be independent. That is not to say that I will not be there to aid them, but I don’t want to be a source of power and fear. I like my students to try on their own or even use each other as aid before coming to me. In addition, I like the idea that there are stages in Mrs. Emily’s class before being “removed”. In many classrooms I have seen a student like Marcus would immediately be removed from the class. Having areas for students to take a step back for a little is very beneficial. This gives them independence and a chance to regulate their own emotions as well. There are many times as an adult that I need to just take a break for 5 minutes.