Sunday, September 30, 2012

Students of Color Meeting

On Friday, I attended a meeting coordinated by some students of color at Penn GSE.  I'm going to write this all caps.... IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE FELLOW STUDENTS OF COLOR (*students of color being students from a variety of nationalities, heritage, and experiences). You actually have no idea what it means to me. The meeting itself was productive, but I'm not going to get into the specifics of the meeting. What I will say, is that such groups are so necessary for one's peace of mind. It's just nice to see fellow students of color that share similar interests. It was great to be able to talk, speak my mind, and know that the people around me understood where I was coming from.

One thing I've been thinking about is the amount of black and latino students present in my program. I just anticipated more students from these academic groups being present at Penn grad. When I got here and realized, for example, that I'd be one of few black males in my program, I was taken aback. Then I did some research and realized that this is the case for many graduate programs and that diversity at the graduate level is a whole 'nother can of worms (I have thoughts on this that I'll save for another post).

For now, I will say this: It was such a great meeting! I met a lot of people that I often see around campus, but have yet to approach. There have been so many times when I have seen a person of color and I want to run over to them and introduce myself, but in recognizing the potential awkwardness, decide not to. However, I finally had the opportunity to say "Hi person who I see every Tuesday on Locust walk at 4:00 pm. Nice to meet you."

...and beyond that, its good to see people who look like me (well, even if they don't look anything like me or sorta-kinda-do-if-you-squint-your-eyes-after-swimming-for-three-hours). I am really looking forward to the next meeting.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Long Distance and Graduate School

So, this might be of interest to those consider graduate school. Many couples decide to relocate to a new place together. Sometimes, the situation doesn't allow for that to happen. In my case, it didn't. :( However, we're making it work. Don't believe me? Yesterday my boo and I celebrated our second anniversary! You should've seen me, I was cheesin' like a kid in a candy store all day.

To all of the potential GSE students who might be thinking, hmmm.... I am currently in a relationship. How is that going to work? You've probably heard stories of successful relationships and miserably failed ones as well. I know I have. Anyways, thats irrelevant. I do not have anything particularly insightful to say in this regard, aside from the fact that its work, but if you want something, you'll get it. You have to work to make it work. It's hard, of course. However, nothing worth savoring comes without work. And so, we're putting in work! :0



Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hosting Friends and Learning about Philadelphia

One of the best things about being in Philadelphia is the location. Its accessibility to cities like DC, NYC, Baltimore, and Boston makes Philly a nice weekend stop over for East Coasters. Despite my schedule and all that I've had to do, I've managed to play host to friends for two weekends. Its been incredibly great and surprisingly manageable. At first, I was a bit worried because I didn't think that I would be able to really show them what this amazing city has to offer. However, it was surprisingly easy. Two weekends ago, two friends came for two days and we didn't do much but talk and catch up, but it was very nice. This past weekend, one of my good buddies came up; we went to grad school mixers and hung out on Penn's campus. It was funny,because I couldn't meet up with my friend at first because I had a GSE meeting at the time of his arrival. Ironically, as the GSE admissions group is taking a group photo outside, I see my friend and my housemate sitting outside and eating lunch. Anyways, we had a solid weekend. It's funny because I was kind of worried about losing touch with my friends from college. However, many of my friends are hitting me up and asking to stop over whenever they are in town.

I really enjoyed showing friends around the city and learning about it myself. Its always interesting when you're playing host in a place that you're still trying to figure out. In some ways, these weekends instigate similar feelings to student teaching. When I am trying to help students learn, I am learning from them. Likewise, I found myself learning new tidbits about places that I thought I knew quite well.

Anyways, as the saying goes, "I am not a teacher, only a fellow student."

Friday, September 21, 2012

Food for Thought: A Very Powerful Quote from Class

I am taking this class Psychoeducational Interactions with Black Males and as of now, it is the best class that I have ever experienced. As an individual black male, I have always had many internal struggles about who I am and how that is affected by/in exchange with mainstream society. The professors in this course are deep and while its been an appropriately academically and thematically challenging course, it's also been one of great practical and everyday value.


Anyways, I could go on and on about how great of a course this class is, but I'll spare the details. I quickly wanted to share a quote that was expressed in the last session by one of the professors. It is as followed, "What do we say to all of the Trayvon's if they had a chance to come home? Do our (black) boys get a chance to be who they want to be when they live in a world that doesn't see them as human."
S

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Teaching Black Transnationalism in an African American History Class...How?

As a future educator, I am inclined to follow the Afrocentric theoretical paradigm that is put forth by the likes of Dr. Molefi Asante which promotes the idea of connectivity across the black diaspora that has persisted through time, movement, oppression, technologies, and evolving expressions of self and community. As an educator (student teacher at the moment), I want to engage with students about continental Africa and the diaspora both in past terms (i.e. great Egyptian civilizations, Moor influences in Spain, the Asante of Ghana, L'Ouverture and Haiti, and the list goes on), but then also of the present and the future (i.e. the technological advances of Ghana and Nigeria, the fact that 7 of the 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa, the existence [and problem] of South African exceptionalism, the shaping of Tanzanian socialism and its global impact, etc.....). While I want to promote a worldmindliness that is connected to Africa, I imagine being confronted with questions such as, why does this matter? Is this a stretch? Why study Africa and its global exchanges beyond West Africa, if African Americans are said to be primarily descended from this region? Why study societies outside of West Africa? Why even consider Africa- or the Caribbean- or the black diaspora, when exploring African American histories and experiences?

I would like to promote this idea of black transnationalism and interconnectivity and while I can passionately argue for it, I am unsure of how I can situate African American histories in lesson plans, for example. How can I, as an educator, facilitate them recognizing that African American histories and experiences are not domestically isolated, but are and have always been in exchange with the world, whether it be the diaspora or outside? Thoughts?

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Why Penn?

Or rather, why did Penn choose me? Good question. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I'm still praying that I don't receive a letter saying, "Ooops, we made a mistake. There were two people with your name that applied and we accidentally accepted the wrong one." In all seriousness, I'm still a little anxious about being at Penn, but nonetheless, excited to be the Secondary Education Graduate Assistant for the year!

Before I begin, I should probably tell you a little bit about myself. I was born and raised in Vineland, NJ which is about 45 min/ 1 hour drive from Philly. I am of Jamaican heritage and was raised by my grandmother along with a younger sister and many (cough: many) cousins. Seeing the sacrifice of my grandmother, auntie, and many members of my family formed an incredible bond between us. When it came time to select a college for undergrad, I wanted to stay in the northeast so that I could travel home on the weekends. I studied at Yale University in New Haven, CT where I majored in African American Studies and Political Science. I graduated in 2011 and after receiving the Gates Scholarship, I studied at the University of Cambridge in England where I received an M.Phil. in African studies. I just finished that program in June and started the Teacher Education Program at UPenn this past July.

Although I was fairly close to home as an undergraduate, I wasn't close enough. I was constantly homesick. I couldn't go home as much as I wanted to and when I did, my pockets were often crying. In my final undergrad moments, I knew that I wanted to go to a graduate school that was close to home. I love Philadelphia a lot and I knew that it would be fitting for me. From its rich preservation/promotion of African American history in museums and expositions to the (free) community-oriented programming of the city, Philadelphia has a lot to offer people of all ages.  For this reason, I explored many schools in Philly for grad school.

There are a lot of schools in the area that have amazing Education programs, but what drew me to Penn was the rhetoric of teaching beyond the textbook and collaboration within the school community. I must admit, I am still learning what both of those things actually mean, but the concept of teaching with purpose and agency excites me.  I also appreciated GSE's emphasis on perpetual self examination and improvement. To me, it seemed as if GSE wants aspiring teachers to be the best teachers that they could possibly be.

I must say that so far, things have been great. For the most part, I am enjoying the program and am definitely enjoying the program. There are some tiny qualms I have at the moment, but so far, things are good. Like life, no situation, place, or program will ever be perfect, especially when subjective eyes like mine are in charge of evaluating. For this reason, I hope to use this blog as a medium to express myself and reflect on my experience at Penn, in Philly, and as an aspiring teacher.

:)