So Long for Now!

I am currently in the heat of final papers and the final moments of student teaching for the month and so, I am stepping away from this blog until early January. Peace and Blessings.

kb

Using Twitter to Teach about Power, Race, and Privilege

Two weeks ago, I gave the students in one of the African American History classes a two-day project titled “Power and the Media.” On day 1, students were expected to find three articles related to power and privilege. It could be about anything, just as long as it related to either of the two aforementioned topics. On day 2, I played three media clips and students live tweeted as we also discussed the content and concepts of the clips.

I’ll just present directions for day 1/ part 1 to give a bit more clarification:

Before beginning: Mr. B will post all of the twitter accounts for members of the classroom. You will follow the twitter accounts of everyone in the classroom.

Part 1: Exploring the Media

Find three online articles that reflects either power dynamics or privilege.

1. Tweet the link of the article.

2. Write three tweets explaining how your article reflects power dynamics and/or privilege. 

3. If necessary, respond to tweet mentions/ responses that you receive.

4. Read at least 3 other articles posted by your classmates. For each article, respond with one question that you have about the article and how it relates to power/privilege.

5. Continuously tweet and respond to classmates. Do not delete your account or tweets.  Your TL (timeline) will be assessed by Mr. B.  Doing the minimum will earn each student a C/ B. Being continuously engaged and doing more than what is asked will result in engaging classroom dialgoue and will likely result in a higher mark.

I have to say, I think this project went incredibly well. Nearly all of the students posted topical articles and there was frequent communication and debate via twitter. The students handled the assignment very maturely. I scaffolded this project with a one-day student/group led lesson on respect and bullying. I hope to use twitter in the future to direct lessons and to encourage participation among students, for example, who do not normally participate out loud in class.

I think the project allowed students to explore topics that they were interested in, with regards to race. My hope was that if students could explore the concept of power and privilege within a topic of interest, that they would gain a greater conceptual understanding of both ideas and be able to consider them when talking about race. Day 2 seemed to be indicative of my goal becoming a reality, as many of the students tweeted very complex, nuanced and advanced tweets on what was very difficult material (I played clips from Bamboozled and American History X (edited) for them. In the end, it seems as if twitter was effective in carrying out my goals for this lesson and ultimately, this unit.

A Special Shout Out: Xixi!!!

If you've read my latest posts or if you've had a conversation with me over the past month or so, you know that my life is crazy hectic. With a fair share of good, there has been a fair share of bad. However, there is one friend of mine who has been fantastic over the past couple of weeks. Actually, there have been quite a few (which range from my super talented classroom mentor at SLA to one of my closest AKA skee-wee, oh-so-pretty friends to my patient, chill roommate). However, there is one in particular who deserves a shout out by name.

A coworker/ friend at GSE has been incredibly amazing over the past couple of weeks. You may know her. You might have checked out her blog, as it is hyperlinked above. Her name is Xixi and she's incredible. Seriously, she's been super nice, caring, and just a great friend. I'm not just saying this because she approves my hours and can potentially give me the boot from this GA position. I'm saying this because she's performed kind deeds and kind deeds deserve recognition.

And so, I salute my wonderful friend Xixi

Principal's List

All of my little cousin's made Principal's List! My family is so excited for them and are celebrating their hard work and academic successes.

Of late, I've thinking about whether or not we should celebrate the fact that they are getting straight As. While academic marks are often indicative of many positive qualities such as organization, drive, and intellect, they aren't always an accurate reflection of learning. I spent some time today talking to an auntie and one of my cousins about the incredible work that she has produced last marking period and it is clear that she has learned a lot. However, I am not sure if any of us has actually celebrated her learning in the same way that we celebrated her As.

What would it look like to celebrate learning? How could we, as a family, celebrate the expansion of intellectual facilities among the youngins at home? And backtracking just a tad, I'm also wondering if it is even a bad thing to celebrate their academic accomplishments via report cards.

All of these little kiddos put 100% into their work. They come home everyday and the first thing they do is take out their folders and complete their homework for the night. They are very diligent and organized with all of their work. Most importantly, they are aware of their facilities but remain humble in their talents and accomplishments. I think they deserve a reward and report card time is a good way to receive it. I'm just wondering what does this do for their perception and value of learning.

Thoughts?

When It Rains, It Pours

I thought about doing a video diary for this post, but then I thought to myself- self, what if you break down and start crying in front of the camera; that isn't a good look. (That's a joke. If you know me, you know that it is nearly physically impossible for me to cry).

And so, I present to you my life over the last 10 or so days.

It's been rough, LOL.

There is a joke that I would often share with my friends in undergrad about being on the struggle bus. We'd laugh and just talk about how we were always on the bus and that it never stopped- and that we never knew where the struggle bus was going. Well, I've been driving the darn struggle bus for the past two weeks.

...and that isn't to say that things are not going well. If one were to look at my own classwork or my student teaching experiences as measures of doing well, s/he would say, oh wow- he is managing very well. And I am. But I'm not.

I won't get into too much detail, but these past couple of weeks have been the ultimate test of balancing life. As a cousin, uncle, aspiring teacher, bill payer, mentor, student, friend, boyfriend, and ____ (insert title here), there has been so much launched my way in terms of being there for other people while also doing what I need to do as a student and as someone who wants to maintain a positive personal space. Dealing with real life gets even more complicated when you're broke as a joke and your laptop crashes with all of your work...

But with all of these things (again, which are too personal to detail in this public forum) I get news that someone took the life of my grandfather following a home intrusion. http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/20196951/elderly-man-killed-in-deadly-home-invasion
 To see and feel the effect of such a tragic event with my family members wis rough.

At the moment, I'm facing this decision of whether I should keep working in spite of everything or if I should take a break here and there and cater to my emotional facilities. So far, I've been working through everything and just grinding in spite of a lot of stuff.  By the grace of God, things are working out and for this, I am incredibly thankful. I was talking to a good friend who told me, "God allows us to be broken so that we can experience fulfillment. When we experience fulfillment and blessings following a rough time, we can remember what it was like to be down while also maintaining a sense of humility when we're up."

Right not it is raining... pouring in fact, but I'm confident that the sun will shine again. :)