If This Is DEFENSIVE Driving, Why am I OFFENDED?

This picture is from Defensive Driving, this year at Berea. In this photo at the left, students are filing into a big lecture-type classroom in the science building. I am not sure exactly how many students were there for the three different sessions of this class, but it was probably between 80 and 100 (far from the Berea class average).

I took the class as it was required for my labor position. While I went into it expecting to be bored, I came out of it with a much different reaction. During the "course", there were several video clips shown. Some were from the curriculum videos that share vocabulary terms and specific information about the class. Others, however were "Hollywood movies", ones that had some stretch connection to driving, but weren't officially affiliated. I think that the teacher intentionally chose some "cool" movies we may have seen to peak our interest, as it was a very tiresome class. That is all well and good, except that in both of the two "extra" movies, there was an unexpected nudity scene. Also, there was footage of graphic car wrecks in which cars and people were maimed and deformed. As a whole, the videos were pretty disturbing. Honestly, I didn't learn anything about the course from those clips. Instead, I feel like I was tricked into seeing the things I saw because there was no prior warning. Yes, we are all in college now and technically could see things like that (rated R movies), but I do not think it is wise of a teacher to assume that we all want to. Afterwards, a friend of mine and I went up to the teacher and told him how we felt, that the videos were potentially offensive, and asked him to maybe look into getting some different ones (or at least giving a heads up in advance) before he teaches the next class session. I'm not sure if he will or not but, at least I tried...

As a teacher, I want to use forms of media or technology that my students will be able to connect to. However, if one of those crosses a line of appropriateness, it immediately comes off my list.

I know that when I am a teacher, if I'm doing something that someone tells me is offensive, and I believe they are serious, I am going to try my darndest to change it. Even if it is an essential tenant of the class (which in this case it was NOT), I really will consider some sort of compromise, because I don't think that education should be offensive (with some exceptions, like learning about slavery or the treatment of Native Americans). That does not mean to say that it should not at some times be uncomfortable, because truth is a little painful, inconvenient, and leave you feeling uneasy. That's the point! In order to change the world, you need to be uncomfortable with how a part of it is functioning right now. Some of those uncomfortable truths really need to be learned. However, if there is something totally irrelevant I am doing, just for "fun", or personal gain, and it offends someone and I know about it, then no more.

I struggle with just sitting here and saying "this class sucked", when I know that it was a really hard place to be in. I feel for the teacher and frankly, who am I to say that if I were in his shoes, I could have remedied the situation? I'm not trying to say that. What I do know, is that he had no means of active learning. Instead, it was all lecture or videos. Even just some questions addressed to us every now and then, I think would have kept more people captivated. One thing that was good about this situation and teacher, is that he had a sense of humor. Even though his teaching techniques were not very active, he definitely spiced up the class by being down to earth, personable, and quite hilarious.

However, unfortunately... it was "so close yet so far"...I think his humor crossed a line. He would make very obscene, morbid jokes like "If there's a child in the middle of the road and you can't switch lanes without crashing into a car...square up and hit it", and another time when making a point about people in the back seats of cars flying through the windshield, he made a statement about "that 300 pound mama in the back". Also when describing accidents he has seen, his word choice was really interesting. Like instead of accepting the fragility of the fact that there was human life there once, he would use words like "squished" or "splat" and other words that implied a desensitization to death. I think his attitude had a very negative effect on the students in the class, who of course loved his humor, lived for his jokes, and laughed at practically every word he said. This gave him a recharge and the teacher would proceed to make more jokes. The teacher did not pause to think about how many people had lost loved ones in tragic, graphic car accidents that he was so harshly and bluntly describing. He was not very careful with what he said.

I want to remember as a teacher that I never know how my students relate to what I am saying. So before I tell about how I hate lawyers, I need to pause and consider that one of their parents may be a lawyer. Before I say food stamps are for poorer communities, I need to stop and think about the fact that some of them may use them. I have learned from this experience to be careful and think before I speak.

(<-- I wish someone had! )

When Do You Outgrow Story Time?

In these pictures, Berea college students are reading stories aloud. In the two top pictures, the books are by Dr. Seuss (The Star-bellied Sneetches and Gerturde McFuzz). In those pictures, we were practicing and testing the waters to find out which of the two we were going to read in our program. So, what's program? As a Bonner Scholar (my labor position), I help plan and lead (with these 5 other freshman teammates and 1 sophomore coordinator, all Berea satudents) an after-school program two days a week, with 7th and 8th graders from Berea Community school. Our program is called "Free2B" and it's unwritten "mission statement" is to learn about diversity and acceptance. Every program meeting we have snack, homework help, games, activities, and discussion. The theme for this week was "Stereotypes", and so we felt like one of those Dr. Seuss books would help us articulate that in words we otherwise couldn't. We decided to read "Star-Bellied Sneetches" to the kids at program, who by the way, are four girls.

The basic premise of the book is that a group (sneetches) was distinguished based on whether they had stars on their stomachs or not. The ones that did have stars, assumed they were better and excluded the others from things. Eventually, the ones that did not have stars, found a way to artificially put them on and once they all did, there was no way to tell them apart from the "originals". The "originals" then got so frustrated they found a way to remove their stars, and right when they were about to think they were better because they didn't have stars, they realized the pointlessness of it all and both groups united. When we, the leaders, read it to ourselves, we all agreed it sounded like an allusion to the Holocaust (especially with the symbolism of the star of David....). We agreed we were going to try to ask a question about this at program to see if any of the girls would pick up on that.

The day of, after reading The Star-bellied Sneetches, we started asking the girls some questions about inferiority & superiority, leading up to a question of whether this idea reminded them of anything in history (civil rights, Native Americans, slavery, etc.) If they did not have any ideas about that, or even if they did, that is when we were planning to share with them about the Holocaust correlation. Right after we asked "Who does the world see as superior?", one girl answered "well, it sort of reminds me of Hitler". Wow. It was even beforee we had gotten to the question about historic events! She really surprised and impressed me, and taught me a good lesson. Kids are smart, they are bright. They pick up on subtle hints (thanks Dr. Seuss) and when they put their mind to it, they can get the message. I also learned that "children's" books can sometimes have very adult and mature themes in them that can be used to teach. I need to develop an eye for that as I come across them.

The picture to the right is of another co-Bonner in my group, reading "The Skin I'm In" during our program. As of last week, we will have 5-10 minutes of this book being read aloud until the end of program (or the end of the book..whichever comes first!) I used these two experiences of reading to non-Elementary children, to address some questions I myself have about the benefits of reading aloud to students.

I do think that the age group matters...a lot. Obviously, if someone is a K-3 teacher, reading aloud is a given. However, I would argue that it still could hold a place in a middle, or even high school class. I recognize that not all students learn in the same way. Some are audio, and being read to would be right up their alley. However, other students that are perhaps visual, or kinestetic, may completely check out and gain nothing from the activity because they were too distracted. As a teacher, I know I will wrestle with how I can possibly satisfy ALL of my student's learning needs at once. Is that even possible? I do think I will try to balance and rotate off from one technique or style to another. I will make a point to search for books or stories that connect to either the curriculum, or a persistent theme I see arising in my specific class. Sometimes I think reading a story or book to say something is more effective, (and leads to a longer and more gradual absorption) than just saying it bluntly. Not to mention, it can (ideally) be a very calming, soothing, relaxing process to unwind or pause after something (mentally or physically) exhaustive. I do think that it would be helpful to enforce some sort of assessment of their learning from what was read, afterwards. If the students were informed of it beforehand, I think that would limit their frequency of being distracted and/or apathetic about it.

What NOT To Do As A Teacher...

These two pictures above were taken in my math class at the very beginning of the semester. The top one is of my teacher writing a math problem in chalk on a desk, and the lower pictcure is of the word "smart", with an arrow pointing (in this case) to me.

These pictures, and the situations behind them were facilitated by a teacher that is no longer working at Berea. My ex-teacher, when a student answered a question correctly or brought up a good point, he would walk over to that student's desk, write "smart" on it (it was temporary and could be easily wiped off later with a fist) and draw an arrow to that student. Also, this same teacher on one occasion said "smart girl" very loudly (enough for the rest of the class to hear) when he was handing back a test that I had done well on. When he did this to any other students, it made me feel excluded, less smart, and underappreciated. However, when he did it to/with me, I realized it only got worse. I felt exploited and embarassed. It made me feel really bad for getting a good grade, or understanding something when other students around me hadn't and didn't. I was hardly proud for my accomplishments, but instead, his behaviors made me ashamed of them.

I learned that this seemingly "simple" action of the teacher, completely alters the classroom dynamics, and shortchanges all the students. It's a "lose lose" situation, and even if the teacher's intent was to make us feel good about our work, I feel like no one did. I learned that there are other, better ways to congratulate students for their achievements, instead of calling them out awkwardly in such a way as that. I also learned that you cannot label students. Just because I answered a question correctly, that does not make me automatically "smart", or ...from an optimist's point of view, that does not make the other students NOT smart. If anything, a teacher should label ALL students smart, but I do not think that anyone (besides God) should EVER feel like they have the authority or omniscence to divy up who is and who is not smart, (and especially not to tell the students!). As if we're not self-concious enough already, being in a developmental, remedial math class full of things that the college silently screams we should already know, giving us no credit for our hours...the last thing we need is to have a lack of encouragement about our intelligence from the teacher.

I connected this to the "blank slate" philosophy we talked about in class, and the idea that no student is a "blank slate", because even if they don't enter the class knowing the entire curriculum, all enter with some prior knowledge whether it be street or textbook smarts.

I realized that this aids my personal development because as a future teacher, I will make a point to not label my students. No matter how much I may be tempted to, or how much I may secretly have thoughts in my own mind, I will try my hardest to keep them between me, myself, and I. I will strive to affirm ALL of my students, with no exceptions, based on the skills that I observe them having, and perhaps even based on slow but sure improvements in their weak areas. I will not be so objective and absolute that only right answers to problems deserve my encouragement. I also will make sure that if/when some of them give me a blatantly wrong answer to a question, I will not brush them away saying "No..anyone else?", like so many teachers I have done. Instead, I will try to not make a big deal of it, applaud them for their bravery for trying, and give a better hint about what I'm looking for. I have been that student before, scared and thinking I'm not smart, and so as a teacher I will try to counter those feelings, contradict so much of public education's ways with grades and test scores...instead I will attempt to prove to all of them that they are smart in someway, somehow.