Transcommunity in the Classroom

For some reason, I'm really distracted this week. I don't know why, my head is just spinning in many different directions. I think I need to meditate!

I don't understand transcommunity very well. I think its a topic that needs to be discussed in great detail in class before I'll be ready to comment on it at all.

Really sorry for the short post- I'm just so confused. 

Teaching Art Curriculum

I found this week's readings extremely illuminating and interesting. I had never before heard f Room 13 and I really like the concept of self-governed student-led initiatives- I would have loved to be part of something like this when I was in school!

Its interesting to see how it took on, and how its managed overall. Collaboration is necessary, and I like how they work in teams rather than as individuals, but it got me thinking about complications arising out of competition and conflict. How do students approach conflicts arising out of the collaborative working? the artist-in-residence is there to supervise, but the article doesn't mention conflict resolution technique.

I had never heard of spiral curriculum and I liked the concept of opening discussion on the "weird" to approaching inquiry and experimentation. I had also never thought of free writing as a means of opening up the mind and getting creative ideas out. The Gude articles definitely helped me in my teaching, and I think I'll be spending this weekend applying this to my own work.

Chapter 1 of the Walker readings had a similar effect on me. I haven't really taught art in a formal setting, going largely by how art was taught to me in school, and tweaking that a bit. The different approaches mentioned and discussed in the Walker reading were interesting and very very helpful.
I want to test these out as well, as much as I can, on myself. I think they give me something to ponder upon.

I'm really interested in how the others in the class approach these, as many of them have more experience in teaching art than I have. Have they used these methods? Were they successful? What would you change or rearrange? How difficult is it to know for sure that what you think an artist meant to do with his or her work is actually the right approach? Furthermore, how does one translate that into activities in class?

I am really looking forward to today's class. :)

Eth & Ped Week 9: LGBTQ Issues in the Classroom

First off, I'd like to take a moment to marvel at the fact that we've reached the midpoint of the semester! Wow- time is passing by so quickly.

Going through the readings assigned for this week, I have to confess that I've never really encountered any of these issues. Maybe because I hail from an Eastern culture where this has never really been discussed. As such, I can't really comment on anything because I have no starting point, no biases, and not really much to go on here. I personally believe that one should live and let live. I agree with the readings in the sense that they propagate the idea that students should be made aware. But I don't think myself qualified with enough information on this topic to make any comments about how effective the ideas and tips discussed in the readings could be.

"Art, with its great capacity, can substantially and powerfully enrich both teaching and learning." - Ayers

Ayers talks about how art as an educational tool. Interesting. The incorporation of the different forms of art - poetry, performance, visual- is interesting. It reminds me of all the projects that I did at school: make a volcano, a cricket pitch with all the positions explained (cricket is a sports game), a replica of the Colossus at Rhodes. I can see and I agree with the idea. In fact, I see it being incorporated in my country, not just in the schools, but in higher education as well.

But I can say that I have had a privileged education- being educated, and that too at a convent school, is a high privilege in itself. How are these concepts to be trickled down to all schools? Do schools have the kind of budget to i. train the teachers, ii. provide students with resources? It all boils down to how practical the idea is, when mundane subjects such as money and budget are brought to focus.

Another pet peeve I have is the concept prevalent here that uniforms are bad. Back home, a uniform is in place to encourage students to think that they are all equal, at least while they are in school. I'd like to discuss and understand the reasoning behind the no uniform policy here in the US.

The North reading begins with the premise that Social Justice will be discussed in the context of the US and the rest of the world as well. It was only about the US and I, as an international student, was not pleased.

It is interesting how the Dewhurst readings resonate with me, today specifically, as I just attended the guest lecture by artist Dylan Miner, who's practice involves socially engaged art. Dewhurst's take on social justice art education then seems to me to be a conduit for socially engaged art. Does this make sense?

From the Bigelow reading, the following quote resonated the most:

 "A social justice classroom equips children not only to change the world but also to maneuver in the one that exists."

I think this sums up my take on social justice and how I can relate to it from my cultural perspective. 

Bishop: Becomming an Ally

Apologies in advance for the short post this week- I had my interview with an arts practitioner today and was busy preparing for that.

These Bishop chapters were an interesting read. I feel like I agree with the theories proposed to a certain extent regarding the process of oppressing and "civilizing" the "savages". As a history enthusiast, I was interested in the historical examples and references.

The beliefs that propagate and then maintain injustice are also worthy of mention.

Also, in Chapter four, the following excerpt particularly struck out:

"It is the internalization of our personal experiences of oppression

which perhaps cause us to feel inadequate, ugly, ridiculous, invalidated,

objectified, fearful or terrified. If these experiences remain

unresolved, we then project on to the external world. Who or

what we perceive as embodying a threat to our existence, be it

personal, social or economic, is very much determined by institutionalized

prejudice and prevailing myths and stereotypes which

serve to manipulate and fuel our fears. (1987: 196-97) - Green"

Eth & Ped: Critical Pedagogy Dissected

When I started reading "Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Chapter 1" I honestly felt I was in a history class. The oppressor-oppressed dialectic is what most of the South East Asian history and liberation and Partition of the Indian Subcontinent is all about. It was even more poignant as this history is still in living memory back home. My grandparents were born before the Partition of 1947, and my parents before the Fall of Dhaka which separated Bangladesh from Pakistan.

I questioned why we were reading text so clearly historical and pertaining to socialism etc.

Then I started Chapter 2, and things became clearer. The Banking Concept of Education perfectly encapsulates the ideology of chapter 1.

"The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in

the world as transformers of that world." The banking view cares not for the students to become creative, and "thus they react almost instinctively against any experiment in education which stimulates the critical faculties and is not content with a partial view of reality but always seeks out the ties which link one point to another and one problem to another."

However, a problem I run into here is that Freire talks about the process of imparting knowledge to students as a bad thing. That the teacher is a necrophilic. What is the right way then? A student who was taught in this manner may well grow up to be a teacher who teaches in this manner. 

This system of education does, however, runs true when you talk of students misbehaving in class, as the subject matter doesn't interest them. How will it, when its imparted as soporific and not as inclusive. 

My question is answered in part by the latter half of the text discussing the Problem-posing education: "The students-no longer docile listeners--are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher. The teacher presents the material to the students for their consideration, and re-considers her earlier considerations as the students express their own."

The emergence of consciousness and opposed to its submersion is not only an interesting concept, but I feel like in can be visualized.

"Problem-posing education is revolutionary futurity." I don't entirely agree with this proposition, and would like to expand upon it in class.

The third reading, "What is Cultural Pedagogy" ties in the thoughts from the Freire readings, and I like the direction it takes in terms of thought process. What I would like to see more of is the global context. As an international student, I would like to see how I can relate these learnings to a developing schooling environment. Where I come from, illiteracy is still a problem, so what stage at which to incorporate these ideas would be a nice tie-in. How can we go about this?

Eth & Ped: What to bring to the classrom

I liked how the readings tied in so well with the previous week's readings. The comics "Mystery of Teaching", and "Beginners' Guides Contact I and II" were a really nice, pictorial view and really commended the articles that were assigned.

In the "Opening The Classroom Door", I found the following point very compelling:

"Take the elegant but straightforward idea that every

human being is a three-dimensional creature much like

yourself: a person with hopes, dreams, skills, and experiences;

each with a body, a mind, and a spirit that must

somehow be valued, respected, and represented in your classroom

and somehow taken into account in your teaching. If

you take this as a value you intend to carry in your

pocket into the classroom-if it's something you want

to take as an ironclad commitment to live out every day

no matter what--and to embed deep within the classroom

structure, culture, and environment, it challenges

you to find concrete ways to reject and resist actions that

treat students as objects and any gestures that erase,

obliterate, ignore, or silence any other human being."

We're taught from a very young age to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated by them but its very seldom that this thought is taken into the classroom by the teacher! I'm curious to know how others who have r are currently teaching have taken this into their classrooms or how they've approached this.

I'm also interested in how each of us takes the values and ideas that Quinn speaks about and applies it to practice even in those craziest moments that every teacher dreads thinking about: a class out of control.

Bell's "Knowing Ourselves as Instructors" is also an interesting read, and I really like how the examples and snippets of thoughts from actual practitioners is used. Going through the first readings, I was interested in how professors broached social justice in class, and I liked how this article talks about how that's done and been done.

I especially like the Contact readings, maybe because its easiest for me to digest readings in the form of a story, so I enjoyed remembering points from the Bell and Quinn readings and noting where they popped up in the Contact readings.

Re-post from ning: My Reflections and I

Me:

I'm from Karachi, Pakistan, and have been through business school, graduating in 2011. I worked at a bank for a couple of years after graduation, and it was during my stint there that I began to feel discontent with my career choice. I started exploring different avenues. I had taken art classes in school so when neighbors asked me to tutor their kids, I jumped right in. Tutoring over the weekends really made me happy, and I began to seriously tinker with the idea of moving towards art education.

I took up a class at one of Pakistan's most famous art school, the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) to become better at my own work in order to teach. While there, I applied to the SAIC, and given that I got in, decided to come all the way to Chicago to become an art educator. 

I feel several factors motivated me to make this choice. My mentors and the people to guided me towards this path aren't necessarily art educators, or even remotely connected to the arts. Given my b-school background, they are more business-y, and less artsy.

1. My father

My dad encouraged me to step beyond the classical notion of a 9-5 job. He wanted me to do something I loved and it was him who actually suggested that I look into art education as a career.

His stance is that a person is happier doing what they love to do.

2. John and and Hank Green - Vlogbrothers

The Vlogbrothers are inspirational because they truly challenge paradigms in the field of education. They have come up with several projects which focus on education outside the classroom. Using youtube as their chosen platform, they have various channels, such as Crash Course, on which they have short video courses on history, literature, biology, etcetera which are in a format that you can digest and enjoy. Infotainment even.

They have also other, similar projects and its really inspiring to see them challenge paradigms in the field of education. One of my favorite projects is The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (LBD) which recently won a Grammy. 

3. Prof. Dr. Mahnaz Fatima, Associate Professor at the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi

Dr. Mahnaz is a life long educator and someone who has herself faced and successfully challenged stereotyping and other issues along the way. She teaches Development Economics and Managerial Strategy and Policy, and is a free thinker. She challenges students to think outside the box, to critically assess the education system and to try to do something about it. 

Posted On: Sept, 05, 2013

Original Post

Re-post from my Ning: Readings 1 - Thoughts and Questions

Mapping identity:

Its an interesting reading on how our life experiences affect what we bring into the classroom as educators. I like the mapping exercise which forces one to assess what factors affect one the most. 

Question: How honest is one when doing the self-assessment? Can we really not be biased in that assessment? If someone else does it for us, are they not biased by their own Identity-baggage?

Cycle of Socialization:

This is an interesting reading, and I would like to participate in a  discussion regarding the cycle.

Question: Although I agree with the beginning and first socialization following in this order, how likely if the rest of the cycle to actually follow this cyclical trend?

Adrian Piper : Ideology, Confrontation, and Political Self-Awareness

Although I agree with some of this, I am having difficulties processing this article. 

Post Date: Sept 5, 2013.

ning post