Raising Consciousness of Violence Against Women in Society

On Tuesday, April 2, 2013, Lesley University Graduate School of Education focused on faculty member Dr. Aziza Braithwaite Bey. Dr. Bey presented her most recent research on violence against women in society. She began with a short video depicting the flash mob she participated in at the Prudential Center in Boston, MA to support One Billion Rising. One Billon Rising is a program that dramatizes and supports the societal issues around violence against women (
http://onebillionrising.org/
).

Furthermore, Dr. Aziza presented an overview of the historical development and evolution of matriarchal and patriarchal systems of power. In addition, she demonstrated how a Lesley University student in Savannah Georgia was able to approach similar social issues within her classroom setting, resulting in greater awareness and empathy.

Lastly, Dr. Aziza provided the audience with an opportunity to develop their responses to her presentation. They were challenged to cultivate ideas that allowed educators to incorporate social issues within the classroom in regards to critical pedagogy. The audience responded using various mediums such as found poetry, music, and reader’s theater.

Below is Dr. Bey’s synopsis of her presentation:

The relationship of indigenous women from the Iroquois Confederacy to the family is examined with particular focus on how the erosion of the traditional matrilineal family structure has created an unnatural balance between the masculine and the feminine principles.  The intersection between ethnohistory and ethnography reveals the contradictions involved in what power means in the context of the feminine principle and why as humans we must seek to integrate both masculine and feminine principles to achieve an egalitarian harmonious relationship with nature and each other. I am interested in how the shift from gathering/hunting societies to agricultural/industrial societies influenced the family structure, and imposed male dominance and oppression on women.  I propose that the feminine principle and its connection to the land is vital to restoring balance and harmony in indigenous societies.

Critical Pedagogy and the Arts Committee Recognizes Women’s Month

On March 21, 2013 Lesley University held its second Critical Pedagogy and the Arts Committee presentation this spring to honor Women’s Month. Dr. Aziza Braithwaite Bey, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, presented on one of the many “unsung heroes” during the 1800s.

Dr. Bey explored the life of Jarena Lee, the first black woman preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.). Below is the abstract of Dr. Bey’s presentation:

Jarena Lee was the first woman preacher to officially preach for the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1819. Jarena Lee, wife and mother, inspired by spirit and guided by her unfaltering faith, preached the word to call congregations of many denominations— Methodist, Episcopalian and Baptist alike.  She preached to slaves and slaves owners, to blacks, whites, and to Native Americans from Canada. She went from New York , New Jersey,  and Pennsylvania  to Ohio, Maryland to Virginia and beyond, spreading God’s word. She even preached in slave states, risking her personal safety.  At times she traveled with her young son while often being so strapped for money she didn’t even have enough to get back home.  I will explore Preacher Lee’s journey to uncover her unique gifts as she raises the spirits of the sick and unfaithful to a place of joy, love, and mercy.  Why haven’t we heard her story?  She is among the many unsung heroes who toiled without recognition, in the popular culture of the time.

Dr. Bey concluded her presentation by offering an opportunity to examine how the faculty in attendance would discuss courageous women in history within the classroom, in response to critical pedagogy. Unanimously the discussion proposed the theory of resilience that was demonstrated by Jarena Lee, which was evident during Dr. Aziza’s presentation. Overall the discussion concluded that Jarena Lee’s resilience characterizes her title as an “unsung hero” and as a pioneer for females within the church.

Book Review 2013

Echoes from Freire for a Critically Engaged Pedagogy

By Peter Mayo (2012)

Echoes from Freire for a Critically Engaged Pedagogy by Peter Mayocommemorates the fortieth anniversary of the publication of the classical text Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a classic in the fields of education, political mobilization, and community development that influenced practitioners of critical pedagogy to develop a more holistic view.

Mayo sought to revisit a number of pieces he has written over the years that strongly echoes Freire. Therefore, the chapters of Echoes from Freire for a Critically Engaged Pedagogyoutline some of the basic concepts in Freire’s philosophy and pedagogical approaches. Mayo discusses Freire’s ideas concerning the role of critical intellectuals and public life. Key issues regarding education and social activism are also debated through a Freirean perspective. Mayo then directs his writing to a Freirean perspective on research, specifically transformative research and program planning (with a focus on adult education).

Lastly, the two final sections include Mayo’s focus on “personages” by comparing others’ formulations and ideas to Freire’s concepts. Mayo concludes the book by highlighting the title and exposing the ideas of three people who draw inspiration from Freire: Antonia Darder, Henry Giroux, and the late Paula Allman.

Book Review by Breanna Steinberg, Graduate Assistant to Dr. Aziza Braithwaite Bey – Blog Coordinator

 

Book Review 2013

Cultivating Social Justice: How Teachers Educators Have Helped Students Overcome Cognitive Bottlenecks and Learn Critical Social Justice Concepts

By P. G. Gorski, N. Osei-Kofi, J. Sapp, K. Zenkov, and D.O. Stovall (2012)

Cultivating Social Justice educates readers about the “bottleneck” of education. The book defines a “learning bottleneck” as a sort of collective comprehension backup that occurs when educators struggle to facilitate effective learning around a foundational concept or competency.  When this bottleneck occurs in education, the learning process becomes cluttered. As a result, progression towards bigger learning goals and understanding may stall. Cultivating Social Justice focuses on the bottlenecks that creep up in social justice and multicultural teacher education contexts.

The editors of Cultivating Social Justice questioned what might help teachers as educators do a better job teaching social justice threshold concepts while avoiding common social justice learning bottlenecks. Cultivating Social Justice advocates the importance of these threshold concepts. It states that these threshold concepts are critical to social justice teacher educators because if the students are unable to grasp them in depth then they have little chance of developing a further understanding of a whole network of other social justice-related concepts.

Contributors to Cultivating Social Justice identified the learning bottlenecks they have encountered in their profession as an educator and agreed to tell how they came to find strategies for facilitating through them. Each chapter describes practical strategies that can be adapted as part of your own teacher education practice.

Book Review by Breanna Steinberg, Graduate Assistant to Dr. Aziza Braithwaite Bey – Blog Coordinator

Education in Cuba, as Witnessed by Dr. Abraham A. Abadi

Throughout my presentation I presented some pictures and experiences of my trip to Cuba in 2010.  These pictures included schools and I offered multiple examples of curriculum guides from Cube for each grade from 2nd to 6th.  These guides were tailored to the psychological and developmental academic needs of the children being taught. They made it clear that education was a revolutionary act which prepares students for “growing into a pioneer,” one of the mainstays of Cuban education.

The education system in Cuba is very clear about its ideological orientation.  Cuba knows that it is educating to indoctrinate students into a Marxist perspective.  Personally, I see nothing wrong with this. The goals are clear, not hidden as in other systems.  Teachers work very hard. At the schools I observed, they began working early in the morning. They serve breakfast, clear the tables, and then teach all day.  For this hard work, they get $20 a month.  Many of us visiting from Lesley left pieces of our clothing there for the teachers, such as T-shirts, polo shirts, socks, and/or jeans.

In many of the classes, the instruction is based upon a teacher directed approach. That is, the teacher presents a concept, issue or theory, explains it, gives various illustrations of its uses and then has the students work on problems based on the lesson.

I was able to observe this approach during a fifth grade math class. I mentioned to the teacher that in the U.S. we find that students learn mathematical algorithms, but do poorly on conceptual understanding of mathematical ideas.  As an example, I told her that many of my 8th graders could not answer the following question, is 2/9 closer to one half, zero, or one whole?  However, in comparison, most of my students could successfully solve, 1/2+1/3=.  Thus indicating that they had internalized a process but had no idea what a fraction was.

The teacher was very secure in her response by answering that we (the Cuban education system) focus a great deal of energy on concepts. She said that I was free to ask any student a question based on the lesson they were studying, ratios and proportions.  So, I asked for a volunteer and most students willingly raised their hands. I chose one child from the back and asked, “What is the ratio of boys to girls in the class?” She answered with the question, “boys to girls or girls to boys?” I said “boys to girls.” She then asked, “Should I include you and ‘la maestra’ (the teacher)?” I said “No, just students.”

This clearly demonstrated that this child understood the difference between 11 to 9 and 9 to 11. Furthermore, she understood the fact that those numbers change if the teacher, who was female, and I were added into the mix.

From this experience, I came away feeling convinced that these children thoroughly understood the concept of ratio and could use it successfully and confidently. Nevertheless, this is done without fancy technology…just hard working teachers who have their 20 students for 8 hours a day.

Dr. Abraham A. Abadi, Assistant Professor, Lesley University, Graduate School of Education

Presentation to the Critical Pedagogy & the Arts Committee on January 31, 2013

Critical Pedagogy through the Arts: EARED 6090

Lesley University’s Creative Arts in Learning division in the Graduate School of Education offers a course “Critical Pedagogy through the Arts,”  which is taught by Professor Aziza Braithwaite Bey.  Dr. Aziza chaired the Critical Pedagogy and the Arts Committee 2007 – 2011 and is the creator of the www.critpedagogy.wordpress.com  blog at Lesley University.

During Fall 2012, students in her Critical Pedagogy class summarized the current research that is offered in the Critical Pedagogy field.   Dr. Bey compiled excerpts from recent articles, books, and chapters that depict the current work and beliefs in the field, and organized these excerpts into chapters summarizing various perspectives within the field, such as on race, class, gender, education, etc.  Students were asked to summarize and present multiple chapters from this collaboration created by Dr. Bey.  Their summaries, thoughts, and reflections were as follows:

 Chapter 1: Critical Pedagogy – What is it?

Students presented the theory of  “power for social change” that critical pedagogy holds.  After sharing a personal experience of witnessed oppression the group outlined a helpful vocabulary sheet. The vocabulary discussed was defined according to Dr. Jason J. Campbell’s writings on the “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” For more information about Campell’s writings please refer to the  following link: http://www.jasonjcampbell.org/blog.php

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The class as a whole unanimously voted that the terms shared by the group were extremely helpful in their understanding of what critical pedagogy of the oppressed means.  Definitions provided within the vocabulary list are as follows:

False Charity: Seek to increase the viability of charity by reinforcing     the dehumanization of those seeking charity.

Oppressor: A person of authority who subjects others to undue pressures.

Dehumanization: Characterized in terms of injustice, exploitation, oppression, violence, those robbed of their humanity, those who have robbed others of their humanity.   For example:  a person who creates/perpetuates hegemony (to maintain the status quo and power over others).

Privilege: Oppressors fail to recognize their privilege in having and fail to recognize that privilege as dehumanizing the oppressed. One’s having is at the expense of another person’s having. (Eventually) having/owning/ possessing is an inalienable right, i.e., the right to have more.

OTR (Objective Transformation of Reality): The process of changing the oppressor-oppressed contradiction.  For example, bringing both the oppressed and the oppressor to an understanding of what is going on in the situations of oppression and how to “fix” it, versus perpetuate it.

Convert: One who attempts to “join” and fight with us “for” the oppressed. Despite good intentions, they typically retain their biases and attempt to think for the oppressed. They want to bring about the OTR, but they cannot because this is the responsibility of the oppressed.

In summary, the group concluded that Chapter 1 supports the theory that “one of the first steps to overcoming oppression is the oppressed acknowledging and naming their oppression.”

Chapter 2: Race, Class, and Gender

This group presented their summary on the first part of Chapter 2 and discussed some of the theories that critical pedagogues embrace as it pertains to race, class, and gender. The group shared two excerpts from Chapter 2, which are as follows:

1. “To identify ‘female’ as an oppressed status under patriarchy doesn’t mean that every woman suffers its consequences to an equal degree just as living in a racist society doesn’t mean that every person of color suffers equally or that every white person shares equally in the benefits of race privilege. Living under a patriarchal society does mean, however, that every woman must come to grips with an inferior gender position and that whatever she achieves will be in spite of that position. With the exception of child care and other domestic work and a few paid occupations related to it, women in almost every field of adult endeavors must labor under the presumption that they are inferior to men, that they are interlopers from the margins of society who must justify their participation” (Johonson, 2005, p. 23).
2. “Oppression is a social phenomenon that happens between different groups in a society; it is a system of social inequality through which one group is positioned to dominate and benefit from exploitation and subordination of another. This means not only that a group cannot oppress itself, but also that it cannot be oppressed by society. Oppression is a relation that exists between groups, not between groups and society as a whole” (Rothenberg, 2007, p. 165).

The following excerpts are referenced from:

Johnson, A. (2005). The gender knot: Unraveling out patriarchal legacy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Rothenberg, P. (2007). Race, class, and gender in the united states (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

After presenting these excerpts from Chapter 2, the group proposed multiple questions to the class regarding race, class, and gender.   In addition to the values discussed, students were asked to share their identities, struggles, and their relationship to those identities.

The group examined the discomfort that may be associated with identity. They labeled identity as your heritage/ ethnicity, and asked what other groups you may identity yourself with. If there is a discomfort in these identities, why do you think this is?   Additionally, what struggles have you experienced due to your identities, outside or within the United States? Was this recent or long ago? If you share multiple identities, are there multiple struggles? Lastly, the group noted the experience of schooling in relationship to one’s identity. How was their identity represented?

The third group presented part 2 of Chapter 2 and highlighted the main points of the readings within the chapter. Below are some of the important quotes noted by this group:

• Race vs. Ethnicity: The Question, the Answer with Chart

- “Race refers to a person’s physical appearance, such as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone/jaw structure, etc. Ethnicity, on the other hand, relates to cultural factors such as nationality, culture, ancestry, language and beliefs.”

This quote was referenced from the following link: www.diffen.com/difference/ethnicity_vs_race

• Racism: National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

–“In U.S. society, racism functions to maintain structural inequalities that are to the disadvantage of people of color.” (www.naswdc.org/pressroom/events/911/racism.asp)

• Killing Rage: Ending Racism

–“Rage can be consuming. It must be tempered by an engagement with a full range of emotional responses to black struggle for self-determination.”

–“Their rages surface (upper class black people) because they make these changes believing that doing so will mean they will be accepted as equals. When they are not treated as equals by whites they have admired and subordinated their integrity to, they are shocked.”

The quotes were referenced from the following text:

Hooks, Bell. (1995). Killing rage. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

• Impact of Racism at School: Rights, Responsibilities, and  Racism, the New 3Rs

–“As far as schools are concerned, one impact of racism will be on children’s self-esteem which will also likely have an effect on their success at school. There is likely to be more conflict and bullying, in turn affecting school attendance and the participation of students from certain ethnic groups. School/community relations are likely to be more antagonistic with a lower participation rate by parents.”

–“There needs to be a democratic classroom and school ethos, where children learn the skills of participation through actively taking part in decision making.”

These quotes were referenced from  
http://www.cifedhop.org/Fr/Publications/Thematique/thematique10/Harris.pdf

Chapter 3: Effects of Racism on Children And Adults

         This group presented a worksheet titled “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh. McIntosh is associate director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women. This worksheet proposes the idea of the daily effects of white privilege. McIntosh decided to work on identifying the daily effect of white privilege in her life. She chose the conditions that she thought attach more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location. There is obviously a possibility that these factors are intricately intertwined. McIntosh noted within these factors (some listed below) that her African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances are precluded from most of these conditions.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.
3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area I can afford and in which I would want to live.
4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me,
5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
7. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
10.  I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

The 10 conditions listed above are just the beginning of McIntosh’s examination of the daily effects of white privilege. The worksheet continues to list 50 conditions that comprised what she identified as white privilege in daily life. Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege worksheet can be found at
http://ted.coe.wayne.edu/ele3600/mcintosh.html

The group presenting this chapter followed up this exercise with important bullet points from the chapter, some of which were:

• Awareness That Racism Affects How Children Do Socially and Academically

–“Most children actively notice and think about race. A new study has found that children develop awareness about racial stereotypes early, and that those biases are damaging.” Further information can be found at www.medicalnewstoday.com/printerfriendlynews.php?newsid=170909

• The Impact of Homophobia, Poverty, and Racism on the Mental Health of Gay and Bisexual Latino Men: Findings from 3 US Cities 

–“As predicted, social discrimination has a negative impact on levels of social support and self-esteem and, not surprisingly, psychological symptoms of distress are more prevalent among those who both are socially isolated and have a low sense of self-worth.”

This quote was referenced from the following article: Diaz, D., Ayala, E. Bein, J. Henne, and B. Marin(2001). The impact of homophobia, poverty, and racism on the mental health of gay and bisexual Latino men: Findings from 3 US cities. American journal of public health 91 (6): 927-932.

Chapter 4: Gender, Feminist, Class and Cultural Pedagogy

          During this presentation on gender, feminist, class, and cultural pedagogy multiple key terms were presented.  Here are a few that provide brief synopses of the main points focused on in this chapter:

• Classism: A biased or discriminatory attitude based distinctions made between social or economic classes.   A systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class groups.

• Feminist Pedagogy: A theory about the teaching/learning process that uses evaluation criteria for specific educational strategies and techniques to guide a classroom practice. The main criterion is the extent to which those in an educational community are empowered to act responsibly toward one another, and toward the curriculum, and to apply new learning to social action.

• Postfeminism: Most often defined as a reaction against perceived deficits and contradictions in second-wave feminism and/or a belief that feminism has succeeded in its goal of eliminating sexism and is thus no longer relevant.

• Postmodernism: Any of a number trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the practices, principles, or dogma of established modernism.

• Problem-posing: Based on the philosophies of Paulo Freire, problem-posing attempts to be the opposite of traditional, banking-based education by promoting critical thinking, dialogue, and action in a community of learners (both teachers and students together). One important goal of this teaching approach is to use knowledge as a tool to promote liberation and social change.

Additionally, the group shared quotes regarding the main focus of the    chapter: gender, feminist, class, and cultural pedagogy.

• Class: Power, Privilege, and Influence in the United States

“Class affects people not only on an economic level, but also on an emotional level. ‘Classist’ attitudes have caused great pain by dividing subordinated group members from one another and suppressing individual means for personal fulfillment or survival.”

This quote was provided from the following link: 
http://www.odec.umd.edu/CD/CLASS/BRANTLEY.PDF

Chapter 5:  Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom

        The first group to present this chapter examined the work of Paulo Freire. They offered many of his theories and referenced many of his sources.  To begin their discussion the group focused on Freire’s list of virtues for a teacher:

1. Teaching requires respect for the student’s knowledge.
2. Teaching requires aesthetics and ethics.
3. Teaching requires setting an example.
4. Teaching requires respect for the autonomy of the student.
5. Teaching requires good judgment.
6. Teaching requires curiosity.
7. Teaching requires self-confidence, professional competence, and generosity.
8. Teaching requires freedom and authority.
9. Teaching requires knowing how to listen.
10. Teaching requires loving the students.

The theories above were referenced from the following text:

Torres, C. A. (1998). Democracy, education, and multiculturalism: Dilemmas of citizenship in a global world. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

As previously mentioned, the group additionally provided quotes that encouraged the use of critical pedagogy within the classroom, based on Paulo Freire’s theories.  A few of the quotes examined by the group are as follows:

• Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism: Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World

- “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.

- “Freire postulates that there is no educational revolution without political revolution.”

- “Knowledge itself needs to be democratized, in a broader reconstruction of what knowledge is valuable, who knowledge counts, and how knowledge, skills, dexterities, and learning relate to power, wealth, and prestige.”

- “The central question of education today is what role, if any, educational institutions and practices should play in the constitution of the social pact that articulates democracy.”

Please refer to C.A. Torres, Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism: Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World, referenced above.

• The Challenge of Classroom Discipline

The next group presented on the second part of this chapter and focused on three topics within the theories of Critical Pedagogy in the classroom:  1) the challenge of classroom discipline, 2) youth facing terror and threat, and  3) language diversity and learning.

“One of the most challenging tasks in any classroom is to build a community where students respect one another and value learning.”

To build this community the group examined multiple approaches:

1. Involve students in decision making – students choose what they write, read, study – nature of their collaborative projects, help establish classroom rules and curriculum.
2. Inform students that it’s okay to make mistakes.
3. Model working independently and in groups.
4. Create heterogeneous work groups that rotate and change throughout the year.
5. Teach social justice.
6. Teach questions about bias in ideas and materials – children’s books, school textbooks, news reports, song lyrics, etc.
7. Help children see that they have their own values and perspectives that are independent from what they may hear, see or read.
8. Give them the tools necessary to practice making informed decisions – discuss current problems and possible solutions, role play, have social activists visit classroom.

This summary was referenced from the following text:

Peterson, B. (1994). Rethinking our classroom. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, Ltd.

• Youth Facing Terror and Threat: Community Based Acute Posttraumatic Stress Management

“Much of today’s psychological trauma that affects communities can be identified as resulting from sudden and seemingly random events…events that involve the violent loss of human life.”

This group outlined programs that have been developed to assist today’s youth when facing terror and threat.

• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) – structured group intervention, provided within 72 hours of exposure to critical incident, lasts 1.5-2 hours, prompting question for each of its 7 phases.
• Community members get together to help support those affected by a recent traumatic experience. The natural “gatekeepers of their neighborhoods.”
• Community Service Program (CSP) – focuses on short term immediate interventions to help stabilize people in need and to prevent them from developing longer-term psychological problems.
• Key features of the CSP: responsiveness, the visibility of the staff/network people, and their responsiveness to ethnic differences.

For further information please refer to the following article:

Marcy, R., & L. Behar, R. Paulson, J. Delman, L. Schmid, S. Smith (2004). Community-based, acute posttraumatic stress management: A description and evaluation of psychosocial-intervention continuum. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 12 (4), 217-228. doi: 10.1080|10673220490509589

• Language Diversity and Learning

“All we can do is provide students with the exposure to an alternative form, and allow them the opportunity to practice that form in contexts that are nonthreatening, have a real purpose, and are intrinsically enjoyable.”

“Diversity of thought, language, and worldview in our classrooms cannot only provide an exciting education setting, but also prepare our children for the richness of living in an increasingly diverse national community.”

For additional information please refer to the text: Delpit, L. 2006. Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: New Press. 48-53.

English Language Learners

           This past May 2012 we had the privilege to hear about one of our member’s most current works with English language learners in Guadalajara, Mexico. Sam Smiley shared her experience in Guadalajara through pictures of the areas she stayed in and worked in. She provided a brief history of Mexico, denoting the stereotypes that many Americans hold true towards Mexico. She displayed a map of the vast land Mexico contains and offered much cultural, social, and economic history of the land.

            During this meeting Professor Smiley shared her main experience through the ITTO TEFL Class offered in Guadalajara, Mexico. The mains points discussed within the meeting were the themes of critical pedagogy she was challenged with during her time abroad. She was asked not to use her student’s primary language as a way to educating them towards the English language. Professor Smiley shared how she was able to use her brief understanding of the Spanish language to live in Mexico for a month. However, she was frowned upon or even scolded when she used it within the classroom.

            The question examined within this meeting was whether the use of L1 (the student’s primary language) should be used within the classroom when the student is learning a second language (L2). Professor Smiley’s viewpoint was discovered during her experience as a teacher. The students she was teaching were learning English to gain employment, an education, or to travel. The basic communication of the English Language was necessary but an understanding of the linguistics was not. The students needed to be able to function in everyday life, such as Professor Smiley did during her month away. Therefore, Professor Smiley found it appropriate to use L1 as a last resort.

            The students were provided multiple tools, visuals, videos, etc., to help them further their understanding of the English language. However, using L1 was the last resort. Professor Smiley also shared her experience of incorporating the arts into her classroom. She discussed her integration of American pop music within the classroom.

            Lastly, the meeting ended with an anonymous vote that any teacher who teaches a second language should be required, and provided a grant, to do an immersion for at least a week in the country that hosts the language they will be teaching. Therefore, the teacher can apply what they have learned from their host country. The culture and empathy developed during their time aboard can go further in the classroom and in their teaching styles.

            Below is the website for the program Sam Smiley attended. Please take the opportunity to look at its benefits and share our new knowledge within our community.

http://www.teflcertificatecourses.com/tefl-mexico.php

Cultures of the High School

I am very pleased to share this opportunity with you. I created this syllabus based on another syllabus that I had previously created, as a result of going to a workshop that was held last summer. It was very inspirational, and what I realized during the time I was in that workshop was that I had left a piece out of the sequential learning for students and for them to understand the need to be culturally conscious.

I’ve felt that it was very important that classroom teachers in the high school become culturally conscious not only in terms of their knowledge but also in their behaviors and their attitudes. And I chose that because I think that there is some validity to the idea that high school is the significant piece for kids to lock in some of their understandings and some of their misunderstandings. Teachers who are going to be teaching in that environment need to really understand more than just perceptions. We need them to get perspectives.

I want them to have an opportunity to read things that other people have written about, issues related to the high school, but also about the cultural consciousness components. The first book that we start with is Joel Spring’s book, which is an exceptionally dense and very thorough evaluation of certain trends and the significant ideas that have followed through the years.

They have some understanding of some of these very important kinds of theories and ways of looking at things that have been part of America. The influence of the Puritans and clearly their perception that people are wealthy and successful are a result of them being chosen.

I think when people make the assumption that, “you know I’m successful because I am a hard worker and you’re not successful which means you must not be a hard worker.” We know there are impediments to people being successful in this society. This is a huge thing to talk about in high schools because there is so much competition to go to a well thought of college.

This presentation was presented by Dr. Barbara Francis on February 7, 2012 on behalf of the Critical Pedagogy and the Arts Committee. Dr. Barbara Fancis is a Program Director and Associate Professor at Lesley University.

“From Port-au-Prince to Kinshasa: A Haitian Journey from the Americas to Africa”

This post draws from excerpts from essays forthcoming in the book Anywhere But Here! Black Intellectuals: The Atlantic World and Beyond.  Eds. Anja Werner, Kendahl Radcliffe, Jennifer Scott.  University Press of Mississippi, 2013.

Introduction

During the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of young Haitian professionals moved to and worked in the Republic of the Congo (later renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zaire, and again the Democratic Republic of the Congo).  With little opportunity to practice in their fields in Haiti, and with a number of citizens facing harassment or persecution under the regime of François Duvalier, most saw the recruitment of Francophone professionals and technicians (primarily educators, but also doctors, engineers, lawyers, and other professionals) by the United Nations and the nascent Congolese government as an opportunity to escape repression, and start or resume professional lives in the Congo.

The story is significant for a number of reasons; firstly because very little has been documented regarding this pioneer group of Haitians.  Affected by the social tempests created in the political climate of François Duvalier’s rule, they left for Africa rather than for other parts of the Americas or Europe.

Secondly, the Haiti-Congo story adds greatly to discussions in the field of Atlantic history; post-colonial studies; cross-border intellectual histories; Caribbean migration relative to the development of the home country (remittances on one end of the spectrum, the idea of brain drain on the other); Haitian transnationalism and identity; the negotiation of race, gender, and class by migrant workers; the role of non-governmental organizations and governments in complex arrangements of movement of groups of people; and the political and economic dimensions of geographic displacement in general.

. . .

This essay is meant as an introduction to the Haiti-Congo story.  It is meant as an outline of the conditions in the Americas that precipitated the emigration of the Haiti-Congo participants as well as of the contemporary conditions of the Congo.  At its heart are the voices of Haitian people as reflected in a number of the participant narratives I have gathered in informal conversations and more formal interviews since 2000.

-Danielle Georges, Associate Professor, Creative Arts in Learning Division, School of Education, Lesley University

 

Book Review 2011: Conducting Educational Research: A Primer for Teachers and Administrators, P.D. Morrell &J.B. Carroll

Conducting Educational Research: A Primer for Teachers and Administrators is designed to provide the step-wise, content-specific information masters students must possess to design, conduct, and disseminate a qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods classroom or school research study. The text will help school professionals to see both the value of being life-long critical consumers of educational research and the merit of using research in helping them to become teacher leaders and/or change agents in their own professional settings.

Specifically, the text would provide master level students with:
the background they need to see the importance of educational research in their daily professional lives instruction in all aspects of a typical five-chapter research design (introduction/literature review/methodology/results/conclusion, discussion, implications)
the tools needed to locate and critically review published educational research instruction on common qualitative methodologies instruction on the types of quantitative methodologies that master level candidates would be most likely to use knowledge of the importance of being intelligent consumers of existing research ways to engage the student in a reflection plan for the future.-From the publisher.