Classism. Period.

Creative title, I know.

But I think it deserves to be stated outright.  Its often forgotten over the other "-isms" that we commonly think of.  Ironically, in my opinion, it is one of the more prevalent and wide-ranging inclusivity issues that youth deal with.  On a very superficial level, we judge people by how well kept they are, if they have the trendy clothes/styles and whether or not they have the latest Apple gizmo (this is especially true in younger kids).  Commercials and media don't help this idea either.  So I don't think we have to even go as far as looking at poverty to see classism in everyday life and easily in our classrooms.

But looking at the more serious issue of child poverty.  Reading the 2003 Report Card on Child Poverty, by the Canadian Council on Social Development, I was astonished to read that 390,000 children live below the poverty line.  14.4%.  Imagine having 4 kids in each one of your class below the poverty line.

To me, it makes me wonder as to why we don't see classism as much as an issue as I've seen in the past.  Is there some reason we don't want to talk about it?

Most of my teaching experiences so far have been in summer school.  Sadly that means there is a whole bunch of material to cover and not a whole lot of time to worry about a lot of "under the surface" kind of issues such as the "-isms".  To me, a successful day was if the students came to class and didn't get into a fight (the ratio of successful days to unsuccessful days was about 1:1).  So it makes me excited to get my own class and actually have the time to establish a classroom atmosphere.  And for an inclusivity issue that does not get brought into schools all that often, this will definitely be another "-ism" that will be in the back of my mind while trying to create the best environment my classroom can be.

Inclusion <=> Innovation

Read Inclusion Promotes Innovation by Jutta Treviranus on Thestar.com, September 12, 2007.

What I like about this article is it flips how we view inclusion of students with disability (or at least my view).  The normal perspective is that innovation is needed to promote inclusion in the classroom (ie hearing aids can help students with hearing difficulties).  However, what is needed is the idea of inclusion to not only support innovation directly, but to support others who would otherwise not be able to reach their full potential.  We don't have to look further from Einstein, Beethoven, and Stephen Hawking to see true innovators who all have disabilities in some way.  Imagine

The second part of this article that really intrigued me can be summarized by the quote:

"We train educators to teach the norm"

This (in lack of a better word) sucks.  Mainly because it's true.  It's hard when society gives us perceptions of "normal" students, how "normal" students learn, and how "normal" students behave.  How can we expect to teach anything different?  Well think of that 1 amazing teacher we all had in high school.  The one that did something different.  The one that geeks and gangsters alike adored and listened to.  They didn't teach the norm.  So why should we?  

And this is why I love Education courses so far.  We question ourselves and convention on a weekly basis.  What I hope happens is that this teaches us, as future educators, to do this on our own constantly in schools.  Question inclusivity issues.  Question our own practices.  Question our own bias.  Because so far, thats been the best thing that we can do before we have our own classroom and even after we have established ourselves as professionals.  It's always time to grow, especially in a growing world that requires inclusivity.

Students do not drop out, they are forced out.

Consider that statement for a second.

For me, it's a powerful one.  Along the lines with "Consider the glass half full, rather than half empty", it really changes how you view at-risk students in schools.  Essentially students will not leave a place that is doing them a service.  Maybe instead of viewing the disengaged student as someone who can't be helped, or needs to change, we should look at how the teaching can change to serve the student (to a point obviously, we aren't going to make a candy, puppy and firework course just because a student is skipping math).

I want to extend this a little bit further however.  We have the "force out" instead of the "drop-out", but we should also recognize students that are at risk of becoming a force out.  Let's call them, a "fade out".  I work as an EA in Peel Board's Summer School and these are the students I see most often.  The ones that are genuinely bright, capable students but either never show up or disrupt others around them because they aren't getting anything out of their school experience (for a variety of reasons).

With this different perspective of how students are feeling, I think we all as current and future educators can better serve others.  So please give it a second thought the next time you are ever frustrated with the performance or attitude of a student

What I Don't Know Could Fill A Boat. A Large Boat.

Today we had a discussion on aboriginal youth in classrooms.  Coming from Mississauga I’ve always sort of prided myself on knowing a lot about different cultures and religions, especially in how they played a role in inclusivity in the classroom.  However when the group today presented a quiz on aboriginal people, I was humbled about how little I knew about this group, especially when it came to education. 

One thing that got me was how different the socio-cultural aspect and cue differences between Eastern-European culture and Aboriginal culture.  This included a difference in importance of punctuality, the idea of praise, all the way to even eye contact while speaking to an individual.

As educators, we can often impose our own beliefs and ways of doing things in the classroom.  This often isn’t a huge issue when we all come from the same sort of background or heritage, but when we get into more diverse classrooms there is an exponential number of things we have to consider. 

At the end of the day we may think we know about a particular subject, or at least more than others, but don’t let that cloud your ability to be humbled and take the chance to grow.  Admit you don’t know something and learn from it.  Cause I definitely know what I’ll be doing before I get into my next placement.

Technology and Inclusivity in the Classroom

So today I pointed out that someone (a friend of a friend) used the phrase “that’s so gay” on facebook.  I do this on occasion in person (the usage of gay and retarded are the most frequent) and have never really had an issue.  Most apologize, correct what they said and the conversation moves on.  However in this case, the girl blew up on me.  I won’t post what was exactly said, but lets just say we wont be facebook friends anytime soon.  It struck me as odd since I’ve never had this reaction before, and it actually got me thinking: would this have happened if I told her in person. 

And this is what scares me, cause I don’t think so.  The first step to discrimination is to dehumanize the individual.  However in a world where we are all connected, not face to face, but wireless signal to wireless signal, the “human” touch is all too much lost.  A person is just wittled down to a screen name and tiny picture.  That’s pretty much as far away from a human as I can think of.  It’s no wonder there is so much hate on the internet these days, its just so easy to think of the people you are interacting with as not human.

So in the classroom how can we combat the fact that so many students are living in a world where its so easy to discriminate and dehumanize others 75% of the time?  I’ve heard so much about bringing technology into the classroom, and not to fight it, but there’s got to be something said for good ol’ face to face interaction.  So I want to pose a question: Do you think inclusivity in the classroom is at all affected by the increase use of technology?  Do students bring with them how they act online to the classroom?  Do teachers have to work harder today to create an inclusive, personal environment these days compared to years pervious? Is there a connection at all?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but its just something I’ve been pondering today.  

"The Silent Ones"

No its not a title of a horror movie I'm writing.

Last week we had a frank discussion on racism.  It was great to have such a discussion in an open and safe forum.  However I found that there were still a few quiet individuals that did not share their opinion the entire class.  Now I am perfectly fine with that, it is their choice whether they want to or even feel comfortable enough to share their opinion.  It still got me thinking about those who I will deem “the silent ones”.  

In our classes there will always be these types of people, and it is very easy to overlook them and their opinions.  Whether they are silent about bullying they saw, their offense to a certain joke someone made, or just silent in general, it is very easy to overlook these individuals. 

So two points I want to make in this blog.  The first, for every opinion/voice you hear there can be multiple ones that haven’t spoken up.  Just because no one says something is wrong doesn’t meet it hasn’t been felt by others either afraid or too uncomfortable to speak up.  The second is that we should foster a classroom environment to shift the people from the “silent” group to the “vocal “group.  When everyone feels safe enough to share their view and opinion is a classroom I think we all want to teach in.

I am White, and I am angry at Christine Overall.

Read this article: I am White and I that means I am Privileged by Christine Overall.  If you finished it you got further than I did on my first read through.  Does anyone else who is white find it a little condescending to be grouped in with a lot of the assumptions she is making about white people.

“when whites think of race…”

“They [white people] agree, even though they failed to think about race and racism before the topic was raised by a person of colour”

“White people like me feel…”

“As a white person, I tend to be ignorant…”

“Because only white people like me…”

“Whiteness is the default position…”

A few comments:

First:  What the heck?  To have the audacity to make points about race and racism when she herself is making sweeping generalizations about her own race is nothing short of ridiculous.   Replace the word “white” with any other colour and the article takes a whole different tone.  I’m from Mississauga.  I was the only white person in my grade 12 calculus class.  I didn’t realize this until a friend pointed it out to me 2 weeks before the exam.  “Whiteness” was not the default position where I am from by far

What I think people need to understand when we discuss racism and other inclusivity issues in our schools and communities is that we all have a view to give.  We are all of one race, the human race, and from that there are many different backgrounds, upbringing, heritages that we can draw from .  To call all white people ignorant of racism is ignorant itself and sets us back in discussions such as inclusivity.  To say that our response to discussions is either awkward silence, ignorant agreeing, or response directly stemming from white guilt hinders any productive discussion we could have if people actually believe these comments.

So thanks Christine Overall.  How about next time we have a frank discussion on racism and inclusivity we check our baggage at the door and try to actually make a difference instead of commenting on what ways we cant, as white people, make one.

So I’m confused, but maybe that’s a good thing.

This past Tuesday (Note: two Tuesdays ago now, I wrote this a while ago) we listened to Barbara Coloroso, an expert on bullying and related fields.  First off, let me say she was nothing short of inspiring.  I would suggest if you ever have the chance to listen to her speak as I’m sure she will have the same affect on you.

Surprisingly, the main messages I took from the night were often contradictory of not only my preconceived notions on the issues but also readings on behavioural exceptionalities assigned the week before.  This included new research that indicates reward systems activate “addiction” parts of the brain and the idea that bullying is not something that can be mediated as it’s a one-way attack on another individual.

I think we’ve all been given reward systems to reinforce good behaviour or even used them ourselves.  As well I know my elementary school and even high school used mediation as a tool to resolve issues such as bullying.  In some of these cases it helped, in others it didn’t.  You really can only look at it case by case.

And I guess that’s where my confusion might be a good thing.  Yes we will definitely be dealing with plenty of students with exceptionalities and a wide array of issues (bullying is only one of these issues).  Yes there is plenty of contradictory practices and research out there. However there is no textbook on teaching.  This is where teaching excites me.  This profession will never be the same from year to year, month to month, day to day, or even minute to minute.  As long as we stay proactive, use our best judgments, and keep our heads about us, even us new teachers can provide an impact in the students we interact with.  This especially includes ones who have exceptionalities, as they are the ones most at risk of succeeding in the school system:

So one thing I will take with me from all of this comes from the reading assigned from Special Education in Ontario Schools – at the very end of the Behavioral Exceptionality section. 

Taken together, the practices followed by most educatiors most of the time, could best be collected under the expression: flexible common sense.  While the term may not have definitive intellectial reverberations in the field of behaviour theory, it describes pretty much the route that is followed in the classroom: doing what is effective at the time and what makes sense at the time.

So focus on that last phrase.  Teaching is an amazingly dynamic field and as much research and as much studies that can be made it all comes down to you making those decisions in that moment.  Confusion is natural, but doing what you think is best at the time, in the end, the best we can do.

A Change?

Over the summer I was listening to a radio show that had a segment on innumeracy in today's society.  As a subject that interests me greatly, I was excited to hear what the guest expert had to say.  Sadly the interview didn’t go too in depth because the host would frequently make jokes about how she couldn’t do her taxes or multiply 7 and 3 without a calculator.  At first this struck me as horrendous.  Have we really come to a point in society where it is FUNNY that we have a poor grasp on basic mathematical concepts?  (But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, its really easy to find other examples, take TV shows like Big Bang Theory for one where its comedy draws on exactly this)

 Let’s flip it around, would it really be that funny if I told people that I have no clue what year Canada confederated?  (its 1867, right?).  Or that I get confused as to which province Regina is the capital of?  I have a feeling we wouldn’t all slap our knees and laugh it away.   How can we expect our students to care about a subject that gets diminished in our society on a daily basis?  Well with the current view of math in our society, growing access to technologies (calculators and computers) and the cutting of curriculum expectations in high school math we aren’t giving students too much of a chance to embrace the subject.

But then I realized its not just math that gets shafted.  French has had this issue for a while (when do we ever use French in Ontario?) and with Wikipedia even history and other “fact based courses” are getting a bit less relevant to be taught in class.

So what do we do as teachers when the student-teacher relationship model of the “knowledge giver” and “knowledge receiver” can be rendered useless by current technologies and societal advancements?

Well I suggest a shift in how we view the expectations we must teach to our students.  Jimmy can Wikipedia what the Qaudratic formula is.  Thus I could care less whether or not he knows it by heart.  But what are the implications of this formula?  What does it tell us about mathematical functions?  Sally can google when and how World War I started.  But how does that affect current global relations and what can we learn from it?  Why should I waste my time as an educator doing something a computer can do in 30 seconds much more effectively than I ever could? 

The shift, in my opinion, has to come from teaching pure factual, “memorizable” knowledge to teaching students to analyze and critically look at the information given to them.   So looking back on the radio show that inspired this whole line of thought, I realize we just live in a different world than our parents and even a different world that we did 10, 15 years ago.  Although it might be sad this woman could not multiply 7 by 3 without a calculator, it’s just the way society has progressed.  But as educators, we must be changing just as quickly as society (and just as importantly technology) does.  That is the only way we can be relevant to our students, and that’s the key.