Teachers as Political Agents; Chapter 9
Last week I went to the public library to find a social
justice book to read during my upcoming field experience. As you all know I
like to talk, so I ended up having an emotional conversation at the library
with a sweet middle-aged woman. I was going on about how I feel the education system has many flaws & how I want to make my classroom culturally relevant for my
students (looking back I am sure the entire library heard me talking). At the
end of my ted talk this woman looks at me & says, “Have you went to the
state house & talked to any legislators?”
As the tears & snot ran down my face, I looked at this
woman like:
Therefore, I find it really ironic that our readings this
week touched on teachers going out & being political agents. Throughout this blog I will discuss some points from Chapter
9 – Teachers as Political Agents (R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001). Feel free to
bring up other points in the replies! Enjoy!
Throughout blocks we have discussed pushing our children to
become activist & providing them the tools to go out & make a difference.
However, what does
that look like? Do we really know what that process consists of if we haven’t done
the necessary research ourselves? “To create classrooms as spaces where people
participate in democracy & take up social action as part of their processes
of thinking, we need to be involved in activist communities outside of school (R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001, Pg. 155).”
As educators
not only can we make a difference in children’s life’s but adults as well. “Working
with our communities to empower citizens may also help parents and other
community members better understand why we teach for social justice (R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001, Pg. 152).”
So how do we start this process? How do we start advocating
outside of the classroom? Below I have listed the five stages Cathy Fleischer
(2000) used to describe the organizing process.
1. Building Community;
“Alone. You can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.”
(Marge Piercy 1986)
This first stage is not all about
signing people up to be in a group. It is about creating bonds with people &
listening to their interest & their ideas for change. Once this is done,
you should create a way to communicate to your group members & establish
a name. “When we need to go to the state capitol to meet with a legislator, we are
more likely to find necessary courage if others are there with us (R. Bomer
& K. Bomer 2001, Pg. 155).”
2. Identifying a purpose;
What is your groups
purpose? As this chapter noted this is very critical. This chapter is
not saying it is bad to have many ambitions but focusing on one purpose enables
your group to dig into that topic & truly focus on making a difference on
that one thing. {This stage made me think about the “main idea” in a story. Anyone
agree? Any comments? How do you think I could correlate my groups purpose (let' say child
abuse) when we’re discussing the main idea of a story in my future classroom?}
3. Developing leaders;
This stage reminds
me of job titles. For example, in Walmart every employee has a job they focus
on & master. “There are roles that call for.. speed writing, for
gentleness & tact with people, for outspokenness, organization, passion, diligence,
& persistence, for skill at recruiting others, for a willingness to make errands
(R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001, Pg. 160).”
Every person in your
group has amazing skills that should be put to use.
4. Taking Action;
This is all about
standing up & taking action! Going out & talking to your legislators or
contacting reporters! Getting your voices heard!
THE 5TH STAGE IS : Evaluating progress.
In the comments I want to hear what YOU think this last stage consist
of & why it is IMPORTANT to have this last stage.
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I also have some other questions I would
like you to consider –
- Do you think going out into the community could help parents understand why you’re educating their students about social justice?
- Why do you PERSONALLY think it is important that we as educators become activist ourselves?
**There is another question located above in BLUE I would like you to consider as-well!
Olivia, your blog post is great! You can tell you put your heart and soul into this. Thank you for sharing that story about you at the library the other day. It really shows us how passionate you are about education. I wanted to start a conversation about your question, "Do you think going out into the community could help parents understand why you’re educating their students about social justice?"
ReplyDeleteAs we have talked about before in our classes, sometimes parents don't realize how much power they really have. If we are going out into the community, we are showing our parents how much we care about teaching their children and how passionate we are about issues in our society. If we can teach these parents by going into these communities and being an activist, it can help them realize just how much power they have and help them advocate for their children.
Ms. Manson,
Delete- Thank you for your kind words. I agree, Parents hold a lot of power but like you said some parents do not realize the amount of power they hold. Why do you think parents do not realize they hold this power? Do you feel there is something set in place systematically that enables this misconception to continue?
- I like how you noted going out into your children's community. The women in the library as I noted above enabled me to realize there were steps I weren't even analyzing. Therefore, I believe going out into the community could also enable you to complete stage 1 "Building Community". Thank you Ms. Manson!
Hannah, I agree with your response about how going out into the community could help parents understand why you're educating their students about social justice. It is very true that some parent don't realize how much power they have. Therefore, it is necessary for educators to communicate with them and inform them about all the decisions they could make. I know a lot of parents who just sat there not knowing that they can be apart of the decision making although they wanted to participate and get a better education for their children.
DeleteOlivia,
DeleteI honestly think that parents aren't able to see this power because they do put a lot of faith in the education system. There are also a lot of teachers who don't like parents getting "too involved". For example, I have been very involved in my stepson's role at school. I honestly want what is best for him, but the school isn't very fond of me telling them that there are better ways to deal with his ADHD. When I talked to my fiance about a 504 plan, or changing how he is being taught, he wasn't sure they were going to be able to do anything. He put all of his faith in the educational system rather than questioning how they were teaching him. I genuinely don't believe many parents see flaws in the system, they just blame their student for 'getting in trouble' all of the time. I think it is our job to show parents that their students aren't trouble students and show them what it means to be a culturally relevant classroom, especially in an urban classroom. That might stimulate questions for the parents especially when their child moves out of our classroom.
When looking at the LA strike, it was bigger than just one student. Teachers were able to gain the support of parents and students because they became advocators for their students. Yeah, they wanted a pay raise but it went farther than their wants. Their students needed councilors, nurses, smaller class sizes for better instruction. The parents saw that the teachers weren't just fighting for themselves, but for mostly for the good of their students. This shows on a larger scale how parents don't see the shortcomings of education, but when a teacher has the ability to show it to them they will rally behind the teacher.
Kyrsten-
DeleteI agree that many parents don't see the flaws in the school system. I think this is because they do not fully know what is going on. I think this is due to the fact that many schools are not transparent with their parents. My children's school had a lot of issues last year. They had to let go of four or five teachers. The parents were extremely upset. I had the unique role of being employed by the school as well. This allowed me to hear what the school was telling the parents but also what was actually going on. The school never lied. They just withheld certain facts. They were less than honest with the families. My situation turned out well because the principal was replaced and the new principal is fantastic!
Again, I think the problem with the school system is the lack of transparency when it comes to parents. I think that some of the other issues stem from parents not knowing where to look for accurate information. You can look to see if a school is good grade letter wise online but this is not accurate or helpful most of the time. This is based on standardized testing which is misleading. As a social change agent, you can be transparent with families and they will be able to learn what is actually going on in the world of education.
I first wanted to start talking about your opening. I really loved that you talked about how flawed the education system is but we haven't done anything about it. We are student teachers just trying to make it to the next step as a teacher. We never thought about making any kind of remarks to legislation. I think it is important for us to know what activism looks like, and how we would implement it. I understand we are activists but what does that mean we should be doing? Once we start setting ourselves up as examples, then students and parents will see it. Honestly a lot of parents don't know how much power they have and how much is wrong with the educational system. Activism may start by just giving facts out.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to talk about what evaluating progress is and why it is so important. when you are advocating for something or against it you have to look at what is working and not working. Evaluating progress allows for us to check where we are at. Did we just hang posters? Give out pamphlets? Or did we go to legislation? What has been the outcome? Knowing what works allows for the most effective strategy because you want to see progress.
Olivia, I enjoy reading your blog. I can see you put a lot of work and effort writing this blog. It has many great details and thank you for sharing your experience in the library. I can tell that you are very passionate about this topic. I really like that you included stages of process that we all can do to better our community and education system. I think every stages are important, especially stage one and stage two. Stage one talked about building a community. And I like that you said it is not all about signing people up to be in a group but rather creating bonds with them and listen to each other's interest and their belief. This reminds me back to one of our class discussion about how creating bonds with our students is crucial and that it's beneficial for both teacher and student. The second stage talked about identifying a purpose, which I consider most important. Basically, there's no reason to do anything with a purpose. I feel that no matter what you do, without a purpose, it means nothing.
ReplyDeleteMiss McGlan,
ReplyDeleteI love that you put your heart on your sleeve. I also had a very similar conversation recently with my mother. I think that we as teachers need to be political change agents. I loved this chapter. I had read it the first time around and found it very easy to reread. The classroom I want to create is open and welcoming to all. I want to create an accepting environment for my students where we can learn to appreciate other cultures, not just tolerate them. In Bomer and Bomer it says, "Let's try to make our classrooms and the world fit together by changing more of the world (157)." This was a really great quote. It reminds me of the saying, when a flower doesn't bloom you fix the environment not the flower. I think that by teaching kids to be political change agents, we are preparing them to go into the world and make changes for their own lives and for their futures. I think that like the book says, if we want to make changes in the world, "it's no good staying in our rooms."
I agree with your post, Melissa! (I've also seen that quote). We also grow up with the mindset in our schools to be tolerant of our surroundings, and maybe even later in our high school education, that things are "wrong with our society", but we're never probed questions on how to fix it. We're just told that "it is the way it is." I think allowing kids to engage in sessions of critical thinking and culturally-aware projects can allow for growth in the child as well as instill a mindset that allows for outside-the-box methods in solving situations.
DeleteOlivia,
ReplyDeleteYou always know how to word your feelings and concerns in such thoughtful and capturing ways. I am really appreciative for your input on this chapter and the conversations you have sparked in doing so. I first would like to say that you stated: "As educators not only can we make a difference in children’s life’s but adults as well. “Working with our communities to empower citizens may also help parents and other community members better understand why we teach for social justice (R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001, Pg. 152).” " This is SOOOOO important. When we are teachers, we are community member and advocates for those in the community. It is our responsibility. Bomer shined light on this responsibility throughout this whole chapter. Bomer states, "To create classrooms as spaces where people participate in democracy and take up social action as part of their processes of thinking, we need to be involved in activist communities outside of schools (Bomer & Bomer, 2001, p. 155). The cultural events we are required to partake in this semester are only a glimpse of what this may look like.
Olivia , yes! I loved this post especially the personally story you added to it. The best part of this post to me was when you discussed how much change parents can make within their child’s school. We as teachers are meant to be activists but parents have no idea how much of an impact they can have as agents of change. I agree that as teachers we are the primary people to help make a difference , however I feel as if when I teach I will need more help and resources on how exactly to do that. I look forward to using this information in my future and furthering the knowledge base to other first year teachers that need to hear this.
ReplyDeleteI think the 5th stage, evaluation, would be interviewing people in and close to the school system.
ReplyDelete“...it’s a chance to reflect on where the group wanted to go and whether they are on track in getting there, to reset direction if they’re not, and to renew energy… As with educational assessment, the best practices involve asking the people most affected by the action how things are going, observing interactions, gathering relevant evidence, and thinking hard about it” (R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001, page 161).
These would be parents, students and faculty/staff to see if they have noticed any positive or negative changes in the school. This is an important stage because in order to assess how the group should continue, it’s necessary to observe and evaluate progress up to the current point.
I do think that going into the community would help parents see some reasons we’re educating their students on social justice; they would get the opportunity to ask any questions about our motives or any biases we may have. We can address those concerns with them and help them be more comfortable with our curriculum.
What an amazing twist of fate that you were able to take your hearty conversation with a stranger and create such an amazing and inspiring lesson out of it!
ReplyDeleteFor me, step #3 stood out in where we are developing leaders: “There are roles that call for.. speed writing, for gentleness & tact with people, for outspokenness, organization, passion, diligence, & persistence, for skill at recruiting others, for a willingness to make errands (R. Bomer & K. Bomer 2001, Pg. 160).”
More often than not, we can get frustrated with others or especially with ourselves when it comes to developing skillsets and teams and our skills aren't being utilized or we're forced into a mold. For example, I am not good at being outspoken and coming up with debate points on the spot, and this oftentimes more than not can make people like me not speak up in class or feel overpowered by those with stronger extroverted personalities. I do harbor a strong compassion for my students and for the activities that I'm involved in, and I do better in smaller group discussions over a whole class discussion/whole-group public speaking. This leads to my question: how can we utilize the varying strengths of ALL of our colleagues when we are forming a basis for social justice activism?