Action
"Students learn that they can use individual or collective assets to navigate and challenge systemic injustices or inequity of opportunities, or to increase pride in cultural identity." (Johns Hopkins, n.d.).
Table of Contents
Introduction
On top of bringing awareness of Latin American and Caribbean history, geography, culture and current events, I need to use my role as educator to ensure that the students "learn that they can use individual or collective assets to navigate and challenge systemic injustices or inequity of opportunities, or to increase pride in cultural identity." (Johns Hopkins, n.d.). I have a history of being politically active, having spent time protesting and engaging in dialogue to fight for marginalized groups. In 2016 and 2017 after many fatalities due to police violence, my family and I showed our solidarity as allies to the Black Lives Matter movement. I also protested outside of the Corrections Corporation of America in Nashville, a large private prison company that has a profit incentive to fill their prison beds with mostly poor and marginalized
individuals often for non-violent offenses.Since becoming an educator, I have worked with Educators for Excellence, BuildOn and Teach for America to continue that fight. Last year, I worked with Educator for Excellence (E4E) to push two bills that helped teachers and students in urban Connecticut schools. One bill pushed for free or subsidized housing for teachers in urban schools that live within their community. The goal was to alleviate the housing burden of many teachers who already get paid less to work in urban schools versus suburban schools. Many of my coworkers have to commute into the city, as the city is too expensive to live on their salaries. By creating a housing subsidy, there would be an incentive for teachers to work in urban schools and help prevent the high turnover rate that they have. The other bill pushed for more teachers of color and culturally-responsive training for current and future teachers. In the short-term, this bill pushed to get the training that many white teachers lack when working with students of color. In the long-term, the bill looked for ways to create a pipeline for more teachers of color, so that students of color have more teachers that look like them. While in the classroom, I also try to spark this passion that I have in my students, as well. Below are some examples.
My Family and I advocate for Black Lives Matter
A group of teachers and I worked on a policy paper to recruit more teachers of color.
Worry Dolls
In one project that my class worked, we teamed up with BuildOn — an organization that works to "engage high school students in service and empower them to tackle the community issues that matter the most to them" (BuildOn, n.d.). We spent a lesson discussing challenges that immigrants face in the US. We talked about the current climate that is quite hostile towards immigrants — both documented and undocumented. Many of my students are immigrants or have family members who are immigrants, so this topic is very relevant to them. After our lesson and discussions on immigration, I had the students raise awareness to immigrants in the community for extra credit by posting support of immigrant communities on social media. Later that week, students who posted a positive story or post about our immigrant community showed me their phone and the post to receive credit. After the lesson, we also created Guatemalan Worry Dolls to be given to recently-arrived immigrant children.
In addition to learning about and discussing immigration, as well as having students post positive stories or posts regarding immigrants in our community, I had the students create Worry Dolls. “Worry Dolls are tiny, hand-crafted dolls from Guatemala. The indigenous people from the Highlands in Guatemala created Worry Dolls many generations ago as a remedy for worrying. According to the Mayan legend, when worrying keeps a person awake, he or she tells a worry to as many dolls as necessary. Then the worrier places the dolls under his or her pillow. The dolls take over the worrying for the person who then sleeps peacefully through the night. When morning breaks, the person awakens without the worries that the dolls took away during the night. A variation of the legend instructs a person to tell the dolls her worries then place them in their cloth pouch or wooden box before going to bed” (Build On, n.d.). The Worry Dolls were intended for the students to not only become aware of the immigrant community in Bridgeport but to also get involved in the community. As many of the students are immigrants themselves or know immigrants, I wanted them to show solidarity with the recently-arrived immigrants. BuildOn came into our classroom and helped the students create the dolls.
Student-Made Guatemalan Worry Dolls
By working on the Worry Dolls, the students learned more about the struggles that immigrants face and then contributed to make them feel more welcome in a time where being an immigrant can feel hostile. My goal was for the students to empathize with others who are going through different experiences and are from different areas. I want them to leave my classroom with a sense of social responsibility. As the Ministry of Education states, “Students who demonstrate social responsibility are active, caring, and responsible members of society. They collaborate effectively with others, demonstrate a strong sense of community-mindedness, and take actions to support diversity and the environment. They show respect for everyone’s rights, and demonstrate empathy and a sense of ethical care as they develop relationships and consider differing perspectives” (Ministry of Education, n.d.). After the students finished creating the Worry Dolls, we collected them to give to recently-arrived immigrant children. We hoped to make their transition to Connecticut a welcoming one and not one that is full of xenophobia and hyper-nationalism. Talking with some of my students who arrived to Bridgeport this year from the Caribbean, they mentioned that outside of school, the city can be cold and lonely. They left much of their families behind in their birth countries. They mentioned that they liked being able to take action and welcome other immigrants to the city. It is important that we show solidarity to different marginalized groups within our community.
MLK Jr. Community Event
In another event with BuildOn and Teach for America, my students and I participated in discussing the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and how to continue that legacy. The event took place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so it was a day off of school. However, many of my students showed up and participated in the event. I worked with the two organizations in preparing for it. Attendees started entering around 8:30 am and spend 30 minutes eating breakfast (paid for by Teach for America). Then at around 9 am, we started the event with speeches. A few speakers from BuildOn spoke, as well as a few students from schools in the area. Another student and I spoke last before moving onto the activities. The speeches were about the need to remember Dr. King's legacy and to continue to fight for equality, as it is a struggle that is as important as ever. Within Bridgeport, housing prices are souring, with entire families forced to live in small spaces just to afford a place to live. Crime is a problem, as the federal, state and city to not invest enough money and resources into poverty-stricken communities, and instead, spend that money on tax breaks for large businesses and on the policing. A good public transportation system is needed for residents that cannot afford a car, as it is very difficult to work and operate in the city without one. And there are many more ways in which we can improve the lives of the residents of this community. In the speeches, we discussed the progress that we have made in our society toward equal rights and the many reasons to continue to advocate for marginalized groups. After the speeches finished, we broke into groups, where we spent time participating in group-building activities, brainstorming ways to improve the community, and also making blankets for people visiting the homeless shelters. The event was more than just a way for the attendees to feel good about themselves but to bring a sense of action in the students and families that attended.
I spoke at an event commemorating MLK Jr. and advocating for continuing his legacy.
MLK Jr. Community Event
After the speeches the attendees spent time community building through a number of activities. One of these activities included passing a ball with questions around and sharing personal stories. We felt that it was important to spend some time spent getting to know each other and building a community within the room. This way there would be more trust as we moved into talking about where to go forward, as well as putting together blankets for the homeless.
Community Building Activities Involving Students and Community Members
Takeaways included advocating for school funding at school board and city council meetings, as this is an issue that my students are very familiar with. Our school district's per-student spending is one the lowest in the state despite a higher need for state and federal funding in many areas within our city. Connecticut has 172 public school districts, and funding per district varies greatly. "While Connecticut’s average per-student spending is $16,988, there is a wide difference in spending levels. From Danbury, which spends $12,828 per student, to Cornwall which spends $35,155 per student" (CTSchoolFinance.org, n.d.). Bridgeport has the eighth lowest spending per student in the state — at $14,241 — even though it is the largest city in the state and has many high-poverty areas within it. Other ideas involved attending city council meetings to advocate for spending on affordable housing. Many attendees felt that housing prices have continued to rise, and the response so far has been to give breaks and incentives to large companies who then build more luxury apartments. That then leads to even higher rent prices for others in the area. Teachers and students are all affected by the increase in cost of living.
Conclusion
It is important to bring awareness of societal issues, history, geography and current events to students;
however, it is also necessary to instill a sense of action and urgency. I try to live my life as an ally to marginalized groups, whether that is through collective action, informing/educating the public or working on policies. A few years ago, I spent much more of my time in the collective action, protesting and marching for causes. Currently, I spend more of my time informing/educating my students and other people on important issues and the reasons for these problems, as well as working with groups, such as Educators for Excellence and Teach for America, to push for legislative change. It is often difficult to begin to know where to start when trying to act and make a positive change in the world. Today it is also easy to become distracted by the numerous video games, shows, social media, etc. and not feel the need to fight for those marginalized in our society. My goal is for my students to "learn that they can use individual or collective assets to navigate and challenge systemic injustices or inequity of opportunities, or to increase pride in cultural identity." (Johns Hopkins, n.d.). At the end of the school year, I want them to know that their voice is powerful and can be used to make improvements in the lives of others around them. This can include volunteering and becoming involved in the community and helping and advocating for the homeless, immigrants and other marginalized groups. It can mean informing others of important issues in society, as positive change is not possible without education. We cannot win a fight for a specific cause without significant public support. Popular movements in the past started small and eventually grew in the size, as more people learned about these movements and supported them. I hope that in each school year I am able to leave an impact on my students' lives and inspire them to positively impact the lives of others.
References:
ACTFL. (2012). ACTFL PROFICIENCY GUIDELINES 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2019, from https://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012.
Capps, R., Fortuny, K., Cook, A., Henderson, E., & Zuckerman, S. (2005, November). Immigrants in Connecticut: Labor Market Experiences and Health Care Access. The Urban Institute. Retrieved March 1, 2020, from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/51746/311256-Immigrants-in-Connecticut.PDF
The Education Alliance, Brown University. (2008). Culturally responsive teaching. Retrieved from http://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/sites/brown.edu.academics.education-alliance/files/uploads/KLOOM_crt_entire.pdf
Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Social responsibility competency profiles: Draft. Retrieved from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/pdf/SocialResponsibilityCompetencyProfiles.pdf