Thursday, May 31, 2018
5/31/18
In the article A Critically Compassionate Pedagogy For Latino Youth by Cammarota and Romero, they argue that in oder for Latino youth to succeed and become active citizens they must feel comfortable. It is the teacher's responsibility to have "authentic care" which means the teacher makes strong emotional connections with students by sharing things about themselves. Authentic care allows students to feel part of the community and it helps them talk more freely in the classroom.
I can't argue with this article even when they point out that not enough teachers are "authentic" carers and because of standardized testing, must be "aesthetic" carers. Many educators feel the pressure of the tests and evaluations so they pretend to care or make shallow connections because they simply don't have the time to focus on social justice. But I believe that there is always time for community building activities. When students feel comfortable, learning is just easier.
I love the I am From poems and do them with my own ELL students. They seem to like writing them and also sharing them with myself and their peers. Last year I started framing their final drafts and displaying them in the library. The library is a very busy part of our school, hundreds of students visit daily and for an entire month their work was seen by thousands of students and staff members. The positive reaction they received from their work was shocking for one student. She told me that she never even thought people would care about where she was from. It was in that moment that I hope she realized that her voice is important and that she is certainly an important member of our school community.
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Leah,
ReplyDeleteIt is very true that we are laser focused on assessments, standardized tests, and our evaluations which takes away so much of our time. Like you, I make sure to incorporate community building and this year I was fortunate enough to loop with many of last year's students. Having students two years in a row helps when building relationships. As we get towards the end of the year, I have been very frustrated with students missing deadlines, and I have not been my most patient self. One student came to me with an issue, and I realized that sometimes the project, paper, or portfolio is the least important thing we need to worry about.
Leah, It is sad but true that we focus on assessments and it takes away from building those connections with students. The worst part is if you have that connection with a teacher you are more likely to learn more and therefore would probably perform better on the test. I love your idea of framing their poems and displaying them. That is a great way to instill pride and confidence in your identity.
ReplyDeleteLeah,
ReplyDeleteI love that you do the “I am From” poems with your students. It sounds like your students really embrace this project and one of them even realized something so special—that people DO care and want to know about where she is from. I am so glad you created this platform where students can learn from eachother’s cultures and embrace differences. You are making a meaningful impact in your student’s lives just like the teachers of the ethnic studies classes in Arizona did.
There's a really important implication here that we as educators need to take seriously:
ReplyDeleteIf the emphasis on high stakes standardized (and non-standardized) assessment is getting in the way of us providing authentic care to our students, then we must take a stand against it, no? Is it harming our students? And if we authentically care for them, then what should we do about it?