Lizbeth, my mentee turned mentor student of three years, wanted me to ask in this blog entry if any of her stans missed her entries from last year. She wants everyone to know that she misses writing the blog entries and wants me to include more miranda cosgrove and Benny content. I will do my best to meet her request and carry on her legacy.
Over the past month we have been exploring the different layers of our intersecting identities through group and individual projects, activities, and discussions. At the beginning of the unit we recapped our lessons on culture and introduced the different aspects of one's identity. They were most surprised to learn that identifying their physical ability, gender, and sexual orientation are notable components of one's identity. Having the students identify the most important components of their identity was the main goal of the identity bag in which they filled with pieces of paper showing the parts of ones identity that you cannot see, the interior identity components. Some represented these parts by bringing things from home. By breaking down exterior and interior identities, we had fruitful discussions about perceived identities and assumptions of others.
This was the perfect segue to introduce the term Implicit Bias. We are now getting to the meat of the identity lessons where students are learning about terms like Racism regarding Implicit Bias, Marginalized communities, and how to be an Anti-Racist. We used clips from When They See Us to enforce the idea of systemic racism and it's history. I believe that teaching these topics in underserved communities of color are vital for our students to understand their identities, learn of historical oppression in regards to their communities and beyond, and, most importantly, to teach them the term Anti-Racist and Liberation in order to learn how to live out an attitude of equitable treatment toward everyone and to be liberated by their journey of self discovery as students of color who are also future leaders in a world that was designed to hold them down. We used Ibram X Kendi's book "How to Be an Anti-Racist" in our discussion about our everyday actions and conversation in regards to students of color using the N-Word in everyday language, the school to prison pipeline, and we learned about how white privilege, when made aware of it's power, can be used for good as we saw in this short youtube video featuring Joy DeGruy. We are in the midst of having courageous conversations around different forms of discrimination (isms such as sexism, classism, colorism, etc) and it's role in oppressive social structures that bleed into the education system, financial institutions, criminal justice system, the media, the environment (water and air quality in Commerce City), and the U.S government which eventually infiltrates into implicitly influencing how young people see themselves and treat others.
My goal is that when students leave my class they are aware enough to be able to recognize when they become victim to this oppression so that they have the tools to combat it in regards to self esteem and stand up for themselves and others in situations of injustice. I also know that most of my students will be in positions of leadership someday and I want them to understand equality vs equity and how implicit biases can dictate how one manages other people and even the effect of their implicit use of microagressions to treat marginalized groups with privileges that do not meet theirs. This month's highlight undoubtedly relates to how I am honored and excited to be a queer woman of color disseminating this content to my students who share many of my similar intersecting identities, as students cannot be who they do not see and I am really proud to be of representation for people of color in educational leadership. To see how absorbent and engaged they are with this unit is the reason why I do this job and am passionate about social justice content.
Mentor and Mentee of the Month Award goes to...............
Gary and Johnny ! (lol at my pic spying on them on a tutoring day)
Gary is a 12th grade student who treats johnny, grade 9, as a younger brother. He is constantly showing him the way in regards to explaining dense content, helping with his math on tutoring days, and helping him emotionally as they connect outside of school. They are two peas in a pod- always seen together in the hallways and never sitting apart during circle talks. Gary is an exemplary mentor as he encourages johnny to step out of his comfort zone and share his opinions with the class even when it does not come natural to him the first time. When Gary takes our content seriously, Johnny follows suit and responds with critical thinking skills and thoughtful responses to questions regarding experiences with discrimination and sharing vulnerable parts of his identity. Johnny is lucky to have someone as mature and committed to mentoring like Gary, I am always proud to look over and count on seeing Gary setting a great example for his "little brother."
identity bags
Definitions from a vocab word competition, I was so impressed with what they remembered !
My little pug came to visit in her pajamas before thanksgiving break!
Some thanksgiving notes from some thoughtful students
Until next time,
Ms. C
