CRT and Halloween

My colleague sent this article to me, "We're a Culture, Not a Costume", I immediately connected back to something that Dr. Geneva Gay said in a small group discussion, and a class that I took in my Master's program that focused on biases.  Dr. Gay mentioned the importance of not "mimicking" a culture, by dressing up students like Native Americans at Thanksgiving time, or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the month of January.  Instead, building an understanding for why people do what they do, and understand the purpose.  The same holds true for Halloween, especially when something is done to make fun or a jab at a culture.  For my own daughter, Sylvia, I have tried many times to get her to dress as Frida Kahlo, the Mexican artist*.  Not to make fun of our culture, but to represent her brilliance as an artist (I am a Frida Kahlo fan, and love her work and amazed at her life story). 

The bottom line...  Kids are kids, and they internalize much more than we think.  What are the motives behind your choices? 

*Sylvia was all for it, as she is familiar with some of Frida Kahlo's paintings, but she thought the unibrow would be itchy.  That was the year after a little research, she ended up being Joan of Arc. :o)

What do you hear?

I ran across this article, and thought I needed to share it.  It made me think of growing up, and listening to my my grandmother speak English.  I could understand her, but sometimes my husband, with his untrained ear couldn't. 

How or would this impact the classroom?  In Arizona, Complaints That an Accent Can Hinder a Teacher's Career .  This made me think about accents.  My gut says that it is a non- issue????  I mean what would we do with a student from the Northeast moving to a school in Texas?  What about that accent? 

Real + Relevant = CRT

I recently was in a high school US History classroom.  The essential question was, "What problems need to be solved?  How?"  The topic was Reconstruction after the Civil War.  The teacher was connecting aspects of the Civil War to the following points:

• Freed Slaves:  A group of people who have been freed and some of them returned to the plantation for work because they were not "taught" the process of being self sufficient.  Those who returned to work on the plantation, worked for 10% of the commission.  
• History has been a creative process in solving problems:  Hurricane Irene, Joplin, New Orleans.  Then link back to rebuilding the South after the Civil War.  The government spent 12 years to rebuild...  Connected back to more recent natural disasters.  
• President Lincoln:  After dissecting his second inaugural address, the teacher gave a scenario of what it would look like to be a "Lincoln" mom.  

This is a sample of culturally responsive teaching and learning looks like.  I can't say how much I related to US History as a student, but I can say there were affirming remarks from students and what appeared to be a solid connection to the content.  I think I learned as much as the students.

On my way back to my office, I heard this story about Haiti on NPR, Cellphones Could Help Doctors Stay Ahead Of An Epidemic .  This story related to the discussion about rebuilding, and solving problems using technology.  I immediately reconnected to the classroom discussion.
 
The challenge as an educator, is to put all content into layman's terms.  Being able to articulate WHY we are teaching what we are teaching.     

True Story

This is Nora Marcella. When I was growing up, Cabbage Patch Kids where the toy for Christmas. I wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid just like every girl my age. However, I wanted a black Cabbage Patch Kid. Since that was my only request, I think my whole family was on a mission to get the CPK, My godmother came through, and I remember cherishing little Nora Marcella from the moment I got her.

Like you see young girls today toting around American Girl dolls, you would see young girls toting around their CPK back in the early 1980s. One vivid memory I have was shopping with my mom after Christmas, at Metro North Mall. I had Nora Marcella with us just as if she could appreciate the experience like any other little girl. A another little girl, who appeared to be having the same experience with her mother and CPK were also in the same pattern of shopping as we were. We kept seeing each other in the shoe department, then the accessories, and so on. The next time I saw the little girl, she astounded me by walking over to me and smacked my doll on it's head and told me that Nora was ugly. I couldn't believe it, I thought she was going to say "Hello, my name is.... ". I did not expect Nora Marcella to be assaulted! I don't think I made a connection as to what my doll ugly and hers pretty until I was introduced to this video at a National Staff Development Conference a few years back. A school had used this to start the conversation about the perceptions of our own biases. I couldn't help but to wonder if the perception of "black" is what made my doll ugly.  

Challenge

This blog is both a challenge and a commitment. 

The past few years I have sent emails to my colleagues with links and thoughts about CRT.  I am hoping to streamline and avoid being put into a spam filter by using this space as a place to post my found treasures that are too good to keep to myself, and thoughts about CRT.  I can see the potential of this venture in my mind's eye, but I have a fear to overcome.  There is an permanence about this forum that makes me cancel before I click "publish post".  It is the same feeling that I get when I am tackling something new, or trying to speak Spanish to my completely bilingual family.  It is the thrill of the challenge that is appealing. 

This is the third time I have tried this.  I think I am finally ready to let my thoughts out.  With the new school year right around the corner, I have been thinking about challenges. You (we) are wired to take on challenges.  Or, as I have said before in conversations, inquiry.  We are wired to be intellectually stimulated.  Here are some questions I think are worth pondering:

• What is the difference between welcoming and frustrating challenges?
• What are ways the classroom can be intellectually stimulating?