Wednesday, July 28 (DJ #2)

After today’s discussion and reading the theoretical articles and chapters for tomorrow really made me consider the differences between discomfort and disequilibrium. I think it is important to consider the difference because it refers to—I believe—two separate states of being; discomfort being a physical or emotional unrest versus disequilibrium, a psychological or intellectual instability. I think that while the latter might often cause the former, it is the second that we should be striving for in our classrooms. That being said, the English classroom is a fantastic starting point for these types of equilibrium-busting conversations. I found Toni Morrison’s quote at the beginning of the Dilg chapter to be quite a good jumping off point: “You don’t know anything about a person just because you know race.” This is very true, but it also begs the question, then why is “race” the word we always use when discussing difference rather than cultural identification? I recall reading an article that strongly resisted the idea of “colorblindness” because it doesn’t allow people to be seen for who they are. But taking Morrison’s quote into consideration, neither does race. So, how can we be culturally competent—if that is indeed the goal—without essentializing races and cultures? How can we give our students the chance to learn about other cultures while also teaching them that one person’s reflection does not equal the larger community? The reference to Beverly Tatum’s concept of “allies” was particularly interesting to me as I often think of the term “ally” when I think of those “on the side of” GLBT individuals. Is it possible to be a cultural ally? How do we make it known that we are an ally of a certain identity? Putting up a “safe space” sticker in our classroom allows our students to see that we are allies of the GLBT community, but how do we show our students that we are committed to inclusive (or anti-racist as some say) classroom practices? One way I think I would consider making this aspect of my teaching clear to my students would be to engage them in an activity like the one we did in class today with our collages. Like Kim was saying, putting our “best faces forward” or most comfortable selves might be a good way to let students begin to share pieces of themselves in a way that is safe. It would also allow students to “self-label” at the beginning of the course so that future labeling by others would be lessened. One way I attempted to do this in my student teaching courses was a project I called, “The Block” in which students made representations (audio, visual, digital, tactile, written) of their neighborhood, block or community. Although Dilg questions whether or not these things “define us,” in my experience my students sought out elements of their community that were points of connection or disconnection with their personal lives and talked about them in the larger group. It was a good way to get them to think about how their environment played a role in their development as a young adult. This followed a lesson on Romare Bearden’s piece of the same name. One of my students wrote a one-act play entitled “GLBT,” in which a young girl wakes up one morning and announces to her family and friends that she is “GLBT.” The entire play consists of everyone in her life trying to get her to say which part of the acronym she identifies with, but even with their support, she still says things like, “no one understands me” and “stop discriminating.” At the end of the play she comes back to her community and corrects herself, “I meant I’m Asian!” For a white actress, this is intended to come across as funny and it is meant to be a satire of the strong inclination teenagers have to define themselves in some way. It was a smart piece that resonated strongly with a number of my students. I think things like this are important points of discussion in a class in which students are discovering who they are and more importantly, how they want others to view them. Giving them the opportunity up front allows them to start to “test the waters” as it were, take risks and begin to trust you as their teacher. I think Bill Lundgren did some very cool things with his classes that allowed for this type of relationship building with his students and it sounds as though he allowed himself to also be vulnerable, as evidenced by his letter to his students at the end of his experience. I did something like this when I was done as well and I know I will continue that practice in the future.