This summer I participated in a study group with some other CSU Writing Project teachers called "Teaching the Tensions." The purpose of the group was to tackle controversial issues in the classroom. We read together, blogged together, and talked a lot about the issue Sarah raised. I posed, and all of us responded to, these questions on my blog one day:
- As we confront privilege, critique inequitable systems, and work to change them, how fast can we expect to move?
- How imperative is it that we, our students, our colleagues, our parent population, etc., "get the bleep out of the fast lane" in order to arrive somewhere more quickly than we might otherwise?
- How urgent is this work in our world? And who gets the privilege to decide?
In the course of our ensuing conversation, our group talked a lot about the dictates of context. That is, if you strongly believe (as all of us in the group do) that it's essential to critique and work toward changing inequitable systems in our culture issues, you have to teach in different ways. You have to support your students in thinking about their own thinking and what it might look like to do that differently, more critically. Often, that means providing opportunities for connected learning with others beyond the classroom, and it implies that we as teachers have to engage in some connected learning ourselves.
During the workshop, we held a Google hangout with Janelle Bence, one of the teachers featured in Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom. (The vignette starts on p. 41). Janelle has taught in very different contexts--at a racially diverse, inner-city Title 1 school with limited access to technology and an affluent, mostly white suburban classroom with seemingly unlimited access to technology, where she teaches now. In both contexts, Janelle has been intentional about foregrounding issues of equity, access, and social justice in her teaching. Our study group this past summer made some headway toward thinking about how this approach might look in our respective classrooms, but we're still puzzling through it. I'd love to hear what you think about these thorny issues.
Which brings me to the focus on this week's forum. Let's reconsider Sarah's question that I paraphrased in paragraph one in light of this week's reading. Regardless of their teaching context, how did you see teachers foregrounding equity in Teaching in the Connected Learning? How does this shape your thinking about what you do (or will do) in your classroom with your students? How can connected learning be a part of that? What role might technology play?
I can't wait to see what you think!