FA21.Vibes.

 Wow thanksgiving break already?!!! There are two weeks? Maybe three weeks left in this semester?? WHEW I can't even keep up anymore!!!!! I have been counting down with my students this whole semester. I would start my housekeeping by saying, "Good morning y'all!!!! How are y'all today? (Because mental health checks are so important to me!!!). WELCOME TO WEEK 8!!!!!!". I remember celebrating that milestone and making sure that they celebrated themselves for making it so far. It's interesting being a teaching assistant for the first time and realizing that the students you teach are only "yours" for sixteen weeks and poof.... they are no longer in your life. What impact did I leave them? I am hoping that I left my students with an expanding critique to life. I praised my gentleman for sticking with the women in the room for being on our side during these crazy weird controlling times over our body and reproduction. I truly gave them their flowers and always ensured to leave them with an open space to be emotional. I hope that my gentleman heard me loud and clear when I told them that it is okay for men to cry.They are trained to deal with so many emotions internally, to the point in the long run where they become numb and numb emotions can create great dangers to them as well as other individuals. To my ladies, I had to REPRESENT because I am a woman first, everything second. 

According to Elizabeth Bell and Golombisky, women face a jeopardy when they are in the classroom. Women are often caught between voice and silence when it comes topics such as race and privilege. This causes women to move in "strategic ways" often making them choose the route of silence than voicing their thoughts, opinions and yes even their questions. My women of color face a double jeopardy as they have to play the classroom in an even more "strategic" manor. They are at a double jeopardy due to the fact that they are stereotyped as "loud, ghetto, and bitches" whenever they have a smart, eloquent, bold answer.

I made sure to protect my ladies in my classroom. I made sure to grade each student according to their knowledge and their efforts. Not because of their skin tone nor the stereotypes that accompany it. We really as educators, must give every student a fair chance! #DIVERSIFYIT. That fair chance can be given simply by grading the content that is presented in front of you. Knowing how much effort students put in are so important because that is the true journey of academia. It is a climb. 

My climb has been rough. I myself have been a good girl within the classroom, strategically thinking about what I want to say and how I am going to say it, It is quiete exhausting, but those where the cards I was dealt with and power lies within that. I truly hope I used my power to create an inclusive classroom (COMMUNITY) this semester. I will cherish my students for allowing me, my Mexican first generation college graduate student, teach them by being the real me, the advisor me, the mentor me, the TEACHER ME, the rough patched me, the tired me, the NOT SO GOOD GIRL ME, the teacher who teaches with her heart me, all of me. I will never forget them, and I really hope they never forget me. Cheers to good teaching, and being the change you want to see in this world Cyn!!!! 

Source:

Bell, E., & Golombisky, K. (2004). Voices and silences in our classrooms: Strategies for mapping trails among sex/gender, race, and class. Women's Studies in Communication, 27(3), 294–329. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2004.10162478

The Revolution Shall Be Taught; It’s Time We Keep It REAL

ISN’T IT CRAZY THAT I TRULY LEARNED HOW THE WORLD OPERATED MY JUNIOR YEAR IN MY UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES??!!!!!! It is so shocking to me every time I ponder upon that. I started learning real content about the world,(by the world I mean the United States of Amerikkka and how we interconnect with the world) because one of my minors is specialized in International Global Studies. The truth was revealed to me and I have been on the quest to seek it ever since.I still find myself educating myself on more of the truth. I MYSELF HAVE TO TEACH MYSELF THE TRUE HISTORY THAT IS AMERICA. My teachers failed me except for one. I have been in school for 18 academic years and I had to make it a goal to teach myself how the Americas truly formed, how the colonizers came and just massacred all the indigenous people and how they truly betrayed the indigenous peoples tricking them under false treaties;  and how they enslaved millions of Africans placing them through the entire Caribbean and the Americas. The true impact of colonialism is so deep that many people like myself will never truly know where I come from, or where my ancestors were from, and so on and so forth. The least we are owed is a correction of our history and to own up to the painful truth so we can start to work towards am honest society where the honesty will allow vulnerability in conversations. This conversations can start in the classroom. 

 My hopes for an educational revolution that truly teaches the truth no matter if they teach kindergarten, the third grade, sophomores in high school or even doctoral students. WE the people deserve to know our true history. We deserve to heal and truly change the narrative and create a fair true opportunity through all. We deserve true representation and a true narrative fitting for ALL students and not just for the superior group. America is filled with people from all over the world. We have since the start of this country, have been filled with immigrants. It has been time to embrace everyone’s history. It’s time to teach OUR history! 

According to Pedagogy legend, Bell hooks, teaching REAL history can be achieved. But, as an instructor, one has to be aware that learning new content (or as I like to call it..THE TRUTH ) and embracing it can be painful for students. She says, it is important to create a community that fosters engaged pedagogy in order to have a true empowering learning setting where ALL voices can be heard as well as REAL history being discussed successfully.  Fostering a true REAL community within the classroom can be done with chose topics such as inclusion of how the system is and how it affects the lives of minorities inside and outside of the classroom. It can be painful to both discuss and hear the stories of those students affected by the system. The dormant group will have to make a decision knowing new information upon the truth of those affected as well as those around them who disagree or simply don’t share the same sentiment to change the system so it can be equal for all. Which is why the discussions need to be respectful and vulnerable. 

Within my classroom, I trying to create true conversations about the truth. I have discussed the BLM movement and included a photo of two women of the dominant group that held signs saying , “White People Need To Do More” and “This White Women supports BLM”. I discussed the deep meaning behind that and had them tell their meanings before I spoke over my interpretation. I tied this in with the important of citizens advocating for others. Our conversation was very open and I felt good to have done that as I craved for my professors to #diversifyit in my previous courses. I would be lying to you if I told you that my Real lessons have always been smooth sailing… They haven’t. There are times were I have struggled to engage the class due to me sharing my power too much. I truly think it is important to keep in mind what grade level everyone is whether they are lower classman or upperclassmen as I realized after class that I didn’t know any of this information that was apart of the discussion ( the discussion was addressing the Media. I asked them why is the Media such a big deal? And how does it impact us) until I was an upperclassmen. I am still proud of myself for trying and I definitely plan on closing the semester off strong by continuing to keep it REAL and #diversifying the education! Truly, being apart of the educational reform is the way I am apart of the revolution. I really hope my beautiful students feel a little more included and relevant because I included them in my lesson plans in ways that may change their perspectives forever. 

Education is so important. It’s the way that we as humans, learn and grow throughout our lives. We develop critical skills and motor skills. This involves engagement and discussion with peers, family, friends (pretty much any human interaction you can think of counts!). We as a country, are so mislead and it’s all because of our education. WE were taught a misleading agenda from K-12. We were taught to think that colonialism basically was something that was savior like when that was not the eternity of colonists. We can NOT continue to mislead our students, ourselves, each other!!! A true revolution involves doing the right thing and teaching what is RIGHT to you, deep in your heart you know the truth. You owe it to your students the truth, the REAL raw truth!!!!!! It’s been time to keep it real!! THE REVOLUTION SHALL BE EDUCATIZED!!!!!!! (You know not televised by educatized :)

Reference: 

hooks,b (1994). Teaching to tranagress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge

Trick or treat tell me how you would teach? 🎃🖤

 Trick or treat tell me how would you teach?  If you would , would you dare to teach within your heart and care? HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2K21!!!!  

Parker J. Palmer is a well known pedagogical writer known for discussing how instructors should teach through heart work. Heart work is defined as teachers aligning their actions and meaning behind their actions within their teachings. It is when teachers move past what an institution is telling them to teach. It is when an instructor cares for an educational reform movement in change and in their students lives. It is done by both loving the subject and loving the students from an inner and outer scale.  (Palmer, P. J., 2017, The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal)

Within the classroom setting, I chose to both love the subject I teach and incorporate my students lives because they matter!!!!! In one of the classes I teach, Communication 1010, I always incorporate a reflection of my students in each lesson. I have done the second day of class. Music is a great way to get to know each other right? On the second day of class, I had the students create a playlist on Spotify so that we could have a playlist that incorporates them through the choice of music. I had to explain to them that all genres of music were welcomed including music that had profanity in it. I think music is a great way to show off who we are both culturally and lyrically. It is a great way to #diversifyit. They were so shocked that I gave them the chance to add ANY song of their liking. The playlist that we created gets played 15-10 minutes before the start of class and during group work time in class as long as it is not a distraction to them. Whenever we are at the bottom of the playlist, I either ask groups to give me a new song to add whenever they finished before other groups have finished with the classroom’s group activity. (We usually do an activity in groups. They get broken into groups and accomplish whatever is asked of them such as creation of a social movement that they would campaign for it and other questions related to lesson). If I have downtown, I will add a couple songs on there myself but I am careful not to overpower the music selection. I have added 6 songs so far this semester. Our playlist should consist of 40+songs now as we are entering the fourth quarter of the semester!! (ALREADY). This in my eyes, allows them to feel more comfortable in our class and it allows them to be heard. 

When it comes to the course, whatever the lesson of the given unit is, I am sure to be inclusive of the students. This allows them to be heard educationally as such topics may have never been addressed in an educational setting. This definitely allows the students to be felt,seen and heart.For example, they had to write a paper that discussed an important social issue to them. A week prior to taking them to one of the Univeristy of North Texas’s student computer labs,

 (Yes I spent the entire class week with them there in order to ensure that EVERY student had access to a computer because you never know a student’s financial background meaning, some students may not own a laptop and or have limited access to using the school’s computers. Spending class in the lab for two course periods, allowed them to spend their time on their assignment. I wanted them to all feel like they ALL had access. No student left behind!!!:) 

 I discussed a few social issues that I would want to write about it if I had to write about a social issue that mattered to me #DiversifyIt. I discussed the mass incarceration disadvantage that African American people face compared to Caucasian people. I also discussed that my hometown, Peoria, Illinois has ranked in the top 5 for the past 5 years as the worst place for African-Americans to live in. This allowed them to understand where I stood with the African Community as well as where I came from and the things that I some of the injustices that I have witnessed the African-American Community go through. Mass incarceration is ONE OF MANY SOCIAL ISSUES that the American American community face. Being an ally, it is my due diligence to advocate the injustices that the A.A community faces. By discussing the unfairness of incarcerated American Americans, I hope I showed students compasssion and understandable as I may have spoken to some of them directly. There NEEDS to be a reform within incarceration and badly!! Sooner rather than later. SO With that being said, maybe some of my students had or currently have their uncles, cousins, brothers and other family members or close family/friends who got falsely charged with a crime and sentenced to prison. I let them know that I am sorry and that there needs to be a major reform. Although my apology won’t free their person/people, I hope that it did show some type of compassion. I Incorporated the topic so that it would allow me to show the students that I truly care about them outside of the classroom. I care about them from a systemic view. This system is so unfair towards minorities it’s sickening. It’s BEEN time to switch it up and cater towards EVERYBODY regardless of their skin tone.

 The revolution beings within the classroom whether people realize it or not. Inclusiveness can be discussed throughout the entire semester. Inclusion shows that you care beyond the subject. You care to discuss current social issues and allows you to advocate for minorities who are in dire need of advocation. Inclusiveness of topics may allow for  conversations to take place.  By strategically discussing that as an example, I snuck that fact in there and hopefully allowed for some new thoughts to enter my students minds. I hope this allowed them to do their own research and discuss the new information that they learned to their friends and family members. Being an advocate for a social issue starts off with the awareness of an issue. Then, you advocate it. How? EASY.. You make people talk about it, you inform them about the issue. Within this issue, reformation goes outside of just talking about it, but we as the people (citizens of the United States), are the reason why laws occur and how and why they should occur!! Teaching our students goes outside of the subject. We must show them how to be advocative citizens. For the people, by the people. The people shall not be silenced and the revolution shall be televised. (I love saying the last part because truly us millennials are onto something. I love us for real.) 

Sources:

Palmer, P. J., & Scribner, M. (2017). The Courage to Teach Guide for Reflection and Renewal (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

**YES, YES I KNOW I GAVE YOU A BAR AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS BLOG SO IMA GO AHEAD AND CREDIT MYSELF CYNTHIA GOT BARS OLIVEROS!!!!! *Drops Mic*

My Questions aren't dumb and yours are not too!!

 I will never forget an experience I encountered during my Junior year of undergraduate studies. I asked an important and valid question that tied into the lesson and the overall subject. The course was International Global Studies and the subject of the week was discussing colonialization. I asked my professor the following question, "Dr. X (I will not disclose her name due to protecting her identity), I  understand that Christopher Columbus followed orders from the King and Queen of Spain but, how and WHY did he think it was okay to dehumanize people (slaves) in the process?!!" She then said, "Cynthia, I am sick of your stupid questions!!" I truly felt defeated not only as a human but, also as a student. I was raised to ask questions because that is how you learn! I could not believe she told me that she was not going to answer my question which in my eyes, was a totally appropriate question. I was born under the title of  being oppressed. Therefore, the older I have gotten, the more I have wanted to know about myself, my culture and to understand how the world works. Which is why I am on the conquest of the truth. I majored in Hispanic Studies and minored in International Global Studies and Business Foundations in undergrad to discover the truth. 

Fast forwarding to now, I am a graduate student who is now a Teaching Assistant at the University of North Texas. I now have the power to #disversifyit and invite deeply interesting questions in the classroom. I can now allow students to talk to me while I talk back to them and not at them. I will never allow a student to feel how I felt in IGS. I felt like she truly shut me down and was not inviting a person of color to ask such an important question. She was a Caucasian woman and I felt like the question that I asked triggered her in some sort of way.  I am not sure if she felt as if I was attacking her or what but, she did leave me feeling dumbfounded. I do NOT understand why she talked at me!!! Even if she did not have an answer for me, she could have angled her answer in a different manor.

 As professors, it is IMPORTANT to treat all students, including students of color as students!!! Students that are eager to learn and to seek their own truth through their studies. That is how we make the classroom more powerful for ALL students especially students who are marginalized. By inviting students to ask ANY question that ties into the course, we validate their voice. This was influenced to me by reading, "Treat me like a person, rather than another number" written by Faulkner et al.

It is important to do so because throughout history, it has been shown that any person of color that tried to educate themselves was a person who wanted to be better than a Caucasian student or wanted to be radical. Which was never the case. 

We as students desire our teachers to make us feel validated through our intelligence no matter our skin color. I always incorporate every student's knowledge and questions. This is how I personally #diversifyit. I allow their voices to be heard!!! That is the power sharing of being a teacher. They matter to me and are very much so important to me. If the rest of the world wants to invalidate them, in my classroom they will not have that feeling. THEY MATTER AND I WILL CELEBRATE THEIR DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS!!! By doing that, I am making sure that they are HEARD because we as educators SHOULD INVITE questions to be asked. WE SHOULD VIEW STUDENTS WITH THE INTELLIGENCE THAT THEY BRING TO THE TABLE, NOT THEIR SKIN COLOR!!!!!! We should NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY ANY QUESTION THAT IS ASKED!!! ESPECIALLY AT THE COLLIGATE LEVEL WHERE LEARNING IS PAID BY THE STUDENT!!! Not only the financial aspect of it but also this is a level where students can learn NEW material. The government has control over K-12 material whereas at the collegiate level there is minimal to no control. This is the first time in a student's life where they can truly learn and ask questions in their academic journey. I refuse to shut them down and absolutely pledge to make ALL of my students feel validated and empowered through their academic journey.