To
view my video case, click on the picture above. (14 minutes, requires
Player). External speakers recommended.
This
video focuses on the students and classroom practices of my ninth grade
English/Language Arts classes. It grew out of the tensions that arose
when my beliefs about the juxtaposition of social action and classroom
practices collided with the realities of socio-economic status, personal
agency, social and emotional stability and student choice and voice. Through
the stories of three urban high school youth who actually represent hundreds
of others with similar stories, I hope to contribute to and challenge
the discourse regarding critical pedagogy in urban education. I have interlaced
both music and still photos in these stories to represent the dual nature
of the students’ lives, which is both static and shifting.
I
have always taught urban special needs children or children identified
as “at risk.” Many of the students that I worked with from kindergarten
to twelfth grade found little direct connection to the work we did in
school and relevance to community existence. While most them could articulate
that getting a good education meant getting a good job, there were few
observable behaviors that reflected a true belief in that theory. Consequently,
I have intentionally tried to infuse ideas about personal and community
change in the English Language Arts curriculum in my classes at G-Town.
Armed with
a social action agenda, I entered my classes in 1993 ready to show students
the way to use educational as a springboard into social action. I was
going to give them purpose, motivation, information, expertise and authentic
experiences, or so I thought ….
Related
Work
My thinking
was informed in part by the works of Paulo Freire, Arnetha Ball, Cynthia
Ballenger, bell hooks, Linda Christensen, Sonia Nieto, Gloria Ladson Billings,
James Baldwin, Schoenbach et al, Lucy Calkens and members of Project SOULL
(the Study of Urban Learning and Leading), an inquiry group at the University
of Pennsylvania and 28 years of teaching in Philadelphia public schools.
Context:
Germantown
High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the context of my work,
although my thinking has spanned five schools in four different parts
of the city over a twenty-eight year career. I have worked at G-town
High School since 1993. Since joining the staff, I have taught adapted
English/Language Arts, world history, American history and a School
to Career course for which I designed an entire curriculum. This website
focuses on work I did with students in my English/Language Arts classes.
Community: Where to Start? Class
after class had entered my room and accepted with little protest the
idea that we were a teaching and learning community, until….
community-building process
-
DJ:
a poignant case of one urban high school student’s foray into human
agency and social action in a special education English language
arts class. -
May:
a case sample of a ninth grade special education student who knew
what she wanted and needed from an instructional community and was
ready and willing to use social action practices to achieve it.
- Andre:
Andre’s story is paramount to my inquiry. It describes one student
who had to carve his own way for achieving justice and social action
in his life and how I as a teacher had to broaden my own interpretations
and perspectives to make way for his.
Conclusions