While this was a good week, for reasons I will explain later, I have been struggling with life lately. That’s really the only way to put it. It’s not one thing; it is everything. Every dish that needs washed, just too much. E-mails that need a prompt response, I will mark you as “Unread” and never read you. It may be because of the sudden rise in student “grandma deaths,” family “emergencies,” and apatheticitis (the inflammation of all things that drive students to apathy.) They usually all occur around mid-terms, but they snuck up on all of us around week three. (Unless that’s just my students?) Maybe it’s because we call it “Spring” semester, and it hasn’t stopped snowing. I’ve been sick twice in less than six weeks, so maybe that’s the culprit. I don’t have a crying baby or babies, chronic illness or injury, and there is food on my table (even if I do have to cook it,) clothes in my closet, clean water in my faucet, and hot showers whenever I want for as long as I want. So, what do I have to feel down about? Nothing. My life is good. Things are good, and when things are good, how do you explain it when someone asks what’s wrong? It’s nothing and everything. That feeling that things just aren’t the way they are supposed to be.
Alianna DeFreeze and seventeen senseless deaths in a Florida high school. That is the world we are living in. Political rants, fake news, cruel memes, disturbing ticker streams, contradictions, shouts over one another, and constant fear that something you’ve said will be misunderstood, misinterpreted, misused, so you stay silent.
In my classes, I preach the importance of critical thinking, reading, and writing. At the beginning of the semester, I always say on the first day, “If you are a critical thinker, raise your hand.” They stare at me blankly. There may be one or two, but usually not a hand is raised. The first few times, I was surprised by this, but now I expect it. The first issue is the word “critical.” They do not want to viewed as judgmental or negative. I ask them a series of questions about what they chose to wear to school that day and how they determined “the best way to get here.” Then, slowly but surely, I am able to convince them that they already are critical thinkers even if they didn’t realize it. I love the unsettled looks on their faces in that moment. Actually, I’ve come to love these looks especially when I blow up the 5-paragraph blueprint they’ve been following for a large part of their academic lives.
“You mean to tell me that you can start a sentence with ‘because?’ That’s flipping ridiculous. What other lies have I been told?”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but the thesis does not have to be the first sentence of the first paragraph, or the last, in fact, you don’t even have to have a thesis in your first paragraph…maybe not even in the second…”
GASP…
Then, we spend a lot of time talking about using their voices to share what is longing to come out and exploring the issues that get in the way of others hearing us. I ask them “what can take away from your credibility or perceived credibility?” In writing, it is grammar errors, organizational problems, and ideas that aren’t fully flushed out. When we speak, it can also be our word choice, tone, body language, and sadly, the stereotypes that surround us. This semester, I have a student with Downs Syndrome, a blind student, another with Parkinson’s who struggles with people thinking he’s drunk most of the time, and a range of ages, sizes, body adornments, races, and ethnicities. I can help with the grammar and places to start a new paragraph, but I can’t stop people from assuming that blind=stupid, that the young black man looks suspicious just because he’s young and black, tattoos=irresponsible, or that you need to “dumb down” your words because she has Downs Syndrome and “won’t understand.”
All I can do is what I can do. What I do—try and help them realize the importance of being critical without being cruel, cultivating their voices, speaking from their hearts, and taking the time to invite others into this dialogue. The really scary stuff. That means making it a dialogue and not a shouting match. That means being vulnerable and risking being hurt or ignored. It takes some time, but we get there. (Usually) That is what made this a good week. Despite all the horror that surrounds me, here are the discussions it prompted, the questions that were raised, and a list of evidence that reminds me I’m exactly where God wants me to be even when I get feeling that “this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be…”
And for the record, despite the stereotypes, this In my Developmental English Classes, that is two steps below “college ready,” we discussed…
Because of that, this was a good week...
Alianna DeFreeze and seventeen senseless deaths in a Florida high school. That is the world we are living in. Political rants, fake news, cruel memes, disturbing ticker streams, contradictions, shouts over one another, and constant fear that something you’ve said will be misunderstood, misinterpreted, misused, so you stay silent.
In my classes, I preach the importance of critical thinking, reading, and writing. At the beginning of the semester, I always say on the first day, “If you are a critical thinker, raise your hand.” They stare at me blankly. There may be one or two, but usually not a hand is raised. The first few times, I was surprised by this, but now I expect it. The first issue is the word “critical.” They do not want to viewed as judgmental or negative. I ask them a series of questions about what they chose to wear to school that day and how they determined “the best way to get here.” Then, slowly but surely, I am able to convince them that they already are critical thinkers even if they didn’t realize it. I love the unsettled looks on their faces in that moment. Actually, I’ve come to love these looks especially when I blow up the 5-paragraph blueprint they’ve been following for a large part of their academic lives.
“You mean to tell me that you can start a sentence with ‘because?’ That’s flipping ridiculous. What other lies have I been told?”
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but the thesis does not have to be the first sentence of the first paragraph, or the last, in fact, you don’t even have to have a thesis in your first paragraph…maybe not even in the second…”
GASP…
Then, we spend a lot of time talking about using their voices to share what is longing to come out and exploring the issues that get in the way of others hearing us. I ask them “what can take away from your credibility or perceived credibility?” In writing, it is grammar errors, organizational problems, and ideas that aren’t fully flushed out. When we speak, it can also be our word choice, tone, body language, and sadly, the stereotypes that surround us. This semester, I have a student with Downs Syndrome, a blind student, another with Parkinson’s who struggles with people thinking he’s drunk most of the time, and a range of ages, sizes, body adornments, races, and ethnicities. I can help with the grammar and places to start a new paragraph, but I can’t stop people from assuming that blind=stupid, that the young black man looks suspicious just because he’s young and black, tattoos=irresponsible, or that you need to “dumb down” your words because she has Downs Syndrome and “won’t understand.”
All I can do is what I can do. What I do—try and help them realize the importance of being critical without being cruel, cultivating their voices, speaking from their hearts, and taking the time to invite others into this dialogue. The really scary stuff. That means making it a dialogue and not a shouting match. That means being vulnerable and risking being hurt or ignored. It takes some time, but we get there. (Usually) That is what made this a good week. Despite all the horror that surrounds me, here are the discussions it prompted, the questions that were raised, and a list of evidence that reminds me I’m exactly where God wants me to be even when I get feeling that “this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be…”
And for the record, despite the stereotypes, this In my Developmental English Classes, that is two steps below “college ready,” we discussed…
- Why some of us stay silent when race is discussed
- The difficulties of talking about race when you are the only minority in a majority
- How to handle a situation when you are worried about being “offensive”
- What it means to be resilient
- Someone asked: Does evil exist, and is there a moment when someone, like this Florida gunman, loses their humanity?
- The stereotype that all cops are corrupt
- How it’s easy to hold onto a stereotype like “all cops are corrupt” when you’ve been a victim of the corruption.
- How many cops put their lives on the line for us every day, but that’s not reported because “it isn’t what sells”
Because of that, this was a good week...