Preemptive Education/Urban Word- Friday/Sunday

On Friday night I went to the Word Life: An Evening of Performance and Conversation on Language, Identity, and Power. It was an emotional and very engaging night. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. First, a spoken word performer went on stage and performed their poem, then a respondent went up and spoke about the poem, then a group of panelists spoke in response to the performer and the respondent. After three poets went they opened up the floor to questions to all.
My favorite performer was the first spoken word performer, Jamilla Lyiscott, who spoke about being trilingual but not really in the sense of speaking three different languages but more in the sense of code switching between three forms of English- standard English and then Ebonics and street slang. She considered this a talent and talked about how children today have to think about this both inside and outside of the classroom yet teachers never seem to acknowledge this fact and students are in dire need of this acknowledgement. Her poem was deeply moving and made me realize that teachers need to talk to students who bring Ebonics into the classroom and highlight it as the use of another form of language and talk about its usage since it has such a predominant role in Black culture.
One moment that truly stuck out for me was when one of the panelists, a young African American girl who went to Stuyvevant High School was speaking in response to a respondent’s question about what she would change about curriculum at her school. She said she had recently talked to her school’s principal about adding African American and Hispanic history classes and also literature classes since her school currently doesn’t have any. She then got very emotional when telling a story about how her current history teacher just told her class to “skip chapter 2 and move on to chapter 3” whereas chapter 2 was the chapter on Africa. This deeply upset the girl who felt that the teacher didn’t think Africa was worth teaching. The girl took matters into her own hands and read the chapter and did additional research herself so she could learn her people’s history. She wanted to encourage other teachers not to make the same mistake. Not only does this take away an opportunity to learn from all students but it had a deep emotional impact on students of the culture that is being skipped over. As a future teacher I will make sure to try to touch upon the history of as many places as I can but especially to reflect the cultures of the students in my class, even at the elementary school level.
On Sunday I went to another event held by Urban Word called Preemptive Education: Language, Power, and Identity. The first workshop I went to was on Creative Classroom Management. The first icebreaker (or “gathering” as they referred to it) was definitely the best icebreaker I’ve ever done and something I would adapt to use in the elementary setting. We each made a nametag for ourselves and then briefly chatted with the person seated next to use to get to know them. We then switched nametags with them, assuming their identity. We then had to introduce ourselves to someone else as this new person. We then switched nametags again and then had to introduce ourselves to the class as this second “new” person. This quickly created a sense of community and accountability. It also made you feel connected to others at a more personal level. Not only that, it was a lot of fun! You really had to pay attention and listen to the people you were talking to which are skills that we all need to work on instead of just concentrating on what we want to say about ourselves. You really need to step into someone else’s shoes. We also then did another icebreaker where we partnered up and tried to find as many commonalities as we could with our partner. This had the same basic idea behind it but it just goes to show you that despite any physical or cultural differences, that when it comes down to it, we are really all the same in one way or another and this is a tangible and fun way for students to see that.
Throughout the workshop we learned a lot of techniques for effective classroom management including a really great CM cycle of when to communicate with students and more importantly when not to. These were definitely some skills that I can immediately take to the classroom and that are practical and seem highly effective.
The second workshop that I went to was on incorporating graffiti into the classroom as a form of art. In today’s society we need to bring other forms of literacy and art into the classroom and graffiti is a fresh, exciting way to get students involved. Not only that, but it a way for the “oppressed to reclaim a historical experience that is devalued in everyday life by the dominant culture” and they need this “in order to be validated and critically understood.” It is important for students to see art forms that they typically don’t see represented in the classroom, represented in the classroom and in their schools. It would be great to even give them the experience of creating graffiti themselves, perhaps in the form of a class mural that depicts icons that they find representative of the class. The speaker showed pictures of schools that had art, including graffiti, on the walls of the hallway in the school that depicted heroic people that the students could look up to or look at as motivation as well as motivational and inspirational sayings and phrases. The workshop gave insightful ways of bringing hip hop culture and graffiti into schools in a way that fosters literacy and learning.
The concluding workshop made us think about ourselves as teachers and about our role in the classroom. Together we brainstormed ways to make our classroom more student centered and I left with a whole list that I can use in my classroom. Of course incorporated in that is respecting each others cultures. One person had an idea that I found interesting about having students assume different roles such as “White racist” or “Black southerner” and then having them dialogue as if they were these people and then discuss and/or write about the experience.
There were so many thoughtful and creative ideas that I learned at all of the workshops and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to go both days. I signed up for the Urban Word mailing list and would definitely attend future events as well as stay informed about how I could do spoken word activities in my classroom as I think they are a great, exciting, and liberating way for students to express themselves.