Location: CUNY Graduate Center
This event included two talks, one "Aesthetic Education and School Change," lead by Dr. Madeline Holzer, Director of Educational Development of the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education and the other, "There is Still No Justice: Understanding and Transforming Civic Learning in Diverse Classrooms," lead by Dr. Beth C. Rubin.
Dr. Holzer talked of the Lincoln Center Institute's relationship with the High School for Arts, Imagination, and Inquiry and several "capacities" - habits of mind - implemented within the school (not in hierarchal order): 1.) Noticing deeply 2.) Embodying 3.) Asking questions 4.) Making questions 5.) Seeing patterns 6.) Exhibiting empathy 7.) Creating meaning 8.) Taking action and 9.) Reflection and assessment. In doing an activity where we looked at several photographs, we saw how these skills could be implemented through individual and then group work. Holzer told us of how workshops are offered for educators throughout the school year and during the summer to further explore these capacities. She stressed that often times people "abuse" these capacities in discussion and do not truly comprehend the meaning behind them. As a future educator, I would be greatly interested in attending these workshops in order to properly implement these habits of mind within my teaching of various subject areas.
As for the second discussion, "There is Still No Justice," Dr. Rubin talked of several schools of varying backgrounds - urban, suburban, high income, low income, etc. - in which civic identities of students were studied. She concluded that the identities could be grouped into four: 1.) Aware 2.) Empowered 3.) Complacent and 4.) Discouraged. As educators, we must look at how daily experiences, classroom experiences, and structural inequalities affect a student's civic identity and connection to the world.
This talk re-enforced the need to look at the student as whole. What experiences do they bring to the class? How does this affect their perception of themselves and of others in the world? And, how can I then implement talking civics, writing and expressing civics, taking civic action, and discussing current events in the classroom?
2 comments:
Ash,
This event seems to be very informative. The second speech you talk about seems particularly interesting to me. How are students see themselves as a citizen will ultimately impact how they may advocate for themselves in the larger scheme of things. Are we empowering our students and letting them know they have a voice? Or are we reinforcing their fears that their voice is too small or too inadequate to be heard? How we engage our students in our lessons can send either of these messages. We, as educators, need to encourage students to advocate for themselves as well as what they believe in. Being able to know our students and how they feel can only positively impact this mission.
hey,
these two talks that you attended are so interesting because they deal with things about a student that a teacher does not necessarily think of right away. I think some educators get carried away sometimes with teaching something without any concern with whether or not students are creating meaningful connections or whether they are authentically learning. Also, teachers should be aware of what it is the student as an individual can do when really exploring the capacities they have in their particular habits of mind. I think as an educator these workshops would be incredibly helpful to explore the meaning behind authentic teaching and learning.
The other talk also explored the importance of understanding the civic identity a student has acquired, adopted or embraced based on how they experience their life and their surroundings. It is important to know how these civic identities have an impact on a students learning.
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