Growing Up Hip-Hop

Event: Growing Up Hip-Hop Plugged-in
Venue: Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Date: 12/6/08 7PM-8PM

At the event Growing Up Hip-Hop Plugged-in, kahlil almustafa, the award-winning hip-hop poet presented select pieces from his collection using visuals and music to support his words. He started by explaining how he became a poet, and how the circumstances of his life and those around him inspired him to pick up a pen and express himself with words- to express the reality of life in America for African American people with words. While many of the topics his poems cover can be harsh and depressing, such as aids, war, consumerism, and White supremacy, he makes it clear that his objective isn't just to uncover the faults of American society and the American government. His message really is one of social justice, and his aim is to envision the world as a better place. He starts his performance by asking people to write down their vision of the world, but to reframe it in a positive light. Instead of writing "My vision is a world where people don't insult each other based on their differences," we would write "My vision is a world where everyone accepts each other and respects each others' differences."

Like many other hip-hop artists, kahlil almustafa tells it as it is, but what I especially liked about his poems is that although there is truth to his words, he expresses things in a way that makes you want to get up and make a difference. We each received a copy of his book of poems, and reading through the poetry, I think he makes controversial issues and political issues more accessible through his language, and most of the poems are appropriate for some of the upper grades in elementary school, and definitely could be used in middle school and high school. I think it's a great way to show students that there are a multitude of ways that you could put social justice in action. Writing poetry, books, plays, performing songs, dances- any of these art forms can have such a huge impact. It's really hard for me to express just how powerful this presentation is, but I think everyone should go hear kahlil perform his poetry at least once! And good news- at the end of the show, Bree informed Mila and I that kahlil would be coming to our class next semester, so everyone will get a chance to see him!

conversations of color

conversations of color event
pless hall 12/04/08

Along with several ladies from the cohort, I attended the conversations of color lunch at pless hall this past thursday. Several students from Steinhardts different programs were gathered not only for free lunch but also for an opportunity to discuss social action issues with a group of peers, faculty and staff.

At this gathering, we made holiday cards for service men who are out fighting for their country. As everyone was eating and making cards, people began to discuss important social issues that they were involved in. Amongst the topics discussed, was the genocide in darfur, breast cancer awareness, and abuse of women with disabilities. We also discussed the notion of being supportive and the notion of actually being active in making a difference. i think this point drives the notion that social justice issues require social action for their to be a change or difference made.

The conversation at this event made me realize that there is much more that can be done in terms of making an impact on a social justice issue. I think it is important to remember as future educators that we are to equip our students with the skills necessary for them to make decisions that positively impact the society. We should encourage our students to ask whether it is enough to walk around with a pin supporting a cause or whether it is more meaningful to actively engage in causes that mean something to them.

I think conversation and awareness are important tools to motivate people to think about social issues but it is action that leads individuals to impact many people at once.

Attending this lunch was helpful because it made me think about different skills I could potentially teach my students when discussing important social justice issues.

O Ambassadors

Hello fellow bloggers,

I attended an O Ambassadors presentation and it was amazing and inspirational. Here's some background on the organization. Oprah's Angel network collaborated with Free the Children and created O Ambassadors you can look on Oprah's site or freethechildren.com for more info, but the main idea of this organization is to promote social change through education. If a teacher wants her class to become part of this organization he/she can log on to the site and fill out the application and I believe there is an interview process and the teacher has to explain why he/ she would like to be involved and what they have done in the past as far as social justice is concerned. 

Two people from the organization came to the Brooklyn New School and did an amazing and artistic presentation. The gentleman was a former child soldier in the Congo and the woman was from NJ and was a survivor of a home filled with drug abuses and she overcame many odds. As they presented to my class and one other fifth grade class that my CT invited the gentleman began to cry as he shared with us that he was forced to murder his best friend when he was just 5 years old. They didn't share  all of this information with us for sympathy rather it was to educate us about many of the injustices against children that are taking place around the world. I felt so empowered  and so did my students. My CT who I think is simply amazing has been involved with O Ambassadors for a number of years and I have had such a profound opportunity watching her discuss 'difficult issues' with our students and she does a phenominal job every time. We were informed about child labor that takes place around the world and the poor quality of water that many children are facing every day along with the many issues that prevent children from attending school in Africa. As a teacher I will absolutely apply to be an O Ambassador with my students. I saw my students become so empowered and unsettled about many of the things that they saw. Most importantly to me though I listened to them ask big idea questions which showed me that they were thinking about what they were seeing from higher level and deeper perspective than what they could see on the surface

Sorry I miss-named the event; it's called Conversations of Color

Student's of Color Convocation

Round Table Discussion Forum with CIP

So tonight was the Round Table discussion for New Student Seminar featuring the members of the Critical Inquiry Project; the graduates that Bree works with to integrate social justice education into their curriculum.
It was all students in Steinhardt who are currently in the education program; early childhood, childhood, and secondary. It started with Bree introducing the Round Table and each of the teachers saying what year they graduated, what grade they taught, and whether it was Special Ed or Gen Ed. Then the teachers posed questions about issues they would teach in their classrooms and asked the students to stand in separate part of the rooms for if they would, weren't sure, or would not teach those issues. The issues were ones such as race in the election, the Holocaust, Gay Marriage, and 9/11. Some students felt strongly that they would teach these issues while others felt they weren't sure, especially about teaching to young children in first or second grade.
Then we watched a film about a student named Dalton Sherman who gave a speech in Dallas to about 20,000 professionals who worked in schools in Dallas. It was very inspirational; he spoke about how he and his classmates needed everyone there to believe in them. Then the students talked about how they felt about the movie; how it affected them as preservice teachers and how it inspired them. Facilitators then posed a question addressing if the fact that Dalton Sherman is black played any part in the impact that his message had. One student said yes, the fact that he is a minority affected the impact of his message. Another said that they did not even think about the fact that Dalton was black.
Then the students spoke again in small groups about why they wanted to be a teacher.
After that, the panel talked about the CIP and how they are integrating social justice education into their classroom. Dan came up and talked about the project he did with Fair Trade Chocolate that Bree showed in class. Then Mike spoke about his second grade class's work on Columbus. They talked about the real issues surrounding Columbus's journey. They talked about whether he was a hero or not. Then they brought it to the rest of the school community by putting a bulletin board in the hallway and letting whomever pass decide if they think Columbus was a hero or not and put it in a box.
Then at the end there was a question and answer portion where the students asked the panel questions about how they got jobs and how they worked with the school to integrate social justice education into their curriculum.

Conversations on Color

Today I attended a session of Steinhardt's Conversations on Color. The event took place at Pless Hall and focused on three different aspects that relate to social action.

1. The ongoing activity that took place during the meeting was the creation of Holiday Cards for Service Members. This was something that the group as a whole could partake in and contribute to making the holiday a bit brighter for the men and women serving our country. 

2. During the activity a discussion was led on different issues that people in the group felt passionate about. The first issue brought up was on the genocide in Darfur. This issue has been more and more publicized over the past few years and yet, it seems, that nothing has really been done about it. We discussed how the American Congress has declared the crisis a genocide and yet hasn't taken any action to stop it. Does this then strip the word genocide of its power? The conversation then turned to how China has yet to acknowledge this as genocide and, thus, has prevented the UN from taking a definitive stance on the crisis. 

The next issue brought up was on Breast Cancer. This was a somewhat shorter discussion, but nonetheless powerful. A member of the Steinhardt community was diagnosed with breast cancer and an event on Feb. 12th is being organized to raise money and awareness for the cause. 

The last issue mentioned was on the abuse of women with disabilities. There is a shelter in NYC that houses women with disabilities who are/have been abused by caretakers, family members, etc.. We noted how this population is sometimes silenced, and the travesties that occur are hidden in the dark. This home provides a safe space for women with disabilities to go to escape these abuses. What was particularly disturbing for me to hear about ws how caretakers and family members abuse these people. Imagine being helped into a shower that was ice cold and being left there for an hour without being able to help yourself. Imagine having your means of communication taken away from you for no discernible reason. This was really difficult to swallow considering these could be the students I work with being treated like this. 

3. The third thing we did was discuss what are effective means of activism. Is wearing a ribbon or bracelet for a cause effective? Is guerilla art/graffiti effective? If so how and why. Many different opinions were voiced. One claimed a change needs to occur for activism to be effective. Others claimed if awareness is made than activism is effective. The conversation then hinged upon activism as advertisement. It almost seemed like the more novel the kind of awareness made the more effective it is. The example of the Live Strong bracelets was given. It was so effective because it was the first of its kind. Now that there are different color bracelets for every cause under the sun has it become less effective? 

Overall, the event was very empowering for me. It was a bunch of people from Steinhardt, like me, who want to participate in a larger conversation on social activism and change. Next semester I anticipate attending more of these sessions and encourage you all to do so as well.