Monday Musings
from The Kravis Center
Monday Musings
October 5, 2020
Focus: Election questions and answers
Kravis Center Q&A drop-in session: Wednesday, September 30 from 2:00-3:00
Dear Colleagues,
Miles here! Last week, I screened President Trump's opening remarks from the White House Conference on American History for my freshmen. We had a productive conversation about the relationship between the President's insistence on preserving the "magnificent truth" of America's founding and history and the novel When the Emperor Was Divine. The novel explores a family of Japanese Americans removed from their home and interned during WWII. My students, sitting at various points on the ideological spectrum, wrestled with the difficulty of our nation and its fraught history.
They were quick to see the implications of the nation's past upon its present and linked the campaign of terror against Japanese Americans to the racism associated with COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. All I had to do was ask them, "Where do you see connections between what we're reading about then and what's going on now?" They were eager to discuss and debate, to inquire and interrogate, to probe and produce fruitful discourse. All I had to do was ask.
The recent Presidential Debate seemed to throw my class into sharp relief. Even as my students continue to navigate the profound difficulties of learning in 2020, they maintain a commitment to civil discourse, to the opportunities to explore big ideas with their peers. And to do so politely. They listen to each other. We have a responsibility to encourage civil discourse and create opportunities for our students to listen to one another.
Fiona here! As we head into the end of Fall Term 1 and the madness of grading and comments, we encourage teachers to forge connections to the outside world as unrest and tumult continues to swirl. From the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the decision in the Breonna Taylor case to fires raging in the West to election unease, students may find themselves distracted as they ruminate on the impacts of such uncertainty in their lives and in those they love. Other students may not be paying attention as the expectations of this term consume them.
In either case, making time for students to process and think about these issues allows them the space to investigate their feelings and feel both seen and heard. Doing so need not take too much time. You can offer your students a free write prompt for them to journal upon; allow them to make direct links to class materials, if relevant; offer them some resources to examine and read. In her Junior English class, Courtney Jackson recently used this op-ed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (also featured in the All-School Read & Write). Abdul-Jabbar details the perspective of the Black community in regard to the Black Lives Matter protests this summer. Courtney used the op-ed alongside their reading of Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" in order to prompt students to connect the non-violent protests of the 1960s to today's ongoing protests. This week, students in my CL English Seminar classes used Dr. King's theory of just laws to investigate the outcome of the Breonna Taylor case as conveyed in the Kentucky Attorney General's press conference to interrogate the relationship of morality, justice, and law in today's world.
Miles again! I'll admit that teaching in the English Department makes finding avenues to these opportunities a bit easier. However, navigating these conversations is not always intuitive, and the inevitably divisive election doesn't help. Add in the logistical and legal restraints upon us as we near the end of this marking period and approach the next one, and we have the makings of a proper minefield. Enter Eric LaForest and Alec McCandless, who have compiled and answered a series of FAQs, with even more answers from Dr. Sheila Culbert and Dr. Fiona Mills. These responses are tailored to your solicited questions from the September 25 Faculty Meeting. Peruse these, and feel free to reach out to any of us if you have any questions about the important conversations in the coming weeks!
Miles and Fiona, on behalf of the Kravis Center
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Resources and interesting articles
October 5, 2020 is World Teachers' Day! So, go buy yourself a latte and celebrate!
As we approach the end of FT1 (congrats!) and reflect on our build and design of FT2 curricula, here is an interesting article from Education Week about academic honesty and authentic assessments.
Day 1 of the Instructional coaching annual workshop was today and one of the speakers, Christian Van cited an article he wrote for TheConversatiom.com. Hope isn't mere wishful thinking: it's a valuable tool we can put to work in a crisis.
Difficult Dialogues is an article that I came across last week on the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching website that I have found helpful, especially given our TAG discussions.
DEI PD opp:
Connecticut Center for School Change offers several PD opportunities on equity and online learning. How to become and antiracist without knowing how to talk about race?
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Professional Development Opportunities
SEL in the classroom: Here is the link to the numerous PD opportunities through One Schoolhouse, one of which is Protecting Student Mental Health in Hybrid Learning Environments with Lisa Damour
Harvard GSE programs for educators - so any worthwhile workshops for teachers.
DEI PD opp:
Connecticut Center for School Change offers several PD opportunities on equity and online learning. How to become and antiracist without knowing how to talk about race?
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