On Tuesdays, I take 10 minutes for a mini-lesson on identity development and social justice with my high school students. We set a weekly goal and free-write about it for 5 minutes on Fridays.
Week 1: Visualizing Intersectionality
This week, we watched this TED Talk by Dave Troy:
My students pointed out that it was weird that Troy's map had "geek" and "african american/latino" on opposite sides of a spectrum, but didn't have "white" on it. They wondered if he assumed that POC couldn't be geeks, and why, when talking about his home city of Baltimore, he said "I'm here on the green side, down on the far right where the geeks are... Now, on the other side of the network, you tend to have primarily African-American and Latino folks who are really concerned about somewhat different things than the geeks are." They wondered why he didn't say 'down on the far right where the white people are.' They agreed with him when he says that segregation is a choice, and I pointed out that I didn't. I shared a story about how, when I was in high school, I always wanted to join the debate team but never did because I didn't think I'd be welcome in that space. I believed that many people on the team were friendly and wouldn't be assholes to me, but I had a gut feeling (or an anxiety) that they wouldn't take me seriously. I told my students that it makes me feel weird to think that segregation is a choice because me choosing to join a community doesn't always mean that the community wants me there and would include me.
Week 1: Visualizing Intersectionality
This week, we watched this TED Talk by Dave Troy:
My students pointed out that it was weird that Troy's map had "geek" and "african american/latino" on opposite sides of a spectrum, but didn't have "white" on it. They wondered if he assumed that POC couldn't be geeks, and why, when talking about his home city of Baltimore, he said "I'm here on the green side, down on the far right where the geeks are... Now, on the other side of the network, you tend to have primarily African-American and Latino folks who are really concerned about somewhat different things than the geeks are." They wondered why he didn't say 'down on the far right where the white people are.' They agreed with him when he says that segregation is a choice, and I pointed out that I didn't. I shared a story about how, when I was in high school, I always wanted to join the debate team but never did because I didn't think I'd be welcome in that space. I believed that many people on the team were friendly and wouldn't be assholes to me, but I had a gut feeling (or an anxiety) that they wouldn't take me seriously. I told my students that it makes me feel weird to think that segregation is a choice because me choosing to join a community doesn't always mean that the community wants me there and would include me.
Then, we set our goals for Friday:
Reading their responses on Friday almost brought me to tears. I'm so proud of them for being vulnerable and doing the assignment, and so many of them wrote about how they felt closer to their friends after having that conversation. Some of them also pointed out that it felt strange/awkward to have a conversation about their values and identity because it's not something they do very often. Some found that it was hard to talk about themselves at all (which I hope, with practice, gets easier as the year goes on!) Here are a few excerpts from their letters:
As for me, I took the time and had lunch with a teacher whose classroom is near mine but I haven't really talked to all that much. We talked about why we became teachers, what we value in our students and this work, and how we like to spend our free time. So... sweet, I made a new friend!
When was the last time you a vulnerable conversation with someone in your community? I'd love to hear about it!
