Structures and the Classroom

This summer I've been thinking a lot about the structures that are in my classroom, the outside structures that impact my classroom, and the structures of my classroom.

This started with my plan to rearrange my classroom this fall to recenter on station rotations, and reading spaces, orienting my classroom space around students, who work in groups in my room, and building on this practice to center students more.

This got me thinking about dedicated library space for the independent reading, which built on me wanting to decolonize and disrupt the texts I taught and made available. I have been overwhelmed by the mostly complete strangers who have bought literature circle (5) copies of novels, mostly pulled from recommendations from Twitter, Project Lit and Diverse Texts.

This led me to think more about the structures of racism, colonialism, sexism, that impact my classroom, and how important it is to continue to acknowledge them, and teach against them.

A Twitter conversation yesterday got me thinking. It was about how new or inexperienced teachers might not feel comfortable teaching these non-canonical texts. Part of this is that it runs counter to how they've been taught to teach, which is a whole other issue, about how we teach and prep teachers. But I think a larger issue is that most teachers are taught that they have to be the expert in the room. They have to have all the answers, that there are only one answer to a question, and that these practices center the mostly white, expert teacher. Decolonizing and disrupting these texts means that you center the students. It means that the experiences you discuss, the analysis you do, does not center the teacher. It means the teacher will not be the expert. You're not going to have all the answers. You may not even know the questions.

There have been intersecting conversations about this on Twitter, and I've been paying attention to them all. Another was under the #HipHopEd hashtag and it was centered on music in the classroom, privileging your students' music in the classroom. That it required a similar release of control, centering on your students.

And in  addition to all this is the ruckus about renaming the Laura Ingalls Wilder award.  People, who I'm betting never even read the original series, are all fake outraged about what they argue is censorship. Like many issues, it's Anglos making the fuss, not listening to anyone else. First, the books are clearly racist. There's no debate about that. Teaching racist texts hurts students. There's no debate about that. Reexamining our history and exposing the racist roots of so much of our history is a good thing. And here's the thing, if someone from the represented group, disabled, LGBTQ, Black, Native, etc. tells you that something is offensive, and that X actions should be taken, you listen to them. You don't argue. You don't present the long list of reasons why you think they're wrong. You take in the knowledge, acknowledge you were wrong, and adjust your practice accordingly.

All of these conversations are vital to me being able to best serve my students. I have learned form all of them this summer, and I am sure in the next month before I go back to school, I will add more conversations, knowledge, and acknowledgements, that I can incorporate into my classroom.

But it's also important to note that there are lots of teachers who will not.
There is little to no incentive for teachers to pursue this professional development on their own. Maybe they don't use tech, so don't see these conversations. Maybe they are insecure in their knowledge. Many teachers continue to teach the canon, teach the same assignments, books, worksheets, because they lack the content knowledge to do otherwise. Many teachers are not comfortable in a position where they are not in control. Many teachers don't know where to start in decolonizing and disrupting their classrooms. Many teachers don't even know this is a thing.

These are larger issues, concerning issues.

Maybe you're the only teacher in your department, or school, who is making these changes.
And that can be scary. But one of the things that is great about these growing online networks of help and resources is that there are people out there who will share resources, supports, strategies.
If you're the only one tackling all of this, I encourage you to use these resources, share what you're doing.
I know it can be discouraging if you're the only one making these shifts. It can seem lonely. But I think that even single teachers can be models. It can be hard to counter the cognitive dissonance, or school culture. But I will have 150 students this year. That's 150 students who will benefit from these approaches. And maybe you can get others to buy in. Maybe not.

Regardless of the support, or lack thereof, I encourage everyone to think about the structures of your classroom, the structures that impact your classroom, and seriously reflect about why you do the things you do.

As always, think about- what is the pedagogical reason why I do X?