Mar 21

Mar 21 The Invitation (Episode 7)

Welcome back to the Coloniality, Western Science, and Critical Ethnic Studies in STEM Education dissertation!

Episode 7 is an invitation to you, the listeners, to facilitate you own ItAG. I walk you through the process undertaken in this dissertation so you can coordinate your own group.

TRANSCRIPT

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Hey listeners!

I'm LaToya Strong and I'm a doctoral candidate at The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York.

You are listening to my dissertation!

[00:21]

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This episode is an invitation to do your own ItAG. I outline week by week, what we did, including the openings and closings. Obviously you don’t gotta do what we did, but it is there if you want or need it. If you are just tuning in, I recommend you go back to the last episode to learn about the history and purpose of ItAGs and NYCoRE.

[00:53]

The transcript also has everything written out. So you could just go there and get all the info for each week. Or you can use this audio. How I envisioned it if you are doing the guided route, using the audio is to listen to week 1. Get the info that you need. Pause and make note of where you left off. And then do your session. And the following week come back to where you left off and get the information needed for week two.

Here is a potential model that you could use. Each week, rotate facilitator, note-taker and any other role your group might need. The notetaker becomes the facilitator at the next meeting. But others can still help take notes And it could be the job of the facilitator to gather the information for each week and lead the session.

[01:46]

Again, our main text that grounded us in the inquiry part of the ItAG was Critical Ethnics Studies: On its Genesis and Future (Marquez & Rana, 2015). I invite you to use that text.

Let’s get to week one!

[02:00]

WEEK ONE

Week one was about positionality and mind mapping. It was the first week that the entire group was together so we, of course, did introductions. After introductions, the rest of the session was facilitated by a guest speaker, Atasi Das. Atasi led us through a positionality and mind mapping activity so we could reflect on our practice, why we signed up for the ItAG, and what brought us to the point in wanting to investigate the ideas described in the ItAG flier.

Materials: markers, colored pencils, poster paper to draw on, pens, pencils

[02:39]

Opening: The Pencil Metaphor

If you have any wooden pencils you can take them out for inspiration and reference. There is a labeled image of a pencil on the transcript to also use for reference. The first image does not contain an explanation of the parts.There are six parts: The Hangers-On, The Erasers, The Ferrules, The Wood, The Sharp Ones, The Leaders.

[03:08]

Activity: Which part of the pencil do you identify with most and why? Take five minutes to think about this.

Share Out: After the five minutes take some time so those that want to share can share. The time allotted for this will depend on the size of your group, but aim for five to 10 minutes

Once everyone has shared out, you can look at the second image of the pencil, that has a description of each part.

Now for the mind mapping activity.

There is no right or wrong way to do the mind mapping. You can write, draw, scribble, doodle, etc. It’s just a way to get your reflections on paper in a way that makes sense to you. There are several questions to guide this mind mapping. You can focus on just one question, two questions, whatever allows you to think about your practice, your journey, and what led you to want to go through this process? For us the question was what led you to the room.

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[04:07]

Question one (repeated twice)

What does learning really look like and/or feel like in your classroom?

Question two (repeated twice)

What do you imagine learning to look like and/or feel like in your classroom?

[04:42]

Question three (repeated twice)

What are the constraints that keep you from realizing your idealized classroom?

Question four (repeated twice)

What is the reason for the disconnect between your ideal and what it actually looks like?

[05:21]

Question five (repeated twice)

What are the texts and discourses and knowledges that exists in your classroom (consciously or unconsciously?)

Question six (repeated twice)

Where do these texts/discourses/knowledges come from?

[06:11]

Question seven (repeated twice)

Where and how was your knowledge of your discipline formed? And how does your pedagogy relate to this knowledge?

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Take however long works for you or your group. We were given 20 minutes to reflect on this.

After we mind mapped we got into pairs to share our posters. Do whatever size group makes sense for you. In your group, share what you’re comfortable sharing. We were asked to pay attention to any commonalities and any distinct differences. We were given ten minutes, but adjust the time to your needs.

[07:12]

The last part of this facilitated activity was a larger group share out. Have folks share what they discussed. The same way that smaller groups paid attention to commonalities and distinct differences, do that also in the large group. We had 15 minutes for this.

One word that you're leaving with or something you're carrying with you from today.

For our next session, and if you are following along, your next session, we delved into two readings. Or if there is another text that you would like to use, then please continue to adapt as you see fit.

The first reading is the introduction to the book “White” Washing American Education: The New Culture Wars in Ethnic Studies. The introduction is titled The Making of a Movement: Ethnic Studies in a K-12 Context. The purpose of this text was to give us common ground to help build a shared understanding of ethnic studies.

[08:22]

The second text is Editor’s Introduction On Our Genesis and Future. This article was the introduction to the first journal publication of the critical ethnic studies journal.

Materials: chart paper (if you’re doing this in person), post-it notes, markers, cutout images from magazines. If you get a lot of junk mail, cut out images from them. If you are doing this virtually, then create a collage of images that could be displayed.

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[09:00]

You can pause here and when you come back jump to begin your second session.

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WEEK 2

Welcome to week two!

[09:20]

In this session, we and possibly you, started to digest the readings.

Opening: Windows and Mirrors

Spread your images out. Choose an image that calls to you and decide if it is a window or mirror. Or perhaps have folks choose a window and a mirror.

A mirrors is an image that reflects your personal experience

A window an image that shows an experience different from your own

Give five to seven minutes to choose an image and for sharing if anyone wants to talk about their image.

Our first activity after the opening was to do a brain dump for what comes to mind when you hear ethnic studies, critical ethnic studies, and what makes something critical.

Before we started to discuss the texts, we first did a brain dump for what comes to mind when you hear ethnic studies, critical ethnic studies, and what makes something critical. We had three pieces of chart paper labeled with those titles. We all grabbed markers and added thoughts to the chart paper. We gave five to seven minutes for this.

Next we did QCQ for the On our Genesis and Future article. We all took another five minutes just to review the readings and choose a quote. QCQ stands for quote, comment, question. Pick a quote from the text that stuck out to you and comment on it. What is about that quote that made you highlight it, what does it make you think of? Do you dis/agree? Is it surprising? Did it cause a moment of reflection?

[10:53]

And now for the second Q stands for question. Questions that were raised because of this quote. Or the reading overall. You can see the list of questions that we came up with in the appendix. Are they the same as yours? Different?

The text is dense and we were going back and forth over what to do next. Although this was a STEM ItAG, not everyone was a STEM classroom teacher so a narrow focus would exclude how they could engage with what we did. So we decided to focus on STEM, but create something that anyone could use for any subject using the points of departure to ground us .

Closing: One word takeaway

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[11:38]

You can pause here and when you come back jump to begin your third session.

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WEEK THREE

[12:03]

Welcome to week three.

In this session we continued the digestion of the texts focusing on the points of departures.

For our opening we were asked to take a moment and just think of something that happened to you either today or this week that you're grateful for, that you're willing to share with the group, and just take a moment to be mindful of the things that we have to be thankful for.

I know I said this before, but the paper is very dense. So we decided to go through the Points of Departure point by point. Go through the paper and highlight what is salient to you from each of the points of departure, what confused you about each, the main point that you're taking away? Think about what each point of departure could look like in your classroom, in your practice, in your curriculum? Have folks go to each poster and write these things down. We also put check’s next to other people’s comments that sat well with us. We spent 20 minutes doing this.

[13:15]

We then focused on Point of Departure One and then Point of Departure Two. First going over what we put on the chart paper and cross-referencing it with the document. We had conversations and worked through our thoughts with each other, offering ideas and questions. Then we made a more condensed, synthesized list from those conversations that were both analytical while also thinking about our actual practice. Then we again put checkmarks next to the items that resonated most with us on this new chart paper of questions.

For our closing we each went around and did gestures that described us. So do a gesture that describes you

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You can pause here and when you come back jump to whatever time–you’ve guessed it– whatever time you’re paused at to begin your next session.

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WEEK FOUR

[14:26]

Our opening for week four was What Are You Doing? For this activity someone has to start. You can do it one of two ways. Someone can start in the middle and then every time someone goes they go to the middle and replace the person that was there. Or you can go in a circle and they can go to the person to their right or left.

So how does this game work? Someone has to start. Let’s say the person to my right was named Bellamy Blake. I would say Bellamy what are doing? And then Bellamy would tell me an action. For example, Me: Bellamy what are you doing? Bellamy would respond: running from Grounders. Then I would have to do the action of running from Grounders.

[15:18]

The person to my right would then ask me, mind you I’m still running from grounders, “Toya, what are you doing” and I would respond, brushing my teeth. So now that person has to pretend to brush their teeth. And you keep going. You could also do this in a circle with the person doing the action in the middle. You can do it seated.Whatever makes sense for your group.

For this week, we started to synthesize our synthesis of the remaining points of departure.We were having a conversation and talking about all the similarities we see in our thoughts in regards to the questions on the chart paper. And we also talked about some of the differences. We were asking each other questions and really just through discussing and asking questions, and providing examples and making suggestions pushing ourselves closer to a shared understanding of these points of departure.

We also had a brief conversation. Folks shared initial thoughts on what we could possibly do or a potential action.

Our closing for this week was a response to the prompt, if you were an item in the refrigerator what would you be?

[16:25]

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For the opening next week, you will need pennies for the opening next week. Gather enough pennies for enough people for your group and make sure the year pennies have a wide range so you can capture all the years that people in your group were born.

You can pause here and when you come back jump to begin your third session. For the opening next week you’ll need some pennies.

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WEEK FIVE

[17:33]

Welcome to week five!

Our opening for this week: distribute the pennies: distribute the pennies and share something that happened to you during the year that is on your penny.

After the opening, we talked more about our individual goals and how they connected to the various points of departures.

We then had discussions around what the action would be. We tossed around developing a database with resources, or a resource list, developing context specific resources. These all felt too big.

What helped to direct us to where to go was our special education teachers. They emphasized that they can be tossed into any class at any time and so the resource would need to be adaptable to those situations.

So we decided to develop questions. We came up with our own titles for each point of departure to make it more accessible.And by naming them we gave them overarching themes which would help us organize the questions we developed. So we worked collaboratively to finalize the questions for each point of departure.

As you’ve noticed, the directions have gotten a bit more vague since week four. So a reminder that weeks one through three were loosely structured and weeks four, five, and six were completely unplanned to leave it open for whatever emerges from the group.

Because we were satisfied with the names with each category and how the names represented the category overall and the question for each category, anyone who had the capacity could try the tool out and then report back what that was like the following week.

Our closing for this session was a one word takeaway.

[19:42]

WEEK SIX

And we’ve arrived at week six.

[19:57]

Opening: anything that's on your mind or that you need to get off your chest so you can be present here, just like let it out. But obviously we should talk about our snow days instead.

We developed this tool and we spent this session discussing what to do for the conference, because in addition to creating this tool we wanted to share it. We chose to present at the NYCoRE conference. So we were working on what that would look like and what we would do. But you should work on what your action will be.

[20:41]

For the closing, I do not know if this has a name, we didn’t call it anything but we clapped. So everyone in the group does a single clap at the same time. It may take a couple of tries. But count to three and then clap.

I sincerely hope that you were able to do your own ItAG. If so please share your action.

[21:27]

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Thank you for tuning in to this episode.

For coherency and flow of narrative, I did not always name who I was citing or drawing from so please visit the transcript to see all citations and references.

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