Conclusions

This is my second experience with RSS bloging. The first time I wrote this summary post and gave my opinion about the technology’s use in the classroom, I was quite a bit more skeptical than I am now. I think I have grown to appreciate the idea of it more now than I did last semester. I learned a lot through my “inquiry for equality,” and I feel that I have a more balanced, less fearful perspective on the issues I chose to learn more about. The largest reason I believe my experience was more positive this time, is the fact that I felt more freedom to choose a topic that didn’t seem to directly relate to writing at first. As I read more in class and discovered more in the news, I started to draw connections, but I wasn’t really thinking of the connections when I picked my topic. This differs largely to the way I chose my topic last semester. Last semester, I put a lot of pressure on myself to come up with a topic that has something to do with teaching literature to adolescents. I felt very limited by that, because it did not feel like many news sources would really care about pedagogical issues. Finding news sources on disparities in education was a much more authentic task.

Assuming that students are able to pick topics that are written about often, and which they are deeply passionate about, I am all for this type of writing assignment in high schools. I think that I would either require fewer entries, or lighter content in the entries though, because time management is a huge issue with this kind of assignment. It seems that no matter how many entries I write, I never seem to learn how to do so in a time efficient manner. Exploring web content and then integrating that content into your own thoughts is always a time consuming process. I want to be sensitive to this fact when I am teaching.

I want to frame this type of assignment as an exploration. I feel that this is what it has been for me this semester, and as a result, I have grown in many ways. I feel that I not only understand the causes, complications, and possible solutions for educational inequality, but I also have a more holistic perspective. I feel much less naïve about the complexity of the issue and the forces which maintain inequality. While I’m not sure that I’ve ever been encouraged to reconsider my opinions through my inquiry, I think that I understand the positions which oppose me more fully. These were important things for me to learn and understand if I am going to live my life and my teaching career in a way which will improve the situation. If I have the opportunity to teach at risk and underprivileged students, I want to be sure to not assume anything about my students, but to understand that they may be dealing with things that I never had to deal with at their age. I want to be aware of how their lack of privilege hinders their resources, their motivation, and their support systems. I want to work to counter the oppressive forces that they are subject to every day. I want to always be aware of the fact that privilege and prejudice is something that constantly is at work, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. I resolve to not act out in defense for myself when students judge me for the color of my skin. I resolve to instead earn their trust, meet them where they are at, and give them reasons to believe that their skin color and financial background will somehow not prevent them from being successful. I must do this by providing them with examples of successful adults who came from backgrounds like them. I must do this by providing ways for their voices to be heard. I must do this by letting them read diverse authors so that I do not perpetuate the message that dead white men are our history, are our pride, are the definition of success. These students need someone who will acknowledge the power of minority voices in literature and in the world. As everything else in our culture screams otherwise, necessity demands that I do this.