Out of Sight, Out of Mind

“Out of sight, out of mind,” a phrase and effect that I often take advantage of. These instances include ignoring a paper that is due, avoiding my room when it needs to be cleaned, and looking at Snapchat instead of finishing my blog. In these minor examples, the effects of my lack of attention are not that drastic: my paper isn’t quite as polished as I would like, my room remains messy, and finishing this blog takes slightly longer than it should. These are small hindrances that I can deal with. However, the trouble arises when it is the big issues that are out of sight and so often out of mind. The issues we should be stressing and focusing  on are too regularly forgotten by the majority’s daily consciousness because they are out of our sight.

In Lima “the Wall of Shame” seems to try to create an “out of sight, out of mind” effect. This wall, that is situated between the neighborhoods of Santiago de Surco and San Juan Mirafloras, exemplifies the stark socioeconomic contrasts that have developed in Lima. On Santiago de Surco’s side, there are predominately affluent homes that are around 1,000m², while San Juan Mirasfloras’ side of the wall consists of small homes, “made from scrap material, surrounded by the sand and earth characteristics of Lima’s desert landscape,” (Boano & Desmaison). In addition to the size differences there is a noticeable variation in accessibility to water. San Juan Mirafloras again having the disadvantage in this situation.

It’s difficult to reflect on things that you can’t see or that are not presently in front of you. The “Wall of Shame” seems to act as a barrier that stops any major reflection within these communities about their stark differences. When the differences are blocked off, they seem to be easier to live with. I think this goes for both sides of the wall. When you are not actually seeing all the privileges that others have, you probably aren’t stressing about them on a daily basis. Same when it comes to seeing how much others don’t have, when you don’t see it directly, it makes living your life a little easier.

However, as I been seeing throughout my time in Peru and in our class readings, learning does not come from the easy. Learning comes from the reflection on the differences that exist in our world. The wall stops any learning that could come from these two communities coexisting so closely together. Yes, the argument could be made that the wall itself can act as a symbol of the inequalities that exist between these two communities and people can reflect and learn from that. However, I think the wall acts as more of a cover up for both sides. Each side does not have to literally see the discrepancies. They aren’t constantly seeing the faces of their wall counterparts and the life they are leading.

According to Marc Clarà’s article “What is Reflection? Looking for Clarity in an Ambiguous Notion,” he states that reflection occurs when, “two converging events, which had been previously seen as inconsistent, incongruent, unclear, incoherent, are now seen as absolutely coherent within the situation,” (265). However, if these two events are never brought together, according to Clarà, reflection is not going to happen. In my mind that then means that no solutions will occur either. I worry that this the situation at the “Wall of Shame”, various other areas in Peru, the United States, and even Milwaukee. Places where socioeconomic and opportunity variances are not brought together in the majority’s collective sight and mind. Obviously, people are aware of inequality issues, but people are often not reflecting on them every day because they are not seeing these differences every day.

So, what is education’s role in all of this? For me I believe that education provides society with the opportunity of presenting these inequalities to students on a regular basis. If students are reflecting on these differences that arise in our society on an almost daily basis, they will hopefully carry that skill and concern with them. They will be aware, so when they see a wall they will, hopefully, look over it. They won’t choose the easier route and the majority will begin converging events to find a broader truth. Then, again hopefully, they will do something to make things better.

 

Freire’s Agents of Change

This past week for our class readings we dove into Paulo Freire’s articles on pedagogy. He emphasized the importance of the critical why, or the “epistemological curiosity,” (this one makes me sound more educated). He wanted teachers to create classrooms where students ask these important whys to find the underlying cause of the structures and normalcies of our society. He wanted students to understand the issues, find the source of them, and begin work to change them. He desired students to be agents of change.

So the obvious next question would ask what the teacher’s role is in Freire’s theory. He doesn’t want teachers to just foster a student’s curiosity in anything and everything, but he wants them to encourage learners to look at the issues in our world and ask why things are the way they are. This is heavy stuff. It means questioning the systems that are in place that many of us have knowingly or unknowingly accepted. This is where the tricky part comes in. Sometimes we as people of our societies don’t look at the actual problem. We look at the superficial problems and questions and fail to dig deeper. Is it up to the teacher to know that these problems are out there and to understand their true sources? Or are they more of a co-learner meant to search for the answers of the whys with their students?

In Freire’s Pedagogy of Freedom, he somewhat answers this question by stating that, “there is no true teaching preparation possible.” He does, however, also say that a “critical attitude” is necessary for the teacher.

If one is to approach teaching as Freire recommends, it is a bit daunting. The teacher m wants the teacher to provide the students with the tools they need to ask the critical whys about our world. The teacher should not tell the student, but allow them to arrive at their own conclusion. If the teacher just tells the student about injustices, they students may just absorb the views of their teacher. In addition, the student would fail to gain an understanding of the process of the critical why themselves.

To conduct a classroom that encourages students to become agents of social change, teachers must be agents of change themselves. Freire does not come out and say this directly, but if teachers want their students ask the critical whys, they themselves must have some sort of personal curiosity and desire to improve the world around them. This requires the teacher to be inquisitive and determined to find answers. It also means the teacher must show commitment to the process of the critical why. Finally, teachers must desire and recognize the accessibility of a more equal world.ust let go of the reins and allow students to venture into sometimes uncharted territory, questioning the systems that contribute to their society’s makeup.

I saw a similar process to Freire’s in the 8^th grade class I have been with. I already mentioned the social justice project that they are working on, but I wanted to reexamine it in light of Freire’s article. The students have all chosen their own issues that they wish to see change in. Freire would appreciate that they are looking at aspects of society that others might overlook and that they are asking deeper questions about them. However, it is unclear if the students are looking at the root of their problems (the critical why) or just the superficial problem. It is hard for me to tell because I wasn’t with the class when they initially arrived at their topics, but it seems that their projects are just focused on bringing awareness about their. Secondly, these students are planning protests to bring their issue to public notice, but students are not required to execute these protests. Freire would obviously want all his students to follow through on their protests to fully be agents of changes. Finally, in this class the teacher also chose an issue that needed to be changed. She is also digging into this problem and looking for ways to bring about awareness on it. Freire would appreciate this co-learning. He would appreciate that the teacher is also getting close to being an agent of change and directing her students down the same path.

Freire’s thoughts on teaching were developed from his experiences with poor, rural areas where students were dealing with the negative repercussions social injustices. He wanted those students to understand the societal problems that were dragging them down. However, his theory seems to fit well in any classroom that desires its students to become agents of social change. To bring about long-term change in our world, we must find that critical why and encourage others to do the same.

 

 

A Safe Bet

I am always thankful for the teachers and the educational opportunities that I have had. I normally only think about how lucky I was to get an education and attend the schools that I have. Until recently I have failed to be thankful for the assumptions that my teachers have had about me.

I am a middle class, white female. I am from a family of four, my parents have been blissfully wed for the last 23 years and we live in a safe neighborhood. Most teachers would go in assuming that I would be a good student based on these facts. It does seem like a safe bet.

In our class discussion, we talked about the impact that a teacher’s perception of a student can have. If a teacher has a mindset that their class is going to be troublesome, that assumption can affect their teaching and their students’ achievements. We get so caught up in labeling students and schools as good or bad. We label them and often students live up to that label. Other’s interpretations of them and the school they are attending can have an oppressive effect. It makes it seem that there are limited expectations for them. If we can move past our desires to place students and schools into distinct categories, we can begin breaking down barriers that keep some students up and others down.

I want to focus in on that sense of achieving. I felt that my teachers fostered my sense of achievement, but I also received that positive reinforcement at home. Not all students are in my circumstances where they are being told that they are capable both inside and outside of school. 

Today at Colegio Roosevelt I got the opportunity to observe a 5^th grade class and to see a classroom that really fostered its students’ abilities. The teacher made a comment to about how he handled students’ misbehaviors. He said that when a student was doing something wrong, he wouldn’t scold. He would instead question them about the correct thing they should be doing. He wasn’t telling them that they were bad, but he would allow them to check their own behavior.

However, he was teaching a group of students that come from affluent backgrounds. I also would assume that these kids come from caring families because their parents sent them to such a good school. I wonder if these circumstances affect the way he views and manages his class. I also wonder if he would maintain his tactics in a class made up of students from less fortunate backgrounds.

Small indirect messages will add up and influence students’ perception of themselves. Teachers can play a major role in a student’s understanding of their capabilities and worth. It is key that as teachers we realize this role and do everything in our power to treat all our students as intelligent and capable beings.

I realize this is lofty goal. I also realize that teachers do enter situations where it is difficult not to make negative assumptions about their students. However, we must figure out how we can communicate to students their worth, despite any misgivings we may have about them.

Clash of the Old & New

 

The cafeteria at Colegio Roosevelt. Referred to as the commons.

 

Maxine Greene presents the idea that students should be learning from points of dissonance in Diversity and Inclusion: Toward a Curriculum for Human Beings. They should reach a point that pushes them past their previous held and widely accepted understandings. She claims that when students experience the clash of the way things are with the way things should be, they hit a near breaking point. They enter a mindset that challenges their previous understandings of the world. Students and people in general struggle at this point. The way we see the world is being challenged and that makes us uncomfortable. I further took her writings to mean that when people reach this point of dissonance learning can occur, if they can just push through the difficulties of the initial clash of the new and the old.

However, not all students or people push pass past this point of dissonance. Some refuse to attempt further understanding and recede back to their previous or the accepted understandings of the world. People fall back into what they know to be true because it is difficult to live in our world without a secure understanding of it.

This is where we get to education. If people are presented with this dissonance and the clash of ideas early on, they will be more inclined to do it throughout their academic career and life. Greene refers to it as, “learn to learn,” (Greene, 220). If we can provide students with an understanding of the process of hitting the point of dissonance, but also pushing through the point of dissonance, they can take that self-awareness skill with them as they encounter the numerous realities of our world.

This brings me to Colegio Roosevelt or FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt School). This international school in Lima, Peru was created to cater to parents and students who move here from the United States. However, this K-12 school has students from all over the world. I have met students from the US, Chile, Argentina, Sweden, Peru, Mexico, and Asia. The classroom language is English, but most of the students are bilingual and their social conversations are in Spanish (or Spanglish which is fascinating to listen to).

The 8^th grade class that I am observing is in the middle of social justice unit. It incorporates their English and Humanities classes as they choose an issue, write a letter to someone that could make change, create a 21^st century tool to spread word about their issue, and plan a peaceful protest for it. I thought that this unit exemplified Greene’s “learn to learn” thought well. It puts students in place where they can’t ignore the problems they are seeing. Students are looking at issues that they may not come across or that may create dissonance with their previous understandings. It isn’t guaranteed that students are arriving at this point, but it is pushing them close to it. In addition students are creating this point of dissonance for those they are seeking change from. They are working to change other’s understandings of the world as they expand their own.

I have also been hitting those points of dissonance during my trip abroad. Even before I left I hit it, as my numerous anxieties and worries about traveling to Peru pestered my mind. At times I regretted my decision and wanted to stay in the safe confines of Milwaukee. I wanted to just stay home and not worry about all the problems that could arise when traveling to a foreign country. However, I pushed through because I knew I’d learn a lot and I don’t think I could get a refund for my plane ticket. So here I am, and I have hit that point of dissonance. I continue to hit that point of dissonance, but I also continue to learn. I feel my head spinning sometimes from all the new understandings that I am gaining. However, it is an amazing feeling and I know when I return my understandings will carry over and I will move forward with a broadened view of this world.

 

Shhh…Listen

Salutations,

Since this is also an education blog, let’s do a short thought exercise! I am going to say a word and you create an image or scene in your mind of it. Okay, first word,

 

 

Learning

 

 

Got your image?

Second word,

 

 

Teaching

 

 

Now no need to call or text me your responses, but I want you to hold onto your images and scenes as I walk you through my growing understanding of the two terms.

Understanding teaching and learning can get a bit thorny for me. In my opinion the definition or expectation of what these should be, does not always match what is practiced. This disconnect can be understood in John Dewey’s book, The School and Society. His philosophy and personal understanding of what teaching and learning should be, did not match many of the actual practices of the time. Dewey relates this disconnect through his attempt to buy an, “artistic, hygienic, and educational,” desk for his students. Unfortunately, he was only able to find ones that allowed, “’listening,’” (Dewey, 32).

Is there listening going on in either of your mental images? Who is doing the listening?

Listening can be a tool or portion of learning, but it doesn’t have to define a student’s whole experience. For instance today in my placement classroom at Colegio Roosevelt in La Molina (another district of Lima), the 8^th grade class I was observing watched the entire Kony 2012 video. This was thirty minutes straight of listening. But the students weren’t just listening, they were understanding and analyzing the information that was being presented. This often happens naturally for us as people. We take in information and mentally work through it as best we can. Then we often vocalize it to those around us. Many times this process is unnoticeable and insignificant to us, but it is a crucial process in learning and teaching.

In classrooms teachers aid this process. After the Kony video at Colegio Roosevelt, my observation teacher prompted them with questions before the video and then directed them in a dialogue after. If a student is just listening, I don’t believe much can come of it. However, when a student is challenged with not just listening to information, but mentally working with it and through it, understanding and learning can occur.

Listening shouldn’t just be required of the student, but of the teacher as well. I also would make the argument that listening is a vital tool in teaching that at times can get lost. Sometimes some of a student’s best learning and understanding occurs when the teacher stops talking. When guiding a student to vocally work through a concept, teaching is happening. Giving students this opportunity permits them to bring in their own prior understandings and knowledge. This then leads to students listening to other students. This listening allows for multiple perspectives on a concept.

Listening is a tactic that is often overused by students and underused by teachers. Dewey had a point that students should not just be listening in a classroom. I agree, but also believe it is necessary and useful when practiced by both teachers and students.

Now let’s bring it back to our mental images. Where did your scene or image coincide with my thoughts? Where did you encounter dissonance between the two?

Thanks again for reading!

Warm Regards,

Amy

First Impressions

Hello all!

I am currently in Peru. I am stating this both for your benefit and my own. I have occasionally had to remind myself of this since I landed in Callao late Thursday night. The experience is so surreal and new that I forget at times.

After we arrived we were loaded onto a tourist airport bus (for just our group) and made our way through Lima. The drive was unlike any other I had ever been on. There were so many people and cars just making their way through. Everyone seemed very confident about and determined to get to their destination. It was a pace that is unlike the midwestern roads I am accustomed to. Also I was immensely impressed by the way our bus driver could navigate to our homestay.

Our homestay family lives in the district of Jesus Marie. When we entered the house Mariluz, our homestay mom, greeted with hugs and kisses on our cheeks. José, our homestay brother, welcomed us in English. They were and continue to be incredibly kind.

The last two days have been a whirlwind, so when we sat down for our class discussion this afternoon there was a lot to digest (knowledge wise and food wise because we had just eaten lunch). We touched on the topic of solidarity. From what I have gleaned, Peru has had a history of decentralization. Lima on the coast represents about one third of country’s population. It also seems that much of the resources and opportunities are centered here. The highlands in the Andes and the jungle in the Amazon are very much in need of these opportunities and resources. In addition to the geographical barriers within Peru, there is a language barrier. In Lima, Spanish (also referred to as Casteano here) is the dominate language. However, further inland one can find the prominent indigenous languages, Quechua and Aymara being two of the major ones. Despite these other languages, Spanish seems to be the language of power and opportunity.

So this brings Peru and myself to the importance of solidarity. The exact term for what I was encountering didn’t occur to me until our class’ discussion today. As a small group, we talked about what we had experienced while meeting with some educational organizations here (Martin Luther King Socio Deportivo School, Servicios Educativos El Augustino (SEA), and Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya). We then began discussing prominent values we were seeing in Peru through these organizations. This brought us to fraternity or solidarity. We spoke the historical context of it and hinted at the modern day application of it. I gathered that there seems to be a desire brewing for solidarity. This is true and extremely evident in the organizations we met with these last few days. They are working toward and believe in the idea that if positive change is going to happen there needs to be a collective effort.

This is a tall order. Making up for the socioeconomic variances within Lima alone (a city of about 9 Million) is daunting and the notion of bringing this equality and togetherness throughout all of Peru almost seems impossible. However, the organizations that we met with are making an effort and progress towards this goal.

I initially encountered solidarity yesterday at Universidad Antonio Ruiz De Montoya. This is Jesuit University in Lima that is hosting us. They held a panel for us made up of some faculty, staff, and students. One student on the panel mentioned that through solidarity, faith, service, and love change is always possible. Another student brought up how language, geography, and social barriers are what most be overcome for Peru to move forward.

Today we went to the district of Augustino in Lima. This area was near the foothills of the surrounding mountains near Lima. Here there is a Martin Luther King Socio Deportivo School and where I was again able to encounter solidarity. We played a soccer game with local children from the area who were a part of the MLK Socio Deportivo School. However, before the game began we established rules and how the game would be scored. The kids game up with rules that revolved around respect. The teams were then scored based on how many goals they scored, how well they respected one another, and how they resolved conflicts during the game. It was amazing to see how soccer could teach lessons of respect and collective effort.

Finally, during our bus ride through Lima on our way to Antonio Ruiz, I came across the sign pictured below. It caught my attention initially because I really like the Peru logo they had on it, but also because of the message it features. “Pais sin corrupuciόn ¡Con Ayuda de Todos!” which translate to, “Country without corruption With Everyone’s Help!” The idea of coming together for a common goal as a street advertisement was something I’d never seen before. It seems that this is a vision for Peru that many people realize is necessary. Solidarity can work to solve Peru’s decentralization problem, but bringing that vision to fulfillment will take the efforts of people throughout the country.

As I conclude today’s blog, I look forward to seeing more of the city and gaining a better understanding of its history.

Thanks for reading!

Best,

Amy

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