[Metaphors]
Metaphor describing the school system:
Two people carrying a wheel down a hill
Metaphor for the ever-changing initiatives and programs:
Customer to shop owner in an antique store: “What’s new?”
Metaphor describing teachers:
Prometheus stealing fire from the gods
Metaphor for learning:
The snake tempting Eve with forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden
Metaphor for consequences of a cultural Melting Pot:
Shakespeare's The Tempest tells the tale of Prospero, the once powerful but exiled Duke of Milan, forced to flee and take up residence on a remote island. Caliban, the island native, half-man half-monster who initially welcomed Prospero, has since become Prospero's slave. Caliban has grown violently resentful, believing that the island rightfully belongs to him and that Prospero stole it.
Shakespeare has devised a timeless cultural metaphor. It is also specifically a metaphor describing the torment of cultural duality and liminality often experienced by hyphenated Americans – that is to say, the experience of living simultaneously in two worlds, and not fully living in either.
Metaphor describing the school system:
An ornery old mule digging in his heels and refusing to move
[Spies: Learning Teams]
The ideas in Paul Spies' Learning Teams article seem to me to be an obvious way to increase engagement and learning – and yes, narrow the Achievement Gap. The wide-spread use of learning teams and other methods of interdisciplinary learning is clearly necessary. The question is – why are schools still using the farm and factory model of schooling from the 1930s?
I recall a Spanish language teacher that I got along with very well, and the time we decided to do a coordinated lesson unit. Scheduling was trickier than we realized. There was no support whatsoever. It was so difficult, it became almost like we were doing something to make our jobs harder! And, this was only a very low-key, modest little mixing of classrooms we were trying – and it was only with one period! This particular situation was not typical, but the time and effort involved does point out some of the key problems teachers encounter when going off-road. Teachers are not administrators, and ultimately, if there is to be innovation, there must be prepared paths for the implementation of creative ideas.
Metaphor describing the school system:
A famous riddle tells of a father and son who have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon says 'I cannot do the surgery because this is my son'. The riddle asks how this is this possible. Answer: the surgeon is a female. She is the boy's mother.
[Zeichner & Liston: Reflective Teaching]
Why is it important to situate reflections in a broader social and systemic context?
Metaphor describing the school system:
Driving forward while looking in the rear-view mirror
[Baldwin: A Talk to Teachers]
How are the realities of 1963 – today’s realities?
The social and cultural pathologies Baldwin describes are deep-seated, long-term issues that don’t change in 50 years. Those realities are the same. However, in terms of the broad social concerns of the Civil Rights era, there is evidence of remarkable movement forward. Technology has changed everything, and in that arena, 1963 may as well be 1863. Thinking specifically about the resistance educators face when attempting to make corrections to the system, things have arguably changed for the worse. The era of “accountability,” initially intended to help provide equity and close the Achievement Gap, became a hindrance as it quickly transformed into the era of standardized testing – just as the “War on Drugs” turned into the policy of Mass Incarceration.
Metaphor describing the school system: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
Said the Hatter with a sigh: `it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'
`Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
`Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.'
`But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask.
`Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted.
[Gregory, et.al.: Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap]
“The Normalization of Failure”
I have experienced the normalization of failure as it plays out in families and communities. In my experience at North Senior Academy, nearly half of the seniors were not on track to graduate. That was the norm. We were at the end of the line. There was no more figuring things would all just work out somehow down the road. Students would be directly told they would not graduate without making up credits, but many simply shrugged it off. Parents and guardians were directly told that their student would have to transfer to programs designed to allow students to make up credits, but many would not act, citing various reasons. I recall one mom saying all of her sons had graduated from North High and she was determined that her last son stay there. While I respect that sentiment, it did not address the student’s lack of necessary credits toward graduation. The student’s diploma would still have been from North Senior Academy. That senior did not graduate that year.
“The Discipline Gap”
Critical pedagogy practitioners would argue that, instead of increasing student learning, a punitive environment focused on obedience and disciplinary rules is likely to undermine growth.
In relation to The New Jim Crow, it is key that this article speaks of society addressing “school discipline in much the same way that our society addresses crime. In both cases, the approach is guided by the same ideological assumptions: (1) the problem of misbehavior/crime can be addressed by identifying and removing the offenders; and (2) the cause of misbehavior/crime exists within the individual offenders.”
[Spring: The Purposes of Public Schooling]
Metaphor describing my ideal school system:
In the center of the city grows a tree mighty high – rooted deep in the earth and reaching toward the sky
The purpose of urban schooling: Nurture and support the academic, social and personal development of all urban youth
[Advancement Project: School to Prison Pipeline]
How is the school to prison pipeline manifested?
The system’s focus on the Achievement Gap itself informs and reinforces stereotypes, prejudices and deficit thinking. Re-framing and re-naming the student Achievement Gap, Gloria Ladson-Billings asserted that "historical, economic, sociopolitical and moral” components have accumulated over time and comprise what should properly be called America’s Education Debt.
On the first day of class, when the White teacher knows nothing about the students sitting in front of her, she does know that Black students, as a group, score significantly lower on State tests. In lieu of information about individuals, the teacher has data and information that shows it is mostly Black students who end up in the behavior dean’s office. Consciously or otherwise, does she decide that the Black students are the ones who would potentially prevent her from getting high scores on teacher observations and evaluations?
Metaphor describing the school system:
Two people carrying a wheel down a hill
Metaphor for the ever-changing initiatives and programs:
Customer to shop owner in an antique store: “What’s new?”
Metaphor describing teachers:
Prometheus stealing fire from the gods
Metaphor for learning:
The snake tempting Eve with forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden
Metaphor for consequences of a cultural Melting Pot:
Shakespeare's The Tempest tells the tale of Prospero, the once powerful but exiled Duke of Milan, forced to flee and take up residence on a remote island. Caliban, the island native, half-man half-monster who initially welcomed Prospero, has since become Prospero's slave. Caliban has grown violently resentful, believing that the island rightfully belongs to him and that Prospero stole it.
Prospero:Prospero expects gratitude, not resentment, for his attempts to ‘civilize’ Caliban – and for giving Caliban the gift of language. Language, for Prospero, is a means to knowing oneself. But for Caliban, self-knowledge presents the torment between who he is and who he was before Prospero changed him.
Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes
With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in ’t which good natures
Could not abide to be with.
Caliban:
You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!
Shakespeare has devised a timeless cultural metaphor. It is also specifically a metaphor describing the torment of cultural duality and liminality often experienced by hyphenated Americans – that is to say, the experience of living simultaneously in two worlds, and not fully living in either.
Metaphor describing the school system:
An ornery old mule digging in his heels and refusing to move
[Spies: Learning Teams]
The ideas in Paul Spies' Learning Teams article seem to me to be an obvious way to increase engagement and learning – and yes, narrow the Achievement Gap. The wide-spread use of learning teams and other methods of interdisciplinary learning is clearly necessary. The question is – why are schools still using the farm and factory model of schooling from the 1930s?
I recall a Spanish language teacher that I got along with very well, and the time we decided to do a coordinated lesson unit. Scheduling was trickier than we realized. There was no support whatsoever. It was so difficult, it became almost like we were doing something to make our jobs harder! And, this was only a very low-key, modest little mixing of classrooms we were trying – and it was only with one period! This particular situation was not typical, but the time and effort involved does point out some of the key problems teachers encounter when going off-road. Teachers are not administrators, and ultimately, if there is to be innovation, there must be prepared paths for the implementation of creative ideas.
Metaphor describing the school system:
A famous riddle tells of a father and son who have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon says 'I cannot do the surgery because this is my son'. The riddle asks how this is this possible. Answer: the surgeon is a female. She is the boy's mother.
[Zeichner & Liston: Reflective Teaching]
Why is it important to situate reflections in a broader social and systemic context?
- This type of reflection is at the heart of critical pedagogy – consideration of root causes, social implications, ideologies, cultures and power structures.
- Socially contextualized reflections afford the inclusion of multiple perspectives. If reflections are to be useful dialectical, answer-driven exercises, then it is necessary to include the broader social and systemic issues that may be at play in work with students and families.
- Increased awareness and understanding of the various ways in which social, political, and cultural dynamics may affect student learning and outcomes will increase a teacher’s ability to build positive, productive relationships with learners.
- This level of reflection develops the cultural competence needed to communicate with people across cultures.
- Well-meaning teachers, both White and Black, may mistakenly believe they are being impartial and color-blind. Socially contextualized reflection forces teachers to acknowledge the possible impact of culture and community on their classroom.
Metaphor describing the school system:
Driving forward while looking in the rear-view mirror
[Baldwin: A Talk to Teachers]
How are the realities of 1963 – today’s realities?
The social and cultural pathologies Baldwin describes are deep-seated, long-term issues that don’t change in 50 years. Those realities are the same. However, in terms of the broad social concerns of the Civil Rights era, there is evidence of remarkable movement forward. Technology has changed everything, and in that arena, 1963 may as well be 1863. Thinking specifically about the resistance educators face when attempting to make corrections to the system, things have arguably changed for the worse. The era of “accountability,” initially intended to help provide equity and close the Achievement Gap, became a hindrance as it quickly transformed into the era of standardized testing – just as the “War on Drugs” turned into the policy of Mass Incarceration.
Metaphor describing the school system: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
Said the Hatter with a sigh: `it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'
`Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
`Exactly so,' said the Hatter: `as the things get used up.'
`But what happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask.
`Suppose we change the subject,' the March Hare interrupted.
[Gregory, et.al.: Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap]
“The Normalization of Failure”
I have experienced the normalization of failure as it plays out in families and communities. In my experience at North Senior Academy, nearly half of the seniors were not on track to graduate. That was the norm. We were at the end of the line. There was no more figuring things would all just work out somehow down the road. Students would be directly told they would not graduate without making up credits, but many simply shrugged it off. Parents and guardians were directly told that their student would have to transfer to programs designed to allow students to make up credits, but many would not act, citing various reasons. I recall one mom saying all of her sons had graduated from North High and she was determined that her last son stay there. While I respect that sentiment, it did not address the student’s lack of necessary credits toward graduation. The student’s diploma would still have been from North Senior Academy. That senior did not graduate that year.
“The Discipline Gap”
Critical pedagogy practitioners would argue that, instead of increasing student learning, a punitive environment focused on obedience and disciplinary rules is likely to undermine growth.
In relation to The New Jim Crow, it is key that this article speaks of society addressing “school discipline in much the same way that our society addresses crime. In both cases, the approach is guided by the same ideological assumptions: (1) the problem of misbehavior/crime can be addressed by identifying and removing the offenders; and (2) the cause of misbehavior/crime exists within the individual offenders.”
[Spring: The Purposes of Public Schooling]
Metaphor describing my ideal school system:
In the center of the city grows a tree mighty high – rooted deep in the earth and reaching toward the sky
The purpose of urban schooling: Nurture and support the academic, social and personal development of all urban youth
[Advancement Project: School to Prison Pipeline]
How is the school to prison pipeline manifested?
The system’s focus on the Achievement Gap itself informs and reinforces stereotypes, prejudices and deficit thinking. Re-framing and re-naming the student Achievement Gap, Gloria Ladson-Billings asserted that "historical, economic, sociopolitical and moral” components have accumulated over time and comprise what should properly be called America’s Education Debt.
On the first day of class, when the White teacher knows nothing about the students sitting in front of her, she does know that Black students, as a group, score significantly lower on State tests. In lieu of information about individuals, the teacher has data and information that shows it is mostly Black students who end up in the behavior dean’s office. Consciously or otherwise, does she decide that the Black students are the ones who would potentially prevent her from getting high scores on teacher observations and evaluations?
Pop Culture Quiz!
Which one of these students will do better in your class?
Why?
Which student will like your class the most?
Why?
Which pair of students needs more teacher guidance?
Why?
Which student will like your class the most?
Why?
Which pair of students needs more teacher guidance?
