1. How did today differ from how I expected it to be?
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. I didn't have that many expectations for today other than we would probably be outside some, so it wasn't very different from my expectations. I expected to get to know my school team members better because we spent the whole day with them and did some awesome low-ropes course activities. Totally met and exceeded my expectations on that point because we got very squishy both emotionally and physically in the activities that we did, so I feel like I know everyone on a lot of different levels now. And I like what I know. :)
2. High points....Going in chronological order (note: I just had to look up "chronological order" because "temporal order" was sticking in my head and I thought that sounded super pretentious. You're welcome, plebes). Low ropes activities! We did some really fun and challenging activities and I love the unique dynamic that the games bring out in groups. Suddenly, no one cares who touches them. I mean seriously I was pressed up face to face with people I did not know 24 hours prior, and it wasn't weird at all! Well, maybe it was weird, but only for a split second and then my brain said, "Pshh, this closeness is necessary to achieve this arbitrary goal in this made-up game and it is VITAL that we succeed!!" and there's no arguing with that logic. It was really fun.
Lunch was great because one of my favorite Travelers, Andrew (who stipulated that I had to refer to him as Twerk Team Captain if I included him in this post), came to eat with us! It was awesome because the few of us talked a lot about our education (something everyone knows I hate talking about) and what we want to do after City Year. For some reason, I always talk a lot and at a rather high decibel when Twerk Team Captain and I have a conversation. Totally out of character! ;) I want to catch up with some of my other Travelers tomorrow!
After lunch we had a SUPER meaningful session on social justice and the system of oppression. It was definitely a high point, but I'll talk more about that in the "growth" section of tonight's post. Don't change that channel!
3. Low point is definitely an opportunity for story time. Shelby, Marcie, and I have been carpooling with a corps member who lives really close to us, and today was my turn to drive. So we were doing fine, on our way to our school for the day, when we starting hearing a noise. It was not super loud, but off-putting just the same. We were 2 miles from school and exiting the highway when the sound got pretty loud. Kelsey said that it looked like pieces of tires were breaking off of my wheel, so that's when I knew it was a pretty big problem. So we got off at our exit and I considered trying to make it to school. We were SO CLOSE! Like 1/4 of a mile. But I could tell I was basically riding on my rim, and that's no good, so I pulled off into a side street. I have replaced my own tire before, so I wasn't too worried about doing it again, but I was worried my passengers would be late, so they called someone who was also driving in, so he picked them up so that we ALL wouldn't be late. Meanwhile, my jack malfunctioned ---actually, it was completely user error because I forgot to put the E-Brake on. So I jacked April (my car) up, tried to remove the tire, and the jack shifted and I was back at square one. So I repeated those steps a couple more times and while I was doing that, a nice man came out of his house and asked if I needed help. I said that I couldn't get my jack to hold, and he said that he had a hydraulic one in his garage so he'd go get it. While he was on his super-helpful mission, I noticed that I was in fact just a doofus, and put my E-Brake on and jacked April up again, this time with success. Awesome-Neighborhood-Guy came back and congratulated me on removing the tire by myself and rewarded me by putting the donut on like a champion. When we got that all squared away, on of the Impact Directors from City Year had arrived because one of my passengers told them what happened, but me and Awesome-Neighborhood-Guy had totally knocked out the tire change and so we just headed down to the school. I was about 20 minutes late to the first session, so I had to walk into the gym while a speaker was talking and join my school team. Guess where they were! At the opposite end of the gym. So I had to live a junior high nightmare and walk in front of the entire corps while they were quietly listening and join my team. Thus ended my traumatic but-not-really-traumatic-just-kind-of-a-bummer morning. Now I just gotta get a new tire. Therein lies the real trauma: wallet trauma.
4. So, back to the social justice session. It was an awesome session just because it was SO uncomfortable for some people to talk about different biases and lenses that they've always had or have been exposed to without everyone getting really riled up. Like so difficult that I've only experienced a handful of environments that can handle discussing issues that are so emotional and personal for people to talk about. This was one of those environments. It was so nice to be able to bring up issues and not fear that people would behave as if they had a personal stake in what you were saying or that their opinion of you was directly tied to the words that came out of your mouth. That's not to say that opinions weren't affected, but it felt like such a safe space, and the facilitator made sure that we knew that we were not to jump to conclusions based on what someone said. The part that stuck out the most to me was one of the assumptions that City Year makes in order to discuss these difficult topics. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was something to the effect that Guilt Disables. That a feeling of guilt does nothing to encourage any change and does not allow for growth in social justice. Acting a certain way out of guilt does not improve the situation, but perpetuates whatever unequal structure was there in the first place. Those words affected me because often I only think of myself in terms of my privileges and at times feel guilty for what has happened historically to people who look and act differently than I do. It was empowering to know that we need to move forward past the situation(s) that caused/are causing an iniquity to happen. It's more about what can we do to improve it NOW?
Also, we talked about one of the causes of oppression is the learning of biased or incomplete histories. I wish every Social Studies Education major had to have a course in the culture of oppression, because there is SO MUCH we can do as teachers to help children to grow up with open minds. Like teaching histories of people who weren't White Europeans. Sound like a no-brainer? Think of all the events/wars/cultures that dominated your social studies curriculum. What about Latin America (other than when it was being colonized)? Africa (other than when it was being colonized)? What about women? SO EASY to think that since time and resources are limited, that you just cram in what you can and call it done. I have and will do that in my career, but I know it is SO IMPORTANT to at least acknowledge that the history you've taught does not encompass ALL history. In fact, we never could.
5. Tomorrow I am excited to learn some basics of tutoring and planning programs with the new lens that I'm wearing as a middle school tutor! Let's get specific!
2. What are the high points of the day?
3. What are the low points of the day?
4. What is one experience that caused me to grow today?
5. What am I excited about for tomorrow?
1. I didn't have that many expectations for today other than we would probably be outside some, so it wasn't very different from my expectations. I expected to get to know my school team members better because we spent the whole day with them and did some awesome low-ropes course activities. Totally met and exceeded my expectations on that point because we got very squishy both emotionally and physically in the activities that we did, so I feel like I know everyone on a lot of different levels now. And I like what I know. :)
2. High points....Going in chronological order (note: I just had to look up "chronological order" because "temporal order" was sticking in my head and I thought that sounded super pretentious. You're welcome, plebes). Low ropes activities! We did some really fun and challenging activities and I love the unique dynamic that the games bring out in groups. Suddenly, no one cares who touches them. I mean seriously I was pressed up face to face with people I did not know 24 hours prior, and it wasn't weird at all! Well, maybe it was weird, but only for a split second and then my brain said, "Pshh, this closeness is necessary to achieve this arbitrary goal in this made-up game and it is VITAL that we succeed!!" and there's no arguing with that logic. It was really fun.
Lunch was great because one of my favorite Travelers, Andrew (who stipulated that I had to refer to him as Twerk Team Captain if I included him in this post), came to eat with us! It was awesome because the few of us talked a lot about our education (something everyone knows I hate talking about) and what we want to do after City Year. For some reason, I always talk a lot and at a rather high decibel when Twerk Team Captain and I have a conversation. Totally out of character! ;) I want to catch up with some of my other Travelers tomorrow!
After lunch we had a SUPER meaningful session on social justice and the system of oppression. It was definitely a high point, but I'll talk more about that in the "growth" section of tonight's post. Don't change that channel!
3. Low point is definitely an opportunity for story time. Shelby, Marcie, and I have been carpooling with a corps member who lives really close to us, and today was my turn to drive. So we were doing fine, on our way to our school for the day, when we starting hearing a noise. It was not super loud, but off-putting just the same. We were 2 miles from school and exiting the highway when the sound got pretty loud. Kelsey said that it looked like pieces of tires were breaking off of my wheel, so that's when I knew it was a pretty big problem. So we got off at our exit and I considered trying to make it to school. We were SO CLOSE! Like 1/4 of a mile. But I could tell I was basically riding on my rim, and that's no good, so I pulled off into a side street. I have replaced my own tire before, so I wasn't too worried about doing it again, but I was worried my passengers would be late, so they called someone who was also driving in, so he picked them up so that we ALL wouldn't be late. Meanwhile, my jack malfunctioned ---actually, it was completely user error because I forgot to put the E-Brake on. So I jacked April (my car) up, tried to remove the tire, and the jack shifted and I was back at square one. So I repeated those steps a couple more times and while I was doing that, a nice man came out of his house and asked if I needed help. I said that I couldn't get my jack to hold, and he said that he had a hydraulic one in his garage so he'd go get it. While he was on his super-helpful mission, I noticed that I was in fact just a doofus, and put my E-Brake on and jacked April up again, this time with success. Awesome-Neighborhood-Guy came back and congratulated me on removing the tire by myself and rewarded me by putting the donut on like a champion. When we got that all squared away, on of the Impact Directors from City Year had arrived because one of my passengers told them what happened, but me and Awesome-Neighborhood-Guy had totally knocked out the tire change and so we just headed down to the school. I was about 20 minutes late to the first session, so I had to walk into the gym while a speaker was talking and join my school team. Guess where they were! At the opposite end of the gym. So I had to live a junior high nightmare and walk in front of the entire corps while they were quietly listening and join my team. Thus ended my traumatic but-not-really-traumatic-just-kind-of-a-bummer morning. Now I just gotta get a new tire. Therein lies the real trauma: wallet trauma.
4. So, back to the social justice session. It was an awesome session just because it was SO uncomfortable for some people to talk about different biases and lenses that they've always had or have been exposed to without everyone getting really riled up. Like so difficult that I've only experienced a handful of environments that can handle discussing issues that are so emotional and personal for people to talk about. This was one of those environments. It was so nice to be able to bring up issues and not fear that people would behave as if they had a personal stake in what you were saying or that their opinion of you was directly tied to the words that came out of your mouth. That's not to say that opinions weren't affected, but it felt like such a safe space, and the facilitator made sure that we knew that we were not to jump to conclusions based on what someone said. The part that stuck out the most to me was one of the assumptions that City Year makes in order to discuss these difficult topics. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was something to the effect that Guilt Disables. That a feeling of guilt does nothing to encourage any change and does not allow for growth in social justice. Acting a certain way out of guilt does not improve the situation, but perpetuates whatever unequal structure was there in the first place. Those words affected me because often I only think of myself in terms of my privileges and at times feel guilty for what has happened historically to people who look and act differently than I do. It was empowering to know that we need to move forward past the situation(s) that caused/are causing an iniquity to happen. It's more about what can we do to improve it NOW?
Also, we talked about one of the causes of oppression is the learning of biased or incomplete histories. I wish every Social Studies Education major had to have a course in the culture of oppression, because there is SO MUCH we can do as teachers to help children to grow up with open minds. Like teaching histories of people who weren't White Europeans. Sound like a no-brainer? Think of all the events/wars/cultures that dominated your social studies curriculum. What about Latin America (other than when it was being colonized)? Africa (other than when it was being colonized)? What about women? SO EASY to think that since time and resources are limited, that you just cram in what you can and call it done. I have and will do that in my career, but I know it is SO IMPORTANT to at least acknowledge that the history you've taught does not encompass ALL history. In fact, we never could.
5. Tomorrow I am excited to learn some basics of tutoring and planning programs with the new lens that I'm wearing as a middle school tutor! Let's get specific!
Good job on the tire change!
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