Classroom Transformer: Global Education and Shia Lebouf. An Essay by Ruby Veridiano-Ching
(fair warning. this post only has .02% to do about Shia Lebouf. but he surely is my current crush, sighhhhh)
I was lucky enough to have my bestie around for a few days last week, and as she writes her personal statement for grad school, she’s been using me as a soundboard for her study of choice: Comparative International Education. The topic of education comes in a timely manner for me- I am currently getting ready to head back into the classroom to work with youth in both the high school and University levels, so I was pretty darned thrilled to engage myself in riveting intellectual explorations (or, as I prefer to spell it, explorasians)*.
Needless to say, I’m quite proud of the rather scintillating conversasians Tezeta and I came up with, as we make such a large topic even more interesting by pairing it with an equally scintillating meal of grits and catfish, AND a graceful weaving of interesting tidbits concerning over the knee boots, Gatorade drinking boys, and my new personal topic of choice: Shia Lebouf. (Yes, I realize, this is neither here nor there.)
Now, while the concept of “International Education’ may seemingly be too broad or vast at first sight, consider this: in U.S. classrooms, there already is a growing global population housed in one room. Ethnic diversity is the norm in many major cities (at least from my own observations inside Bay Area, NYC, and Chicago schools), so already, a level of international education is prevalent. I find this interesting because when we think about educational policy or curriculum, it doesn’t often address the new multicultural framework that we currently have our hands in.
(Classroom Ruby in action!)
Beyond the issue of language barriers and ESL students, there is another cultural context at play: the establishment of a more thorough rather than surface level cultural awareness. Modern America is a multicultural paradigm. How are we being responsible in adjusting to this shift in order to better serve a multiethnic and multiracial population? How are we practicing inclusive education? How do we establish more effective and more trusting classroom communities by encouraging and opening the windows for cultural sensitivity, empathy, and mutual understanding? How do we deliberately address diversity without boring the life out of a sixteen year old football player with the attention span of an eye-blink?
There isn’t a right or wrong answer. What I can do is offer you what most of my fellow youth mentors already know: open the door and let them through, and let them walk in however they like. In other words, give them student-centered dialogue. Let the learning process be mutual- the teacher as the student and the student as the teacher. Give them power ,responsibility, and accountability. Give them a chance to uncensor themselves with honest conversation (while establishing a safe space first and foremost), and watch what happens. Students will show you they care. And if they don’t, they’ll tell you why. At the very least, they’ll be honest to tell you that they think my mom probably can’t drive, and that the police hates them. Often. Then I’ll be quick to ask them why they think this is the case, and quite magically, a conversation on race-politics and stereotypes appears effortlessly without the students thinking it’s a task.
And luckily in my case, they’ll voluntarily want to write poetry about it. Voluntarily sometimes…wow, what a bonus!
If more and more classrooms consciously and deliberately infuse their curriculum with 1) student centered pedagogy 2) cultural awareness and 3) a study of an incredible variety of art and music, I do believe we’ll help shape socially responsible global citizens from our local schools. More impressively, (and yes this may be ambitious), perhaps we can create more conversations that simultaneously reference Shakespeare and Pac in one breath- the ultimate “booyow!” factor, in my opinion at least. I am however, very aware that much, much more is needed from teachers and their students as well, but this is just an offering as a first step in the journey to reforming education and reshaping our classroom settings.
And well… if all else fails, you can always bring up Shia Lebouf instead. That’ll get ‘em.
Now that’ll sure transform* your education. Teehee.
*I’m just reppin for my people, don’t hate
*Transformers? Get it? Get it? .
