Thread by @triciaebarvia

Yesterday during an in-service meeting, I love that we were asked to reflect on the following questions:

1) Why do you teach?
2) How do you teach?
3) What do you teach?
4) Goal for this year

My responses:

Why do I teach?

Short answer: My parents. All my life, I had a deep respect for education and it’s importance (note: not grades, but education). My parents taught me that education is power.

And I still believe that education is our most powerful tool for social change.

How do I teach?

With authenticity: I try to be as authentic as possible and I invite Ss to bring their full selves into the room as well. Every lesson, I plan through the lens of authenticity: Is this something relevant to Ss? Is this what reading/writing look like in the world?

What do I teach?

I teach kids stories. I teach them how to write their stories, to own their stories, to read the stories of others, to find gaps in stories, to consider the many stories that make us who we are. I teach about the power of stories to tear down and to build.

Goal for this year:

1) To be a better listener.

2) To be more intentional about providing experiences in my classroom, every day, for Ss to build their capacities for empathy and understanding: What can we do every 43 minutes to become just a little more compassionate?

Thinking about my goals... Empathy doesn’t just happen. Empathy needs knowledge. How can we expect Ss to empathize with others — and the many types of others in the world — if they don’t know about those experiences? We need to *know first* before we can empathize.

So part of my work this year will be to make sure that I bring the stories that have too often been untold, too often been left in the margins—and bring those stories to the center.

Since I’m teaching #AmericanLit this year, part of this work includes centering Native & Indigenous lit. It also means applying a #DisruptTexts lens to The Crucible to consider issues of power & fear, connecting Japanese American literature about the mass 1940s internment.

How was language used to “other” various groups throughout history? And how have communities of color responded with resistance and resilience? And we’ll look at what all this has to do with today and issues regarding immigration, rising xenophobia, and hate speech.

Students can’t have empathy until they have knowledge. And in schools, knowledge is transmitted through the content we choose. Whose stories can we bring to the center? If we’re serious about equity, it’s not just about including stories but centering them. #DisruptTexts