I recently finished a book by Rebecca Powell (Literacy as a Moral Imperative) and five out of six chapters talks about the oppressive nature of the dominant discourse (academic/standard English), which is cultivated, maintained, and reinforced by, more or less, White America.  Powell seems to be saying that as long as educators and students realize that this language of power has a history of oppressing people of color/ethnic minorities they can make the conscious choice of using the language in a way that empowers them instead of allowing it to dominate, silence, and confuse them.  Powell goes on and on and on for five chapters about the nature of literacy and how many forms of print/media/communicative sources are not culturally sensitive and how people of color are trapped by it. Even White American is trapped in a way where they are unaware that their culture has completely dominated and silenced other forms of literacy that can be just as rich, if not more, than the dominant culture. 

And then she ends the final chapter with the message that love, compassion, and justice are the cure-all for oppression.  DUH, Rebecca Powell. Do you think your ideas are actually new? Do you think that your “answer” to all this is something that people have not thought about?  This is as ridiculous as the time when one of my professors expressed confusion about Thomas Jefferson’s marital affairs despite his seemingly moral persona.  It’s also as ridiculous as being perplexed with how morally-centered curriulum doesn’t change students’ moral transgressions.

During my small group’s discussion about the last two chapters, I said something like, “our society, our world will never cease to be oppressive and messed up.  No matter how much love and compassion we instill in our students, we will continue to face the same problems”.  I didn’t say it exactly like that since I’m far from eloquent and cohesive in my speech. Plus, I was jumbled in my feelings about all of this. I knew something was off in all this morality business, but I hadn’t completely processed things in my mind. 
One of my classmates said in defense (and with good reason), “Are you saying that we just don’t do anything about it then?”
Of couse that’s the retaliating answer to my critique of a fucked up world.  And I would want to say the same thing to myself as well. 

All I’m saying is this. We can teach children all about morality. We can incorporate it into a curriculum. We can create a year-long classroom project dedicated to fostering morality.  We can require kids to be kind and respectful. We can publicly recognize kids for being moral. We can talk about it all day and all night. But, will talking about it and acting the part really undo what’s really going on in every single human?

This isn’t anything new, but I really think that human beings are messed up. The most messed up people are the ones who don’t even know they are messed up.  I believe that good intentions are not enough to make a person moral. I believe that valuing compassion, kindess, love, and care are not enough to truly change someone.  I am a living example of this.  My entire life, I’ve been a good student.  I’ve been a good daughter. I’ve never gone through a rebellious stage. I’ve volunteered at a lot of different places. I strive to be kind and compassionate. I care about social justice issues. I am all about wanting equity for all humans. I love charitable causes. I may look “moral” on the outside.  BUT… I am the first to say I am FAR from being moral.

It’s not enough to teach a child about the importance of “good works” and deem that as being a moral person. It’s a change in the inside that needs to happen; that’s the child’s life long journey of searching his/her heart.  Ultimately, I can only do so much as a teacher, parent, society member to raise  the next generation to be moral and upright. I do believe that I can help raise the next generation to make a lot of changes in social issues (gay rights, human trafficking, fair trade agriculture), but even if all that is over the world will be….the world. No human being can restore humanity. How do you continue on with a hope for a better world if at the end of the day there’s no guarentee humanity will be restored? 

I do believe that there is a way for restoration, but that’s for a different conversation.

So what’s my own conclusion? I’m not really sure. This is why I am struggling with teaching soci-moral concepts to my students.  I will say that I have hope and I challenge people to question where their hope comes from and if it’s grounded in something sustainable and truly reliable.  

Again, I will say that this doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t include moral topics in my teaching.  I need to do something that leads to somewhere better. Something is truly better than nothing. But, I refuse to believe that we can cure society through compassion and love that is grounded in nothing but the mere notion of compassion and love.  I refuse to believe that it’s enough to teach good works.  There’s more to it than that. 

Before answering this question I want to define what it means to be moral. From what I understand, morality is about living in a way that is good and upright. Being good and upright means that we make choices that are honest and often times selfless.  Morality is more a condition of the heart and how we make choices that affect our own selves and the people around us.  If our morality is at stake, we need to figure out what the right thing to do would be in a given circumstance. Morality is what differentiates human beings from animals; it contitutes the human soul.

Being literate does not necessarily lead to being a moral person.  Literate people are not necessarily moral and moral people are not necessarily literate.  A person’s goodness is not contingent on being able to read.  However, literacy helps people to understand that there’s a world that more vast than what they are aware of.  Literacy paves the way for a deeper and broader perspective than one can simply acquire on his or her own terms.  Literacy can help people to gain more knowledge and convictions to make certain moral choices. 

This question leads me to question, “is it a teacher’s moral imperative to teach students how to read?”  A teacher’s role and goal is to lead students to be deep thinkers, socially aware, responsibile for their learning, and prepared for the next stage of learning and developing.  A large part of this, especially for elementary teachers, is to teach students how to read in order to develop into a scholar.  Literacy opens the gate to opportunities, ideas, and even an identity.  If a teacher’s purpose is to encourage and shape a young person to be a productive, compassionate, and motivated member of society, then it would be important for a teacher to teach a student how to read.  If a teacher did the exact opposite of what is expected in that role, than  she or he would be making a wrong choice. If morality is solely about making right or wrong decisions, then a teacher’s moral duty would be to make the right choice and guide a student to be successful. 

I would consider it a teacher’s moral imperative to teach literacy; however, I would not consider literacy on it’s own to be a moral imperative.

Conferencing with Tina’s mother was a reality check.  I learned that not all parents are agreeable and willing to work with the teacher.  Most of the parents in my classroom are agreeable, aware of their child’s shortcomings, and willing to seek advice in helping the child to mature.  Then there are parents who are defensive and will be overprotective of their children.  We first started off by telling her that Tina was a very social child who is making progress and seeks friendships with her classmates.  We made sure to build a positive image first before stepping into the areas of concern. Once we addressed our concerns, the mother immediately said that none of these things happen at home and she looked somewhat angry and bewildered.  She stated that Tina loves to
”play games” by pretending to act aloof with people and knows how to do most of the things the student seemed to lack during the assessments.  Later on we heard from an aide (a family friend) that the mother was very upset that we told her what we observed about Tina.  MT made the proper steps to call home and smooth things over with the mom.   MT’s course of action is a great example for how I would want to handle difficult parents and students who are challenging.   Immediately following the conference MT decided to do interventions so that her assumptions were not overruling Tina’s true condition. It was the correct timing since MT had observed Tina for about two months and had heard what the mother had to say.  MT values the relationships she has with the parents and understands it’s the key to helping a student to succeed and thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

*Name changed to protect identity

During my solo teaching I was able learn more about him during a parent-teacher conference and it gave me enormous insight into his social and emotional well-being and I was better able to understand why he behaves in certain ways.  Leo is the oldest of three children and his youngest brother is 4 months old; his youngest brother has been in the ICU since birth.  I can only imagine how much stress, anxiety, and emotion is experienced in the household.  Clearly, this type of environment will have an enormous impact on a child. 

Leo craves more attention from his parents, but he probably doesn’t get the amount he wants since they have another child, who is three years old, in addition to their infant child.  Leo has a gentle spirit that is very reflective of his role as an older sibling at the same time is personality is drenched with immaturity.  As a result of his personal life, school is one of his outlets for the emotional buildup that accumulates at home. I feel like Leo carries a lot of weight from home and brings the excess emotion and stress to school, which explains why little things can send him over the edge and cause him to react in ways that seem extreme.

There hasn’t been a vast improvement since school started; rather his emotional health is more transparent as time progresses since he is becoming more comfortable at showing how he feels in the classroom.  My master teacher and I always take the time to ask him how he’s doing and talking with him when he is frustrated and acting defiant.  We encourage him to learn how to move past incidents and give him verbal and physical affirmation. I think it’s most important that Leo trusts his teacher and knows that the teacher is always willing to listen to him, yet also set clear boundaries and expectations that are sensible and safe.  My master teacher and I are very aware of what’s going on in the home environment and can therefore be sensitive as to how we treat him and fair in the expectations we have for him.

*Name changed to protect identity

Now, my Downer Debbie side will state a few reasons why my teaching may not be fully legit. Of course I will give a reason for each:

1. Kindergarten lasts from 8AM-1:20PM.  Normal classes end around 2:00-2:15PM. Even though a kindergarten day is shorter, it’s just as draining and full as any other grade level
2. There was P.E. for the last hour of the day.  It was nice to give the class over to the P.E. teacher…it was my first time! Give me a break…
3. There are at least 4 adults in the room.  In real teaching life, having an aide and other adult assistance is rare and I will most likely not have the luxury of having extra support. However, having a lot of support is this specific classroom’s environmental norm.  It’s just the way it is.  Does that discredit my ability to lead a class? I hope not. I’ve led a class on my own before.

Regardless of these factors, the point is that I still managed the class on my own.  I specifically asked the aides to let me solve the problems.  For the most part, I was able to do that.

Maybe I don’t need to justify myself. I want to be proud of myself! But I will thank the Lord Jesus for giving me peace and energy for today.

I only heard my master teacher’s name mentioned ONCE in the beginning of the day and I didn’t hear her name or any complaints at all during the day. Now, that is success

Child: “Ms. Cho, I want you to be my teacher every day!”

This is was truly the craziest day that I have encountered.  Rowdiness+bodily mishaps=craziness.  When disaster strikes there is no other option then to haul ass…literally. Well, now I can laugh about this. Live and learn.

*identity protected

E.D. I.E.P-emotional disturbance/ individual education plan

Does my program send that kind of message? My MT didn’t just make this up. She has a close relationship with someone who has deep ties with the program and she’s talked about DTE in this way with that person.  I think it’s important to think critically about my own education and what kind of ideas are being fed to me.  There are times when I do feel like DTE idealizes teaching and classroom environments, but at the same time DTE is what has made me reflect on how to deal with very real things such as parent-teacher relationships, evaluating the usefulness of incentives and punishments, and addressing sensitive topics such as race and sexuality.  Moreover, nothing can take the place of the numerous student-teaching placements we have.  Whatever our courses are lacking in, it is all compensated by the amount of time we spend in real classrooms that deal with very real issues.  So maybe my MT is speaking the truth in some ways, but she is speaking from an outsider’s perspective.  Nonetheless, I’m really glad I heard her opinion because it is making me think twice about the things I am learning.

Justin* has many positive personality traits that I want to describe before I start laying out some of the more difficult characteristics.  He’s really patient and connects well with another child in the class who has an emotional disturbance.  He has this mellow vibe that really works well with more active students.  Justin is also a very bright child that has strong emergent reading skills.  He is also eager to the please the teacher and takes pride in being part of the classroom.  Justin can also have a difficult personality. It’s not easy to coax him when he’s having a mood swing. Justin is the type of person who will internalize an incident and harbor his emotions for an extended period of time and sometimes these emotions can be triggered by other instances that come during completely separate times.  Justin builds a wall when he is frustrated and tends to hide under his hood, stay put in one place and not speak, or he also tends to cry (more like wail).  He’s a fragile child who often feels left out and I hear him say “I don’t have any friends” or “They’re not letting me do _____ with them”. It’s strange because a lot of kids in the class enjoy being with him and he does have friends.  Based on other instances I have a feeling that there is something going on in his personal life with family members that may be affecting him to act this way. Justin is usually very critical of himself as well.  He becomes frustrated when he doesn’t perform well. He’ll shut down and  In addition to his sensitive persona, there are times when Justin’s attitude is extremely moody and rude.  He’ll often say that activites are stupid and that he’s bored.  My master teacher will talk with him and his mood changes; there are other times when she says that he needs to learn how to “roll things off his shoulder” or “change his attitude” and this works with him as well. 

Have any one you had a student like this?

There are other more common instances with some children they will cry because they are homesick (afterall, it’s kindergarten).  For example, today there was a student who was isolating himself and was crying because he missed his mom.  I tried talking to him but that didn’t help much. I went to talk to my MT and she said that I said all the right things. However, when she went to talk to him it was like magic and his mood was different. 

I understand that the students trust my MT at a deeper level and have a stronger relationship with her.   I feel pretty stuck when the I can’t help the students feel better. Does anyone else feel this way? I know that I have this “woe is me I’m a student teacher” complex and I annoy even myself because I resort to this type of mentality a lot.  Nonetheless, what are your strategies for situations that I just described? Should I just get over it?

*name changed for protection

 I am trying to understand why teachers may not feel the need to build strong relationships with parents.  Teachers can isolate themselves from parents and even other teachers if they feel like their world is limited to the four classroom walls.  There are teachers who only see their students inside the classroom and it’s easy overlook that the child is mainly shaped by their environments outside of school.  Maybe they see the students’ home life and school life as separate entities.  It’s very easy for a teacher to think they know a child well based only on classroom interactions. 

Two years ago I worked in a 3rd grade classroom and I worked with one of the most apathetic teachers, whom I will name CL.  However, in all honesty, she was not much different from my elementary school teachers.  CL only made contact with parents at parent conferences (once or twice per trimester), in the mornings when if parents dropped their students off at school, and with phone calls (only if the child was misbehaving).  It’s possible that CL didn’t feel the need to contact parents  because she may have thought that as long as nothing is wrong then things are alright; I usually think of the quote, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  Also, the parents may have gotten the same impression and thus deepened a culture of disconnect.  Teachers and parents need to communicate and build a relationships so that the child thrives. They need to work together in order to understand the child better in both settings.  The child needs to know that home and school are not mutually exclusive entities.  School and home compose a major chunk of a child’s life so it only makes sense for a teacher to reach out and bridge the gap between the two. 

Yesterday during class we watched a video clip about an amazing teacher who earnestly builds relationships with parents and as a result yields such a solid relationship with all her students.  Watching and listening to her speak was valuable to me because this is a topic that I’ve been thinking more deeply about since my last placement.  My MT last year was a big advocate of teach-parent relationships.  He did home visits and constantly kept in contact with them.  In my current placement, my MT doesn’t do home visits, but she makes the effort to call each family before school starts and invites them to be involved in the classroom.  She always talks to parents before and after school and she’s been such a huge influence on me.  I used to be scared of talking with parents because I had no idea what to say to them. However, being a teacher is the best way to get to know another adult; they have something very special in common: the student!  I’ve definitely made more of an effort than I ever have since the 3 years that I’ve become immersed in the education world.  My MT gave me an opportunity to write a letter to all the parents so that they would know who I am and my role in the classroom.  I make sure to talk with parents whenever I see them and give positive feedback about their child.  I know that this will be good practice for me when it’s my time to run a class.  I am more convicted than ever to initiate relationships with parents and work with them to help each student to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.

The  students haven’t been overtly rejecting him, but most of the students do not go out of their way to befriend him in and outside of the classroom.  After several episodes of screaming and throwing objects during these past 2 weeks there is a subtle, but very real sense of fear that the students have towards Jimmy.  They know that he is different and have easily accepted (from the surface layer) that Renee makes a variety of exceptions for Jimmy such as allowing him to sit  at her feet while everyone else sits on a colored line on the rug, chew gum or other chewable objects, sprawl out on the rug, and sit on her lap.  The students don’t vocalize what they think of feel about this, but they are highly aware of the situation with Jimmy. 

Sometimes adults are fearful of being honest with children and they like to pretend that children don’t notice very much.  However, the truth is that children are extremely aware and sensitive to what’s going on around them.  They hear, see, and process their environments.  Children’s cognition is often dismissed and I think the main problem is that adults don’t know how to value children’s thoughts and opinions on difficult issues. Adults also tend to think that “children don’t know any better”.  Isn’t it quite possible that the reason they act or think a certain way is because adults avoid explicitly explaining difficult situations?  Adults cannot pretend that children are aloof and don’t have the capacity to understand.   They hear, see, and process their environments. Children’s cognition is often dismissed and I think the main problem is that adults don’t know how to value children’s thoughts and opinions on difficult issues.

This week was pivotal for me because I witnessed an exorbitant amount of transparency and honesty in such a real way.  A couple of years ago I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth after witnessing a teacher dismiss some real issues that the class needed to discuss regarding two specific students with special needs.  It was really important for me to see first-hand how to address sensitive issues and openly discuss how to love and care for other one another. Renee was very gentle with the subject matter and made sure to affirm how the students felt towards Jimmy.  She used the words “special help” repeatedly and told the students that every child in this room has different needs, but some might need it more than other.

 *Child’s name changed for privacy protection