When the ideas present by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie are directly applied and examined from an educational perspective the influence is profound. As a future English educator this video shows the importance of teaching diverse works in the classroom and not allowing single stories to influence my perception of my students.
The implementation of Common Core in the United States I feel allows teacher to expand the range of pieces of writing they present to their class. It is important that these works do not create a single stories in the students’ heads about a culture they have not been exposed to. I believe the way to navigate the perils of the single story to exposure. If I can, as an English teacher, not nothing more than expose my students to new ideas I will feel like I have achieved a what I set out to do. Through my edustory allowed me to reflect on what story I felt was important to tell from educational perspective. Additionally, it allowed me to reflect on how I wanted to tell it. Humor is one way that I address many topic. By infusing an air of humor through the "teacher myth" idea I was able to directly address how of the perspectives that I have experience that I do not feel are beneficial to my students. The edustory provides a source to document my teacher story in a way that I learn; through visuals. The old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" still hold true today, especially in this photo. The edustory connected to the idea I wrote about in my blog post for Show Your Work! transparency of the process is shows through an edustory. This transparency and accuracy I was able to achieve through this tool made me feel empowered and understood. Nogozi Adichie, Chimamanda (July 2009). The Danger of a Single Story. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of sharping the artwork
Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn. Bad criticism is not the end of the world. As far as I know no one has ever died from a bad review. Take a deep breathe and accept whatever comes your way. These three ideas the importance of transparency in learning, acceptance of failure (think 20time), and the interconnectedness of the technology age we are all muddling through today.
Kleon writes in his book, "Humans being are interested in other human beings and what other human beings are doing". This brought together my discomfort with being a "resident" on the internet and my own love of instagram stalking. As a teacher if I choose to be transparent with my students, parents, and coworkers it creates a window for me to share myself with those that are most important to my educational life. This idea leads into my second point of focus the acceptance of failure (This is also discussed in chapter 8 Learn to Take A Punch), by sharing my learning I will enviably be sharing my failures as well. Teachers always discuss the topic that students have to be ok with failures and learn and grow from them. But how can we expect students to be ok with failure if we do not show them that everyone experiences failure? This is why a professional social media and internet presence is important. This brings me to my final idea about the interconnectivness of learning. I struggle when my technological educational journey began because I felt I had nothing to share because I didn't know anything yet. However, through this year and this book I have learned it is about starting somewhere, anywhere, and documenting it. All the amazing teachers I follow on twitter and who's blogs I read had to start somewhere just as I have. |
AuthorFuture shaper of young minds. Archives
May 2016
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