Teamwork and People Power: Liberatory Teaching in the Elementary Classroom (Amerasia Journal) The Fourth Year If the third year was where I got a taste of teaching for justice, then my fourth year was where I started to fine tune it. Projects were improved and themes of fairness, teamwork and making history were extended and integrated together. Things were becoming easier to do. We started the year off by naming ourselves The Super MPR Kids (we were assigned to the Multi-Purpose Room). Breaking Down Classroom Walls One of the biggest changes from earlier teaching years was the number of visitors I brought into the classroom. One of the reasons was because I felt less overwhelmed and more confident teaching. Another reason was because I was moving the curriculum closer towards community issues and activities. Instead of seeing visitors as something extra, they became necessary aspects of the curriculum. Each new visitor or experience has the possibility of affecting students in memorable ways. For 3rd grader, Jannette, it may be Betty a HERE Local 11 Union organizer. After meeting Betty, Jannette beamed, "She’s got hair like my auntie." Or for others, it may be community organizer Paul Lee from the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA) who impressed our mostly Latino and Korean American students by speaking in Korean and Spanish. There were also numerous UCLA students visitors, most notably, Russell Muranaka who taught students about activist, Yuri Kochiyama. Students wrote her letters and she responded back, writing, "How wonderful that you are starting so young to help your neighborhood." As a teacher, it reminded me that learning about historical Civil Right leaders and freedom fighters must be balanced with connecting students with present day struggles and activists. We also took field trips to UCLA and the Labor Community Strategy Center. Classroom visitors Russell Muranaka and Diana Li, organized a student committee that planned a UCLA campus tour. They took us to the offices of the student run magazines like Pacific Ties and to the Chicano and Asian American Studies Centers. Super MPR student art work was displayed at the APeyes, the Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Week Art Show and their newspapers, posters and class work were exhibited in the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room display case. After seeing all their work at UCLA and the positive responses from college students, it was exciting to hear student, Jose Hernandez say, "Mr. Osumi, we’re teaching them." Most of the students took the bus or had parents who rode the bus regularly. At the offices of the Labor Community Strategy Center’s Bus Rider Union (BRU), interns Yuki and Olivia exposed students to their work organizing riders for fair and equitable public transportation. They had students role playing how to talk to bus riders, showed us videos and taught us BRU chants like, "Get on the bus and fight with us!" Students also made posters for the upcoming MTA Board of Supervisors meeting expressing their needs as bus riders. The finale came when we marched around their office holding signs, noise makers and chanting, "What do we want? Good buses! When do we want it? Now!" Both of these field trips are examples of how college students and community groups can support liberatory teaching. Community groups, social service agencies and student organizations need to incorporate student nurturing as part of their missions. Like living textbooks, they expose students to role models, collective problem solving and democracy in action. Organizing others The Super MPR went on to activities similar to the hurricane relief and pigeon abatement projects. We took on a school crossing guard campaign and supported the city’s striking Janitors for Janitors. With more reading and teaching experience, I was adding small improvements to deepen and extend student learning. After reading about project based learning students begin organizing for a crossing guard with social investigation. They brainstormed questions and interviewed school administrators and the school’s crossing guard. Along with classroom presentations, we made an announcement over the school’s intercom system. Rather than just focus on our campus, I wanted students to begin thinking about organizing people in the neighborhood. I also wanted something more engaging than a petition. Students collected over 900 letters and drawings, 200 coming from family members at home. Some parents even took them to work to get signed. Finally, instead of dropping them off myself, I brought student Melissa and her family to hand deliver the letters to LA City Councilperson, Nate Holden’s office. Later, a Deputy Councilperson visited our class and updated us on our efforts. For the Janitors students collected 266 cans of food and wrote them letters. To personalize each can, we glued on Super MPR labels reading, Si Se Puede and The People United, Will Never Be Defeated. But unexpectedly, it wasn’t the cans of food that made a difference, it was the letters students wrote to the janitors. Local 1877 Justice for Janitors organizer, Triana Silton said the letters were the probably the most meaningful gesture the janitors received during the strike. The following letter was written by Juan Carlos: Dear Janitors, Hi. How are you? Good I hope. I know you were on strike. I think you could win because there’s a lot of people helping you and there is only one boss. So you can do it! Teamwork is a way you can do it. You can do it! We are behind you. We are making presentations so we can get a lot of canned food and give it to all of you who are on strike. You have to fight for your rights. All of our class is wishing all of you good luck. Still, if we give the canned foods to you, that means you can stop? No! You have to keep on going to get money to pay the rent and buy the things your family needs. So don’t give up and stand up and fight for your rights. Take care. Silton explained that in a job that often treats janitors poorly, reading letters from kids saying you deserve a raise, that you’re brave and not to give up, really had an impact. This leads to the question, if one class of 20 nine year olds could make a small difference, what could a hundred or a thousand classrooms do? They would be a powerful force in the city. The highlight came when three striking janitors came to thank us personally for the support letters we wrote. In Spanish, they said the letters were written from our hearts and they were surprised to find out that the students were only third graders. I was later told that one of the letters was read at a rally before the janitors voted in support of their new contract. Today, Super MPR letters still hang in the offices of Justice for Janitors. Write On!: Student Publishing One of the keystones of my reading and writing programs is publishing student work. The Super MPR published their own set of trading cards based on their community service projects, a collection of Writing Workshop stories and a joint collection of poems with Ms. Son’s Fourth graders titled, Poems That Touch Our Heart. Students also published small photocopied newspapers. Part of the reason we do newspapers is to give students an outlet for their writing. Motivation goes up when students write for real audiences. Another reason is to give students practice in writing for and putting together their own publications. Picturing themselves as authors now, will make writing for high school papers, ‘zines and future editorials and op-ed pieces easier. Social movements have also depended on communicating with and educating others through newspapers, newsletters and pamphlets. The Super MPR’s most evolved newspaper was titled Estrella del Norte--The North Star after Frederick Douglas’ abolitionist paper and the self-published paper once put out by Yuri Kochiyama. Wanting students to reflect and report on their classroom activities, I had students write about our Serve the People projects and other class news. They also encouraged parents to write in their home language. Parent, Ingrid Zapata wrote in English and Spanish about passing her Citizenship test: He asked me 7 history questions and I answered them all. Then he asked me some personal questions and I answered all of them too. After all that he gave me a congratulation letter that said I passed the test. I was very, very happy. When I left the office, all the nervousness that I had just disappeared. I’m very interested in knowing what parents think about when they read stories like these. Are they inspired? Do they feel less alone knowing others are going through similar experiences? As teachers, we must be conscious of the "whole child," including their family and community. Having parents share and be part of classroom learning sends a strong message to students about what is valued in class. It’s also an opportunity for teachers to organize parents. Teaching for change means not only building up students, but also their communities. A Peoples’ Encyclopedia Some people say that our names are ugly, long or strange. But we say that it’s not true. When we write a story about our names it proves that we are important. Our families felt happy writing for the encyclopedia because they felt they don’t have to be rich or famous to do an encyclopedia. When they read and write in their own language, it make them feel a part of our book. This passage is from the Introduction to the Super MPR’s Encyclopedia De La Gente/A Peoples Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia with History and Stories about Families, Kids, People Power and Teamwork. The project started when students were trying to find information about James Baldwin and Frederick Douglas in an old set of The World Encyclopedia. When we couldn’t find anything adequate, I raised the issue with the class. It reminded me of an article I read in Rethinking Schools where a class surveyed an encyclopedia looking for racial bias. I encouraged kids to survey all 20 volumes documenting those entries about individual people with photos. The racial and gender bias was overwhelming. Over 98.5% entries were White people and 89% were male. I asked the kids, "Is this a real world history?" Students in the Rethinking Schools article wrote to the encyclopedia publisher and asked for changes. This was a good idea, but I was afraid it was too passive and would take the struggle out of our hands. Our crossing guard campaign had lost steam when student momentum got bogged down in bureaucracy waiting for a California school safety grant. So, under the spirit of righting wrongs and doing things for ourselves, students started saving and collecting their stories. Miguel wrote an article about the encyclopedia itself. In it, he explains why it’s important to know your history: The people who make the Encyclopedia book should put color people and they should also put females because females are also important too. Sometimes color people are more important white people. If they are going to make a white people encyclopedia book they should put white people encyclopedia because you can tell that all the people are going to [be] white. It’s more important that you learn your history than just learning about white people. You can learn your history by learning from other people and knowing about them. That is one way you can learn your history. I wish the people who make the encyclopedia book put more color people because if they don’t than you won’t learn about other color people. I also created a submission form fro the encyclopedia describing the project and encouraging other students and adults to write. Students wrote about a variety of topics revolving around their lives and interests. Other submissions were collected from siblings, parents, and class visitors. Most were in English, but some were in Spanish and Korean. Published during the last week of school, it’s difficult to gage how students felt about them after the initial excitement. But educators teaching for change need to be patient. We not only teach for today, but the future. Farhana, a former Fourth grader, confronted her apartment manager about bathwater leaking through their ceiling. When he came to her door to collect the rent, Farhana and her mother told him it "wasn’t fair" that the problem continued. He later apologized and sent a plumber. Future situations won’t be as simple. But that’s less important. Children’s actions will grow with experience. What’s central is that students like Farhana build a sense of justice and dignity along with the confidence to speak up for themselves and organize others when needed. Managing the Classroom Losing control of the classroom is often a teacher’s biggest fear. Teachers are often judged more on their ability to maintain classroom management than getting kids to learn and think critically. Kids won’t learn if they’re running around hurting each other, but either will they experience self-motivation and internal discipline if they are controlled so tightly they never get a chance to think for themselves. But the question isn’t between chaos and domination. Another option is the practice of democracy--where teachers and students make decisions and solve problems together. Teachers are trained to anticipate classroom problems and create rules and procedures to prevent them. How to walk in line, when to get a drink of water, and who you can sit by are all decided by the teacher. But if students are to learn how to negotiate, problem solve and make democratic decisions, each time a teacher makes a unilateral decision in the classroom, an opportunity is lost for students to practice democracy building. In The Open Classroom, Herbert Kohl explains how it "is more dangerous to legislate disagreement out of existence than to accept and integrate it into the whole:" The concept of order in an open classroom is not the same as that current in the schools where rules and routines are developed to avoid disagreements. In most classrooms there is no place for arguments or conflict, nor is there time for teachers and pupils to learn how to live with and listen to each other. There is no give-and-take. The students direct their talk to the teacher, and obey the teacher’s rules. Conflict, defiance, or disagreements are disciplinary problems and offenders must be punished. In an open classroom there is considerable give-and-take, argument, disagreement, even conflict. These are organic elements in the life of the group, to be dealt with and resolved by the group and arbitrated by the teacher. The teacher is a mediator and not a judge or executioner... Inspired, I took this open approach into the classroom. During my 4th year, many Super MPR students were leaving the typewriter area messy and the typewriters in disrepair. I scolded them numerous times, but it kept happening. Finally, out of frustration, I did what I should have done much sooner. I let students come together, brainstorm and create their own set of typewriter rules. They came up with a list of five rules, they all signed it and taped it up on the wall. From that point on, everyone cleaned up after themselves except one student. And when he did leave a mess, the other kids got him to clean it up. At the same time, I was increasingly letting kids facilitate discussions and classroom meetings. Many of these ideas are based in Cooperative Grouping concepts. Activism isn’t always direct-action oriented, so students need to know how to meet, discuss and share ideas. These processes and skills come slowly and painfully at times. But little by little, students meet in groups, share ideas, debate them and come to consensus. Liberating teachers also need to allow students the freedom to follow academic interests. Like adults, when students have a say in how they run their lives, they are often more responsible and motivated. One of the first changes I made was during learning centers, a time when teacher often have their students working independently or in groups at different learning stations around the classroom. Inspired by the open classroom movement during the early 70s, I started calling them Open Centers and let kids choose what they wanted to do. At times, this included letting students choose to do nothing at all. This was difficult. I had to bite my tongue in order to give students time to find something interesting to do. But when I did, they were often more engaged than if I had assigned something. When they had the freedom to explore, they often modified and took old center ideas into new directions. I’ve seen students write and act out skits, write poems, songs, research, label the solar system and more, sometimes even skipping Recess to finish. Most recently, I’ve seen students conduct daily Spanish, Korean and Bengali classes for one another--all the time taking notes. I’ve seen similar benefits when I started assigning Free Choice Homework. Kids would bring in creative and time consuming projects. After several days, one student brought in a large pyramid-type building made completely with straws and paper clips. Sometimes they wouldn’t turn in anything, because instead of making something, they’d choose to read and tutor younger brothers and sisters. Some of the most satisfying times teaching were when the kids really didn’t need me. They’re doing their thing and I’d tell myself, "Stop talking and just observe." I’d look for a communication skill I might teach later, or a fable or moral that might smooth out a disagreement. If students get stuck or lose direction, I’d pose a question to get them back on track. If there’s a student roaming around, I might pick their brain until I found an interest of theirs, then offer a few suggestions. Unfortunately, for me, these moments are difficult to maintain. Finding the balance between teacher and student direction can be nerve-racking. While part of me wanted to give more freedom, another part was more comfortable maintaining control and seeing them busy. But busy work is often the illusion of learning. Most often, I would see kids playing around or arguing and I’d lose it. I’d clamp back down and start telling kids what to do. Teaching for change takes giving up our unquestionable power over kids. Not our responsibility to guide them, teach them and maintain a safe learning environment, but definitely our insecurities over who’s in charge. The idea of giving students room to follow interests and to construct meaning for themselves takes patience. We should expect to spend the same time and effort on training students to be self-directed learners that we do on reading and writing. It also takes rethinking how people are motivated and learn best. Many of these ideas come from brain-based learning and constructivist teaching methods. What many engaging teachers knew long ago, is now being researched and understood. Running the classroom in new ways is not easy. There are no maps to follow. Only trial and error. But teachers are in a unique position of having the space to model the values of a just and equitable society everyday. Raised in an authoritarian culture, student democracy and power sharing can be uncomfortable for teachers. Even unruly. But we should expect this messiness, "as democracy is always messy." Sometimes it’s not the students needing discipline, but the teacher. One of difficulties of teaching for change is that you’re teaching against the current. Because I’m not teaching or doing what everybody else is, I’ve often felt that I needed to have my students create and produce at a higher level in order to validate my methods and practices. Often I pushed kids rather than guide and support them. One morning after a week of driving the kids hard and being nasty, I brought pan dulce as a peace offering. I told them it wasn’t right the way I was treating them. "I’ve been acting more like a boss and treating you like workers than acting like a teacher and treating you like learners." One of the students, Jason, spoke up, "I was going to tell you that Mr. Osumi." Luckily for me, children are forgiving. If teachers never admit failure and mistakes, we make it harder for students to become self-critical and expect to hold those in power accountable. There have been times when I’ve had to apologize to the class and give myself a time-out on the yard during Recess or Lunch. At first, kids would say, "You can’t get a time-out, you’re a teacher." After responding with, "If the President broke the law, shouldn’t he go to jail?" they get the point. I’ve also explained my frustration or anger so students would be prepared to deal with their own situations in the future. By sharing my own thinking process and steps for self-improvement, I can salvage a negative situation and turn it into a learning opportunity. Back Next