1 00:00:02,930 --> 00:00:04,700 Katie Booth: Hi, everyone, thank you for joining me on 2 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:09,080 Multicultural Day 2021. My name is Dr. Katie 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,080 Booth and I teach in English department here at 4 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,750 Moorpark College. And I'm genuinely sorry not to 5 00:00:14,750 --> 00:00:17,300 be able to present this work to you live or in 6 00:00:17,300 --> 00:00:21,590 person. This is for reasons not related to Covid. 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:24,710 For those of you that don't know, I will tell you 8 00:00:24,710 --> 00:00:27,200 in brief, I have Crohn's colitis, which is an 9 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:30,680 inflammatory bowel disease, and when it flares, it 10 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,860 ruins the good majority of my life. I am currently 11 00:00:33,860 --> 00:00:36,880 in a flare, which is why I'm coming to you through 12 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,920 a recording. And frustrated though I am, I'm 13 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,770 really grateful to the Multicultural Day Committee 14 00:00:42,770 --> 00:00:46,610 and team for finding a way to make my presentation 15 00:00:46,610 --> 00:00:50,450 still proceed. And in thinking about this. I 16 00:00:50,450 --> 00:00:53,510 realized that it was their empathy and their 17 00:00:53,510 --> 00:00:55,610 understanding and their flexibility and their 18 00:00:55,610 --> 00:00:58,070 creativity that enabled this to happen. And it 19 00:00:58,070 --> 00:01:01,790 seemed fitting to open my presentation, which is 20 00:01:01,790 --> 00:01:05,350 precisely about all of those aspects of humanity. 21 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:08,420 So without further ado about poo, let's begin, 22 00:01:10,670 --> 00:01:13,490 Warning: This talk will be full of shameless 23 00:01:13,490 --> 00:01:17,240 amounts of Disney puns and memes. Why? Because I 24 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,120 love Disney. I have never been ashamed of this 25 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,120 fact and have spent many hours since my childhood 26 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,730 debating the larger messages of Disney's animated 27 00:01:25,730 --> 00:01:28,760 films from the seemingly innocuous Tinkerbells 28 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,370 series to the beautifully moving and inspiring 29 00:01:31,370 --> 00:01:35,720 Coco to my current obsession Frozen 2. While I 30 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,240 completed my doctoral dissertation, I learned the 31 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,790 importance of taking the project where my heart 32 00:01:40,790 --> 00:01:44,000 let it. For me that was straight into the rabbit 33 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,960 warren of popular culture. In learning to see the 34 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,950 literary world as reflective, or not, of the society 35 00:01:51,950 --> 00:01:54,710 that produces it, I was able to make more 36 00:01:54,710 --> 00:01:58,010 connections across time and texts than I thought I 37 00:01:58,010 --> 00:02:02,150 could. And before I had that epiphany, I wasn't 38 00:02:02,150 --> 00:02:05,660 able to envision the power that this work could 39 00:02:06,170 --> 00:02:10,710 wield. I learned how to be metacognitive and the 40 00:02:10,710 --> 00:02:12,510 importance of learning to think about my thinking 41 00:02:12,510 --> 00:02:15,360 continues to inform every aspect of my 42 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,750 professional and personal life. I think it's 43 00:02:18,750 --> 00:02:22,770 fairly safe to assume that everyone here believes 44 00:02:22,770 --> 00:02:25,230 that education is a vehicle for transformation. 45 00:02:25,710 --> 00:02:28,290 But it's less safe to assume that we all know how 46 00:02:28,290 --> 00:02:31,680 to harness that system to truly work for all of us, 47 00:02:31,890 --> 00:02:34,590 for our students, and especially historically and 48 00:02:34,590 --> 00:02:37,500 currently marginalized learners and teach them to 49 00:02:37,500 --> 00:02:41,430 do the same. This challenge informs every aspect 50 00:02:41,430 --> 00:02:43,950 of my teaching, and I'm excited to share with you 51 00:02:43,950 --> 00:02:46,830 some of my personal experiences with and research 52 00:02:46,830 --> 00:02:49,980 into culturally responsive teaching and how I 53 00:02:49,980 --> 00:02:52,530 believe this is the essential work that enables 54 00:02:52,530 --> 00:02:55,800 educators to become allies for their students of 55 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,190 color, working in the spirit of equity to support 56 00:02:59,190 --> 00:03:01,350 and empower students that have traditionally 57 00:03:01,350 --> 00:03:03,750 comprised the most vulnerable populations of 58 00:03:03,750 --> 00:03:08,700 learners. And I do this by using Disney. But wait, 59 00:03:08,700 --> 00:03:12,330 I hear you crying. Disney was white. The bulk of 60 00:03:12,330 --> 00:03:15,210 Disney movies feature white characters and white 61 00:03:15,210 --> 00:03:19,560 Western stories. Surely a Disney themed course is 62 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,460 culturally insensitive and surely this work on 63 00:03:23,460 --> 00:03:27,570 Multicultural Day is inappropriate. I hear you. I 64 00:03:27,570 --> 00:03:32,550 really do. And I appreciate the questions. I hope 65 00:03:32,550 --> 00:03:35,310 you'll bear with me. I promise that this talk is 66 00:03:35,310 --> 00:03:37,800 not an opportunity for me to peddle the benefits 67 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,980 of whitewashing our work with our students. In 68 00:03:41,980 --> 00:03:46,270 2013, the Walt Disney Company released Monsters 69 00:03:46,270 --> 00:03:49,720 University, let me move that down, which was the 70 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:54,610 prequel to the 2001 Monsters Inc. My now, almost, 71 00:03:54,650 --> 00:03:56,890 my gosh, nine-year-old daughter was one when we 72 00:03:56,890 --> 00:03:59,650 first watched this movie. And as you can see, she 73 00:03:59,650 --> 00:04:02,680 fell so deeply in love with it that she decided to 74 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:05,770 be its protagonist for Halloween that year. The 75 00:04:05,770 --> 00:04:09,610 film also made quite an impact on me. In Monsters 76 00:04:09,610 --> 00:04:12,010 University, audiences watch the educational 77 00:04:12,010 --> 00:04:14,290 development of the heroes and villains of Monsters 78 00:04:14,290 --> 00:04:17,140 Inc.. Specifically highlighting the journey of 79 00:04:17,140 --> 00:04:19,720 Mike Wazowski the ambitious, determined, 80 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,600 ambulatory eyeball hell bent on becoming a 81 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,540 professional scarer when he grows up. Despite not 82 00:04:25,540 --> 00:04:28,750 being classically scary, In Mike's world of 83 00:04:28,750 --> 00:04:30,850 monsters, just trying to grow up, get through 84 00:04:30,850 --> 00:04:33,820 school, find a job and live a fulfilled life, he 85 00:04:33,820 --> 00:04:36,940 experiences a great deal of what I realized first 86 00:04:36,940 --> 00:04:39,450 year students experience on their own journeys 87 00:04:39,460 --> 00:04:42,430 towards similar outcomes, particularly students of 88 00:04:42,430 --> 00:04:45,640 color. From elementary school to college, Mike 89 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,370 battles social prejudices and confronts head on 90 00:04:48,370 --> 00:04:51,820 privileged, elitist icons of university life. From 91 00:04:51,820 --> 00:04:55,180 terrifying deans to righteous teachers to classist 92 00:04:55,180 --> 00:04:58,060 students who repeatedly tell him that he cannot 93 00:04:58,060 --> 00:05:01,630 make it, that he doesn't belong, that he doesn't 94 00:05:01,630 --> 00:05:03,910 have what it takes, and that he's simply not 95 00:05:03,910 --> 00:05:06,070 enough to be what he aspires to be because of who 96 00:05:06,070 --> 00:05:09,370 he was born as. But in true Disney fashion, Mike 97 00:05:09,370 --> 00:05:11,980 wins out in the end, shattering core beliefs about 98 00:05:11,980 --> 00:05:14,830 individuals and the academy and social values at 99 00:05:14,830 --> 00:05:18,550 the same time. How can we not envision this world 100 00:05:18,550 --> 00:05:21,700 of monsters as our own, one that perpetually and 101 00:05:21,700 --> 00:05:25,030 unfailingly struggles to define and identify and 102 00:05:25,030 --> 00:05:28,090 put into boxes every individual that it holds 103 00:05:28,090 --> 00:05:33,190 within it, often to their detriment and over all 104 00:05:33,190 --> 00:05:38,650 of our own. Two years after Monsters University, 105 00:05:38,650 --> 00:05:41,650 Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith published Most Likely to 106 00:05:41,650 --> 00:05:44,860 Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era. 107 00:05:45,610 --> 00:05:48,310 And that was in 2015 and the result of more than 108 00:05:48,310 --> 00:05:51,250 10 years of research into the history and 109 00:05:51,250 --> 00:05:54,310 evolution of American education systems. And in it, 110 00:05:54,310 --> 00:05:56,560 they highlight the many ways that these systems 111 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,200 are no longer fit for purpose in the 21st century, 112 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,140 particularly interviewing millennials and 113 00:06:02,140 --> 00:06:04,060 publishing their first hand accounts of jumping 114 00:06:04,060 --> 00:06:05,860 through high school hoops to engage in more 115 00:06:05,860 --> 00:06:08,830 sophisticated yet still circus-like rounds of hoop 116 00:06:08,830 --> 00:06:11,800 jumping at prestigious American universities. 117 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:15,160 Wagner and Interest have built a strong case about 118 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:17,830 the failures of institutional education, citing 119 00:06:17,830 --> 00:06:20,080 the outdated curriculum, the problematic test 120 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,630 industries, and the simple fact that the Academy 121 00:06:22,630 --> 00:06:25,690 remains structured to support a largely outdated 122 00:06:25,690 --> 00:06:28,790 industry and job sector. According to Wagner and 123 00:06:28,790 --> 00:06:31,810 Dintersmith, university education simply cannot 124 00:06:31,810 --> 00:06:35,680 deliver its promises to its students anymore. When 125 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,110 my children's remarkably innovative elementary 126 00:06:38,110 --> 00:06:40,390 school hosted a viewing of the Most Likely to 127 00:06:40,390 --> 00:06:43,300 Succeed documentary accompaniment to this book in 128 00:06:43,300 --> 00:06:46,750 2015, I was there and my mind was well 129 00:06:46,750 --> 00:06:50,680 and truly blown. I saw that Monsters University 130 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:53,260 was no longer just another beloved Disney film, 131 00:06:53,260 --> 00:06:55,780 but rather a reflection of the challenge we 132 00:06:55,780 --> 00:06:58,630 continue to set our contemporary learners of 133 00:06:58,630 --> 00:07:01,870 succeeding in a broken, archaic system of college 134 00:07:01,870 --> 00:07:05,710 education. Add to this discussion those about how 135 00:07:05,710 --> 00:07:09,190 American education systems continue to reject, to 136 00:07:09,190 --> 00:07:12,370 erase our students of color and well, how much 137 00:07:12,370 --> 00:07:13,330 time do you have? 138 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,750 This talk is as much about education as it is 139 00:07:19,750 --> 00:07:23,140 about empathy, and it feels right to share my own 140 00:07:23,140 --> 00:07:26,260 story here in brief, I promise, and I want to make 141 00:07:26,260 --> 00:07:28,450 some important connections between it and the work 142 00:07:28,450 --> 00:07:31,810 that I do, the connections I made between my 143 00:07:31,810 --> 00:07:34,360 academic experiences and those I watched and read 144 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:36,580 about in Monsters University and Most Likely to 145 00:07:36,580 --> 00:07:39,360 Succeed, became the foundation of the class theme 146 00:07:39,370 --> 00:07:41,680 I started teaching in my English 01a 147 00:07:41,980 --> 00:07:45,520 composition courses here at Moorpark College. As 148 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,730 much as I struggled to excel in this same system 149 00:07:48,730 --> 00:07:52,360 that often wasn't serving me, I was and continue 150 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,510 to be immensely privileged. I am white, 151 00:07:55,660 --> 00:07:58,930 heterosexual, cis gender and while I lack 152 00:07:58,930 --> 00:08:01,360 privilege in certain aspects of my life, I'm a 153 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,180 woman. I am Jewish. I live with a chronic disease. 154 00:08:04,180 --> 00:08:07,540 I battled daily mental health conditions because 155 00:08:07,540 --> 00:08:10,750 of my skin color. I have a voice that gets heard 156 00:08:10,930 --> 00:08:13,750 and a visage that emerges consistently in 157 00:08:13,750 --> 00:08:17,230 curricular systems. It's therefore my job to 158 00:08:17,260 --> 00:08:20,170 actively de-center the whiteness of academic 159 00:08:20,170 --> 00:08:22,990 systems I work within. And it just so happens I do 160 00:08:22,990 --> 00:08:26,260 this with Disney. I always tell my students that 161 00:08:26,260 --> 00:08:29,590 this current course, now in its fifth semester of 162 00:08:29,590 --> 00:08:32,590 realization, was seven years in the making for me, 163 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,860 three years into tenure tracking, I completely 164 00:08:35,860 --> 00:08:38,230 redesigned my freshman composition courses in 165 00:08:38,230 --> 00:08:41,410 direct response to Assembly Bill 705. And 166 00:08:41,410 --> 00:08:43,780 this was the mandate that requires all California 167 00:08:43,780 --> 00:08:46,090 community colleges to allow students to begin 168 00:08:46,090 --> 00:08:49,510 their English and math studies at transfer level. 169 00:08:50,290 --> 00:08:52,990 This bill directly addresses the data that shows 170 00:08:52,990 --> 00:08:56,050 how Black, Latino, Indigenous, Pacific Islander 171 00:08:56,050 --> 00:08:58,570 and other students of color are disproportionately 172 00:08:58,570 --> 00:09:02,050 impacted by conventional remedial course pathways. 173 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,200 In layman's terms, students of color have 174 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,840 historically spent more time taking classes that 175 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,140 don't count towards their transfer and thus 176 00:09:11,140 --> 00:09:14,770 transfer less than white students do. I do not 177 00:09:14,770 --> 00:09:17,380 belong to any of the disproportionately impacted 178 00:09:17,380 --> 00:09:20,620 student groups. I can, however, empathize, 179 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,590 empathize with some of their experiences in very 180 00:09:23,590 --> 00:09:26,500 small ways. I finished high school with a hard 181 00:09:26,500 --> 00:09:30,610 earned three point four GPA, an abysmal 980 182 00:09:30,610 --> 00:09:33,250 out of 1600 on my SATs. 183 00:09:33,550 --> 00:09:36,670 Alongside a sometimes debilitating anxiety and 184 00:09:36,670 --> 00:09:40,090 eating disorder, I miraculously got into one 185 00:09:40,090 --> 00:09:43,000 university, UC Santa Barbara. Out of the three 186 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,180 that I applied to, I was admitted as a pre biology 187 00:09:46,180 --> 00:09:48,550 major, which I pretended to be for exactly one 188 00:09:48,550 --> 00:09:50,980 quarter, during which I struggled to barely pass 189 00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:53,530 my classes and knowing full well I would not 190 00:09:53,530 --> 00:09:57,190 academically survive in their next levels. I 191 00:09:57,190 --> 00:09:58,840 distinctly remember telling my high school 192 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,620 classmates about my acceptance to UCSB and being 193 00:10:02,620 --> 00:10:05,050 met with disbelief because I had gained an 194 00:10:05,050 --> 00:10:07,810 acceptance when they did not, despite their 195 00:10:07,810 --> 00:10:10,600 markedly better GPA, test scores and 196 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:13,840 extracurricular resumes. Those conversations 197 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,620 unnerved me so much that I carried copies of my 198 00:10:17,620 --> 00:10:20,290 acceptance letter with me wherever I went in my 199 00:10:20,290 --> 00:10:24,040 freshman year. I also had copies on hand in my 200 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:27,400 dorm room just in case somebody questioned my 201 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:31,240 presence there. When I successfully persisted 202 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,580 through my undergraduate education, became an 203 00:10:33,580 --> 00:10:36,340 English major. I prepared for graduate studies 204 00:10:36,370 --> 00:10:39,190 mostly because I didn't know what else to do. Yet 205 00:10:39,190 --> 00:10:41,650 again, I managed to gain a single acceptance, this 206 00:10:41,650 --> 00:10:44,230 one to Loyola Marymount University, where I earned 207 00:10:44,230 --> 00:10:48,570 my master's in English literature. Finally, 208 00:10:48,570 --> 00:10:52,020 finding my place in the world of English studies, 209 00:10:52,020 --> 00:10:55,290 I confidently applied to 14 PhD programs across 210 00:10:55,290 --> 00:10:58,200 the US when it was finished at Moorpark sorry, 211 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,650 Loyola Marymount, and I was confident at that 212 00:11:01,650 --> 00:11:05,580 point that my three point nine GPA might outweigh 213 00:11:05,580 --> 00:11:09,450 my still subpar GRE test scores. I earned 214 00:11:09,450 --> 00:11:12,750 entrance into exactly none of the universities I 215 00:11:12,750 --> 00:11:15,510 applied to, and for twenty four hours I didn't do 216 00:11:15,510 --> 00:11:19,350 much more than cry and rage at the injustice and 217 00:11:19,350 --> 00:11:22,740 then committed myself to believing that I wasn't a 218 00:11:22,740 --> 00:11:25,440 true academic, that I couldn't make it in these 219 00:11:26,310 --> 00:11:30,750 programs or institutions because I wasn't one of 220 00:11:30,780 --> 00:11:35,760 those kinds of people. Oh, this was also the point 221 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,550 at which my anxiety tipped over into major 222 00:11:38,550 --> 00:11:41,760 depressive disorder, which made the rejection feel 223 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,120 profoundly worse. But after some life changing 224 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,940 faculty intervention from the one Jewish professor 225 00:11:47,940 --> 00:11:51,360 at the Loyola Marymount English Department, I was 226 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,820 encouraged to research other ways to achieve my 227 00:11:53,820 --> 00:11:56,370 goal, which involve confronting parts of my 228 00:11:56,370 --> 00:11:58,710 identity that I hadn't before wanted to wrestle 229 00:11:58,710 --> 00:12:02,600 with. After few weeks of dedicated research and 230 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:06,320 writing, I applied to 13 British PhD programs at 231 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,140 universities across England to research a once 232 00:12:09,140 --> 00:12:11,870 popular but now forgotten 19th century Anglo 233 00:12:11,870 --> 00:12:16,010 Jewish authoress. This time I received 12 234 00:12:16,010 --> 00:12:19,400 acceptance letters, and in 2010, I graduated from 235 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:21,860 the University of London with a PhD in English 236 00:12:21,860 --> 00:12:24,500 literature specialising in nineteenth century 237 00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:27,560 British historical romances and the ways in which 238 00:12:27,560 --> 00:12:30,890 the fears about Judaism's Jews and Jewish bodies 239 00:12:30,890 --> 00:12:33,290 threat to the white supremacy culture in this 240 00:12:33,290 --> 00:12:36,650 period across the UK and America was mitigated by 241 00:12:36,650 --> 00:12:40,460 Jewish women writers. Ironically or not, the 242 00:12:40,460 --> 00:12:44,030 jury's out. It was my engagement with my mental 243 00:12:44,030 --> 00:12:47,810 illness and racial and ethnic identity that 244 00:12:47,810 --> 00:12:50,960 enabled me to achieve my academic and professional 245 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:55,280 goals and also to heal. I genuinely believe that my 246 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,430 experience of studying a generalized human as a 247 00:12:58,430 --> 00:13:01,130 woman that intersects mainstream and minority 248 00:13:01,130 --> 00:13:04,400 culture informs everything I do in my classrooms. 249 00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:06,920 From my choice of materials, to my interaction with 250 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,130 students. And it's why I believe I focused my work 251 00:13:10,130 --> 00:13:12,980 and truly my life on offering alliance through 252 00:13:12,980 --> 00:13:17,070 empathy to my students that need it most. Over the 253 00:13:17,070 --> 00:13:20,160 years, I have accumulated 15 years of middle 254 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:22,860 school through college teaching experience both in 255 00:13:22,860 --> 00:13:25,440 England and California, and I'm finally able to 256 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,380 look back at my journey as reflective of a flawed 257 00:13:28,380 --> 00:13:31,710 education system. For a long time, I thought the 258 00:13:31,710 --> 00:13:36,240 problem was me. Sure, I ultimately worked it, but 259 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:38,790 I had the advantage of my whiteness to bolster my 260 00:13:38,790 --> 00:13:43,080 success, even at my lowest times. It's also very 261 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,810 easy for me to bury my Jewishness under my 262 00:13:45,810 --> 00:13:48,840 whiteness, to bury my depression, under my joy and 263 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,200 my eating disorder under exercise and diet. And 264 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,360 I'm guilty of doing all of these things when the 265 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,750 circumstances have suited. There are so many 266 00:13:57,750 --> 00:14:02,040 others out there that do not or cannot or will not. 267 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:04,680 And in many ways, therefore, the larger impetus 268 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:07,440 behind being the professor that I am is to help 269 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,770 students to see themselves as valuable, essential 270 00:14:10,770 --> 00:14:14,220 and successful and most definitely not reducible 271 00:14:14,220 --> 00:14:18,300 to a test score or a rejection letter. Teaching 272 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:20,910 English at community colleges, in my opinion, the 273 00:14:20,910 --> 00:14:24,150 best place to do just this, while we at the same 274 00:14:24,150 --> 00:14:26,970 time help to fill in the gaps that Disney and 275 00:14:26,970 --> 00:14:29,340 Wagner and Dintersmith reveal to be more than 276 00:14:29,340 --> 00:14:32,420 just potholes on the bumpy road of academic life. 277 00:14:32,820 --> 00:14:35,610 This is the space in which I believe educators 278 00:14:35,610 --> 00:14:38,220 evolve from instructor to ally through the 279 00:14:38,220 --> 00:14:41,280 acquisition, use and teaching of empathy, which 280 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,050 emerges from shared experiences of being human. 281 00:14:44,370 --> 00:14:46,470 And it's this evolution that enables us to 282 00:14:46,470 --> 00:14:49,710 champion racial and cultural equity for all of our 283 00:14:49,710 --> 00:14:50,460 students. 284 00:14:55,430 --> 00:14:58,670 Edwards Said in his seminal work, Orientalism, 285 00:14:58,670 --> 00:15:01,250 published in 1978, explains that 286 00:15:01,250 --> 00:15:04,520 the West has consistently designated the East as 287 00:15:04,730 --> 00:15:08,480 Other. And this concept of othering and otherness 288 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,090 is important to discussions about racial and 289 00:15:11,090 --> 00:15:14,510 cultural intelligence to the social justice 290 00:15:14,510 --> 00:15:17,750 reckoning America continues to confront. I know 291 00:15:17,750 --> 00:15:19,820 that Walt Disney was white and that the bulk of 292 00:15:19,820 --> 00:15:22,790 the material from his company has been equally so. 293 00:15:23,210 --> 00:15:25,520 And I think this explains in so many ways some of 294 00:15:25,550 --> 00:15:27,680 the racist and anti-Semitic propaganda that 295 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,440 emerged from the company in the 40s and 50s and 296 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,590 even as recent as the 90s. But that's a talk for 297 00:15:33,590 --> 00:15:38,480 another time. For now, I'm more interested here in 298 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,080 other animated films that appeared on the screens 299 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,890 to much less acclaim, at least at first. Take the 300 00:15:45,890 --> 00:15:49,640 2002 film Lilo and Stitch. I'll bet that not 301 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,120 everyone here is familiar with this one or as 302 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,640 familiar with it as they are with Frozen Beauty 303 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:57,890 and the Beast, Cinderella and all the other 304 00:15:57,890 --> 00:16:01,280 princess films the franchise is best known for. In 305 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,800 Lilo and Stitch, the audience gains a window into 306 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,680 the life of Pacific Islanders, Hawaiians, 307 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,440 particularly as Lilo and her sister Nani, 308 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,570 struggle to remain together after their parents 309 00:16:11,570 --> 00:16:14,420 die. They're forced to navigate the failure of 310 00:16:14,420 --> 00:16:16,760 their community to take care of their needs in a 311 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,150 culturally sensitive way. Nani, 19, is left to 312 00:16:20,150 --> 00:16:22,730 care for her seven-year-old sister, Lilo. This 313 00:16:22,730 --> 00:16:25,220 means she has to work to earn enough for them to 314 00:16:25,220 --> 00:16:28,850 survive and look after her sister. Most of the 315 00:16:28,850 --> 00:16:32,030 time, their life is a disaster, but their core 316 00:16:32,030 --> 00:16:35,570 value is that of Ohana. And I quote from the film 317 00:16:35,870 --> 00:16:39,470 Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left 318 00:16:39,470 --> 00:16:43,960 behind or forgotten. This value drives Nani's 319 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,630 determination to keep her sister out of the foster 320 00:16:46,630 --> 00:16:49,900 system despite her inability to care for Lilo or 321 00:16:49,900 --> 00:16:53,380 herself. That system does not hold the same value 322 00:16:53,380 --> 00:16:56,230 that they do, and so this little and broken family 323 00:16:56,230 --> 00:16:59,680 is at odds with it until an alien creature helps 324 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:03,370 everyone see a way forward together with Nani and 325 00:17:03,370 --> 00:17:06,280 Lilo's family emerging as a protected entity by 326 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:10,000 all sides. I have learned that family is the heart 327 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,180 of success as well as productive struggle, much as 328 00:17:13,180 --> 00:17:15,910 is the case in this film. And I was raised with 329 00:17:15,910 --> 00:17:19,120 the belief and practice that Disney is family. So 330 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:21,520 in bringing together my experience of ohana and 331 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,370 classrooms in America and England, I have always 332 00:17:24,370 --> 00:17:27,490 imagined my classroom communities as families. And 333 00:17:27,490 --> 00:17:30,280 I use this connection to build on the premise of 334 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,430 heart being home and tapping into what is deeply 335 00:17:33,430 --> 00:17:36,430 entrenched in American experiences, the Disney 336 00:17:36,430 --> 00:17:39,730 phenomenon and industry, and being the machine 337 00:17:39,730 --> 00:17:42,130 that it is, Disney is constantly updating its 338 00:17:42,130 --> 00:17:45,100 offerings and they are becoming quite taken with 339 00:17:45,100 --> 00:17:47,980 exploring more prominently all of those others 340 00:17:47,980 --> 00:17:51,850 that are so fully, truly part of everything we all 341 00:17:51,850 --> 00:17:52,300 are. 342 00:17:55,540 --> 00:17:58,690 I believe that allies use their privilege to make 343 00:17:58,690 --> 00:18:01,810 visible what has been rendered invisible, and I 344 00:18:01,810 --> 00:18:03,850 pulled blinders off white and marginalized 345 00:18:03,850 --> 00:18:06,400 students through the seemingly innocuous Disney 346 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,150 animation that we use. And these texts enable 347 00:18:10,150 --> 00:18:13,480 anyone to enter a whole new world and explore why 348 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:15,760 and how they haven't been able to see themselves. 349 00:18:16,270 --> 00:18:19,360 In 2016, Disney and Pixar released 350 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:22,960 Zootopia, and much to my delight, I found it a 351 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,600 powerful, race centric extension of Monsters 352 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:28,960 University. In this film, the main protagonist 353 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,660 dreams, big dreams and like Mike Wazowski in 354 00:18:31,660 --> 00:18:34,570 Monsters University, she's mocked and dismissed 355 00:18:34,570 --> 00:18:38,350 because of who she biologically is a bunny. Just 356 00:18:38,350 --> 00:18:40,180 by looking at her, others believe she isn't good 357 00:18:40,180 --> 00:18:42,370 enough, big enough, strong enough to become a 358 00:18:42,370 --> 00:18:45,730 police officer. And like Mike, Judy succumbs to a 359 00:18:45,730 --> 00:18:48,760 few moments of self-doubt and emotional lows. But 360 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,520 these ultimately mobilize rather than derail her 361 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:53,800 from pursuing her ultimate goal of joining the 362 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,980 police force. Notably, the presentation of 363 00:18:56,980 --> 00:18:58,900 institutional education in this film is 364 00:18:58,900 --> 00:19:01,630 overwhelmingly negative, and the bullying and 365 00:19:01,630 --> 00:19:04,600 abuse she experiences is justified because the 366 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:08,080 system and its educators believe that these are 367 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,420 the best ways to prepare cadets for policing in 368 00:19:10,420 --> 00:19:13,360 the real world. I believe that this image from the 369 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,150 film that summarizes the harrowing experience Judy 370 00:19:16,150 --> 00:19:19,330 has at the Zootopia Police Academy gives a 371 00:19:19,330 --> 00:19:21,910 snapshot of the many inequities our students of 372 00:19:21,910 --> 00:19:25,240 color face in the education systems. With Judy as 373 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,150 the symbol of these students, the ice walls get 374 00:19:28,150 --> 00:19:30,340 bigger and more slippery when we factor in the 375 00:19:30,340 --> 00:19:33,070 fact that students of color are disproportionately 376 00:19:33,070 --> 00:19:35,950 placed in special education classes during their K 377 00:19:35,950 --> 00:19:38,830 through 12 experiences. Think about the many 378 00:19:38,830 --> 00:19:41,560 issues with SATs and other standardized tests 379 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,260 and how it's very easy to buy your way through 380 00:19:44,260 --> 00:19:48,520 them. Think about access to AP and IB classes and 381 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,120 bias against community college enrollment. How can 382 00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:55,300 Judy, symbolically our most vulnerable student 383 00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:59,140 populations compete, let alone succeed in a system 384 00:19:59,140 --> 00:20:01,860 built for those completely unlike her and which 385 00:20:01,870 --> 00:20:07,270 actively discourage her success? She can't, not 386 00:20:07,270 --> 00:20:09,940 unless things change. I want to play a clip from 387 00:20:09,940 --> 00:20:10,710 the film for you. 388 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:31,240 And anyone could be anything. Turns out your 389 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,760 life's a little bit more complicated than a slogan 390 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:39,910 on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have 391 00:20:39,910 --> 00:20:44,050 limitations. We all make mistakes, which means hey 392 00:20:44,060 --> 00:20:47,770 glass half full, we all have a lot in common. And 393 00:20:47,770 --> 00:20:50,890 the more we try to understand one another, the more 394 00:20:50,890 --> 00:20:52,480 exceptional, each of us will be. 395 00:20:54,510 --> 00:20:59,090 But we have to try. So no matter what type of animal 396 00:20:59,090 --> 00:21:04,790 you are, from the biggest elephant to our first fox. 397 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:12,220 I implore you, try. Try to make the world a 398 00:21:12,220 --> 00:21:18,520 better place. Look inside yourself and recognize that 399 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,590 change starts with you. 400 00:21:23,020 --> 00:21:23,710 it starts with me. 401 00:21:25,750 --> 00:21:27,790 It starts with all of us. 402 00:21:44,190 --> 00:21:45,990 Stil get emotional, and I've seen it so many 403 00:21:45,990 --> 00:21:51,330 times, change does truly start with educators. It 404 00:21:51,330 --> 00:21:54,780 needs to be done. As creator of the Framework for 405 00:21:54,780 --> 00:21:57,360 Systemic Racial Equity Transformation, Glen 406 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:00,870 Singleton emphasizes urgently and radically. 407 00:22:05,510 --> 00:22:06,650 Yes, understandably. 408 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:12,810 The other barriers to student success, 409 00:22:12,810 --> 00:22:16,500 particularly for students of color, include bias 410 00:22:16,500 --> 00:22:19,860 that informs classroom progress. And the antidote 411 00:22:19,860 --> 00:22:22,650 to this is culturally responsive pedagogy. And the 412 00:22:22,650 --> 00:22:24,660 best part of this approach to teaching and 413 00:22:24,660 --> 00:22:27,570 learning is that it helps all students succeed, 414 00:22:27,810 --> 00:22:30,480 whereas a lot of current practices only help some 415 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,600 students because many of us teach in the spirit of 416 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:35,610 our favorite teachers and are the product of a 417 00:22:35,610 --> 00:22:38,460 system built on systemic racism, there are many 418 00:22:38,460 --> 00:22:41,610 things we don't know that we don't know. Now we 419 00:22:41,610 --> 00:22:44,340 know better. And it's time to embrace the suck, 420 00:22:44,670 --> 00:22:47,670 lean into the struggle and Brene Brown all over 421 00:22:47,670 --> 00:22:52,410 the system. I cannot recommend highly enough 422 00:22:52,410 --> 00:22:55,200 Zaretta Hammon's work on culturally responsive pedagogy 423 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,290 and brain function. When she spoke at a California 424 00:22:58,290 --> 00:23:01,080 Acceleration Project conference two years ago, I 425 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,320 was riveted. I laughed. I cried. I nodded so 426 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,900 hard, I morphed into a bubble head. And the best 427 00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:10,230 part is that the concept she builds upon is simple 428 00:23:10,230 --> 00:23:13,710 and familiar. We have to understand and protect 429 00:23:13,710 --> 00:23:17,700 hearts to educate heads, exactly the premise that 430 00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:21,930 informs my pedagogical values. One of her most 431 00:23:21,930 --> 00:23:24,870 powerful metaphors illustrating this point is the 432 00:23:24,870 --> 00:23:27,870 culture tree iterated in many forms in recent 433 00:23:27,870 --> 00:23:30,500 pedagogy. You've probably seen it as the iceberg. 434 00:23:31,050 --> 00:23:34,140 By understanding, she argues, where our cultural 435 00:23:34,140 --> 00:23:38,220 values influence us at the deep the roots, shallow 436 00:23:38,310 --> 00:23:41,970 the trunk or surface the leaves level of our day 437 00:23:41,970 --> 00:23:44,970 to day existences we can build on what students 438 00:23:44,970 --> 00:23:48,480 come to us innately awesome at and show them how 439 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,000 to capitalize on their existing strengths as they 440 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,760 hone and learn new ones, rather than threaten 441 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,650 their cultural and emotional roots, trunks and 442 00:23:55,650 --> 00:23:58,560 leaves. Because of stereotype threat, students of 443 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,500 color often don't come to school feeling very good 444 00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:04,680 about very much. And it's these simple shifts in 445 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,200 an instructor's approach that can make all the 446 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,870 difference to them. The fundamental take away from 447 00:24:11,870 --> 00:24:14,030 Hammond's work about culturally responsive 448 00:24:14,030 --> 00:24:16,820 teaching is its focus on evolving students from 449 00:24:16,820 --> 00:24:20,030 being dependent learners to becoming independent 450 00:24:20,030 --> 00:24:22,760 ones. And this means that we're not only focusing 451 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,850 on diversifying our learning materials or that 452 00:24:25,850 --> 00:24:27,830 we're only using our classrooms to explore 453 00:24:27,830 --> 00:24:30,980 microcosms of our world. We're teaching students 454 00:24:30,980 --> 00:24:33,650 how to use the essence that defines them to 455 00:24:33,650 --> 00:24:37,340 advocate for their learning and their lives. In 456 00:24:37,340 --> 00:24:39,530 order to be truly independent learners, students 457 00:24:39,530 --> 00:24:42,950 need skills that are compatible with their values. 458 00:24:43,250 --> 00:24:45,830 Teachers must show them how to celebrate and use 459 00:24:45,830 --> 00:24:47,840 their hearts and their heads. And they have to 460 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,360 give students practice in engaging in productive 461 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:52,430 struggle so that they construct new neural 462 00:24:52,430 --> 00:24:54,950 pathways and quite literally grow their 463 00:24:54,950 --> 00:24:57,830 intelligence. This isn't just about implementing 464 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,740 growth mindset. It's about showing students that 465 00:25:00,740 --> 00:25:04,430 they can defy stereotype threat, implicit bias and 466 00:25:04,430 --> 00:25:07,100 other racial injustices that threaten to get in 467 00:25:07,100 --> 00:25:12,160 their way. One of the most powerful metaphors in 468 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,860 pedagogy supporting how to empower students is 469 00:25:14,860 --> 00:25:18,070 what James Nottingham imagines as the learning pit. 470 00:25:18,820 --> 00:25:21,340 Contrary to popular belief, educators aren't meant 471 00:25:21,340 --> 00:25:24,010 to throw their students in there, wish them luck, 472 00:25:24,010 --> 00:25:27,850 put their feet up and sit back and watch. No, our 473 00:25:27,850 --> 00:25:31,840 job is to lead students to their individual pits, 474 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,660 which are different for every student, and ensure 475 00:25:34,660 --> 00:25:36,520 that they have all the equipment they need to 476 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,190 survive in them before gently pushing them in. 477 00:25:40,410 --> 00:25:44,040 Watching them navigate a host of tools, offering 478 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,430 help when they need it, and ultimately celebrating 479 00:25:47,430 --> 00:25:51,000 their emergence from them through collaboration 480 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,390 and on their own with classmates and instructors. 481 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,990 And it's what happens in the pit that is most 482 00:25:57,990 --> 00:26:00,480 important. This is the time in which productive 483 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,840 struggle happens. Students reflect on, try out and 484 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,940 ultimately solve the problem of getting out of the 485 00:26:05,940 --> 00:26:09,090 pit. And they have to rely on what they know and 486 00:26:09,090 --> 00:26:12,230 how they go about using that knowledge to get out. 487 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,180 Sometimes they emerge autonomously. Other times 488 00:26:15,180 --> 00:26:17,550 they emerge through the help of peers, instructors 489 00:26:17,550 --> 00:26:21,690 and support services. All the time they emerge and 490 00:26:21,690 --> 00:26:24,540 they do so because they independently make 491 00:26:24,540 --> 00:26:27,900 decisions that allow them to resurface. Even 492 00:26:27,900 --> 00:26:30,420 better is that there's no one way for them to do 493 00:26:30,420 --> 00:26:33,240 this. What this means for instructors is that we 494 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,370 now need to rethink our learning activities and 495 00:26:35,370 --> 00:26:37,680 assessments, embracing a wide variety of 496 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:39,630 opportunities and ways to allow students to 497 00:26:39,630 --> 00:26:42,090 demonstrate competency and mastery that 498 00:26:42,090 --> 00:26:44,820 capitalizes on their innate cultural strengths. 499 00:26:46,710 --> 00:26:48,750 The ways that students are encouraged to struggle 500 00:26:48,750 --> 00:26:51,330 on their own and with each other is the process of 501 00:26:51,330 --> 00:26:53,370 moving from dependent to independent learning 502 00:26:53,730 --> 00:26:56,940 cognitive wobbles, as James Nottingham calls them. 503 00:26:57,150 --> 00:27:00,600 And these involved evolve into Eureka moments 504 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,080 which are equally important. I'm going to show you 505 00:27:04,260 --> 00:27:06,330 just a very brief clip from his work. 506 00:27:15,020 --> 00:27:18,050 James Nottingham: How does it feel if you've really been struggling 507 00:27:18,050 --> 00:27:21,400 with something and then you eventually get it? 508 00:27:22,870 --> 00:27:26,590 It's great, isn't it? It's that Eureka feeling. I was 509 00:27:26,590 --> 00:27:28,750 presenting in Sweden two or three years ago and I 510 00:27:28,750 --> 00:27:31,660 use this example as a Eureka moment, at which 511 00:27:31,660 --> 00:27:33,880 point this woman in the audience jumped up and she 512 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,110 says, I just got married. I'm really happy 513 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:40,060 for you, love. She says I just got married to a 514 00:27:40,060 --> 00:27:45,070 Greek man, but I thought we got Shirly Valentine in the audicen what is she going on about? So she said now I just 515 00:27:45,070 --> 00:27:47,880 got married to a Greek man and so I've been learning Greek and Eureka 516 00:27:48,610 --> 00:27:52,240 is Greek, for I found it. I thought to myself, I 517 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,120 bet you have. But I didn't mention that the Swedes 518 00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:59,500 don't get innuendo. But I found it. It doesn't 519 00:27:59,500 --> 00:28:02,380 mean Natalie the navigator got me to the answer 520 00:28:02,410 --> 00:28:06,310 It doesn't mean my teacher gave me the 521 00:28:06,310 --> 00:28:10,930 answer. It means I found it. And how good does 522 00:28:10,930 --> 00:28:11,440 that feel? 523 00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:16,400 Dr. Booth: It feels very good for sure. 524 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:24,070 It's shifts like these in our thinking as educators 525 00:28:24,070 --> 00:28:26,380 that shift the entire paradigm of teaching and 526 00:28:26,380 --> 00:28:28,630 learning, moving closer towards equitable, 527 00:28:28,630 --> 00:28:32,950 empowering classrooms for all of our learners. And 528 00:28:32,950 --> 00:28:36,100 this is where Disney and my heart family dynamic 529 00:28:36,100 --> 00:28:37,320 enters the classroom. 530 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,770 Rather than learn from Disney 531 00:28:43,770 --> 00:28:47,280 and the various pedagogical materials I engage 532 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:50,610 with, I bring students into the classroom so that 533 00:28:50,610 --> 00:28:54,210 students can learn about the systems that they 534 00:28:54,210 --> 00:28:56,820 have to navigate from the inside out and not just 535 00:28:56,820 --> 00:28:59,280 acquire the skills that academics deem essential 536 00:28:59,280 --> 00:28:59,910 knowledge. 537 00:29:02,700 --> 00:29:06,240 Here are my courses, key points, topics and goals. 538 00:29:08,340 --> 00:29:10,410 I use a variety of student learning activities 539 00:29:10,410 --> 00:29:12,720 designed to accommodate the increasingly diverse 540 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:14,790 classroom of learners comprising our English 541 00:29:14,790 --> 00:29:17,160 composition classrooms. And I'm going to give you 542 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,130 a detailed account of how I implement them. At the 543 00:29:20,130 --> 00:29:23,760 heart of everything we do is empathy. They need to 544 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:27,030 be gentle and understanding with themselves as 545 00:29:27,030 --> 00:29:30,540 much as with others in order to grow as English 546 00:29:30,540 --> 00:29:33,750 students and as humans. Spring boarding from four 547 00:29:33,750 --> 00:29:37,020 recent Disney Pixar films. My zero textbook cost 548 00:29:37,020 --> 00:29:40,020 classes invite students to enter without barriers. 549 00:29:40,410 --> 00:29:42,630 They explore contemporary American understandings 550 00:29:42,630 --> 00:29:45,570 of institutional, cultural and personal education 551 00:29:45,570 --> 00:29:48,600 experiences while acquiring and practicing growth 552 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,480 mindset and academic habits of mind reading and 553 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,810 writing skills and critical thinking capacity. By 554 00:29:54,810 --> 00:29:57,990 reframing my role as a composition instructor into 555 00:29:57,990 --> 00:30:01,410 one that is also focused on being a good host as 556 00:30:01,410 --> 00:30:04,140 well as ally, I've shaped a class that offers 557 00:30:04,140 --> 00:30:06,720 students high challenge, high support and high 558 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,910 interest activities that are, above all, 559 00:30:08,910 --> 00:30:12,570 humanizing both of myself and of the academic 560 00:30:12,570 --> 00:30:16,530 process for my students. On the first day of the 561 00:30:16,530 --> 00:30:19,080 semester, when I teach on ground, I adopt a 562 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,780 practice that my daughter's elementary school uses, 563 00:30:21,780 --> 00:30:23,820 which comes from the program called Responsive 564 00:30:23,820 --> 00:30:27,300 Classroom. I stand at or outside my classroom door 565 00:30:27,300 --> 00:30:30,240 and welcome each student individually as they walk 566 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,480 into the classroom. And yes, I get a lot of looks. 567 00:30:34,110 --> 00:30:37,080 In my online asynchronous classes, this activity 568 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,240 has had to evolve and in its place is an 569 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,940 introductory discussion forum on which I comment 570 00:30:41,940 --> 00:30:45,360 on every student's post individually and in depth, 571 00:30:45,390 --> 00:30:47,820 meeting and greeting them, engaging with what 572 00:30:47,820 --> 00:30:50,640 they've shared, drawing up connections between us 573 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,880 and so on. In my Zoom office hours, I begin every 574 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,100 meeting with something that has to do with what I 575 00:30:56,100 --> 00:30:59,370 can observe about them from their zoom-in location 576 00:30:59,610 --> 00:31:02,040 or draw out something from that initial discussion 577 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,550 post or email exchange. My first priority in 578 00:31:05,550 --> 00:31:07,860 everything I do with my students is to connect 579 00:31:07,860 --> 00:31:12,360 with them through empathy as a human. In Unit one, 580 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,120 we lay the foundation for our course, themes and 581 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,630 workings, we look at college level study habits of 582 00:31:18,630 --> 00:31:21,420 mind and so on. And by working with the concept of 583 00:31:21,420 --> 00:31:24,240 definition, students aren't threatened by the need 584 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,150 to assert their perspective right away. And their 585 00:31:27,150 --> 00:31:31,710 first work is very personal based upon their 586 00:31:31,710 --> 00:31:34,680 experience of the definitions that they are aware 587 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,050 of. And this is a theme I carry with me through 588 00:31:37,050 --> 00:31:39,780 every unit. I scaffold the development of the 589 00:31:39,780 --> 00:31:42,270 unique voices through a number of activities in 590 00:31:42,270 --> 00:31:44,910 which they engage with the material and their own 591 00:31:44,910 --> 00:31:48,150 experiences, gradually gaining confidence in the 592 00:31:48,150 --> 00:31:50,280 exercise of their voice and opinions in a 593 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,430 carefully monitored discussion forum setting as 594 00:31:53,430 --> 00:31:56,250 we're online so that everyone feels safe. 595 00:31:56,700 --> 00:31:59,970 Everything they do in this unit earns full credit. 596 00:32:00,790 --> 00:32:03,300 I'll get to the grading later. And their first 597 00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:06,210 essay always ends with a comment, something along 598 00:32:06,210 --> 00:32:09,780 the lines of this. This is an original, exciting 599 00:32:09,780 --> 00:32:13,020 exploration of education from your perspective. I 600 00:32:13,020 --> 00:32:15,510 appreciate your sharing these experiences with me 601 00:32:15,510 --> 00:32:18,210 and enjoyed the vivid details offered about your 602 00:32:18,210 --> 00:32:21,210 personal history. Build on these strengths as you 603 00:32:21,210 --> 00:32:23,670 continue to learn about expository writing at the 604 00:32:23,670 --> 00:32:27,960 college level. I'm always ultimately asset minded 605 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,770 in my grading, though my in text comments will point 606 00:32:31,770 --> 00:32:34,950 out areas needing attention. I still focus on 607 00:32:35,340 --> 00:32:39,630 teaching students to find ways to grow in positive 608 00:32:39,630 --> 00:32:43,290 ways. In Unit one, I begin how I mean to carry on 609 00:32:43,290 --> 00:32:45,780 in the media and readings we engage with outside 610 00:32:45,780 --> 00:32:48,270 of Monsters University include a range of 611 00:32:48,270 --> 00:32:51,030 materials more conventionally found on pedagogy 612 00:32:51,030 --> 00:32:54,840 courses. Again, I want to make visible the systems 613 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:58,320 that operate on all my learners and therefore I 614 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,230 get to them to not only define their understanding 615 00:33:01,230 --> 00:33:03,990 of education from their personal experiences, but 616 00:33:04,020 --> 00:33:06,780 also to learn about the invisible systems that 617 00:33:07,140 --> 00:33:11,340 inform the experiences they have that create these 618 00:33:11,340 --> 00:33:14,250 definitions. And I challenge them to reflect on 619 00:33:14,250 --> 00:33:17,370 these definitions and to see them in new ways. 620 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,550 They first learn about metacognition from Carol 621 00:33:20,550 --> 00:33:24,390 Dweck's work, The Power of Yet. And then we read a 622 00:33:24,390 --> 00:33:28,140 wide variety of personal experiences of education 623 00:33:28,140 --> 00:33:31,500 from, for example, Patrisse Khan-Cullors' When They Call 624 00:33:31,500 --> 00:33:34,410 You a Terrorist, a Black Lives Matter Memoir in 625 00:33:34,410 --> 00:33:37,740 which she shares her experiences as being the only 626 00:33:37,740 --> 00:33:39,630 black learner at a private school in Southern 627 00:33:39,630 --> 00:33:43,770 California. Tara Westover's Educated helps them 628 00:33:43,770 --> 00:33:46,890 to see experiences of entering college from her 629 00:33:46,890 --> 00:33:49,890 family's survivalist value system and ultimately 630 00:33:49,890 --> 00:33:54,240 having to relearn and unlearn and learn to embrace 631 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:58,680 conventional ways of thinking. Phuc Tran's Sigh, Gone, 632 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:00,690 in which he details what it is like to go through 633 00:34:00,690 --> 00:34:03,420 school as a Vietnamese American, and the pressures 634 00:34:03,420 --> 00:34:05,280 from his parents that he navigated along with 635 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,910 racist bullying from educated educators and peers 636 00:34:09,240 --> 00:34:13,020 helps them to see that their experiences are not 637 00:34:13,020 --> 00:34:17,340 only located in their experience. I also make a 638 00:34:17,340 --> 00:34:20,820 real point of spelling and saying names as 639 00:34:20,820 --> 00:34:23,850 correctly as possible, including using accent 640 00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:26,250 points in my links to the material so that 641 00:34:26,250 --> 00:34:28,890 students can see I value true renderings of name 642 00:34:28,890 --> 00:34:31,590 and identity as much as the experiences those 643 00:34:31,590 --> 00:34:34,290 identities share. And following from the personal 644 00:34:34,290 --> 00:34:37,650 reflections, we turn to studies and research about 645 00:34:37,650 --> 00:34:40,290 institutions and individuals that navigate them. 646 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,080 We look at Most Likely to Succeed and Zaretta Hammond's 647 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,750 work. And then we add to this Paul Tough's 648 00:34:45,750 --> 00:34:48,390 The Years That Matter Most, How College Makes Us 649 00:34:48,390 --> 00:34:51,540 and Breaks Us and the adorable Rebecca Chang's. 650 00:34:51,540 --> 00:34:56,250 2019 TED Talk Growth Mindset for kids 651 00:34:56,250 --> 00:34:58,770 in which as an elementary school student, she 652 00:34:58,770 --> 00:35:02,850 talks about how she had to learn persistence. I 653 00:35:02,850 --> 00:35:05,850 want my students to leave Unit one with a clear 654 00:35:05,850 --> 00:35:08,250 sense not just of what they think, but what 655 00:35:08,250 --> 00:35:11,160 systems have operated on them to influence their 656 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:12,960 thinking. And I want them to practice 657 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,930 metacognition and begin to challenge and involve 658 00:35:15,930 --> 00:35:18,810 their concept of self and academia. Now that 659 00:35:18,810 --> 00:35:22,920 they're aware of these structures, Unit two builds 660 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,230 on the concept of definition and extends that to 661 00:35:25,230 --> 00:35:28,350 develop students understanding and use of the 662 00:35:28,350 --> 00:35:31,920 concept of academic conversation. Using Zootopia to 663 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:33,900 guide our investigation of different types of 664 00:35:33,900 --> 00:35:37,200 educational experiences, the unit focuses on new 665 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,480 habits of mind and reading skills and writing 666 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,560 skills. And we use our calendar a lot so that we 667 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,980 always are driven by purpose and location. We know 668 00:35:46,980 --> 00:35:49,590 where we've been, we know where we are, and we 669 00:35:49,590 --> 00:35:52,740 know where we're going. In this unit, we define 670 00:35:52,740 --> 00:35:55,770 and then juxtapose formal education with what I 671 00:35:55,770 --> 00:35:58,620 call informal education. Students start to see 672 00:35:58,620 --> 00:36:01,020 that education outside of the classroom and 673 00:36:01,020 --> 00:36:03,480 traditional learning spaces is impactful and 674 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,870 powerful while they develop the reading and 675 00:36:06,870 --> 00:36:10,050 writing skills we focused on in Unit one. In 676 00:36:10,050 --> 00:36:12,140 particular. We explore readings that showcase 677 00:36:12,140 --> 00:36:14,900 personal experiences of and opinions about 678 00:36:14,900 --> 00:36:17,390 education through the lens of rhetorical analysis, 679 00:36:17,580 --> 00:36:21,260 again making visible what has been invisible. Our 680 00:36:21,260 --> 00:36:23,810 readings and media continue to vocalize people of 681 00:36:23,810 --> 00:36:26,930 color and experiences of these people. And 682 00:36:26,930 --> 00:36:29,030 students learn about how stereotype threat 683 00:36:29,030 --> 00:36:31,700 condition, their reaction to learning spaces from 684 00:36:31,700 --> 00:36:34,850 Claude Steele, how systems ignore the most 685 00:36:34,850 --> 00:36:38,120 vulnerable students from Victor Rios, and why some 686 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:40,250 people value learning as they do from Michelle 687 00:36:40,250 --> 00:36:42,860 Obama. They then learn about Walt Disney's 688 00:36:42,860 --> 00:36:46,460 academic failures from his biographer and the ways 689 00:36:46,460 --> 00:36:48,890 that professional academic spaces are riddled with 690 00:36:48,890 --> 00:36:52,670 racism from Roxane Gay. After this, we look at the 691 00:36:52,670 --> 00:36:55,550 impact of being undocumented on immigrants in 692 00:36:55,550 --> 00:36:58,610 America from Janine Joseph and the ways in which 693 00:36:58,610 --> 00:37:02,120 music sings about all of these challenges. From 694 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,630 the Roots and Panic! At the Disco. All of my 695 00:37:05,630 --> 00:37:08,540 students have opportunities to see themselves in 696 00:37:08,540 --> 00:37:11,540 the literature we explore, and all students have 697 00:37:11,540 --> 00:37:13,850 opportunities to see students that they haven't 698 00:37:13,850 --> 00:37:17,720 seen before. When they see themselves and see 699 00:37:17,720 --> 00:37:21,740 others see them. Sometimes for the first time they 700 00:37:21,740 --> 00:37:24,980 are different. Even the most reticent lose some of 701 00:37:24,980 --> 00:37:27,500 their reserve and even the most hardened shows 702 00:37:27,500 --> 00:37:30,890 some softness. And that's when the best part for 703 00:37:30,890 --> 00:37:35,610 me happens. I get to learn from them. Moving away, 704 00:37:35,610 --> 00:37:37,650 though not completely from rhetorical strategies, 705 00:37:37,650 --> 00:37:40,440 Unit three is our literary analysis unit, and we 706 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:42,930 explore Coco and the impact of culture on 707 00:37:42,930 --> 00:37:45,510 education by thinking about how and why people 708 00:37:45,510 --> 00:37:48,780 tell stories and how these stories impact what we 709 00:37:48,780 --> 00:37:51,510 learn, how we learn. And even if we continue to 710 00:37:51,510 --> 00:37:55,320 learn. In this unit, therefore we focus on informal 711 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,200 education. The concept we started to unpack in 712 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,410 Unit two. Throughout this unit, students have a 713 00:38:01,410 --> 00:38:03,690 chance to refine their argumentation and work 714 00:38:03,690 --> 00:38:06,960 closely with textual evidence and the nuances of 715 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:10,380 language. And this unit asks students to read a 716 00:38:10,380 --> 00:38:13,500 little bit more heavily the Disney work that we're 717 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:16,140 dealing with as I ask them to read the entire 718 00:38:16,140 --> 00:38:20,430 script for Coco. The secondary readings and media, 719 00:38:20,430 --> 00:38:23,610 therefore, are less in quantity, they're reading a 720 00:38:23,610 --> 00:38:27,000 lot, so I try to balance that with less contextual 721 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,420 ideas. But this secondary material is 722 00:38:30,420 --> 00:38:33,090 complementary and expansive. They learn more about 723 00:38:33,090 --> 00:38:35,190 the impact of culture on their learning habits and 724 00:38:35,190 --> 00:38:37,950 styles from Zaretta Hammond, and they acquire a new 725 00:38:37,950 --> 00:38:40,830 sense of narratives and why and how they're told 726 00:38:40,830 --> 00:38:44,220 from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And they explore 727 00:38:44,220 --> 00:38:46,770 the impact of real life Latinx art, history and 728 00:38:46,770 --> 00:38:49,980 culture on the making of Coco from the film's 729 00:38:49,980 --> 00:38:50,760 creators. 730 00:38:52,850 --> 00:38:56,150 Though often dreaded by my students and me, the 731 00:38:56,150 --> 00:38:59,090 research essay that comprises Unit four always 732 00:38:59,090 --> 00:39:01,700 ends up being a favorite activity for students 733 00:39:01,910 --> 00:39:05,120 because it's entirely self-focused and we all know 734 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,620 ourselves or think we do best. Rather than ask 735 00:39:08,630 --> 00:39:10,970 students to piece together source material, to 736 00:39:10,970 --> 00:39:13,550 develop an argument about a topic, something I 737 00:39:13,550 --> 00:39:15,740 don't feel they're truly capable of doing well 738 00:39:15,740 --> 00:39:18,860 yet I ask students to think about how they can use 739 00:39:18,860 --> 00:39:21,500 research to educate themselves about their 740 00:39:21,500 --> 00:39:24,470 education. They'll learn about the writing that 741 00:39:24,470 --> 00:39:26,570 they need to perform in order to be successful in 742 00:39:26,570 --> 00:39:29,000 their studies as well as in their future careers. 743 00:39:29,450 --> 00:39:31,460 Because students have cultivated a tight knit 744 00:39:31,460 --> 00:39:33,920 classroom community by this point where we have 745 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,100 shared many of our skeletons students come to 746 00:39:37,100 --> 00:39:39,560 this assignment open and engaged, as well as 747 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:41,790 excited to find a way to glimpse their future. 748 00:39:42,290 --> 00:39:45,590 This is their opportunity to show themselves as we 749 00:39:45,590 --> 00:39:48,650 learn about in Frozen and find the music of their 750 00:39:48,650 --> 00:39:52,820 life as we see happen in Soul. And they really do 751 00:39:52,820 --> 00:39:55,700 love this. This assignment also helps them to see 752 00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:57,770 English courses as relevant beyond English 753 00:39:57,770 --> 00:40:00,320 classrooms, no matter how much they like to argue 754 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:03,020 the fact against the fact reading and writing 755 00:40:03,020 --> 00:40:08,040 skills are life skills. If I said that everything 756 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:11,130 I detailed in this talk was easy to do, I would be 757 00:40:11,130 --> 00:40:14,730 lying. This work is harder than any work I have 758 00:40:14,730 --> 00:40:16,890 ever done, and it takes more time and energy than 759 00:40:16,890 --> 00:40:20,160 I have to give sometimes. What's equally true is 760 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,100 that it's immensely transformative, professionally 761 00:40:23,100 --> 00:40:26,760 and personally when this work is done. What I've 762 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:28,860 learned is that in order to lead my students here 763 00:40:28,860 --> 00:40:31,680 and become allies for them and for our colleagues 764 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:33,930 of color, I have to take responsible for 765 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:37,650 responsibility for and actually do my work. I 766 00:40:37,650 --> 00:40:40,380 personally began in therapy with a social justice 767 00:40:40,380 --> 00:40:43,260 warrior therapist and researched my nerd heart, a 768 00:40:43,260 --> 00:40:45,510 reading, reading, reading, reading and reading, 769 00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:47,850 challenging myself to decentralize white 770 00:40:47,850 --> 00:40:50,580 narratives and create a space for research and 771 00:40:50,580 --> 00:40:53,820 stories emerging from communities of color. This 772 00:40:53,820 --> 00:40:56,100 is what I spend my summers doing, since this is 773 00:40:56,100 --> 00:40:58,170 the only time I have a dedicated amount of space 774 00:40:58,170 --> 00:41:00,990 and energy to throw myself in and wander where my 775 00:41:00,990 --> 00:41:04,500 wonderings take me. As a result, my term time work 776 00:41:04,500 --> 00:41:07,500 always evolves. This year, for example, my English, 777 00:41:07,650 --> 00:41:10,050 01b introduction to literature course is 778 00:41:10,050 --> 00:41:12,810 almost entirely comprised of non white content. 779 00:41:13,050 --> 00:41:15,390 And that was a huge shift for me personally and 780 00:41:15,390 --> 00:41:19,110 pedagogically. In this course we reclaim the 781 00:41:19,110 --> 00:41:21,870 multicultural origins of the Cinderella story and 782 00:41:21,870 --> 00:41:24,750 reimagine it as a hero's journey, learning to see 783 00:41:24,750 --> 00:41:26,940 as heroic the individuals that have persisted 784 00:41:26,940 --> 00:41:30,000 throughout persistent marginalization across time 785 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:33,090 and space by Western societies' discrimination. 786 00:41:33,660 --> 00:41:36,420 That is perhaps the talk for another multicultural 787 00:41:36,420 --> 00:41:41,340 day. For now, I will conclude with this, there's 788 00:41:41,340 --> 00:41:44,460 no quick fix for the systemic racism that pervades 789 00:41:44,460 --> 00:41:46,470 everything we do in American education 790 00:41:46,470 --> 00:41:50,040 institutions and beyond it. The work is hard, it 791 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:53,340 is painful, and human beings have primal brains 792 00:41:53,340 --> 00:41:56,430 that operate in survival mode. We're programmed to 793 00:41:56,430 --> 00:41:59,760 avoid difficulty and pain, but we have to remember 794 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:03,120 that we aren't primitive beings any longer when we 795 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,910 leap into those unknowns, many of which we didn't 796 00:42:05,910 --> 00:42:09,030 even know existed, we must remember that the very 797 00:42:09,030 --> 00:42:12,090 heart of our purpose is the catalyzing force 798 00:42:12,090 --> 00:42:15,390 behind our courage. We can make education better 799 00:42:15,390 --> 00:42:18,300 for all learners, and we can change the lives of 800 00:42:18,300 --> 00:42:20,700 our students by inviting them into our classroom 801 00:42:20,700 --> 00:42:23,820 families, and those that will become our students 802 00:42:23,820 --> 00:42:27,720 as well, for the better. Thank you for allowing me 803 00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:29,850 to share my journey with you, and thank you 804 00:42:29,850 --> 00:42:32,730 especially for letting me walk alongside you in 805 00:42:32,730 --> 00:42:33,200 yours.