Approaching Critical Language Arts Instruction Through the Lens of Abolition

 

Approaching Critical Language Arts Instruction Through the Lens of Abolition

            Duncan-Andrade and Morrell’s “Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom” was interesting to read on 6/11/2021, with Critical Race Theory being one of the most highly contested political talking points of the time. Many states are pushing to block Critical pedagogies throughout the country. Even Barak Obama made reference to CRT practices in his interview on CNN with Anderson Cooper this week. So the more politicized debate I listen to regarding Critical pedagogy, having read this article, I find myself repeatedly asking the same question; “What are people so concerned about?” Duncan-Andrade and Morrell suggest an approach to teaching that I agree with philosophically, and feel is a beneficial way of thinking about instruction for all students. They argue that “instruction is rooted in the existential experiences of marginalized peoples; that it is centered in a critique of structural, economic, and racial oppression; that it is focused on dialogue instead of a one-way transmission of knowledge; and that it is structured to empower individuals and collective as agents of social change.” At this time in the history of American education, I can think of no better way to allow our young people to develop their voices, communicate their experiences, and lead to beneficial change that might bring about a more just society.

            Considering Duncan-Andrade & Morrell’s work against the backdrop of Abolitionist thinking was thought-provoking. In the video “Abolitionist Teaching & the Future of our Schools”, Bettina Love, Gholdy Muhammad, Dena Simmons, and Brian Jones discuss the impact that racial oppression had on their own experiences, both as students as well as educators. Love, for example, tells the story of having limited collegiate experiences because of her upbringing in an inner city school. Muhammad explains her call to abolitionist thinking rooted in her own experiences and sense of duty to respond to injustice as a Muslim woman. Simmons talks about feeling underprivileged for the first time when she left the Bronx to attend a boarding school and became truly aware of how underfunded her schools had been. When she returned to teach at her old highschool and saw that there had been no improvement in the conditions, she was compelled to find a voice to attempt to affect change. Each of them tells stories that are all too similar to the experiences that millions of American youth experience in their own schooling. They are the stories that far too many politicians and policy makers, often blinded by the biases inherent in their own white privilege, at best don’t want to hear and at worst want to justify. In a society as fractured as America today, no change can be made toward a more just society if people’s stories aren’t heard. And one of the first places that everyone’s story must be heard is in the classroom.

            So with the tenets of Abolitionist education in mind, using Duncan-Andrade & Morrell’s frameworks for some of the units of instruction they used in their own classroom, I tried to envision a unit of my own. Considering the impact that Covid-19 has had on the American labor force, especially in light of the impact that it has had on working mothers, (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/moms-work-and-the-pandemic.html), and in keeping with Love, Muhammad and Simmons’ call for the voices of women of color to be more central to the curriculum, I thought that designing a unit studying the experiences of mothers of color could bring to light many opportunities to understand a myriad of problematic aspects of societal injustice. I would begin the unit by watching a series of poems by or about the experiences of mothers of color.

We would view them together, as a whole class, with lights on and notebooks open, asking ourselves:

·         “What common experiences do these women share?”

·         “What impediments/injustices do they encounter?”

·         “What are their biggest concerns/worries/responsibilities?”

·         “What would have to change to make their experiences feel more just?”

Over time, these discussions will help the students see the structural injustices that negatively impact women and mothers of color, the impact that these injustices have throughout society, and the need to eliminate these injustices.

Potential Poems (in no particular order):Insert link beneath each

Dominique Christina-“For Emmett Till”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9DhsymA9tQ&t=125s

Suheir Hammad- “Poems of war, peace, women, power”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAj1hsXp18c&t=149s

Ursula Rucker- “What a Woman Must Do”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiL0mWK4YTI&t=87s

Golden- “And I Will Always be Your Mother”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4oEnLpd3F8&t=43s

Sarah Kay- “If I should have a daughter”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQgz2AhHaQg&t=75s

Amal Kassir- “My Grandmother’s Farm”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8sNbBwmygU&t=127s

Akeem Olaj- “Lies Heal”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JsfbIL3fmo&t=69s

Alysia Harris- “Will not go without”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa1oUO-LZL8

 

            Once we have discussed the poems, made comparisons and connections, raised questions about the impact that societal injustice faced by women of color has on the society as a whole, I envision moving them into small groups to engage in book clubs centered around novels, using the same questions to guide our work. Students will read the text with a critical lens, and by focusing on the experiences of women and mothers from diverse backgrounds, come to a better understanding of the impact of racial injustice upon all people.

Potential Texts (in no particular order):

Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Sabrina and Corina

Yvonne Vera, Butterfly Burning

Tommy Orange, There There

Uwem Akpan- Say You’re One of Them

Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X

Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

John Okada, No No Boy

Trevor Noah- Born a Crime

 

            There are a few aspects of Duncan-Andrade & Morrell’s unit design that I really appreciate and would incorporate into my own unit. I like their approach to final presentations, especially as it related to those students not presenting. By making non-presenters responsible for coming to each presentation with questions they might ask the presenters, as well as requiring them to take and submit notes for a grade for each presentation, it ensures that all students are actively engaged in the work; there is no time for them to “check out”.  I also appreciate their approach to grading when they explain, “We sought to develop a grading system that honored skills no longer emphasized in many classrooms, such as working well with classmates, presenting one’s ideas orally, and engaging in respectful, yet critical, conversations and classmates.” To honor this, they break grading down into three components: preparation, presentation, and participation in other groups’ presentations. I have always struggle with how to best grade culminating projects, and this seems like an ideal strategy in order to fully engage students and grade them in a manner truly reflective of their contributions to the learning environment.