Visiting HTH MA:
"Is it possible for equality and justice to live within a classroom and school-wide culture?"
I have been teaching and living within inner-city communities since I began teaching. I entered education with a conviction that a classroom can bring justice and a sense of equality where it was lacking in my students’ lives. During the course of my career I have noticed that year-after-year the academic and social-emotional needs of our students not being met by the increasing demands in raising standardized test scores and numerous failed strategies have worn down my convictions from living itself out the way I had dreamed years ago. Is it possible for equality and justice to live within a classroom and school-wide culture? If so, how does the teaching staff maintain this and how are the students affected by this?
I entered the thought of visiting Jaimee Rojas’s 9th grade humanities class at High Tech High Media Arts (HTHMA) with this curiosity as the filter for my observations. I began climbing the stairs to meet Jaimee with two Starbucks grande lattes in hand on a November 3rd foggy morning. Jaimee and I entered a classroom at 7:30 for a professional development meeting among eight 9th through 12th grade humanities teachers. Clarisa, a 10th grade teacher, hands out the questions for a discussion focused on literary analysis (i.e. how do they use it and why). Throughout the 30 minute discussion there is a sense of vulnerability, affirmation, efficiency of time, focus, and moving forward as I hear words like “I need help with ____, Let me know when you teach ____, so that I can pop in, I love how ____, My students come in with ____, How do we want to send them on to ____, Where do we move from here?”. These teachers are transparent in how they share their need to grow and invite others to see what they are doing. The discussion then moves on to establishing consistent skills that weaves throughout the grade levels. They see what they do within their classroom connecting to the grades below and above their own. The focus is in how they can improve their craft through learning from one another and developing consistency between grade levels. Student needs are addressed respectfully with teachers figuring out how to lessen the gaps together. I walked away from this meeting feeling a sense of accomplishment, clarity on the next steps to be taken, and an empowering positive attitude to keep moving forward as a staff.
Jaimee and I proceeded to walk through the halls of HTHMA. I was struck immediately with the various student projects and self-expressions on display at every turn. I wonder how proud these students must be walking through their school witnessing beautiful work from their own labor and gaining inspiration from those before them. Every classroom we visited was different and similar in profound ways. One classroom had students sitting in pairs at desks facing the front of the room. The CNN theme song was blaring out of the speakers. A screen revealed the blog created by students. Some students were at the front speaking from their blog like news broadcasters. Another classroom had students sitting in a half circle, rehearsing a play. An expert was visiting and giving guidance on how to read their lines with expression. Just across the hall the students were all scattered in pairs, alone at computers, or in larger groups critiquing each other’s essays.
All the classrooms I observed differed in what the students were working on, how they chose to work, and where. The similarities among all the classrooms, despite the grade level and subject area, was that every student could articulate what they were learning and its significance to them. Both teachers and students seemed comfortable with my intrusion and were more than willing to talk with me. An interesting thing to me was that I consistently had a difficult time locating the teacher because he/she was among the students coaching, guiding, and facilitating. The partnership between teacher and student and student to student was evident within each classroom.
I then proceeded to Jaimee’s classroom. I entered and was drawn to how Jaimee set-up the room to reveal work that reflects her students’ thoughts, interests, and tools of inspiration to discover new interests. One tool were quotes about love from Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Mary McCarthy. A painted chalk wall adorns the quote “A question that makes you think is worth asking…” where students write things they wonder about. There are also remnants of student projects on the walls and shelves enveloping the room. But what dominates the walls from top to bottom, left to right are the remains from a Graffitti discussion her students had previously done about the controversial UCSD Compton Cook Out. The students initiated the conversation by writing on the whiteboard with their questions and responded to each others’ responses. Jaimee is using these student-led ideas to serve as a catalyst for a Touchstones discussion in that day’s lesson which will contribute towards their current project.
The students enter and Jaimee high fives each of them. As they assembled into the full circle of chairs, she counts down to receive their full attention. She passes out the necessary sheets of papers that will prepare the students for the day’s agenda and a weekly calendar of events. Jaimee states the purpose of their Touchstones discussion and the preparatory work’s contribution to the richness and passion in their coming discussion. The students yell “Yeah!” once Jaimee states that they are going to begin by writing for 10 minutes on the outside lunch tables during their journal time.
The students assemble in various configurations choosing to work alone, with partners, and small groups. They are to center their writing on the idea of “perceptions”. Within the task, Jaimee gives the students sub-questions that they can write from or they can choose to free-write. She sets-up parameters by allowing to the students to draw for 3 minutes and write for 7 if they choose to. The students’ journals are solely for themselves and serve as a safe place for them to reflect without Jaimee reading their thoughts. Time is called and we all retreat to the classroom.
Jaimee asks that the students define “ASSUMPTIONS” with a partner. The class develops a definition together using every pair’s idea. Jaimee proceeds to read aloud the invitation to the “Compton Cook Out” as posted on Facebook. The students are then to read it silently. I notice a student working on a Rubix cube while listening to the reading. Jaimee tells me that these are “Fidgets” enabling the student to focus. Then, she writes on two post-its delineating items for a student needing focus during the reading and to a student who needs a challenge. Students are then directed to write for 3 min. on an open-ended question and create other questions that they would like discussed in today’s Touchstones discussion. Throughout the activity, Jaimee is affirming of her students’ actions (“I love how you are listening.”) and challenges them (“Push yourself to ____”).
Students number off and are to move themselves using a map on the board as a reference according to their number. Before the small group discussions begin, Jaimee asks the students to choose a goal she listed or create one on their own that’ll challenge them to contribute to the discussion (i.e. listen before speaking, refer to the text, pose a question to the group,etc). There are various criteria for who begins the discussion or writes on the board (i.e. youngest, longest hair, etc.). One of the topics for discussion is whether they would’ve gone and why. This question was based on responses on the Graffitti talk. They also share and decide on one question that they would like discussed with the whole class based on the Compton Cook Out invitation. Jaimee steps in with each group to give guidance as needed.
The various small groups write their questions on the board. Jaimee gathers everyone together and asks what makes a good discussion question. She lists student responses. She creates space for ideas to flow without judgment or coloring it with her own. The students vote for a question. Jaimee teaches into the purpose or value of what they do. She states “I expect you to use your vote to express your voice. Raise it high! Own it!” They then discussed why certain questions didn’t receive many votes. These thought provoking questions enables the students to develop their own rubric for quality work.
After a brief break, the students reassemble into a whole circle and are given 2 talking sticks to allow for balance of air time. Jaimee reminds them of their discussion goals. As the students talk, they reference one another and build on each other’s ideas, are respectful to differing comments, and thoughtful. Jaimee takes notes of the conversation and adds a question, shares a personal experience, and empowers with a challenge if the discussion is in need of momentum (“By a show of hands, how many have been made fun of? How did that make you feel?”). She also affirms those who share some dissent from the majority of the comments (“Thank you for being brave, being honest, and for putting it out there.”) As the Touchstones discussion draws to a close, she creates space for those who haven’t spoken in the whole group, to do a partner talk about any last thoughts. The students then write on their exit cards about the process (i.e. what struck them and what their discussion goals were and how they did with it) and discuss it with the whole group.
At the end of my visit to HTHMA and Jaimee’s classroom, I return to my initial questions: Is it possible for equality and justice to live within a classroom and school-wide culture? If so, how does the teaching staff maintain this and how are the students affected by this? Yes, it is possible when there are learning environments and teachers as thoughtful about their students as Jaimee is. It is possible when teachers are mindful in designing curriculum that connects students to each other, themselves, and relevant issues surrounding them. It is possible when students lead/initiate and choose. It is possible when every student has access to the content in various modalities. It is possible when students are challenged and encouraged at the same time. It is maintained when the teaching staff learns and collaborates with one another in vulnerability, transparency, affirmation, and reliance as witnessed among the HTHMA humanities staff. Witnessing Jaimee at HTHMA gives me hope again that equality and justice in education can empower students to contribute to the society they currently live in.
Students then become owners of what they learn. They see themselves as contributors and not just receivers of information. Jaimee enables this when she uses both the current interests, learning profiles, and readiness of her students to access the content and how she is also enabling them to discover new interests within themselves through her careful designing of curriculum around social justice and empathy. Then, there will be an absence of the “powerlessness” that Kohn speaks of in a school culture whose essential value is democracy.
As I walked around my Audubon campus with Jaimee during her visit to my school, I had a sense of this “powerlessness” looming within classrooms, among students, and staff. I continue to sift through what are the first few steps my school or a school community like Audubon’s, needs to take in order to move in the direction of democracy and out of powerlessness? Is it enough to begin with one classroom at a time? I continue to wonder if I am taking enough risks or the right kind of risks to share and invite my colleagues on this journey with me for the long haul.
I entered the thought of visiting Jaimee Rojas’s 9th grade humanities class at High Tech High Media Arts (HTHMA) with this curiosity as the filter for my observations. I began climbing the stairs to meet Jaimee with two Starbucks grande lattes in hand on a November 3rd foggy morning. Jaimee and I entered a classroom at 7:30 for a professional development meeting among eight 9th through 12th grade humanities teachers. Clarisa, a 10th grade teacher, hands out the questions for a discussion focused on literary analysis (i.e. how do they use it and why). Throughout the 30 minute discussion there is a sense of vulnerability, affirmation, efficiency of time, focus, and moving forward as I hear words like “I need help with ____, Let me know when you teach ____, so that I can pop in, I love how ____, My students come in with ____, How do we want to send them on to ____, Where do we move from here?”. These teachers are transparent in how they share their need to grow and invite others to see what they are doing. The discussion then moves on to establishing consistent skills that weaves throughout the grade levels. They see what they do within their classroom connecting to the grades below and above their own. The focus is in how they can improve their craft through learning from one another and developing consistency between grade levels. Student needs are addressed respectfully with teachers figuring out how to lessen the gaps together. I walked away from this meeting feeling a sense of accomplishment, clarity on the next steps to be taken, and an empowering positive attitude to keep moving forward as a staff.
Jaimee and I proceeded to walk through the halls of HTHMA. I was struck immediately with the various student projects and self-expressions on display at every turn. I wonder how proud these students must be walking through their school witnessing beautiful work from their own labor and gaining inspiration from those before them. Every classroom we visited was different and similar in profound ways. One classroom had students sitting in pairs at desks facing the front of the room. The CNN theme song was blaring out of the speakers. A screen revealed the blog created by students. Some students were at the front speaking from their blog like news broadcasters. Another classroom had students sitting in a half circle, rehearsing a play. An expert was visiting and giving guidance on how to read their lines with expression. Just across the hall the students were all scattered in pairs, alone at computers, or in larger groups critiquing each other’s essays.
All the classrooms I observed differed in what the students were working on, how they chose to work, and where. The similarities among all the classrooms, despite the grade level and subject area, was that every student could articulate what they were learning and its significance to them. Both teachers and students seemed comfortable with my intrusion and were more than willing to talk with me. An interesting thing to me was that I consistently had a difficult time locating the teacher because he/she was among the students coaching, guiding, and facilitating. The partnership between teacher and student and student to student was evident within each classroom.
I then proceeded to Jaimee’s classroom. I entered and was drawn to how Jaimee set-up the room to reveal work that reflects her students’ thoughts, interests, and tools of inspiration to discover new interests. One tool were quotes about love from Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Mary McCarthy. A painted chalk wall adorns the quote “A question that makes you think is worth asking…” where students write things they wonder about. There are also remnants of student projects on the walls and shelves enveloping the room. But what dominates the walls from top to bottom, left to right are the remains from a Graffitti discussion her students had previously done about the controversial UCSD Compton Cook Out. The students initiated the conversation by writing on the whiteboard with their questions and responded to each others’ responses. Jaimee is using these student-led ideas to serve as a catalyst for a Touchstones discussion in that day’s lesson which will contribute towards their current project.
The students enter and Jaimee high fives each of them. As they assembled into the full circle of chairs, she counts down to receive their full attention. She passes out the necessary sheets of papers that will prepare the students for the day’s agenda and a weekly calendar of events. Jaimee states the purpose of their Touchstones discussion and the preparatory work’s contribution to the richness and passion in their coming discussion. The students yell “Yeah!” once Jaimee states that they are going to begin by writing for 10 minutes on the outside lunch tables during their journal time.
The students assemble in various configurations choosing to work alone, with partners, and small groups. They are to center their writing on the idea of “perceptions”. Within the task, Jaimee gives the students sub-questions that they can write from or they can choose to free-write. She sets-up parameters by allowing to the students to draw for 3 minutes and write for 7 if they choose to. The students’ journals are solely for themselves and serve as a safe place for them to reflect without Jaimee reading their thoughts. Time is called and we all retreat to the classroom.
Jaimee asks that the students define “ASSUMPTIONS” with a partner. The class develops a definition together using every pair’s idea. Jaimee proceeds to read aloud the invitation to the “Compton Cook Out” as posted on Facebook. The students are then to read it silently. I notice a student working on a Rubix cube while listening to the reading. Jaimee tells me that these are “Fidgets” enabling the student to focus. Then, she writes on two post-its delineating items for a student needing focus during the reading and to a student who needs a challenge. Students are then directed to write for 3 min. on an open-ended question and create other questions that they would like discussed in today’s Touchstones discussion. Throughout the activity, Jaimee is affirming of her students’ actions (“I love how you are listening.”) and challenges them (“Push yourself to ____”).
Students number off and are to move themselves using a map on the board as a reference according to their number. Before the small group discussions begin, Jaimee asks the students to choose a goal she listed or create one on their own that’ll challenge them to contribute to the discussion (i.e. listen before speaking, refer to the text, pose a question to the group,etc). There are various criteria for who begins the discussion or writes on the board (i.e. youngest, longest hair, etc.). One of the topics for discussion is whether they would’ve gone and why. This question was based on responses on the Graffitti talk. They also share and decide on one question that they would like discussed with the whole class based on the Compton Cook Out invitation. Jaimee steps in with each group to give guidance as needed.
The various small groups write their questions on the board. Jaimee gathers everyone together and asks what makes a good discussion question. She lists student responses. She creates space for ideas to flow without judgment or coloring it with her own. The students vote for a question. Jaimee teaches into the purpose or value of what they do. She states “I expect you to use your vote to express your voice. Raise it high! Own it!” They then discussed why certain questions didn’t receive many votes. These thought provoking questions enables the students to develop their own rubric for quality work.
After a brief break, the students reassemble into a whole circle and are given 2 talking sticks to allow for balance of air time. Jaimee reminds them of their discussion goals. As the students talk, they reference one another and build on each other’s ideas, are respectful to differing comments, and thoughtful. Jaimee takes notes of the conversation and adds a question, shares a personal experience, and empowers with a challenge if the discussion is in need of momentum (“By a show of hands, how many have been made fun of? How did that make you feel?”). She also affirms those who share some dissent from the majority of the comments (“Thank you for being brave, being honest, and for putting it out there.”) As the Touchstones discussion draws to a close, she creates space for those who haven’t spoken in the whole group, to do a partner talk about any last thoughts. The students then write on their exit cards about the process (i.e. what struck them and what their discussion goals were and how they did with it) and discuss it with the whole group.
At the end of my visit to HTHMA and Jaimee’s classroom, I return to my initial questions: Is it possible for equality and justice to live within a classroom and school-wide culture? If so, how does the teaching staff maintain this and how are the students affected by this? Yes, it is possible when there are learning environments and teachers as thoughtful about their students as Jaimee is. It is possible when teachers are mindful in designing curriculum that connects students to each other, themselves, and relevant issues surrounding them. It is possible when students lead/initiate and choose. It is possible when every student has access to the content in various modalities. It is possible when students are challenged and encouraged at the same time. It is maintained when the teaching staff learns and collaborates with one another in vulnerability, transparency, affirmation, and reliance as witnessed among the HTHMA humanities staff. Witnessing Jaimee at HTHMA gives me hope again that equality and justice in education can empower students to contribute to the society they currently live in.
Students then become owners of what they learn. They see themselves as contributors and not just receivers of information. Jaimee enables this when she uses both the current interests, learning profiles, and readiness of her students to access the content and how she is also enabling them to discover new interests within themselves through her careful designing of curriculum around social justice and empathy. Then, there will be an absence of the “powerlessness” that Kohn speaks of in a school culture whose essential value is democracy.
As I walked around my Audubon campus with Jaimee during her visit to my school, I had a sense of this “powerlessness” looming within classrooms, among students, and staff. I continue to sift through what are the first few steps my school or a school community like Audubon’s, needs to take in order to move in the direction of democracy and out of powerlessness? Is it enough to begin with one classroom at a time? I continue to wonder if I am taking enough risks or the right kind of risks to share and invite my colleagues on this journey with me for the long haul.
Contact: melissahan411 [@] gmail.com