Hello all,

Just posting the link to my newly uploaded video for April 8th’s class.  Hope you’re all enjoying the nice weather!

Cheers,

Sarah

I have become aware of so many disturbing things throughout this course – but in a good way, really! And because of what I’ve learned, I view my role in the world differently than I did before January 7th, 2009. I am no longer the citizen who just pays her taxes and shovels her snow in winter and mows her lawn in summer, who donates to the Food Bank when the Girl Guides come around in October; the one who shakes her head at the news when another woman goes missing, or the one who says, “Thank goodness child labour isn’t happening here!” I am leaving this class as a socially responsible, and responsive, citizen. I now question why we charge school fees, why we have so many children living in poverty in Regina, why schools have “Lulu Lemon Day” and “Luxury Day”, why we are eating genetically-modified food, why people are patenting food, why, why, why?? So many eye-opening moments in this class; thank you so much, Marc, for taking us on this journey.

To use Dr. Ayers’ words, I have ‘learned about’ history in this course, now I can help my family, friends, and students ‘learn from’ history by making them aware, encouraging them to question why things are the way they are, and then challenging them to take action against whichever injustice is near and dear to their hearts. And as a good role model, I will lead by example with my passion about stopping the use of child soldiers.

In order to review what I have done, as Dr. Ayers recommends, I will have to wait until my unit on child soldiers is complete. My hope is that my students will begin to critique other happenings in the world, and will feel moved to take action, if not now, then in the future when they find their passions for justice.

“Power is not just wielded from the top, but something that comes as well from below.” Dr. Ayers’ words motivate me to find that power to make a difference in our world.

Here is the highly anticipated and over hyped camping video. You may have to re-read LER #3 to follow the video. Enjoy.

As an educator of First Nations students, culture plays a major role in my teaching philosophy. Elders, students, parents, extended family and community members help to support First Nations to develop and implement a comprehensive holistic educational system inclusive of First Nations languages, world views, values, beliefs and traditions with exemplary academic standards, under First Nations jurisdiction. Similarto Dr. Bill Ayers class lecture where he  argues for education and comments how “every human being is of incomparable value. Education is both a right and a journey, a right because you have to have equal access to it and a journey because we set parameters, ways of nourishing and challenging the whole child.”

All First Nations children are unique, sacred gifts from the creator. Each child has the ability to learn and has the right to the highest standard of education that encompasses spiritual, physical, social, emotional and cognitive development necessary for lifelong learning, similar to that of Brokenleg’s, “Reclaiming Youth At Risk”, and the four universal growth needs of Mastery, Independence, Belonging and Generosity.” Much the same as Dr. Bill Ayers discussed ways of nourishing and challenging the whole child, the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental. As with First Nations culture children are in the middle of the Medicine Wheel, the center of the circle and in the middle of the community. They are the most important and we need to go back to our traditional values and remember what is important.

Ayers also states that we can’t; have segregated schools, education should be equal in money distribution, implications for curriculum and teaching are huge and society wants students to be obedient and conforming. What we need to teach is: initiative, courage, imagination and entrepreneurship. We must teach a curriculum of questioning, doing and making, learning from rather than learning about, learn from nature rather than about nature, learn from history not about history, learn from democracy not about democracy. As with First Nations beliefs and the way we respect and learn from it. We want students to know they have a mind of their own and in conversation and dialogue we have a collectivectively with others and have a conversation. In other words, we need to give students back their voices and allow them to learn to their fullest potential.

As an Educator my Inherent right is:

- the right to a good education

-the right to learn and to practice my own language

-the right to be protected by the government

-the right to be treated fairly and without prejudice by the police

-the right to be safe in my country, Canada, unlike the women in the Congo

-the right to be heard and cared for by society, unlike the wome in “Stolen Sisiter’s”.

-the right to be heard and truly respected by society

Finally, it was a great experience to be able to discuss the various topics openly and without prejudice with you Marc and all of my classmates. Although at times the topics discussed in class were extremely difficult, I strongly believe that as a class we have “all” opened our eyes and will forever be changed for the better and learn to stand up and fight for the unjustices in the world. I leave you with this poem and would like to thank everyone for their kind words and understanding of my culture as we continue on our educational journey!

Akosi, Charlotte Campbell

“A holistic philosophy and psychology rooted in

traditional Native values can improve the educational

opportunities for Native children.”

- Joe Couture, Cree Elder

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Don Williams Jr., an American novelist, once said, “The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”  What an incredible journey this class has taken me on! Words and images are forever imprinted in my heart and soul.  This class has opened my eyes.  As Arundhati Roy so eloquently stated, “The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out.” Ask anyone on my school staff or in my circle of friends how happy they are that this class is almost over because they are uncomfortable by the topics of discussion I bring to them after each class.  Unbeknownst to them, the conversations will not stop with the class.  I can’t go back to my personally responsible citizen status as coined by Dr. Westheimer.  I don’t fit in that “box” anymore.

How did I live in a world and not see it? Dr. Bill Ayers provided the answer when he stated that privilege is an anaesthetizing thing and you don’t see things in the same way when you have it. How profound and true! I think back to reading Jamaica Kincaid’s reaction to tourism in Jamaica and remember how I was guilty of so many things she had mentioned being a tourist with a blindfold on. I think back to learning about the amazing Dr. Vandana Shiva and sharing her passion for farmers and the seed they grow. Giant bullies like Monsanto were examined. Wow… how naive I was. This led me to remember the gifted Dr. Ignacio Chapela, who took on Goliath and won. Awe-inspiring, humble heroes! There were many other guests and readings that I have not mentioned but that had profound affects on me as well.

To conclude, I found another quote by Arundhati Roy that seems to fit with my new way of thinking. I am forever changed thanks to this experience.
To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.

It’s been a pleasure being in this class with all of you.

This class has changed the way I understand and view the world around me.  As I have said before, I feel this class pulled my head out of the sand and has gently encouraged me to have a closer look at the world we live in.  I have chosen to share some of my learning from this class via this power point presentation. The song title – From a Distance by Bette Midler – describes how I was looking at the world around me before I signed up for ED870.  From where I was standing – from the distance I was at – things looked OK so all was good in my world.  This class helped me to decrease the distance and allowed me to have a closer look.  Once I had moved closer I was able to see the many endless social injustices more clearly.  It has been very upsetting to discover just how comfortably blind I have been all these years.  It is shameful that it has taken a class to move me into this position but I am grateful to have made this journey. 

            The song speaks of not understanding why things are as they are.  I feel I am still trying to work out the reasons behind the many social injustices.  Our class has enlightened me in this regard but I am still struggling with many aspects of this.  I don’t know how the people that control the power can sleep at night? I don’t understand the gross misuse of this power.  Misuse to the point of hurting other human beings and our environment knowingly!  How can anyone or any group be that power hungry?

            “We are all instruments marching in a common band” brings a couple thoughts to mind.  Are we playing the instruments and freely choosing the tune and heading off on our march or are we the instruments being played?  Are we being forced to play the transnationals’ song and do they have us moving on their carefully orchestrated treadmill?  And are we really going anywhere if we are on a treadmill? I fear it is the later and it is time we all get off the treadmill!

            When you take a closer look, the planet is not blue and green but filled with pollution of all kinds.  The snow is not white and our rivers are not meeting the stream.  Will there be any eagles left to take flight?  “No guns, no bombs, no disease, or hunger.”  The pictures I have put together for this presentation graphically depict just how wrong all this thinking is.  There is hunger, guns, war and disease and many other autrosities occurring in our world today.    

            The song also speaks about the voice of hope and of peace.  I need to be that voice of hope and peace.  As Bill Ayres says – we all need to take some sort of action and connect it with someone else.  This was echoed by all our presenters.  We have the potential to change the world if we work together.  

            The song goes on to say how God is watching us.  Another words, we are accountable to whatever higher being you believe in.  Our creator and mother earth are watching our actions and counting on us to help inspire the positive changes needed in our world. 

            The following quote describes so much of what I have experienced in this class.  Powerful words in which we can all learn from and live by!   

            The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable.

                                                                                                                    ~Arundhati Roy

I have seen it and can not unsee it, and therefore need to speak out!

Bette Milder was not available to sing the lyrics to this song and so I have attempted to fill in for her.  By the way, I have never recorded myself singing let alone put it out there for others to listen to!  Pretty scary stuff!    

Thanks to all my classmates and to Marc for taking this journey with me!        

Donna

I believe that Dr. Bill Ayers said it best right at the end of the video clip. He stated that we can’t wait for someone to save us; we must act and save ourselves. We need to be active. We need to remake out lives and our communities. He then goes on to talk about three steps we need to take in order to change our lives and the world around us.

The first step was to open our eyes to the world around us. During my journey through my Masters, I have had several different awakenings or eye opening experiences. I remember my first social justice class with Lisa Como. This was the first time I had sat and thought about my experiences with relation to aboriginal students and my privileges as a white adult male. My second came this summer during institute were we covered a variety of topics related to social justice. These first two classes helped to steer me towards a class on sustainability and finally on to Ed 870 AO. I believe that this is just the start of my awakening. I will continue this journey of looking at the world with my eye wide open. I already have three books waiting for me Consumed by Benjamin R. Barber, The Translator by Daoud Hari, Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, and The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland. Each of these books Consumed takes a look at the global economy as it over produces goods and targets children and guilty parents. The Translator is about a young boy who escapes the genocide in Darfur. He then returns as a guide and translator helping ensure the story of his people is told. The Last Child in the Woods takes a look at how important it is for us to expose children to nature. He provides both physical and emotional evidence to support his ideals around the importance of exposing children to nature. The Bite of the Mango is about a young girl from Sierra Leone. After loosing both hands in an attack on her village the book follows her life from Sierra Leone to Freetown and finally North America. I am looking forward to each of these books and where they will take and how they will shape me. My eyes are open and I need to keep looking at the world.    

The second step is to act. The difficult part of this step is; where do you begin. I was relieved to here Dr. Bill Ayers talk about choosing a passion and acting on that passion. As we have seen throughout this class there are many injustices in the world and to try and solve all of them would be all consuming. It is better to choose one that is important to you and direct your actions and energy to that one. I have also learned that acting comes in many different forms. We have seen individual like Dr. Chapela and Bill Bigelow take on large companies and Universities where his entire livelihood is in jeopardy. We have seen people like Craig Kielburger who have dedicated their life to fight injustices and yet others that through their work quietly make changes and affect the world. To me this really brings home the idea that one individual can make a difference. Your action do not have to be huge and grand but you must act. For me, my passions seem to pull me in two directions. I have a strong desire to improve and share the environment we live in. This first passion has a lot to do with my upbringing and my love for the outdoors. The second area is education. I have slowly been immersing myself into the Fee The Children organization and their efforts to build schools in “developing” countries. This passion is something my wife has introduced to me and something we can work on and learn about together. In both cases there are supports and motives for being involved. I think this is critical for anyone that becomes active. There has to be a driving force and a self interest.

The third step is to be a critic. It is important to be a self critic. This is  a critical step in anything that you do. You must be able to step back and ensure that what you are doing is truly in the best interest of those that you are trying to serve. I really enjoyed the sarcasm or irony of the video supporting child soldiers. Many times we react instead of act. By this I mean that we sometimes react and follow our emotions or first instinct. These reactions may be miss informed or miss guided. Dr. Faye Ginsburg talked about this with regards to technology. What is important to us may not be important to other cultures. Computers and internet may not be the answer for many communities. Cell phones on the other hand link family, provide instant access to people and are valued. When Dr. Ginsburg was talking about this it reminded me of when we traveled through the Caribbean, everyone had a cell phone. It made me question some the other charitable organizations that exist in Canada. These charities collect old cell phones that are to be distributed to developing nations. I thought why the hell are they collecting phones when everyone has one and they are newer than mine?   What I did not see was computers. This now makes perfect sense to me. It helped to clarify just how important it is to be critical and continually evaluate your progress. It makes it equally important to be able to adjust and change when things are not working as anticipated.

The other thing that Dr. Bill Ayers said was that “power is not welded from the top down but form the bottom up.” This statement is empowering in the sense that to often we wait for governments or international agencies to lead us down the right path. We look to them for the answers and for what to do. It should be the other way. We should be demanding or telling the government and other agencies how to act and what we want to see happen. It places the power back into the hands of the people. It ensures that individuals can make a difference. This gives us that feeling of choice and that we can affect change within our communities.

The other question he posed was, “what is unique about democratic education?”  We can’t get trapped in this idea of “good kids and ideal education.”  We must see every human as a valued individual. They are the citizens that will be making the decisions and managing our affairs in the future.  We need them to be imaginative, courageous, entrepreneurs, and innovative.  This must become part of what we teach. We must learn to question. We must learn form doing or making.  We must learn from not about. In each of these we must develop a mind that is their own. This mind must challenge or question information. The mind must be willing to do something about the injustices that it sees. I believe we are working towards these ideals but are still not there. We have to look at what is taught, what is left out of curriculums and what needs to be changed.  History especially seems to only be taught form a one sided perspective. Classes like ours need to exist in schools were students can become more aware of the world around them. People like Craig Kielburger and other organizations are taking steps in the right direction.

In closing I would like to say that my last class has been my most rewarding and self actualizing. I look forward to continuing my journey as a more socially aware teacher, traveler and citizen. 

From: Bill Ayers
To: Marc Spooner
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 22:58:33 -0500
Subject: ARRIVED!!!
Thanks for the taste of Sask. Lovely, Bill

Conversations

One day, Money said to World,
“I own you. Here is my proof:
People worship me. They abandon
brotherhood and sisterhood to grasp me.
I have divided you, World.
I have filled the head of Corporate America
and there will always be more of me than you.
World, you are my puppet.”
World looked at Money, stupefied, hoping
it wasn’t true.

Adult once said to Child,
“Put down your toy, rainbow, and song.
Child, I know your teeth are small,
your limbs are not get grown,
and your mind is limited. Regardless,
I must introduce you to Violence.
In case of danger, Violence will lead you
to be the first in line.”
Child looked at Adult, stupefied, hoping
it wasn’t true.

Bus said to Factory Woman,
“Go on, climb in. Here’s how it works:
You aren’t going home. Yes, I know you’ve
finished a long day of work. Your back is aching
and your children need you. Regardless,
we are headed for the Desert.
You see, I don’t drive passengers
named Dignity, Value, or Protected. No, I drive
Mutilated, Discarded, and Unimportant.”
Woman stared at Bus, stupefied, hoping it wasn’t true.

People often shouts at Planet:
“Give, give, give,
your Sun, Moon, and Stars are all mine.
The Environment is my slave and I demand top performance.
Yes, I could pay attention to your signs:
depleting Forest, polluted Air, and drowning Water
but I have it all figured out:
Today is all that matters; right now is my utmost care.
Later I will care for you instead of crush you in my hands.”
Planet looked down at People, very sad, knowing it was true.

“Conversations” is a reflection of some of the themes which have touched me most in this course. Thank you for all your posts and presentations. I am walking away from this course with many challenges and purposes to be a better citizen. Also, I have such a greater understanding of people’s value, cultural uniqueness, and education’s capability to shape an entire child. Thanks to each of the speakers from this course, I have a wider focus, a more universal perspective of seeing the world and people in it: every human being is of unequivocal value. Also, to reference Bill Ayers, I am ready to do something.

Dear Faye (and doggy!)
Thank you so much for sharing your valuable time and insight with us!
Your informative talk and reading was truly appreciated by me and my
class!

I would like to send you a small token of our thanks in the mail,
what address would be best, Faye?

many thanks

Sincerely,
Marc

*****************************

>>> Faye Ginsburg  04/02/09 9:25 AM >>>
Hi Marc -
Thanks! It was a pleasure. I have never done a Skype class before. I
hope it went over well. My address should come up at the bottom of the email here. Thanks for tracking me down in the first place.  I hope Smokey
provided some comic relief.

If you go to my website (follow links below) I have a series of
articles on indigenous media that were written for a terrific online
journal called Flow that might be fun for the class.

Also, I would recommend they look at the website Community Prophets,
that has been working with youth in a number of indigenous and
disadvantaged communities to provide alternative models of education
using digital video with kids who are at risk in many different ways.

It was set up by the same people who did Us Mob. Since so many
people in your class are professional educators, they might find that
of particular interest. Also, the Us Mob site is very interactive for
young people to participate in that project for folks who are in
classrooms with young people.

All best,
Faye