E-Portfolio
Entry
Activity Name &
Description
Modeling the Way: Adopting the Role As a Change
Agent
1.
Course Paper (Outcomes 2 & 7)
By the end of the course each student is expected to submit
a paper (no more than eight pages in
length; doubled spaced) using APA
guidelines that 1.) Identifies his/her future or current role as an educator,
describing the context and functions of this role; 2.) Provide an overview of
the themes outlined in class that are relevant to this role; 3.) Provide a
synthesis of the themes in the course and analyze how the themes have affected
policies and practices relevant to this role on a campus with which you have
familiarity; 4) How you will apply what you have learned to being responsive to
all students in the educational pipeline.
Consider both curricular and programmatic issues. Comment specifically on how you can and will
be a change agent for equality and access in education.
In July, I was asked to write a paper where I
would describe my role as a Social Justice Educator.
Date/Semester
Summer Semester, 2013
Learning Domains
Addressed (Labels)
o
Leadership
X Social Justice & Advocacy
X Education
o
Assessment & Evaluation
X
Personal Development
Learning Outcomes
SWiBAT
understand personal role as Social Justice Educator.
SWiBAT understand actions Social Justice Educators can take as they transition into Higher
Education.
SWiBAT to describe future and current goals as a
professional.
Assessment Rubric
Rubric: Modeling the Way:
Adopting the Role As a Change Agent
|
SLO #1 – Personal Role as Social Justice
Educator
|
SLO #2 – 3 Actions Social Justice Educators
can take as they transition into Higher Education.
|
SLO #3 – Future and Current Goals as a
Professional
|
Advanced
|
I
will be able to articulate multiple personal roles as a Social Justice Educator. (4)
|
I will be able to understand 4 actions Social Justice Educators can take as they transition into Higher Education.
|
I
will be able to describe future and current goals as a professional. (4)
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Competent
|
I will be able to articulate multiple personal roles as a Social Justice Educator. (3)
|
I will be able to understand 3 actions Social Justice Educators can take as they transition into Higher Education.
|
I will be able to describe future and current goals as a professional. (3)
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Basic
|
I will be able to articulate multiple personal roles as a Social Justice Educator. (2)
|
I will be able understand 2 actions Social Justice Educators can take as they transition into Higher Education.
|
I will be able to describe future and current goals as a professional. (2)
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Poor
|
I will be unable to articulate multiple personal roles as a Social Justice Educator.
|
I will be unable to understand any actions Social Justice Educators can take as they transition into Higher Education.
|
I will be unable to describe future and current goals as a professional.
|
Evidence: See Paper
Below, highlighting portions that resonate with Student Learning Outcomes
Modeling the Way: Adopting the Role As a Change Agent
California State University, Fullerton
Darrell (Deejay) Brown Jr.
Summer 2013
Introduction
My favorite Black, Queer, lesbian poet, Audre Lourde once
said “ that which is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and
shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. That speaking
profits me, beyond any other effect.” Initially, I must understand my own personhood and
positionality. When I reflect on who I am, I can begin to look inward into what
I’m bringing in to my conception of social justice. This paper will
describe not only my current roles as a social justice educator, but examine
themes that affect my role as an educator and how I plan to use what I’ve
learned in class to be a more beneficial social justice educator.
My Roles as a Social Justice Educator
I am currently
transitioning between roles in my Higher Education Career. I am currently being
hired as the LGBTRC Program Coordinator at University of California, Irvine. I
am leaving my position from being a graduate assistant at the ASI LGBTQ
Resource Center. In this new position, I am responsible for coordinating
campus-wide programs, networking with campus offices and community resources,
as well as the daily management of programs and services at the LGBTR Center.
Not only am I developing campus-wide programs, but also I
will coordinate, design, and evaluate LGBTRC sponsored workshops and
presentations. This new role has me select, train and supervise student
interns, peers, office volunteers, as well as safe zone facilitators. When I
reflect on my functions in this role, I not only have the opportunity to train
others on diversity and social justice I have to be vigilant in the way that I
work with people of difference. As I train safe zone facilitators, staff,
faculty and students and other stakeholders, we must examine spaces where we
are privileged and oppressed and how we enact our power and agency. My main
purpose in this position as social justice educator is to provide student
support, advocacy, crisis intervention, and referrals to campus and community
resources. I am to assist campus departments in the development of supportive
and safe environments for all students.
Reflection and Analysis
As I reflect on this position, I have to consider how my own
empathy. Using Delgado & Stefanic’s Critical Race theory (2012), I must
immediately look inward on how I plan to practice what I have learned about
social justice. I must immediately reflect that I too have my baggage that I
bring into my role as a social justice educator. Delgado & Stefanic (2012)
question how “how can one talk back to messages, scripts, and stereotypes that
are embedded in the minds of one’s fellow citizens and, indeed the national
psyche?”
I must also remember to not
embody the empathetic fallacy and remember that I am “stock full of narratives-the
terms, preconceptions, scripts and understandings that [I] use to make sense of
the world. They constitute who [I am], the basis on which [I] judge new
narratives”(Delgado &Stefanic, 2012). I must look inward, but I also
must be aware of the company I keep, where I get my ideas and knowledge and
recognize that I too am apart of two very different cycles that keep certain
narratives alive.
There are many considerations that I have reflected on that
are shaping my practice. I am aware and
fortunate to have a role where I realize I have a great deal of power in how I
enact my role. I have a responsibility as a social justice educator to consider
other student’s experiences. I have to listen to their voices, where they come
from, what they articulate their needs to be.
I need to check my bias, examine the lenses I use to create programming.
In this position, I have to not only be intentional in how I understand and
articulate those needs into programs but I must be honest and vulnerable in my
understanding.
Manning (2009) describes that when we examine
society from a social justice perspective, we must look at power and privilege
holistically and intersectionally. “Although other perspectives focus on issues
of ethnicity, classism, or sexism, a social justice perspective includes all of
these as well as other discriminatory practices that involve unequal power
distributions (for example, those related to age, language, immigrant status,
and disabilities”(Manning, p6, 2009). In my day-to-day practice, my role as a social justice
educator is to create a dialogue that considers different voices. We
must hold these as valuable, understand that in Higher Education that we have
work to do to question how we consider the needs of different populations. It
is not enough that I focus on LGBTQIA issues but how these intersect with other
identities within each student I face on a daily basis. When I program, it is
not just for LGBTQ issues, but because all the students I have are multifaceted
people with multiple social identities, I must consider how these different
identity statuses shape who they are as individuals.
Manning continues to describe the role of social justice
educators as: “Those with a social justice perspective work for change and
shifts in power by accepting positions (elected or appointed) within the
existing power structure”(Manning, 2009). I realize that I am working within
the structure of Higher Education to create social change and bring other
voices into how I program. Manning continues to describe the actions of social
justice takes considerable time to progress in an authentic way. “Through incremental,
evolutionary means, social justice activists chip away at the unfairness that
is inherent in institutional structures”(Manning 2009). I intend to create
teachable moments on a daily basis, create an atmosphere where those around me
can challenge my privilege as well as those of their peers.
As I
consider how I will be a social justice educator, I must understand certain
themes embedded into American Education. As an educator, I must examine the
institution of Higher Education and understand the history of social injustice
that is embedded into the structure that I must change. Spring (2011) asserts
that there are many themes that inform the “history of schooling”, they are:
“globalization, conflict, ideological management, immigration, economic goals,
consumerism and environmental education.” These historical themes shape not
only my understanding of education, but have shaped the lives of the students
that I will serve.
Historically, the institution of education was used as a
“form of cultural imperialism” that enacted dominance over people of color, and
immigrants that were different from the norm.
The dominant society attempted to assimilate those that could fit into
what it means to be American (Spring 2011). Spring (2011) asserted that it was
important to create an American National identity, and education would be used
to create this identity. Spring (2011) describes how school polices created
spaces to exclude those that did fit into the dominant American culture and
were marginalized and stratified those that could not assimilate. Spring
examined the American institution of education and describes the “culture wars”
in American schooling and what it meant to be a multicultural American Nation
(Spring, 2011). When examining the cultural norms in the history of education,
we can immediately understand how education as “ideological managers” has
deliberately stripped people of color their cultural heritage and historically
segregated or removed them from the educational system (Spring, 2011).In the
institution of American education today, it is important to recognize that were
considered those apart of the dominant culture had a much different educational
experience that those who considered inferior.
Spring (2011) also recognized that American school systems
were “ideological managers” where the education system “created and distributed
knowledge in society” in its curriculum, the media, the home and created a
national American culture. Creating this narrative became a single unified
story, but many voices and many different cultural heritages were not
integrated into this story.
When
reflecting on Harro’s (2008) cycle of socialization, it is evident how the
institution of education plays its role in socializing our society. As
“ideological managers,” education does “bombard” and “reinforce” individuals to
create hierarchical differences in how we view people of difference, both
consciously and unconsciously. These messages create “models of ways to be” and
creates expectations and norms(Harro, 2008). Our teachers, those that care
about us on the individual level create spaces that privilege dominant peoples
and punish and stigmatize social identities that are not deemed as worthy.
Through education these messages can create psychic trauma and is embedded in
promoting the “status quo.” It
is our charge as educators to realize that students are bringing in mixed
messages of who they are supposed to be and the historical institution of
education must be examine our roles in indoctrinating people in a system that
both privileges and oppresses us(Harro, 2008). As social justice
educators working with students with many different identities we must raise
consciousness, interrupt and reframe the ways in which we have oppressed our
own students (Harro, 2008). It is our duty as change agents, to uncover these
scars, and work to create changes both in our policies and in our daily
actions. When we come across students with difference in our positions we must
work to create spaces that are equitable and just, shift our language and
create a space for all identities to have a real seat in the institution of
Academia.
Call to Action
I have to continue to
look inward to see what I can offer the students that I serve. My philosophy as
a social justice advocate in this position is to create a space that is
welcoming, engaging and intentional in creating a sense of community and
belonging. This space must be one that has an atmosphere of acceptance,
where all who walk into the space immediately enter into a dialogue where we
check our privilege, listen to each other’s voices and work collaboratively to
meet our needs. Through programming, I want my role to help create a place that
builds awareness of diversity, creates a space for those that feel silent and
bolsters a sense of advocacy and community.
I have a
responsibility consistently try to respond to the needs of all students’
voices, and work collaboratively with different campus departments to create
communities of caring. I must personally try to establish a sense of rapport
and trust and when I act out my commitments, I can own up to my actions and
work to dismantle our wrongdoings or biases. This is how I believe I can create
change.
In my practice, I must take a stance where I continue to
listen, where I continue to think of different narratives that inform my story
and my craft. I must understand that I am just one caretaker of the stories of
my students. As I reflect on this new position, I have to question: what does
it mean to be considerate? What does it mean to silence others? Who is speaking
when I am speaking? How am I ideologically managing others? What am I teaching?
What are the messages I want to pass on? I must consider where am I creating
spaces for agency and self-definition.
The
questions that I’ve considered must be reflected in my practice. I must
regularly check in on my philosophy of social justice so I do not become numb to
the great responsibility as a student affairs practitioner. I must recognize my
role in creating spaces for not only LGBTQ students, but also all students. As
a practitioner, I must continually develop my commitment to all students.
As a call to action,
practitioners must utilize Harro’s (2008) cycle of liberation, as we aim to
transform the institution of Education. To create change, we must use many
critical lenses and transform “institutions and create new cultures”(Harro,
2008). Harro (2008) suggests as leaders and policy makers, we must examine and
change Higher educations, “structures, assumptions, philosophy, rules [and our]
roles.” We are charged with working collaboratively, understanding that
change is not working from a single issue perspective, but aligning ourselves
as leaders that “model authenticity, integrity and wholeness”(Harro, 2008).
Harro (2008) suggests we must share our “power” create action plans that share
and “spread hope and inspiration.” When internalizing the cycle of liberation
it means working right within my position, modeling a new way. It means
critically examining my power as an educator, sharing and spreading that power,
creating spaces and policies that are inclusive where all who are in that space
can bolster their sense of empowerment. I think creating a new culture, means taking ownership,
working in a place of vulnerability and working to create dialogues and a
strategic plan which models our integrity as educators to use the lenses of
what it means to be a social justice educator.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as
social justice educators, we must critically examine current campus climates:
the students, the faculty, staff, administrators, the atmosphere of the campus,
the campus’ mission statement, stances on social justice and living out that
stance in our policies, programming, and our curriculum. We must
continually examine the structures that hold power and work to dismantle that
structure or work within that structure to create an environment where students
have more access and equity. As practitioners, we must look at where we are
those that have privilege and hold power and work to create collaborative
partnerships to create spaces for others to empower themselves. Social Justice
educators must continue to examine and assess the historical experience of
students on the campuses they inhabit. We must listen to the feedback and the
voices of our students. We must authentically consider the needs of the student
populations.
Reflection
This paper helped me understand what it means to have both the knowledge and the passion to articulate and understand my mission and role as a social justice educator. As I created this paper, I remember having so many ideas. The prompt had so many directions and I needed to examine myself, the institution and history of the American Higher Education system as well as understand what I bring in to my work on a daily basis. I felt worried writing this, because I feel that it was and as a promise. It is a living contract that I make as a social justice educator. I feel bound and honored that I have to live my life in such a way but my goal is about being intentional.
As a professional and social justice educator, we must be intentional in the way that we live out our careers, because there our lives on the line. We are responsible for checking our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for growth, because there were so many people before us that really damaged lives and generation by mishandling people they were responsible. As educators, we must do our part in the institution of academia, do dismantle and reshape the narrative that is being told. I think it is more about adding to the narrative, intentionally leaving room for space for students to have spaces where they can make up their own minds and think critically. Using a multi-frame approach is about trying to cover our bases, we must think about our own thinking, consider others, and always take on a personal role of growth and development.
