“As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.” — Ursula K. LeGuin
In this dark time of continuous testing and mandates from people who don’t know our students, what possibilities do we continue to imagine? I’ve been talking with teachers about what they still do that they believe is good for their students and how they do it. I’ve been asking what keeps them going.
Darlene Rivera is a Social Studies teacher at Denver Center for International Studies, The school’s mission includes an emphasis on Social Studies so at every grade level there is both a history course and a course more focused on the school’s international studies vision.
To start our conversation, Darlene explained the context of the course she feels lucky to teach.
“I teach Global Service Learning. I have a full year of 8th grade to teach kids about the world including bad things going on and I teach them about people trying to make it better. So they get a ‘yup there’s problems out there that we can’t really ignore and there a lot of people out there doing an awful lot of good work and trying to make it better.'”
When we spoke, the students were getting ready for a modified Model United Nations project. “Today in my classroom, we were getting ready for MUN activity. 8th graders will represent the issue from their country’s perspective, as a representative of that country. So today, a kid sitting right here (and our topic was gender equality) says ‘But, Miss, I don’t even understand how in my country, women could be considered second-class citizens. How could anybody…that just doesn’t make sense to me.’
This is a real issue that might even be affecting their own lives. How do I get an 8th grader growing up in the United States to argue this idea of gender equity over gender equality? In some places its not about everybody gets the same rights. Its about you get the right to fully develop as a man. You get every right to fully develop as a woman.Men and women have different roles….I get to engage in these real life conversations with kids that are beyond academics.
Still, they’re researching, articulating publicly and in this particular activity,they collaborate with others, build consensus and negotiate, speak in public, use parliamentary procedure.
What I put out to them is how do 193 countries get together? What kinds of rules and procedures do they need to agree on something? In this room with 30 people, we couldn’t even agree unless you had a protocol. When we operate under a protocol we can get somewhere.”
With increasing pressure on the DCIS courses that aren’t standard, Darlene is explicit and specific about the ways that her course aligns with standards in Common Core, particularly supporting writing, reading, thesis with supporting evidence, research, different kinds of evidence and discernment between opinion and evidence.
For for own values, she wants her students to experience finding things they are interested in out in the world, then feel confident they can jump in there and do the research. She tells them how the communication, research and argument skills will apply in specific real life situations, even if some will sometimes say, “But, Miss, I’m only in eighth grade.” She says many kids take years to appreciate the value of what they learned. “With teaching, its not necessarily instant gratification but for the long haul while they grow.”
How do you come up with what you do, how do you put it together
I think I consider myself to be a citizen of the world; I’m kind of my own little deep thinker with lots of questions. For instance, today’s lesson, they got to pick their topics. We narrowed 30 topics down to 6, through a voting process. We had a snow day yesterday. I spent countless hours finding six youtube videos–one for each topic. so each kid got something so they could choose which council they want to be on. I think its hard. Only way it really happens is that for whatever reason, I’m driven. I love the content. I’m driven to do something about it. I love the content. I really love the content.”
How do you keep going?
What keeps me alive is when I’m right there in the moment with the kids who are getting it. When I’m with a group of kids who get it.”
I ask what is ‘it?’
We live in this diverse world where we need to understand each other. Every time I experience that moment of connection with kids where they learn, it replenishes my drive and passion to keep going. Or I go and meet with another adult who is doing similar work or an NGO or a new community partner, or receive a delegation of nineteen visitors from nineteen visitors from different countries to talk with kids.
I love bringing the world into the classroom. At any given moment I will do that. I have Brazilian exchange students in two students. I have 10 foreign nationals that were serving at US foreign embassies around the world sit on a panel, middle eastern journalists came in this year, virtual Skype exchange with Kenyan classroom.
When I’m experiencing that connection with kids that drives me, it rejuvenates me .