Blog Prompt: Social Class

Initially, when thinking about conducting a lesson around social class, I was worried that my students would leave the room feeling bad, and I worried about what they would go home and ask/ tell their parents.  The material that we have to convey on meritocracy, social mobility, class, etc. is real; If they fully understand, even if they have a surface level of understanding, I felt like they would be discouraged. Especially after teaching them about meritocracy, I wondered how I was supposed to encourage them to work hard in order to achieve their goals?


I started off our discussion with the privilege walk.  I asked them questions that were potentially social class realted (throwing in some random fun questions).  I found it quite interesting that they thought the walk was a race, and that whoever got to me first won a prize.  Nonetheless, the Caucasian girl in the group ended up in the front, the Mexican girl in the back, and the biracial students were in the middle.  Before debriefing, I asked them to take a look at where everyone was positioned in the room.  We discussed the importance of the activity, broke down the meaning of social class (because they had no idea), talked about dominant social identity markers and how that related to privilege, and we had a reflection where everyone had a chance to share things about their family and where they come from.  My highlight from this activity was that each of the students were open and honest about what social class they believed to have belonged to. Afterward, Lauren and I discussed how you can fluctuate between classes.  Being born into a specific class does not mean you have to stay there;  you can work your way up and you can also move down!  I think the breakdown of the classes really helped them get an idea of how our society is split.


A few challenges that I encountered during this discussion was explaining things so that they understood.  Some the word usage when deriving social class is a bit advanced, and at times it was hard to find words to use that explained the terms just as well.  Also, although I do think they understood, the lesson wasn't engaging so that was something I wanted to change for the next time we met.


This is when Socialopoly came into play! I found a game/ study online where a teacher taught and discussed social class with is students through playing monopoly.  The students loved this! The game was set up where each student represented a class (upper, middle, working, and lower).  The rules were biased based on society, and the privileges each class receives, or doesn't receive for that matter.  Each class started out with a specific amount of money, had restrictions on buying property in certain neighborhoods, and had to follow other class specific rules.  (If anyone would like me to upload the PDF, I can).  The upper class held all the power and of course the working and lower class were at the highest disadvantage.  We played for about thirty minutes, and I had the students write a reflection.  I want to have them finish the game at the next meeting so they they can see the ending results, and so that we can facilitate discussion around the turnout.  It was interesting to see that in their discussion they said things like "You will be judged based on your class in everyday life",  "the wealthy and the rich will have more land and money", "the lower class went to jail more than anybody for some weird reason", "the upper class has the most advantages", "I felt sad because I kept going to jail and I didn't do anything".  That was a great start to an in depth reflection for next week.  The discussion will be key to them actually understanding. I think my challenge here will be getting them to fully realize why the rules are this way and what each rule means in regards to social class and the real world. At that time, I also want to show them the video clip with Tammy, and discuss meritocracy and the importance of networking.


While working with my students, I've learned that students are able to learn complex material.  My mom always tells me that kids are smarter than what you think! It's true, they really are.  Some of the things they say amazes me.  It gives me a since of relief that they are actually understanding what I am teaching them.

The resources I find most helpful are key topics we identity as needed to be conveyed, and I think it is also very helpful when you provide us with activities or materials that we can use related to the topics.  For example, the privilege walk and the video clips.

First Club Meeting!

Going into my leadership meeting today I was very excited to bond and get to know some of the kids that I'd be working with.  They started coming in as soon as school let out, but it saddened me that the group only amounted to three students after giving a grace period of three/ five minutes.  I had already accepted that I'd be starting with a small number of seven students, and that as the semester continued, I'd have to recruit more students for the group to progress.  To see that only three of the seven showed for the first meeting was a little discouraging.  I'm not sure why the other four students decided not to show today.  Nonetheless, we had a good time together.

We started with the same tissue game that I used for our meeting icebreaker!  The kids thought the twist to the island and having to share about themselves was funny.  They enjoyed telling the group more about themselves. None of my students knew each other before this first meeting, which was good.  Today there was one seventh grade African American male, a sixth grade female (I believe she was Mexican), and another six grade female who was Caucasian.  So, the group was diverse as far as race and by some of the activities they shared that they were involved in.

Following this activity we took a break, ate pizza, and at that time we just talked and they asked a few questions about some of the things we'd be doing in the club.  Then we went on to answer questions about leaders and leadership. When asked one of the questions,  "Who do you view as a leader?", it stuck out that they recognized historic leaders.  People mentioned were Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and although not historic, Barack Obama.  Behind each leader, the students were able to give legit reasoning as to why these people were leaders and how they've affected what is happening today.

To discuss qualities of a  "leader", we started making a poster.  The poster is of a crowd of pretend people, with one person in the middle who is considered to be "different" than everyone else.  In this person, I had students identity him/ her as the leader as asked them what qualities should this person have.  As they listed qualities I wrote them on the board and we discussed the significance of each of the qualities.  Next time, we will make puzzle pieces to fill in the leader with those qualities they listed (if that makes sense). So, the leader's body will be made out of puzzle pieces.  Each of those pieces will have a leadership quality.  And the leader is the pretend person on the board who is sticking out from everyone else in the crowd.

To end, I left them with questions to think about for the next meeting:

What do you think would be a good group name?

What do you hope to gain from being a part of this leadership club?

To debrief, I think the ideas I had to begin expressing leadership to the students were all great, but because the group was not was large and because all of my students were not outspoken, there was not a large range of ideas and it was hard for the activities to be engaging.  There was one female who loved talking, she shared a lot regarding her ideas and her personal stories.  I was surprised to have a student this open on the first day. The others didn't have a problem talking if they were called on, but they were not adamant about being the first to share.

-I would write more, but I feel like this post is already too long.  If you guys have any questions, ideas, anything.....I'd love for you to post.  Thanks-

We've finally recruited kids!!!

Okay, so we've finally got a few students recruited.  There are only seven right now, however we plan on going to speak with more students during their lunch the week after Thanksgiving; we'll pass out more interest forms then.  Because we are in a crunch for time, we changed the application into an interest form and those interested may submit it with a parent signature.  That way no more time is lost with the application process. Hopefully by the next meeting our group expands.

We met our students today, and they are so little and cute :)  They were excited to be a part of the club and to have met us!  I cannot wait to get started.  Our first meeting will  be Monday at 3:15pm!

This is old too...but here were My Posters :)

This is old....but in response to our 1st Prompt..

 

A    Thus far, Project LEAD has been going well.  As everyone knows, early on, I had a difficult time contacting the principal of Pattengill Middle School.  After finally speaking with him, he seems to be enthusiastic about the project.  Now, I have a timeline associated with what needs to be completed each week in order for my club to begin the week of November 13, 2011.

Right now, my only concern is that I will have a hard time reaching their Vice Principal if I need him outside of my school visits.  Before going to the school, I had called several times, left voicemails, and emailed him.  Despite this effort, he resumed to suggest that coming into his office is the best way to contact him; because of my schedule, I cannot come into his office every time I have a concern or question.

By April 2012, I hope to have a strong group of young leaders who are independent, outspoken, knowledgeable, and who are not afraid to be diverse.   Not only do I hope to embed and/or enrich these qualities I am confident that I will learn and grow from working with them.