This week we are moving on to what I believe may be the most challenging text of this class. The challenge lies not in the book's content - U.S. - Mexican border issues - but in the author's point of view. Yet Bigelow is one of our nation's most highly respected educators and scholars of critical pedagogy. In his books, he explores classroom strategies and practices from a first-person standpoint and critically assesses his own teaching. In this way he models the ever-unfolding learning process that goes with the territory of teaching.
In the first 39 pages, Bigelow takes us through a very ambitious curriculum unit he designed for his students in an Oregon public high school. He makes his own position on border/immigration issues very clear, and makes no apology for the fact that he wants to move students beyond the familiar "us" vs. "them" dichotomy that prevails in America today. At the same time, he seems unaware that his left-of-center position is a minority view that for many Americans, would seem to defy common sense.
Did he miss an opportunity to engage his students in a critical inquiry of how and why certain views become accepted as common sense and why other positions are rejected as false? Does he underestimate the power of ideas and assumptions that students already hold to be true, and try too hard to get them to accept a position that runs counter to popular beliefs?
Bigelow takes on highly contested issues in his teaching. He passionately believes in human rights, and supports the work of activists who organize against environmental and economic injustice. Like many true believers, he has trouble understanding why other people do not share his point of view. Inevitably, he feels frustrated by his inability to win students over. Can you relate to him? Do you hold passionate views on a controversial topic? If so, would you attempt to directly tackle this topic in your teaching or would you rather avoid it?
On p. 33, Bigelow mentions a pre-writing strategy he calls "metaphorical drawing" or "thinking in pictures." Although his border/immigration curricular unit incorporates role-play, improvisation and writing, this appears to be the only use of visual art. How might you turn this around so that writing plays a minor role in a challenging unit that approaches a controversial topic primarily through the visual arts? To answer this question, you may find it helpful to identify an issue on which you have strong (if not passionately held) views, and at least one artist whose work deals directly with the issue.
Let me know if you have questions regarding any part of this reading or blog assignment. Best of luck and happy reading!
carolyn
Carolyn, I have the flu and am so dizzy that its impossible to read. As soon as this lets up I will post.
ReplyDeleteGail, I completely understand. I cancelled my class tomorrow for the same reason. Get well soon!
DeleteA really interesting read! I'll be the first on the limb tonight! I believe that Mr. Bigelow’s methods are those of an excellent teacher. However, I was not sure if he really wished to guide students toward the formation of their own beliefs. I thought it obvious that he wanted them to agree with him and was disappointed when they did not, even to the extent that he adjusted his curriculum to accomplish his goal in a later iteration. He had a personal agenda and it was his goal to create disciples of his agenda. I hope that his intelligent, independent thinkers read, researched and drew conclusions based on more information than he presented in the list of resources presented in the chapter, and that they were able to stand up for themselves. However, I doubt it. So many university freshmen come as such clean slates to be molded by the views of passionate professors – even more the case in high school, but their parents are still available to bounce ideas off of. I believe that as a teacher, I have a huge responsibility to provide students with factual material, as close to original sources as possible, and to help them understand it. I do not believe that it is my right to attempt to slant the concepts to my own personal view. In fact, I think that would be wrong. Many times that means being silent or asking them another question rather than expressing my opinion or drawing the conclusion for them. I do not teach controversial topics in art. I have very strong opinions on many highly controversial issues and yes, I avoid them. I try to teach around the edges of them in ways that help my students develop opinions based on sound information.
ReplyDeleteI admit that I can’t even empathize with his personal life experience – I appreciate his opinions. I admire his commitment. I learned from reading about him. I agree with some of his thoughts, but I found some of it ridiculous if carried to the extreme which he seemed to suggest. I want to hear his ideas for a solution.
About as close to an artist with controversial views that I regularly include in curriculum are both Diego Rivera and Luis Jiminez. Both portray the working class – Rivera, those of Mexico in god like proportion and beauty – and JIminez, the Mexican American working class he knew and came from. Both offer opportunity for discussion relevant to Texas high school students. We know the people these artists portray. They both glorify the working class – It occurs to me that a wonderful portrait unit could come out of an assignment to create a portrait of someone you know who works hard every day – to show their joy, or their exhaustion, or their frustration, to make others see what you see in them. There are so many hard working people who deserve to be glorified, not college graduates, blue collar workers, and it seems all our students hear is that you are not worth much if you don’t go to college. I think that is offensive to many people.
Jennifer,
DeleteI like your portrait idea a lot! At my previous academic job (at St. Catherine University in St. Paul/Minneapolis) I had students do photo-essays of their work life or the work lives of their parents. Most of my students were working full time and supporting families. Many younger students were from immigrant or refugee families. Their parents worked incredibly hard. For them, labor issues were front and center. Their photo-essays were great! Rivera and Jiminez are excellent sources of inspiration - artists whose work and whose lives students should learn.
I really understand your desire and, in your particular teaching situation (public school), your need to sidestep controversial issues. My case is different - I have to tackle difficult issues. In my first few years at Tech, I managed to offend so many students that I began to preface my comments with a warning about my northern upbringing and political orientation. I tried to avoid controversy whenever possible. However, you might have noticed that the Visual Studies program has a strong liberal slant. So it's been a balancing act.
I selected the Bigelow book with great trepidation. Ed assured me that he, too, was using a (different) book by Bigelow in his section of Critical Pedagogy. However, he recently said that he's not using Bigelow. So here I am out on a limb with B.B.! I only hope you and others in the class aren't angered by his views.
I'm trying to distance myself from Bigelow's METHODS, even though (okay, here it comes) I generally support his political VIEWS. I agree with you that his views seem to be out ahead of his teaching method, which is limiting his ability to teach effectively despite his long years of experience (proof that even so-called Master Teachers never really master the Art of teaching).
My experience in Texas has taught me restraint. I've learned to listen to what others have to say and back off when I don't agree. The great thing about the U.S. is that we are literally, legally entitled to our own views and beliefs.
First of all I want to apologize for this assignment being late. I have been ridiculously busy the past couple weeks and totally slipped my mind.
ReplyDeleteU.S. border issues are a very sensitive issue for me due to my own internal conflicts and it’s a double-edged sword. On one side, I believe that nothing should stand in the way of someone trying to make their life better. I guess I just don’t support why if someone believes they can make their life better by moving to a different country why someone else would restrict and inhibit that pursuit. I also have very good family friends who are illegal immigrants. They came to the U.S. shortly after getting pregnant. Now they have three children all of which are legal citizens. The family works incredibly hard and earned everything they have by breaking their backs to make a better life. On the other side, I see that overpopulation is increasing and the obvious argument for jobs, taxes, ect. Our economy is in the can and unemployment rates are staggering. Are there fewer jobs because of illegal immigrants; Yes, but whether it is enough to have a huge impact on employment is un-decided. We pay taxes and as a general population we send tons of money to the government. We are paying (regardless of how much or how little) for someone else to live here.
Emotion set aside, I found Bigelows writing very interesting. I feel like his passion for the issues regarding the border prevents him from getting his students to see “the whole picture”. Some one needs to make the issues apparent so that students can critically analyze and decipher their own beliefs, and Bigelow does just that. But its more than awareness in evidence of his disappoint of student reaction, I got a sort of overpowering vibe of trying to force beliefs on people. I admire his ambition for bringing such controversial issues to light, which I don’t believe I could do easily. I think the pre-writing strategy Bigelow employs is great! The “metaphorical drawings” engage a different level of critical thinking, possibly more in depth, as opposed to just writing some facts you remember. I am unsure how to create a unit predominately based on visual art as opposed to a more writing intensive. Possibly based off an assignment where I had to visually convey (without performance) a randomly drawn emotion. So maybe a prompt along the lines of, “Describe an emotion or feeling that an immigrant (or oneself) may have regarding border issues.” When I think of artist who address border and immigration issues I immediately think of Luis Jimenez and his sculpture “Border Crossing” along with others. Also perhaps not an artist but someone passionate about Chicano culture in the U.S. and advocate of human rights is Cheech Marin, who has one of the biggest private collections of Chicano art.
Stephen, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said Bigelow was so passionately involved in his own point of view - which has a lot of merit! - that he fell into the trap of basically insisting that students agree with him. It's a problem that comes with teaching a subject that we feel strongly about. I have pet issues that I barely bring up with students because different viewpoints can really upset me. Still, I search for ways to teach these issues without getting upset. Like you and everyone else in the class, the things I feel passionate about are also the things I know best!
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to make art about border and other issues without limiting it to emotional responses. Rivera is an artist who channeled his passionate beliefs into art that is concrete, rational and beautiful. Josh MacPhee is a contemporary U.S. artist who makes beautiful art with a strong and definite political message. Check out the Just Seeds Artist's Collective website for more examples. It's a matter of getting acquainted with art that deals head-on with social, political and economic issues. There is a long history to it.
Thanks for some great comments & food for thought!
I agree with both comments about Bigelow's lessons about the border. He did a great job coming up with various ways to introduce and discuss the topic, but it was obvious he had another agenda. You can sense a great disappointment and feelings of defeat when we reflected on the unchanged opinions on Mexican immigrants. I also could understand why he might have had such a hard time...teaching students who had no experience (or family who had experienced) Mexican immigration. I'm sure I've explained that I teach in a public school located in the heart of the Westside whose occupants are primarily Mexican and Latino. I teach students who have no social security number and whose parents are illegal immigrants. As a matter of fact, I have a student who plays three sports, in one other extra-curricular activity, manages to maintain 90's and above in all eight of her classes and has to work full-time at McDonalds because she is the only source of income for her mom (who is illegal) and two sisters. Now...if Bigelow taught his lessons to my art classes, I'm pretty sure he'd get his message across in four weeks or less!!
ReplyDeleteI feel that using art to get the message across is a great idea! Since Diego Rivera is taken, I'd like to throw in the photographer Manuel Alvarez Bravo. I read about his work and how he attempted to take photographs that would slowly transition away from the popular descriptive/representative photography of his days. He was one that experimented with a little abstract at times. Growing up in a Southern city of Texas, Mexican culture is really a huge tourist attraction. Don't get me wrong, I love Dia de los Muertos work, but it is also very played out. Same thing with the Virgin Mary and low-riders...played out to the point where I feel like it could be close to the point where it is expected by tourists, maybe even a stereotype.
Last year my students were lucky enough to get involved with a mural team called San Anto Cultural Arts which was only a couple of blocks away from the school. Their idea was to beautify the westside of San Antonio and eliminate graffiti by creating murals for the community by the community. Although their themes for each mural consisted of the Hispanic culture of the westside, they made it a point to NOT use the typical objects (low-riders, aztec warriors, Jesus, etc.) because they felt the same way I did. They explained to the students that it is a new generation (intertwined with the Mexican culture) and we need to show it, in a way, like Manuel Alvarez Bravo did when he created his photography during the Mexican Revolution.
I've been looking forward to your comments on this book, Ana, and you didn't disappoint. I think your perspective highlights the very real human fact that we have trouble understanding someone else's suffering until we've experienced it ourselves. The more abstract it becomes, the more likely we are to believe that somehow it just can't be that bad. Folks just have to be making it up. Maybe they're complainers or they're working the system. - And we have a right to be skeptical! It's always good to ask questions and refuse to accept information, whatever it is, at face value. But caring about others, truly caring, means digging through the evidence, sifting through research for reliable sources, talking to the people who have been there or better yet, going to see for ourselves. Caring isn't an emotion, it's hard work. I think the work you are doing as a teacher in San Antonio shows a level of dedication to a particular community that allows you to speak with some knowledge of the issues.
ReplyDeleteYou and your students are so fortunate to have so many wonderful cultural resources to work with in San Antonio. Some of the most famous muralists and mural teams live there - the area is known all over the country for its huge wealth of public community art. This is very important art because it belongs to all the people and it's made with love. It has a heart that can sometimes be missing, or at least less conspicuous or differently manifested, in the art our students might encounter in a museum - if they ever go to a museum. In my years of teaching, I've shown many a college student the inside of a museum for the first time in their lives. And this was in Minneapolis - a city with several high quality art museums. Even so, many students had no idea where the art museums were or how to find them. THIS is why public community art is so important. For most people, it is the only original art they have seen or will ever see.
I am super late, for which I apologize. It is been a diffficult week in many regards. I am ten pages from finishing and will post a response tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI actually felt less of an agenda and political skew while reading this as compared with some of the other readings. Granted I still felt Bigelow was clearly biased and found myself highlighting comments like “over half of corporations facing union organizing drives took advantage of NAFTA by threatening their workers with closure all or part of their US plants. It’s free trade extortion; stop unionizing or we’ll head to Mexico.” as lacking in a balanced approach. Maybe I just agreed with his agenda more, man I feel like a tool for even saying that. Maybe not though, at the end of the day everyone has an agenda, we all feel passionately about something, if not we would just be mindless consumers stumbling through this consumer compulsive life, with little to no regard for our actions or consequences.
ReplyDeleteClearly Bigelow was pushing his agenda; unsuccessfully it would appear, on his students. I think anyone with some experience teaching an ethnically and socio-economically diverse class knows better than to tackle something like this with kids who still obsess over acne is asking a bit much. I like to “poke the bear” when it comes to contentious social issues like this in my Art class. I don’t tackle them head one, for many of the reasons Jennifer pointed out, in order to avoid the situations that Dr. Erler described. Let me be clear though, I would love to ruffle some feathers a la Dr. E . with some of my blatantly right leaning and poorly informed students. Pick your battles and all. Even still I often find myself talking to students about many of these same issues in general conversation, totally removed from the assignment. Prime example for, literally, this week.
I overhear a student talking about Arizona and its immigration laws. The student is a white male who says some really ignorant and stereotypical stuff, frequently. His comments are usually general, and I can more or less shrug them off as just stupid teenager talk, not so this week. As soon as he brings up the topic I think, oh god what is this kid about to say. He claims that Arizona is laying down land minds on the border to blow up illegals crossing into the states. Naturally I cannot resist calling his bullshit. I point out the Geneva-accords and general ridiculousness of the comment, and then I ask him if he thinks civilians should be killed for seeking a better life. Straight faced he says, “Yes, they are breaking the law.” When I re-phrase the question and he begins to see how awful this idea is he shuts down and says “ this is why I don’t like to debate”. While I commend Bigelow’s enthusiasm, I personally don’t think I could ever attempt something as bold as his curriculum.
So like I said, poke the bear.
As for Artist to use to bring up big social issues, I do units on Shepard Fairey to examine propaganda, and political agenda with my Art 1 classes every year. They instantly identify with the work, because they either have an OBEY t-shirt or at the very least have seen the Obama “hope” posters / memes. I like to show them his works in public places and point out the links between public Art and gallery/ museum Art from a historical perspective. I even compare and contrast Fairey and Banksy to the Impressionist ( a stretch I know, but hey they give a damn about Monet & Cassatt for 10 minutes). I end up showing Fairey works of strong women figures, especially from the Middle East, to get kids thinking more critically about how their collective actions affect the global community. If I am honest with myself, I feel the same disappointment Bigelow sees. I might actually make a connection with 20 or 30 of my 200 students; even still it’s worth it.
Dr. Erler your comments about college students having little to no exposure to museum and gallery setting breaks my heart, but also gives me confidence in my personal endeavored.
If I am late again in the coming weeks, I apologize in advance. Family issues in Houston, I might have to drive down sometime this week, next week, the week after. It is hard to say when, right now.
Daniel, I'm heartened by your statement, "I might actually make a connection with 20 or 30 of my 200 students; even still it's worth it." Maybe Bigelow felt the same? It's hard to tell what he was thinking going into that project, but my thought is that he got wrapped up in certain world-view and is surrounded by people who feel the same. Another consideration is that views like his have more support in some parts of the country. I know this because of my years in Minneapolis, which has a large and very vocal Progressive community. For example, during the 2000 election season, you would have thought Ralph Nader was a major candidate based on the number of yard signs. He, Winona LaDuke and Michael Moore packed the Superdome for a campaign speech! In this kind of atmosphere, it's easy to forget that most Americans are relatively conservative. Teachers who are progressive idealists, like idealists of any political persuasive, run into the wall of reality in the classroom. It can be like a cold shower.
DeleteYikes, I don't know how I would react if a student in one of my classes expressed the opinion that "blowing up" border crossers was a good idea. We have to assume that they heard this somewhere else, probably at home, and they haven't yet acquired the critical thinking skills needed to question what they hear at home, on cable news or blogs. As a teacher, I know how hard to keep one's composure at such moments. You handled it very well. Instead of get angry, you gave the student information about international laws regarding human rights and led him to question the ethics of his position. Excellent move!!!
Sorry for the typos & grammatical mistakes. A reminder to always proof-read before posting.
DeleteIt was the Metrodome, not the Superdome. Not much of a football fan, am I?
DeleteSide Note:
ReplyDeleteI love the retake on Christina's World you have on the blogs header Dr. Eler. I was in NYC about 2 weeks ago and got to see the origonal at the MOMA. Would you believe it wasn't even in a gallery, it was in a hall leading to the stairs. I was pissed.
Wow. What were they thinking?
ReplyDelete