Emma's chapter Discussion

Key Points

1. If we want to expect change in the attitudes of our students, we must change the attitudes and assumptions in our teachers and preservice teachers, much like the professor did in her art education students that attended field experiences in Milwaukee public schools.  

2. If we want our art rooms to be a safe place for students and teachers alike, we can’t just assume color blindness. We need to embrace our differences and make connections as human beings. While five year-old children share many differences depending on what environment they are placed in, they still want to play, learn and make connections with those around them who show them interest.   

3. We as teachers and figures of authority must recognize our white privilege and understand that while the media portrays the youth of our country as colorblind, they aren’t.

4. Using contemporary artists can help us and our students learn more about the issues of race and identity and help us change our attitudes and assumptions about it. Art is something everyone can do, there are no stipulations when it comes to your race, age, gender or beliefs.  

5. The more we talk about these issues with our students and also our peers, the more we will be able to deal with them and make a change. Through methods of journaling, experiences in schools and art making, we can help facilitate that reflective processes that must happen when changing these beliefs.

Chapter Summary
In this chapter, we are shown the perspective of art education students who attend the University of Milwaukee. 43.1% of all the children that live in this city, live in poverty and much like us the students in this art education class come from white, middle class families who grew up in small towns or suburbs who have had little experience in urban schools. These students will be participating in field experiences in the Milwaukee public schools. They are anxious and nervous to work in these schools because of their preconceived notions and assumptions they hold but once they get into the elementary school classrooms, their attitudes changed.  Some of the myths that these students had were the wishful thinking that the art room would always be this “safe haven” when in reality it, like everything else, doesn’t exist outside of society. People have baggage and it follows them. “The myth of meritocracy, in which anyone who works hard can make it..”(Cosier & Nemeth) and the myth that students of this generation are becoming more colorblind to race.

These students realize that these students in this urban school, the ones in which they were quite apprehensive to attend prior to visiting, are similar to other five year-old students. They made connections with them, just like any other five year-old child could and by the end of their time with these students, many were experiencing sadness in leaving. This just shows the importance of the preparation needed to teach and teach well in these urban schools.  The most important tool is reflection and how to use that reflection tool to view our own assumptions when thinking about race and race in the school setting. We must recognize the hidden curriculum in our schools that often targets students of color and deconstruct those biases. We also need to teach preservice teachers how to fit into our urban schools, how to find their place and how to build new, positive, attitudes about it.

To do this, we must first find methods of discussing these views, thoughts and assumptions. Authors Kimberly Cosier and Jeanna Nemeth explain that some of the best ways they got their art educations students to challenge their own beliefs about topics such as race, identity and power were visual journaling, small and large group discussion and looking at contemporary artwork that deals with these subjects. Artists such as Kara Walker, Ellen Gallagher, Kerry James Marshall and Lorna Simpson were great artists to use to get their students to critically question racial stereotypes. Another activity that was presented was the question of whiteness and what it was. This project helped explain the concept of white privilege and how something so trivial as the color of one's’ skin can control your fate in our country. “Our goal is for our students to move from rhetoric of dysfunctional silence to a rhetoric of listening” (Cosier & Nemeth). What they mean by this is they want their students to graduate from a feeling defensiveness, guilt or blame to accountability, critique and recognition. The class participated in a project to visually represent the question, “What is whiteness?” The project gave insight to the thoughts the students were having about race and their personal response to the question of whiteness. “We want art teachers who leave this program to be agents of change and to teach with the goal to make the world a better place for us all” (Cosier & Nemeth).

Discussion Questions

1. In this chapter, the author explains how she deconstructed the idea of whiteness to her students and what it means to be white? Share a time when You benefited from white privilege. (You may not have been aware of it at the time). Please refer to this link to help you reflect http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdf

2.  What are some SPECIFIC teaching strategies/activities you could use to help your students break down ideas of stereotypes and assumptions that they have about other races and cultures? How can we continue to promote the facts and positive aspects that come out of the break down?

3. Much like the students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee were experiencing upon first hearing of their field experience placements in Milwaukee Public Schools, what are some of your fears or anxieties of working in an urban school early in your teaching career? What are aspect you would look forward to?

Activity

Choose TWO of the following artists; Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Lorna Simpson, Ellen Gallagher, Michael Ray Charles, Carrie Mae Weems, or present another of your choosing to create a lesson idea that helps break down barriers of race and present new ways of thinking about that your students may not have previously thought about. In what ways would you use their work to help students confront or change their views and assumptions of race and identity?