Learning to defend and believe...

It is amazing to me how the human race works. I spent several anxious days preceding the screening of Invisible Children's Kony 2012 here at HCRHS because I was fearful that I was putting myself and my club too far out there--putting us in the spotlight. What if people didn't get it? What if they don't care? What if teachers hate that they took away from their class time to do this for me? Several classes that came, came solely because the teacher was a friend of mine and wanted to be supportive of what I was doing-- this only added to my stress. I wanted it to go well soooo badly, not for me, but for the club, for the classes, I wanted people to leave with something that they did not come with--awareness. I had never seen the film before--it was a screening--no one gets to see it beforehand. I had no idea what I was about to show to the 900 people that RSVPd to the event.

To say what happened afterward was amazing, is an understatement. I myself was so motivated and inspired by Boni's story, the Road Team's passion, and this movement that I was part of... but suddenly felt even more passionate about. Teachers came up to me all day long, ones who hadn't even attended, saying they heard how amazing it was and how they wish they had. Students stopping my club members asking when is the next meeting. The line out the door of that meeting... how amazing was this response? I had never seen the student population of HCRHS band together over something that had nothing to do with them, but everything with helping another nation. I was floored, and moved, and ecstatic. My facebook feed was nothing but repostings about Kony and Invisible Children-- we had gone viral. Politicians, celebrities, news channels--it's what everyone is talking about. The mission had been accomplished--well part way-- but still. And my favorite thing of all-- Invisible Children showed these students that they have a voice, they can evoke change. You have the power to take something no one is talking about--something that is NOT part of the conversation, and make it part of the conversation. In a matter of 3 days--Kony 2012 went from being known by 5000 people to 54 million, and all IC did was put a video on YouTube. You did the rest.

But then... the backlash. With anything that gains such rapid popularity at such an alarming rate, comes swift criticism. Suddenly an organization I had been spending all my spare time with, dedicating hours of volunteer service to, was underfire for manipulating the youth, not spending enough money in Africa, not having the right style... what?! Some of my club members were so upset by the negative press--we have never had anything negative said about the organization. People raising awareness about Kony in Africa and starting rehabilitation centers for the rescued children. Really... this is bad? I told the students that immense publicity brings intense scrutiny and not to worry, this is a good thing in the end, it shows we have people taking notice. So I put on my adult "don't worry about it" face--but deep down--I was hurt too. Not for the program, but for the students at HC that I suddenly saw band together for a single cause, not playing Temple Runner (or whatever that game is) on their phones, sitting mindlessly in front of the TV or computer posting pictures of prom dresses--you were all united in making change. I didn't want ANYONE to ruin that buzz. Especially unfounded hater blogs that misrepresent facts. So I did the only thing I could think of to do. Defend without defending (or at least I tried).

"The Teachable Moment"-- The best thing I could do was to teach students to research criticism and any company they want align themselves with. When your charity or organization (or even your favorite celebrity for that matter) comes under fire for something, do NOT take the first blog post or esoteric news story off the internet and treat it like the holy word. You need to look at both sides of the issue--what are the critics saying? What is the organization saying? What do 3rd party impartial news sources/gov. organizations say? What does one side have to gain over the other's demise? Why are they really criticizing? When you do this kind of research, sometimes you find that you were right, your organization is doing the right thing, and sometimes you may find that you don't agree with some of their policies. But you can say you made an informed decision and didn't just run off with the first thing you read. Haters love to spread hate, so you gotta weed through it all and search for truth.

I put myself out there, I brought Invisible Children to the school, I believed I was sending a good message--it was hard to read anything negative. But I did. I followed the stories, I followed the money, I looked at the sources, I looked at the response--and in the end, I can say I am still proud of Invisible Children. Some people may not be, and that's their opinion and they have every right to it-- but I know after working with them for four years, that they are people whose hearts are in their work. That's really all I want out of my charity-- to know that they are in it for change and to make a difference for the greater good of humanity and they want to inspire others to do the same for their own beliefs.

The Model

It only seems fair, my darling Multicultural Studies students, that if I force you to start a blog chronicling  your experiences with the ELL students and multicultural issues in general, that I too should join along.

I had my own misconceptions about our school's ELL program (which I always referred to by its old acronym, ESL... my bad). I thought the program here kept all the students in one room for all their classes. Completely cutting them off from everyone. I also was under the impression that there was a Spanish speaking teacher (which also infers that I believed that only Latino students were in the class) with them... well, I guess we all learned that just isn't so. I had no idea before we started this partnership last year what these students go through on a daily basis. The struggles of learning, history, literature, and science all in a language that is not their own. I even stumbled across this video, made by students, about the way teachers handle ESL learners. The video, while done is stick drawing, makes a poignant statement about how hard it can be to be an ESL learner as compared to the average student. We take a lot of our communication methods for granted--the idea of sitting in a class and not having the option for the teacher to speak in your own language seems, forgive the pun, completely foreign to many of us.

Even as an exchange student who did not initially speak the language of my host country, you would think I would be understanding of this--however, I think it's so much worse as they have no escape. I always knew I would be returning to the U.S. and things would be easier. Things are not going to get any easier for these kids--quite the opposite--the more they pursue a higher education, the more they will be met with obstacles. What kind of system is that? Are we really helping to prepare them for their future--or do we give them false hope?

I notice how some of the students have very supportive home lives and really do push to do well, while some of the others I believe have seen their families burned by the system and have a more jaded sense of what their lives will really amount to--this is the most upsetting thing for a educator to see. We, educators, all want to see every student have the opportunities to pursue all and any career path they choose--and that's just not so for some of these students. In an article by Kim Girard, "Lost in Translation," she brings up the the controversy that splays "a contentious debate over how to best educate these students has grown, and this political battle is far from over. In addition, as the pros and cons of bilingual education versus English-language immersion are researched and reviewed, current and prospective teachers get few opportunities to train in either approach before facing classes full of kids who don't understand what the adults in front of their classrooms are saying." I myself have no idea what kind of take home each individual student has when they speak so little English and no one is there to help them in their own language. Does the girl really understand "The Gettysburg Address" or know what it is at the end of the day? Does immersion work, or do we just tell ourselves it does?

I think spending more time with the students and trying to get a sense of how they feel regarding their education will help me understand whether or not the system is working. Though, part of me really just wants to ask them what their ideal classroom would be like...