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Today, I was able to observe and participate in an English 9 class, the Innovation Academy that I talked of previously, and the Theory of Knowledge class that I described in detail yesterday. It was a beautiful, sunny day at Colegio Roosevelt. The outdoor hallways and breezy nature of the campus led me to talk a walk around the school during my free time after TOK. As I walked, I passed by a sign cut into the lawn which I had passed once before. Something about the sunlight and the sign's message struck me to take a picture:
To change wisely is, I believe, to make change with a very specific intention and through the use of precise tools. In our reading for Philosophy of Education today, we looked at Maxine Greene’s concept of inclusion and diversity in the classroom as means of promoting a strong, ever-changing democracy of students. Diversity is nothing without inclusion; A classroom can be perfectly diverse, but students can exclude and be closed off from other students who are different than them. Inclusion, Greene warns, can also be misguided. Inclusion should not be blind acceptance of others’ ideas, cultures, and actions, but the presentation of differences that create opposition, questions, and therefore growth and learning. When implemented in a classroom correctly, these two concepts (diversity and inclusion) are, I think, the keys to empowering students with the ability to “change wisely.” When children are surrounded by people with backgrounds, ideas, and beliefs different than their own, they are forced to experience what Greene calls “dissonance” with their own ways of thought and being. If they welcome this dissonance and use it to change their own ways of thinking or the way in which society operates, they are making a wiser and more informed change. This is why diverse voices must be heard and why inclusion is of the utmost importance in the classroom and the broader education system.
The Innovation Academy that I observed today embodies the “change wisely” principle of Roosevelt perfectly. When students apply to be a part of this program, they no longer take regular classes. For four hours a day, they participate in an interdisciplinary, project based curriculum. I observed the 10th grade portion of the program, in which they study marketing, finance, media/design, English, and humanities. The teacher of IA told me that the fifteen students accepted into the program become an extremely close and accepting community. They all have different, “think-outside-of-the-box” personalities, and they are all currently working on their own unique final projects. One boy I talked to is writing a novel, and another is creating a sketch portfolio of different drawings of the human body. Each student presents a diverse background, ideology, skill set, and interest to the classroom. Their teacher told me that, due to the close-knit nature of the class, the students feel comfortable not only sharing ideas and giving feedback on the projects, but they also feel comfortable opposing and challenging one another. During the humanities portion of the class, they even feel comfortable critiquing one another’s beliefs and characters.
The IA community is one that, I believe, Maxine Greene would approve of. The students bring diversity in talent, background, and world view. They are inclusive of these differences, but they do not accept each other blindly. They have been taught to challenge each other, and question their own identities. In their final year of IA, the students will be asked to create their own business. They will need to assess their own values, asses a need in the community, and open a business or NGO that caters to this need. Most important of all of those is being able to assess ways a business can aid the multiple disparities apparent in Lima. To be able to truly look inward and outward is a skill that comes with a clarity of perspective; the inclusive and diverse nature of IA helps students to learn about their own perspectives and to challenge those around them. It is only when they can do this that they can make a masterful change in the community, and can learn what it means to be a productive citizen. and to have a voice that matters. On Thursday, I will be watching presentations of the IA students’ final projects, so I hope to see more of this wonderful diversity and inclusion of talent and ideas. Until then, adios!