Teach Out Project Proposal

 The Teach Out Project Proposal

This is the first step in brainstorming your final project in this class.  Please post this document to your blog and bring this document to class on March 26.  This is just the planning stage – no formalities!

CHOOSE A TEXT: Review your whole blog to remind yourself about what we have read so far in class. What texts have stayed with you so far? What articles inspire you?  What topic matters most to you in terms of your own work? Are there any of these texts that you would like to share with others in your life?  The text that has stayed with me the most is “Other People’s Children”. My teach out project is centered around the culture of power and how power shows up in education, what educators can do to “level the playing field”. A text that compliments the culture of power and how it shows up is Bad Bunny’s halftime show. The performance and celebration perfectly highlights what the culture of power looks like by removing power from those who typically have it. One of the pillars of the culture of power is that those who have power are least likely to realize they do, Bad Bunny’s halftime show perfectly highlights– especially to people who have been accustomed to being in positions of power or being aligned on the culture of power– what being out of power (or excluded by power) looks like. Related to this, the five tricks card game has also stuck with me– it was really powerful to see the culture of power modeled and experienced. This matters to me in my own work because the majority of the students that I teach are Brown and Black. As a Chicana, but especially as a Chicana who grew up around the education sector, I was born knowing a lot of the rules of power and came into teaching with the assumption that everyone else would know the rules. The truth is some students don’t and it’s unfair to me– or to any of my white colleagues– to operate on the assumption that everyone knows the rules.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH? Are there people in your life with whom you would really like to talk about these texts? Colleagues? Students? Family members? Friends? Children? I can see the Dual Language community really benefitting from talking about power and the culture of power. The world of DLE has pillars that every program is following: bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and sociocultural competence. When talking about sociocultural competence, a lot of educators focus on race, ethnicity, and culture. We fail to see the reality and impact that power has (because power also has a culture) on our students. One way to be able to reach the bilingual educators community is to present at MABE (the MultiState Association for Bilingual Educators).

WHAT FORMAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU? Individual interview? Small group discussion? Art activity? Professional development workshop? Poster for your office? Pamphlet to share? Lesson plan? Etc? The output of my teach out project looks a little bit different– I’m going to be writing a proposal for MABE– the MultiState Association of Bilingual Educators– to be able to present at their next conference. After I create my proposal, I’m going to be talking about it with some of the members of MABE– to get their feedback and thoughts.  The proposal is what my current tangible output will be but then I will be– hopefully (especially because I will have already had the approval of some MABE members) be presenting it at the next conference.