He has been teaching about computers for six years, but without actual computers to provide for his students, he illustrates for them on a chalkboard. He learned art and graphic design in secondary school and puts it to use with every lesson, and besides Microsoft Word, he teaches his students basic components.
When asked about the “digital divide” he said this in the above interview:
^ Shots of both the front and back of my sign today.
Education cannot happen within an environment where the students are afraid: Guns & Learning are mutually exclusive.
You see, we don’t simply teach academics in school. School is where children learn how to interact with their peers, learn who they are as people, develop the ability to make responsible decisions, learn how to set (and achieve) positive goals, develop empathy for others, and develop the skills necessary to identify, manage and communicate their own emotions in a healthy manner.
This is the entire basis of social-emotional learning. It’s a necessary aspect of school that is directly embedded in the process of creating a community that students can flourish in. These are skills tied to a child’s self esteem, self advocacy and relationship development.
A student cannot learn if they are focused on self-preservation.
A student cannot learn if they are in an unstable, unsafe or violent environment
A student cannot learn if they cannot trust the people that they are with
I can help keep my students safe from many of the harms out there: Backpack programs, clothing drives, mediation, CPS, counselors, social workers, career training programs, job fairs, mental health services…all these things can combine together in order to get a student through whatever troubles they’re experiencing. But guns? Mass shootings? Violence across the nation? I can discuss it, I can comfort, but I can’t stop it. And that’s not a situation that any of us should be in.
I don’t know where I’m going with this – Teachers are pressured not to discuss any of these things. We’re meant to always defer to the Union for official statements and always turn questions back on the students who may try to talk to us: “What do you think? How do you feel?” This past year has been an isolating experience, trying to formulate my own thoughts and deal with the ever-increasing number of tragedies. So just seeing this march today was comforting. Knowing that others are still concerned and ready to take action makes me feel less alone.
Real talk, professors who do/say this should be fired. Your job is to be teaching us, and we can provide supplementary self-instruction (book-reading, tutoring, etc) if we see fit. Essentially forcing us to do the ‘hard part’ of teaching and claiming that’s normal is asinine – your JOB is to teach us.
wupacing 