Year 2 came with some challenges! Detroit Public Schools Community District adopted a new curriculum that all secondary teachers were responsible to teach in hopes to boost standardized test scores. It was the first time I was ever given a textbook and told that I needed to teach directly from it. As a new teacher, this felt almost blasphemous! How could I encourage my students to be creative?

Well, we did just that!

But then COVID-19 happened...

Horror Movie Trailer Analysis

As an avid horror movie fan and a wannabe film-studies major, I wanted to bring film into the classroom not as a means of entertainment, but a text to analyze. The essential question asks us why we enjoy being scared and horror movies are the perfect example. Why do people love to be scared? The adrenaline, the mystery, and for some, the terror of the unknown. Students chose their group members and randomly selected a film title that I had pre-selected. They were only responsible to view the trailer (if they wanted to watch the movie at home, they could but were not required) and analyze 4 features: visuals (what are we actually seeing), audio (dialogue, music, sound effects), mise-en-scene (set design, costumes, etc.) and camerawork (zooms, canted angles, etc). They created a PowerPoint with screenshots and explanations and presented their trailers to the class. Enjoy the few that I have included below!

COVID-19 & Online Learning

June 17th was our last day of school at Cass Tech. I had officially been teaching online for about 2 months. And unfortunately, we're likely to experience online learning in the 2020-2021 school year so it's best to reflect on my journey with my kiddos.

My primary concern during the school closure was about the access to food, electricity, and technology. Not all of our students live in spaces where they have their basic needs met. Not all of our students have the connectivity that was assumed for successful online learning. The inequities that exist in education were EXACERBATED by this pandemic because our kids were forced to make due with what they had or did not have. Luckily, DPSCD was still able to provide food for our kids on a weekly basis, but then it became an issue of technology. Can we still expect kids to "tune into" class from just a cellphone with unstable internet connectivity? It would be morally wrong and cruel to punish a child for something that is out of their control. This summer the district was able to provide tablets to every child in the district with 6 months of free internet. It is a temporary solution to a much bigger inaccessibility issue.

My #1 priority for online learning was giving my students a sense of normalcy throughout all of this mess. Teaching online was not ideal for me and many of my students but we had to try our best because there was no other option. I tried my best to roll out material in a reasonable manner--which basically resulted in a lot of discussion and guided reading because grades were obsolete. As soon as the state said that school couldn't mandate work and that it was enrichment, I knew the turnout and enthusiasm was going to be low. And I don't take it personally at all! I understand! That first month of the shutdown, I was THRIVING when all I was asked to do was stay inside, read all day, and binge watch Mob movies. But the roll-out of school for the spring felt messy because it was. I tried to provide my kids with weekly assignments that focused on real-world issues, and there was very little engagement. Again: HOW COULD WE EXPECT THEM TO DO SCHOOL WORK IN THE MIDDLE OF A PLAGUE AS WELL AS THE WORK BEING BASICALLY POINTLESS. Twas a tough pill to swallow.

Once we began to start our distance learning, I was very enthusiastic on my students tuning into class because of how many students logged on the first day. But even in that first week, things were so strange as my kids didn't turn on their cameras and their goofy, talkative selves were basically nonexistent. I never required my kids to turn on their cameras because I believe children have a right to privacy, nor did I ever threaten my students with "losing" participation points because there were no grades. Did it hurt my feelings when only 6 out of 38 kids would tune in? Sure, but I still was able to have good conversations with those that did come to class. Maintaining a strong connection to my students was more important to me than the content to be completely honest.

The material I was supposed to teach didn't even cross my mind. We had left off in the middle of our 3rd unit, and I wanted to continue the work we were doing so we can have some closure. Our unit was called "Extending Freedom's Reach" and the essential question was: what is the relationship between freedom and power. Personally, I find the unit rather dry but I wanted to spin it as much as I could so it was relevant to our current world. We focused a lot on misinformation and censorship by watching "China's Digital Dystopia Dictatorship" on YouTube as a pretense for our reading of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. We had many discussions about censorship, freedom, and being agents of change and in those moments, teaching almost felt normal.

On August 25th, Cass Tech announced that we were going to start the school year online and despite the anxiety of having to muddle my work/home balance again, I'm grateful that our safety is being prioritized. This summer I spent a lot of time attending webinars for teaching online and I feel so much more confident going into this school year. My biggest worry is creating the classroom community without the convenience of seeing my students. I'll do everything I can to make the space as welcoming as before, and maybe, just maybe my kids will turn on their cameras. I really do miss their smiles.