How do teachers act as mirrors and windows for students as burgeoning global citizens?
We teachers act in ways that are influenced by policy and school climate, by our own experiences - our values, assumptions and ambitions, and by what we learn, everyday, from the children with whom we work.
I've worked with the analogy of windows and mirrors in the past years of teaching. As an elementary school teacher, the Waldorf philosophy guided me towards the concept through a developmental lens. For example, children in their early years of elementary school often look to the adults in their lives - including we teachers - as mirrors and they strive to mimic, emulate and adopt and adapt behavior to be like the people in their lives. Around 4th grade, however, students begin to see through the teacher. Sometimes, the teacher acts as a filter or a guide; but, a shift is happening in which the student looks beyond the teacher for how to be in the world.
A brilliant colleague brought the National SEED Project to our school. Genny brought us the concept of Curriculum as Window and Mirror.
Emily Style advocates for "curriculum to function both as window and as mirror, in order to reflect and reveal most accurately both a multicultural world and the student herself or himself. If the student is understood as occupying a dwelling of self, education needs to enable the student to look through window frames in order to see the realities of others and into mirrors in order to see her/his own reality reflected. Knowledge of both types of framing is basic to a balanced education which is committed to affirming the essential dialectic between the self and the world. In other words, education engages us in "the great conversation" between various frames of reference."
I traveled to Colombia with these assumptions and with this framework - that we classroom teachers are the gateway to curriculum and act as potent windows and mirrors so that we invite students to look beyond themselves while providing opportunities for students to see themselves as part of the world and opportunities for students to grow, develop and deeply consider who they are.
Collaborating with Colombian teachers, sitting down for one-on-one conversation, I was so encouraged and inspired by the ways in which my colleagues consider themselves to be mirrors and windows.
One concept that was common was the idea of teachers as role models mirroring behaviors, values, attitudes, and life experiences - teachers mirroring what students can achieve. Victor spoke of how he shares with his students how he has achieved specific goals and how studying changed his life.
Marta and Irma mirror the advantages of learning English, how English can change their students’ lives. Irma used the symposium in Cartagena as an example of how her experiences can provide a window to students seeing an opportunity English can afford. Rosalia strives to mirror a productive work ethic through her own actions and preparedness as a teacher.
Guillermo sees himself as a mirror of various roles: as a man, a father and a teacher. Bárbara expressed that she mirrors her humanity and respect for her students. Sandra shares her life experiences with her students so they can see what’s possible.
Another theme expressed was the idea that we teachers are a window to the world - a window to what is possible for students’ futures. Sylvia’s description of herself as a window is imbued with hope - she wants her students to see the world, have successful futures, and their own sense of their lives. Rafael strives to open the window so students do not believe their are the only person in the world.
Sandra posed this provocative question, “What happens if the window or mirror is dirty?” Her philosophy: you have to be so clear, we have to show who we are - authentically - we have to show students reality so “when you open a window, you get to see light.”
It's no secret that I love being a teacher. I'm proud to be a teacher.
Meeting teachers in Colombia has been a profound and intense experience, invoking deep curiosity, compassion, respect, celebration, mourning, and hope.
In three weeks, I had the opportunity to watch teachers interact with their students and with each other in a variety of distinct school settings -- a public school serving students who live in significant poverty, a public school serving students of working class families, a private school for which families pay around $2500/ year in tuition.
Through conversation, panel discussions and observations, I find that the teachers I’ve met serve as mirrors for me -- I see myself in them in many ways. I see dedicated, caring and creative teachers who are working to balance policy-driven initiatives with meeting the unique needs of their students in the classroom on a daily basis. I see teachers navigating though the stress and the strain of teaching. I see the qualities that I strive to emulate - humor, competence, confidence, connections.
I saw the reflection of how American teachers - like Colombian teachers, it seems - are often blamed for every problem in education. We shared our parallel frustrations with lack of parent engagement in our schools, in our classrooms, and in children's lives, especially as the students move away from elementary and into secondary grades.
Through these same interactions, I have been given the gift of seeing these teachers as windows, too. Through them, I have glimpses of how teachers are committed to the betterment of Colombia through education.
After a few weeks of being back home and after a few weeks of being back in the classroom with my own students, I realize that my windows and mirrors analogy was missing an essential component — bridges.
On our second day in Bogotá, we had the opportunity to learn about the Colombian education system from three experts and advocates for the children and the future of Colombia.
At a panel discussion about education in Colombia. Ricardo Romero made the connection between students who live in poverty and limited educational opportunities. From his point of view, the issue is not only about infrastructure and resources, it is about dignity. “Before we speak of scientists and engineers, schools need to give people the dignity they deserve.” He expressed that students have no connection to their own future through education.
Students have no connection to their own future through education.
So, we can have mirrors and windows for students, but if there is no bridge leading them out of that window, then there is no hope?
When we visited a private Catholic school for girls in Bogotá, we met with six bright, promising, articulate, and charming young women. Each of them distinctly articulated what they wanted to do, who they wanted to be, where they wanted to go. They expressed a visceral connection between their present and future selves.
And, I wonder, how, when, and where are those bridges - connections to our future selves - put in place? What roles do families, privilege, money, gender, social class, and socially prescribed norms play in the construction of those bridges? And when they are constructed, where do those bridges lead? To university, vocational school, to low paying jobs, to prison?
Reflecting on our own American systems and the school in which I teach. When we act as windows, do we provide a platform for students to open that window and step out into the world? Who gets those bridges? Who does not get those bridges? How are bridges different?
Rosalia Mendoza, my host teacher in Cartagena, mirrored how a bridge can be built - brick by brick - through English instruction and passionate teaching. Through innovative curriculum, community partnerships, her own experiences as a TEA Fellow, she reflects to her students how English can change lives. She reflects the national initiative for Colombia to be a bilingual country by 2025. She opens the window to the future and she stretches herself to her students’ present with their future. A bridge, I believe, not just to take students out of neighborhoods. No, these bridges bring us back home, too.
Oh, I believe in teachers. I know that teachers are agents of change in the world. At that inspiring panel discussion, Ricardo Romero proposed that there are two paths for teachers to take: to either conform or to propose change to reality -- a teacher who is extraordinary has to inspire and generate change and promote curiosity. We teachers can generate the possibility for change and for something better — we are mirrors, we are windows, and, yes, we are bridges.
I want to shout from the mountain-top - Monserrate in Bogotá and Sandia in Albuquerque -
"I believe! I believe!"
I've worked with the analogy of windows and mirrors in the past years of teaching. As an elementary school teacher, the Waldorf philosophy guided me towards the concept through a developmental lens. For example, children in their early years of elementary school often look to the adults in their lives - including we teachers - as mirrors and they strive to mimic, emulate and adopt and adapt behavior to be like the people in their lives. Around 4th grade, however, students begin to see through the teacher. Sometimes, the teacher acts as a filter or a guide; but, a shift is happening in which the student looks beyond the teacher for how to be in the world.
A brilliant colleague brought the National SEED Project to our school. Genny brought us the concept of Curriculum as Window and Mirror.
Emily Style advocates for "curriculum to function both as window and as mirror, in order to reflect and reveal most accurately both a multicultural world and the student herself or himself. If the student is understood as occupying a dwelling of self, education needs to enable the student to look through window frames in order to see the realities of others and into mirrors in order to see her/his own reality reflected. Knowledge of both types of framing is basic to a balanced education which is committed to affirming the essential dialectic between the self and the world. In other words, education engages us in "the great conversation" between various frames of reference."
I traveled to Colombia with these assumptions and with this framework - that we classroom teachers are the gateway to curriculum and act as potent windows and mirrors so that we invite students to look beyond themselves while providing opportunities for students to see themselves as part of the world and opportunities for students to grow, develop and deeply consider who they are.
Collaborating with Colombian teachers, sitting down for one-on-one conversation, I was so encouraged and inspired by the ways in which my colleagues consider themselves to be mirrors and windows.
One concept that was common was the idea of teachers as role models mirroring behaviors, values, attitudes, and life experiences - teachers mirroring what students can achieve. Victor spoke of how he shares with his students how he has achieved specific goals and how studying changed his life.
Marta and Irma mirror the advantages of learning English, how English can change their students’ lives. Irma used the symposium in Cartagena as an example of how her experiences can provide a window to students seeing an opportunity English can afford. Rosalia strives to mirror a productive work ethic through her own actions and preparedness as a teacher.
Guillermo sees himself as a mirror of various roles: as a man, a father and a teacher. Bárbara expressed that she mirrors her humanity and respect for her students. Sandra shares her life experiences with her students so they can see what’s possible.
Another theme expressed was the idea that we teachers are a window to the world - a window to what is possible for students’ futures. Sylvia’s description of herself as a window is imbued with hope - she wants her students to see the world, have successful futures, and their own sense of their lives. Rafael strives to open the window so students do not believe their are the only person in the world.
Sandra posed this provocative question, “What happens if the window or mirror is dirty?” Her philosophy: you have to be so clear, we have to show who we are - authentically - we have to show students reality so “when you open a window, you get to see light.”
It's no secret that I love being a teacher. I'm proud to be a teacher.
Meeting teachers in Colombia has been a profound and intense experience, invoking deep curiosity, compassion, respect, celebration, mourning, and hope.
In three weeks, I had the opportunity to watch teachers interact with their students and with each other in a variety of distinct school settings -- a public school serving students who live in significant poverty, a public school serving students of working class families, a private school for which families pay around $2500/ year in tuition.
Through conversation, panel discussions and observations, I find that the teachers I’ve met serve as mirrors for me -- I see myself in them in many ways. I see dedicated, caring and creative teachers who are working to balance policy-driven initiatives with meeting the unique needs of their students in the classroom on a daily basis. I see teachers navigating though the stress and the strain of teaching. I see the qualities that I strive to emulate - humor, competence, confidence, connections.
I saw the reflection of how American teachers - like Colombian teachers, it seems - are often blamed for every problem in education. We shared our parallel frustrations with lack of parent engagement in our schools, in our classrooms, and in children's lives, especially as the students move away from elementary and into secondary grades.
Through these same interactions, I have been given the gift of seeing these teachers as windows, too. Through them, I have glimpses of how teachers are committed to the betterment of Colombia through education.
After a few weeks of being back home and after a few weeks of being back in the classroom with my own students, I realize that my windows and mirrors analogy was missing an essential component — bridges.
On our second day in Bogotá, we had the opportunity to learn about the Colombian education system from three experts and advocates for the children and the future of Colombia.
At a panel discussion about education in Colombia. Ricardo Romero made the connection between students who live in poverty and limited educational opportunities. From his point of view, the issue is not only about infrastructure and resources, it is about dignity. “Before we speak of scientists and engineers, schools need to give people the dignity they deserve.” He expressed that students have no connection to their own future through education.
Students have no connection to their own future through education.
So, we can have mirrors and windows for students, but if there is no bridge leading them out of that window, then there is no hope?
When we visited a private Catholic school for girls in Bogotá, we met with six bright, promising, articulate, and charming young women. Each of them distinctly articulated what they wanted to do, who they wanted to be, where they wanted to go. They expressed a visceral connection between their present and future selves.
And, I wonder, how, when, and where are those bridges - connections to our future selves - put in place? What roles do families, privilege, money, gender, social class, and socially prescribed norms play in the construction of those bridges? And when they are constructed, where do those bridges lead? To university, vocational school, to low paying jobs, to prison?
Reflecting on our own American systems and the school in which I teach. When we act as windows, do we provide a platform for students to open that window and step out into the world? Who gets those bridges? Who does not get those bridges? How are bridges different?
Rosalia Mendoza, my host teacher in Cartagena, mirrored how a bridge can be built - brick by brick - through English instruction and passionate teaching. Through innovative curriculum, community partnerships, her own experiences as a TEA Fellow, she reflects to her students how English can change lives. She reflects the national initiative for Colombia to be a bilingual country by 2025. She opens the window to the future and she stretches herself to her students’ present with their future. A bridge, I believe, not just to take students out of neighborhoods. No, these bridges bring us back home, too.
Oh, I believe in teachers. I know that teachers are agents of change in the world. At that inspiring panel discussion, Ricardo Romero proposed that there are two paths for teachers to take: to either conform or to propose change to reality -- a teacher who is extraordinary has to inspire and generate change and promote curiosity. We teachers can generate the possibility for change and for something better — we are mirrors, we are windows, and, yes, we are bridges.
I want to shout from the mountain-top - Monserrate in Bogotá and Sandia in Albuquerque -
"I believe! I believe!"