Bienvenidos: Su Casa Es Mi Casa

Texas Tech Official Mission Statement:

"As a public research university, Texas Tech advances knowledge through innovative and creative teaching, research, and scholarship. The university is dedicated to student success by preparing learners to be ethical leaders for a diverse and globally competitive workforce. The university is committed to enhancing the cultural and economic development of the state, nation, and world."

Eastern New Mexico University Official Focus:

 

• Prepare students for careers and advanced study.

• Impart citizenship and leadership skills and values.

• Support and expand the role of education and excellent teaching at all levels.

• Enable citizens to respond to a rapidly changing world.

I begin this blog with examples of mission/vision statements from the universities which I have attended. I often feel as though these statements are excellent examples of creative writing, pieces which are full of uniquely masked phrases which hide the societal need/desire to make individuals more and more alike.

"Assimilate...Become more like the "dominant" race...Live the American Dream..."

Emotional sentiments, such as "citizenship" and "leadership" or "innovative and creative teaching" are generally not really emphasized within schools or encouraged amongst faculty and staff. Instead we are encouraged to teach according to a standard set by colleges, we are told to promote a single sort of academic voice, we are goaded into discouraging creativity and relationships which might produce creative ideas. The unstated values of academia remind me of a song by Shel Silverstein...

"Our House"

I find the words of Trimbur not only enlightening, but also inspiring and refreshing. His concepts of collaborative learning provide hope for a way of subverting the system while seemingly upholding it (unfortunately, the most effective teachers often have to fly under the radar in this way). I love the following quote: 

 "powerful instrument for students to generate differences, to identify the systems of authority that organize these differences, and to transform the relations of power that determine who may speak and what counts as a meaningful statement."

Trimbur encourages the recognition of ideological controllers in order to break them down and subvert them. He is unafraid to examine the fear of conformity that entrenches our Nation, a pace which is entrenched in the idea of pulling oneself up by his/her bootstraps ala Ben Franklin.

I found Trimbur's discussion of the roots of collaborative learning very interesting. The technique was originally meant to assist in the teaching of literacy and expansion of higher education within traditionally excluded racial and cultural groups. As I read this description, I had quite the epiphany:

A classroom attempting to focus on teaching through a multicultural lens cannot be truly functional if collaborative learning is not a major classroom component!!!!

Without joint conversation, authority cannot be decentered, multiple images can only be shown rather than embraced, and dominant ideology will only be reaffirmed.

Yet doubt remains...can collaborative learning work with freshmen students? Can a classroom function without an explicit show of authority? Can one get hired with such a "hippie" mindset? Are these new ideas simply rosed colored glasses? HOW do I efficiently make students aware of the "Our House" mentality and still bring across the expected goals of the classroom curriculum?

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