December 14, 2016 - 21:40
Where you were when we began this 360° process?
Nervous, excited. I was eager to push myself out of my comfort zone both as a student and a human. I knew I needed to learn more about race - I wanted to really delve into theory and history and look at it from a lot of complex angles. I wanted to challenge the comfort I've been afforded due to my whiteness. I wanted to work harder than I've ever worked and learn as much as possible. I had also just come from CDA (Community Diversity Assistant) training and was eager to jump into the academic aspect of that work.
Where you are now, and what’s been happening in between?
Well. It's been...an intense semester. I've really struggled with these classes, though the content has been interesting. Every day felt like a fight - sometimes with other students, sometimes with professors, sometimes with myself just to get to class - usually it was a combination of the three. The semester started off alright - I was really excited about the readings and would talk to my mom (a public school teacher) on the phone about the Ed readings at least once a week. I was really enjoying and provoked by the novels we read for English. I felt like I was uncovering secret histories with Monique and the other students in the class. But pretty quickly, my excitement and enthusiasm began to drop. I still came to class, I still did the readings, I still participated as much as I could but it certainly felt like going through the motions. I tried to give feedback and advocate for myself which is actually huge for me - I never used to even raise my hand. I'm really looking forward to next semester and resuming studies in my discipline, carrying all of this work with me.
How-and-what have you been learning?
I've learned a lot about myself as a student - how I struggle in small groups, what kind of literary analysis most interests me, etc. I learned that I rely very heavily on structure and struggle without it/if it isn't clear/I don't feel it's enough.
Where do you think that the edges of your learning now lie? In what ways has your understanding been expanded, challenged, or complexified in this 360°?
I don't think I totally understand what "the edges of my learning" are? I think that I've had to really question the role of both the student and the professor in the classroom - what are the limitations of a facilitator? When does a professor ask the students to take on too much? How do we assure that all parties are learning while still having someone in charge? It seems fair that these questions might come up when a portion of the experience is an Education class.
I've certainly stretched myself working towards the exhibition. It was a great crash course in group work/collaboration, creative thinking, research, and writing in a different form than anything I'd done before. I'm really proud of the work that my group did together. I'm grateful for the guidance from Monique and Carrie, with additional support from Anne and Jody. Kamara and Nyasa were blessings to work with and we were all really moved by the research we were able to do on the Ere Ibeji, which felt fraught yet incredibly special to work with.
Overall, this 360 has been a bit of a rollercoaster. I think I've done some really great work and read incredible texts; I've thought about a lot of concepts and issues that may not have been at the forefront of my mind. It's been a struggle, but I have certainly grown from the experience.