February 17, 2017 - 10:37
I. (2:00-2:05, Jody:) coursekeeping
For tomorrow, please read another short essay by Anna Plemons (whose dss we started y'day,
whose teaching philosophy we read a few weeks ago...); this is the script for a talk she gave
entitled “Tattooing Scar Tissue: Making Meaning in the Prison Classroom"
Read also Chapter 2 of Kirk Branch's book: "Make Them Wise to Salvation:
Literacy and Literacy Practices in Correctional Education," Eyes on the Ought to Be, 53-94.
Y'day we asked you to put Meiners and Plemons into conversation (co-teaching!?) with one another;
what might happen if we paired up Branch and Plemons?
what they have to say (might have to say!) to one another?
how might each address/fail to address what's been happening @ your praxis site??
Tonight, we're submitting a proposal for a workshop
@ the Community Day of Learning on March 22,
in hopes that some of you will help us facilitate this;
we'll talk through that later...
Also a heads up that the final novel we'll be reading together,
Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
is finally available in the BMC bookshop
First 1/2 of class today will focus on our sites;
second 1/2, with help from Greg Davis, on scientific literacy.
II. (2:05-3:00, Anne): talking about "helping" @ our sites
Read handout aloud.
Erica Meiners, p. 46: "'The image of 'Lady Bountiful' is particularly salient in terms of the teacher or colonial governess who was seen as having a unique duty to bring civilization to the 'uncivilized.'"
Anna Plemons, p. 2: "I knew that [Marty] had heard me when, as an initial response to [my] text, he quoted Thoreau: 'If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.' I laughed. As is usually the case, the thing I had wanted to say had already been said long, long ago in a sentence or two. Thoreau, invited to the conversation, gets at the heart of part of the issue I have attempted to lay out. There is a fundamental problem with conscious designs intended to enact good upon another in his or her own house--and maybe even a deeper violence when the place the recipients of such good are living is not their home at all."
A.rsr: if there's one big thing we could help this organization with, it would be updating their social media presence and their online presentation....It is all about helping this group of people become more accessible to communities (political, local, educational, etc.). I think that's a good goal to have for our time here.
Ang: though we feel weird about being young college students trying to tell these older leaders of the group how to help the organization, we do have an honest desire to help in whatever way we can because we believe the organization deserves to be more well known and more supported by the public.
unsettle8: with selecting the books, rather than just packing them...social interaction was increased....The first person I asked said that she and her friends all came together because it was fun, they got to chat, and it made her feel good about herself....The last person I spoke to...had volunteered there for about three months...again they did it because it made them feel good about themselves...
jane doe: Before going to my placement, I decided to take a walk around the block to get a feel for the area. Walking always calms me, especially when in a new area. It was a nice start to the morning. An autoshop. A park. A few people walking. There’s so much more life here than Bryn Mawr. I miss sidewalks. I miss the city. I think about this feeling of comfort I feel from walking the blocks and the wall of police brutality victims that I remember from inside the school. What do the police feel when they walk on the streets? Do they walk the streets? Do they recognize the life here?
Divide into 2 cross-site groups to talk about our site experiences so far:
are we helping? Being helped? Do we want to/be?
(3:00-3:10): BREAK
III. (3:10-4:00): Introducing Greg Davis
* describe his experience of going inside
* what is scientific literacy?
"Scientific Studies: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"
Test of Scientific Literacy
Karen Barad on "Reconceiving Scientific Literacy" --
makes TOSL seem like an exercise in reading ABOUT, not PRACTICING science (?)
See also reading notes on the culture of science