Self Evaluation and Reflection

Nkechi Ampah

Ecological Imaginings

Spring 2015

Self Evaluation

Ecological Imaginations is probably one of the best classes I have ever taken at Bryn Mawr College.  I have never taken a class so ecological before. I loved the weekly site-sits because that became my solace.  I have definitely learned to think more ecologically not just in the holistic approaches to nature, being connected by systems and communities – but also in the varied ways in which I can express my ecological thoughts. I have written papers, drew pictures, made videos, and taken photos to express my ecological concerns about what we have been talking and reading about in class. I will definitely be challenging myself in how I want to represent my thoughts and ideas as oppose to writing in future classes.

Engaging with difference also means engaging with different viewpoints, both in content and in approach. That was something that I grappled with and felt bettered by in this semester. Having both voices that I agreed with, and worked together to talk about common experiences with was valuable. So also was listening to and engaging with voices that I had trouble understanding, or had trouble interpreting in a way which was helpful and productive. As a teacher, as an academic, as a grown human, that is a useful skill. I tried, too, to engage with others even when my own words were not perfect, as part of their own process of dealing with and interpretinga alternate viewpoints that was practically an practical example of aspects of the class.  

When I began this class, I was convinced that the underlying problems of climate change, which seems overwhelming lied in our attachment to materialism, but I am now convinced the real roots of our eminent demise lie in disconnection or perception of disconnection.

What I found as my greatest challenge during the course, which presented itself in many forms and was addressed at different angles was answering the question, how can we, as educators, and pioneers of justice, create a space where ideas outside of white upper-class, male, Christians are considered vital to our understanding of ourselves and our surroundings? Also, how can I personally participate in confronting social justice from silence and giving others space to contribute.

            Also we complicated the idea of comfort many times. Who is comfortable? Who creates that comfortable space? Where is the boundary between growth and uneasiness versus pain and humiliation? I appreciated that everyone in the class was vulnerable enough to reside in one of these spaces. 

In the beginning of the semester, I remember looking at the course title and feeling compelled. I saw the word ‘multicultural’ and immediately and solely connecting it to race. I was ready for a space where we would tease out the complexities and nuances of race and its effect on the classroom. I had stories, issues, questions I was ready to address and found solace in all the people and institutions I was ready to implicate throughout the semester. My goal was to find answers in regards to my past experiences in the classroom as I searched for validation in my struggles with my opposing personal and academic senses of self.  I was looking for the ‘recipe’ for multicultural education that I would be able to recite when necessary.

During one of our last Schools in American Cities class, you (Jody) summed up so well what I had been sensing for a few weeks: the deeper we explored the issues within urban education, the further we seemed to come from answers. Before you put words to this, I had been unsure of what to make of the feeling: was I the only one who felt more confused leaving than I had coming into the class? No, this was the hallmark of a complex learning process, involving challenged assumptions, recognition of conflicting realities, discovery of unfair and antagonistic systems, and ultimately, an unclear but vaguely hopeful direction forward.

I never really understood the term “Ecology” outside of a science context. I think the biggest lesson I’ve gathered from a semester of this class, is the usefulness of the ecological thought and how we approach the world. I’ve learned how the critical thought and analysis in the humanities are just as important as the critical thought and analysis done in the sciences. Combining the two is necessary in order for solutions to world problems to reach all avenues of understanding, not just simply emotional or scientific understandings. I really appreciated the section “Invitation into the world beyond Ourselves,” in Elizabeth Callaway’s  presentation, A Space for Justice.

David White

Multicultural Education

When I enrolled in Multicultural Education, my one major thought was that “hopefully this class will teach me how to interact with (and subsequently teach) a diverse group of individuals.”  I saw multicultural in the title and I immediately thought we were going be told how to teach other students who were different than us.  I was so naive.