project justice - days 4, 5 & beyond

When I talk to people about this justice week that I had imagined for my middle school students, it sounds like a risky proposition, even to me.  How was I going to expose these children to social justice in a way that didn't go too far or not far enough?  Would they really find an issue they were passionate about?  Would they comprehend the difference between justice and charity?  Would they complete a project?  Would they follow-up?  Would their hearts and minds be changed? for a day? for a week? for a lifetime?

I can't measure how they changed, but I can tell you what I saw.  I saw struggles with jumping to a solution before understanding the problem.  I saw anger at the way things are.  I saw stereotypes broken down.  I saw passion, commitment and the dawning of comprehension.  I heard ideas and saw projects that changed me (click here for the complete list of justice projects).

One project in particular was a video for Falling Whistles: A Campaign for Peace in the Congo.  I had never heard of this organization, but one of my students had seen their video a month ago and when it came time to pick a project, she knew exactly what she wanted to do.  The kids working on this project disappeared into a room for a day and a half and produced this video.


Project Justice: Falling Whistles from Kim Wilkens on Vimeo.

The first time they showed it to me, I was stunned - by their interpretation and by the stats they shared.  The next day, I didn't believe it.  45,000 killed in a month?  Biggest war of your generation?  Are you sure?   Yes, they were.  I started researching online.  There's not much to find.  I went to fallingwhistles.com and they tell a compelling story, but was it really real?  Even so, I wanted to buy a whistle to show my support for the students, but they were sold out.  I happened to click on the Tour dates and noticed they would be in Richmond this past Sunday.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to find out more, so I went.

When I got there, I felt a little like a party crasher and also old.  I met some of the interns and shared my story.  I saw a large room filling up with high school students that were part of a human rights and history club.  I heard Yves and Sean share their stories.  They were compelling, frightening, engaging, inspiring, passionate and humbling.  I bought a whistle and I changed a little more.

But now that I'm wearing the whistle, what do I say?  My brain still can't cope with the reality - it's searching for other answers.  There are precious few answers to be found along the information highway, but something is definitely not right in the Congo. 

• "no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response" - Nicholas Kristof (NYTimes)
• Congo's war without end (Globe)
• Smartphones Caught up in Congo War Controversy (CBS)
• Raped women used as pawns in Congo War (CNN)
• The US blinks, and children will suffer (Huffington Post)

I had no idea!

project justice - days 2 & 3

Yesterday morning, the students heard from the Family Support Coordinator of the local International Rescue Committee and visited Computers4Kids in the afternoon.   Today we had our last speaker, the Lead Organizer from IMPACT.  She really helped the students gain a deeper understanding of the difference between charity and justice. 

It has been a whirlwind of activity and lots of information to absorb, but the students eagerly brainstormed possible education and advocacy projects to work on and were busy all afternoon making plans.  The energy and passion of these youth is inspiring and a little overwhelming. 

Everyone we encountered along the way made comments about how impressed they were with these kids and their ability to grasp complex concepts and be so engaged.  While I also think this is a special group of kids, I know they can't be the only ones with this potential and it makes me wonder why we, as society, have such a difficult time appreciating the input, perspectives and contributions of our youth.  I know I've certainly been aggravated by the idea of anyone not taking these kids seriously.

project justice - day 1

I have been so excited about the opportunity I've been given to pull together a week long immersion experience for my middle school students that focuses on local social justice issues.  We just completed our first day which included a field trip to The Haven at First and Market, a day shelter for the homeless, and speakers from The International Rescue Committee.  I'm taking it as good omen that we bumped into Tom Shadyac on the way into the Haven and that he wanted to speak to the kids about this project.  I myself was a little star struck and couldn't seem to put the camera down.  Luckily, the kids put it all into perspective and I've posted some of their comments @ Opening Our Eyes to Homelessness.

computer science meets social justice

At the beginning of the school year, I set up a shelf with resources about my two passions:  technology and social justice. I didn't really know how the two were related, but I knew I wanted to bring them together.  I learned how they were related at the K12 Computing Teachers Workshop that was part of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.  What I learned is that there is a crisis in computer science education both in quality and access.  The result of this crisis is that women and minorities are missing opportunities to advance academically and economically in a field whose employment potential far exceeds the number of students preparing for it.  Also, if we don't get more diverse participation in technology, then we miss out on innovations that are relevant and usable by a wider range of people and end up instead with technological machismo (and more first-person shooter games).

Things really haven't changed much since I first started in the CS field

• Girls and minorities are not represented in the CS field.  This still baffles me, but it was reiterated again and again by industry (google, yahoo, microsoft) and academia (stanford, duke, mit)
• Many kids are not being exposed to programming until college.
• AP CS is not a required course in high school and sometimes AP CS courses are not accepted by colleges.
• School administrations don't understand what CS really means, often equate to applications (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, keyboarding)
• There are way more CS jobs available than students studying CS.
• There is a bill in Congress (Computer Science Education Act of 2010) geared to addressing this crisis.

Girls wait later to make a decision about their major, 

but decide earlier what they don't want to do

• By age 13 girls determine a positive or negative attitude towards subjects like technology (I did this by deciding I certainly didn't want to be a teacher when I was a teenager and changing my major from math to CS once I was exposed to programming).
• Girls often associate technology with white, nerdy, boring men.
• The impostor syndrome is a real problem for women at every age and occupation, but especially for women who find themselves in male-dominated fields.

Relationships are still key

• I met amazing people and learned about resources that have helped re-ignite my passions for technology and social justice.  
• Technology teachers like myself who are just trying to reach and teach students as much as we can about technology with little direction and funds.  
• CS professors from major universities who are so passionate about their field, willing to listen to the struggles of K12 teachers and provide their support.
• People from industry who seem to be willing to fund almost any worthwhile project, if only we could get hooked up.

Online Resources:

• Computer Science Education Week @ http://www.csedweek.org/
• Computer Science Teachers Association @ http://csta.acm.org/
• Computer Science Unplugged @ http://csunplugged.org/
• Digital Citizens @ http://www.digizen.org/
• Dot Diva @ http://dotdiva.org/
• Education e-Village @ http://techbridgeworld.org/evillage/
• Eric Roberts @ http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/
• EtoysIllinois @ http://etoysillinois.org/index
• Karel the Robot in Scratch @ http://code.google.com/p/scratch-karel/
• Learning to Program with Alice @ http://www.aliceprogramming.net/ (I found out at the workshop that there is a username and password that Steve Cooper (coopers@cs.stanford.edu) will share with teachers if you ask)
• MATHmaniaCS @ http://www.mathmaniacs.org/
• Mrs. Prescott's Computer Literacy Class @ http://teacherweb.com/NE/SchuylerGradeWW/DPrescott/wscal1.aspx
• National Lab Day @ http://www.nationallabday.org/

Other Resources:

• A Clean Slate Approach to High School CS by Jan Cuny
• ACM K-12 CS Model Curriculum, 2nd Edition
• Computer Science Education Act of 2010
• Exploring Computer Science Curriculum 3.0 (really interesting CS curriculum based on social relevancy)
• Let's Fight It Together (movie about cyberbullying)
• Impostor Syndrome Panel Presentation by Katie Siek
• Odd Girl Out (movie about bullying)
• Rising Above the Gathering Storm Revisited
• Running on Empty (a paper coming soon about the state of CS by state)
• Stuck in the Shallow End
• The Power of Abstraction by Barbara Liskov

loser

My favorite new song is The High Road by Broken Bells, especially the refrain:

it's too late to change your mind;

you let loss, be your guide

At first, it seems like a pretty negative sentiment and being ruled by loss can certainly be a sad fate. I've been thinking about loss a lot lately. My weekend's experience of loss was pretty superficial, but when I thought I had lost the diamond from my engagement ring, I cursed its very existence for making me feel so bad for losing it.

Frankly, I am terrified of loss, but when I read Philippians 3:8 - "More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ..." (NSRV) - it seems that I am to let loss be my guide.  I know loss is inevitable and it started the moment I was born, but I'm still in denial and for some reason prefer living in a state of fear instead of acceptance.

So I've been thinking about things I've lost or will lose or should lose:

childhood is lost to time

virginity to fate

memory betrays me

everything can't wait

the future is not secure

diamonds not forever

jobs will come and health will go

everything will wither

promises are broken

trust can be misplaced

arguments will not prevail

everything's a waste

expectations bind me
disappointments haunt

can I find in this world
everything I want

choices all around me

the high road has a cost

following the Jesus way

everything is lost