TEACHING PHILOSOPHIES

Teaching Philosophy: Publications

REALITY PEDAGOGY

This pedagogy examines how strong relationships with students results in a classroom and that benefits both the teacher and student. It's the idea that in order for academic rigor to effectively take place, there must a presence of strong relationships between teacher and students. This pedagogy was created by Christopher Emdin, and he created the 7 C's of Reality Pedagogy: Co-generative Dialogues, Co-teaching, Cosmopolitanism, Context, Content, Competition, Curation.

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SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM

Social Justice Curriculum contains content that reflects the diversity that we see in our schools. It encourages building respect for each other. Issues of social injustice will be talked about and analyzed in my classroom to learn about the histories of sexism, racism, homophobia, and many other systemic issues in society. It also involves service-learning to have students be involved in the community and raise awareness and social action.

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CHOICE THEORY

The idea of Choice Theory is that students see the value of their work and understand the quality that will be added to their lives. By creating positive relationships with our students and motivating them to see the content is that they want at that moment. In a classroom that uses Choice Theory, it uses positive relationships and avoids forcing them to behave. It also focuses on the students mastering the content, emphasizing a deeper understanding of the material.

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TEACHING EL CAMBIO CLIMÁTICO

Teaching el cambio climático in a Spanish Classroom

“We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all… We require a new and universal solidarity” – Pope Francis

Climate change is a problem that, at times, can seem too enormous to grasp. An issue that sometimes feels more comfortable to make the assumption that people in power or that sit on vast amounts of wealth will take care of that. But more and more, with the outpouring of science that continues, it is clear that we must take action now. While the feeling that the task is too momentous for us to tackle is a valid emotion, simultaneously, it is not an excuse. There is no excuse for the lack of education of climate change throughout parts of the public-school system. There are innumerous opportunities to educate students about the perils of climate change and the reasons we must act now.

There is an agreement in place to keep the temperature within two degrees Celsius. Yet, it looks increasingly less likely we will be able to keep the climate within that temperature range. As Bill McKibben explains, a one degree increase would be manageable, yet anything above that would be great risk. Especially to the developing countries that would be at risk. At two degrees, Mark Lynas details that it would lead to greater ocean acidification which would be detrimental to our sea life. For example, phytoplankton are vital organisms in the ocean due to their carbon mitigating capabilities. They create calcium carbonate which helps contain CO2. Yet, with a worsening of acidification it will ultimately lead to less calcium carbonate due to the dying phytoplankton. Ultimately, this would lead to less mitigation and more amounts of carbon being stored in the oceans.

We only have to examine the country closest South to us to examine the effects of climate change thus far: Mexico City is sinking due to constant cycle drilling to replace a depleting water resource (NYT). Travel further East and one can see the horrors that Hurricane Maria incurred in Puerto Rico. There are countless stories, tales, and honest-to-God monstrosities that climate change is responsible for. Take a look at the amount of people that migrate to the United States and the reaction that they face from more conservative, nationalistic administration. Now, imagine the reaction when the climate alters the livelihoods of even more Latin Americans and they attempt to enter the United States to find a safer place for themselves and family.

Christian Parenti writes on the hardships that have already yet occurred within a region he names the “Tropic of Chaos” which is located between the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer. He chooses to focus on this area due to climate change affecting it the most. Parenti writes, “By 2050 global population is expected to peak at 9 billion, and global temperatures are likely to be close to 2◦C hotter than today, or more. How many environmental refugees will there be?” (182). A region within the Tropic of Chaos includes Mexico, in which he argues that it is already being affected by climate change. Due to neoliberal policies in the 1980s, in which profit is the principal goal, numerous fishing businesses were privatized, for example. An effect from these policies was increased poverty in these fishing communities and environmental damage due to the lack of regulations. Clearly, considering Mexico is a country that is covered within the realm of teaching Spanish as a foreign, it is crucial we talk about the human-induced effects of climate change on a country so pertinent to Spanish education.

Even in the United States, while there should be a focus on increasing and maintaining regulations on offshore drilling and fracking, the current administration continues to derail the progress. “The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement…has a finalized a proposal for loosening the regulations as part of President Trump’s efforts to ease restrictions on fossil fuel companies and encourage domestic energy production” (NYT). It further increases the extractivist intentions of this administration, without taking into account the repercussions the future generations must confront.

Skepticism about climate change runs rampant throughout adults, especially with the increasing amount of misinformation from politicians and big oil companies. Yet, as I argue, adolescents hold the key to combating climate change due to their not fully-developed beliefs about the world and politics. In the article, “Overcoming Skepticism with Education: Interacting Influences of Worldview and Climate Change Knowledge on Perceived Climate Change Risk Among Adolescents”, the authors explain, “worldviews are still forming during childhood and adolescence, and may not dictate climate change risk perception among adolescents in the same way as among adults” (295).

They argue that this lack of development in worldviews may explain why even if students tend to be individualistic, their perceptions of climate change may not falter. Yet, the bigger point of their study is that “20% of teens in [their] study and 46% of teens in the national survey either thought global warming was not happening or did not know if it was happening” (300). While those numbers may be alarming at first, in my opinion, they represent a prime opportunity for educate them and have the tough discussions regarding climate change. Furthermore, these harder conversations are “teachable moment[s], using inquiry-based pedagogy, inviting outside speakers, and discussing solutions to specific climate change problems as strategies for including all students in climate change discussions regardless of their level of belief or risk perception” (302).

As educators, we have the unique opportunity to incorporate climate change education into our general education courses. Why wait to only allow science educators to teach students of the detriments of ocean acidification? Why wait for just social studies teachers to educate students on the Industrial Revolution? I argue that climate change education can occur in a classroom such as a foreign language class, more specifically, Spanish. While this may come across as a strange concept, the more one thinks about it, the more practical it becomes.

Grammar exercises can be centered around climate change issues, such as using the future tense to describe plans of action. Culture lessons can show how climate change is affecting our Southern neighbors in Latin America. Literature and music can show how artists are using their platforms to speak out against climate injustice and social justice issues. Debates improve conversational skills; now imagine a debate in which students argue what the best plan of action for climate change is, or how best to reduce your climate footprint. As I stated before, there are plenty of occasions in which the topic of climate change can be incorporated into the Spanish-teaching curriculum.

The World Language standards in Michigan actually encourage the study of geography and natural resources of target cultures. For example, standard 2.2.M.G.d contains “describe the climate and typical seasonal weather patterns in various regions in additional countries in which the language is spoken”. This signifies that teachers have the ability to take on a plethora of topics regarding climate change affecting Latin America. For instance, the cutting down of the Amazon is a perfect topic considering it continually is depleted in the name of extraction. Another example that can be discussed is Costa Rica’s push to be completely carbon neutral by 2021.

There other standards as well that can be implemented into these lessons, such as “identify and describe major geographic features (rivers, mountains, deserts, forests) of additional countries or regions in which the language is spoken”. This would free up the opportunity to talk about how human exploitation and climate change helped the disappearance of Lake Poopó in the Andes. According to The Weather Channel, “Lake Poopó was once the country’s (Bolivia) second-largest lake, but a combination of environmental factors, including dry El Niño-fueled weather, overexploitation by mining, government mismanagement and changing climate change patterns has left the area a desolate wasteland of deserted fishing vessels and dead marine life”.

The song below is a current song written by a mainstay in the Latino music scene, Residente. In English, the song is titled “Apocalyptic” and details even when the world becomes disastrous, we will still endure. It’s a song that uses numerous samples of the subjunctive tense and contains examples of repetition, rhyming, and wonderful imagery. The chorus also lends itself to cross-cultural examinations with it being sung in Mandarin. Songs offer a chance for students to become more acquainted with the language, and also follows standard 1.2.N.L.d, “understand main idea of an audio presentation”.

“Apocalíptico” by Residente

[Verso 1: Residente]
Cuando se derrumba el paisaje
Y no haya pista pa' el aterrizaje
Y los milagros ya no salven gente
Porque los santos se tiraron de un puente

Cuando el clima pierda el control
Y se le queme la piel al sol
Cuando la arena se quede sola
Y el océano se ahogue con sus propias olas

Cuando se sacuda el suelo
Y las nubes se caigan del cielo
Y los árboles estén de rodillas
Con los troncos flacos enseñando las costillas

Cuando no queden rastros ni huellas
Y la luna se estrelle contra las estrellas
Y se rompa lo que ya estaba roto
Aquí estaremos nosotros

[Coro: Duan Ya Wen]
当海洋被自己淹没
云彩重重摔落地面
当太阳把自己受伤
当太阳把自己受伤
当树木只吐出废气
当树木只吐出废气
世界末日我们人在这里
世界末日我们人在

[Verso 2: Residente]
Cuando ya no quede casi nada
Y el día nos regale su última mirada
Y no hayan hojas pa' soplar el viento
Y la historia pierda el conocimiento

Cuando la lluvia se deshidrate
Y antes de llegar al piso se mate
Cuando el paracaídas no abra
Cuando las letras no formen palabras

Cuando las plantas mueran
Y mientras duermen la carne se enferme
Cuando se derrita el polo norte
Cuando los números no importen

Y los barcos no floten
Y los aviones choquen contra los trenes y exploten
Y los animales se coman entre ellos
Y las religiones se arranquen los cuellos

Cuando las banderas se prendan en fuego
Y todo pase ahora, y nada pase luego
Y se acaben los segundos
Y las manos del tiempo ahorquen al mundo

Cuando todo vaya más despacio
Cuando la materia ya no ocupe espacio
Y la gravedad se asuste y salgamos volando (yo)
Aquí estaremos esperando

[Coro]

Using Imperfect Subjunctive and Conditional Clauses

The central point to using these clauses is to explain that if something happened, then something may happen in turn. For example, “if I was hungry, I would eat dinner”; or, in Spanish, “si tuviera hambre, cenaría”. This is a perfect example of combining climate change concepts with forming sentences with new grammatical concepts. It should also be noted that to make more definitive statements, a student can make ‘if then’ statements with the future tense as well. Such as, “if we recycle, there will be less plastic in the ocean”. In Spanish, it would correspond to “si reciclamos, habrá menos plástico en el océano”.

A sample set of questions and answers proceeds:

¿Qué harías si quisieras bajar tu huella de carbono?

Ejemplo: Si quisiera bajar mi huella de carbono, yo montaría la bicicleta más.

______________________________________________________________________________

¿Si pudieras hacer algo más sostenible en la escuela, qué elegirías?

Ejemplo: Si pudiera hacer algo, yo impondría más lugares para reciclar.

______________________________________________________________________________

¿Si la temperatura subiera tres grados, que pasaría?

Ejemplo: Si la temperatura subiera tres grados, la acidificación del océano sería muy graves para los animales marinos.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Whether it’s a grammar exercise, song analysis, or debate about climate change, education within this theme is crucial to developing students that think thoughtfully about this grand problem. Referring back to the article regarding the challenge of defeating climate change skepticism among adolescents, they argue that students that receive a high level of climate change literacy will adhere to overcoming that skepticism. This is true regardless of whether they are labeled as individualist or communitarians.

One of the crucial ways we can develop climate change literacy in the classroom is by incorporating a personal inquiry project into the unit plan. This can be planned for the end of the unit, and I believe it can be approached in either two ways: a deeper look at how climate change affects their local community or a research project in which they analyze the effects of global warming on a place in Latin America. The former option would best be utilized in an area with a Hispanic/Latino population to be able to best relate it to a Spanish classroom. Though regardless, it would be a thoughtful project for students to examine how their local community has been and continues to be affected by climate change. The latter could be a useful end of unit project to wrap up and further knowledge of the effects throughout Latin America. For example, it may be useful to examine the policies of water extraction in Colombia, or cattle farming in Brazil.

Climate change education is a crucial element to combating the skepticism that prevails throughout. While there are other vital steps we must take as a society, such as decreasing our emphasis on consumerism, materialism, individualism, the education is something that teachers can tackle directly and head-on. How significant would it be, as well, if students were bringing in background knowledge learned from other classes to their Spanish classroom? We must confront this issue head-on, and there is not enough time to choose to be willfully ignorant that climate change will affect everyone on this planet.

As I have shown, there are songs that tackle this issue head-on by wielding strong uses of imagery that can be vital in helping students use their imagination for possible outcomes of global warming. Incorporating short stories and creative writing that is appropriate for their level of proficiency is also helpful once students create a useful storage of climate change background knowledge.

There is no excuse anymore to not talk about climate change. Skepticism is a privilege often granted to those who will feel the effects of climate change much less than continents like South America or Africa, for example. If we want to develop high-level thinkers in our schools, we must consider this theme and concept a high priority and think outside of the box in terms of incorporating into classes like Spanish. The time for action is now; we’ve run out of time to be passive towards climate change.

References

Davenport, C. (2018, September 28). Washington Rolls Back Safety Rules Inspired by

Deepwater Horizon Disaster. Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/climate/offshore-drilling-safety-

deepwater-horizon.html?emc=edit_clim_20181003&nl=climate-

fwd&nlid=7778598320181003&te=1

Enormous Lake In Bolivia Evaporates. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://weather.com/science/environment/news/bolivia-lake-disappears

Laudato si' (24 May 2015) | Francis. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-

francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Lynas, M. (2007). Our future on a hotter planet. Washington, D.C.: Fourth