My revelation in taking the “Strategies and Resources for Arts Integration” class, provided by Alameda County Office of Education through their Integrated Learning Specialist Program, was not how I can integrate maker education with my K-8 students, but how I can help my teacher students do so. As I speak to the classroom teachers I provide workshops for, I have noticed my teachers either express fear or overwhelmed feelings when they consider to provide what I do themselves. Because of my developing sympathy for the teachers, I have become more interested in wanting to train them in how maker education can be used to make their curriculum more interesting for their students while being helpful and not an overwhelming add-on to the teacher’s long list of requirements. While taking this class I was surrounded by more classroom teachers than teaching artists. Working more closely with classroom teachers my understanding has shifted from a sympathetic point of view to a more empathetic point of view, as I now not only want to help them combat the feeling of being overwhelmed adding maker education into their curriculum, I know think I understand why they have a fear of the topic all together.
I found myself as a teacher with such a different perspective than most of my peers in this course because I was one of the few non-classroom educators as a maker educator teaching artist. In my experience, because I teach maker education, I am used to teachers who see what I do as scary, above their ability, or wish they could do more of but not given the tools and time to do so. I disagreed with the first two assumptions because I have also been in their shoes and once saw programming, mechanical and electrical engineering, and design as scary and above my ability, yet I overcame that and learned how to do it eventually.
I still feel classroom teachers are able to do anything they put their mind to just as teaching artists do, that what I teach they too have the ability to teach if given the right tools and time by their supervisors. However, I never considered that as my background was from the design and arts field it gives me a leg up in not being as fearful in trying something new. Don’t get the impression that I don’t get fearful with a new learning task. I do get anxiety as well, but because of my art and design background I learned long ago to suffocate that anxiety monster (after I put back that pint of ice cream I hide behind when I’m anxious) and take a chance with tinkering. What I learned is that I take this mentality for granted. As I said, I still get overwhelmed when I see other artists, designers, and engineers do cool things, but I now think my sense of feeling overwhelmed is not the same as someone whose background is not in design and art. Or maybe they come from a community that compartmentalizes subjects rather than integrate it with each other and/or with the arts. And living in a world that devalues the arts by cutting art programs first when budget cuts are required, or treats the arts classes as a lucky extra-curricular and not important, probably only perpetuates the classroom teacher seeing the arts as the “other” rather than a useful tool.
My new objective when interacting with teachers who express interest in what I do yet feel that it is too scary or above them, is to not tell them that their feelings aren’t valid, like saying “sure you can”. Instead, I need to show more empathy with where they may be coming from, such as by asking them to tell me more about why they think they can’t. In doing so, I may be able to give them better advice on where they could start rather than just telling them that they can do it, as I doubt telling them they can is not as effective as showing them ways they can start trying. Learning at least one craft and one musical instrument was normal in my family, but their experience could have been very different than mine. And to show more empathy with them, I now want to take them by the hand and listen to their experience and find a way to give them effective advice.
In the chapter “Climbing Out of the Gap” from Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond, it describes the concept of how our students that are low-income, English language learners, and/or of color become what Hammond describes as dependent learners due to a lack of productive struggle. I found this writing to resonate with me because I deal with this concept all the time in my students as well, however, my students don’t necessarily fall under this category. I have seen this to be true of almost any demographic I work with. I don’t discount the argument that this is probably more true with students who are low-income, English language learners, and/or of color due to educational inequality. However, I do think that the reason the majority of my students are what I call “Hesitant Learners” or “Hesitant Tinkerers” is because we live in a culture that has made mistakes and failure a bad word. And I think teachers, whom I also see as my students in a way, surrounded by a culture including a mix of their colleagues, administration, and parents, also grew up this way doesn’t support the teacher trying something new because if it doesn’t turn out the way they expect it to, it is seen as a failure, which is then considered bad in this type of society. So, if my theory is true, of course classroom teachers would see maker ed as scary and unattainable.
Therefore, because I already feel this way for my “regular students”, I now want to apply my maker/tinker mindset with my “teacher students” in the future. I want to not just be that person that pats them on the shoulder and tell them that their fear isn’t true, that they can do it, but instead give them something that they can work with, a little bit at a time. But what would this realistically look like considering that I am not an official mentor of theirs? Sometimes when I pack up my workshop the teacher is student-less with me in the classroom, so I can strike up a conversation to learn more about them, what they like making, and keep that conversation flowing slowly over time to encourage them to try that new programming language they mentioned, or a new cooking skill that seems so cool. For the teachers who I don’t have that personal access due to the time constraints we are all familiar in working with minors, is why not surprise them with a design challenge gift bag or recipe to take home like I do my own students.
Some teachers may not care to respond, but if I could help give that courage to someone to try something they desire no matter how it ended up, then it would be worth it. I want to be a part of an active empathy culture, and not a passively sympathizing isolator. Because when we have teachers who can model independent learning, imagine the impact they can make on a dependent learner’s shift into independence.