Teaching in tough times...

I'm in a bit of a slump, one could say. I'm struggling to keep a brave face on things, as I'm sure you all are as well. And I feel like I've somehow pulled inward, a sort of survival tactic. Time will tell whether this is the "new normal," or if I'll rally and be ready to face the world with my usual witty sarcasm and aplomb. I feel tempered, if that makes sense. 

One thing that is a floating concern is the new "snitch line" that the federals have established, a phone number that anyone -- parents, other teachers, what have you-- can call in a complaint about a school or an educator, asserting that they are engaging in DEI. We already have a similar situation here in NH, but this adds another whole layer of angst. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In other words, being a good human. If someone were to claim that my teaching Frederick Douglass' slave narrative or focusing on the contributions of Latinx or Indigenous people --or women writers!-- was somehow damaging their cherub, they could make my life pretty difficult. Teaching American Lit means teaching literature of and by all Americans, I think. I have a pretty wide selection of white guys in the syllabus (hard not to, given the history of Americans who wrote anything and got it published), but I like to try to balance that with other voices as well. That does not mean I will be changing to an all-male, all-white canon, but it makes me nervous, nonetheless. 

Several years ago, before all of this nastiness began, I had a class of students that had a fair number of kids who objected to my teaching "too much stuff about/by women," and so on. They were a pretty difficult group in a lot of ways, and they resisted just about everything I tried to show them, in large part because they had a wide misogynistic streak. This is not my first rodeo, but I don't ever want another semester like that one. It was emotionally scarring. If they'd had the option of snitching, they would have. As it was, there was a glaring moment involving plagiarism that resulted in the then-superintendent of schools not backing our school's cheating policy, and there was a school-wide effort by these young'uns to discredit me professionally. It was unpleasant every single day for months.

That said, here we are. I have to gird myself to go back to school on Monday. I have no problem students this term, but I am wary. It's a difficult tightrope teachers are walking these days-- how to help students gain both empathy and critical thinking skills, when doing just that is considered reactionary by a lot of people out in the rest of the country. 

At least I'm not the one teaching AP US Government. My syllabus would be out the window.

Have a good day,

C