The Classroom: An Invisible Line Meant to Be Crossed

This week’s readings hit me the way rain hits the north coast’s concrete floors. It’s starts subtly, quickly picks up, then slows to a drizzle - only to bring more rain. My eyes literally watered up during what author bell hooks described as the conflux of educators and students during difficult, err - defining-moments of life in and out of the “traditional” classroom setting. The class discussion that followed our readings only reinforced what I felt. Classmates talked about positive past experiences and how teachers helped foster passions in what they do now; and why they continue to do it today. 

The central theme in our dialogue oscillated from one side of the room to the other with encouraging stories of “creating awareness,” “changing the story,” and “higher education.”

A Pedagogy of Hope recalled me of working with incarcerated youth during my service as an English tutor with the AmeriCorps National Service Program. I walked into that time of my life unaware of how to work with “at-risk” youth - let alone know to change how I approached the situation. But somehow it worked. I was “myself,” I listened, and I was what someone might call “nice.” And the tough young adults I worked with somehow connected with that. Were they expecting every adult to enter their life with attitude and judgment? Maybe. In fact, I’m almost sure they did, but I didn’t want to be another authority figure in their life. It didn’t happen over night (trust me, it took months) but somehow, something between us clicked. I have literally taken that experience and apply it to almost every aspect of my life. Be yourself, listen sincerely to what other people have to say, and be nice. To me, hooks described that when she wrote of “…becoming more emotionally aware of psychological conflicts within a student blocking the student’s capacity to learn.” Checking-in with someone before you start working with them can make a huge difference. It can help both people get through tasks while both being mentally there to tackle the problems. I would often ask how my former students were doing before trying to jump into writing exercises with them. I often found that those were the moments when they actually wanted to work. Slowing down and being considerate goes a long way when working with youth and hooks describes that as “conscious teaching.” 

To this day, I couldn’t imagine not considering my students or classmates lives outside of the “classroom” before working on what goes on inside of it. The classroom is all around us - on campus, at home, on the streets, and anywhere else we interact with one another. hooks helps interrupt that invisible line that is all too often drawn between the classroom and the world outside. My pedagogy of hope will continue to envelop the two before being sent out to the people I get to work with. 

Consider that concept of a ”classroom” when you enter your next class. Does it end when you step outside of the room's four wall? Is it all around you? 

Message received? Loud and clear.