Distance Video in Class, Part II
A month ago I practiced using video for guest engagement discussions between other scholars and my student-colleagues. With the practice under my belt, I asked Professor Vershawn Ashanti Young, author of Your Average Nigga (2007), currently at University of Waterloo, Ontario. I had reached out to him over the summer and asked him to work with my class, coming next week. In exchange, he asked if I would explain my ethnographic studies to his own class, titled "Love, Language, and Leadership."
Specifically, he asked me to address themes from Pelias's book of personal relationships, especially his autoethnography of his family. Thinking that his students would appreciate learning from my student-colleagues more than me, hearing voices from racial and class backgrounds unfamiliar to most Waterloo students, I arranged for a Latina student working on a family project and an African-American student working on a black barbershop project to speak briefly about their work and what they've learned about love in these communities.
When the video to Waterloo went live, we saw a well-lighted room with large windows full of mostly white students sitting at parallel tables, with Professor Young acting as moderator. I can imagine what our Canadian colleagues saw when the video from Houston appeared -- only two white bodies, and one was mine. Everyone else in the room is Latino or Af-Am, sitting around a large u-shaped configuration. Two different worlds.
I briefly explained the concept of community college, since the institution doesn't really exist in Canada, the required FYW course, and the subject of my first semester syllabus. I then asked my Latina colleague to discuss her family and she did great. I then turned the microphone over to my Af-Am colleague and he described what he's learned so far about his black barbershop -- as he described it, a safe place where everyone is accepted. He did great.
The plan was for these two to return to their class seats and I would take up the rest of the time. But Professor Young asked for a clarification from the last student, explaining he had written about the black barbershop before [and in my head, I thought, "Damn, he has written on this topic already!"] that in his experience, the black barbershop was not a safe rhetorical space for all people, and asked my student to respond. Professor Young used a few academic phrases that were appropriate for fourth year students but to which my students wouldn't have been introduced, so I was about to translate the question, except that my student took control and essentially said, "I didn't understand everything you said, but all I can say that I know my barbershop, and we accept everyone -- men and women, gay men and gay women, and children." Somewhere in the middle of that sentence, Professor Young smiled broadly and I knew that my student had nailed it. He spoke from his own experience, his author/ity, and his research already just in Week 5 of a writing course. He even used basic public sphere theory correctly in context.
Students returned to their seats and I gave an overview of the entire writing sequence in my course. I answered a few questions from the Waterloo students and I framed them as well as I could within Pelias's work. Before we ended the video, Professor Young asked me to situate myself, and I explained my southern straight white male experience, including professing at this multicultural college. With the minutes left, I asked my students' their opinions [one student: "That was Canada?!"] and I congratulated the two student speakers for doing so well.
Later, I emailed Professor Young, hoping that taking his class's time was what he expected. His response:
Young, Vershawn Ashanti. Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity. Detroit: Wayne State U P, 2007. Print.
Be strong, and courageous.
Dixi et salvavi animam meam
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Specifically, he asked me to address themes from Pelias's book of personal relationships, especially his autoethnography of his family. Thinking that his students would appreciate learning from my student-colleagues more than me, hearing voices from racial and class backgrounds unfamiliar to most Waterloo students, I arranged for a Latina student working on a family project and an African-American student working on a black barbershop project to speak briefly about their work and what they've learned about love in these communities.
When the video to Waterloo went live, we saw a well-lighted room with large windows full of mostly white students sitting at parallel tables, with Professor Young acting as moderator. I can imagine what our Canadian colleagues saw when the video from Houston appeared -- only two white bodies, and one was mine. Everyone else in the room is Latino or Af-Am, sitting around a large u-shaped configuration. Two different worlds.
I briefly explained the concept of community college, since the institution doesn't really exist in Canada, the required FYW course, and the subject of my first semester syllabus. I then asked my Latina colleague to discuss her family and she did great. I then turned the microphone over to my Af-Am colleague and he described what he's learned so far about his black barbershop -- as he described it, a safe place where everyone is accepted. He did great.
The plan was for these two to return to their class seats and I would take up the rest of the time. But Professor Young asked for a clarification from the last student, explaining he had written about the black barbershop before [and in my head, I thought, "Damn, he has written on this topic already!"] that in his experience, the black barbershop was not a safe rhetorical space for all people, and asked my student to respond. Professor Young used a few academic phrases that were appropriate for fourth year students but to which my students wouldn't have been introduced, so I was about to translate the question, except that my student took control and essentially said, "I didn't understand everything you said, but all I can say that I know my barbershop, and we accept everyone -- men and women, gay men and gay women, and children." Somewhere in the middle of that sentence, Professor Young smiled broadly and I knew that my student had nailed it. He spoke from his own experience, his author/ity, and his research already just in Week 5 of a writing course. He even used basic public sphere theory correctly in context.
Students returned to their seats and I gave an overview of the entire writing sequence in my course. I answered a few questions from the Waterloo students and I framed them as well as I could within Pelias's work. Before we ended the video, Professor Young asked me to situate myself, and I explained my southern straight white male experience, including professing at this multicultural college. With the minutes left, I asked my students' their opinions [one student: "That was Canada?!"] and I congratulated the two student speakers for doing so well.
Later, I emailed Professor Young, hoping that taking his class's time was what he expected. His response:
My class loved it. It really helped with the explanation of the assignment, especially since your two students got the project, got what we're dealing with so well. And, you, my friend, were particularly insightful. Glenn and Samatha both were Da Bomb. I wish they were my students. Very impressive! Thank you sooooo much.
There's a back story to this classroom successful use of technology. When I asked my African-American colleague to participate, and after I explained that he really only needed to speak for two minutes about his project, he texteddr. vay___________________________________________________Department of Drama and Speech CommunicationUniversity of Waterloo (ML 239)200 University Avenue WestWaterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
cool i look forward to it..makes me feel important..where I'm from that's not often..glad u asked meLater, I texted him, congratulating him again for his defense of his ideas.
Thanks wish we could have recorded honestly..you. and him gave me intervention today..I liked it. The question I loved it. I look forward to next weekSome people don't believe "our students" are up to the challenge. Last week I saw one of "our students" go head-to-head for just a minute with a world-class scholar and hold his own.
Bibliography
Pelias, Ronald J. Leaning: A Poetics of Personal Relations. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 1991. Print.Young, Vershawn Ashanti. Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity. Detroit: Wayne State U P, 2007. Print.
Be strong, and courageous.
Dixi et salvavi animam meam
Google +
Twitter @comstone
Professional Blog
