Some of these questions are adapted from concerns I developed while researching and writing my thesis during 2010-2011. They were initially developed from the perspective of a budding academic with the loftiest of goals for community arts space and youth empowerment, and I'm excited to have the chance to explore them within the very standardized structure- in terms of power dynamics, rules, expectations, etc- of a public school classroom.
1. How can classrooms in CPS schools be inviting, comfortable, democratic spaces for students and teachers?
2. What happens to classroom dynamics when behaviors, lessons, and traditional authoritative hierarchies are recalibrated?
3. How, as an adult learner-educator, can I engage young people in a way that clearly respects their lived experience and areas of personal expertise and welcomes them into our shared space as also learner-educators?
4. What happens when young people help create the rubrics by which they will be assessed (by themselves, their peers, and their classroom teachers)? Will they understand/embrace/reject that degree of responsibility and autonomy? How will we assess what is happening?
These are just a few on the list. Has anyone out there in CPS or other public school or community systems explored these things with their students lately? Any ideas/tips?
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