Skip to main content

A Strange Hospitality - 1: Rev. Dr. Matthew Kaemingk

A Strange Hospitality

"We teach who we are." - Parker Palmer

Difference
  • We regularly encounter difference that is deep, fast, close.
  • These differences come in a wide variety: cultural, racial, political, economic, moral, theological, religious...
How do we lead amidst deep difference?
How might our schools embody both:
  • Counter-cultural commitments
  • Counter-cultural hospitality

Example: Muslim Immigration in Europe

  • "Guest workers" -- set up "Muslim hamlets" outside the cities (Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam), belief was that these people would eventually "go back home"
    • Reality: People started to bring spouses, children, family; never really integrated into European society
  • European reactions:
    • A problem to be solved...
    • Paternalistic attitude -- we'll provide all of these "things" (healthcare, mosques, social workers, etc) to take care of them and eventually these Muslims will see how great our way of life is and they will assimilate 
  • Two voices began to develop (1990's, post-911)
    • High Walls 
      • "The slum is a problem that needs to be solved, by the government"
      • Restriction
      • Security
      • Nationalism
      • Hard Assimilation
        • Would have classes to teach them how to be a secular, progressive culture
    • Open Doors
      • "If we're nice enough, soft enough, they will assimilate and become like us"
        • A problem that needs to be solved, by the government
      • Government Aid
      • Paternalism
      • Multiculturalism
      • Suppress any critique of Islam, then everything will be good
      • Soft assimilation
  • The dead end politics of home...
    • High Walls & Open Doors -- neither of them can sit at a table and have a conversation
    • As teachers, we are about setting that table for conversation
  • Where are the Christians?
    • Historic Christian Responses:
      • Fight
      • Flight
      • Moderate
      • Assimilate
    • Jesus commands us to love our neighbours and our enemies. We need to take the challenge of difference seriously

Wrestling Questions

  • Where is your school? (Students, staff, me)
    • Which internal and external differences most contest your school? (cultural, racial, political, economic, moral, theological, sexual, religious)
    • Which responses are most tempting in your school? (Fight, flight, moderate, assimilate)
    • How do the politics of high walls and open doors manifest in your school?
  • Where are you?
    • Which differences trigger your leadership? Why?
    • Which responses are most tempting for your leadership style? Why?
    • What are some differences that are not yours to solve? Why?
      • Who, then, solves them? At what point are we allowing differences to perpetuate on because we won't/can't address or solve them?
  • Notice how your body responds to deep difference
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BCAMT 2023 - What is Extending? - Phil Stringer

 New Reporting Order has been followed up with videos Chris Hunter bit.ly/BCAMT2023 What does "extending" look like in your math classroom? Working in how to calculate using spreadsheets ("if", etc.) Extension is not synonymous with perfection! How do students set up, attempt, demonstrate, etc? We make answer keys with mistakes ALL THE TIME, and we are extending at Grade 9 math! Play with AI or ChatGPT to get extending and synthesizing questions.  WrongMath on Twitter -- collection of photos with bad math @xphils     pstringer@croftonhouse.ca
Post a Comment
Read more

BCAMT 2023 - Helping Students Enjoy Pre-Calculus 11, 12 and Calculus Courses - Ron Coleborn

What does it look like when students are enjoying a course?  The thinking process, as long as we feel confident and have support Getting the thinking and not feeling like we have to know it right away because of a test tomorrow, etc. Assignments, Desmos (activities and regular graphing calculator) Not easy because there is a lot to cover! Presentation Folder Most of the assignments in the folder should take ~4 days, so give a week or so. 1-1.5 class periods, the rest is outside of class.  Contact Ron: ron.coleborn29@gmail.com Seeking to find material that fits into both content and competency - what hits the learning standards as a whole?  Desmos:  Inserting picture and create graphs/points around that Mystery Functions - creating using piecewise functions Desmos Selfie - picture behind and create a graph pic (PreCalc 12 for transformations, could do PreCalc 11 with more simplistic functions) Example 2 Leap Frogs - Quadratics Either with counters and squares or the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

BCAMT 2022 - Standards Based Assessment: An Assessment Method for all Math Students to Belong - Amos Lee

Google Drive Folder with Resources HERE "Developing" - let them use notes! They just won't progress beyond that level Core questions = all do, Advanced questions = can do, if you want to get to those top two If you want to get to xxx course, you need to do advanced questions Use curricular competencies rubric Demonstrate levels of mastery  "Compare the following..." Tests are split into learning outcomes, each section just gets one overall Tests -- "Celebration of learning" Mid-course Feedback from Gr. 12 students: Positive: Decreased anxiety levels during test Focus on big concepts Lets me know if I know concepts, not the right answers Have purpose in re-learning Less stress on ensuring get each and every mark Negative: No sense of urgency Feel stress of not knowing the percentage Multiple Choice Questions - Why? Take the work they have scratched down into account Reassessment: Didn't ask them to reassess the whole test; they can just do part of ...
2 comments
Read more