In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Day, the following is a brief note of thanks: Dr. King, thank you for setting the precedent.
Jan182021
Oct292020
What is a Calling?
While I teach my students primarily online, I have some designated time with them in a seventy-five minute afternoon session, held once a week. While these sessions are designed to offer a space for continued study and socially distanced peer interaction, I also use this time as a means for getting to know my students on a level beyond academics. My afternoon sessions have become more of a reflection of self and purpose, both academically and personally.
In keeping with this theme, I am a fan of Oprah’s Super Soul Sundays because I can always find a short video clip of an interview seasoned with meaning and most fitting for personal reflection. This past week, my students and I watched Oprah’s interview with Steven Pressfield entitled “First Look: 4 Questions to Help you Find Your Calling.” Following our viewing session, some students were perplexed about the idea of a calling, while others were most confident about identifying the calling they finally had an opportunity to identify and share.
I asked students to select a question or two from below and share their response(s) on the classroom blackboard.
- What is a calling?
- Where does one’s calling exist?
- Is a calling spiritual?
- What is your calling?
- What wonderings do you have after watching the short clip?
Following our blackboard reflection session, we spent about twenty-five to thirty minutes sharing perspectives and questions. I was pleased to discover the following:
- While the majority of students believed they were too young to know their “calling,” both my boarding and day student group included at least two to three students who identified their calling.
- About half of my students believed that a calling is not spiritual. Rather, these students believed a calling is the result of lived experiences.
- While the majority agreed that a calling should bring joy to one’s life, students couldn’t define the true definition of joy, so they settled for aligning one’s calling with a feeling of sustained happiness.
- One student asked if playing video games is his calling because he is happy and looses track of time when he plays.
- Every student coalesced with the idea that finding one’s calling must be prioritized as the ultimate goal in life.
What is your calling? How and when did you discover this calling? What are your overall thoughts about the idea of “a calling”? Also, if additional understanding is required, another great example by author Wes Moore can be found here. I’m always looking forward to your your responses…
Oct222020
Mr. George Floyd and Rhetoric
While my students continue to struggle and persevere in various ways with our new educational approaches (i.e. online learning, schedule changes, day and boarding student separation and pacing guides), my goal is to help them relate to the world by first understanding who they are as authentic beings preparing to launch beyond the (perceived and very real) obstacles at hand. This is my core reasoning and rationale for continuing to work alongside them. As I struggle, persevere, evolve and inevitably allow myself to shift as a result and in spite of year ‘2020, I produce creative works and projects as a means and portal of continual discovery. I am grateful to have spectacular students who enjoy the learning process.
In this spirit, while focusing on a rhetorical device unit and how speakers, authors, filmmakers and overall artists use rhetorical strategies in order to reach their audiences, I asked my students to create their own creative project incorporating at least two to three of the plethora of devices we’ve studied. Students were provided with an array of creative options to choose from. And of course, they also had the option of proposing their own creative idea. I had fun sharing the creative options because I have many creative souls in my courses, from photographers to singers, from poets to documentarians.
The following is my rhetorical creative project model for my charges. I chose to construct lyrics–incorporating several rhetorical devices–and sing a song about George Floyd whose life ended while in police custody. My written analysis, following the video performance is an example of the compositional/analysis component of the performance.
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Mr. George Floyd
“Mr. George Floyd” centers on memoriam of an individual whose life was taken violently and cruelly while in police custody. Mr. Floyd’s murder was filmed by a bystander who was unaware, at the time, that this footage would spark protest and demand for reform of methods used by law enforcement when apprehending individuals suspected of a violation of law. I intentionally included three rhetorical devices—epistrophe, loaded words (in analysis) and hyperbole–for a more structured composition; however, most importantly, I aimed to pay tribute to Mr. Floyd by methodically and melodically–through song– appealing to human emotion in order to raise awareness regarding injustices still prevalent in our world, today.
Rhetorical devices incorporated:
- Epistrophe– “Mr. George Floyd”-Shared at the end of successive phrases for effect and as a reminder of the individual the piece is centered on; say his name…
- Loaded words-Violently/cruelly/murder-included to speak truth to what I witnessed. Ironically, law enforcement is responsible for keeping order and “peace;” In reality, law enforcement’s conduct was a demonstration of the exact opposite.
- Hyperbole and colloquial language—“this life just ain’t gon’ be the same”—life is not going to be the same following our witnessing of this murder. And it hasn’t been. I understand that Mr. Floyd’s murder in itself will not transform all that is necessary for justice to prevail. Nevertheless, for those who needed a wake-up call and heeded to it following Mr. Floyd’s death, life is not going to be the same. I must emphasize that I share this phrase in the most positively connotative manner. Use of colloquial language was inspired by listening to the mother of Mr. Floyd’s daughter. In a saddened state of pathos, the language of her testimony will continue to resonate……
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Share your thoughts regarding rhetoric or creating with students. As always, I’m looking forward to reading your perspective…
Feb82020
A Measure of Empowerment
Empowerment can be difficult to measure; however, if this is an aim, we can definitely feel when we are heading in the “right” direction. When I refer to heading in the right direction, I’m referring to something that can only be felt intrinsically, a feeling of upliftment. I asked some of my students how they were able to recognize when they felt empowered and I was surprised to learn that many of them knew the feeling based on recognizing when they didn’t feel empowered. Interestingly enough, similar to my students, one of the most empowering songs I’ve had the pleasure of hearing and singing, “I Will Survive,” by Freddie Perren and Deno Fekaris, lyrically expresses the language of recognizing how an individual can journey from an empowered state by first recognizing the weakened state. Ultimately, having the ability to recognize when one is not empowered, is an internal measurement of gauging when one requires uplifting.
Gloria Gaynor, famed vocalist of Perren and Fekaris’ tune, shares “at first I was afraid I was petrified…”. Like my students, she shared how she recognized that she was no longer experiencing the world from her highest/positive self. She was living in a state of vulnerability having been victimized by the experience, which made it difficult to identify her strength and ability to persevere through the situation.
When I was personally asked to explain how one measures empowerment, I found this quite challenging to do without also reflecting on the contrast between my darkest moments and those when my inner light shined brightly. After listening to, analyzing and singing “I Will Survive” many times over, I’ve come to appreciate how the song can be used as a guide to explain more concretely the various levels of empowerment:
- “At first I was afraid I was petrified…”– One no longer has control over their own experience(s). The experience has resulted in losing one’s ability to be confident and aware of opportunities beyond the state of being petrified—Zero Empowerment Level
- “I could never live without you by my side…”– The individual has given up the idea of being his or her own person. His or her existence is now dependent on another individual’s presence and control—Zero Empowerment Level
- “I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong…”—The individual is now recognizing that there is something not quite right with the predicament. He or she has the ability to recognize the negative treatment. Therefore, the individual is awakening to the realization that his or her empowerment was managed by someone else—Level 1-2
- “I grew strong and I learned how to get along…”—The individual is learning to recognize his or her strength and how to live without being dependent on toxic experiences– Level 3-4
- “I’ve got all my life to live and I’ve got all my love to give…”—This individual is now recognizing the meaning of life for his or herself. At this point, the focus is not solely on the self; in this empowered state, the individual is ready to give of oneself–Level 5
Freddie Perren and Deno Fekaris’ “I Will Survive” can help us articulate and measure our own level of empowerment, especially as we interact with individuals and the wider world around us. To what extent is empowerment necessary in order to be an effective parent, teacher and student? If we happen to learn that the cause of our disempowerment is a necessary fixture in our present lives, what steps can we take to remedy this?