Art Journal #2: reflecting on CSU's principles of community

The CSU Principles of Community reminds me of the E.A.T.O.N. acronym that I had for my high school (I went to Eaton High School). The O in the acronym stands for ownership which is similar to the Integrity component of the CSU Principles. When I was in high school, I thought ownership meant taking accountability for your actions and grounding yourself in your values and beliefs. And now, after four years of college, I see that Ownership, as it is synonymous with Integrity, means that I hold myself accountable for nearly everything that I say and do, and everything that I don’t say and do. This means that I acknowledge that, as a human, I will fail, I will hurt others (even unintentionally), and I will make mistakes. But, as a person who values integrity, and ownership, I will change, I will learn, and I will do better next time. I think integrity also aligns with my journey in continuing to strive for allyship, in the sense that allies must continuously interpret when it is time to speak up and when it is time to listen. And oftentimes, showing integrity is listening, to be held accountable for your actions.

The idea of social justice wasn’t discussed in my education until I went to college, which is a problem. But now, I have a much better understanding. When I think about the people, communities, and even nations that deserve justice in the worst way, it becomes almost overwhelming. But, I believe that in my journey to strive for allyship, I try my best to first educate myself about different social justice issues, then educate those I know, and then take necessary action, as decided by the community that deserves both justice and reformation. Our world and its people deserve change and reparations because, after hundreds and hundreds of years of genocide, slavery, and war, the effects are long-lasting and have been ingrained in everything from microaggressions that we speak, to inequitable institutional laws and policies. I believe that I have an obligation as both a student and a future teacher to fight for social justice at all costs, to ensure basic human rights to every person on this planet. Some of the ways that I do this are engaging in discourse that is created by BIPOC/queer individuals, completing my minors in Ethnic Studies and Spanish, and engaging in protest, policy change, and the reformation of educational curriculum to include content such as critical race theory.

Both of these principles are going to be extremely important when I teach as my students deserve an equitable education that uplifts their voices. To relate this to integrity, I think a huge part of creating an equitable classroom is practicing LISTENING to students more than making them listen to you. To achieve social justice in the classroom, practicing integrity and taking ownership of my actions are super important. I was reading a book about classroom management for my practicum the other day and I remember that it had a list of questions in it for teachers to ask themselves. One of which was, “How have I caused my students harm? And what can I do to make reparations with them?” I think that this sort of self-reflexive process might be the hardest part of teaching, but, it’s where we’re going to grow both as educators and as people. So, as I continue to in the teacher program, I must build upon the principles of community in my future classroom by continuously challenging myself to further understand allyship by valuing Integrity and Social Justice.

I want to continuously challenge myself to be a teacher who:

• Acknowledges how they have failed and takes active steps to do better

• Strives for allyship (all the while recognizing that this can never be achieved)

• Amplifies the voices of their students (especially those who experience oppression)

• Creates an equitable classroom environment

• Reforms curriculum to best suit the needs and rights of students

• Implements principles of community that are determined and decided upon by the students.

To represent this sort of continuous challenge that I aim for as a teacher, I am participating in a drawing challenge in which I have to combine two random things into a doodle every single day. Here is my sketch for today:

Things to combine: a moon & a bull

To conclude I think that as I challenge myself as an artist everyday, I also have to challenge myself as a teacher too. And that means asking myself the hard questions and staying true to the principles that my students set for me and for themselves.

also..side note! I will definitely be doing these sorts of drawing challenges in my future classroom. Thanks TikTok for this trend!!