Cultural And Political Vignettes In The English Classroom

By Author: allan
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I would never in my life let anyone get bullied while I watched or walked by because I know what it feels like to be bullied, since I was bullied in kindergarten. First, I would tell the eighth grader to stop, and if he didn't, I would step in front of the seventh grader to block him so he wouldn't get hurt Thomas Sabo Charm Carriers.—Daniel

To be truthfully honest, I would have to ignore it, but later on, I would ask if the person was ok and say sorry for not helping. Usually, if you form an enemy, they bully you every day, leaving bruises behind and maybe leaving your notebook ripped up in shredded pieces. I really don't want to experience that every day.—Jennifer

If I did see a seventh grader getting bullied by an eighth grader, I would help out.
I don't care if I get another bully on me. I already have one! I would just break it apart and hopefully,
I wouldn't have to fight, only in self-defense.—Christopher

I would keep walking because if I get involved, he would want to hurt ...
... me and I don't want to get hurt. I already get hurt a lot. I could go get a teacher, but there are so many people in the hall. Someone probably would have done it already. I would just walk away.—Andrew

The above excerpts are from responses to a cultural and political vignette (CPV) that was given to a seventh grade class in a large, suburban middle school in East Meadow, New York, by their language arts teacher, Jennifer Coscetta. The CPV to which they responded asked them to imagine how they might react to witnessing a bullying situation at their school. This situation, as teachers know all too well, is one that is rooted in the realities that students face in school each day. The CPV asked them to engage in problem-posing and problem-solving and to exercise their imaginations in ways that require complex higher-order thinking, but may not necessarily be viewed as imaginative in the typical sense of the word.

Maxine Greene, in her classic Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change, writes, "It may be the recovery of imagination that lessens the social paralysis we see around us and restores the sense that something can be done in the name of what is decent and humane. I am reaching toward an idea of imagination that brings an Thomas Sabo Earrings ethical concern that, again, has something to do with the community that ought to be in the making and the values that give it color and significance".

In responding to the CPV about bullying, students used their imaginations in such a way that ethical concerns were in the foreground. They were required to imagine themselves in a difficult social situation and carefully consider their roles in the school community from several angles. They also had to evaluate issues of power and think about actions, rather than just words. The relationships between problem-posing, problem-solving, and the imagination are sometimes neglected in classrooms, but they need to be further explored if we are to view imagination as more than the stuff of fantasy, dreams, and whimsy.