Touro University California is a university under Jewish auspices founded upon the universal values of commitment to social justice, intellectual pursuit, and service to humanity. As such, Touro University California is dedicated to the following:
In this week’s blog, consider how the work you have done during this program fits within Touro’s values and how you are going to take what you have done into the world to make a change. Will you share your work with your principal or colleagues? Will you post about it on twitter? Or will your focus be making a change within your classroom or something else? What practical thing will you do to be of service? I firmly believe that ignorance, which leads to fear of diversity, greed, and the inability to see that our well being relies on the well being of everybody, is the root cause of racism. This is why the above statement which links social justice to intellectual pursuit really resonates with me. The third component of this statement, which is service to humanity, has to do with the responsibility of sharing the knowledge one gains in order to combat ignorance and racism. The privilege of being able to get my master's degree brings with it this responsibility. I feel obligated, and anxious, to share the knowledge I have gained through this course of study. The other thing this course of study has shown me is that sharing knowledge is no longer just something you an do with your immediate circle of acquaintances. No, the urgency of these times, and especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, requires us to take advantage of social media platforms to amplify our voices and share the kind of learning we have gained. (I'm thinking particularly about Linda Darling-Hammond's The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future.) For me, this means that I have to embrace social media to help get this message out. Up until now I have shied away from social media, but now that I have some positive learning to share and teach with, (and the new tech skills to do it with), I know I need to start sharing this learning with more people. Silence would mean compliance, consent, complicity, and more racial violence. I will share my learning with the teachers in my school. I hope other teachers read my website and find it useful. Now that I have a Twitter and and an Instagram, (and a tech savvy wife), I'll start spreading the love online, as well. But of course it does not stop there. Our new knowledge about how to empower children's voices through 21st Century skills is a path to achieving equity for ALL of our students. I think my greatest commitment is to them. As I've said before, I aim to empower them, and in doing so, empowering myself , my loved ones, everybody, and YOU! Black Lives Matter
3 Comments
Kirsten
6/28/2020 02:29:01 pm
I love how you stated "The privilege of being able to get my master's degree brings with it this responsibility." Personally I don't like talking about myself, so I will probably find it hard to just share out my research unless it fits in the conversation. BUT I agree that it is a privilege to get a masters and with that privilege we need to share our work to hopefully help better our education community.
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Joel
6/28/2020 11:12:59 pm
I love all of your comments and thoughts, very powerful. You are right, we (society) do have a duty to teach, learn and share so we as a world can become better and not continue to make the same mistakes. Thanks for sharing Jeremy.
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Tracy
7/11/2020 09:45:27 am
Great view points. Social Media can be a scary and frightful place. Like anywhere when there are trolls and people who get paid to say nasty things it can also be that silence is safety. There are so many situations in society that need attention. The changes equality and equal rights is for more than just race and sexuality but mental health.
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AuthorJeremy Smith teaches third grade at Calistoga Elementary School. Archives
July 2020
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