Evidence of Shifts 1

Let the strivings of us all prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war. Let the efforts of us all prove that he was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.
Nelson Mandela, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize (1993)

It’s like having an idea, a big idea, that you can feel your brain bumping up against, or a word, an elusive word, that’s just on the very tip of your tongue. I can feel it. I intuit that it is important, crucial even. I see the light in my students’ eyes in the best case scenarios and perhaps don’t see some students again in the worst case scenarios, and I want to know why. What is working? What is not working? In what modest ways is this project helping to create the world that Mandela and King dreamed of?

That question has bounced inside my head on a regular basis throughout my involvement in this project. I know, down to the very core of my being, that as a teacher this project has impacted the way I see the world, but for my students I am never so sure. Already convinced of the changing-of-self power and even the changing-of-pedagogy power of the project, I find myself rationalizing the power of Sharing Cultures Project for students by saying things to myself like “Well, maybe the power is simply in transforming the teaching. We plant seeds. It will be a while before we can begin to consider the impact of the exchange for students beyond the evident engagement/excitement level for the course. Some days however, on good days, I see the lightbulb go on in my students heads as they work their ways through the discussion boards --reading, responding, and sharing. I watch them connect through shared taste in music or I see them express surprise but not judgment when chatting with someone with a very different way of life.