Competency 1: Engaging Students’ Humanity
Understanding
What does it mean to Engage our Students’ Humanity? Consider for a moment an educational space where students can show up holistically and find an outlet to explore and express all of their humanity. What might that space look, sound, and feel like? What does it mean to humanize a school system in which education is “defined in terms of quantitative test scores and career readiness,” as Paul Emerich France writes? How do we emphasize qualitative connections with people and course content that can lead to rich exploration and learning, and that encourages young people to connect with themselves, their peers, their life and future?
Reflect/Contribute: Reflect again on the teacher or adult who most directly engaged you as a human being. Based on that experience, and your own experience teaching,
Reflect/Contribute: What are some things someone would observe you DOING in
your classroom to engage your students’ humanity? Consider both:
1. Things you do that are not directly related to your teaching subject
Learn: See what other teachers say (coming soon)
Think about it: When we at The QUESTion Project refer to students’ humanity, we are seeking to bring attention to their core selves — not just the distinct parts of who they are (such as specific thoughts, feelings, or identities), or skills they may have (like articulating a feeling or analyzing a text), but something more fundamental. For example, a thought or feeling a student might have in response to a particular experience is a distinct part of who they are, and recognizing or expressing that thought or feeling is a skill. But the manner in which that student relates to an experience — how they make meaning of it, how they carry it, and how they remain connected to themselves in the process — points to the core of who they are.
The core self is not a fixed identity or a list of qualities. It includes how a person stays grounded in themselves, even as they grow and change. It can be expressed in a person’s sense of agency, their values, their ability to find coherence among different parts of themselves, or in their orientation toward life and others. It’s the deeper sense of “this is who I am” that exists beneath roles, labels, and external circumstances.
Consider the power of students connecting not just with the parts of who they are, but also with the core of who they are. This may sound like an abstract distinction, so let’s bring in a powerful example from a student…
On a visit to a class at Fashion Industries High School in Manhattan, students were engaged in a “River of Life” activity, drawing a river with “twists and turns” representing their life journey from birth to the present. Through this activity, students reflected on which turns in the river (positive or negative) were influenced by external events and which were shaped by their own choices. After they assessed how their own choices impacted the river’s direction, they considered their agency to shape the future course of that river.