Creating a Balanced Partnership
One common problem with university-community partnerships is that they can perpetuate power imbalances by presenting the university in positive terms as a type of "savior" and the community in negative terms as needing assistance. This model overlooks the rich resources high school students bring, along with the ways that university students can learn from their partners. There are several steps you can take move toward a more equal and respectful partnership. Below we present some options to consider.
1. Talk about your partner class in balanced terms. In other words, if you are a high school teacher, you can highlight how your students will be helping the college students in addition to the resources the college students will bring to the table. If you are a college instructor, you can discuss issues of educational inequality with your students, but also recognize the high school students as young adults who have valuable kinds of knowledge. Even small changes in language (collaborate vs. help) can affect how your students view their partners.
2. Discuss the power imbalances directly with your class, in an effort to bring unexamined assumptions to the surface so they can be addressed. For college students, Adam Davis's essay "What We Don't Talk About When We Don't Talk About Service" might prove helpful. Civic Reflection, the practice of reading and discussing short pieces of literature on themes of service, has also been used by UA Wildcat Writers teachers in the past. Jan Beatty's poem "Saving the Crippled Boy" has been a particularly effective piece for civic reflection. (Please contact us if you would like more information on using civic reflection in the classroom). High school students may not need a sustained class discussion on this issue.
3. Consider collaborative projects, or projects where both partners have a chance to help the other. For example, instead of only having the college students give advice and feedback to the high school students, consider ways for the high school students to assist the college students, or to collaborate with the college students on a joint project. See the section on ways of integrating Wildcat Writers into the curriculum for some sample ways of achieving this.
4. If your partner teacher addresses your class, have him or her remind the class of the balanced nature of the partnership. College instructors can thank the high school students for contributing to the partnership and helping their students, and high school instructors can tell the college students about the rich resources of their students as part of an introduction.
1. Talk about your partner class in balanced terms. In other words, if you are a high school teacher, you can highlight how your students will be helping the college students in addition to the resources the college students will bring to the table. If you are a college instructor, you can discuss issues of educational inequality with your students, but also recognize the high school students as young adults who have valuable kinds of knowledge. Even small changes in language (collaborate vs. help) can affect how your students view their partners.
2. Discuss the power imbalances directly with your class, in an effort to bring unexamined assumptions to the surface so they can be addressed. For college students, Adam Davis's essay "What We Don't Talk About When We Don't Talk About Service" might prove helpful. Civic Reflection, the practice of reading and discussing short pieces of literature on themes of service, has also been used by UA Wildcat Writers teachers in the past. Jan Beatty's poem "Saving the Crippled Boy" has been a particularly effective piece for civic reflection. (Please contact us if you would like more information on using civic reflection in the classroom). High school students may not need a sustained class discussion on this issue.
3. Consider collaborative projects, or projects where both partners have a chance to help the other. For example, instead of only having the college students give advice and feedback to the high school students, consider ways for the high school students to assist the college students, or to collaborate with the college students on a joint project. See the section on ways of integrating Wildcat Writers into the curriculum for some sample ways of achieving this.
4. If your partner teacher addresses your class, have him or her remind the class of the balanced nature of the partnership. College instructors can thank the high school students for contributing to the partnership and helping their students, and high school instructors can tell the college students about the rich resources of their students as part of an introduction.