What do you all think of the socio-political context of the Harlem Shake youtube craze? Specifically, how can Critical Race Theory help us as educators analyze this sensation that our students maybe participating in?

Below I have included links to the original  Harlem Shake youtube video, some other popular ones, and a response by the people of Harlem

Harlem Shake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJiSSAMNWw

OSU Harlem Shake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAFBipnlZbk


Heat Harlem Shake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WvE25IBUJM


Harlem Shake Response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGH2HEgWppc

This website seems to have good articles on praxis in the classroom--at least it gets us thinking in the POMO way...
http://www.uic.edu/classes/ad/ad382/sites/AEA/AEA_index.html

Priya

This seems like a great resource!

Development of theory is not politically neutral. Whom does the theory serve and why--that is the fundamental question. As educators, we should be considering and implementing ways (philosophy/actions) in which we can make our classroom equitable. Our students come to us with wide gaps in resources and expectations--this has an adverse impact on student thinking and performance. Therefore, how can we not be complacent and extend development and thinking of all our students?

One way to begin is by not looking at students as meeting a demographic criterion--Yes, NCLB led the way in dividing our classrooms into pockets of categories--we have perhaps stopped viewing students as individuals and more as how they can 'harm' the school's overall rating. With this thinking, we are no longer educating the child, but are rather moving the child to an acceptable column.

Students are not commodities--even if they 'slam' us in all the columns, they deserve a chance and an education.

Priya

The specific question "How can we actively participate in the future directions of the field of art education?" made me think about responsibility and implementation. Although I am not a K-12 teacher, I am surrounded by them in my personal life. The formal conversations we had in class become part of the informal conversations I have with family and friends. I feel as sense of responsibility to discuss these theories with teachers who are passionate and willing to implement new concepts into their classrooms. This is one manner that I feel in an informal way that is impacting the future direction of art education.

Tiffany Lewis 03/03/2013