Objectives

Students will work independently and with their peers from both institutions (C1 and C2) to:

1. Compare the institutional similarities and differences between C1 and C2 through data collection, analysis and reflection
2. Explore and expand their knowledge of the higher education system in the United States
3. Reflect on their educational choices, including topics such as access, location, programming, and other institutional features
4. Analyze issues of inequality in the context of higher education

Materials

1. Readings and Videos: Below is a suggested list of resources that address each of the themes which appear in this module. Instructors are encouraged to select/add the resources that would be most meaningful for their particular group of students as well as the regional and demographic context of their institution.
   1. Community Colleges
      1. Las ventajas de un community college
      2. Colegios comunitarios; por qué elegirlos
      3. Colegios comunitarios, límites y desafíos (I, II, III)
         • http://radiobilingue.org/features/colegios-comunitarios-respuesta-a-los-altos-costos-de-la-educacion-primerta/
         • http://radiobilingue.org/ultimas-noticias/colegios-comunitarios-sus-limites-y-desafios-segunda/
         • http://radiobilingue.org/features/los-colegios-comunitarios-y-la-filantropia-iii/
      4. Los colegios comunitarios ofrecen educación para los trabajos que Trump sigue prometiendo; entonces, ¿por qué los castiga tanto?
   2. Educational Inequalities in the United States
      1. Educación de peor calidad y más abandono entre negros e hispanos
      2. La educación en Estados Unidos: un acceso desigual
      3. El sistema educativo de Estados Unidos presenta claras desigualdades raciales
      4. Cómo la desigualdad asfixia a EE.UU.
      5. “A Tale of Two Schools” (video)
      6. “Tale of Two Schools: Race and Education on Long Island – Part 1”
      7. “TEDxWashingtonHeights – Monica Martinez – A Latina’s Story of Attaining A Higher Education.m4v”
   3. Student Debt and Other Challenges in Pursuing Higher Education in the United States
      1. El impago de la deuda estudiantil se dispara en Estados Unidos
      2. Las razones por las que millones en EEUU no terminan la universidad
      3. Estados Unidos: ¿racismo y desigualdad en la universidad?
      4. Life of Privilege Explained in $100 Race [to be shown in class]
2. Fact Books from C1 and C2: Depending on the institution of higher education, instructors may be able to locate Fact Books containing detailed information about the student body, faculty, costs, and other information about their home institutions. See the Queensborough Community College Fact Book for an example.

Technology Resources/Requirements

1. Class website
2. Video conferencing platform such as Zoom, Skype, or Facetime (to be used with Mac/Apple users)

Note

This module will be most effective – yielding better class discussion – if the two telecollaborative schools differ in terms of demographics as well as institutional context (geographic location, professor and organizational characteristics, political surroundings, etc.). Ideally, the collaboration would be between a 4-year school and a community college.

The purpose of this activity is for students to explore quantitative data about their institutions and the implications of these data vis-à-vis educational inequality, and to compare these ideas with their peers at C2.

Preparation for Videoconference: Reviewing Institutional Fact Books

Prepare students to collect data in order to write a summary (see Pre-Task B). Provide students guidance about what type of summary to write. (A helpful starting resource for writing a summary can be found at 10 características de un resumen.)

Have students review the data sources for their college (C1) and the partner institution (C2). Ask them to focus on salient similarities and differences between these two sets of data. What stood out to them as surprising, striking, and/or worth a closer look? Have students take notes on any data/information that they found worthwhile to discuss in class.

Divide the class into small groups and ask them to look for the following information in the Fact Books and/or other resources for C1 as well as C2. Inform students that some data may not be available in their institution’s Fact Book or in the equivalent resource for C2.

Student information:

1. Student enrollment
2. The three majors with the highest enrollment
3. Percentage of men and women
4. Average age
5. Ethnicity and race, including changes in the last ten years
6. Primary language(s) spoken
7. Place of residence
8. High schools that students graduated from
9. Graduation rates in three, five, and six years
10. Percentage of students with financial aid
11. Average income of current students
12. Outside employment, including number of hours worked per week
13. Number of students per instructor
14. Tuition cost

Instructor information:

1. Ethnicity
2. Gender and rank
3. Workload (how many credits they teach per semester). If this information is not in the Fact Book, have students ask you or another professor.

Preparation for Videoconference: Class Discussion

After students have reviewed C1’s Fact Book, reviewed the equivalent resource for C2, and taken notes on the above information, have them reconvene as a class to debrief. What were their findings, and what was striking, interesting or predictable about them?

Prepare students to write a summary (350–500 words) explaining the major similarities and differences that they have found. Their summary should cover the following points:

1. What new information surprised you about your college? What information surprised you about C2? What did you find unsurprising?
2. What do you think a Fact Book like this tells us about an institution of higher education? What do you think it leaves out?
3. What information might be different for a different type of college (community college, four-year college or university)? Why do you think so?

Task: Videoconference

Advise your students that they will be preparing to discuss with their partners at C2 the data they have found about the two colleges. Divide students in small groups and ask each group to prepare a list of questions that they would like to ask their peers at C2. The list might include questions such as:

1. What did you learn about your college by reviewing the Fact Book? What surprised you? What confirms certain things you suspected or observed? Does this information change your perspective about your college? Why or why not?
2. Do you think and talk about “inequality” in your educational institution? If yes, in which context(s) (with instructors and classmates in class, with classmates outside class, with friends, family, etc.)? Think about what inequality means in economic, racial, gendered, and educational terms.
3. What do you think of educational inequalities in the US? Are they considerable or negligible? Why? What broader inequalities do you think they reflect?

Pair small groups of C1 students with small groups of C2 students. Have them pose their questions to each other via videochat. When students have completed their chat with their peers, have them upload their notes about the conversation to the class website in blog format.

Post-Videoconference Step: Class Debrief

Debrief about the videoconference in class. Ask what students learned over the course of discussing the similarities and differences between C1 and C2. In small groups or as a class, talk about the notes that students took during the conference sessions, and have them include the information they gathered from their Fact Books.

Prepare students to reflect on this experience in the reflection. Prior to assigning the written reflection, discuss the reflection 2 rubric with students. Inform students that they are preparing to write reflection 2, a 2–3 page essay (see sample at the end of this document) about their perspectives on higher education in general in the United States, and how this connects to their experience as a student in a 4-year college or a community college. Remind students to write in narrative form rather than responding to questions point by point. Invite them to incorporate the following themes, discussing what particularly interested them for each theme:

1. Education in the United States: What have you learned in this module? What topics have you found interesting, and how do they connect to your own educational experiences? Evaluate the education you have received up to this point. Do you think that it has been a quality education? What would you change about the education you have received?
2. The telecollaboration experience: What was the experience of sharing insights with your peers at C2 in the telecollaboration like? How do you think this added to your understanding of your own educational context and experiences, as well as of larger questions and struggles in education in the United States today?
3. New ideas, new directions: As a society, what can we do to provide educational equality for all children? For example, you might look into issues of policy (affirmative action as applied to education, education policy, housing policy, voting policy, etc.); social issues like racial segregation or income inequality; teacher education/preparation; programming that supports marginalized students and communities; and so on.

Have students write and post the reflection on the class website. Ask them to comment substantively on and/or ask questions about two other reflections either by their classmates at C1 and/or students from C2. Have students respond to one comment that they received about their own reflection.

The purpose of this activity is for students to explore the concepts of privilege and educational inequality as systemic and historically informed features of their current experiences in higher education, and to draw connections between these experiences and those of their peers at C2.

Preparation for Videoconference: Choosing Your College

Have students discuss the following question as a class or in small groups: “Why did you choose a community college or a 4-year college for your education?” Using the board, brainstorm a list of possible reasons, including such themes as finances, location/proximity, reputation, convenience of schedule, and so on.

Discuss the term “privilege” with students. Have them write one or two sentences explaining what they understand by “privilege.” Facilitate a conversation about these ideas and expand upon them as a class.

Create a list of words and/or sentence starters that relate to privilege. Suggestions include: privilege/privilegio, access/acceso, rights/derechos, finances/finanzas/economía, advantages/disadvantages/ventajas/desventajas, prejudice/prejuicio, barriers/barreras; Going to college is made possible when…/Asistir a la universidad se hace posible cuando… Use this list to create the questionnaires (see https://cultura.mit.edu/cultura-questionnaires for guidance), which can then be posted as hyperlinks on the project home space.

Work with the instructors at C2 to agree on a timeline for students’ completion of questionnaires and the publication of results. Invite students to complete the questionnaires in one sitting by responding to the prompts in any way that makes sense to them. Students can be encouraged to write in Spanish, English, or a combination of both languages.

Once students from both C1 and C2 have submitted their responses, publish the results from class on the project home site in a side-by-side comparison with the responses from the students at C2. (See example here.)

After publishing the results, discuss them in class with students, inviting them to identify similarities, differences and patterns within and between the two groups, and asking students to formulate possible explanations for these differences. Have students work in pairs to make a list of questions for discussion that they will ask the students at C2.

Preparation for Videoconference: Watching Life of Privilege, In-Class Discussion

Show students the film “Life of Privilege Explained in $100 Race”

Have students discuss the video in small groups using the following suggested questions as a guide:

1. What is your initial reaction to the video? What is it like to watch this with your classmates?
2. Do you think this is an effective way of teaching what “privilege” is? Why or why not?
3. In an exercise like this, where do you think you would be positioned? Why?
4. Is it important to know what your position in the “competition of life” is? Why?

Discuss students’ responses to these questions as a class, and build vocabulary to support discussion.

Preparation for Videoconference: Building Background Information

Have students read the readings and watch the videos selected for class. Have them answer guiding questions and post their responses along with a picture they have taken of a place at the college that has meaning for them (e.g., a public meeting place, a classroom where they took a class that made an impact on them, etc.). Inform students that they will be commenting on the posts by the students at C2 as well. Guiding questions might include the following:

1. When you were making decisions about college, what institutions did you consider? What factors or characteristics of these institutions helped you make the final decision? What was most important to you?
2. Did you consider other options? Which?
3. The resources you have reviewed speak about educational inequalities in the United States. Respond to the following questions in a paragraph: How do these inequalities manifest in society? What are the causes?
4. You already have had experience in the educational system of this country. What have you observed and/or experienced with respect to the forms of inequality that were raised? If you are comfortable doing so, give specific examples.
5. Discuss whether you agree or disagree with the following statement: “There can be no equality in our society if the same educational opportunities do not exist for everyone.” Include supporting details and examples to fortify your position.

After students have published their own posts, have them comment on two or more of the posts that the students from C2 published. Also have them respond to the questions and/or comments made on their posts.

Task: Videoconference

Advise students that they will be preparing to discuss the topics of privilege and forms of inequality in higher education (including prejudices and barriers based on race, class, etc.) with their partner group at C2. In small groups have students prepare a list of questions they would like to ask their peers. Sample questions:

1. What was your reaction to the video “Life of privilege explained in $100 race”?
2. What other resources did you review from the Materials list? What did you think about them and what feedback would you give the creator of these materials?
3. Do you consider your university a place for privileged students? Why or why not?
4. Do you have classmates or friends who rely on student loans? What have they said about this?
5. Why do you think that educational inequalities are so great in the US? What broader inequalities do you think they reflect?

Pair small groups of C1 students with small groups of C2 students. Have them pose their questions to each other via videochat. When students have completed their chat with their peers, have them upload their notes about the conversation to the class website in blog format.

Post-Videconference Step: Blog

Meet as a class to debrief about the videoconference experience. Ask students to reflect on what they found interesting, surprising, troubling, inspiring, etc. about their conversations with the students at C2. What new insights do they have about their own educational institution, as well as about the community and region where it is located? Ask students to identify any patterns, similarities, differences, and/or unanswered questions that emerged in their discussions with the students at C2. How might this new knowledge contribute to knowledge-sharing and solidarity-building?

Reflexión sobre las diferencias entre las universidades
College 1 es una universidad comunitaria y pública y College 2 es una universidad privada de cuatro años. Soy una estudiante de College 1 y, al escuchar a los estudiantes de College 2, me he dado cuenta de similitudes y diferencias que son positivas y negativas.
Una diferencia muy notable es el costo de la matriculación. College 1 cuesta por semestre $2,800 por doce créditos y al año cuesta un estimado de $4,800. En contraste, el coste de matriculación de College 2 es aproximadamente $40,000 por un año, más $9,000 para los estudiantes que quieran vivir en los dormitorios. Comparando las dos instituciones, está claro que algunos estudiantes deciden matricularse en un Community College por ser más económico que una universidad privada. El costo de ambas instituciones no es la única diferencia. También hay muchas diferencias en el currículo académico. College 1 no tiene un amplio y extenso currículo académico como College 2. College 2 tiene más variedades de carreras. Al tener un currículo académico más amplio y extenso, los estudiantes tienen más posibilidades de encontrar una carrera apropiada para sus intereses.
Una diferencia que me llamó mucho la atención es la cifra de graduación de ambas instituciones. En College 1, que es una institución de dos años, es 17% en tres años, lo que está muy por debajo de College 2, que es 67% en cuatro años. Me hubiera gustado que la cifra de graduación fuera más alta en College 1, pero al escuchar a mis compañeros hablar sobre los motivos por los que la cifra de graduación es baja, puede entender bien por qué algunos estudiantes no pueden graduarse en dos años. Factores como la economía de la familia, el tener que trabajar y las responsabilidades familiares impiden que algunos estudiante se gradúen a tiempo.
College 2 ofrece dormitorios, algo que College 1 no tiene. Me hubiera gustado haber asistido a una institución que ofrece dormitorios, ya que es una experiencia única. Desde mi punto de vista, los estudiantes que viven en dormitorios aprenden a ser independientes y responsables. No solo eso. Como han comentado algunos compañeros de College 1, nosotros vivimos con nuestras familias y estamos muy afectados por todos los problemas familiares que van surgiendo. Si viviéramos más lejos, podríamos enfocarnos más en nuestros estudios y menos en nuestra situación familiar.
Otra diferencia que hay entre College 1 y 2 es el espacio que los estudiantes tienen en la clase. En College 1, hay como 30 o más estudiantes en un mismo salón. En College 2, en un salón hay, como mucho, de 15 o 20 estudiantes. Cuando hay más estudiantes en una clase, a los profesores se les hace mas difícil ayudar a los estudiantes que lo necesitan. En cambio, donde hay menos estudiantes, los profesores pueden explicar con más detalle y de forma más individual para que el estudiante pueda entender la materia. Además, cuando hay muchos estudiantes en la clase, no todos participan y a veces ni siquiera llegan a conocerse. Pero, aunque las universidades privadas ofrecen clases más pequeñas, son muy caras y una gran cantidad de los estudiantes se gradúan con una buena parte de la deuda. En nuestra conversación con College 2, me pareció interesante hablar de “el estigma” que hay contra las universidades comunitarias. Hablamos de que en algunas zonas del país y en ciertas escuelas secundarias hay un sentimiento de que las universidades comunitarias son peores que las universidades de 4 años. Se piensa también que las universidades comunitarias son para personas que no tienen dinero o personas que no son inteligentes. Yo no era consciente de esto.
Encontramos que en muchas escuelas secundarias, la opción de asistir a universidades comunitarias ni siquiera se plantea y que muchos de los estudiantes de College 2 no sabían que era posible la transferencia de una universidad comunitaria a la universidad de 4 años. En cambio, hay escuelas secundarias en las que los consejeros nos presentan primero la opción de universidad comunitaria y nos hablan muy poco de la de cuatro años. Ambas instituciones ofrecen deportes, organizaciones y eventos sociales para los estudiantes. College 1 ofrece deportes para hombres y mujeres, como basketball, balonmano, natación, fútbol y otros más. También tiene organizaciones como el Drama Society, Creative Writing Club, Chemistry Club, Mock Trial Association, etc. Sin embargo, he obervado que College 2 también tiene asociaciones para estudiantes que se dedican a temas de justicia, de derechos humanos e incluso de derechos de los animales, algo que, por ejemplo a mí, me interesa mucho.
En general, creo que las universidades comunitarias son una muy buena opción para los estudiantes con menos recursos económicos, como es el caso de mis compañeros de College 1. También es buena opción cuando los estudiantes no saben qué especialidad estudiar. Es ridículo que estos estudiantes derrochen su dinero por un período de dos años a la hora de decidir su especialidad. Por otro lado, me he dado cuenta de que College 2 tiene mejor reputación y probablemente los estudiantes tengan mejores trabajos después de graduarse. Yo realmente no era consciente de que hay tantas diferencias entre estudiar en un tipo de universidad o en otra. Creo que durante la escuela secundaria no nos han dado suficiente información a mis compañeros de College 1 y a mí porque, por ejemplo, hasta ahora no sabíamos que en las universidades privadas de cuatro años hay becas. Si hubiera tenido esta información, tal vez habría solicitado estudiar en una institución como College 2.

Objectives

Students will work independently and with their peers from both institutions (C1 and C2) to:

1. introduce themselves to their classmates and the students at C2 by means of self-representations
2. reflect about individual and intercultural differences or similarities as shown in their peers’ self-representations and their own
3. reflect on and develop critical awareness of the power of visual information

Materials

Technology Resources/Requirements

1. Class website
2. Video conferencing platform such as Zoom, Skype or Facetime (to be used with Mac/Apple users)

Course Overview

Introduce course overview, routines and expectations to the class, particularly the protocol of working with peers from another school. Present the class website to students and demonstrate its use.

Explain how students will publish blog posts and comment on their classmates’ work and the work of the students at C2. Practice using the website as needed.

Preparation for Exchange/Commentary with Students at C2: Self-Introductions, Blog

Have students write a short blog post on the class website in which they introduce themselves to the students at C2. The post should offer autobiographical details in as natural a style as possible, using Spanish, English, or a combination of both languages.

Task: Reviewing/Analyzing Student Self-Introductions at C2

Have students read two self-introductions that the students at C2 have written and take notes for class discussion. Some questions they can use to review and analyze these self-introductions may include:

1. What information is included in the self-introduction?
2. What language(s) did they write their self-introduction in?
3. What kind of person do you think this student is, given the small amount of information you have about them? Why do you think this way?
4. What do you think you have in common with this person? What makes you different?
5. What questions might you like to ask this person about their experiences in their town/city and in their college?

Post-Exchange Class Debrief

Have a class conversation about observations of the students at C2. Some guiding questions may include:

1. What are your impressions of the self-introductions you read? What was it like to write your own?
2. Are there commonalities and/or differences in your self-introduction compared to the self-introductions of other students in your class? What about the students at C2?
3. Are there any general themes/ideas that emerge about C1’s educational, political, geographical, and/or sociocultural context? What about the context of C2? What comparisons/contrasts can you draw?
4. Do you think that comparing individual self-introductions by students from two different educational contexts can reveal larger truths about the places where they study? Why or why not? What limitations might there be in such an exercise?

The purpose of this activity is for students to explore the concept of self-representation as a creative process of social/cultural identity production, and to make connections with similar explorations by their peers at C2.

Preparation for Videoconference: Exploring Forms of Self-Representation

Review and discuss with students a variety of artistic self-representations (see sample links under Materials). Instructors may choose collections that focus on Latinx identity (1-5 under Materials) and ask students to compare them to collections that are not specifically Latinx (6 and 7 under Materials). Sample questions for the discussion:

1. What are the elements, objects and ideas that the artists use to express identity?
2. What identities are being explored in the portraits? What elements do artists use to express or reflect on these identities?
3. Choose your favorite self-representation from the different collections and explain why you find it compelling in terms of its message and its aesthetic qualities.
4. In what social and political context was this self-representation probably made? What features of the self-representation indicate this?
5. Present to students some of the terms that will appear in class discussions: “identity” (cultural, gender-based, race/ethnicity, immigration experience, etc.), “syncretism,” “portraiture,” “self-representation,” “aesthetics,” etc.

Preparation for Videoconference: Class Readings (at home)

Assign some of the readings from the list to the class. Alternatively, ask students what readings they would be interested in (take a class vote, etc.). Have students complete the readings at home, and prepare to discuss them in class.

Preparation for Videoconference: In-Class Discussion of Readings

Discuss the selected readings in class. Here are some starting suggestions for questions that instructors can use as a guide for class discussion:

1. Immigration and Identity
   1. (“Esculpir identidades”) For many immigrants, crossing the border means gaining access to the opportunity to forge a new, dynamic identity in a new culture. However, the difficult conditions of the journey across the border causes others to lose their lives along with their identities. Analyze how art contributes to their visibility. Do you have any creative ideas about what could be done with these sculpted faces beyond using them to help families identify their loved ones?
   2. (“Niños nacidos en República Dominicana…”) Compare the identity issues of the Haitian children in “Niños nacidos en República Dominicana…” to the situation of Dreamers in the US.
   3. (“A conversation with Latinos on race.”) Discuss the possible meanings of “identity” for immigrants based on your personal experience, the readings, and the testimonies that you saw in “A conversation with Latinos on race.”​
2. Race/Ethnicity and Identity
   1. (“Los hispanos explican…”) Discuss the ways in which racial and ethnic identity come about and/or are chosen in the article. What is the relationship between racial and ethnic identity and being “American”? How do you think about your own racial/ethnic identity?
   2. (“Afrolatinos…”) Discuss the ways in which the relationship between being “Black” and being Latinx are explored in the article. What social and political ideas are discussed about living as someone who identifies as Afro-Latinx?​
3. Gender and Identity
   1. (“Redefiniendo…”) Discuss gender identity in the story of Micah. Would Micah be able to identify him/herself with any of the poetic self-portraits you have read?
   2. (“Género e identidad sexual…”) Discuss the various ways in which the article explores gender identity and gender itself. What role can fiction play in creating possibilities for new ways of looking at and thinking about gender? Draw upon examples from the article to support your perspective (even if you disagree with the example(s) you use).​
4. Language and Identity
   1. (“Ser latino…”) Discuss the relationship between language and identity as presented in “Ser latino en Estados Unidos…” How are language and identity related? Does your identity change depending on the language you use? Does identity change depending on where you are, or who you are with? Does identity change over time?
   2. (“Género e identidad sexual…”) Discuss the evolution of Spanish language use and learning in the United States as presented in the article. What predictions can you make about where this trend might be headed?​
5. Poetic Self-Portraits
   1. Why would a writer choose a poem rather than an essay to speak about identity or self-identity?
   2. (Parra) What is the profession or occupation of the speaker in the poem? How do you know?
   3. Whom is the speaker addressing? What type of self-image is the speaker transmitting? Find instances in which the speaker uses humor for self-deprecation. What do you think is the effect of this self-deprecating voice on different readers (e.g., you vs. his students, etc.)?
   4. (Varela) What is the attitude of the speaker in describing her/his CV (positive, self-critical, etc.)? What is the meaning of “carrera” in the poem? Who or what is the “sombra”? What definition of “victory” does the poem provide?
   5. (Castellanos) What is the attitude of the speaker in describing herself (positive, self-critical, etc.)? How does the speaker appear to feel about social conventions (the use of the term “señora,” high culture, definitions of femininity and beauty, how suffering is expressed, etc.)? What about life cycles (motherhood, aging, etc.)? Find instances of the use of irony in the poem. Why do you think the writer made this choice?
   6. (Sor Juana) Whom is the speaker addressing? What is the “engaño” and why is it a lie? What does the final verse progression suggest (“cadáver,” “polvo,” “sombra,” “nada”)?
   7. (Pérez Firmat) What tensions and contradictions can you find in these poems? How are these tensions and contradictions expressed (in the creative use of language, in imagery, in other ways)? What does it mean that the poet’s voice does not “belong in English” and “does not belong anywhere else” at the same time?
   8. (Parra, Pérez Firmat) Compare the use of humor in Pérez Firmat’s “Soy un ajiaco de contradicciones” and in Parra’s “Autorretrato.” What or whom are the authors mocking with the use of humor and irony in these poems?
   9. Discuss how gender identity is played out in these poetic portraits. What words, ideas, emotions, and images appear in the poems to express and/or challenge gender identity?
6. Identity in the Era of Selfies, New Digital Spaces, New Forms of Self-Representation
   1. How has the art of self-representation changed in the age of selfies?
   2. What are the consequences of these changes in how we understand art and identity? Are we “artists” or “creators” of our own identity in an era of instantaneous, publicly visible profiles and social media spaces? Explain.
      How are these changes contributing to blurring the differences between high art (the one we see in museums, for instance) and popular art?
      What are the consequences of these changes in how ordinary people express their identities?

Preparation for Videoconference: In-Class Brainstorm for Creation of Self-Representation

Ask students to start planning the self-representation they would like to create. Have them jot down a short (100 word maximum) written self-representation in class, which can include poetic words and/or phrases as well as longer stretches of text. Instruct students to use any language (Spanish, English, or a combination of both languages) that they think would be meaningful. Once students are finished, have them discuss their work in small groups (3-4 students), and then debrief as a class. Suggested questions for class discussion:

1. What new ideas do you have about the aspects of identity that we have discussed, and how do these ideas relate to you? What aspects of yourself do you want to share? What aspects do you want to keep to yourself?
2. What elements would you include to represent yourself (objects, people, places) and why? What do you want to say about yourself with these elements?
3. What language choices are you making in creating this self-representation? If you don’t use any language, is there a reason for that?
4. Do these places, activities, objects/images, and words/phrases that you have chosen identify you as Latinx, American, a combination, or something else?
5. If someone that doesn’t know you sees your object/image, place or activity, would that person guess your age, nationality, gender, occupation, language practices?
6. How does the city or town in which you live figure, if at all, in your self-representation? How does your identification with this locality influence the way you see yourself, if at all?

Preparation for Videoconference: Creation/Upload of Self-Representations to Class Website (at home)

Ask students if they have any final questions or thoughts before they create their self-representations. Review vocabulary, ideas, and other topics they may need to clarify. For homework, have students create their own self-representations using personal photographs, digital images, text, or a combination of different materials. Have students create a digital version of their self-representations (if they are not already in a digital form) to be uploaded to the class website. Ask students to upload their self-representations to the class website when they are finished, along with a short explanation of why that image represents them (150-300 words).

Preparation for Videoconference: Commentary on Self-representations by Students at C1 and C2

In preparation for the videochat, have students reflect on the self-representations their classmates have uploaded to the class website, as well as the self-representations done by members of their telecollaboration group. Ask students to post a comment on one C1 student’s and one C2 student’s self-representation. Some questions to ask students to consider include:

1. What elements, ideas, and themes emerged in your classmates’ self-representations? What choices did they make that were similar to yours? What was different? What about the self-representations of the students at C2?
2. How did you, your classmates, and the students at C2 use language in self-representation? What does this say about how you identify with and experience language?
3. What themes stand out in our collective work that may represent shared ideas about community, city and regional life, and how habits of self-representation change across generations?

Task: Videoconference

Ask students to form small groups (3-4 students). Inform students that they will work together to discuss their work and the work of their peers at C2. Have these small groups discuss students’ self-representations via the videoconference platform selected for this class. Guiding questions for the telecollaborative discussion may be generated by the whole class.

For the telecollaboration with students at C2, instruct students to take note of ideas discussed with their peers that they find interesting. Some themes they can keep in mind include: self-representation, identity, culture, gender, immigration, race/ethnicity, language, technology, syncretism, regionality, community. Provide students with a graphic organizer to support note-taking (see sample at the end of this document) if needed.

Post-Videoconference Step: Debrief, Creation of Group Summary

After finishing the telecollaboration with students at C2 bring the class back together to discuss this experience in small groups. The questions below can be used as guidance for the chat, but additional questions for discussion may be generated by the whole class.

1. When you saw the self-representations of your colleagues from C1 and C2, what did you think? What are your general observations?
2. Is there an image or text (besides yours) that has particularly struck you? Explain. (It can be from C1 or C2).
3. Discuss three ideas that appear in various C1 texts and images. [Discuss major themes that emerged from the C1 texts and images in terms of regionality, language practices, individual and shared identity, community, etc. What did the C1 students find important to share? What did this say about them?]
4. Discuss three ideas that appear in various texts and images of C2. [Discuss major themes that emerged from the C2 texts and images in terms of regionality, language practices, individual and shared identity, community, etc. What did the C2 students find important to share? What did this say about them?]
5. Compare images and texts looking for patterns of similarities and differences. [Compare these themes and make deductions about the similarities and differences of C1 and C2 students, their respective schools, their communities, and their respective regions/cities.]

Using student responses to the questions above, work with the group to create a group summary (1-3 paragraphs) of their telecollaboration experience. Inform students that this summary will be shared with the students at C2 as a class post. Post this summary to the class website and invite students from C2 to comment.

Post-Videoconference Step: Written Reflection

Debrief with students about the telecollaboration. What was the experience like? What did they learn about their peers at C2? What did they discover about their own work, about themselves, and about C2 through this experience?

Prepare students to reflect on this experience in a written response.

1. Prior to assigning the written reflection, discuss the reflection rubric with students.
2. Inform students that they will write a reflection, which is a 2-3 page essay (sample provided at the end of the document) about what they learned in relation to self-representation. Remind students to write in narrative form rather than responding to questions point by point. Invite them to incorporate the following themes, discussing what particularly interested them for each theme:
   • Creating my self-representation.What elements did you choose for your self-representation? How did they work together to generate the final product?
   • The telecollaboration experience.What ideas emerged in the discussion of self-representations, including the cross-comparison of images and texts? What did you learn about sharing self-representations with the students at C2? (For example, what new ideas do you have about individual and shared identity, region/city, language practices, and community?) What other observations did you make during the videochat experience?
   • New ideas, new directions.After observing all the self-representations, would you change yours? If so, how? What new ideas do you have about the process of creating a self-representation? How did this experience help you explore and understand your ways of expressing your identity?

Post-Videoconference Step: Commentary on Work by Students at C2

Have students post their reflections on the class website. Ask them to comment substantively on and/or ask questions about two other reflections either by their classmates at C1 and/or the students at C2. For example, they can state that they like the self-representation, but they should also think critically about what this self-representation said, why the creator did what s/he did, etc., and comment on this. Have students respond to one comment that they received about their own reflection.