by Eric Benzel

I got schooled in a water fight by a little elementary school girl and her abuela yesterday. My roommate and I ran out into the street, and twirled a few times in the blasting fire hydrant. When we walked back on the sidewalk, it was to dry off. Then, from behind, one of our neighbor’s daughters dumbed a bucket of the cold water on my back! Her grandmother then proceeded to hit me again from the side before I could find a bucket of my own! The water battle erupted, everyone to their own! I knew a couple of the guys throwing water buckets (D and Brandon are always on the stoop) but most were strangers. It was a moment where the barriers I had felt on our little block broke down: who knew it would take a heat wave and an open fire hydrant to cut through much of the cultural and language tensions that I had imagined (or perceived) since moving in.

Last week, I posted a picture of some kids playing in a hydrant on a different street. Looking back at that picture, I realize how much of an outsider I often feel here. It is easy to feel distant from the people in the neighborhood. In my classes, we talk about the traditionally marginalized, low-income, ELL students in New York City. We discuss diversity and community from a safe distance. My news blogs I follow are full of people writing about the charter school wars happening in the city right now. People discussing remarkable gains among ‘high-needs’ students, or the impact of charter schools on public school spaces in poverty ridden communities. It is easy to keep distance from the actual, breathing people that are behind these stories and the pedagogical techniques.

It was reviving to be in a water fight with my neighbors. Fun, laughter, and the heat brought our street together in a very beautiful and authentic way. I am so ready to be in a classroom where the ‘Latino and Black’, ELL, and high poverty students are not just a category, but students that I have a living connection with. I am ready to be in a school where families from the community and neighborhood connect with each other and with teachers. I think these tangible moments provide more opportunity for learning than the distanced discussion that is occupying so much of my learning right now.

At CU, in my Ed Pysch class with Vicki Hand, we wrote case studies on students we got to know over an entire semester. This is the type of real life relational learning that I crave… I appreciate the distanced discussions of impacts of detracking in math classrooms, and I’m learning a lot here.

But I’m ready to get in the water.