Running head: NARRATIVE REFLECTION

E-Portfolio Narrative Reflection

Trebby Ellington

Loyola University Chicago

Most Important Content

Multiculturalism for Social Justice in Higher Education, Student Development,

Curriculum, and Leadership all served as critical courses for me in my learning as well as the

most important content that I draw on frequently in other spaces. Multiculturalism for Social

Justice served as the foundation for all of the content that followed the course as it pertained to

identity reflection, intersectionality and true allyship. This course developed a new lens with

which I would continue to operate from most as it is imperative to consider how our identities

allow us (or do not allow us) to show up in spaces, where we hold privileges and where we hold

targeted identities, how our numerous identities intersect and influence one another, and how our

lived experiences as whole people are similar to and different from others, which then informs

what allyship truly is. This course began the journey ahead of highlighting the significance of

and engaging in self-reflection. As an extension of the content learned in Multiculturalism for

Social Justice in Higher Education, Student Development would add an additional layer of

important content, especially as it related to college student development. This course allowed

me to truly engage with formal and informal theories about what it means to meet students where

they are at. Learning about the different stages of cognitive development theories, psychosocial

development theories, and social identity development theories and their implications on college

student experiences have been the most significant as I think about how students show up, how I

show up considering my own development, and how I am to best support and serve students.

Curriculum would then be the course to provide me with tangible concepts, skills and

techniques to utilize for developing and facilitating trainings, workshops, programs and practices

that would be influenced by concepts in Student Development and Multiculturalism for Social

Justice to go about meeting students where they are at and again, being mindful of how my
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identities and theirs interact in these spaces. As someone who is passionate about artistic

expression, this course provided me with formal and informal theories, such as Finks taxonomy

for holistic learning, that would allow me to be a champion of transformative education, which I

believe is the future of education non-traditional forms of teaching and facilitation (engaging,

fun, incorporating art, etc.) provide just as much depth to learning as traditional forms of

teaching. This course also taught me the importance of scaffolding and integration of different

concepts to significant learning that supports students in progressively taking ownership of their

own learning. Drawing off of these 3 courses, Leadership would then build my self-efficacy, as I

engaged in critical self-reflection, to do this work for social change as I consider my own and

others identities and development! The most important content from this class have been

learning and applying the tools of deconstruction (ideological/hegemonic critique, willful

blindness, commodification, and flow of power) and reconstruction (cultivating agency,

disrupting normativity, building interest convergence, and attending to power) in all spaces to

address power, privilege and oppression. Additionally, I learned that we cannot simply critique;

deconstruction should not exist without reconstruction. Integrating all of the important content

from all of these courses drives home the major point that we MUST consider identities and their

influences within every area (leadership, curriculum, governance, assessment, etc.) to truly

address equity, inclusion, power, privilege and oppression.

Self-Assessment

The most important thing that I have learned about myself as a result of my participation

in this program is where I hold privileges and power, where I hold targeted identities and what

my tolerance for ambiguity looks like. This is most significant because my identities influence

my stocks of knowledge, how I make meaning of things, the different challenges I face, and the
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ways that I show up in any space. I have a more in-depth and full awareness of who I am as a

whole person, whereas prior to this program, I had a limited scope of myself frequently only

considering my most salient identities (low-income, first-generation college student, woman of

color), which negated the influence of the rest of my identities. This program has forced me to

explore all of my identities (sexuality, gender, spirituality, age, size, etc.). Even more so beyond

awareness and acknowledgment, critical self-reflection about the depth, complexity and

ambiguity of my identities as they intersect and stand alone have been a continuous challenge.

For example, as someone who identifies as bi-racial (black and white binary), this program has

been the first space where I have had to explore what that truly means for me addressing,

negotiating and navigating cultural collision; identifying and resonating with black culture, yet

acknowledging how my biraciality may influence black women in an exclusively black space;

and accepting that I belong nowhere yet everywhere at the same time. Since entering the

program, I have grown in depth and enhanced my intentionality in approach to all things

personally, professionally and academically.

Professional Lessons Learned

Considering my most salient identities (low-income, first-generation college student,

woman of color), there is a different type of cultural wealth (social and cultural capital) that I

enter this profession with that differs from those who hold class, education and race privilege.

That being said, I cannot know what I do not know, which is bound by my identities and social

location. The most important thing that I have learned from my assistantship as an Assistant

Residence Director at Northwestern University, ACUHO-I internship as Resident Director of a

bridge program for provisionally accepted students at Georgia Southern University, and as a

Graduate Intern for Student Enrichment Services at Northwestern University supporting low-
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income and/or first-generation college students has been the breadth of knowledge that has come

from working at a variety of different types of institutions in unique ways. My undergraduate

experience was at a large, public, flagship, research institution, so being a first-generation

college student from a low-income background, I had limited knowledge of institutional types

and culture (as I had not had the privilege to travel beyond my home state) and how that

influenced students experiences differently. Working at a mid-size, private, elite and wealthy

institution in two different capacities, interning at a small-scale, large-feel public institution in

the south, and attending graduate school at a private, Jesuit, mid-size, research institution all

have shed light on how type of institution, geographical location, funding and size influence

culture and students experiences differently and similarly. Utilizing this newly gained capital of

knowledge and experiences, I have learned how to support students from many different

backgrounds, how to interact with students who hold much privilege, those who hold

marginalized identities, and how to effectively support each student in spaces where resources

are not limited as well as in spaces where resources are limited. I have also learned so much

about the politics at play, which players are most integral, and why those players are the most

integral.

Future Work and Commitment to Social Justice

The most important thing that I have learned about social justice is connected to the work

of Paulo Freire (Freire, 2008), which argues that social justice cannot exist without both

reflection and action. We must integrate ways of knowing with habits of being. We cannot

sacrifice action and simply reflect on our role in social justice because then social change and

true liberation of all people will not be achieved. We cannot sacrifice critical reflection in the

midst of action because we will run the risk of losing ourselves in the disconnectedness of action
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and failing to consider the influences of our positionality in action (where we hold power and

privilege). One without the other (reflection and action) refuses true praxis, makes dialogue

impossible, and produces forms of thought that are not authentic. Another important thing that I

have learned about social justice is that authentic education and revolution is carried on by

liberating and being liberated WITH people, not for them or about them.

Influenced by Freirean pedagogy, in my future work I am committed to life-long critical

self-reflection about the roles my identities play in working towards social change. I commit to

challenging myself to not only reflect, but find the courage to always act in the face of opposition

for equitable, inclusive and socially just practices. We cannot simply work within the system any

longer. I am also committed to challenging my peers to do the same. Additionally, I will be

intentional about meeting students where they are at, encouraging the co-creation of knowledge

to humanize all people and their varying forms of cultural wealth, and championing

transformative education as a form of social action through education and as the way of the

future. I commit to caring for persons as whole people!

Reference

Freire, P. (2008). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.