Dessa: A Canvas for Challenging Conversations

by Nick Truxal & Heather Lyke

• Just as one book is often turned into a miniseries on Netflix or Hulu, we give you this miniseries of articles inspired by Dessa. We hope you find it binge-worthy. 
• Quotes from outside of the Third Eye Education core team were collected via a survey released on Twitter in February of 2021. 

• Also, consider listening to Third Eye Education's podcast with Dessa (releases on March 2, 2021) and Dessa's podcast, Deeply Human (launches on March 8, 2021).

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Choosing the Challenge

“The marriage of intellectual rootedness with artistic creation alongside cultural production makes [Dessa’s] work particularly meaningful for many students who want to think about an array of issues as they affect the body, our social and political presence with others, and how we build and develop community… It allows educators to cross boundaries, intellectually, artistically, and in praxis, encouraging students to inform study as they encounter the world: not sewn into neat and singular pockets of isolated subjects but rather as woven and entangled webs of knowledge and embodied experience.”
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—Heather Ashley Hayes, Rhetoric & Media Studies Professor; Portland, Oregon

We like to lean on research at Third Eye Education, as well as to give voice to researchers whose work has not yet become widespread—boosting their influence to a wider audience. Yet, for this particular article in our series, however, it does not seem as necessary.  Having hard conversations is hard.  It is a tautology—a truism in itself.  We’ve all had to come up with our key strategies for approaching hard conversations.

• Do we avoid having the conversation at all costs?  What are the costs?  Is it worth it?  
• Do we hit the conversation head on and hope that the damage we do isn’t going to last?  
• Do we, perhaps, hide a little?  Perhaps passive aggressively, or perhaps in code?

Of course, the choice each of us makes is personal, and each decision has its own benefits.  However, if instead of directly addressing a hard conversation, one would prefer to discuss something external and therefore likely  easier to broach, Dessa’s work is an effective way to still get to the roots of what students and staff have a need to talk about. 

“I love utilizing art when discussing difficult or complex topics (rape culture, trauma, etc...). I think many educators would benefit from this method.

—Callianne Olson, 9-12 English & Reading Teacher; St. Louis Park, Minnesota

Why is this effective?

image from www.dessawander.com

It removes the barriers that being personal can have, while maintaining most of the benefits that being personal involves.  ​

Why have the conversations at all?

Because the content and skills we seek to teach aren’t always easy: avoiding them simply isn’t a choice that we can make.  But if hard things are hard, we can accept the help of others, seek out appropriate supports, and embrace opportunities that present themselves, such as can be found in the work of Dessa.

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Classroom Application Suggestions

• Use excerpts from My Own Devices as examples of social identity. The idea is to show how a group identity is formed, and how the behaviors, trials, and tribulations of the work environment actually help those bonds grow stronger.  Ask students to think about groups they have been a part of that they feel had a strong social identity, and talk about why they felt that the identity became so strong.  [ idea from Johnathan Miles, Organizational Behavior Professor; Houston, Texas ]
• We reference [My Own Devices] to explore how different areas of Knowledge (art and science) explore the concept of Love and relationships. [ idea from Adrian Holguin, 9-12 Math Teacher; Greenwood Village, Colorado ]
• Use “Velodrome” to introduce students to the debate about determinism and freedom of the will.  It eases them into the topic very effectively (they also love that she was a philosophy major).  [ idea from David Livingstone Smith, Philosophy Professor; Portland, Maine ]

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Dig deeper: read the other articles in the Dessa series.

• Inspiration for Transdisciplinarity Innovation and Application
• ​Deeply Human
• Time to Bury the Dead White Male

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On Becoming Deeply Human
with Dessa | 3.2.2021
Dessa speaks with the Third Eye team about curiosity, metacognition, and the pursuit of authentic diversity.

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Nick Truxal is the Teaching & Learning Director for Dover-Eyota Schools and the bass player for a number of Minnesota-based bands. 
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Heather M. F. Lyke is the Teaching & Learning Specialist for Dover-Eyota Schools and author of numerous articles focusing on quality education. 

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