Why the Vanguard?
From the French term avant-garde or the “defense before,” the vanguard was the group in a kingdom that was sent out to fight before the army was brought in. From Middle English, the vanguard, a smaller ragtag group that was made up of civilians, militia, volunteers, and mercenaries; amateurs. Non-professionals. Often perceived as dispensable.
These were the first to experience, and perhaps to whom loss, failure, and defeat, came most easily. But they were also the first to taste victory, to be met with a challenge and to overcome it. These collectives blazed trails, developed unconventional strategies and were often the first to catch a glimpse of obstacles to success. They were the first line of defense. I believe that we are on the frontlines for our own Citadel.
We are not necessarily experts in our field, we are not professional actors, directors, or technicians. We could certainly be described as a ragtag group, and perhaps perceived as dispensable but we blaze trails for those who come next, develop unconventional strategies, and we catch the first glimpse of the obstacles to education; ignorance, disinterest, and pretense.
In our classrooms, we are the first people in our field to witness alongside our students their experiences of loss, failure, and defeat, and their success, to meet their challenges and help them work to overcome. But we need to be prepared for the journey. As teachers, we must hope to inspire the next line of experts and dream for them to be the best that they can be, and as such want to be the best teachers that we can be.
The aim of this project is to create a network of practitioners that challenge ourselves and hold one another accountable to learn as we ask our students to. To risk and remember those same lessons that we hope students will learn. The feelings of defeat, disappointment, resilience, discipline, success, and inspiration that we ask our students to feel, and to feel in the comparable circumstances. With our peers, in our public forums, where the stakes are high and WE might not win, but we are working for a cause we believe in.
Our goal is to form a network of practitioners that challenge ourselves to risk, create and learn as we ask our students to.
We are the Vanguard.
Watch the mini-documentary about why and how the Vanguard Collective came to be!