In the article we read this week we learned about our educational system, and can we develop our students into critical thinkers? I agree with a lot of the points this article makes we need to ask the students to question their experience. They need to tell us how they learned about something. It isn't good for students just to regurgitate information, and then spill it out on a test. They will never learn that way because once they do that they will just forget about everything that they have learned. Students need to challenge their education, and make sure they are actually learning something. Their teachers have a big part to do with this if they aren't doing their job these students will never get the education they need. In our FNED class we are learning to think critically every time we participate in class. Whenever Dr. Bogad asks us, "Was that your opinion, his opinion, or both?" She is making us think, and she won't just give us notes and expect us to memorize them because that won't do anything for us. The exercise we did in class with the worksheet, and the extremely easy questions is a good example of this I think because that worksheet was so simple that we should've been offended. That is why we crumpled it up, and threw it on the ground afterwards. We were just pretty much copying and pasting from that article and writing it on a piece of paper. We weren't learning anything. She was trying to make that point clear to us, and that's not how we should learn or teach students in the future since we are all going to become teachers.
I definitely think this article connects to the article we read on tracking by Jeannie Oakes. I think it connects because some students won't get the same education as other students because they are placed in classrooms based on their ability. They will get the type of learning where they will just have to memorize things, and take notes from a teacher lecturing. They won't get the same education as some of the higher level students. That is why tracking can be very controversial. From this article I also learned that students need to not just learn from the classroom. They need to learn from outside the classroom, and bring their own way of learning to the classroom. All students have different ways of learning, and it is the teachers job to make sure that the student gets to use their own way of learning, and not just the same thing every class. By doing the same typical thing taking notes and memorizing them, and then regurgitating them onto a piece of paper for a test, and then forgetting about it all. No one can ever learn from that.
My placement teacher at Roger Williams Middle School does a great job with her students in my opinion. I think that because she is not that typical teacher who just has students memorize everything from her notes. She wants them to become critical thinkers. So, on most math tests, quizzes, worksheets, etc... she has them do math problems, and she has them explain everything that they do in a couple of sentences. This makes them try to have an understanding of what they are doing, and so they can explain it to the teacher. I like this method because most math teachers wouldn't have them write explanations they would just have them do the math problems, and they would either get it right or wrong. I am definitely going to incorporate this method into my class, so I know they students will have the knowledge of what they are doing, and so they will be able to explain it in words, and that will help them become critical thinkers. This may be tough for students because math is a tough subject for students to become critical thinkers.
Again from this article I learned that students education needs to be taken beyond the classroom. From our Promising Practices Event I learned from Dr. Dana Fusco's Keynote Address that after school activities can be very important in youth development. This connects to this article in my opinion because doing after school activities takes learning beyond the classroom, and it is a fun more hands-on way that students can learn. Its great to have after school programs at all schools. I worked in an after school program before its called PASA which stands for Providence After School Alliance. It is a great program to get students involved with many different things. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article I learned a lot about how students need to be critical thinkers, and it has to do with the teachers. "Whether teachers deviate from the official syllabus, teachers make numerous decisions- themes, texts, tests, seating arrangements, rules for speaking, grading systems, learning process, and so on." This was an important quote I thought from our article. From these choices teachers make it shows how things can be defined as critical or uncritical. Again teaching needs to go beyond the classroom, and there are many factors that go into making sure students become critical thinkers. That website I put there talks about critical thinking for higher education, and I found it very interesting. There are different workshops, and courses you can look at that can help you in the future! Here is a video of a man Dr. Richard Paul who talks about critical thinking.
Comments: I know that I have not become a critical thinker throughout most of my high school and college experience so far. This is the first class that I actually feel like I am. High school never prepared me for this I feel. I always had to take notes, and memorize everything. In college I am still doing this. Professors just lecture, and we just take notes as quickly as we can. I don't learn from that! It is very hard for me to learn from a professor who just stands there and talks for the whole two hours. At least in this class we are getting involved and actually learning something. A lot of professors I have taken don't care about our education they make as easy as possible. But, we don't learn anything. We should feel offended by this because we want to make sure we get the educations we need since we are going to become teachers. It is OK to have a very easy class once in a while, who doesn't like easy once in a while? When it comes down to it we want to learn everything we can especially if you are becoming a teacher in a designated area like math, English, science... etc. That's why I always try to get good professors for math classes that I know I can learn well from. At this point I know my way of learning, and I like how I figure things out and problem solve. I am learning to become a good critical thinker and that is all I can ask for. What does everyone think about some of the professors at RIC that are so easy that we don't learn anything? Do you think it is good or bad? How can we change this? Comment and let me know what you think!
For my Pol 201 class my group and I had to read an article by Martin Luther King Jr. The article was called, "Martin Luther King, Where do We Go From Here?" It was a speech given by MLK JR. that was about African Americans, and how poorly they were treated. It also talked a lot about racism, and how the African American was often left behind. They thought that because they overcame slavery there was no more racism anymore, but there still is. So, my part in my group was to connect this document and how it related to today's current events. Immediately the first thing I thought of was the video that we watched about the book "Between Barack and a Hard Place" by Tim Wise. I could relate the speech by MLK Jr. to current events today because people think that just because we have a black president today that there is no more racism. this isn't true there is still racism today, but there is a different kind. Barack Obama is a well educated man, and African Americans will think that they have to be just as smart as him to accomplish something. Those African Americans will be judged, and treated poorly if they don't have the same amount of knowledge that Barack Obama has. This shows that today even with our first black president we still have racism, and African Americans can still be treated poorly even though we know it is wrong. I also related it to how Tim Wise talked about racism 1.0 and racism 2.0. We have overcome racism 1.0, but now we have to put an end to this new kind of racism also known as racism 2.0. I think it is really cool how we can be learning things that are completely different in other classes, but we can still find connections between them. Here is the link to the speech that MLK JR. gave if you are interested in reading it.
This video shows excerpts from MLK Jr's speech check it out!
Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome by: Christopher Kliewer
Talking Points #10
Reflection:
At the beginning of Kliewer's article we heard about Mia Peterson's story, and how she had to take special education classes pretty much all her life. When she wanted to be in other classes that actually interested her, and it upset her. I can make a connection to the article we read about Finn last week because the kids in Chicago were put into classes based on their test scores, and some did not like it. It isn't fair for kids whether they have down syndrome or whether they should be placed in higher level classes who actually want to get an education. I really feel for Mia if she wants to be in different classes why shouldn't she be. She shouldn't be treated differently from any other students just because she has down syndrome! I think Mia's story is great because after finishing school in segregated placements she went back to take classes that were denied from her at first. This story alone proves that people with down syndrome can do anything anyone else can do.
In this article they talk about how people with down syndrome should not be judged, and I like/agree with that. These students may have down syndrome, but just because of that they shouldn't be judged. Just like everyone else in the world shouldn't be judged. What I learned from the Promising Practices event is that we need to create safe spaces for; not only lgbt students; but for students with down syndrome too! When Kliewer talked about Schooling and Democracy in the article he mentioned something that Douglas Biklen outlined. He said that schools act as cultural sorting machines. I completely agree with that they will place kids in classes based on their ability, gender, ethnicity, and race. I think this is wrong how they just throw kids in classes based on those types of cultural things. They should be placed where they think they should be, and where students want to be. Students need to be placed in classes that interest them. This is why I feel like everything before college was not interesting at all because in high school we never really had the choice of what classes to take. Now, in college we have our major and what we want to learn, and we can take the classes of our choosing. We still have to take gen eds too, but college is definitely a step up from high school in my opinion.
My favorite part of the article comes when he talks about Shayne Robbin's classroom. In their school they didn't place students based on their abilities or whether they have down syndrom or not. In each class they had about 10-16 students of multiple ages and ability levels. In her class she had had 6 students identified as disabled, and the other ten were identified as not disabled. This is a great school I think because students with a disability or down syndrome should not be placed into special classes because it has been proved that they can do just as well as any other student. I think all schools should be like this in the world. I don't think it would effect anyone from what they need to learn. I think what Shayne did with her classroom is inspirational because having a mix of students is not the easiest task, but she gave focus on each child in the class and gave goals for each child. Especially, with her student Isaac and his love for reading. Issac's love of reading and his capacity to decipher printed language was an important bridge in the community, and Shayne helped him through that. Proving that classes with mixes of students can work, and each student can get the individual attention they need and still achieve the goals they set out to do.
I also like the part when Gardner notes about mathematics, and math teachers. Gardner through his research has come up with seven valued patterns that are very important in my opinion. These seven patterns would help students with their problem solving. According to gardner, 5 out of these 7 patterns are neglected in our schools. I think if they were implemented students would do so much better, and they could learn to problem solve a lot better. My placement teacher is trying to implement a similar kind of thing in her classroom. She tells the students to struggle that is the only way to problem solve, and I agree I think it helps. If these students don't stuggle at all they will never learn, and I think that is an important concept for all teachers to learn.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article, and I think that students with down syndrome shouldn't be treated any differently than anyone else. The stories in this article are very inspirational, and it goes to show you that anything can happen whether you have down syndrome or not! I found this article online that talks about school placement's for students with Down Syndrome and I think it is very interesting. Also, the video below shows how people with down syndrome can do anything they put their mind to, and what they are proud of, and what they accomplished.
Comments: In my comments this week I want to know what you guys think about students with down syndrome. Do you think that students should be placed in non special education classes? Do you think they should have the choice to be in the classrooms they desire? I think they should. They can accomplish anything anyone else could. I think some of these stories are really inspirational. This article can be very helpful for anyone I think who wants to accomplish something. You can do anything you put your mind to!
On Saturday, November 3rd I attended the Promising Practices Conference at RIC for the first time. At first, I wasn't looking forward to attending this conference, but when the day was over I actually really enjoyed myself and learned a lot throughout the day. The first part of the conference; after the opening remarks; was the Keynote Address given by Dr. Dana Fusco. Some of the things that I learned from Dana Fusco's Keynote Address was mostly about youth development. Which is what most of the conference had to do with in the first place. Since I am going to become a teacher this is a very important topic for me to learn about. The first thing that I learned about was simply what is youth development? Youth development is a combination of maturation and learning both biological and behavioral. Thriving is very important in youth development. Child and youth programs can provide a healthy ecology for thriving, and so can classrooms. There were 8 characteristics that she taught us about that students, and teachers should follow. The first was Physical and Psychological safety. You as a teacher have to make sure that the students are safe, and that they feel safe. Second, make sure there is the appropriate structure. Third, Support for Efficacy and Mattering. What that means is that you have to make sure that each student matters. You have to make them matter! Fourth, make sure there is opportunities for skill building. Fifth, you have to grow supportive relationships. Sixth, give the students opportunities to belong. Seventh, include positive social norms. Lastly, the integration of family, school, and community efforts. That is the most important characteristic in youth development because you have to make sure that everyone is involved not just the students and the teachers. The parents and the community are a big part of youth development as well. That was my favorite part of Dr. Dana Fusco's Keynote Address because I really learned a lot about youth development in a different way. One of the next things that I learned in Dr. Fusco's address that I thought was very important was about how school sometimes isn't enough. This part of the address taught us how after school programs and activities really help children. Some of the reasons why it helps is because it helps the children build relationships with other students or teachers. It also helps because it involves a lot of hands on activities, and children have more fun while learning doing hands on activities in my opinion. Another thing you could do is culminate events that celebrate the student's accomplishments. I think this ties in again with making the students matter from one of the eight characteristics that we learned about. I think that because the more we have kids to have wonderful ideas it helps them feel good about themselves. According to Dr. Fusco, that is very important, and I agree with her making children feel good about themselves is very important in youth development. Before this address I have never heard about the Urban Youth Collaborative. The Urban Youth Collaborative is a student-led coalition that unites low-income students of color across New York. I thought it was very interesting to hear about that as well. Overall, I learned a lot about Youth Development from Dr. Dana Fusco's Keynote Address, and I thought she presented it very well. There is this website that I found that helped me explain the meaning of youth development. Here is a video that I thought was very interesting about the Urban Youth Collaborative, and how they hold a silent rally to protest the lack of student voice.
After the keynote address was over we were sent off to the two workshops that we signed up for. The first workshop that I attended was called "If You're Safe and You Know It, Clap Your Hands." This workshop was taught by Dr. Gerri August who is also an FNED professor here at RIC. I would know because I actually signed up for her FNED class a while back, but I ended up dropping out of it. Anyways, the first thing that we learned about was Safe Spaces. We had to discuss in our groups what we thought the definition of a Safe Space was. As a class we came up with that a Safe Space is a judgement free zone, and a place where you can be yourself. I was in a group with Genesis, Kaela, and Vanessa, and we told Dr. August about how we learned about SCWAAMP, and we thought it tied in with the idea of Safe Spaces. The actual definition of safe space is that safe spaces provide physical, social, and psychological freedom for all youth. Youth need more than physical security they also need a sense of belonging, a settled confidence that their contributions are valued. I think this compares with Dr. Dana Fusco's keynote address about youth development because all youth need to feel like they belong, and I also agree with that. Any student that acknowledges themselves as a member of LGBT should always feel like they belong, and they should have a safe place where they can go, and not feel like they are being judged. For those of you that don't know or don't remember LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgenders. This connects to what we did in class first because of SCWAAMP, and second when we watched the video It's Elementary. I think that connects because it is the first video that shows how students are taught about Gay's and Lesbian's. It teaches them about the stereotypes, and learn interesting things about the LGBT community. It teaches them to not bully, and help create safe spaces for them as well. It was a great video, and it definitely connects to what we learned during this workshop. We also learned about climate control, and no its not what you think. There was an "equation" that she gave us that I thought was very interesting. The equation was Designed Measures+Dynamic Responses= A respectful and Inclusive Climate. We learned that designed measures are: policies, physical environment, and professional development. We also learned that dynamic responses are: interventions, invitations, and inclusive language. There was a quote that Dr. August gave us that said, "Policies offer structure within which a human rights violation can be remedied." What this is trying to say is that they are NEVER NEUTRAL!
The last thing that we learned about was the enumerated anti-bullying laws. We learned about the no promo homo laws and laws that prohibit enumeration. There are many states that have the no promo homo laws. If you are wondering what the no promo homo laws are I found an article off GLSEN that explains it very well, and it helped me understand it as well. Overall, I really enjoyed the workshop about safe spaces, and I really learned a lot. It was a little bit boring, but overall I really enjoyed attending this workshop. I found this toolkit that teaches you about creating safe spaces with a lot of click-ables, you should check it out.
The second workshop that I attended was called, "Preventing Transgender Bullying Before Children are 6, 7, or 8 by using Transgender Friendly Picture Books." The woman who taught this workshop was Elizabeth Rowell. She had to be the most energetic, adorable woman I have ever met. She made this workshop so interesting, and with her energy and enthusiasm she kept our attention throughout the whole time, and plus it was a very interesting topic. You could tell she was very enthusiastic about this topic especially through the way that she presented it. In this workshop we learned about how children are physically bullied because they do not play with toys that are meant for their gender. Also, transgender boys are more frequently bullied. For example, a 4 year old boy was pushed off of playground equipment because he was playing with a barbie doll. Another thing that I learned was that gender nonconforming students are more likely to be called names, be made fun of, be ignored, be excluded, and are bullied at least once during school. In LGBT the "T" is usually left out, and the T stands for transgendered. You can stop the bullying by working with young children through anti-bullying activities because transgender bullying starts when they are that young. We need to stick up for those students who are being bullied! Most transgender adults knew prior to six years old that they were in the wrong body. Dr. Rowell used the story of Call me Kade to describe that experience. Call me Kade is about a girl named Kade Collins who is a female to male transgendered person. This video shows the story of Kade, and it is really very interesting you should watch it.
You probably are thinking why should we think about young children and the transgender experience? We should think about it because it is part of them! It is part of their families, their school experience, and our society. 1% of the population is transgendered. Each gender variant child is different. Books can be very important for a transgendered child. Books can be like mirrors because they are powerful. A well selected book can be powerful for helping young children understand themselves and others. Some of the books she told us about had a specific transgender audience. The books that she told us about that were focused for transgender girls were: 10,000 Dresses and Be Who You Are. Some books that focused on Transgender Boys were: Backwards Day and When Kathy is Keith. Also, here are a few other books that were brought up during the workshop: Jesse's Dream Skirt, My Princess Boy, and All I Want to be is Me. Those are just some of the books that she mentioned there are many more. If you are interested in reading them there are a lot at the RIC library. Now, you are probably wondering using these pictures what can you do with these picture books. She told us many things you could do while using these books, you could have discussions, role playing, and get them hooked on helping others. Which also is anti-bias which means recognize and accept their differences. What I learned from this conference I can connect to the article we read called, "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" by Peggy Orenstein. I connect it to that article because it talked about how if children were allowed to choose what toys they could play with they would choose toys that were meant for the opposite sex. There is nothing wrong about that kids should be able to play with whatever they want, and they shouldn't feel any different because of that. There was also the story in the article of a bias father who refused to buy his son a tutu, but he got his daughter a set of hot wheels. There should be no bias between you're children. If your son wants a tutu let him have a tutu. Like I said earlier kids know prior to the age of six that they are in the wrong body. I thought that connected because a part of the workshop we learned about anti-bias. Here is an article that I found about a transgendered child that I thought was very interesting that ties in with this workshop. Overall, I really enjoyed this workshop because I learned a lot about transgendered children, and how to teach students about it in a fun way using picture books. The professor that gave this presentation really did a great job which made it even more enjoyable. It was definitely my favorite workshop of the day.
The last part of the conference was our lunch and "unconference." During the "unconference" Dr. Bogad's ALLIED group gave a presentation. They talked about what Cultural Competency was, and how to be a culturally competent youth worker. There are ten characteristics that they talked about that showed how to be a culturally competent youth worker. The first thing was to know yourself. The second was learn about others. Third, you need to see the individual. Fourth, Don't assume! The first thing that comes to my mind when you assume is that you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me." Fifth, diversity day is not enough. Sixth, use culturally relevant examples. Seventh, don't ask the youth to divest of their cultural practices. I can connect this point to code-switching which we learned about in the article we read called, "Teaching Multilingual Children" by Virginia Collier. Code-switching is the switching between two or more languages in the context of a single conversation. Code-switching by students should be accepted, and not penalized. Which is what the speaker from ALLIED was trying to say in my opinion. You could also compare Rodriguez to this point they were trying to make because you shouldn't try to take a student away from their first language to learn the public language. The eighth characteristic is to ask for learn and preferred names. If a student wants to be called something other than their real name they should do it. In our FNED class we did the name-tags, so we would be called by what we wanted. Also, most professors at RIC for the most part ask what your preferred name is, and they make note of it which is a good thing. Ninth, you have to create safe spaces. I learned about safe spaces from my first workshop. Lastly, you must be humble! Here is another article that I found that talks about cultural competence in youth development that had to do with the presentation that ALLIED gave. I thought the ALLIED group gave a great presentation, and I learned a lot from it. The last part of the conference, and the second part of the unconference we heard a few guest speakers, and we had a few prompts given to us at each of our tables to look at and discuss with each other. That was my least favorite part of the day because I didn't find it helpful or informative of what we did during the day. When some members from our class went up to the microphone to speak I thought that was pretty cool, and when we just had discussions as a whole cafeteria I thought that went better, and it was more fun. From this conference I learned that this event has to do a lot with what we learned in FNED. First, we learned about youth development, and that is something very important that we have to learn since most of us are going to be teachers. Second, I learned a lot about safe spaces, the LGBT community, and Transgender children that also has to do with our class because we learned that its not ok to judge people that are different. We should make them feel welcome, and we used the GLSEN website, and the video It's Elementary to help us do that. Lastly, we learned what it was like to be a culturally competent youth worker. Which has a big part to do with our class because of our Service Learning project, and the school that we tutor in. So, that will help us when we return to our placement school for the last few times. We also had our cultural competency paper which helped me have a little understanding of this topic as well. Overall, I really enjoyed attending the Promising Practices Conference; I didn't think I would at first; but I really had a good time with the whole class, and I look forward to going again next year!
Finn was part of a very big Irish family that included eight other brothers and sisters. Between his father and his brothers Finn was the only one not to become a plumber. He was the only one that graduated high school and eventually went on to a teaching school to become a teacher.
His first teaching job was in a black neighborhood in the south side of Chicago teaching eigth graders. At that school their classes got divided by their reading levels from highest scores to lowest scores. This reminds me of my service learning placement at the middle school that I tutor at. The students are placed in certain math classes based on their math NECAP scores. Low scorers are placed in Trans-Math, middle scorers are placed in Core Math and V-Math, and higher scorers are placed in Algebra. That is definitely comparable to the way they split up the reading classrooms that Finn taught in at his school. Here is an interesting article that I found that shows what a teacher can encounter with different levels of academic ability in a classroom.
The way Finn ran his classes seems almost exactly like how my placement teacher, Mrs Terry teachers her class. He said, "I had work assignments on the board when the students entered the classroom, and so there wasn't a moment when they didn't have anything to do." My placement teacher also does the same thing. She has a board called the "Do Now" board, so when the children walk into the classroom the first thing they have to do is look up at the do now board, and do the problem or problems that are written on it. She also does that so there is never a moment when the students are doing nothing there is always something that they could be working on just like Finn does in his class. I think a thing like the "do now board" is a great thing to have in the classroom, and more teachers should implement that into their classrooms as well. That part of the article was definitely my favorite part of the article because it showed me what it was like to be a teacher in a tough area. It also showed me how you can make an impact on students.
Comments:
Finn's strategies are very similar to my placement teacher's strategies. So, I have definitely have learned a lot between my placement teacher, and from Finn in this article. I think with the right teachers and the right motivation lower-class schools can be just as good as upper-class schools. With a teacher like Finn there is definitely a chance for it to go in the right direction. Lastly, I think that is a good thing that students are placed in classes with students of similar ability, so that a teacher can adjust, and go at the same pace for the whole classroom. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article, and I learned a lot from it.
Between Barack and a Hard Place by: Tim Wise
Separate and Unequal by: Bob Hebert
Talking Points #8
Connections:
Brown vs. Board of Education happened on May 5, 1954 when the Supreme court declared state laws saying that separte schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. Separate educational facilities are unequal according to Bob Hebert. This came to an end by the fearless efforts of lawyers, community activists, parents, and students. Now, we think that racism has come to an end, but according to Tim Wise racism has not come to an end. Wise says that we beat out racism 1.0 which is like "old school" racism, but we have to be on the lookout for racism 2.0.
Connection to Kozol
I found a connection between Wise and Kozol. In Kozol we talked about the metaphor "a bandaid on a broken leg." I see the same connection when I watched to video about between Barack and a Hard Place. In Kozol, they were giving out condoms and clean needles to the residents of Mott Haven, and that is like putting a bandaid on a broken leg. It is implying that people can still have sex, and they won't spread disease. There is the chance that the disease could spread anyways, so that wasn't the answer. I'm relating it to Wise because everyone thinks that just because Obama was elected President that racism will come to an end completely and that's not true. Obama is very well educated, and is a very smart man. So, all black people think that they have to have the same level of knowledge as him. This concerns wise because now there can be racism of African Americans who excel in knowledge and those who don't. This is like a bandaid on a broken leg because it has created a new kind of racism because Obama is so intelligent, so the world sees that everyone else must have to be intelligent too. Wise wants to show that a normal person whether they are well educated or not have the same opportunities to do great things like Barack Obama. Connection to Johnson I also see a connection to Johnson because Wise talks about how white people can be very oblivious. Whites are in denial about the problem of racism. When asked 63% of white people would say there is no problem with racism towards black people today. I'm relating this to Johnson because he talked about "the luxury of obliviousness." He said that white people are rarely aware of the privileges that they have. White people are unaware of the privileges they have they don't have to deal with this type of racism. White people are in denial of the problem, and they think there is no instances of racism in the world today and that is because they are unaware of the privileges that they have. When clearly there is still racism! According to Wise, 6 out of 10 white people said black people are less intelligent, more agressive, less hardworking, and less patriotic. Also, 75% of white people thought black people want to live on welfare, so they don't have to work. I think using the same examples this could also be connected to Delpitusing the same examples. Delpit says, those with power are frequently least aware or least willing to acknowledge its existence. White people aren't going to admit or state if they think there is still racism today. A lot of them think there is no problem, and that is because they are just in denial, according to Wise. There is definitely a connection to both Johnson and Delpit in the video of Tim Wise "Between Barack and a Hard Place." Here is an article I found that I thought tied in with how white people can be oblivious to racism.
Comments: I'm curious has anyone seen any instances of racism today? At school? At work?...etc. Or do you think everyone is oblivous to it too? Anyways in my comments I wanted to bring up the article by Bob Herbert. He says that it is difficult for students to have good results in school with high poverty. I think we know that from our service learning. We can also see how there is high levels of poverty in our schools too. According to his article and research, lower class students do better academically if they are placed in schools with middle class peers, and are just in an overall better enviroment. Do you think that would work if we put the students we work with in a different school that has little or no showing of poverty? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Gay Marriage or Gay Rights is a big issue in the world. This article that I found shows what Obama thinks about Gay Marriage. Obama's stance I think will be very critical to whether or not he will be re-elected for a second term. According to the article that I found Obama backs Gay Marriage. Obama is the first sitting president that has announced his support for same sex marriage. In an interview, Obama stated that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. The gay rights community have been pushing Obama to declare his support for marriage equality for several years now, and he finally has now that the time to vote is here. It shows his bravery as a President, and a victory for the gay rights community. North Carolina passed an Amendment that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Obama was disappointed about that decision. I am also disappointed about that I think that every state should allow gay marriage. If you love someone you should be able to marry them. Obama still sets the bar very high on this issue since he is the first ever president to publicly support marriage equality. Romney will have to have very good points if he wants to show his support on gay rights.
Romney has been very confusing with this issue because he keeps changing his stance on gay rights. He says, "Like the vast majority of Americans, I've opposed same-sex marriage." Which is such bull... why shouldn't people of the same sex get married? He thinks that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. According to that website. This website says how Romney opposes discrimination in the workplace. Romney also says that Gay couples have the right to adopt children. That is one of the few things that I agree with him on because no matter the couple they should be able to adopt children.
On this website it goes through the many issues of Gay Marriage, Gay rights, LGBT, Don't ask don't tell, and it shows both of their stances on it. LGBT is the first issue they discussed. Romney was supportive of the LGBT's movement cause early in his career, and he says his stance has always been the same. Obama states that he notices that the LGBT community has been victimized, but he is wrestling with his faith because he is a Christian. Romney on same-sex marriage is that he is generally against it, and he believes that it should be between a man and a woman. Pretty much from all the articles I read Obama is the first President to support Gay Marriage, and Romney is against it and thinks that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Comments: On this issue I completely back Obama. Gay marriage should be supported, and allowed in every state. Gay or Lesbians should have the right to get married if they really do love each other just like everyone else in the world. They should also have the same rights as everyone else, and they should be treated equally like Obama says. The only issue that I agreed with Romney on was that gay couples have the right to adopt children. If a man and a woman can adopt a child why can't two men or two women adopt children? I think Obama is really working hard to make equal rights for the gay community. That's the way it should be, and we should vote for Obama because he is the man who supports this issue and many others that would make him the better president!
Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that involves community service with instructions and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. That is the definition of Service Learning from the link above. According to the article, service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students. The link above showed many examples of service learning projects that were done. The first one was Elementary Students in Florida studied the consequences of natural disasters. Then they designed a kit for families to use to collect important papers in case of an evacuation. Another example from the link above was how middle school students in Pennsylvania learned about the health consequences of unhealthy eating, and lack of exercise. They brought their knowledge together by creating health fairs, creating healthy cookbooks, and opening a fruit and vegetable stand. Much like our article a portion of it had to do with two service learning cases. The first one had to do with a twelth grade class who studied issues surrounding democracy and citizenship. The teacher allowed the students to participate in community service projects of their choosing. The second case was a little different. The middle school class identified issues of common concern, and then they voted to focus their attention on just one issue, and that issue they came up with was homelessness. The service learning examples from my link is an example of change service learning in my opinion. I think that because they created health fairs and tried to impact the community. The first example of service learning from our article was more charity because they were just doing a good deed. An example of a change service learning project from our article was when some of the upper-middle class students went and performed music at an elementary school. They impacted their community, and also their perspectives on the elementary school children had changed it wasn't as bad as they thought.
I remember in high school we had to do a service learning project in order to graduate. We had to do 15 hours of some sort of service and then write an essay about it. I did recycling for my high school. I feel like I got nothing out of it, and I didn't really help anyone. My school needs to come up with something better so we could have really helped the community. The service learning we are doing for our class is so much better. We are actually helping students in a certain subject area, for me its math, that really need help in school. I feel like I am making an impact on the students I work with, and I feel accomplished and happy that I can help.
This is a link to youtube video about service learning. It shows a lot of service learning examples like above. It also shows how students have to learn something, then teach it to other people in their community. They have to struggle to learn something, and change the students roles for once. It gets them involved with other people in their community. They are engaged, and they are problem solving. They are not only helping others, they are learning while they do this. While we do are service learning for our class, we are making an impact on these students, but we are also learning how to become good teachers. This video also shows that Service learning really does work! The students also love doing this service learning projects. A quote from the article we read shows 90% of 14-17 year olds who had been asked to volunteer said yes. That shows that kids really do want to volunteer and help the community, and they enjoy doing it. A student from the article did a service learning project of serving senior citizens Thanksgiving dinner. She said that it felt great helping, and she appreciated the chance to help.
I wanted to put this link in here because it shows how President Obama has pledged to make service a central cause of his administration. This fits in with our article when President Bush voiced his support for the National Community Services Act of 1990. I think that what this shows is that no matter if your a democrat or a republican they support service learning. This is a good thing because it should be accepted by every president that comes into office. I think that Service Learning should be required for all grade levels: Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and College. I plan on continuing to do my service learning after this class, and go above and beyond the minimum hours required for RIC.
Comments: The service learning project that I did for my high school was terrible. I really wanted to do something that impacted the community. I did recycling. That did nothing for me I remember walking around the school collecting the recycle bins, and goofing off. It shows that my school did not take this project seriously. I hope that they work on things to improve that, and do real service learning projects like helping students with math in Providence. I think students would enjoy it, and by the things I've said in this post students do enjoy it. I'm glad service learning is becoming more widespread, and students really enjoy doing this!
For my talking points blog this week I decided to do an extended comments blog using Brittani's post. The first thing that she brings up is that Orenstein argues that the current "princess-phase" is anything but natural. I think that's exactly what Orenstein is arguing she thinks that the princess phase is making young girls see something that is unrealistic. For example, no one can look as beautiful as they portray the princesses to be, and because you are so beautiful you aren't going to find true love. Orenstein also thinks that this will eventually damage the girls' self-esteem. The next point that Brittani brings up is about the toy fair and how all the toys meant for little girls are all in one color, pink. She really doesn't find it necessary for everything to be in pink, but apparently it will help them sell more products. It will show to young girls that everything needs to be pink, so they can be seen as feminine or "girly." Girls should have multiple colors to choose from, not just pink. Using any different color isn't going to make them any less feminine than they were before. Girls should choose how they want to be portrayed.
Another point she brings up is how a research shows that up until the age of 7 that kids still think that their hair, clothing, toys determines your gender. The link I put there goes to an article about the gender stereotype between masculine and feminine. That is wrong in my opinion, girls or boys shouldn't have to worry about how they dress or what they play with. Whatever they do is up to them, and it doesn't make them any less of a boy or a girl. Brittani says, that the author thinks, girls don't need to prove that they are girls, but the Disney princesses make them do this. I completely agree, young girls are given this image that they have to look beautiful to find true love or wear this big pink dresses to make them look more girly. It's not true they are sending the wrong message to children. A child should just be themselves, and they can achieve anything they want.
Brittani also talked about the Bratz dolls. I didn't know what the Bratz dolls were until I read this article, but I'm glad that they came up with dolls that don't portray the normal Disney princess image. I agree with what Brittani and the author are trying to say that these Bratz dolls do not portray the "princess-y" or "barbieish" image.
At the end of Brittani's blog she asks the question who's to blame, the parents, the industry or both? To answer that question I think that they are both to blame. The parents think that their children will grow out of this princess phase, but a lot of them won't, and it could affect them in the future. It could affect them in school or their self-esteem. The industry is also to blame because they portray everything as very girly by having every toy they sell for girls in pink. Also, how they portray the Disney princesses as beautiful, skinny, and white. They all look like supermodels, and the industry helps portray that image from what they sell. I thought Brittani's blog was right on, and I agreed with all the points that she made.
Comments: Parents are a big part of the problem I think. Especially fathers with their sons. Boy's as young as 4 said their father's would say that it was bad if their son's played with girls toys. Just because their father uses tools that means they have to use tools too! The fathers try to poor masculinity into their sons. In the article one of Orenstein's friends bragged about how he got his daughter hot wheels, and when is son asked for a tutu he refused to get it for him. That is unfair in my opinion he is playing favoritism towards his daughter by letting her play with something that is considered masculine, and if his son wanted something that was considered feminine he refused. Like I said in my blog children should be able to play with whatever they want it won't make them any less of a boy or a girl, and it won't affect them in the future. The gender stereotype of masculine and feminine need to change. Look at link I put earlier in the article if you haven't already.
Hey everyone! We are planning on going out to breakfast tomorrow morning during the time we would normally have class at either friendlys, ihop or somewhere else. Let me know if you want to go.
Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us by: Linda Christensen
Talking Points #4
Reflection:
This was a very difficult article for me to read. I was a kid who always loved cartoons, Disney movies, and Disney World in Florida. I still occasionally like to watch cartoons now, and I'm 19 years old. Now, that they mention it in the article I do realize how they depicted certain characters. All the different stereotypes that are depicted show people of color, fat people, women, and other types of people in bad ways. So, when children watch this they get this image in their head of how these types of people act. No one acts different because of what they look like all people are the same and deserve to be treated the same.
One part during the article was when a couple of the students mentioned how they never see the main character as African American, and they thought the Disney movies would be better if the main character isn't only depicted as white. It wouldn't change how we learned from it. If the main character is black or white like in Cinderella the story will still end the same. It will end happily ever after the girl will get her prince charming just by changing how she looks, and making herself look more beautiful. Happiness doesn't just come from getting a man, and changing your clothes and hairstyle. This brings me back to SCWAAMP. Especially the "A" in scwaamp" which means Ablebodiedness. Everyone has this image of beautiful as you should be skinny or just look like a barbie doll. That is also what a movie like Cinderella is trying to get across just because of how beautiful you are means that you will have a happy ending in life. The world is not like that. I wish everyone could have a happy ending, but its not that easy. You have to work hard in life, and achieve your goals, and find someone you love. Not everything is based on how you look. The link I put there shows exactly the point I'm trying to get across about how a Disney princess like Cinderella sends the wrong message to young children.
Comments: I will always love Disney movies and cartoons because I grew up watching them. They do send bad messages to children, but when they are that young they don't realize what they are learning. When they get older I hope they realize that the messages these movies sent were wrong. I wish that they didn't have these types of messages in the stories. Disney movies had all sorts of subliminal messages that I didn't know about. Why would they put those in their movies when they know the general audience for them are children? I hope that in newer cartoons they send better messages to children, and I don't think that these movies should be taken away from them all in all. I just think at some point children should learn about the messages these movies were depicting, and realize it was wrong to depict them that way.
The article that I read was about The Day of Silence. For those of you that don't know what the Day of Silence is, it is the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, no matter what your sexual orientation is. What happens during the Day of Silence is students across the country take a vow of silence to show the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. The first ever Day of Silence occurred at the University of Virginia in 1996, and as of 2008, 8,000 other schools including middle schools, high schools, and universities have participated in the Day of Silence. I think that is amazing how many schools now that show their support using the Day of Silence. I bet even more schools do the Day of Silence since it is now 2012. I think all schools should implement the Day of Silence it's a great way to stop the bullying against gays, bisexuals, lesbians, and transgendered.
I remember when they were having the Day of Silence at my high school one year. I didn't know what it was, but I participated anyways because a lot of my friends were doing it. Once I found out why everyone was taking a vow of silence I continued to do my vow of silence because I wanted to show support to all of those who were bullied or harassed. I remembered being asked by multiple students if I was gay? I didn't respond obviously, but I remember thinking that who cares if I'm gay, straight, or bisexual I'm just showing my support because I don't think that it's right for anyone of any sexual orientation to be bullied.
While in school students can take the vow of silence, and most teachers will allow them not to talk for the day. In the case if a teacher asks the student a question on this day the student can't refuse to answer, and they must talk. Lastly, there are many ways to get involved with this in your schools, groups, sororities or whatever this article shows many ways to get involved. I think that schools and colleges should have this. I would like to learn more through classes at RIC. Everyone should get involved!
Comment: There is this one quote that I saw that I thought I should put on here that is very true! "I hate the word 'homophobia'. It's not a phobia. You're not scared. You're just an asshole!"
This video that I'm attaching is a Public Service Announcement for the day of silence.
Aria by: Richard Rodriguez
Teaching Multilingual Children by: Virginia Collier
Talking Points #2
Argument:
In my opinion, Collier argues that you should not take away a child's first language to try and get them to understand a public language. For example, if a child's first language or the language they speak at home is Spanish, don't make them stop speaking it just to learn the public language of English at school. It has its pros and cons. It is a good thing to become a better English learner because you will be able to understand and be able to participate more in school. It can also be bad because it can take away the communication you have with your family if your parents can only speak Spanish. In Collier's article Guideline #3 states, "Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language." What this is trying to say is by teaching students a second language, don't take them away from their native language. In school, it should be okay to be able to speak more than one language. Being bilingual or multilingual can be very important to a child's future and it may even help them. In the article Aria, Richard was told he could only speak a public language which was English. It got him and his family away from his native language, so he could only be fluent in one language. When he went to school and learned only in English. What happens in this article is exactly what Collier argues. He shouldn't have been taken away from his first language just to speak English and make the nuns happy. He lost his individuality by doing that. Overall, Collier thinks that children should not be taken away from their first language to learn a public language it could hurt them in the future, and it could also take away their individuality! The link there goes to another article about how learning a second language means losing the first language, and I thought it was very interesting.
Comments: I think knowing more than one language is really a better thing for most children. In America, we are starting to use more and more Spanish in everyday life. So, if you are able to speak both English and Spanish in America it can be very useful to you nowadays. Also, I was surprised when I read that becoming stronger in your primary language was better than becoming stronger in both your primary language and a secondary language. Apparently, being strong in your primary language can help transfer to a secondary language. Was anyone else surprised by that? Lastly, just being strong in a secondary language can be the worst thing for a child, and I completely understood that. Overall, this article was very interesting to read and I learned a lot about multilingual children, and how their primary and secondary languages affect them.
White Privilege: Talking Points #1
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by: Peggy McIntosh
Quotes:
"White Privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." (Pg. 1)
What I think this means is that all white people have privileges that others don't. What McIntosh means by this is, black people don't have these privileges, and white people didn't have to do anything to earn them. Also, I think it will be hard for black people to ever get the same privileges. This ties in with the article because of the 26 conditions that are easier for white people to count on than they are for black people.
"If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area that I can afford and in which I would want to live."(Pg. 2)
This is one of the 26 conditions McIntosh lists in the article. It means if she or another white person wanted to move she could move wherever she wanted without worrying if she had to afford it or not. Also, the thing that is being implied that African Americans do not have this privilege like white people do. They can't just get up and move where they want to. They do have to worry about affording a place to live, so they have to live where they can afford to, so most of the time they do not have a choice. McIntosh again is showing how white people have more privilege.
"Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color." (Pg. 4)
When I first read this quote the first thing that came to my mind was "SCWAAMP." Whiteness is the "W" in SCWAAMP. Whiteness has more, power and privilege over any other race according to McIntosh and many other people in our world. Whiteness protected her from all sorts of hostility and violence because they have more privilege than anyone else. That is what this whole article is about white people have so much privilege, and they don't even realize it. They should not take these things for granted.
One point that I would like to bring up is where it said, "most students in the United States do not see Whiteness as a racial identity." I never thought of it as a racial identity either until I read this article. It definitely is a racial identity that has more privilege than any other race, but it shouldn't be that way. When I thought of racism I always thought of how people where racist against black people or other races. Whether it was the segregation or how poorly black people were treated back in the day. Now I agree Whiteness is definitely a racial identity just like any other. Most white people think that racism doesn't affect them because they are not people of color. Racism does affect them because white people get judged just like any other race does because of all their privileges. Each race has their own privileges, and according to McIntosh, whiteness has more privileges than any other race, and a lot of the time they don't even realize it! The link I put there is an article by Audrey Thompson about Whiteness Theory, and I thought it was interesting to read, and had to do with what we read for class.
My name is Alex Werchadlo. I am the youngest of 4 brothers and 1 sister. All my siblings are a lot older than I am. Most of them are married and have children. I have 3 nieces and 3 nephews and I've been an uncle since I was 7. I also have a new niece or nephew on the way, and I'm very excited. I currently live in Woonsocket, but I lived in Cumberland and graduated from Cumberland High School in 2010. Over the summer I worked a lot at Abbott Run Valley Club in Cumberland teaching tennis. I love to play tennis I have been playing since I was 5 years old. I play #1 singles and #1 doubles for the RIC team. I am taking this class because I want to be a teacher in the future. I would like to be a math teacher because I actually like math, and it is something that I'm good at. I love working with kids I do it all year long for my job, and with my family because of all my nieces and nephews. So far I really enjoy this class, and I like going to it every week. This is a little about me, leave some comments, so I can learn some things about you!
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