Thursday, December 12, 2013

Promising Practice


Promising Practice Second Option #1

Attending the annual anchor madness event relates to many things that we have been learning in class. In many of the different readings that we have done in classes. For instance this event made me realize that there really are rules and codes of power. At Rhode Island College, they had a special event that was supposed to be for the different dorms to chant against each other to win competitions to win different things for their dorms and to show school spirit. The athletic department made this happen but rushed all of the activities. This is because they had to bring out the sports teams, but mainly they had to introduce the men’s basketball team. At this school the men’s basketball team is like royalty. This team gets pep rallies, emails saying when they have games, coach busses to every game including the games that are not even far away and much more such as million dollar score boards. While others teams are lucky to take the vans to the games. For instance one team had to take a van cramming ten members and all of their gear to a four hour away game on top of each other. To me this puts in perspective that there are rules and codes to power. This reminds me of Kohn because since this team brings money to the school and recruits, if they get nice things which are like saying good job, then they will do better. Overall I think that going to this event showed me that Kohn moments do not only happen in classrooms, it happens in everyday life to get people to do certain things. If there is a school event to recognize the people who live on campus, there really is not a need to bring out a team and promote all their games and such as much in my opinion coming from an athlete at this school.  
                         
 
 
Promising Practice Second Option #2
During diversity week I attended the open mic night. At first I was apprehensive about going to this because I have never been to an event where there was open mic and poetry. Once I got there I found my seat sat down, and began to listen to what all of the people had to say. I was most moved by someone who wrote a poem about LGBTQ. As this person was presenting their poem, they talked about what it was like having to keep everything in to themselves because they did not feel like their parents and friends would accept them. Once this person told their loved ones they began to realize how much support they had. I am now looking back and relating it to Augusts, Safe Spaces. This is because we talk about how this issue is not really brought up in classrooms or at school. This school has a whole week dedicated to that which I think is amazing. “We contend that including LGBT people and issues in curriculum is an important first step toward creating safe spaces for LGBT youth” (August). Although this topic may not be in curriculums in college classes it is still important that there is a week dedicated to this. By this person going in front of a group of random students that they have no clue who they even are, expressing themselves is a great step for the future and I think that the school made this person comfortable by letting them speak out. Overall I am happy that I went and I hope that this school continues to raise awareness about this subject because you really never know whose life it can change just by sitting and supporting them while they explain their story.
 
 

Monday, December 9, 2013

Kohn Edit

Kohn relates to Delpit because of the direct style that Deplit talks about. Kohn states that teachers should not say good job to their students because it is very direct and it will lead them to think that they always need this support in order to do a god job on their work. Also if parents are saying good job after everything their children is doing at home,  they will expect it at school but teachers can not give in and do this. Delpit says that they students might not learn certain rules at home but learn them in the classroom, I feel as though saying good job and similar terms at home relates to Kohn.

August Edit

Augusts piece relates to Johnson. This is because Johnson mentions that it is important to talk about certain subjects in classrooms. There are many controversial issues about LGBT and talking about this in classrooms. I agree with Johnson that these subjects need to be brought up. I feel as though teachers are afraid of what parents and students will think if they do talk about LGBT which should not be a problem.

Rodriguez Edit

I can relate Rodriguez to Collier because they both talk about the differences between languages at school and at home. In Rodriguez it talks about how the boy changes his whole life style and does not even talk to his parents anymore because of this change. This relates to Collier because it states that students should use their first language and then slowly start speaking English so that they are more comfortable and they can have a better time learning.

Kozol Edit

I think that Kozols piece relates to Delpit because they both speak about power and in life it is all about the privileges about what you have and what you do not have. if there was not poverty I feel as though Delpit would say that students would behave better and not have to be told what to do as often.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Talking point #10 Shor

"Empowering Education: Education is Politics" 
                                   Ira Shor
 
In Shor’s article “Education is Politics in shorter terms she is arguing that in today’s world, education is not what is should be.


In school systems today schooling is not how it looks like in the old fashion movies. Teachers are given curriculums to teach, and these topics have to be taught at a certain time during the school year, for a certain amount of time. The teachers try to teach this as fast as they can and then they give a test. If the children pass it great, if they don’t then it is still on to the next thing because the teachers “need” to get to the other topics. Then teachers have to prepare for state wide tests also which honestly to me mean nothing because personally on the SATs, if there is pre-calc on there and I am nowhere near that in my math studies, how is it even fair? It’s not, so why?? Why do we need this? Why can’t schools simply go off of students grades in high school alone? Why is it always about testing? Also I am going to school to be a phys. Ed teacher. Why do I need the Praxis? When am I going to need any of that to teach children to be active and help them with those skills?

 Students today are honestly just writing down notes to write them down pretending that they can go back and look at these notes and maybe learn something when in reality they are clueless half the time. I once had a teacher who told me that I asked too many questions in math at my old college and we had to move on to something else. Shor states “ People are naturally curious”, meaning that they want to know answers and when they don’t know the answers because the professors don’t have time, then that is a huge issue and something needs to be changed.  Teachers need to encourage children to want to ask questions, not push them away before they all actually go away and not want to go to school and get a great learning experience like Shor mentions.

To me this article relates to Kliewer and “Citizenship in School” because although this article was not about people with down syndrome, everyone has their different ways of learning and teachers should all treat their students equal and no matter what teachers need to help students out so that they enjoy being there.  We need to make more positive opportunities for children in schools.
   
TALKING POINTS: Is it only me or does anyone else believe that testing should not be the answer? Personally I am a horrible test taker and I have a big fear that in the future it will end up hurting my chances of becoming a teacher if I do not do well on the Praxis. Shouldn't there be some other way of going about getting in to school, or being a teacher without having to take these tests?

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Schooling children with down syndrome


 Quotes on Kliewer's
 “Schooling Children with Down Syndrome"
“Fundamental to constructivist teaching is a respect for each student as both an active agent in the learning process and an essential member of the learning community.”

This quote is mentioning that in all classrooms students need to be treated the same and have it be known that each person brings something unique and special to each classroom  no matter if they have a disability or not. I feel like if the teacher respects all of the children in the classroom, then kids will respect one another instead of having them ignore or not listen to everyone’s ideas.

“Vygotsky found that the culture of segregation surround people with disabilities actually teaches underdevelopment of thinking through the isolation of children from socially valued opportunities… altering the culture of disability requires that a child be recognized as an active learner, a thinker, and a problem-solver, but this cannot occur apart from relationships that allow for such engagement.”

 I chose this quote because it is basically saying that if we separate students in classrooms we are pretty much taking away the opportunities. In classrooms the students who do not have a disability are getting a better education, and the ones who do are getting that taken away by getting taken away and getting less of an education. I can relate to this because I know that when I was in elementary school I would get taken away to a different room when it was time for reading groups when all I wanted to do was prove that I could actually read and that when the teacher had the rest of the class reading books together, I could do the same. It made me not want to read even more because I was never given a fair opportunity. This also relates to LGBT in a way with Geri Augusts’ Safe Spaces article because these problems are also not given the same opportunity. And how people feel insecure about this in schools too and feel abnormal because schooling makes this happen.

"How absurd to be judged by others at all, especially by those who have never experienced a disability or who are unwillingly providing us with support or who don't listen to the voices we have.

Personally I know when I was growing up in the public school system, there were always those kids who would make fun of those with disabilities. Honestly I do not know how a person could be so rude and do this. I agree with this quote because people all have something about them that they cannot change. You should never judge someone because of who they are and in this article it does a good job of stating this. All people need to worry about themselves unless they are positive and are willing to only make others and themselves better at succeeding in life.

 TALKING POINTS-  I thought that this article had many great points. Is there a way that one day LGBT and disability issues in schools will someday change? Hopefully one day when we are teachers learning all of this can help us and we can change this. I feel like if in a classroom and being a teacher if you bring the whole class together as one on even the first day when no body knows each other, everyone will be accepting of everyone no matter what the situation.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

TALKING POINTS #7

TALKING POINTS #7 - BROWN VS. BOARD OF ED.


Before the Brown Vs. Board of Education trial, all schools were segregated. Some people thought that this was completely ok, and others thought the opposite. After reading the article by Bob Herbert, and the videos from Tim Wise, i learned that many of the things that happened back when this trial began also is continuing to happen in today’s time period.

Back when this trial began, people of color had to fight for being able to have schools and had to fight to even get supplies as stated on the website of historical backgrounds of this case. This relates to today’s time period because in the article it mentions how even in today’s schools the poor schools do not have the supplies and they do not have the resources that the “white” schools as someone would say have more. I feel like it is so unfair. It’s not right that just because there are wealthier areas in this country they should have better schools. It’s not that town or cities fault and the kids should not have this taken out on them because they do not have the funding. It mentions in the video that the ones that do not see this as a problem are the ones who are not living on the rougher side of this. More the whites and the rich.

Also things that have no changed from the Brown vs. Board of Education case is that there has always been “denial”. For instance in the video it mentions that white honestly do not think that there is a problem with how much better they get treated. In the trial whites did not think that there was a problem that other minorities did not have what they did. We are still in denial today. In the video it mentions how 2/3 of whites think that blacks are treated equally as them when it comes to education, housing, and employment. Honestly cannot say I am one of these people. Going to my service learning alone makes me realize that I am more privileged.

This country has a lot of work to do if we ever want to stop racism and become a better place. Honestly what does it matter the color of skin. It doesn’t. we are all human so who cares if someone has a darker tint, I guess it is something that I will never truly understand.  I feel like it all goes back to the article by Peggy McIntosh White Privilege, because although white people do not see it they always get the upper hand in almost every situation and this needs to change. It should not matter if you go to a commuter school and are black like the video says, if you want to be president because a white person could do that and it would be the opposite. Once again everyone needs to realize we are all human.
 
TALKING POINTS- I feel like people talk about change and it never happens. If only there was a way that we could actually make a change when it comes to situations like this because it actually does bother me that there are still race issues in 2013. WE ARE ALL HUMAN.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

IN THE SERVICE OF WHAT?


IN THE SERVICE OF WHAT?
 

By Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

 
“In the moral domain. service learning activities tend toward two types of relationships. Relationships that emphasize charity we will call "giving." Those that aim primarily to deepen relationships and to forge new connections we will call "caring."”

While in service learning, you do develop these two types of relationships. The relationship of giving to me stands for giving the kids something back in return for all their hard work. For instance helping them out with something or rewarding them when they learn something new. Being there for them through the process of learning means more to them then people can imagine and giving them that support is a great feeling. Caring for the students comes to play when talking about being there when no one else is there.

“Educators and legislators alike  maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom.”

Service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom. I think that this says a lot. This is because service learning can improve the community not only in the classrooms but also the volunteers that are doing it. When doing service learning I feel like even if I did a little that day, I have done so much just by being there for the kids when they need someone to talk to or ask a simple question. Service learning also improves the classroom because the kids are getting a chance to ask someone other then the teacher for help when they are busy and sometimes even us VIPS volunteers can teach them different methods which helps in the long run.


“Students in Atlanta must complete 75 hours of volunteer service to graduate. Maryland now requires that all high school students perform 75 hours of community service prior to graduation or participate in an alternative district program approved by the state.”

I can personally relate to this because in order to graduate my high school, we needed 80 hours of community service to graduate. Although when you first hear 80 hours of community service, it seems like a lot, it really isn’t. When you do these hours you just feel like you are doing so much good for different communities no matter what project you are doing. Like the students in Maryland, we also had to write about the experiences and I can honestly say I had a smile on my face when writing about my experience. I think all schools should do some type of community service it will help you, and it will help others.
 
Reading this article also makes me relate it to this FNED class because without this class relating to service learning like the teachers in this article, we would not have the opportunity to be at the schools we are at now. Also we get to read articles that most of us have never heard of. For instance I can relate this to Teaching Multilingual Children. Without reading this article I would not be able to carry it in to my service learning classroom which does have many children who do not speak this language and I am super thankful for this now, instead of having to deal with it the hard way later.
 
TALKING POINTS- I think that service learning is so helpful. without doing this class and doing service learning I feel as though I would not have known half of what I already know just in a few weeks alone.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

UNLEARNING THE MYTHS THAT BIND US

UNLEARNING THE MYTHS THAT BIND US
BY: LINDA CHRISTENSEN

                After reading Linda Christensen Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us, I could not help but connect this text to the movie A Cinderella Story, starring Hillary Duff as Sam and Chad Michael Murray as Austin. In this movie there a girl who is stereotyped as weird or geeky who works at a diner. Through high school all of the “rich” “popular” girls and boys such as Austin and his friends make fun of Sam. She lets it slide and continues to only be herself. Then the homecoming Halloween dance comes. She dresses up as Cinderella and tries to look like someone whom she is not just to try and impress the man of her dreams who she keeps a secret emailing relationship with because he will not tell her who he really is. When she gets to the dance she meets him and he does not know who she is under disguise. At the end of the movie he finally finds out who she is and of course they fall in love and end up going to Princeton together.  So the point that I am basically trying to make is that when Christensen makes her point that everyone tries to be something they are not  to impress that boy she is right. Why not just continue to be yourself? Why is it always about having to impress someone or getting that perfect guy or the perfect lifestyle? Why is it that in all movies and cartoons they all have the perfect hair or the perfect body?  Personally I know that if someone does not like me because instead of dressing up I wear sweatpants or because I like to sit around and eat junk food once and a while on the weekends they are not worth my time.

      Christensen says that “We are not only taught certain styles of violence, fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, comic strips” , it is everywhere. As humans we will always try to be something we are not if we keep reading and watching these things. This all relates to Safe Spaces because people are also afraid of talking about being different like they are talking about other subjects that come with being human. Everyone needs to always be themselves and not worry about what anyone else thinks no matter what the situation is.
TALKING POINTS: Why do people not like to be themselves? Why is it that TV always has to make everyone perfect with the happy ending? People should never be afraid to be themselves.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

FIVE REASONS TO STOP SAYING "GOOD JOB"

    
FIVE REASONS TO STOP SAYING "GOOD JOB"
BY:ALFIE KOHN

     After reading Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" By Alfie Kohn, I completely disagree with the point that this author is trying to make that saying “good job” should not be allowed. Students need that extra support in life no matter what. As a matter of fact I feel as though all people need to be told they did a good job or a bad job, it is simply a part of life.
     While at a school last week helping a fourth grade science and math class, there was a student who had gotten in trouble. While he thought that the teachers in the room did not notice him rolling around on the floor and acting with poor behavior, he got his name written on the board with a sad face. The student spent the next twenty minutes disappointed in him moping around. The main teacher of the class noticed this and stopped what she was doing and she asked the class if they had ever gotten in trouble. The majority of the class raised their hand and said yes. She then looked at the boy and told him that yes, everyone gets in trouble. You live and you learn from it and then you fix the mistakes you made and it is not the end of the world. After the student saw the rest of his classmates and when the teacher talked to him, he held his head high and he did an awesome job of participating the rest of the class and forgot about what he had done and the teacher acknowledged the fact he did this by saying “good job”.
     I think that this is important because if a teacher tells someone they did something wrong, it will only help them. When someone in life hears this it will help them correct their mistakes. If the students or even any human being is not told when they are doing good or bad, how will they learn anything? By saying good job yes, it is a confidence booster and I do not think Alfie Kohn should think this is a bad thing. I even think that people should saying something more than good job, something that has even a stronger meaning. Everyone likes to hear they are doing a good thing once and a while. It could even save a life if someone is having a bad day.

                                                                                                                       
TALKING POINTS- I  feel like saying good job to people is a must. I do not get why schools do not like this. Especially when I play in soccer it boosts my confidence so much and makes me work harder then I already when I hear that. I think that children need this especially when like Herbert Kohl said some children do not want to learn.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Safe Spaces


SAFE SPACES
ANNEMARIE VACCARO, GERRI AUGUST, AND MEGAN S. KENNEDY
“To the extent that teachers, school administrators, and college professors create an atmosphere in which difference is not only tolerated but expected, explored, and embraced, students will be more likely to develop perspectives that result in respectful behaviors “(Page 83).

                To me this quote is saying that in schools teachers really need to create a place in their classrooms where they can teach their students to accept LGBT rights.  They need to make sure everyone is accepted for who they are and no one should want to make anybody feel as if they do not belong. If this does happen in schools where teachers can teach this then students will no longer be felt as if they are left out and they will be respected and not judged. Personally I cannot help but feel for the kids who feel like they are alone because teachers do not address these things in classrooms.

 “When asked if they were taught about LGBT people or history, less than 12 percent of LGBT students replied to the affirmative” (Page 91).

                This percentage is awful in my opinion. I do not understand why teachers are so afraid to talk about these issues in their classrooms. Yes, they may feel like parents will not be happy but like the test says “Grow up!” Honestly if these children are not going to learn about LGBT in classrooms where else are they possibly going to learn? Obviously not their parents since they do not think they are ready for it in classrooms. They will just keep talking about it with their friends and putting the subject down. People need to open their eyes like the simple kindergarten teachers are doing and even if they only talk about it in little detail or mention it here and there it’s a start that could lead to something more.

“Words invite or exclude, recognize or erase, empower or intimidate, examine or assume. Far from what the children chant would have let us believe ,words are sticks and stones. And those sticks and stones can either build bridges or break bones” (Page 95).

                In life someone’s words can either make someone’s day, or make someone feel like they are alone. If these topics come up in school more often than the children who do feel left out will in my opinion most likely not skip classes anymore and feel welcomed. This is because other students will know the situation and will no longer feel the need to void it and just make fun of the idea. I think everyone would feel much better about themselves and there would no longer be assumptions or hurtful words being said.
 
POINTS TO SHARE- I agree completely with the fact that in schools we need to do a better job of talking about LGBT and things like this. I think that we can make this a better world if all schools just put in a little more effort as well as save lives and make children want to come to school.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

VOICES AND SILENCES: LANGUAGE IS POWER


           ARIA BY RICHARD RODRIGUEZ
REFLECTION
          In Aria, Richard Rodriguez argues that in today’s society people are forced to lose a part of who they are, because they need to learn a different language in school districts.  In this article Rodriguez mentions that when he was going to school he did not know much English because this was not the language that he spoke at home with his family. Teachers eventually caught on and met with his parents basically forcing them to only speak English with him. To me this shows that this was the beginning of Rodriguez losing a part of who he was because if a teacher shows up to someone’s house, forcing them to all of the sudden switch languages spoken in a household just so that it is more convenient for them (in my opinion) that is taking away a part of individualism and a part of someone’s culture. Personally I think that this family should have only spoken a somewhat English in the household as well as Spanish or use a kind of “Code Switching” as Collier would say and use both in sentences because what language someone speaks defines who they are and defines their pride. I think that if the family would have done this then Richards father would have been more social with the family and tried harder with his family like with everyone else. “His children became so accustomed to his silence…But my father was not shy, I realized, when I’d watch him speaking Spanish with relatives” (Rodriguez).  I feel like maybe they could have had more fun with learning a new language as well as adding their own pride in the language at the same time if they spoke with both languages.
 
         Although I have never known of a teacher to show up to my friend’s house to make them change their language from Spanish to English, I do know someone who was one of my good friends that over time lost who they were because they basically were forced to only speak English at school because the teachers did not try to help him. This friend changed in so many ways. When he first came he cared for everyone and did not care if he was being too nice or what anyone thought about him. Overtime, he began to learn the language and from there on began to change. He became mean and so much different than before or you could say he became Americanized. He would make fun of people, he started to hang around the wrong crowd and make bad choices. He also did not have the relationship with his dad that he once had just like Rodriguez, throwing parties and not even talking when they were in the same room. To me this proves that by going to a school and having to change the language you originally spoke, makes people lose a part of them. Personally I think that we as a whole country need to fix this and let people speak the language that will help them have better future and not tear their family apart which I now see has happened more than once.
 
 
POINT TO SHARE: I feel like as a country we some how need to figure out how to deal with kids who do not speak either English or Spanish in a classroom. In my service learning even I do not know how to work with the children who do not speak English and I feel as though some of the teachers ignore them because they feel the same. Is there anything that we can do to make it easier for those?

Sunday, September 22, 2013

PEGGY MCINTOSH- UNPACKING THE INVISIBLE KNAPSACK

After reading the article on McIntosh’s piece titled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, I thought that overall it was a very interesting read. This article was mainly about how white people are born with privileges in which they are not even really aware of, that people in other races may not have. Peggy McIntosh also corresponds this with men and how they have this effect over women when it comes to having more privileges over women naturally.
In McIntosh’s article I could relate to when she mentioned some of the different advantages that whites have during an everyday lifestyle, compared to some other races. For instance when she mentions getting pulled over by cops. Personally I know that in my town, which is not a very diverse town, people who have windows that are tinted, or people driving that are not white usually get pulled over faster than someone who happens to be white. Some white people do not realize this but it is true and it is absolutely horrible. Just because someone is of a different skin color or does not have the nicest car does not mean that they are any different from the more expensive car. This also goes a long with people carrying backpacks. If a white person is carrying a backpack the police will not do anything where I live, if it’s someone of a different race they may be questioned. Stereotypes in this world today are worse than ever.
I could also relate to the advantage of when McIntosh mentions opening the paper or turning on the television and seeing a white race. In today’s society I do not think that it is right that blacks and whites have to have television stations that have our races mentioned in them. For instance BET (Black Entertainment), why does this station have to be named this as though whites are not in some way allowed to watch because it is not their skin color. People need to stop thinking that we need to be separate and are not privileged enough to watch the same stations as each other so we need to  make separate ones.
Overall I did agree with Peggy McIntosh in this article. I feel as though people do not see these privileges.  In the world today all races need to be equal from the minute they are born, not just one race. If not, this world will never end up changing.
Talking points : I like how McIntosh corresponded race with women and men. She is completely right and she made this article easier to understand when mentioning that. Men are naturally born to be better than women, we are starting to change this and hopefully we can do the same with race.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

About Me



Hey FNED!
My names Jaclyn Greenman. I am a transfer student from Southern Connecticut State University and Three Rivers Community College. I'm from a town in Connecticut called Waterford near the beach where I have lived my entire life and I would not change it for the world. In my free time I play soccer at  RIC so when everyone is free come and check out a game! 
Over the summer I spent most of my time working at the New London Probate Court, as well as subbing at an elementary school, going to the beach, hanging with friends, and playing in a summer soccer league.
I decided to take this class because I really wanted to get a feel for how it is working in the schools that we will be visiting because at home I was in a different area that was not as diverse as the schools we will be going to.
Can't wait to get to know everyone!