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.

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.

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.

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.