While I was reading Finn's article, I started thinking about my own schooling experience in a middle class neighborhood. Day after day, I would wake up at 6 am, walk in the same classrooms and complete"busy work" that the teachers practically threw at our faces. I can't believe I spent twelve years of my life doing this. Twelve Years! I felt like I was on an assembly line being put together piece by piece, and when completed I looked like everyone else. Really, it didn't matter if you were smart or not, you just had to cheat the system to pass and move on to the next grade. “If you got
enough right answers, you got a good grade." That one sentence alone represents the entirety of the 12 year education system that I was put through. No student actually understood what the teacher was saying, we just had to memorize, write it down on paper and then forget it. Just think about this; if students were encouraged to be independent thinkers and challenge what was being taught to them, then maybe we wouldn't have wasted all of those years sitting in desks passing notes to friends. Growing up, getting good grades was important to me just so I could pass each grade and go to a good college. By no means did I think I would actually use anything I learned in the real world. “The dominant theme in the
middle-class school was possibility.There was widespread anxiety about tests and grades but there was a
pervasive belief that hard work would pay off” When I struggled with some subjects at school, I frequently told myself that "This work doesn't really matter. What matters is that I graduate and move on to something more exciting than this." SAdly, not all students can look forward to college after graduating (if they graduate). This counrty needs a new education system before students give up on themselves.
Tonight, December 5 at 7pm in SU 307, the FEET club will be hosting a Toys for Tots Movie Night! There will be food, raffles, games and we will be watching the Polar Express. Please bring a toy to help children in need!
In the article "Education is Politics" by Shor, she argues that the education system in the United States is not what it should be at all. Both students and teachers are not benefitting from our country's educational system. There are rules teachers must go by in every state, town, school district and school which leaves no room for trying to be original. Students are taught not to question their learning, just scribble down notes, memorize and regurgitate that information on the next test. Shor says that so many teachers are unhappy with the curriculum they must go by.
"People are naturally curious." Shor states. If students are not "allowed" to be curious and ask questions, then how do people expect them to learn? For students to be interested in learning, teachers must encourage them to ask questions and be involved. Lessons should be largely based on the students in mind, not what they are required to learn.
I agree with what Shor says about our education system. Something needs to change before every kid in school ends up dropping out. Going to school should not be a chore,it should be fun, engaging and interesting to both the students and teachers. As a student who attended public schools, I always thought of school as a chore. Having to wake up at 6 am and sit in class filling out worksheet after worksheet until 3 pm every day. I barely remember anything I learned. Only if the curriculum was different, we would have learned so much more and we wouldn't have wasted 12 years of our childhood sitting in a classroom day after day.
For my post,I am going to write about Vanessa's blog. I can relate to what she wrote because we both found the article interesting, even though we aren't special education majors. At my high school, the kids with special needs were also segregated into their own classrooms, had their own teachers aids and lunch tables. Vanessa argued that just because those students are different, it does not mean they should be excluded from the school community and should be treated equally. She included articles about community schools, where students can get a proper education according to their needs. One article Vanessa posted included pros and cons of children with special needs going to a mainstream school versus a school/classroom exclusively for special needs. Vanessa said that parents should have the option to chose where they place their children. I agree with that, because a learning style that works for one child may not work for another.She also included an interesting video about a girl Lily who has Down's syndrome.Her mom believes she will benefit from attending a special needs school, as well as explaining why other parents would want their child to attend a mainstream school.
I think both mainstream schools and special needs schools both have pros and cons. Parents should have the option of placing their child in the school that benefits their learning. Not every child with special needs is the same, so they shouldn't be treated the same that by just placing them in any old school with no regard for their learning and well being.
I included an article that was interesting.It's about a child who went to a mainstream and a special needs school, and his parent explains which one worked best for him. Click to find out which!
I attended Promising Practices on November 3 along with most of my FNED class. I was not looking forward to waking up early to go to this 8am conference. With a large Dunkin' coffee in hand, I easily found where the class was; sitting squished together at the two front tables, erupting with laughter.
The main guest speaker was Dr. Dana Fusco, who focused her speech on Youth Development-Promoting equity through child and youth agency. It captured my interest because since my major is early childhood education, I want the best for my future students and will do anything to help them. Dr. Fusco focused on youth programs that help children thrive, programs that help provide a healthy ecology for thriving. Sadly, not all of these opportunities are available to all youth.
Ecology for Thriving
- Physical/mental safety
-Appropriate structure
-Support for efficiancy
-Oppurtunities for skill building
-Supportive relationships
-Opportunities to belong
-Positive social norms
-Integration of family/school/community efforts
All of these are necessary components of youth programs to help children thrive.
Why are afterschool programs effective?
Creates trusting relationships, hands on activities, builds confidence, events that celebrate accomplishments.
For my first workshop, I attended Anti-Bullying: Create Positive School Culture through Effective Communication,by presenters Rebecca Ferry and Joe Pirraglia. This workshop was about creating a sense of community and equality between students. My presenters worked in a middle school so even though I want to teach the younger students, I can easily use the techniques I learned in daily lesson plans. A quote that struck a chord with my was " If kids don't feel safe, they're not going to learn." It makes me realize how important it is for every student to feel respected and cared for, no matter their age. To help their middle school kids respect and get along, each team of students has a weekly meeting. They can talk about issues with friends, family and school. Games like the human knot and "If You Really Knew Me" are played, as well as weekly challenges, like Buddy Day, Lunch Buddies and Unity Week.
This workshop reminded me of the blog post we did about the GLSEN website, that had different tool kits and activites for different age groups that help prevent bullying. It would be great for every school to have a mandated Anti-Bullying campaign. The GLSEN website has a tool kit called "Ready, Set, Respect!" which I think would be great to incorporate in daily classroom activities. In middle school, kids just start figuring out who they are, their sexuality, friends, hobbies, as well as trying to accept their appearances. Bullying at this age is such an important and ongoing issue and it is so important for teachers to be aware of their students and report anything wrong with the students. You never know, you could be saving a life.
Middle School Anti-Bullying Video
My second workshop was Having a Valuable Place in the World:Young Children Telling Stories, Writing and Drawing, presented by Martha Horn, Natasha White and Julie Slater. This workshop emphasized the importance of children expressing their thoughts and feelings by placing them on paper. Writing is favorited by children because of the freedom they have to express themselves, instead of trying to find the one right answer to a math problem.Meaningful work is really motivating. We watched a video including a little boy in a first grade class who was just clearly so excited about the story he made. The presenters told us that the little boy is usually withdrawn and barely participates in classwork. It was awesome seeing this boy smiling and showing his work to every child and teacher around him. The story was meaningful to him and wanted to show it off.
MEANINGFUL WORK children are proud of
LANGUAGE that honors and respects learners
ENVIORNMENT where children can engage in meaningful work
In class, we talked about how easy it is for kids to just close their book, sit back, fold their arms and say "I'm done." If they are not surrounded by a caring enviornment, they will be quickly be disinterested in the work. It is important for kids to be excited to learn. If they don't feel like they matter or not important, they won't show it.
"Education must provide the opportunities for self fulfillment; it can, at best, provide a rich and challenging environment for the individual to explore in his/her own way." Noam Chomsky
After the workshops, we met back in "the Don" for lunch and the unconference. Dr. Bogad and the ALLIED group gave a presentation. ALLIED is made of students of different races, cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations. They each introduced themselves and talked a little about themselves. I learned a lot from them. You have to accept everyone for who they are, never assume anything about a person, acknowledge that not everyone is straight or identifies with the gender they were born with. ALLIED talked about how code switching should be accepted. Code switching is when a person switches between languages in a conversation. We talked about code switching in class, and it was also in the article "Teaching Multilingual Children" by Virginia Collier.At the end of the unconference, there was a chance for people from the audience to talk and give their input about the conference or their own experiences. It was great to see that a couple kids from my FNED class volunteered to talk.
In the end, I was happy I went to the conference. I learned so much about promoting equality through youth and I plan on using the strategies I learned when I become a teacher. It was a great experience and I plan on going to another conference in the future.
"More than a half-century after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education
school desegregation ruling, we are still trying as a country to
validate and justify the discredited concept of separate but equal
schools — the very idea supposedly overturned by Brown v. Board when it
declared, “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." Bob Herbert
" Schools are no longer legally segregated, but because of residential
patterns, housing discrimination, economic disparities and long-held
custom, they most emphatically are in reality."
These quotes, written by Bob Herbert from the New York Times couldn't explain the situation any better. Yes, maybe schools aren't literally separated by race anymore, that doesn't mean it completely got erased. We see it all around us and hear about it on the news. Many students from different races and cultures usually go to a school as good as where they live. Poor black children may go to a school that is run down, with 40 students packed into a room with minimal supplies.On the other hand,rich or middle class white kids might go to a school with all the newest technology and the best test scores. Schools are still segregated, even though many people still act oblivious to it all. I went to a school where all the kids were 95% white. It was a middle class neighborhood, and we had the school to show for it. Not every student will have an equal education since it mainly depends on where they live and their cultural background.
overview: -agrees with parental notification
- supports adoption
-pro life
-disagrees with stem cell research
OVERALL: I agree with Obama's views on abortion. I think the woman should have the choice of whether or not they want to keep the baby. It's her body and no one, especially a man, should ever tell her how to live her own life.
"The ability of a service learning curriculum to foster authentic, experience-based learning opportunities, to motivate students, to help students engage in higher-order thinking in contextually varied environments, and to promote interdisciplinary studies "
This quote explains how service learning really helps motivate students to work harder and focus. They benefit from having an extra helping hand to explain concepts and encourage students to try their best. When in small groups or one on one, they stay motivated and interested in the topic.
"The experiential and interpersonal components of service learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of "otherness" that often separates students-particularly privileged students-from those in need."
Service learning can help dissolve that "line" separating well educated students and under privileged students. Both groups can benefit from each other by sharing cultural characteristics and their different ways of learning. This helps them realize that even though they are probably from a different economic or social class, there is still a lot in common.
"Service activities should develop student's learning at public speaking, recruiting other students, organizing meetings, analyzing problems. developing action plans. and conducting evaluations."
A student can benefit from a lot if they include themselves in service learning. Besides the fact that they help others, they will be able to improve their confidence not only to help others but in their own lives as well. These skills will be useful in any occupation and service learning is a great experience to have.
- Students who engage in service-learning feel that they can “make a difference” - Students who engaged in service-learning were more likely to increase their sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy - Eighty-three percent of schools with
service-learning programs reported that grade point averages of
participating service-learning students improved 76 percent of the time
IN CLASS: I really like service learning. I'm excited to see my class every week, and see the kids' faces light up. This will definitely help prepare me for a classroom of my own. In the future, I can incorporate lesson ideas and classroom decoration ideas to make my classroom as beneficial to the kids as possible.
"Cinderella Ate My Daughter" by Orenstein (argument)
In the article, Orenstien argues that children are automatically placed in a "boy" or "girl" category as soon as they are born and are expected to comply to the gender specific standards.
BOYS: blue, cars, sports, tough, loud, dirty, masculine, tools, video games, in charge, trains
The above categories are what are typically associated with each gender according to the article and in real life. Little girls are obsessed with Disney princesses, believing that their lives should be like a fairytale. Those movies tell them that if they're pretty and thin then their handsome prince would show up on their doorstep.
Boys are brought up to be rough and tough, like Tonka toys. They dream of being superman and spiderman at a young age.If a boy wanted to wear a tutu it would be a big "no no" for society for boys to have a liking for girly things. Yet, if a girl wanted to wear a superman costume, it is socially acceptable. It's "cool" if a girl wants to try something thats typical related to boys. Being a tomboy is acceptable, a boy being girly is not in society. What's sad is that boys and girls even as young as 18 months would choose a toy associated with their gender, rather then what they would prefer to play with.
In class: How do you feel about being put into a blue or pink category as soon as you're born? Too bad kids can't choose what they like instead of being given what they should be playing with. How would kids be if there were no stereotypes?
"Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us" by Linda Christensen (hyperlinks)
I thought this article was very
interesting. Christensen explains how many children’s cartoons and Disney
movies have hidden meanings beyond the heartwarming characters in the movies we
have all known to love. Behind these seemingly innocent animated cartoons and
movies are a “secret education” that showcases racism and stereotypes. Young
girls that watch Cinderella or Snow White believe at a young age that they need
to be thin and pretty, marry their prince charming and be happily ever after. Young
boys believe that violence is the answer to anything, and the tougher you are,
the more respected you will be. In these cartoons, men are labeled as superior,
women are maids and housewives and blacks are slaves.
We live in a world that is
bombarded by messages telling is how to look and act. More and more girls today
are developing eating disorders, body dismorphic disorder and low self esteem,
just because they don’t look like Cinderella. Boys are called "gay" and weaklings" if they don't live up to the standards as a strong, masculine, tough guy.
Here's a link I found on how Disney princesses negatively affect girls starting at a young age:
REFLECT: This article was really interesting to me. It's crazy how much of an impact the media has on our society, starting as toddlers. It seems to be getting even worse as technology increases. I wonder if these cartoons will ever be appropriate for kids without hiding stereotypes in cartoons.
The
toolkit on the GLSEN website that I thought was the most interesting was “Ready,
Set, Respect!” Written especially for elementary school students, it provides
tools to teach age appropriate lessons on respect and bullying. I love the idea
of anti-bullying campaigns starting in the early grades. As a future Elementary school teacher, I can definitely see myself incorporating lessons from this toolkit in my daily lesson plans. If children are taught
early on about bullying, it is less likely to happen as they get older. The
site was interesting and included many ideas to help bring schools together and
stop bullying. When I was in high school, we had a Day of Silence every year. I
always participated, and it made me realize how difficult it is for someone to
be unlike the “norm”, how alone many of them must feel. My high school was pretty strict about
anti-bullying and respect but of course it still went on behind teacher’s backs
and especially on Facebook.
External Link: Facebook Bullying http://www.ajc.com/news/ap/crime/facebook-bullying-catches-attention-of-nm-police/nSPKb/ Share in Class: Having the Day of Silence in schools really help kids have a different perspective on bullying and respect.
In “Aria”, Rodriguez explains the
difficulties he went through as a young child trying to learn a whole new
language that was spoken all around him. Though I never had to learn a new
language as a child, I can relate to this article because I was placed in a
kindergarten ESL class for my Service Learning Project. The little boy that I
work with knows only a few words in English, while I know only a few words in
Spanish so our communication is very limited. Rodriguez’s article made me
realize how difficult it is for this boy to not only try to understand the English
language, but to also do the schoolwork that is involved. As tough as it may
be, it is better for children to learn a new language at a young age .Rodriguez
mentioned in the article that if he was taught English later in his life, it
would be very delayed. Reading this article made me realize how fortunate I was
to be brought up already knowing English, but on the other hand I respect
people who are bilingual because it must be difficult to learn .English and the
culture that surrounds it.
Point to Share: In class, I can share how even though I took two years of a foreign language in high school I could barely say more then a few sentences at a time. It must be so difficult to learn a new language at a young age.
Quote #1 (page 6) “There are children in the poorest, most abandoned
places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into
their jives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway.”
Even though these children are living in one of the poorest
cities in the country, they still find joy in their lives. They have learned to
deal with what they have, and not to take things for granted. These kids are
not yet burdened by harsh reality, unlike their parents, who are struggling to
find a place to live and put food on the table. Compare these children to
children of upper class families. Many are spoiled and don’t know anything about
the real world. Even though the poverty stricken children don’t have as many
material things, they learn to be grateful for what they have.
Quote #2 (page 15) "Once you're in bed, if you call the nurse,
you wait for half an hour. 'You know, Mrs. Washington, you've been here
before,' they say. 'You know that we are understaffed.' How do they know, when
someone calls, that you're not dying?"
This
quote explains the hospital conditions in the south Bronx. The hospitals are so understaffed
so the patients can’t get proper care that they need. The government won’t do
anything to help fix the hospitals, it’s as if they are saying that poverty
stricken people don’t matter, when in reality, everyone both rich and poor
deserves equal treatment. These people who need the most help are being completely
ignored by everyone else, and are being left to fend for themselves. This quote
is relevant to the text because it further explains the terrible living
conditions of these people, while not even a twenty minute train ride from the
Bronx is where the wealthiest cities are located.
Quote #3 (page 23) "I
believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is
something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power. Pretending that
they don't so they don't need to use it to help people-that is my idea of evil.”
This
quote explains how the people with power seem to be unaware of its presence
while people without power are the most aware. Since the people of power are stereotypically rich, white males, they are pretending to keep a blind eye on the
poverty in south Bronx. These people are “evil” because they aren’t even
acknowledging the help that these poverty stricken people need, like food,
housing and adequate health care. Without help from the upper classes,the
conditions of these poor cities will keep getting worse and the poor people will
even get more secluded then they are now.
Thoughts to Share in Class: How easily a rich child could have been born
poor, and a poor child could have been rich based on their families background,
race, education and religion. Some children’ lives are so much easier based on
the presence of power.
