Watch This!! It is amazing and unbelievable

This video is unbelievable. Tissues may be needed, it is very touching.

Interesting Point

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/80cD1W/fc08.deviantart.net/fs46/f/2009/215/6/c/I_am_a_good_person_by_PaMikoo.jpg

Empowering Education - Ira Shor

“In classrooms where participation is meager, the low performance of students is routinely misjudged as low achievement. Bur the actual cognitive levels of students are hard to measure in teacher-centered class-room where students participate minimally. An accurate picture of what students know and can do is possible only when students really want to perform at their best.”

I really liked this quote because I agree with it. There were some kids in my old high school that very rarely participated. Yet when it came down to it they were some of the smartest kids in our class. They either didn’t have the energy or feel the need to participate or they were just always 5 steps ahead of the class so what was taught at the time was boring for them. So in many cases participation does not reflect the knowledge of the student.

“The students in that media class learned subject matter through student-centered problem-posing in a critical dialogue, not through my lecturing them in a banking fashion.”

I think this way of teaching is a more hands on approach. I know that I work better as a student when I am discovering things on my own. When it comes to a lecture I do learn but it is more difficult for me to remember the facts. It is easier for me to really gain knowledge when I am working towards answering my own question with some help from the professor. I find that I don’t memorize facts when I learn that way, I know the facts.

“Situated, multicultural pedagogy increases the chance that students will feel ownership in their education and reduces the conditions that produce their alienation.”

I think that when it comes to learning a student that feels alienated will not be able to go far or achieve much. There is more of this sense of work rather than enjoyment. On the other hand a student that is strongly involved works hard and is actually finding an interest and immersing themselves in the education world. It feels more as if they are doing it for them.

Dolphin's Tale - An upcoming movie that is based on a true tale

This is an upcoming movie that tells the true story of a dolphin without a tail. I found this interesting since we speak about how to survive in a human society but when it comes to able-bodiness it is even tougher for animals. This is where survival of the fittest comes in. In order for an animal to thrive in it's society it must be fit and be able to survive the elements. I just found this video to be very interesting since were talking about the effects of able-bodiness.

Schooling Children with Down Syndrome-Christopher Kliewer

The writer quotes Judith Snow, “[Community] requires a willingness to see people as they are-different perhaps in their minds and in their bodies, but not different in their spirits or in their willingness and ability to contribute to the mosaic of society.”

I really liked this quote and for me it really summed up what community should be about. People should be willing to listen to others and appearance or even uncontrollable mindset should not impact the ability of others to speak out. Who allows us to make the choices for others? This also reflects what happens in schools. Who gives us the right to tell someone right off that they are not good enough for this class? Shouldn’t all children be given the opportunity to branch out and shine? I think that this relates back to the idea of detracting. We should allow students to discover their own pace and their own place within the school. As many of the kids said there are a various types of smarts that students can have. Appearance or mindset should not affect a child’s ability to discover themselves within their school.

The author quotes Shayne of saying “So what, if you don’t fit exactly what you’re supposed to? You know, it’s not like I fit many people’s idea of what a teacher’s supposed to be like.”

I totally agree with this quote and the community aspect that was discussed before hand. Although there is this mold of the perfect student and perfect child it rarely gets filled, if ever. No one is perfect and no one is the ideal. By allowing the children to work as a group to put on the production she was allowing them an opportunity to shine. Their strengths were shown. And they also developed this sense of community. I think that bringing out a project that all the students need to work on together allows children to form new relationships. They start to see that their peers are not what they seem to be. That everyone has strengths.

“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.”

Every student is important to the classroom. And each student brings forth certain strengths making them an essential member of the classroom. I think that children should be allowed to express interest and broaden their interests within the classroom. But this depends on the teacher. Each teacher should show respect for each child. A teacher who singles a child out presents an opportunity for the students to do the same.

From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work -Jean Anyon

“The four fifth grade teachers observed in the working-class schools attempted to control classroom time and space by making decisions without consulting the children and without explaining the basis for their decisions.”

Overall this sums up what was found in the working class schools. The children were always following a step to step procedure. They were not expected to be conceptual about what they were learning. The teachers weren’t looking for them to learn but rather to memorize these steps and follow the constant rules expected of them. I feel that this type of schooling is very constricted and doesn’t allow the children to branch out and fully enjoy and understand what it is that they are learning. It was not expected of them at all the teachers were not allowing their children to fully develop the learning skills taught to them.

“As one child said, what you do is "store facts up in your head like cold storage - until you need it later for a test or your job."”

I really like this quote because it sounds exactly like what my friends and I used to say all the time. I went to a middle class school so when reading this section I saw a lot of similarities that I could relate to. I even see it in the elementary school I volunteer at this semester. There is a lot of child participation and a child is expected to be able to explain what they have done and how they did it. There is the conceptual learning involved. Yet in the end it is the accumulation of children working towards a grade. I personally did not expect to use any of the knowledge that I had learned. Many times I would skip over something I loved in order to write about something that would give me the good grade.

“The foregoing analysis of differences in schoolwork in contrasting social class contexts suggests the following conclusion: the "hidden curriculum" of schoolwork is tacit preparation for relating to the process of production in a particular way.”

This quote is basically saying that the way education is taught to a child and the way the school system operates relates to the social class that they are teaching. Children are taught in the way that they will later live their lives. The way that they are taught relates to what they will face and will be expected to be like in later years. Whether they need to be very inferring or whether they need to be able to follow the basic steps perfectly without any questioning or full understanding. Like the other says later on there should be a completely wide research on all schools. Maybe they don’t all operate like this. There might be some slight variation.

Talking point

Teaching Boys and Girls Seperately
By Elizabeth Weil

"...Japanese researchers who found girls’ drawings typically depict still lifes of people, pets or flowers, using 10 or more crayons, favoring warm colors like red, green, beige and brown; boys, on the other hand, draw action, using 6 or fewer colors, mostly cool hues like gray, blue, silver and black. This apparent difference, which Sax argues is hard-wired, causes teachers to praise girls’ artwork and make boys feel that they’re drawing incorrectly."
I see this a lot when I work with children. Most girls tend to draw visual and real things. They use as many colors as they can to portray a flower or a butterfly. Many girls like to draw what we deem to be "girly things". The boys usually use darker colors such as black, blue or red. And they will draw action heroes and many action scenes. Most boys with the influence of video games wi draw comic books or action scenes with some small form of dialogue. Many boys will not draw anything colorful unless they are asked to. Boys and girls have a different imagination and creative energy. 

"Separating schoolboys from schoolgirls has long been a staple of private and parochial education. But the idea is now gaining traction in American public schools, in response to both the desire of parents to have more choice in their children’s public education and the separate education crises girls and boys have been widely reported to experience. The girls’ crisis was cited in the 1990s, when the American Association of University Women published “Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America,” which described how girls’ self-esteem plummets during puberty and how girls are subtly discouraged from careers in math and science. More recently, in what Sara Mead, an education expert at the New America Foundation, calls a “man bites dog” sensation, public and parental concerns have shifted to boys. Boys are currently behind their sisters in high-school and college graduation rates. School, the boy-crisis argument goes, is shaped by females to match the abilities of girls (or, as Sax puts it, is taught “by soft-spoken women who bore” boys)."
In my town and the surrounding towns the only schools that have a separation between boys and girls are the private schools. I think that today there is still division between boys and girls. Although most of it can be seen as stereotypical it is there. In fact in RIC's own honors program there is more girls than boys. My honors history class has only four boys while the rest of us are all girls. I think that this is enforced by expectations. Girls are expected to be school orientated while boys are geared my to sports and hands on activities. 

"Wylie says she believes she is a better teacher, and her students are better students, because they’re in a desexualized — or at least less-sexualized — environment. “Sure,” she says, “when they take pictures, they often present their backsides first. But I think I’m giving girls a better education than I could have if there were guys in the room. I’m freer. I’m more able to be bold in my statements. When I teach poetry and I talk about the sex in poetry I don’t need to be worried about the boy in the room who is going to chuckle over the thing he did with the girl last week and embarrass her. Which happened more than once in my last coed environment.”
I understand the when kids are separated by sex in classrooms there is a more comfortable air. The student is more at ease and finds comforts within his or her peers. But there are still advantages to being in a coed environment. I mean must of us turned out alright, right?

Talking Post --- Wise

 A Particularly Cheap White Whine:

Racism, Scholarships and the Manufacturing of White Victimhood

By Tim Wise

“Fact is, there are plenty of scholarships that have nothing to do with merit per se, but about which conservatives say nothing: scholarships for people who are left-handed, or kids whose parents sell Tupperware, or the children of horse- breeders, or descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, among many thousands of such awards (3). Apparently, it's OK to ensure opportunity for members of these groups, despite the fact that none of them have faced systemic oppression before, but it's the height of immorality to do the same for students of color, who have indeed faced explicitly racial obstacles in their lives.”

This quote reinforces what is being said. In the end it is so true. Why is there such controversy with scholarships that are orientated to those of a different race that need the money? While there are no controversies for those scholarships that deal with having a certain eye color or who write with a certain a hand. So can we argue that there aren’t unfair advantages being played out here.

“As for racism, it is typically defined in two ways, both as ideology and practice. In terms of ideology, racism is the belief in the inherent superiority/inferiority of one race to another, while institutionally it refers to policies, practices or procedures that have the effect of perpetuating systemic inequalities between the races, and which deny persons of a particular race equal opportunity with those of other races.”

This quote wraps up most of the idea that is being presented. Racism is both and ideology and a practice. It is this idea/thought that is represented through the practice of the people. So, in reflection to the quote above aren’t these scholarships just providing an even ground for everyone. It is presenting a balance and equality.

“…it will mean that even highly capable students will be locked out of opportunities, due solely to the disadvantages they have inherited due to racism…”

Having everything be based on SAT scores and the like makes it so there isn’t a variety within the school. It also diminishes the chance that students will be able to succeed. There are many students who are intelligent but when it comes to tests they get nervous and end up flailing. So in the end their SAT scores do not reflect them at all.

Front Of The Class - A True Story of a Man With Tourette Syndrome That Became a Teacher

Talking Point

In the Service of What?

The Politics of Service Learning

By Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

“In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promote students' self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences—all goals of current curriculum reform efforts.”

I agree with this quote. I think that service learning or even community service is beneficial for a student. But I believe that it works better when the student chooses what organization they will be helping. In this way they become more involved and will enjoy what they will be working to achieve.

“The distance between the one caring and the one cared for diminishes. Unfortunately, in many service activities, students view those they serve as clients rather than as a resource.”

I really liked this quote. No matter how hard we try to make a difference it is more beneficial when the one who is giving and caring interacts with those he or she is helping. This reminds me of that new show “Secret Millionaire.” That airs on ABC Sunday nights. The millionaires actually immerse themselves in towns that need help and interact with the citizens that live there. Later on they offer them money.

"In the service of what?" is a question that inevitably merits the attention of teachers, policy makers, and academicians who take seriously the idea that learning and service reinforce each other and should come together in America's schools.”

Again I agree with this quote. In order for there to be an accomplishment of any kind then there needs to be a gathering of minds. Many things cannot be achieved if everyone is fighting their own battles and fighting for what they believe is right. But when people collaborate and reach a unified decision it is easier to fight for it with many people on the same side.

I found this article to be straightforward. I agreed with a lot of what was said and I could relate to some of it. Especially since we are doing service learning now and I completed a project dealing with service learning during my sophomore year in high school.

Talking Point 4

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us
By Linda Christensen

1. The author quotes Dorfman who wrote, "Although these stories are supposed to merely entertain us, they constantly give us a secret education...we are also taught how to succeed, how to love..." (128). This quote really struck me. As a child and even now my life has been surrounded by books and movies, as well as TV shows. To this day I still watch Disney and Pixar movies. I can agree with this statement that these movies are a form of "secret education." Children, as well as my younger self, grow up with the notion of true love and true love's first kiss. We strongly believe that when it comes to life and romance there will always be a happy ending. When it comes to the real world is this notion really possible?
2. When discussing Popeye the author writes, "that depicts all Arabs with the same face, same turban, same body-and they are all thieves swinging enormous swords" (130). I have actually seen this scene in Popeye when I was younger. But this is not only found in Popeye. It can also be seen in Peter Pan with the portrayal of Tiger Lilly and her family. These portrayals can easily be dismissed by children that are white but those of other ethnicities are not so privileged.
3. I really liked this quote, "...Both of these tales leave young women with two myths: Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption-in their case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle" (133). Here is the image of women in these movies and their affect on children. In many of the well known fairytales there is a portrayal of the "damsel in distress" and a rescue by "prince charming". The women are seen as weak and unable to defend for themselves. On the other hand the men are seen as strong and invincible, they are the heroes. 
This writing to me was one of the best ones yet. I know that I will continue to watch Disney and Pixar movies. Yet I already find myself trying to analyze the shows and movies that I loved as a child.

ABCs Castle Recent Episode Controversy

here is the link to the article http://stkarnick.com/culture/2011/03/01/castle-episode-misunderstood-as-bigoted/

Talking Point 3

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community

Dennis Carlson

 “…I not only want to point to some of the ways gay people and “gayness” has been “kept in their place” in the school community…”

This quote reminds me a lot of my senior year at my high school. Many of my fellow students were coming out and confirming that they were gay. Even though most of us were excepting of these facts there was still unspoken boundaries. Such as gay couples were less likely to kiss or show affection in public because this was still an uncomfortable sight for the rest of us. Then when it came to our school “dress up” week, the school would not allow us to dress up as those of the opposite sex. As the year progressed there were these new unspoken and unseen rules that had to be followed.

“Popular culture may represent identity, but identity also is represented in corporeal form, as individuals actively “live” their identities and makes these identities visible in their everyday relations with others.”  

A person’s identity is expressed through the way that they live their lives and react to certain situations. I think that the hardest obstacle for any homosexual is “coming out”. Some of my closest friends are gay or lesbians and they have told me that the most difficult thing for them to do was to reveal their sexuality. But sometimes society isn’t the hardest to reveal too. At my old high school there was a majority of us who just took it in stride and accepted others easily or in an un-harmful way kept their judgments to themselves. The hardest people to reveal themselves to were mostly their parents and immediate family.

Alright I don’t have a quote for this but I just want to speak about it. At my old school we were fortunate to have a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) club. At first the club started off with very few people but then it quickly expanded. The teacher who led the group was gay himself and that just seemed to help the group even more. Now, I’m not sure whether the group has continued or if has ended. Last year they started it up again without much support from the school. I think that it easier for teens and kids to accept others who are homosexuals but adults tend to have a harder time.

Talking Point #2

Meier, "Why Can't She Remember That?"

Sam

Feb 18 2011 

Quotes:

1.     “…Lindsey tried again to enlist her mother’s assistance, this time by adopting the language and intonation patters of the book…”  (243). They way that Lindsey achieved what she wanted by referring to entertainment, in this case a book that she had read, reminded me a lot of the antics that I would do as a child. Whenever I wanted my dad to repeat something for me or do something for me I would firmly exclaim, “Do it again, do it again.” Referring to a scene in the movie The Lion King, my dad would promptly laugh and do as I wanted.

2.     “…It was not surprising that Colette started to develop other favorites among the books her teacher and I read. All of her favorites had “brown people” in them” (247). This quote brought me back to the previous reading by McIntosh. McIntosh wrote out a list with all the privileges that many whites don’t realize that they have. When I read this quote I came to the sudden realization that many of the fairy tales and books that I read as a child were all centered on white people and white culture. I rarely ever read a book that contained someone of a different color. Could this have been a personal preference of mine or the unknown reinforcement that society enforces?

3.     “…Characters who reappear in a series present particularly rich possibilities for children to form a strong attachment to text” (249). Here is a quote that I know everyone can relate to. As a child there is always that one character that we become “best friends” with. Mine, was Clifford and Curious George.     

Questions/Comments/Points to Share:

Just last year, as a senior, I helped out at my school’s playschool. Working there with the kids I can now notice some of the events that Meier mentions in the reading stated above. The children reacted to story time in many different ways. Some of them called out answers and spoke to those sitting beside them. And there were others who sat quietly and didn’t speak much. Most of the children could not sit still but were still in their own way captivated with the story. I still see a lot of these various differences between children at my work place.

Talking Point #1

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

By: Peggy McIntosh                                                                                                                                        Sam Medeiros

Quotes:

1.       “As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege which puts me at an advantage”  (1).  I can really relate to this quote especially since it is the same way that I was taught about racism. I was always told that others were at a disadvantage but even though we should help them most of us don’t want or don’t even think about losing some of what we have in order to help others.  We completely avoided the topic of how we are more privileged then others.

2.        “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented” (2). Just the other day when my friends and I were going home we talked about this point that McIntosh brings up. We started to discuss how Disney Channel’s actors are not wide ranged when it comes to race. Off the top of our heads we could name less than a handful of African Americans that we knew are actors on that particular channel. Unless it is brought forth we don’t really notice that most channels do not broadcast a wide range of races.

3.       “(But) a “white” skin in the United States opens many doors for whites whether or not we approve of the way dominance has been conferred on us. Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end, these problems” (3). This statement brings the answer to what many of us are searching for. Although most of us believe that all of this can be fixed by us coming forth and helping it isn’t enough. It will not all go away at the wave of a wand. No it is going to take a lot more work than just that.

Questions/Comments/Points to Share

This article really answered a lot of what we have been discussing in class. Whites don’t realize that we are given so many privileges and advantages just because of the color of our skin. And most of us think that we can level the playing field by removing offense language in books or by performing small acts of kindness but that won’t work. There is so much that we have to do and everyone needs to come to terms that in order to win this fight many of us are going to lose some of our advantages and common privileges in order for others to gain what the rightfully deserve.

Hello My Name Is...

Hi, my name is Sam.
I am a freshmen now starting my second semester. Lets see, what to say? I am of Portuguese descent and speak the language at home, a lot. So far this semester has been going well. Luckily I have friends in my classes or have made new friends. At first I can be kind of shy but once I really know someone I become really open. I never stop talking and am always fooling around. I spend a lot of my free time either working, at home or just hanging out with my friends. Right now I work at the elementary schools in Bristol with their COZ program. In simple terms it is almost like daycare before and after school. At home, I am always fooling around and playing pranks on my family members and friends. We usually all try to spend a lot of time together whether watching tv, playing video games, watching movies or playing board games. Sometimes we all just sit around and read for a couple of hours. We also spend our Sundays supporting my brother's soccer team. He normally plays defense and although he is small he is never afraid of the taller kids. Whenever I can I like to spend time with my friends. A group of us still get together and have sleepovers whenever we can. I have been going to more sleepovers now then I ever did in elementary and middle school. I have three pets; a bird, a cat and a dog. And yes, it is as hectic as it sounds. Yet, my cat is the one who rules the household. She is very possesive and all my friends are afraid of her. Even my 6 foot tall uncle. My dog is a cuddler and tends to be my blanket most nights. The bird is very quiet at times but loves to sing. I think that pretty much wraps it up. Thanks for reading!!

Until next time, Sam