Class Room Activity
On Thursday in class we did an activity that i had never done before and thought that it was really interesting. There was a problem put up on the overhead and we had to decide where we stood on the issue. It was very interesting to see what people thought and was right or wrong. The first example that was up was having a class do a project that they made headbands and pilgrim suites out of paper. I don't personally see how this is bad or offensive at all because most likely in the class they aren't going into great depth about the pilgrims and indians. They are simply dressing up as the people would have and had a meal together. Thanksgiving was a peaceful event and that's what the class was doing.
The activity was just a cool thing for us to do to see where we stand on things. Also it gives us insight to what can come up in our future. People seem to have issues with everything in the world so we just need to know how to handle it. In many cases it was just one person that has a problem with a lesson plan in a few years but you still have to do something to change it because of that person. So you always have to be careful in what you teach so can cater to everyones needs.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Critical Teaching for Social Change
Reflection:
This is a very long piece that we had to read this week but it goes along with a lot of what we have already been talking about in how the classroom is set up and how it needs to be set up. The piece talks about what is happening in the classrooms and what should be changed so that more is taken away from our schooling experience. We are told to go to school for a young age with everyone on the same curriculum that is written be a group of people the don't know any of the students that are in the classes. Also what is being taught very rarely changes and that isn't fair because each group of students that comes into school is different and has their own dreams. In the article is says that there needs to be an agenda of values taught to the students also. It says that we should teach in each of these areas...
Participatory • Affective • Problem-posing • Situated • Multicultural • Democratic • Researching • Interdisciplinary • Activists. The article then goes into each of them in great depth so i am not going to explain what each one is and give a whole background on each.
This is a very long piece that we had to read this week but it goes along with a lot of what we have already been talking about in how the classroom is set up and how it needs to be set up. The piece talks about what is happening in the classrooms and what should be changed so that more is taken away from our schooling experience. We are told to go to school for a young age with everyone on the same curriculum that is written be a group of people the don't know any of the students that are in the classes. Also what is being taught very rarely changes and that isn't fair because each group of students that comes into school is different and has their own dreams. In the article is says that there needs to be an agenda of values taught to the students also. It says that we should teach in each of these areas...
Participatory • Affective • Problem-posing • Situated • Multicultural • Democratic • Researching • Interdisciplinary • Activists. The article then goes into each of them in great depth so i am not going to explain what each one is and give a whole background on each.
One of the most important ones it seemed like was the participation aspect. Children need to be participating in a positive way that they enjoy so they will get the most out of the class. If they are simply told that they have to participate and have nothing to say or don't know what to say then they aren't going to take much out of the lesson. The article says that you need action to gain knowledge and you can start right away with participation on the very first day of school. There are many websites that can help you with techniques of how to get students to participate so he is just one link that is geared towards a mass class.
As a future teacher i am going to have to use the techniques and strategies that are in this article. I am also going to have to let kids discover and think on their own and not just them what we are doing and this is the only right way to do it. Students need to explore with information to find the best way to do things and not always be told how to do everything. Teaching is starting to become harder and harder with everything that is changing in our world so we just need to be ready to deal with every situation that comes our way and not get stuck and just say "uuhg" and look like a fool. We need to have answers already in the chamber like Dr. Bogad told us early on in the semester and i know it helped me when a boy said that Justin Beber was gay. I already knew to say ooh really whats that mean.
In class i would like to talk about strategies to use in the classroom and see what has worked for everybody and what hasn't.
Happy Easter!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Social Justice Piece
Let me first start off with saying that if you didn't attend this event then you really missed out!
The first thing that i am going to talk about is the S.C.W.A.M.P. that we did earlier this year in class. S.C.W.A.M.P. was created by Leslie Grinner (the guest speaker) and she went into great detail with it and how it got it's name because she wanted it to be something that was easy to say opposed to something awkward so she came up with the S.C.W.A.M.P. She said that these six things are huge in our culture and then broke them down using the movie Twilight. The letters stand for straightness, christianity, whiteness, able bodied, man, and property holding. All of these things can be related back to the readings that we have done throughout the year.
Johnson is the first author that i am going to connect to the lecture. Johnson goes directly with all the aspects of S.C.W.A.M.P in how if you have all these things you are considered privileged. Back in older times you actually needed to have all of these things to be able to vote. Nowadays you don't and it makes things much more fair. Johnson says that we need to talk about power and difference which Grinner did with the scwamp exercise.
The next person that i am going to relate is McIntosh. McIntosh is all about how whiteness is an invisible privilege. This whiteness is also apart of the scwamp and Grinner went into specific details about this. When she is relating it to the movie she talks about how all the head vampires are white and there is only one vampire in the movie that is not white. Also with the Cullen family they are a white family and therefore have a ton of money and a really nice house. Also because they are white it is overlooked that their children although adopted are in relationships together. Because they are white people don't make a big deal about it. Also Grinner said something about how every man no matter what race wanted to be with the whitest person in the movie Bella.
Then lastly and sorry to be like Emily but i am going to relate Christensen. She is about the media and how to interpret social stereotypes. Since the lecture was about a movie it works because it is the media in how it shows some people being better than others. It also teaches many lessons such as violence is ok because in one instance that Grinner was talking about she was talking about how a ware wolf got mad at his wife and hit her in the face. She was left with terrible scars but basically said that it was fine and didn't do anything about it. This promotes that violence is ok and if your husband hits you it doesn't matter and you just have to live with it.
Now i am going to connect the scwamp to outside sources.
The media plays a huge role in this by showing kids what is right and what is wrong. It shows that men are in power by having all men be the head vampires. All the characters are in relationships so it says you have to be dating someone. It also has all the characters being in really good shape. aka muscular so thats why all girls like to watch the movie and want a muscular guy because it is always in the media. Also there are characters in this movie that are religious and you can see people everywhere wearing crosses such as Snookie from Jersey shore. You also see the Cullen family has a huge home and nice things so money and property play a huge role in the movie and media. Many people also find this movie controversial because it is at time just about the guys in it and not the supposedly main character Bella.
Nextly i am going to relate sports to the SCWAMP in how men normally have an easier. SCWAMP is easy to relate because a few years ago a basketball player came out as gay and it was a huge deal and it made players very uncomfortable. Straightness is very valued in sports. One thing that is different is whiteness is not valued at all which is a good thing. As we try to get rid of this SCWAMP being the right thing sports is starting to do this. If you are good enough you play. All of these athletes are freakish athletes which means they are able bodied.
Then Lastly i am going to relate jobs. It is just easier to get a job as a man. It is also a proven fact that they get paid more money. When you see high powered positions in the workplace for the most part they are men. Also when you hear about the richest people in the world most of them are men. Although it is not fair men do have it easier when it comes to getting and keeping a job.
The first thing that i am going to talk about is the S.C.W.A.M.P. that we did earlier this year in class. S.C.W.A.M.P. was created by Leslie Grinner (the guest speaker) and she went into great detail with it and how it got it's name because she wanted it to be something that was easy to say opposed to something awkward so she came up with the S.C.W.A.M.P. She said that these six things are huge in our culture and then broke them down using the movie Twilight. The letters stand for straightness, christianity, whiteness, able bodied, man, and property holding. All of these things can be related back to the readings that we have done throughout the year.
Johnson is the first author that i am going to connect to the lecture. Johnson goes directly with all the aspects of S.C.W.A.M.P in how if you have all these things you are considered privileged. Back in older times you actually needed to have all of these things to be able to vote. Nowadays you don't and it makes things much more fair. Johnson says that we need to talk about power and difference which Grinner did with the scwamp exercise.
The next person that i am going to relate is McIntosh. McIntosh is all about how whiteness is an invisible privilege. This whiteness is also apart of the scwamp and Grinner went into specific details about this. When she is relating it to the movie she talks about how all the head vampires are white and there is only one vampire in the movie that is not white. Also with the Cullen family they are a white family and therefore have a ton of money and a really nice house. Also because they are white it is overlooked that their children although adopted are in relationships together. Because they are white people don't make a big deal about it. Also Grinner said something about how every man no matter what race wanted to be with the whitest person in the movie Bella.
Then lastly and sorry to be like Emily but i am going to relate Christensen. She is about the media and how to interpret social stereotypes. Since the lecture was about a movie it works because it is the media in how it shows some people being better than others. It also teaches many lessons such as violence is ok because in one instance that Grinner was talking about she was talking about how a ware wolf got mad at his wife and hit her in the face. She was left with terrible scars but basically said that it was fine and didn't do anything about it. This promotes that violence is ok and if your husband hits you it doesn't matter and you just have to live with it.
Now i am going to connect the scwamp to outside sources.
Nextly i am going to relate sports to the SCWAMP in how men normally have an easier. SCWAMP is easy to relate because a few years ago a basketball player came out as gay and it was a huge deal and it made players very uncomfortable. Straightness is very valued in sports. One thing that is different is whiteness is not valued at all which is a good thing. As we try to get rid of this SCWAMP being the right thing sports is starting to do this. If you are good enough you play. All of these athletes are freakish athletes which means they are able bodied.
Then Lastly i am going to relate jobs. It is just easier to get a job as a man. It is also a proven fact that they get paid more money. When you see high powered positions in the workplace for the most part they are men. Also when you hear about the richest people in the world most of them are men. Although it is not fair men do have it easier when it comes to getting and keeping a job.
RANDOM BLOG
So i haven't really seen many of the "random blogs" so im not totally sure what im supposed to have in them so here goes...Kinda getting stressed out with all the work due. Not only for this class but every class with every teacher assigning papers and projects due in the last week of school. I just read and saw that we need two misc. blogs when i thought it was only one so im going to have to do another one on top of the normal blog and the social justice one that is worth ten percent of my grade so that's going to have to be a really good blog. So right now im just trying to relax and just do a little bit of work at a time especially since tomorrow is easter and im going to have like no time to do my work then so that means one less day to get everything done. Also we have our group projects that i think are very stressful because we only have two weeks till there due and i know most groups havent started them as of thursday.
Basically just have to just keep trudging and get everything done and just listen to a little bit of music to keep going.
Basically just have to just keep trudging and get everything done and just listen to a little bit of music to keep going.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Quotes:
As soon as i started to read this article i immediately found quotes that had a lot of significance.
As soon as i started to read this article i immediately found quotes that had a lot of significance.
"I started to notice that I didn't like the classes I was taking called special education.! had to go through special ed. almost all my life. I wanted to take other classes that interested me. I had never felt so mad, 1wanted to cry. (Peterson, 1994, p. 6)"
When i rad this quote it meant a lot to me. My mom is a Special Education teacher so over the years i have spent a lot of time in her classroom with these kids. When i go to my mom's classroom the children are a lot younger so i don't see many of these issues coming up. This quote is saying how the student is forced to take "special ed" classes which makes her feel badly about her self and she feels like it is unfair because she wants to take "normal" classes. Being around a lot of students with down syndrome and numerous other disabilities i really feel for this student. They should be allowed to take other classes that interest them so they feel like they want to go to school and be normal like the other students because they aren't on a specific curriculum. I believe that they should take special classes but they also should be allowed to take electives just like everyone else because they are normal, they just have a disability.
"Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full, rich life. The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about people with develop mental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disabilities. (Kingsley, 1996, p. 6)"
This next quote is directly under the first one. Basically everything i said about the first one is what this one is talking about. The person who said this wan't things to get fair for people with disabilities. The thing that i liked the most in this one was that it said that we need to erase the negative attitudes towards people with disabilities. I know that there are people in the world that will never change their views but the image needs to be changed. People with disabilities can be very smart and just need to be given a chance and not be written off as soon as you see them. The quote is very meaningful and once people read it they should no longer pass judgement on someone who is different and actually get the time to know them and realize that they aren't that different from themselves.
"It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here-kids, teachers, parents, whoever-it's about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that's what learning is."
This quote is great, it was said by someone who doesn't have a disability. Is is taking on the perspective of a person with a disability and is saying how they don't want people to think of them as different or already have the idea that they are different before they even talk to them. It is also saying that basically we are all people and we are all different but should be treated the same. They also shouldn't be separated on the sheer fact that the person has a disability. They should be given a chance to show off how smart they actually are and if they are able to succeed ina classroom then they should be left there. later on in the article there is a boy who is in a normal classroom that has a disability and if you didn't already know he had a disability you wouldnt be able to tell. Basically the quote is saying that everyone deserves a chance.
Class Talking Points: Do you just pass someone off because they have a disability or do you take the time to get to know them. Also does anyone spend any time or have any experience with people with disabilities?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Literacy With an ATTITUDE
For this weeks blog I just wanted to do a reflection and talk about what was in the pieces that we were supposed to read. First off i really like what was in the preface of Finn's Literacy with Attitude. I thought that this was a very powerful piece and and really goes along with a lot of what Delpit says with the culture of power. One thing that i found in the preface that looks exactly like what Delpit would say is this, "The status quo is the status quo because people who have the power to make changes are comfortable with the way things are. It takes energy to make changes, and the energy must come from the people who will benefit from the change." This quote sounds exactly like something Delpit would say because she is big with the culture of power in how the people who are reaping all the benefits don't want to do anything to change these things. Then the people who need change don't have any of the resources to do so.
Another thing that caught my attention was right at the beginning of chapter one. This was when he was talking about naming his book and he started to talk about Jonathan Kozol. I thought that this was interesting because in class we have talked about him a lot in class. This particular piece was talking about his book Savage Inequalities and how it is unfair how different races are being taught differently. This is something that Johnson has said a few things about in how we need to educate everyone equally. Finn and Johnson are on the same page with this and Finn actually uses these things in his own classroom where he treats everyone the same and tells them specific directions. This is something that really needs to be done to help create a better balance in our world today where people are on the same level as each other.
When going back and re reading my blog i realize that it is more of a connections piece than i originally thought it was going to be. In class i want to discuss how there are so may people that can be connected to this piece. I would also like to talk about education and how it needs to be equally distributed to everyone and have it be equal. If schooling was equal for everyone then our world could be much different than it is today.
Another thing that caught my attention was right at the beginning of chapter one. This was when he was talking about naming his book and he started to talk about Jonathan Kozol. I thought that this was interesting because in class we have talked about him a lot in class. This particular piece was talking about his book Savage Inequalities and how it is unfair how different races are being taught differently. This is something that Johnson has said a few things about in how we need to educate everyone equally. Finn and Johnson are on the same page with this and Finn actually uses these things in his own classroom where he treats everyone the same and tells them specific directions. This is something that really needs to be done to help create a better balance in our world today where people are on the same level as each other.
When going back and re reading my blog i realize that it is more of a connections piece than i originally thought it was going to be. In class i want to discuss how there are so may people that can be connected to this piece. I would also like to talk about education and how it needs to be equally distributed to everyone and have it be equal. If schooling was equal for everyone then our world could be much different than it is today.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Title Nine in Sports
This weeks blog is something that i personally know a lot about because i wrote my research paper about it in highschool. Title 9 is something that tries to take the restriction off who can and can't play a particular sport. Title 9 says "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid." This is a change that i believe was made for the better in sports.
This website tells you everything that you need to know about title nine and how it has affected people. Although i believe that it was made for the better and has helped many girls be allowed to play in quote unquote mens sports i haven't personally seen it help any male athletes play in quote unquote female sports. For example a boy in my highschool was a tremendous volley ball player and we didn't have a mens volley ball team at our school but there was a girls team. Because of title 9 the boy should have been able to play on the team because there wasn't a mens team but the school wouldn't just let him. If he wanted to play then he would have to jump through a million hoops first and then if he did all that he would only be allowed to play in the back row and was never allowed to approach the net. I could see why they wouldn't want him to approach the net because people could say he could jump higher or hit harder than any of the girls and that wasn't faire but by not allowing him to do this he wasn't able to play to his full potential.
Another experience i have with this issue is when a girl at my highschool was allowed to play football. All she had to do was say she wanted to play and she was on the team because of title nine. There were no restrictions put on her where she could and couldn't play. She ended up playing middle linebacker on the freshman team and at times she would be the full back. I personally believe that this was a great thing just letting her play but at the same time it was a little bit one sided just letting the female athlete play her sports when the male athlete had to jump through so many hoops just to play the back row so he never played.
Something that i also notice is that everything that you see about title nine says women's sports. if you type title nine in sports into google this come up under videos. Every video there is about women where Title 9 clearly states that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex"be discriminated upon in sports. This should mean men too and there should be more about this information on the internet than just the womans information. I do know that it has affected much more women then men but still there needs to be information on both sides.
A couple video that i found aren't from you tube so i cant post the actual video but here in the link for the first video. it is about how schools are going to have to do more to show that they are complying in title nine. The only issue is that the video mainly talks about woman but clearly says both sex at a few points. Then my favorite video is this one.
it talks about both mens and womens sports being equal.
During class i just want to touch upon how great title nine is but also how it isn't truly fair for both men and women. It seems like men's sports are always being cut to add more women's sports so the schools dont get in trouble. One great example of the is at PC where the men's division 1 baseball team was gotten rid of to make a women's hockey team. Although they are a good team just because they needed another women's sports the just totally got rid of a good men's program.
This website tells you everything that you need to know about title nine and how it has affected people. Although i believe that it was made for the better and has helped many girls be allowed to play in quote unquote mens sports i haven't personally seen it help any male athletes play in quote unquote female sports. For example a boy in my highschool was a tremendous volley ball player and we didn't have a mens volley ball team at our school but there was a girls team. Because of title 9 the boy should have been able to play on the team because there wasn't a mens team but the school wouldn't just let him. If he wanted to play then he would have to jump through a million hoops first and then if he did all that he would only be allowed to play in the back row and was never allowed to approach the net. I could see why they wouldn't want him to approach the net because people could say he could jump higher or hit harder than any of the girls and that wasn't faire but by not allowing him to do this he wasn't able to play to his full potential.
Another experience i have with this issue is when a girl at my highschool was allowed to play football. All she had to do was say she wanted to play and she was on the team because of title nine. There were no restrictions put on her where she could and couldn't play. She ended up playing middle linebacker on the freshman team and at times she would be the full back. I personally believe that this was a great thing just letting her play but at the same time it was a little bit one sided just letting the female athlete play her sports when the male athlete had to jump through so many hoops just to play the back row so he never played.
Something that i also notice is that everything that you see about title nine says women's sports. if you type title nine in sports into google this come up under videos. Every video there is about women where Title 9 clearly states that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex"be discriminated upon in sports. This should mean men too and there should be more about this information on the internet than just the womans information. I do know that it has affected much more women then men but still there needs to be information on both sides.
A couple video that i found aren't from you tube so i cant post the actual video but here in the link for the first video. it is about how schools are going to have to do more to show that they are complying in title nine. The only issue is that the video mainly talks about woman but clearly says both sex at a few points. Then my favorite video is this one.
it talks about both mens and womens sports being equal.
During class i just want to touch upon how great title nine is but also how it isn't truly fair for both men and women. It seems like men's sports are always being cut to add more women's sports so the schools dont get in trouble. One great example of the is at PC where the men's division 1 baseball team was gotten rid of to make a women's hockey team. Although they are a good team just because they needed another women's sports the just totally got rid of a good men's program.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Video's, Articles, and Websites
This weeks blog is a little bit different from what we are used to doing. Instead of reading just one article we had to watch a few videos, look at a website, and then read an article. Then basically take the main points out of them and or connect them. The main thing that I took from these artifacts was that we still do not consider all people equal and we are scared to talk about and admit that this is true.
In the videos that we watched one of the main things that i took out of it was that we do not see all people as equals. The videos used two different examples that stuck with me. The first one was with President Obama and former President Bush. The video was saying that we give way to much credit to white people even if they are a "bafoon" (talking about bush). The first video also said that just because Bush was white and mediocre we were fine with him as president. Along the same lines with this it also says that McCain was also a candidate only because he is white. If he was a black man and we knew his background about how he crashed five planes we would never be talking about his as a presidential nominee.
Another great point that the video brought up was that we don't let people of color be mediocre and still get jobs. While the white man can go to a community college and have no experience in the field and still get the job over a person of color who is pretty good at the job and has experience with it. This shows that we don't consider all people to be equal and we give precedent to people in the culture of power even thought they aren't the best candidate for the job.
In the NY Times Article that we had to read it talked about how schools still are segregated even though they legally aren't anymore. The article says that school still are segregated because of where people live. If the child is living in a bad neighborhood like a lot of hispanic and black people do then they are forced to go to a bad school because that is what is in those bad areas. The article also said that when these kids were put into better schools they started to get better grades and became better students. It is sad to think that schools are still segregated and most people don't believe that they are but the truth is that schools are segregated simply by the fact of where people live. Another article that i found says that schools are more segregated today than they were in the 1950's. This article said almost the same things as the one we had to read for class with the main reason still being where families live depend on what school they go to and therefore still contribute to segregation.
Talking points for class: Did anyone think that schools were still segregated before you read the article? And whose fault is it that the schools are segregated?Personally i don't believe that the government is responsible for the segregation. I believe that the people are responsible because they are the ones living in the areas and not moving to different neighborhoods for better school systems. I also know that it may not be financially possible for these people to move but i do think it is possible for quite a few of them because i drive through providence everyday to school and see really nice cars in old houses driveways and think that they have enough money for $80,000 worth of cars but they are still living here.
In the videos that we watched one of the main things that i took out of it was that we do not see all people as equals. The videos used two different examples that stuck with me. The first one was with President Obama and former President Bush. The video was saying that we give way to much credit to white people even if they are a "bafoon" (talking about bush). The first video also said that just because Bush was white and mediocre we were fine with him as president. Along the same lines with this it also says that McCain was also a candidate only because he is white. If he was a black man and we knew his background about how he crashed five planes we would never be talking about his as a presidential nominee.
Another great point that the video brought up was that we don't let people of color be mediocre and still get jobs. While the white man can go to a community college and have no experience in the field and still get the job over a person of color who is pretty good at the job and has experience with it. This shows that we don't consider all people to be equal and we give precedent to people in the culture of power even thought they aren't the best candidate for the job.
In the NY Times Article that we had to read it talked about how schools still are segregated even though they legally aren't anymore. The article says that school still are segregated because of where people live. If the child is living in a bad neighborhood like a lot of hispanic and black people do then they are forced to go to a bad school because that is what is in those bad areas. The article also said that when these kids were put into better schools they started to get better grades and became better students. It is sad to think that schools are still segregated and most people don't believe that they are but the truth is that schools are segregated simply by the fact of where people live. Another article that i found says that schools are more segregated today than they were in the 1950's. This article said almost the same things as the one we had to read for class with the main reason still being where families live depend on what school they go to and therefore still contribute to segregation.
Talking points for class: Did anyone think that schools were still segregated before you read the article? And whose fault is it that the schools are segregated?Personally i don't believe that the government is responsible for the segregation. I believe that the people are responsible because they are the ones living in the areas and not moving to different neighborhoods for better school systems. I also know that it may not be financially possible for these people to move but i do think it is possible for quite a few of them because i drive through providence everyday to school and see really nice cars in old houses driveways and think that they have enough money for $80,000 worth of cars but they are still living here.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
In The Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning
Extended Comments:
Like Sarah, i am also using Amanda's Blog for my extended comments blog because i know a few people that have been apart of their churches youth group and have done similar things as Amanda's church. My best friend before his confirmation had to participate in the same thing as Amanda's church group and fast for twenty four hours and sleep on the floor at the church. They did this because the church wants the kids to know what it feels like to be homeless. Even though it is only for a short amount of time it still really makes you think about what these people go through every night. Another thing that my friends church did was go to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina occurred. They went down there for a week and helped rebuild the churches and worked in soup kitchens to feed the people that were impacted by this tragedy. I have a ton of respect for my friend and his family for going there and helping all those people because they really did make a difference.
Another thing in Amanda's Blog that i really liked was when she said, "Service learning, no matter what type, is beneficial for everyone". I really like that she said this and completely agree with her. No matter what you are doing to help out your community, it matters. You may feel like you are doing something so small and not even think it matters but it does. Some one out there is grateful for what you are doing no matter how big or small of a task it is.
Something that i do that i don't really consider service learning is coaching a basketball team. I don't really consider this community service because i have just as much if not more fun than the kids do. It is something that i really enjoy doing and i know that the kids and parents really appreciate it because they tell me and my parents how nice it is for me to help out coaching the team.
What kind of service learning does everyone think they are doing in their VIPS classrooms? And are there other service learning projects that you take apart in, and do you enjoy doing them or do you just do it because you were told to or had to. Also with the VIPS tutoring do you think that if you only had to go to the classroom three times would you still be going now? Do you enjoy going or do you just go because you have to?
Like Sarah, i am also using Amanda's Blog for my extended comments blog because i know a few people that have been apart of their churches youth group and have done similar things as Amanda's church. My best friend before his confirmation had to participate in the same thing as Amanda's church group and fast for twenty four hours and sleep on the floor at the church. They did this because the church wants the kids to know what it feels like to be homeless. Even though it is only for a short amount of time it still really makes you think about what these people go through every night. Another thing that my friends church did was go to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina occurred. They went down there for a week and helped rebuild the churches and worked in soup kitchens to feed the people that were impacted by this tragedy. I have a ton of respect for my friend and his family for going there and helping all those people because they really did make a difference.
Another thing in Amanda's Blog that i really liked was when she said, "Service learning, no matter what type, is beneficial for everyone". I really like that she said this and completely agree with her. No matter what you are doing to help out your community, it matters. You may feel like you are doing something so small and not even think it matters but it does. Some one out there is grateful for what you are doing no matter how big or small of a task it is.
Something that i do that i don't really consider service learning is coaching a basketball team. I don't really consider this community service because i have just as much if not more fun than the kids do. It is something that i really enjoy doing and i know that the kids and parents really appreciate it because they tell me and my parents how nice it is for me to help out coaching the team.
What kind of service learning does everyone think they are doing in their VIPS classrooms? And are there other service learning projects that you take apart in, and do you enjoy doing them or do you just do it because you were told to or had to. Also with the VIPS tutoring do you think that if you only had to go to the classroom three times would you still be going now? Do you enjoy going or do you just go because you have to?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us By: Linda Christensen
Connection:
This piece was very interesting to me in how it talked about things that i have never thought about before but have seen frequently. just like most kids in America today i grew up on watching Disney Movies and the Disney channel. I always saw that the rich man was in charge and the out of shape person of color was the servant but never really had a second thought about it. In this article it talks about how the white person was always the person in power and that really relates well to Lisa Delpit's culture of power that says the white man and white culture is dominant. This piece just shows how true that really was because in movies and shows the main characters are mostly white and always were in the past. This example is more subtle than many other examples but it is just another piece of the puzzle in why the culture of power exists. Another article that relates to this one was Peggy McIntosh's white privilege. In Christensen's piece the actors were all privileged because they were white and that must have played a role in getting the job. All three of the articles went really well together because in some way they all had to do with white people having an advantage over other ethnicities
This piece was very interesting to me in how it talked about things that i have never thought about before but have seen frequently. just like most kids in America today i grew up on watching Disney Movies and the Disney channel. I always saw that the rich man was in charge and the out of shape person of color was the servant but never really had a second thought about it. In this article it talks about how the white person was always the person in power and that really relates well to Lisa Delpit's culture of power that says the white man and white culture is dominant. This piece just shows how true that really was because in movies and shows the main characters are mostly white and always were in the past. This example is more subtle than many other examples but it is just another piece of the puzzle in why the culture of power exists. Another article that relates to this one was Peggy McIntosh's white privilege. In Christensen's piece the actors were all privileged because they were white and that must have played a role in getting the job. All three of the articles went really well together because in some way they all had to do with white people having an advantage over other ethnicities
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Pat Griffin, GLSEN Team Up to Launch Upcoming Sports Project
Hyperlinks:
I choose this article because it was about something that i care about, sports. Although there was a lot of information on the website most of it didn't interest me that much. The article that i read was about how schools were stating to make sure that the "physical education climate is based on the core principals of respect, safety and equal access for all students and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.(Daryl Presgraves)" When i went and tried to find more information on this subject it was very easy. One of the first things that I found was about a transgender athlete playing for the George Washington Women's basketball team. She was the first athlete to play Division 1 athletics as a transgender athlete. I feel like this relates because i also found another article about this athlete and how the school ended her season. The article said that she had suffered from numerous concussions and therefore her season would be over. It was also said in the article that the doctor did clear her to play but the school over ruled it saying that she wasn't fully recovered yet. The school wasn't aware of the athlete being transgender until her junior year and that's when her playing time started going down and when the school ended her season. Then going along with the article from GLSEN it shouldn't matter what is going on with the athlete. She should be treated equally and allowed to play if she was cleared to play be a medical doctor but the school trainer said to keep her out.
I choose this article because it was about something that i care about, sports. Although there was a lot of information on the website most of it didn't interest me that much. The article that i read was about how schools were stating to make sure that the "physical education climate is based on the core principals of respect, safety and equal access for all students and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.(Daryl Presgraves)" When i went and tried to find more information on this subject it was very easy. One of the first things that I found was about a transgender athlete playing for the George Washington Women's basketball team. She was the first athlete to play Division 1 athletics as a transgender athlete. I feel like this relates because i also found another article about this athlete and how the school ended her season. The article said that she had suffered from numerous concussions and therefore her season would be over. It was also said in the article that the doctor did clear her to play but the school over ruled it saying that she wasn't fully recovered yet. The school wasn't aware of the athlete being transgender until her junior year and that's when her playing time started going down and when the school ended her season. Then going along with the article from GLSEN it shouldn't matter what is going on with the athlete. She should be treated equally and allowed to play if she was cleared to play be a medical doctor but the school trainer said to keep her out.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Argument
Teaching Multilingual Children By: Virginia Collier
Collier argues that there is a right and a wrong way to go about teaching multilingual students. Throughout the article she states seven points that I believe are very important for teachers to use and be aware of when teaching these students. The points are...
1. Be aware that children use first language acquisition strategies for learning or acquiring a second language.
2. Do not hink of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so called "deficiencies" of your students
3. Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language.
4. Teach the standard for or english and students home language together with an appreciation dialect differences to create an environment of language recognition in the classroom.
5. Do not forbid students from code switching in the classroom. Understand the function that code switching serves.
6. Describe the literacy development curriculum that is specifically designed for English language learners.
7. Provide a balance and integrated approach to the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
I believe having the knowledge of these seven points would really help teachers out who are in the position of having to teach these students. Teachers in these circumstances can't simply say ok were going to be speaking English only today. That is not fair to the students because English is their second language and can't be expected to be fluent in it and not have to go back to their original language at some point. In Collier's third point she says that a language should never be eliminated form the classroom. So trying to take away the language would be the wrong way of going about teaching a second language.
Collier says that teachers need to value the students home language and their dialects. A teacher should never tell the student that they are doing or saying something wrong because of their unique dialect. Also if a student is having trouble understanding something in the second language the teacher can't get upset if the student refers back to his or her original language to try to better understand what the teacher is trying to teach. Collier calls this code switching which is in her fifth point. Then what I think is her best point is number seven when she says always refer back to the four language skills.
I thought that this was a very interesting article because I am in a ESL classroom for my VIPS tutoring. Many of the students that i am working with barley speak English at all so i went online and tried to find some ways so i can get through to the students better. Then i cam upon this website, and i used some of the things that it said to help have the students understand better.
Collier argues that there is a right and a wrong way to go about teaching multilingual students. Throughout the article she states seven points that I believe are very important for teachers to use and be aware of when teaching these students. The points are...
1. Be aware that children use first language acquisition strategies for learning or acquiring a second language.
2. Do not hink of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so called "deficiencies" of your students
3. Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language.
4. Teach the standard for or english and students home language together with an appreciation dialect differences to create an environment of language recognition in the classroom.
5. Do not forbid students from code switching in the classroom. Understand the function that code switching serves.
6. Describe the literacy development curriculum that is specifically designed for English language learners.
7. Provide a balance and integrated approach to the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
I believe having the knowledge of these seven points would really help teachers out who are in the position of having to teach these students. Teachers in these circumstances can't simply say ok were going to be speaking English only today. That is not fair to the students because English is their second language and can't be expected to be fluent in it and not have to go back to their original language at some point. In Collier's third point she says that a language should never be eliminated form the classroom. So trying to take away the language would be the wrong way of going about teaching a second language.
Collier says that teachers need to value the students home language and their dialects. A teacher should never tell the student that they are doing or saying something wrong because of their unique dialect. Also if a student is having trouble understanding something in the second language the teacher can't get upset if the student refers back to his or her original language to try to better understand what the teacher is trying to teach. Collier calls this code switching which is in her fifth point. Then what I think is her best point is number seven when she says always refer back to the four language skills.
I thought that this was a very interesting article because I am in a ESL classroom for my VIPS tutoring. Many of the students that i am working with barley speak English at all so i went online and tried to find some ways so i can get through to the students better. Then i cam upon this website, and i used some of the things that it said to help have the students understand better.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
White Privilege by: Peggy McIntosh
Reflection
When I was reading this article all i could think about was Lisa Delpit's piece, The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Predagogy in Educating Other People's Children. When McIntosh spoke of unearned privileges I immediately thought of Delpit's Culture of power. These two things are directly related in my eyes because in both instances white people are gaining unfair advantages over other races. In White Privilege the author goes on and list twenty six ways that white people have advantages over black people. These are things that most people wouldn't think of if they had the white privilege. The culture of power is essentially the same thing as this because white people are gaining advantages in everyday life just because of how they were brought up. An example that we used in class was that if a student is playing with a puzzle and the teacher says, "is it time to be playing with the puzzle?" the student may say "yes i'm almost done with it.". Even though in class we were talking about the culture of power this also works with white privilege because the white child would be privileged and know what the teacher actually means where as the student of another nationality may not know. I think these two articles were directly related saying the same things in different ways.
During class i would like to discuss how similar Delpit's piece is to McIntosh's. They are both talking about ways in which white people have advantages over other races. Even though Delpit's piece is about schooling children of different races and McInthoshe's article is more in a general sense the two articles directly relate to one another.
When I was reading this article all i could think about was Lisa Delpit's piece, The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Predagogy in Educating Other People's Children. When McIntosh spoke of unearned privileges I immediately thought of Delpit's Culture of power. These two things are directly related in my eyes because in both instances white people are gaining unfair advantages over other races. In White Privilege the author goes on and list twenty six ways that white people have advantages over black people. These are things that most people wouldn't think of if they had the white privilege. The culture of power is essentially the same thing as this because white people are gaining advantages in everyday life just because of how they were brought up. An example that we used in class was that if a student is playing with a puzzle and the teacher says, "is it time to be playing with the puzzle?" the student may say "yes i'm almost done with it.". Even though in class we were talking about the culture of power this also works with white privilege because the white child would be privileged and know what the teacher actually means where as the student of another nationality may not know. I think these two articles were directly related saying the same things in different ways.
During class i would like to discuss how similar Delpit's piece is to McIntosh's. They are both talking about ways in which white people have advantages over other races. Even though Delpit's piece is about schooling children of different races and McInthoshe's article is more in a general sense the two articles directly relate to one another.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Hey I'm Luke
Hey I'm Luke, I'm 18 years old and from Seekonk Mass. Im a freshman at RIC this year majoring in Physical Education and Health. So far this semester has been going pretty well considering how many days we've missed because of the snow. My classes haven't been to hard for the most part but i am looking forward to the summer. Basically when I'm not in class I'm either hanging out with friends or either reffing or coaching basketball. I also enjoy playing basically any sport for the most part. Thats basically it, I go to school, hang with friends, and ref and coach basketball.
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