Extended comments August

Extended Comments- Danielle’s blog


Danielle makes the connection between Johnsons writing and August’s writing, I would have to agree that ideals and trends we read about in the Johnson article show up in the August writing. Cody was not privileged to the rules and codes of power, because he was from two different cultural backgrounds. First he is Cambodian, and second he has two mothers, versus the nuclear family. He was also adopted. I have known several people who were adopted; however I was never privy to that information until I had known that person for a few years. I guess it is not something that people advertise.

Educators need to remember the importance of generalizing their words. Not every student has a mother and father for a number of reasons. Whether it be divorce, death, or abandonment, many students would not want to disclose this information to others for the fear of being different.

This is also important when designing personalized lessons. Many younger grade teachers assign class work that involves discussing a student’s personal life and home life. This can be dangerous ground for a student who has an alternative lifestyle at home.

Danielle spoke of hiding your “private” world while in public, I think that this particular student (Cody) has some emotional issues surrounding his private world which show up numerous times in the classroom, i.e. yes is winning, and Monkey mask.

Rodriguez blog

Rodriguez Blog



     I would like to connect the Rodriguez reading to the Finn reading, I noticed that in both excerpts those students felt alienated, because of the instruction or type of instruction they were receiving. As I stated in my blog about Finn, the school system was set up to keep students on track for the class they were in. While the purpose of the school in the Rodriguez reading was to ultimately help the student achieve in public, I believe that the actual feelings of the students were quite the same. Students in the Finn reading might have felt silenced because advancing seemed almost too difficult to try. I know the student in the Rodriguez blog felt silence, at home, and at school at first. I can’t speak of personally losing my individuality, but I can imagine how students might have felt.

GLESN Blog


Hyperlinks

Community of caring

World Smile Day

Random acts of Kindness

Pay it Forward

After spending time on the GLESN website I decided to post the above links which are all related to the theme of the GLESN website. My wife did a “Pay it Forward” themed month at her school. The idea was to do something nice for someone else, while expecting nothing in return. The entire school participated and all students got involved. Random Acts of Kindness awards were given out and Pay It Forward cards were given and received by students and staff. The middle school where she works had a big bullying problem and this was one of the ways they attempted to address the issue and change the behaviors. The only one of the links I have personal experience with is the community of caring. Last year Uxbridge became a community of caring school, which means that the school follows the following 5 ideals set forth by the organization. Caring - Respect- Responsibility - Trust- Family. We have also made up a committee of staff, parents, students, and community leaders who come up with ideas for making Uxbridge a better place to live and learn. We have only been a community of caring school for one year and I am not on the committee, but I have noticed a positive change around school.

Finn blog "Argument"

Argument:


This author Finn argues that schools are set up to prepare students to say in their class and not advance.

There are numerous examples in the Finn reading of times when the school system itself is designed to keep students in the class they are in now. It offers no opportunity for advancement whatsoever. One instance is the working class school system which had students who had average or above average IQ scores, but the school did not offer any type of critical thinking or problem solving which would bolster the thought process form mundane to a higher level of thinking. Chapter 2 of the reading goes into great detail about the different type of instruction seen between the different social classes. The lower class schools are set up like a traditional “drill for skill” program where there is no thought only right and wrong, no emphasis on the process is perceived. The middle class system is set up to prepare the students for middle management where knowing how to find the correct answer is a key component. Critical thinking skills and problem solving are left for the upper to elite class of students where they are prepared for careers in high paying and high responsibility jobs. I have tried this approach with lower middle class school students and most of them respond well however some do little or nothing if not given direct instruction.

People Like Us

After looking around on the PBS website “People like Us” I am wondering who or what decides class? Is class something you are born into like being born into a rich family or is it something you learn through experiences? I tend to think that class is an inner thought process which people go through before buying, or doing things, sort of like a conscious. I did have fun playing the game chintz or shag. My wife and I were trying to pick high class stuff to decorate the room with but it took us a few tries and even then we didn’t think the things we had to put in to the room were high class at all. We also tried it separately and picked different things but ended up in the middle class, how I have no idea. Picking the stereotypical trailer park things was easy but finding the right combination for high class was harder. I also liked the stories; one in particular struck me because I was an “Army Brat” too. I went from one school where I was part of the majority and then moved into another school where I became a minority.

Kozol Blog "Quotes"

In reading the piece by Jonathan Kozol I found a few things which I would like to discuss. Where in speaking to the teacher of an inner city classroom about SFA the teacher says “The rich get richer, and the poor get SFA” (Kozol, 2005). Earlier in the article he makes it very clear that poor children get nothing. He even quotes a little 3rd grade girl. While SFA might not be the correct solution, it is A solution. Before those students got NOTHING, now they get SOMETHING. I agree with the quote “One of the few classrooms I had visited up to that time in which almost nothing even hinting as spontaneous emotion in the children or the teacher surfaced while I was there” (Kozol, 2005) This reminded me of the Pink Floyd video for the song “Another Brick in The Wall Part 2” where a young actor playing the part of Roger Waters is chastised for writing poetry in class. Later that poem would turn out to be a popular song still played today on the radio. There is another section of the video where the students are marching down a hallway into a tunnel where they emerge faceless sitting at desks. I have added the YouTube video to my link list under Pink Floyd in case anyone wants to see it. At the end of the video the students revolt and end up destroying and burning down the school. Are we regressing to this type of instruction again? The final quote I have chosen to reflect upon is “Skinnerian instruction approaches, which decapitate a child’s capability for critical reflection, are not going to change this” (Kozol, 2005) He spends a large amount of this article giving examples of how bad the racial and socio-economical divide is, he even backs it up with research done in schools with testimonials from students and staff. However what he does not do (and I don’t know who is responsible for doing it) is come up with solutions to the problem. It was almost like he was trying to make me feel guilty for not teaching in an inner city school. Much the same way that the commercials with Sally Struthers were supposed to make people adopt a sick kid in Africa. (Not that there is anything wrong with helping others they just used guilt as a tactic.) Once again I don’t know the solution these are just observations.

Delpit Blog

Questions: In reading the Delpit, and Johnson papers I came up with the following questions.


Johnson’s writing leads me to believe, that we are not breaking through and solving any issues surrounding difference. In the Delpit reading I am lead to believe that different race students need different type teaching. How can we possibly educate all children the same way if they need different things?

I noticed that the black teacher in the Delpit reading was considered “mean” but effective by the students, while a white teacher who posed commands as questions was not looked upon as being as effective. WHY? Is it because black students were used to being told what to do and white students were not?

My final question surrounds the practice of Distat. I have no recollection of this happening, perhaps because I am young. When and where was this tried? I also beg to differ because the military uses “explicitness and direct instruction” (Delpit 2006) every day at boot camp and it works.