Impact of this year.

 One of the biggest things that will stick out to me and I'll remember this year was the trouble makers article. The comparison of trouble makers in the classroom to canary in the coal mine really stuck with me. This article makes me look at schooling and children in a whole new light and I think will really improve my own teaching in the future.

The second thing that will really stuck with me was the cultural teaching video. Allowing students to learn in an environment that mirrors and represent who they are and the cultural should be a large part of education but today still isn't. This video had a great impact on who I want to be as an educator. 

The third article that really stood out to me was the Delpit pieces. Teaching the culture of power to people who don't have it really stood out and I have been able to connect it back very well to my own time in the classroom and to the learnings in this class. 

Queering our schools

Extended Comments: I read Brooke's blog and found it very interesting. The first quote she uses goes, "In a recent survey, six out of 10 LGBTQ teens said they felt unsafe at school and 82 percent had been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation." (page 23). she is able to connect this quote back to her own life and it made me begin to think about my own experiences with this. I am not apart of this community so I have never had to experience this first hand but I have definitely witnessed it in my time in school. Wether it was to their face or behind their back Ive seen kids making fun of LGBTQ teen. From my own point of view I think I saw a decrease in this throughout the years in schools but due to not being apart of the community I can't fully speak on this. 

    In her blog the second quote she uses is, ""But no number of classroom discussions about gender stereotypes and homophobia will create a nurturing environment if teachers and parents are afraid to come out. A school that’s a protective community for LGBTQ adults is a school that’s going to be safe for kids." (page 24). I completely agree with the point she makes about this quote. She writes about how it is our jobs as educators and adults to learn and teach about all different sorts of topics and LGBTQ topics are apart of this. School is a place for students to go to learn but more then that its a place where students are able to grow as humans and as an educator it is our job to allow for a nurturing and caring environment for all students to learn. 

    The last and most important quote of Brook's and the paper, "I’m going to keep wearing a skirt. It’s a big part of who I am.” (page 26) This is one of the most important quotes of the paper because it's showing they wont change just because of hate. It brings the paper together and leaves the reader thinking. Even though they went through this horrible experience it wont define them and they'll continue to be themselves and express the way they feel. 

Here Is another article going over LGBTQ rights in schools. 

Eliminating Ableism in Education

 Eliminating Ableism in Education is a piece written by author Thomas Hehir. This piece goes over the aspects of ableism in schools and the negative effects it has on people with disabilities. He starts the piece by giving a specific example of a mother and her own experiences with a child with a disability in the school systems. Extended Comments: After reading a few blogs one quote used by Kate in her blog really stood out to me. It was her first quote, "Disability only becomes a tragedy for me when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives - job opportunities or barrier free buildings" (Hehir 2). I really liked the use of this quote as it best shows that disabilities should not be a defecate to the person who has it but can be due to society doing nothing to help these people in the first place. This quote also connects to Power and Privilege by Alan Johnson. The people in power, or society, aren't using the power and privilege they have in their lives to help them and see them as nothing more than a tragedy. In a similar way Kate’s second quote also connects back to people in power such as educators not using the privilege they have to help. Author Hehir writes, "The pervasiveness of ableist assumptions in the education of these children not only reinforces prevailing prejudices against disability but may very well contribute to low levels of educational attainment and employment" (Hehir 4). 

Here is an article addressing ableism in schools by the Oregon Department of Education.

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

 Aria by Richard Rodriguez is a piece where he is able to write about his own experience as a bilingual student in a US school. He writes about what he saw with his own family and how having to change to English as his “primary” langue affects his life in many different ways. Reflection: While reading this passage I found myself reflecting on my own life and experiences with trying to learn a second language. I tried to best imagine myself in the shoes of Rodriguez and had a very hard time trying to fully understand what he went through. I have always struggled when it came to learning Spanish whether it was in middle school, high school or even now in college. Langue has always been a difficult subject in school, and I even struggle sometimes with literacy classes. To have my native langue ripped away from me in the way he did would be absolutely horrible, not having that familiar aspect of something as simple but also complicated as langue would play a major role on me. I never looked in at myself and realized how much of a major aspect of everyday life langue played and I take it for granted especially in my educational life. I found myself trying my best to imagine having a major part of my life taken away and even not being able to go home and talk in my native tongue. I have really taken langue in a social and educational environment for granted and this passage did a fantastic job of showing what it would be like to have this happen. 

Here is another article going over bilingual learners. 

Literacy with an Attitude

 Literacy With an Attitude written by Patrick J. Finn is a piece done going over social classes and the education that comes along with them. When writing about the different social classes and schools author Finn does a great job of showing the contrasting aspects of each school and how the system can be seen failing children. Whether it be in the working class schools keeping students after the bell for punishments or to finish work Finn does a great job of showing that schools are a direct reflection of social class and staying within those social classes. Connections: This text connects back very well to Johnson's texts when it comes to privilege and power. Finn writes about how different social class areas and schools teach different things. He found that these schools are teaching in a way that students are to stay in their social class roles and continue these traditions of class roles. In Johnson’s text he talks about not knowing power unless taught that power by someone who has it. We can see this within schools as students are taught only what teachers see fit in there social class roles whether it be subconsciously or consciously.

Here is a link to what social classes are.

video Analysis

 

Culturally Responsive Teaching/What to look for in a classroom

 Reflection: Even though the Alfie Kohn chart is not that long of a read I still found it very interesting. In this piece is goes over various aspects of classroom decoration and atmosphere and talks about the good and the bad. When reading it I found myself thinking back to a lot of my classrooms that I had during my time in school and saw a lot of similarities in what the author described as good or bad classrooms and the relation to my own teacher's experience. When I began to start thinking back on my favorite teachers, I was able to see many of these classroom decorations coming into play. I originally only thought about my elementary school teachers because I thought that was where you see more decorations but as i thought more I realized my favorite High School teachers had many aspects of these factors too. One of my favorite teachers in high school was a law teacher. His class always had all these worksheets and other activities done by students decorating the wall. Photos of past students and current students were on the walls Even though his class was in a lecture hall he was always moving around and interacting with students, which added to his classroom presence. Even though it was a larger classroom there was stuff relating to the subject all over. I can see this piece connect directly to my own learning as I found my favorite teachers had these types of learning environments. When it comes to learning the environment that you learn in can play a drastic role in your education and I think its very good to understand that and be able to cater to the students.  

Here is another article which gives its own take on the perfect classroom.