Jeannie Oakes Video

This video features Jeannie Oakes talking about the need to develop relationships with parents that cross racial boundries. The video is titled Enhancing Teachers' Cross Cultural Communication Skills.

Jonathan Kozol Video

I came upon this video of Jonathan Kozal tackling the topic of Segregation in schools and the inequality an African American education as apposed to middle and upper class white education.

One thing I really connect with is the appearance of schools and the aesthetic qualities of the schools are very important to creating an atmosphere these kids want to be a part of.

Shor "Education is Politics"

The idea of a democratic teacher is something that is very refreshing. Thinking back on my education I had many teachers that where more of an Authoritarian teacher rather than representing a democratic classroom. The democratic class room allows the students to thing about education and their own understanding of the quest for knowledge. Instead of just trying to pass a test and forget the material later like in an Authoritarian classroom, the children actually want to create a sense of knowledge from the subject mater and enrich them self because they are more in charge of their own education. I like the idea of a teacher asking the students what they want to learn from a class, it is their education they should have a say in it, instead of just being lectures from the book like a robot. Class discussion is very important because the children can bounce ideas off each other and create a group knowledge that is more enriched than if the child works on it alone. Later in life the children may find the need to work in a group and the experience they gain in group work in the class will be able to be used in group work in future employment. We must empower our students by encouraging them to participate in class and gain confidence speaking out. We must listen to our students and let them understand we are understanding and there to help them attain knowledge and that is their own personal journey they are on and we are not the only ones dictating how they learn, they also have a say in their education. The better we understand the students voices, the better we can become as teachers.

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

This article showed that not all people should be educated on a standard set of progression that weeds out the weaker links, but instead looks at people as individuals and that have different stages of learning ability. Although tests set up to test if a child is up to par with the rest of his class are often set in place, it not correct to abandon a child who does not pass the test. As is stated, the schooled mind does not always mean the person will correlate to a valuable citizen. As Gardner stated, schools already emphasis 1. logical mathematical skills 2. linguistic capacities. But Gardner offered 5 more ways schools should focus, such as 3. capacity to represent space, time, and objects through symbols, 4. musical intelligence, 5. communications and problem solving with the body, 6. capacity to understand others, and 7. ability to understand ones self. By broadening his ideas on what it is to be smart and making more categories, it makes it harder for traditionalists to banish people for just not fitting into the number 1 and 2. There needs to be more ways to understand and value people that just 1 or 2 categories, we need to value people for the many different ways they are and embrace people as individuals.

Becoming Something Different

This reading really put me in the shoes of someone else and helped me to understand what shaped her identity and how children form their identities. It adds a logical element to a somewhat abstract idea of identity. The demographic of her school was much like my school I am teaching which is majority Hispanic. Many of the children do poorly on the English assessments and it can hinder their academic performance as a whole. It goes to show that knowing English is a huge power that many of us take for granted, not understanding English makes it very hard for students that are ESL and we must be compassionate toward them. Being bilingual can be a big advantage in society these days and it is not just a negative thing to be ESL, if you can come to a mastery of both it is a very marketable skill. This story really made me think about the ESL children in my class and makes me want to reach out to them.

Wise "A Particularly Cheap White Wine"

This reading really made it clear that there are many issues facing academic awards based on race. I found the statements by the BU professor to be very ignorant and borderline bigotry. Seeing as such a small percentage of awards are actually based on race, it is almost silly that the BU professor would argue about it. If you look at all the inequality in the school system and the lack of support these low income minorities face, we should be doing everything we can to get these kids into college. Some persons may  look at society and ask "Why cant this race get themselves out of poverty?" well it has a lot to do with the disadvantages they face, and one way to help them is to give them awards so they can elevate them self and get an education. If we want to make this country and equal opportunity country, we must help those less fortunate become educated.

In the Service of What

I found this article to be enlightening and shed light on the importance of service learning and the pros and cons to the different strategies to utilize service learning. In my high school experience we had to do a service learning project and I found it very enriching. It instilled in me a great joy in helping others. I worked at an elderly home and really connected with some of the people there and it felt great helping them. I felt part of the community and I really felt like it was possible for me to make a difference. It really showed me that I had skills that could be used to help people and that is a feeling one can not always get in the classroom.

I am including a short video, it is just from a charity organization that shows examples of kids working on projects together, but I found it true that it is helpful and builds character.