RIC Grown Stage Theatre - Eurydice

Hey everyone...shameless plug...Come see me in Eurydice! It's a sweet show.

NY Times Article

Don't get too mad. This is the article I was referencing in class.

Link to article

Talking Point #11 - Education is Politics, Shor: Reflection

This may be one of my favorite articles so far because it touches on the soul issue that I have heard about teaching in the past few years. I feel like there has almost always been the question, "Why does that teacher lecture?" There may have been multiple answers to that question...they're a bad teacher...they don't know how to teach...they hate kids...(I am hopeful in the fact that most of these geezers are being weeded out of the education system or are all starting to retire)...Whatever the answer may have been to that question has seemed to have changed in recent years. The most accurate answer to that question may not be that the teacher is bad at their job but that they have no choice but to lecture.

I'm sure you are all aware of "Common Core" (dun dun dun dun). This lovely program leaves your average 21st century teacher with little room for creativity. They have a set agenda of what needs to be taught and they have very little time to do it in. That goes without mentioning all of the time put into prepping students for standardized testing. With all of that lumped into every class, five days a week, in 180 days, more and more children are unmotivated to learn. Who wants to do anything if it's not FJNS.

These are some of the stresses and issues that teachers tell me about when I tell them that I want to be a teacher. I have mentioned it before and there is no worse or more disheartening feeling when a teacher tries to discourage you from what you want to so passionately do. I have made up my mind regardless of what I hear. For better or for worse, I want to become a teacher. At the end of the day, I want to work with children and I want to inspire and educate (forgive the clique but it's true).

So yes, I think that it is imperative that teachers get back to teaching and not lecturing. And to be fair, not every single class is lecture based. Our education system has not fallen completely to communism yet. There are discussion based classes and in my formal education I was very fortunate to be a part of many of those. But here is another issue. I'm sure you all remember our friend Oakes and her article on "tracking". Well, a lot of those discussion based classes are the "honors" or "accelerated" courses -- so the average, or bellow average student is missing out on those opportunities.

I know that is a lot to think about -- maybe I should have put "Rant" instead of "Reflection" but I feel strongly on the issue.

Talking point -- How was your formal education? Where a majority of your classes lecture or discussin based?

Talking Point #10 - Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome, Kliewer: Reflection

These are some questions that I thought of while reading this article and I decided to respond to them for my blog post. So drop a line and tell me what you think.

Should there be special education classes?
Yes. There should be special education classes. In fact, there should be special education classes in every school and I think they are a necessary and vital resource to have. I do have some stipulations, however. I find it ridiculous when a student who is deemed "disabled" is automatically thrown into a special education class or program. Those classes and programs should be need/want based and they need to be personalized to the student with the learning disability, otherwise it is ineffective. Special education classes should exist as a catch-all where all the disabled students go to be in the same room. Everyone has the same destination in school and that is to learn...Some students just may have a different means of getting there.

Should disabled students get to chose where they learn?
I definitely think that students with disabilities should have a choice of which classroom they should be in. If they decide that they wanted to be placed in non-special education classes then so be it. I think then, after a certain period of time, that student should be assessed on their progress and depending on those results, the proper actions can be taken -- do they stay, or should they try the special education classes for a little bit.

How do these disabled students feel? What do they think?
This is a hard question to answer. I am not disabled and I don't know anyone personally who is. For me however, I think that disability is like race in the sense that it's there, it's present, and there is no denying its existence. I do not think that disabled students should be made to feel less about themselves or that they are a lesser person than the next student. They have to live with their disability every day. They don't need to be reminded of their incapabilities. Just like many of the topics we have covered this semester, disability is a sensitive topic. This is why I think that special education programs need to be taken seriously and have to be seen as resources rather than burdens.

Could I educate a disabled student?
That would be a great challenge for me. I would sure like to try. I'm becoming a teacher for that rewarding sensation to know that I have taught someone something important. If I can do that with a disabled child, I can't even imagine the immensity of that feeling. If I could educate a disabled student in a way that was effective, specialized to their needs, and respectful to their personal feelings then I would do it in an instant.

I didn't realize how strongly I felt on this subject until I read this article. How do y'all feel?

Here is a link to Wikipedia for some general information on Down's Syndrome.

Talking Point #9 - Literacy with an Attitude, Finn/Oakes: Reflection/Extended Comment

Lucy-

You make references in your post about your SL placement. You're a saint for dealing with this lady. She doesn't seem to be too fond of her children or too fond of what she is doing. She almost reminds me of Alex's teacher. I feel bad for the students. They need to be learning and developing. It is not their fault if they aren't privileged. Now, it is not her job to mother these students or to babysit, but it IS her job to teach the ways of success or "THE RULES AND CODES OF POWER". If her students are failing...maybe that's a sign that something isn't working. Personally, I think it's a little lame that she doesn't have any faith in her students. It's good that you can learn from her and see an example of a crummy teacher. It just stinks that those students' education is at stake.

I agree with your second paragraph. What stinks about teaching now, in the public setting, is that teachers are forced to teach standardizations. It's a shame that different methods of doing things aren't as well embraced as they should be. I agree too when you say that this article shows you what kind of teacher that you don't want to be. Those types of people need to move along and retire and make some room for us people who want nothing more than to be teachers and make a difference! Great post!

So ya'll

Found this video, I think it's worth a watch and that it speaks for itself. I know the music is a little hoaky and melodramatic but it still gets the point across. I don't know why every teacher or classroom can't be like this.

Promising Practices

Like many people expressed today in class, I too was skeptical of the Promising Practices Conference on the third. Much to my excitement, the conference was fantastic. I was glad to get as much out of it as I did. 

I found myself taking a lot of notes while Dr. Fusco was speaking. The focal point of her presentation, as you will remember, focussed on the correlation between agency and equity in youth development. For me, the most compelling piece of the lecture was when she gave the "ying-yang" visual. One side represents "things that matter to children personally" and the other side represents "things that matter to children in the world". The two sides are divided by, but brought together by agency. The agency part speaks to the way we "act upon" teaching children through intrinsic motivation. Regardless of the age level or the teaching environment, children are most highly engaged when an educator "invokes dialog to get a solution". Dr. Fusco asked us to "support young people to be active curators in their own lives".  

By the way, there are some rad pictures of ying-yang signs on Google

The workshops were a cool way of breaking up the day. My first workshop was with Neil Anderson (check out this guys resume!) and the Southern Youth Commission about "youth lead initiatives". Although this workshop was focused on youth groups, I found almost all of his information useful and could see myself applying it in my classroom. He wrote out a series of standards to hold and also a few ideas to think about. Some things that resonated with me were when he said, "Make it REAL and make it FUN" and "to always invest in your [students] -- it's reciprocal" and lastly, to "not put youself in the way of the learning process".  Not only did I learn a ton from this workshop, it was a great networking opportunity. 

My second workshop was a little less successful. It was the lecture on service learning. Rather than learning anything knew, everything that we learned in class was reiterated. Dr. Ozcan, the speaker, did mention a term that sparked my interest. Rather than saying "community service" he said, "social responsibility". I think these terms can be applied pretty well to what we were saying in class. When I hear community service, I think of services I have to do in order to complete a requirement. For instance, National Honor Society required community service. When one performs a social responsibility there seems to be more prestige and meaning. 

After lunch, we had the "unconference" where we got to see a presentation from the A.L.L.I.E.D. student group. I thought that this portion of the Practicing Promises conference was very well done and very well placed. The presentation given by the A.L.L.I.E.D. group gave great closure to the day. Personally, I liked the tidbits of information from some of the various articles we've read in class -- especially the poem!

This is all I have time to write for now...on a later date I will post my connections to the readings!

Hope ya'll enjoyed the conference as much as I did.  

Talking Point #8 - Brown/Ed, Tim Wise: Connections

After reading the article, looking at the "Brown vs Board of Education" website, and watching the Tim Wise videos there was a lot to think about. There was plenty of information to synthesize but I think I was about to narrow the scope. The most common theme I noticed was cultural competency. Going back to one of our earliest readings, I think Delpit most accurately embodies all of these sources.

The article mentions school segregation on the level of poverty. This immediately goes back to the grounds of Brown vs Education. Segregation in schools on any terms is "separate and unequal." Delpit reminds us of privilege. Everyone has it. Rather than trying to separate children based on their financial status, it is the job of the educators to teach "the rules and codes of power." By acknowledging racial and financial differences you display a sense of cultural competency. By separating children with those particular differences you are not teaching them how to get ahead in life, you are showing them that they do not possess the means of success. When children of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and fiscal situations are integrated, they are provided with a more beneficial and well rounded education.

In Part 2 of Tim Wise's radio interview they mention Brown vs the Board of Education. They say that the passing of that act is one of many progressions towards ending racism. Wise points out that there is no single event in history that has ended slavery or segregation, established civil rights, or other national issues but it has been a culmination of events to get results. Barak Obama's presidency is one more of these examples. Having a black president has not ended political racism, however, it is a large step in the right direction for our country.

Above, I added a video with Dr. King. The first half of the video Dr. King discusses, in an interview, segregation, integration, civil rights, the Vietnam war, and most importantly, cultural competency. The last minute or so of the video is Dr. King making a public address on the war. We can all agree that Dr. King was a phenomenal speaker and this video very aptly sums of the contents of this weeks blogging topic.