Three things that have stuck with me

First off, something that has stuck with me has been Sleeter so far. I think about Sleeter because they talk about how minority groups are explained in textbooks and I don't agree with the way they are being perceived and taught in schools because that's what I want to teach, I want to teach history and the way you can tie any minority group to something in a textbook is not acceptable. 

My second thought would be Rodriquez and how he progressed in English and spoke and wrote less Spanish until it was a thing of the past and the kids in my SL classroom I feel is happening to them as well. They are six and seven years old and already don't know every Spanish word I mean they have an Elementary Spanish level and now with language usually not being taught until middle school, Spanish is going to be a thing of the past for them as well I fear, as it was the same for Rodriquez 

My last piece is about Shalaby and the troublemakers presented and how they are deemed unfit to learn in a classroom environment. There is one kid in my SL classroom who is exceptionally smart and is always looking to call out and answer questions but is silenced and reprimanded for his behaviors when his voice is silenced and is unable to express his learnings. 

Blog Post #8 Reflection and Connections

 When reading Aria and after, I could only think of one thing. The students I see every Thursday at Webster Elementary. Almost all the students in the class speak Spanish and English and the transition between the two is often hard for them. When it comes to speaking English, they're near fluent but it is the reading and writing they struggle with more often. Rodriguez speaks about how slowly English became his primary language. I wonder how these kids feel about learning a new language and being bilingual. Will some of them transition out of Spanish and primarily use English. Will their families transition with them too? I'm trying to see this from the kids point of views and keep in mind they are only six and seven years old. I also think back to my high school days up until last semester taking Spanish and struggling to understand how to read, write, and speak the language, I tried thinking in both of those lenses to try to understand what Rodriguez went through as a kid. Language classes for me have always come as a struggle, having to read over and repeat the same few sentences and trying to figure out what words mean what. At first, it was fairly easy to understand and form basic sentences but after that, I began to struggle. I can't even imagine what it is like to have my primary language basically thrown in the trash and having to learn a completely foreign language would be awful and so to speak, English is not an easy language to learn, the grammar and pronunciations can be very difficult for one where it is not their primary language. I had friends from Germany that I went to middle school with and as well as they can speak English, some words were tricky for them and I don't blame them, some words look very different than they sound. I am very fortunate enough to not be in Rodriguez, or the kids in my class, or my friends from Germany, having their language stripped and replaced with something they didn't know. 

Attached is a pdf on what challenges to expect and tips to helping bilingual students as a teacher

Challenges for English Language Learners

Blog Post #7 Reflection & Connections

After reading Finn, especially chapter two, we can see the vast differences within our schools depending on the general social class of the community. At first glance, you can assume that executive elite school students will perform better because of resources, but it goes beyond that. There are other factors that go into how these kids succeed in different schools. For a working-class school, you are at the bottom of the educational food chain you could say. These schools have very limited resources and educators. These teachers also do not get paid enough and not speaking for all, but some do it majorly for the money and in conclusion, think they can treat students rather harshly speaking to them in a more aggressive demeanor. This is also because the working-class schools are designed so you can get working-class jobs and the same goes for the middle class and the executive elites. These schools and their wealth project you the student into getting similar jobs in that pay range. The schools with fewer resources like the working class and in some case, the middle class are limited in the resources and education they can teach. And as for the affluent and elite schools, they can teach this same knowledge but more complex and expand it because they have the proper books and sources to do so. They also have educators who do not speak to them and demand them to do anything but are polite and if the students do not wish to learn it is "Up to them" because no matter what, those kids aren't going to financially struggle most likely. Usually these elite schools are either in very wealthy neighborhoods or private/boarding schools while public schools rely on the community and their incomes. On average, a kid in the state of Rhode Island costs $16,587 in public schools and with these more elite private schools with tuition as much as $60,000 like St. Georges School in Middletown, RI, those students are going to have an easier way to obtain knowledge and better yet, more of it and with the right resources and educators, tutors, etc. From my own experiences in school, My schools have been generally working-class/middle class as our city (Newport) has a financially diverse community. Typically we have had to return resources to teachers so they can use them in other classes as well as limited to access to computers for a while until chromebooks were then dispersed. I wouldn't say I was limited in my knowledge but there is so much more that I have learned since then and have expanded off topics I knew so little about.

Below is a link that further explains the inequity in education and the decreasing budgets for schools.

American University School of Education

Video Analysis Papers

 

Blog Post #6 02/26/2024 Reflection and Argument

REFLECTION

    I'd like to reflect and also argue on some of the things I read and watched. After looking at Kohns chart, I agree with most of it but some of the things on the "Possible Reasons To Worry" side, I have some disagreements. For example, I believe yes, a teacher should be respectful and genuine towards their students but also there comes a time when you need to be controlling or rather be in control especially when a class is out of focus. There are many perspectives to look at this from being if you are an elementary teacher or secondary teacher, while not too different, the difference could be eight year olds and eighteen year olds, that there lies a difference. You want to be warm and genuine to both groups but it's a different kind of controlling and stern tone you want to use. Also the part about emphasis on thoughtful exploration as to emphasis on facts and right answers. Again I agree that students should be allowed to be open minded and let their mind explore but it is still important to know whats right and whats wrong, and I feel a good educator can incorporate both of those aspects into one. Also why should we be worried about textbooks, and worksheets? Again you can incorporate both aspects of having a colorful and interactive classroom while using textbooks and worksheets. In my APUSH class Junior year of High School, we mainly worked out of textbooks and worksheets. Was it boring? Yes but it was effective and as we had to do that boring work, we also always had open class discussions on what we read where the teacher would take a step back and leave the discussion only to us and let us generate our own arguments and discussion points while only chiming in when necessary. In this same class where textbooks and worksheets were the primary source of education, we also had interactive projects that were always fun to make and that's just coming from me, the entire class enjoyed participating in these projects and it made learning from the textbooks more fun. It isn't the textbooks but the educator and what they do with those textbooks and how they incorporate them into the lesson.  

  In the classroom I am in with Inspiring Minds, it is a first-grade classroom so very much different than an APUSH class in high school, is very vibrant and filled with color. For kids at that age, it is appropriate for this to happen and is more of an interactive classroom rather than a textbook based classroom. The student's artwork is displayed across the room with their desks in squared sections for better communication. In my APUSH class, the desks were single and in rows and columns. That did not stop us from frequently collaborating. The way your classroom is depends on the age you are teaching and what is appropriate. There is no right and there is no wrong in how your class should be set up (in most cases) but it is how you execute it. Try different things, see what your student's like, it is good to have feedback. 

I have provided an article from Yale Universitys center for teaching and learning on classroom arrangement. Seating Arrangements Yale University

Blog Post #4 Connections

 CONNECTIONS

   After reading Sleeter, through the first couple of pages, I instantly was reminded of the four I's of oppression specifically Institutionalized oppression. Sleeter talks about how minority groups are perceived in textbooks using African Americans as an example and them usually being tied to slavery and immigration is used as a historical period. We know this is not the case and I think it is tied to institutionalized oppression because the true voices of history from minority groups in America are being silenced by white people who create the textbooks and ultimately, school curriculums. This all goes along with critical race theory and there being a lack of crucial parts of history being left out of most curriculums in schools across the nation. Sleeter includes on page four "Black middle school students interviewed by Ford and Harris (2000) all expressed a desire to learn more about Black people in school." The students want to know more about their own culture while in school but instead are blocked of important historical events. From my own experiences in my school system, I was fortunate enough to have a 7th-grade history teacher who was also my half-brother's uncle who was African American teach us a lot of African American history, especially during February. During this time, I was shocked to find out so much history I did not know about and I am very grateful to have him as a teacher because he did not shy away from educating us on black history and he was very passionate about teaching it as well. Something else I'm realizing from that time was how appropriate he was about it as well, we were 12-13 years old and I believe that is not the right time to learn about the dark sides of history and he knew that so instead of teaching us about events such as the Tulsa Massacre (which I later learned about as a Junior in High School) he taught and told us stories of prominent black historical figures and how their stories impacted our nation's history and thinking back on it now, I really appreciate that. It depends demographically on where you are in the country right now where you'll be taught this side of history or you won't. Another example, being from Rhode Island, I learned a lot about black history and other events that would fall under the CRT category. My roommate from New Hampshire did not learn as much as me about these certain topics. He is well aware of it now but as we are both history majors, we speak about what we learned in grade school and the differences are very interesting. I want to leave with a question being, where do you come from and did you learn anything about CRT? If so, how much?

The link provided shows how some states in the US view CRT. 

AP News on CRT

Blog Post #3 02/03/2024 Quotes and Analysis

 Ideological oppression stems from value systems that enable dehumanization, exploitation, or harm of individuals of some minority groups. Ideological oppression can have cultural or historical roots passed down from generations in ones family. “Biologism–interpreting the value of human life from a strictly biological viewpoint.” Biologism basically shapes how one is accepting of people with chronic illness’ and non-binary gender identities. These oppressive thoughts and ideologies can manifest ones mind at an interpersonal, individual and social levels through acts of violence which highlights the widespread and harmful impact on these ingrained belief systems. 

   Interalized oppression involves individuals internalizing their own societal beliefs that in return, create false feelings of supremacy or deficiency, particularly to those outside their own social group typically white people. In white dominated societies where the percentage of minority groups are slim, the minority manifests to achieve validation from these white dominated groups and this can also lead on to self doubt in oneself. Furthermore, these feelings can lead white people to be unjustly suspicious of these people in the minority trying to get the approval of the dominate group and questions their professional capabilities. “In white dominant societies, internalized oppression often expresses itself for Black, Indigenous, and other people of color through a strong drive to over-achieve in order to feel valued, or in self-doubt” The impacts of these feelings of doubt and the manifestation of destiny can lead to anxiety, depression, and self hatred and these people can turn into someone they know they are not and it’s all just to impress a group that may not even acknowledge them. 

   Interpersonal oppression is the manifestation of interalized oppression between individuals or groups, both intentionally and unintentionally. This oppression ranges from thoughtless, impulsive comments to acts of violence, similar to Ideological oppression. What this does is normalize these biased behaviors and violence when expressed among groups with the same bias and beliefs. This type of oppression is identifiable and immediate, making their targets feeling attacked, diminished, and dehumanized which puts them in some cases, in jeopardy of their own life and fear their safety. These feelings can also happen within their own group with interalized values and beliefs. Members of the dominant group may feel threatened and have feelings of fear, it is not a form of oppression without institutional power that enforces harm which differentiates it from systemic justice. 

   Institutional oppression involves the conservation of oppression through policies, laws, and social practices. An example of this is college entrance exams. “Among many colleges of requiring a minimum college entrance exam score from successful candidates; numerous studies have demonstrated that scores do not predict academic success and at best reflect class privilege.” These entrance exams impact low income families or minority families who have limited access to resources and job opportunities. This form of oppression is well active at the organizational and governmental levels as well that leads to high staff turnovers, culturalized censure, internment camps, and war, illustrating its widespread social impact. 

 For my closing thoughts I leave a question: How can society effectively address and dismantle systems of oppression to ensure sustained progress, creating a culture that actively works to eliminate discrimination, inequality, and bias until they are completely eradicated? I have provided a link that extends my thoughts. Click Here