Literacy with an attitude

Quotes

     "A principle was reported to have said to a new teacher 'just do your best. If they learn to add and subtract, that's a bonus. If not don't worry about it"(11).
     Because of principles like this one students are failing in schools. If principles tell teachers to not worry about their students education then the principles themselves don't care about their students education. It seems as if the only thing they care about id the check they get at the end of the week, and that's not fair to the students. I think that principles, teachers, and  the school faculty should encourage their students to care about their education not put them down. Teachers need to show students that they care about their education and not just the nice pay check they get. Students need some type of motivation.

     "In the middle class about one third of the teachers grew up in the neighborhood of the school. Most graduated from the local state teachers college, and many of them lived in the neighborhood of the school"(12).
     I think that teachers living in the same neighborhood as their students should help them connect with the students. It might help teachers understand their students more, it can help them understand their students life style. Teachers can use this as an advantage because they can try to find a way to teach their students and make them be interested in school and their education. If teachers don't show that they are interested then their students won't be interested either.

     " Teachers In the middle class school seemed to believe that their job was to teach the knowledge found in textbooks or dictated by curriculum experts"(12-13).
     I really dislike this teaching method. I don't think that this will help the students at all. This teaching method just makes students not want to learn because it's so boring. I know that this is boring from my own experience because this is what most of my high school teachers did and I honestly can say that I didn't learn much. I think that teachers should at least teach from the textbooks but make it fun in a way.  

 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bKjqjpePhTchttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bKjqjpePhTc

Becoming something different

     As I was reading this article I was able to connect it to another reading we have discussed in class, and that is "The silenced dialogue". The reason I connected it to the silenced dialogue is because in that reading it talks about how students are silenced in classrooms. In the article Becoming something Different, Esme was a silenced student. In the sixth grade Esme wasn't too sure of her status as a student. She says that she paid attention in class and asked questions but still had difficulty understanding. Esme's voice is silenced here because the teachers didn't do much to help her understand questions and assignments. The teachers responsibility is to help students learn not make them more confused when they ask questions, because if they ask a questions it's because they don't understand but that doesn't mean that they have a learning problem. Instead of helping Esme the teachers positioned her as needing help with academic tasks, so instead of being helped she was silenced in a way. I think that this is one if the reasons Esme didn't have confidence in herself , that why she said that she wasn't too sure of her status as a student. Esme says " I really don't know if I'm good" I think the teachers job is to help students instead if making hen doubt themselves and think that they are not good. Esme was silenced In the sixth grade but as she went to other grades she was able to have teachers that didn't silence her , instead they helped her and that's when she began to enjoy school more because she actually had helpful teachers. Her teacher had different strategies so she was able to understand more. Esme then saw herself as a "a lot smarter"(1).

In The link below the first minute and ten seconds is a video of students who had similar situations with Esme because they would ask questions and class but the teachers didn't help. The rest if the video is strategies that teachers can do to help their students understand a little bit better. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-bWU238PymM

Between Barack and a hard place: Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denia......

This video really talks about most of the topics that we have discussed in class, it talks about how many people don't like to talk about certain topics such as racism. People chose not to talk about racism and they decide to ignore it because they say they are not racist and that's it they don't wanna have a conversation about it. Something that was said in this video that really caught my attention was " well I don't have to have this conversation, I'm not racist because some of my best friends are black, or I dated an Asian once". I found this interesting because I feel like I have heard this a lot. Many people say things similar to this as a come back when another person wants to talk about racism. Reality is that just because you have black friends or dated so,some of a different race this doesn't mean that you can't be racist.

Another thing that I found interesting was when he said, " are their men in this country who are sexest? Are any if them heterosexual ? How is that possible? Because by the logic of the person that says if I got friends who are black then I can't be racist, then if men date women or marry them or are simply attracted to them, the fact that I'm a heterosexual means that I cannot be sexest. The only sexest would have to be gay men".  I really liked this because it really shows how ridiculous it is that people  think they can get away with not talking about racism because they have friends of different race. The truth here is that people are scared to be called racist if they speak of racism.

I chose this pictures because I think that they  go with this video. I think this just shows how we are used to hearing about people not being racist because they have black friends.

In the service of what? By Kahne and Westheimer

While I was reading this article I started thinking about all the times I have done community service. Ever since I was little my parents and I would do many things to help others. In church every year for thanksgiving and Christmas we would collect can foods, juice boxes and cookies and we would put them in boxes and give a big box to the families in our church who were of low income and were in need of extra help. One of the things that I love the most about helping people is the big smile I get in return. I think that it's important to help those in our community because it not only makes us feel better but it also makes other people happy and it gives them hope and lets them know that their are still good people out their that care.

Last year I did something I really loved and that was teaching english to children who come from other countries who only speak Spanish. I taught this class for 3 months in Scalabrini Dukcevich center. I had about 5 students who had just came from Guatemala and El Salvador 2 weeks before class  started. They didn't know any english, and I was asked to teach them  basic english because they were going to start school soon. This was such a wonderful experience because I got to help these kids, in 3 months they didn't know perfect english but they knew the basics. They told me they were so happy because they didn't feel so left out in school because at the end they were able to understand what the teacher would tell them. I really liked doing this I think I am going to this again in the summers, I like knowing that by helping others or doing something for someone else it has an impact in their lives.

 The link below is the page for Scalabrini Dukcevich where I do most of my community service. http://www.slmri.org

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us by Linda Christensen

Christensen's argument in her paper is that children and even us as adults are easily influenced by the Media. Christensen says, "Children's cartoons, movies, and literature are Perhaps  the most influential genre "read". Young people, unprotected by an intellectual armor, hear or watch these stories again and again, often from the warmth of their mother's or father's lap"(127).  Children learn from the cartoons or movies they watch daily but behind these cartoons their are many hidden messages.
         Christensen discusses the many stereotypes behind children movies. I never really thought  of cartoons and movies as having stereotypes until I read this paper. As I was growing up I always though of Media as just entertainment but this paper has opened my eyes and made me realized that that every cartoon is meant for teaching and influencing children. I found it interesting that one of my favorite cartoons as growing up has a bad influence on kids. I always knew ninja turtles is bad because of the violence but I never took a closer look at it. Towards the end of the paper Christensen shows a summary made by a student who took a closer look at ninja turtles. The paper says " The show is based on fighting the bad guy, shredder....they battle and fight but never get hurt. This cartoon teaches  a false sense of violence to kids: fight and you don't get hurt, or solve problems through fists and swords"(136).  Clearly the lesson taught with this cartoon is not good for kids they are being lied to because problems are not resolved with violence and if you do fight you get hurt.

A picture that I found online that goes with this article is the picture below. I chose this picture because it shows how Media basically feeds humans with information not necessarily true information.

Speaking the Unspeakable in Forbidden Places: addressing lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender equality in the primary school.

“The primary is school often thought of as a place of safety and innocence; a place where childhood is both nurtured and sheltered, and attempts to address what are seen as ‘adult’ issues are sometimes intrusions into or threats to this safety zone”(1).

            School should be a safe and comfortable place for children. School is meant for educating and keeping the children safe. I think that it is important to have a safety zone for children but I think that children should be protected up to a certain point. It is important to teach children about some of the things they will see out in the real world because they aren't going to be in a safety zone forever. It is better to teach children about things they will see now that they are young because it can help them have a better understanding and a more positive perspective on things.  We can’t prevent children from seeing things out on the street and have them be confused.

“I talked quite openly with my class about the princes’ sexuality. We began the lesson with a letter from prince asking the class for help (because he has to meet all these princesses but doesn't want to marry any of them) and then we read the book”(3).

            Although some children may feel confused at first when talking about sexuality it is important for them to know that there are gays, lesbians and bisexuals. In order to teach children about this teachers should use strategies like the one that this teacher did read a story and help them understand what is going on.  I think that telling the children the story of the prince who was supposed to meet princess is a good way to teach children about gay people because they will understand that the prince is not happy finding a princess because that is not what he likes. The prince wants to be with a prince and that’s okay because that makes him happy.   

“kate asked her class how her Muslim colleague might have felt if she were called ‘paki’ and followed this by asking the class how she might feel if she were called ‘gay’”(8).

            Children should be taught that name calling is a horrible thing and that makes people feel sad. Here she asked her class what they think her friend might feel like if she was to be called paki she did this to show the children that it doesn't matter what someone may call the other person it is wrong. Whether the person may be Muslim or gay people shouldn't be called any names because people shouldn't have to make others feel less about themselves  because they are what they are. 

I found this link that connects with this article it is a site where their is a list of books for children that include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families. I like this because i found many books that i have never even heard of and I am now interested in reading. 

http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201001/LesserHandout310_2.pdf

I really like this picture because you can see how happy this little boy is with both his fathers  you can tell that he loves them very much. 

Why Can't she Remember that? by Terry Meier

“At one point when the teacher asked, “how many mittens are there?” Gabriela the bilingual puertorican sitting next to me turned and asked me in an exasperated tone “why can’t she remember that?”(4). 

            Gabriela’s teacher had read the book a couple of times already and all the times that she had read the book she would ask the same question, “How many mittens are there?” The teacher’s purpose here was to see if her students were paying attention. Clearly Gabriela was paying attention because she noticed that she would ask the same thing each time, but Gabriela still didn't answer her question even if she knew what the answer was.  I think that it was in fact very clever of Gabriela to catch on what the teacher kept on repeating and ask why it was that she couldn't remember the answer when the answer was right in front of her.

“Many children in multicultural, multilingual classrooms are not used to an adult asking them questions for which it is obvious that the adult already knows”(4).

            Coming from a Hispanic family I don’t recall memories of my mother or father asking me questions that they already knew. I think that this is because parents or family members assume that we know the obvious.  My parents wouldn't have to ask me constantly how many mittens I need to go outside and play in the snow because I already knew that I needed two because I have two hands. In Gabriela’s case she clearly knew how many mittens there were because the picture showed her, so she didn't think that she should have  been asked that because adults in her life didn't tend to ask her obvious questions.

The teacher’s likely assumption in this case was that Gabriela didn't know the answer to the question, possibly leading to the conclusion that she needed more simplified instruction or perhaps more English language vocabulary, rather than more interesting questions”(4).

            From my own experience I know that a child not answering to a question doesn't mean that he or she doesn't understand what the teacher is saying. Many of the times they don’t answer because they are shy or just don’t feel like answering an obvious question like in this case with Gabriela. When the teacher sees that a child is not answering a question I don’t think that they should assume that it’s because they need more English vocabulary if the child is bilingual. I think that the teacher should try to ask the question differently make it more interesting for the child so that the child can be motivated to answer what the teacher is asking.

I think that this picture connects with this because many times  children have so many things to say but they chose not to and this is not because they don’t understand what the teacher is saying or asking it’s because they are not confident enough to say what they actually want to say.

Another link that I found that goes with this article is this video about a teacher who teaches a classroom with multicultural and multilingual children.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/multi-language-classroom