Talking Points #10

Johnson. "What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution"


In this chapter I believe Johnson argues that everyone needs to help and put from their part in order to stop things such as rejection, privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence. That even if we don’t see the positive outcome right away it may one day happen.
Quotes
#1 We can't just stop using words like racism, sexism, and privilege, however, because these are tools that focus our awareness on the problem and all the forms it takes. Once we can see and talk about what's going on, we can analyze how it works as a system. We can identity points of leverage where change can begin.
- I totally agree with Johnson with this we cannot stop using these words because if we do I believe it will only cause these things to happen for another several thousands of years, and it’s only going to get worst and the solution is going to be harder to reach. Putting an old prom dress in a closet and years later coming back to look for it to wear to a special occasion you know it’s somewhere in that closet but with everything else that was also put in there throughout the years it may take you a while to find. Talking about these things is key for change.

#2 Just as privileged groups tend not to be aware of privilege, they also tend not to be aware of how it happens from one moment to the next. Developing that ongoing awareness is a key to becoming part of the solution.
-Another good point but I still don’t completely understand how they aren’t aware of their privilege is it really that hard to figure out that not everyone is like them? “Developing that ongoing awareness is a key to becoming part of the solution.” This seems like a great strategy for those who are having difficulties coming to the conclusion that they are privileged they should be I believe they should be a little more informed and open eyed about different lifestyles.

#3 To be an effective part of the solution, we have to realize that privilege and oppression are not a thing of the past. It's happening right now. MYTH 1: "IT'S ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY, ANDIT ALWAYS WILL" This means that if we're going to be part of the solution, we have to let go of the idea that change doesn't happen unless we're around to see it happen.

-When I read this particular piece I don’t know why I reminded me of the whole campaign and Obama for some odd reason all though all our US Presidents had been white when Obama was elected it all changed. So it proved that myth wrong.

About the reading- I personally enjoyed reading this chapter from Johnson although it was fairly long I think EVERYONE should read a chapter from her book. I liked the word choice although many of the words were slanted Lol I didn’t have a problem reading it.

Talking Points #7- Lawrence

Talking Points #7- Lawrence

Argument: I believe Lawrence argues that the Brown v. Board of Education case wasn’t a complete success if looking at it as a case which was intended to desegregate the nation’s schools.

Quotes:
#1 “The Court's failure to recognize and articulate the true nature of racial segregation was more the product of an intentional, knowledgeable decision than the result of any inability to comprehend. This intentional misunderstanding had its roots in Brown, and has judicial, political, and social attitudes which are crucial to Blacks today. It is the thesis of this paper that the Brown decision fostered a way of thinking about segregation that has allowed both the judiciary and society at large to deny the reality of race in America, that the recognition of that reality is critical to the framing of any meaningful remedy-judicial or political-and that Brown may ultimately be labeled a success only insofar as we are able to make it stand for what it should have stood for in 1954.”

So this quote shows ignorance by choice!

#2 “In short, segregation American-style, like South African apartheid, has only one purpose: to create and maintain a permanent lower class or sub caste defined as race. Blacks are kept separate from whites not because it promotes efficiency in record keeping, or because their proximity produces toxic fumes that are harmful to the environment. They are kept separate because the separation labels or classifies blacks as inferior beings. Segregation violates the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment not because there is no rational relationship between the classification and the purpose-it is a supremely rational system-but because its purpose is illegitimate.”

One purpose which is to create and maintain a permanent lower class or sub caste defined as race? Why race and or lower class why not upper class? Who labels blacks as inferior beings and why? This quote shows how segregation is still in existence even though there are laws, rules, regulations whatever one wants to call them against it there seems as if nothing is being done to really stop it.

#3"The Court said: "to separate [Negro children] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community in ways unlikely ever to be undone."
Once again I ask why and who labels blacks as inferior? Do they see themselves as inferior? The way I look at it is that one should be happy and more than happy proud of their race because that is one of the components that makes them who they are. But then again I remember the culture of power which states that whites are high up there so this is probably why. But why would they separate these children there just children does the being black rub off? If a white child is in the same classroom as a black child does that mean that that particular white child is now part inferior?

Talkin Points#5 Oakes

Argument: I believe Oakes argues that tracking students is not the right thing to do because it doesn’t help the children in the lower groups also neither does making them work all together Oakes argues that the teachers should change the way they teach incorporating the individuals.

1.In low-ability classes, for example, teachers seem to be less encouraging and more punitive, placing more emphasis on discipline and 'behavior and less on academic learning.
When I came upon this quote it kind of made me think I stopped for a moment and thought why is this? Is it that the teacher doesn’t care or is it that the students don’t care and do things in order for these teachers to become less encouraging? Are all the students misbehaving or is it just a selected few and the teachers have to stop and call on them few every couple of minutes? Anyhow I don’t think it’s fair that these teachers penalize all these students just because they are in lower levels that shouldn’t take away from their learning even if it takes much longer to teach these kids they should be taught.
2. In many classrooms the evidence of students' capability is a matter of public record. Grades and progress are prominently posted: letters, numbers, stars, smiley faces, race horses, and halos -along with sad faces, zeros, and the ever present blanks.
This is another thing I find kind of if-y, but once again many teachers do this I can honestly say I haven’t stepped into 1 elementary classroom was there wasn’t some sort of chart thingy like this. Before when I was a child I never really saw anything wrong with this but as I grew older and spent more time in class rooms I have observed what this really causes the children to do. In the class room I am in now the teacher has a system were each child starts at the color green which is good as the day goes on and the children disobey rules or directions the teacher asks them to change the color which after green becomes yellow, than, orange, than red. When I am there it’s mainly the same children who are either on yellow orange or red. These students always seem not to care about anything else after their card is moved from green and this is problem. At the end of each day the students either get a smiley face or a sad face to be given to their parents to show how they behaved that day.


3. Typically, low-track high school students have been in low-ability groups and remedial programs since elementary school. The gap between them and more successful students has grown wider -not only in achievement but in attitudes toward school and toward their own ability to succeed.

This is sad… so what is it that they can’t progress, they don’t progress, or there progression is not seen?
& I personally understand why it hurts them and their attitudes to succeed because if they’ve always been looked down upon why would they bother to keep on?



I thought this was an short and easy read it wasn’t bad at all although I did get up a few times to see what else I could do beside read it when I was done I believed it was really informative and useful. This is another great piece of work every teacher / future teacher should read.

Talking points # 5 Kahne and Westheimer

Talking points # 5 Kahne and Westheimer

Argument- I believe Kahne and Westheimer argue that in order to have a good service learning experience one should be dedicate time connecting & reflecting their SL experience with her own life.

Quotes

#1 Clearly having students share their thoughts and experiences with one another can be valuable, but reflective activities (commonly in the form of journal entries and discussions) may simply reinforce previously held beliefs and simplistic, if generous conclusions.

This quote depicts how they believe that one should use the journal entries in order to be able to connect by writing down any thoughts you had before hand and were either changed or not or something you may have learned that you can connect to our personal life.

#2 "The rumors I have heard are a big bunch of hogwash ... .I'm glad I went on that trip because it was a wonderful experience to meet new people and find out about their lives." These statements testify to the transformative power of service learning experiences. The effect could become even greater if students discussed the possible causes of these rumors and their impact.
This quote from my understanding is stating that if one discusses what they have learned or what thoughts may have been changed threw their experience the impact of the experience will be better. I don’t know kind of worded funny but what I mean is that by discussing things you have learned this will have a much greater impact upon you as a SL.


About the reading… Honestly I really didn’t enjoy this one I’m sure it’s a great piece, but I felt as if they were trying to get too much across in this one article. The reading it’s self wasn’t difficult but seemed as if a couple of things were being repeated constantly idk I’m going to go read a few blogs to see what others thought.

TALKiNG P0iNTS #4 Christensen

ARGUMENT:Christensen argues that we the people are being manipulated by the media so we live our lives accordingly to what we learn from the TV. Magazines etc. and that this shouldn’t be how we expand our lifestyle.

Quotes:
#1“Our students suckle the same pap. Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream.” I agree 100 percent…
#2 “We are not only taught certain styles of violence, the latest fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic strips: we are also taught how to succeed, how to love, how to buy, how to conquer, how to forget the past and suppress the future. We are taught, more than anything else, how not to rebel.”

Is this completely true? Are we actually taught certain styles of violence? If so what are some of the styles we are not taught? I agree that we are taught the latest fashion trends, sex roles, how to succeed, love, buy and conquer. But once again I’m blinded when it comes to how they teach us how to “forget” the past, suppress the future or how not to fight back? Can anybody give me examples?

#3 “Many students don't want to believe that they have been manipulated by children's media or advertising. No one wants to admit that they've been "handled" by the media. They assure me that they make their own choices and the media has no power over them.”

I find it funny that this “many” students don’t want to believe that they have been manipulated. Why not? I personally would admit and do admit that as a child I always wanted to be like the people in the TV I wanted my parents to get me the brand name sneakers that all the “cool” kids wore and I really didn’t care if they told me that I just want to copy everything I see. Honestly I knew it was true and didn’t care. But now I really don’t care so I say I still am kind of being manipulated but not completely because I don’t mind wearing things that aren’t “cool” or isn’t in style just because of what others might say. If I can’t afford something that is “in” I won’t go out and do the impossible to get like some people would.

#4 “Because we can never look like Cinderella, we begin to hate ourselves. The Barbie syndrome starts as we begin a lifelong search for the perfect body. Crash diets, fat phobias, and the obsession with the materialistic become commonplace. The belief that a product will make us rise above our competition, our friends, turns us Into addicts.
Hate I believe is such a strong word to describe this, but I do believe it makes us think about how we can perfect our bodies to make them similar to the ideal bodies they are talking about. And once again I have to agree 100 % with this quotation beside that we begin to “hate our selves” .

TALKIN POINTS #3 CARLSON

TALKING POINTS #3 CARLSON

ARGUMENT: Carlson argues that the public school system is in denial about homosexuality, and that they should reform the curriculum in order to include it and make existence of it.


Quotes

# 1 “Throughout this century, one of the primary means of ensuring that gayness was an invisible presence in the school was through the dismissal of teachers who were found out to be homosexuals.”
When I read this I was honestly shocked, never had it crossed my mind that this would be possible just because of someone’s sexual orientation. I than wondered if there is any written documents that states that “non straight” people can’t be teachers and if not how are these teachers taken away from there positions? I then laughed when I got to the part of the “ridiculous crushes” is it not possible for straight women to fall in love with one of her male students? Is this impossible? No therefore that shouldn’t be a reason why homosexual teachers be dismissed from their jobs.


#2 “In 1993, for example, the gay rights movement claimed a major victory in the signing into law of a Minnesota bill that makes it illegal to discriminate against lesbians and gay men in employment and housing. Yet what got ignored in all the celebrating was a provision in the bill that prohibits teaching about homosexuality in the public schools.”
Honestly this I believe is childish why would they celebrate about a bill that prohibits teachings about homosexuality? Why would they even pass this? If I was a parent I would want my child to learn about this simply because it’s an issue many people face. Well idk if it’s an issue but that’s the only word that comes to mind. I would like my child to know about the different types of sexualities there is just like the different races there are its not all about being pink, straight, wealthy, or incapable. There are different “combinations” and someone shouldn’t be treated unfairly if there “combination” isn’t the ideal one. Lol I know I really worded this funny comment if you need any clarifications.


#3 "To the extent that gayness is recognized in the curriculum, it is likely to be in the health curriculum, where it is associated with disease.”
WHY???? I do kind of understand how it fits into the health curriculum, but why is it that it’s only being associated with disease?

#4 “We cannot and should not attempt to impose "politically correct" beliefs 0n students; but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices.”
I totally agree with that because not everyone agrees to what is “politically correct” anyways so why not teach them about the “politically incorrect” as well?


About the reading…. Reading Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by DENNIS CARLSON, was not a difficult reading what so ever. I was really into throughout the entire reading; I “loved” the examples that were given on how public schools try to incorporate homosexuality into the curriculum by not doing so at all. It’s like there faking the students about its existence . I could just imagine how hard it would be for these students (GLBT) to even bother waking up in the morning to go to school knowing that they have to live in fear. Another thing I was thinking about through the reading was about private schools? If its this bad in public schools I can’t even begin to imagine how much worst it is in a private school?

Talking Points #2 Rodriguez

Talking Points # 2 Rodriguez
Argument – I believe Rodriquez argues that for one to fit in America one (individual) must learn the English language.

Quotes.

1. “What I needed to learn in school was that I had the right- and the obligation- to speak the public language of los gringos.”
Right= Entitlement or freedom -a justified claim or entitlement, or the freedom to do something.
Obligation=Duty - something that must be done because of legal or moral duty
DOUBLE Standard Anyone? So if I read it correctly one has the choice to learn, but also has the obligation to learn. So it really isn’t a choice in the first place?
2. “Without question, it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address me in Spanish when I entered the classroom, I would have felt much less afraid. I would have trusted them and responded with ease. ”
This quote also shows how this poor child was being forced to do something he felt uncomfortable with. Was he not in bilingual classes? Why couldn’t the teachers understand that maybe if they did talk to him in Spanish he would feel more comfortable? In a way this seems like a way to force the children to learn the language.
3. “Is it possible for you and your husband to encourage your children to practice their English when they are at home? ….. In a instant, they agreed to give up the language (the sound) that had revealed and accentuated our family’s closeness.”
Do you think this was really necessary for them to do? Honestly coming from a home were my parents do not speak fluent English I personally believe they shouldn’t have even bothered to ask for such thing. Children will learn eventually asking them to practice the English language more at home I believe was not really needed simply because of that is caused in the reading.
4. “The family’s quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents. Sentences needed to be spoken slowly when I child addressed his mother or father. ”
So are we being thought that once we learn the English language it’s ok to just forget about our main language and not worry about speaking with those who do not know the language?


ABOUT THE READING.

It actually wasn’t bad, easy read kept my attention because I could actually relate too many of the things happening in the story. He had many good points about multilingual individuals and how it hard for them to change.

SERVICE LEARNING

Well since I haven’t had the chance to fully talk about my experience I decided ill just post a little something about. Since we have gotten started I have gone twice honestly I was placed somewhere I really didn’t want to go, but really didn’t think it was extremely necessary to be asked to be replaced somewhere else. I thought hey teachers don’t get to choose what students they want to have in their classrooms so w.e. The first day I went I felt a little awkward the secretary didn’t seem to care that I walked in if I wouldn’t have asked them a question I don’t think they would have even noticed I walked in so that was weird. When I got to the class room I was a assigned I just walked in and introduced myself to the teachers there were 3 of them for about 17 3rd grade ESL students. I was then assigned to work with this one boy who not long ago had come from Bolivia and didn’t speak any English. At first everyone was working on vocab words and he just sat there, mind you the words were written on the board only in English this child sat there playing with his pencil without any care to what everyone else was doing. I asked him to write the words and when he did I asked him to try and pronounce them he wasn’t able to so I read the words and told him to repeat them after me this he did well. I then asked him if any of these words sounded like a word in Spanish and he said no. Most of them did tho, I was become frustrated because I thought he wasn’t trying but then I told him which words sounded alike and he agreed but then another problem arose in Spanish these words meant a couple of different things so I asked the teacher if it was all right for me to draw pictures on index cards for him and she said yes and that it was a real good idea. Then we did some math and he was also behind, but he said he liked doing math. One thing I found strange about this class was a good and full of these students were capable of being in regular but I guess there parents also want them to learn Spanish so they were also in this class. This I believe is stupid because some know both languages and others only know Spanish and the text books are completely in English no translations at all. So I though t to myself these children are going to learn English the hard way or not at all, which I don’t think is fair. Ookkk that’s enough just wanted to say a few words about it maybe I’ll share some more Thursday.

Talking Points # 1 on Kozol/ Golberg

Kozol Amazing Grace:

Context; This reading was mainly about a couple of the poorest cities in New York.
Different Poverty levels and it's effects to the people living in these places.

Argument; I bieleve Kozol argues that these people are mistreated because of their living status/situations.

EXAMPLES:

1."The point is that they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants," she says. "The waste incinerator is just one more lovely way of showing their affection."

This I believe backs up that argument because usually in most neighborhoods they go around tallying the people’s votes before they add anything or remove anything to or from a certain neighborhood. But since most of the people in that neighborhood are living off of the government’s money they probably think it’s ok for them to step all over them.

2. “The time before, when I had a fever my doctor said I had pneumonia. I waited in the emergency room two days to be admitted.”

When I read that I honestly couldn’t believe it, I don’t think this is fair not at all. Even though the hospital may be really short staffed or not have enough room I think 2 days is completely ridiculous. Why couldn’t they have an ambulance take her to another hospital in another part of the City or anywhere else?

3. “My doctor says, when it comes to poor, they can’t get nothin’ right.”

So glad a doctor noticed and tells a poor person the “truth” for once huh? That’s a shame how they admit to that. What are poor’s worthless? Just because there poor do we have to treat them differently with importance?


About the reading;
Personally I think this was an easy reading, not boring at all I actually could have picture these neighborhoods in my head. I liked how he used different peoples experiences and still made the same point.


Goldberg 110 People:

Context: This piece is about Goldberg disscusing what he thinks about Jonathan Kozol's ways.

Argument: He argues that Kozol thinks education cannot and should not be politically unbiased.

Examples:
1. "Kozol is the patron saint of today's powerful liberal educational establishment."

Honestly i dont see why this is such a problem to him is he wants to support liberbal education let him be. Why is it that all schools teach the same things over and over know one never learns anything different every one starts on Columbus and ends up discussing the World wars.

2.

About ME ii GUESS

Ok so here goes... UmmM As you can see my name is LISBETH YES like Liz & Beth put together lol. I’m only 18, but will soon be turning 19 on October 3rd =D. Unfortunately it’s only my second year here at R.I.C but hey eventually I’ll be gone. I’m majoring in Elementary education. Oh yea I am currently living on campus and when I am not in class I’m pretty much just in my room really really miserable because I live in Browne and my walls are also BROWN and I hate that color & I asked to paint them and they said I couldn't =( . Ok maybe I am over exaggerating a little too much but yea idk know what else to say so I am going to leave it at this for now…