Talking Point #8

“Differing curricular, pedagogical, and pupil evaluation practices emphasize different cognitive and behavioral skills in each social setting and thus contribute to the development in the children of certain potential relationships to physical and symbolic capital, to authority, and to the process of work… These differences may not only contribute to the development in the children in each social class of certain types of economically significant relationships and not others but would thereby help to reproduce this system of relations in society. In the contribution to the reproduction of unequal social relations lies a theoretical meaning and social consequence of classroom practice" Anyon brings up an excellent point, which I will actually talk more about during the service learning group project. By not funding all schools the same we are disadvantaging some students and predetermining their future for them.  We are either raising or lowering their potential based solely on where they live. This also co insides with anyon's idea of "hidden curriculum".

 “Several weeks later, after a test, a group of her children "still didn't get it," and she made no attempt to explain the concept of dividing things into groups or to give them manipulables for their own investigation. Rather, she went over the steps with them again and told them that they "needed more practice." It obviously must be the children's fault- it couldn't possibly be the teachers not knowing the childrens needs.  I think that the school I am doing service learning at thinks the same way.  Teachers are taking the wrong approach!!  Especially for those children that cannot sit still.  Having the children sit through a lesson without interaction or hands on activities might as well be singing them a lullaby or giving them time to become distracted or zone out.

Talking Point #10

“People are naturally curious. They are born learners. Education can either develop or stifle their inclination to ask why and to learn. A curriculum that avoids questioning school and society is not, as is commonly supposed, politically neutral. It cuts off the students' development and critical thinkers about their world. If the students' task is to memorize rule, and existing knowledge, without questioning the subject matter or the learning process, their potential for critical thought and action will be restricted.”  I wrote a paper for my previous college concerning this topic as well as the benefits of the kinesthetic approach to teaching.  In my opinion children learn best by exploring and coming to their own conclusion.  The way children are asked to learn today makes them uninterested and forced to learn certain things in a particular way. Brainwashing may be a better term used, rather than teaching.

“Teacher-centered curricula in the classroom and administration-centered power in the school or college reflect the reality of other social institutions.  Traditional schools thus prepare students to fit into an education and a society not run for them or by them but rather sat up for and run by elites”.  This can be related to the Johnson reading as well as SCWAAMP.  There is always someone above a person that’s pulling the strings.  They want things to be a certain way and those who control the path are generally white males.  It really isn’t up to teachers or the administration, they are given criteria to cover and then expected to teach to the standard; standards that the elites create.

“This does not mean that students have nothing to learn… neither does it mean that students reinvent subject matter each time they study it or that the academic expertise of the teacher has no role in the classroom.  Formal bodies of knowledge, standard usage, and the teacher’s academic background all belong in critical classrooms.  As long as existing knowledge is not presented as facts and doctrines to be absorbed without question” I believe that this is the problem.  We are trained to question something if we don’t understand it.  It is very rare for a person to question why something is done the way it is, at least without being prompted to ask questions.  Everyone thinks about it but few take action.  Most remain silent simply because it is easier to go with the flow and cause less commotion.  Is it really worth it though?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9d8TF7DlyU

WEEK ASSIGNMENT ON SHOR--missing?

Does anyone else's blackboard say that the folder is missing for the next couple of weeks assignments?

Talk Points: Kliewer

Shayne Robbins states "That class would not be half what it is if any one of those kids got segregated. We're all together in here".  In my opinion students with disabilities should not be segregated at all.  When I was in my senior year of high school I worked one hour a day each week with the special needs children.  All special needs students stayed in one classroom, in the basement all day long (aside from lunch time) and whats worse?  At one point they were forced to sit at two tables in the back of the lunchroom.  How were these students supposed to function in everyday society if they weren't even allowed to assosciate themselves with others?  Children with special needs add some diversity to the classroom. In some cases certain actions need to be taken, but with most students we don't even give them a chance.  At least if these students were able to switch classrooms and walk through the hallways with other students inbetween classes, they would have some sort of interaction with others.  It isn't fair for us to not include them; they bring a lot to the classroom, just as much as any other person would.
Lee is, in a sense, in a way he's branded.  People see him. They see Down syndrome.  They see mental challenge, retardation, whatever you want to call it.  That's what they see, but they wouldn't be seeing him. This is a challenge that many of us face.  The stereotypes and misjudgements. Whether you have Down syndrome, white, black, handicapped or able bodied.  Everyone faces being judged just by what they look like.  Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest things to change a person's perception of.  Many make people make a decision about you before you even open your mouth to introduce yourself- just based on your appearance.  This is why it is so important to get to know each student as an individual before you judge them.  You may never know which students have an IEP, have a home, have both their parents, or what the child has been through in their life.  Every child should be seen as an individual and for who they are.

Talking Points: Weil

“You need to engage boys’ energy, use it, rather than trying to say, No, no, no. So instead of having boys raise their hands, you’re going to have boys literally stand up. You’re going to do physical representation of number lines. Relay races. Ball tosses during discussion.” For the girls, Chadwell prescribes a focus on “the connections girls have (a) with the content, (b) with each other and (c) with the teacher. If you try to stop girls from talking to one another, that’s not successful. So you do a lot of meeting in circles, where every girl can share something from her own life that relates to the content in class.” I agree with this statement.  Boys generally are much more active and have a much more difficult time sitting still in class.  I find that usually, they direct attention to themselves or distract others because they are bored with the content or the method of teaching.  Girls I believe enjoy chitchatting more than boys.  If girls were given the opportunity to speak freely in a class discussion it would benefit both the teacher and the students.

So many variables are at play in a school: quality of teachers, quality of the principal, quality of the infrastructure, involvement of families, financing, curriculum — the list is nearly endless. Riordan says, “You’re never going to be able to compare two types of schools and say, ‘The data very strongly suggests that schools that look like a are better than schools that look like b.’ ” This has much to do with what is going on today.  We are constantly comparing schools to one another which I think is nearly impossible.  Riordan brings up a solid point.  How can you compare?  So many factors contribute and have an impact on a school.  There really isn’t and will never be a way to fully make things equal or at least equal enough so we are able to compare them.

Given the myriad ways in which our schools are failing, it may be hard to remember that public schools were intended not only to instruct children in reading and math but also to teach them commonality, tolerance and what it means to be American. “When you segregate, by any means, you lose some of that,” says Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation. “Even if one could prove that sending a kid off to his or her own school based on religion or race or ethnicity or gender did a little bit better job of raising the academic skills for workers in the economy, there’s also the issue of trying to create tolerant citizens in a democracy.” I don’t see this as segregating children.  Being in an all-boy or all-girl classroom isn’t a punishment; it is only to better their education and the child’s future in way that is proven more effective.  If children have the option to attend then the parents and their children can decide based their own beliefs on the school.  They are not being forced to be in different classrooms it is an option.  Personally, I would have loved to attend an all girl school.  I hated when I was younger being in a co-ed class.  I think that I would have benefited from having fewer distractions in the classroom.  I don’t understand how parents would see it as any other way. 

I can definitely see everyones point made in class (they oppose the situation).  I just think that in some cases, all-boy or all-girl classes can be beneficial to students at least to an extent or of a certain age.  I never considered completely seperate schools, the way I took the reading was that there was an all boy class and an all girl class.  I figured they could interact at lunch, or afterschool, possibly recess.  I agree with Ken's point- if something isn't working it's worth giving other things a shot.

Talking Points: A Particularly Cheap White Whine:WISE

For my quotes this week I took three of Wise's quotes about how the nation's educational system provides unfair advantages to people.

"The average white student in the U.S. attends school with half as many poor kids as the average black or Latino student, which in turn has a direct effect on performance, since attending a low-poverty school generally means having more resources available for direct instruction. Indeed, schools with high concentrations of students of color are 11-15 times more likely than mostly white schools to have high concentrations of student poverty."  I never really considered how this was taking a toll on students education... Schools with a high count of student poverty have some of the worst testing scores. Middle class students attend generally better school systems, get better grades,  get on the right track for a more society acceptable way of life.  Does this mean we should be mixing schools by district, income, and race?  Would that make things better or worse? I'm not completely sure.

"White students are twice as likely as their African American or Latino counterparts to be taught by the most highly qualified teachers and half as likely to have the least qualified instructors in class. This too directly benefits whites, as research suggests being taught by highly qualified teachers is one of the most important factors in school achievement".  I agree, being taught by highly qualified teachers is a very important factor in school achievement.  I think the school systems should be mixing the most highly qualified teachers, with new teachers and then from there they should work together whether it be in workshops on ways to improve or just generally planning curriculum together.  This way all students will have that same advantage (or at least SOME advantage of which they would benefit from).

"Whites are twice as likely to be placed in honors or advanced placement classes, relative to black students, and that even when academic performance would justify lower placement for whites and higher placement for blacks, it is the African American students who are disproportionately tracked low, and whites who are tracked higher ." This statistic probably correlates with the two prior points.  Students are placed in honors or AP classes more often because they are generally doing better in classes.  If more white than black students are being placed in these classes it could very well be because they are poverty stricken and have not benefited from some of their teachers.  They overall have not had the same opportunities as white children may of had.  They also may not do as well on standardized testing as well because they did not have the same childhood and bringing up as everyone else.  Such as in Meier's reading and examples in class... Some students are read to and children look at the pictures/read along, some are told stories and allowed their imagination to run wild.

In service of what?

“The approach to service learning taken by Mr. Johnson stresses charity and the ways in which participating in service and reflection can develop students' sense of altruism…  Ms. Adams' students, by contrast, began their work with a systematic and critical analysis of the causes of homelessness and of the strategies employed to prevent it.”  It was interesting to hear the contrasts between the outcomes of each service learning project.  If I were to do a service learning project with my future students then I would definitely choose a combination of the two approaches.  Depending on the age of students I would have them analyze the cause and strategies but I would also allow them to choose to complete their service learning with something they are passionate about, rather than something I alone am passionate about.

“Students tutor, coach softball, paint playgrounds, and read to the elderly because they are interested in people or because they want to learn a little about poverty and racism before they head out into the waiting corporate world . . . . We do not volunteer "to make a statement," or to use the people we work with to protest something. We try to see the homeless man, the hungry child, and the dying woman as the people they are, not the means to some political end.” I agree with this statement much more than the others.  William T. Grant foundation has a much more positive outlook on things.  It isn’t about politics it’s about the people.

I definitely question the difference between charity and change.  In table one it states that “charity is giving, part of a civic duty, and intellectually has an effect of an additive experience.  Whereas change states it is caring, part of social reconstruction and the effect is a transformative experience.”  However I still have trouble differentiating between the two… I see charity as part of change.  Giving is caring.  Everyone needs to be involved in civic duty in order to reach a level of social reconstruction.  Lastly, what may start as an additive experience can turn into a transformative experience and really have an everlasting effect on one’s life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv1_ga_zKbU&feature=related