misc post 2

this article deals with the Rodriguez article and the difference between home culture and school culture. This is a very important topic we discussed and there were a lot of negative feelings towards having two separate cultures( mainly language) between home and school. this can cause the students to have a lot of mis communication and also to become very stressed out, which tends to hinder school work and behavior

http://h06.cgpublisher.com/proposals/515/index_html

misc post 1

One of the major themes we covered in class this year was oppression and its presence today. this article talks about the different types of todays oppression and deals with college acceptance. as Christensen talked about its important for these oppressed students to "talk back" against it.

http://www.helium.com/items/1687313-should-race-be-considered-for-college-admissions

visit 9

Visit Number 9

Today was my ninth and final visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. As I was driving to the school I was a little disappointed that I would no longer get to go in every week and work with these young children. I thought each of these kids was unique and all had many qualities for which to like them. Every visit has been a fun and successful one and the drive that these kids have to learn is incredible. It felt kind of like the last day of high school and that I wouldn’t be seeing my friends anymore, because these kids have all grown on me. As I pulled in the school I noticed that the spray paint had still not been replaced on the walls, and I was very happy for that. As I walked into the lobby I noticed a new display that contained photos of students who excelled in certain areas of academics. I thought that this was a great thing to have up in the school for all to see and would probably end up as a form of motivation for all the students to work that much harder. I stopped in and said my usual hellos to Mr. Lahey and Randy. We talked about the new display and how they had already heard kids talking about how they wanted to be up in the photos. I hope this display encourages all the kids to work harder in school which will help keep them on the right path down the road. I then went and spoke with Mrs. Peterson about some paper work to be filled out and got my folder full of activities. I headed down the hall to my trailer and was bombarded with hellos this morning. It was as if the kids knew this was my final visit. I spoke with Barb for several minutes and was very happy when she asked me to continue coming till the end of the school year. She told me I had been extremely helpful to both her and the students and that they all adored me and enjoyed the days that I came. This help put me in a much more positive mood and I went and sat at my table. I called up the second group first today just to mix it up and Bubbles, Cory, Trevor, and Trinity all came running up. Barb asked me to focus mainly on fluency today and showed me the finger dragging technique to show to the kids and make sure they were following it. At first we talked about punctuation. We went over all the different kinds of punctuations, what they were called, when to use them, how they affected the sentence and all the other basic stuff. We read through the first mini story about a dog and the kids struggled at first, but after having to re read pages they were clearly beginning to get a lot better at it. We then went on and read a second story about these two pigs and the kids had a much easier time with this book. After we finished reading the second story we talked about the story web and went over characters, settings, problems, and solutions. We talked again about the punctuation real quick and after forty minutes I had to send them all back to their seats. I then called up the second group of students and Ricky, Julian, Lucy, and J-rock all came over. They were all not very fond of reading either story but I told them it had to be done. We talked quickly about the punctuation and made sure everyone understood it. We then made our way into the first story about the puppy and this group seemed to struggle a little less than the others. After the puppy story we moved onto the pig one which was a little easier and more fun to read. The kids all did an excellent job reading and we completed the same story web and punctuation talk again. It was another successful day and I was looking forward to being able to returning again.

visit 8

Visit Number 8

Today was my eighth visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. Today is very humid and the air is sticky, I hope it doesn’t make the children less attentive. As I pulled into the school parking lot I was relieved to see that the spray paint from the side of the building had not been replaced by the neighborhood hoodlums. Things like that can have very negative effects on the school children, especially at such a young age. I headed inside and said my usual good mornings to Mr. Lahey and Randy. I then went and talked to Mrs. Peterson for a few minutes and she told me that she had gone ahead and put more new materials in my folder because my group and I were moving at such a gradual pace. As I walked down the hall to my classroom I noticed a teacher escorting two young boys to the principal’s office. The boys were both red in the face and appeared out of breath. One boy’s shirt was ripped at the collar and other boy had what looked like fist marks on his cheek. It was pretty obvious that these kids had been fighting and teacher had broken it up. Both boys were Hispanic and it really bothered me that they fought at such a young age and that they even went as far as to throw punches. I helped the teacher escort the kids to the office and then headed down the hall to my trailer. On the way I noticed a teacher in the hallway yelling at a student who had apparently been using very vulgar language. I wasn’t sure if screaming at the child in the hall was the correct way to go about dealing with him, but then again I don’t know what the child said, if he had been warned or if he had greatly offended somebody in his class. I heard him tell his teacher that he thought it was okay because that was how his family and he spoke at home. I could see the astonished look on the teachers face but I wasn’t able to see how she dealt with the situation. Hopefully she called his parents and explained his home behavior was having negative affects during school and that they needed to watch their language around him. But anyway I finally got to my trailer and entered. I was greeted with the usually many hellos and kids begging to come work with me. I talked to Barb for a few minutes about what we would do and she told me she was very proud of everything I had done with the children so far. I took my spot at the table in the back and called up Ricky, Julian, Lucy, and the new student J-rock. We quickly reviewed what he had gone over the previous work before and then got to work on rhyming schemes. We went over the parts of the word that rhyme with other words and then reviewed many rhyming words. We played a very fun memory card game where the deck contained about twenty cards of ten rhyming pairs. The kids seemed to really like this game and they were very enthusiastic. They were all very sad to have to return to class as the second group came running up with smiles from ear to ear. We quickly got into the rhyming activity and the children were all working so hard and doing an excellent job. The more positive comments I gave the kids the harder they worked and the harder they worked led to greater results at the end of the day. Today was another successful day and I am not looking forward to next because it will be my final visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. L

visit 7

Visit Number 7

Today was my seventh visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. It’s back to chilly weather today and I was hoping it was not going to have a negative effect on the kid’s work ethics and focus. The weather keeps playing games going cold to warm to cold to warm. Just when the hopes of nice weather are here to stay it’s raining and cold again making everyone miserable. I was both happy and impressed to see that almost every trace of the once vulgar spray paint was gone from the side of the school building. I was happy to see that the school administrators took the gang problems very seriously and were very intent on keeping it out of the schools. I walked in and went into Mr. Lahey’s office and said good morning to him and Randy. We talked for several minutes about the spray paint from the side of the building and we were all very happy to see it gone. Hopefully the hoodlums in the neighborhood don’t put it up again and realize that these young kids do not need to see that garbage. I then stopped by Mrs. Peterson’s office and grabbed my folder which still contained new materials for the kids. When I left the office something struck me for the first time I had never really paid attention to before. The school lobby contained a wooden carved bench with Native American marking and carved eagles at either end, and next to stood a full sized Native American cutout in full battle attire. I thought this kind of a strange thing to be found in the lobby of a school that contained only 2 Native American students out of just over four hundred. Putting it off my mind I made my way down the hall to my trailer. As I walked in I was greeted with my hellos and questions to join the group. I made my way over to Barbs and we talked for several minutes about what I would be covering in today’s lessons. I called the first group of students and Ricky, Julian, Sara, and the new student J-rock all came over. I made them the same deal that if they behaved and we were able to cover all the materials without mistakes that we would be able to play the special version of candy land again. The kids all got very excited but quickly settled back down. We began an activity that involved reading a story where every kid read his own page out loud. This helped them with their reading, pronunciation, and courage to read in front of others. After we finished reading we filled out a sheet with characters from the story, settings, problems, and solutions to the problems. The kids did a very excellent job and I was very impressed. We then moved onto an activity that dealt with fluency again. The kids all did another excellent job and I was again very impressed. We were then able to move onto the candy land. I added a special rule that didn’t allow the kids to move spaces unless they had the correct pronunciation of the words on the back of the cards. After forty five minutes I again had to deal with the sad faces of students as they headed back to their seats to join the rest of the class. I then called up the second group and Bubbles Cory Trevor and Trinity all came running over. I made the same deal with them that I had made with first group candy land. We then went on to read the story and made our way through the story web afterwards. It took a little bit longer than the first group but we finally finished up. We then went onto the fluency activity and the kids made it through this one with less difficulty than the first group. The kids all behaved well and did a fantastic job with all the activities we did together. We then moved on to candy land and the kids were all having a good time. After another forty five minutes I again had to deal with sad faces and pleas for me to stay. I felt bad having to leave, but I was happy about another successful day.

visit 6

Visit Number 6

Today was my sixth visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. I walked in today knowing it was going to be a good day. When I pulled into the parking lot I noticed some spray paint tagged on the school building. Upon seeing this I was kind of disappointed that someone doesn’t have enough respect to keep their vulgar gang signs and symbols away from places designated for young children. I brushed it off and followed my usual routine of stopping in to say hello to Mr. Lahey and Randy like every other morning. I brought up how I had just seen the spray paint on the side of the building and we all went out and looked at it. We talked about what a shame it was that these thugs didn’t have enough respect to keep their garbage off of the school grounds. They thanked me for pointing it out and they told me they were going to talk to the custodians about having it removed. I just hoped the kids didn’t see it and think it was something cool and that they wanted to be a part of it. I then stopped in to talk to Mrs. Peterson real quick and she handed me a handful of new material for the kids, and thanked for me taking the time to come request new stuff at the request of the students. I was very excited to get to my trailer and get right to work on these new materials. As I entered the trailer I was greeted with the usual hellos and requests to join my group and I made my way over to Barbs desk. We talked about keeping the kids away from the side of the building with the spray paint and also how I had new activities for the kids to do. Barb told me she actually had something important to tell me and let me know the Lucy had gotten herself back on grades with the rest of the class and no longer needed to be in the group. When I began walking over to her desk, Lucy noticed I was there and jumped up, ran over and threw her arms around me hugging and thanking me a thousand times. I told her I was very proud of her for working so hard and handed her a handful of stickers. As I sat down to get to work with Ricky, Julian, and Sara Barb brought over a student who we’ll call J-Rock. J rock was the other white child in the classroom and he was very shy. I introduced myself and told him we were looking forward to having him work with us. We jumped right into a fluency activity that dealt with a lot of reading. This lesson was a level harder than ones we had previously worked on and we had plenty of mistakes to correct. After about twenty minutes the kids learned the materials and we were making it through without any mistakes. We moved on to the next activity which dealt with blends again. We worked on similar words but with different things to do which really helped the kids learn better. Forty five minutes after working with the first group it was time to move on to the next group. Ricky, Julian, Lucy all looked sad and moaned as they headed back to their seats and I told J-rock it very nice to meet him. He smiled shyly and then headed back to his desk. I then called up the second group of kids who all came running. We ran into similar mistakes as the first group and it took just a little bit longer to get through the stuff. However on the second activity we moved faster than the first group and we were able to move onto a third activity that dealt with sight words. The kids were all sad to see me go, and it was another great successful day.

visit 5

Visit Number 5

Today was my fifth visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. It was nice out today and I could tell it would help the kids get into a good mood which always makes these lessons go smooth. I stopped in and said my usual hellos to Mr. Lahey and Randy. I stopped and talked to my literacy coach real quick, her name is Mrs. Peterson. I told her that I thought it would be helpful to get different activities for the children because it was obvious they were becoming bored. We talked about the kids just memorizing the answers and repeating them back, but I explained that I had done another activity from the classroom that dealt with the same thing but was based on completely different material. After several minutes of discussion she told me that the following week I would be provided with new folders for the classroom. I headed down the hall and noticed something interesting on the way there. I saw an older middle school student helping a younger student find her way to the bathroom. I was impressed at how responsible this young child already was. I finally got into my trailer and was again greeted heavily with hellos and many students who I didn’t work with were asking if it was their turn to come work with me. I felt bad telling them that they didn’t need to do the extra work with me and I hated to see the sad looks on their faces. I went and talked to Barb for a minute and she gave me some fresh packets to do with the kids. Ricky, Julian, Sara and Lucy were all very excited to sit down and get to work. We covered activates that dealt with vowels, fluency, and reading. I bribed the kids with candy land, and they all behaved very well and we were able to cover all the materials properly, and play a new version of candy land that involved reading. Like the prior weeks the kids seemed sad to have to go back to the regular class but those frowns were quickly replaced with the smiles of Trevor, Cory, Bubbles, and Trinity. I made them the same deal I made with the first group about playing candy land at the end if they paid attention and we covered everything. We moved through activities a little slower and with a little bit more confusion. We went over the material a few more times until everyone felt comfortable with it and they wernt making the same mistakes over and over, and I could tell they really understood it. We then moved on the candy land which is a fun way to help the kids read, have fun, stay interested, and work hard for. Again another successful day.

visit 4

Visit Number 4

Today was my fourth visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. After missing the previous week due to extreme weather conditions I was looking forward to getting in there and getting right to work with the children. Following my usual routine I first stopped and said good morning to Mr. Lahey and Randy. We talked for several minutes about that child Cyrus from last week and they told me he was one strike away from being thrown out of school. They went on to explain he would not be allowed back into Sunnyvale until he completed behavioral classes, but most likely the parents would just end up putting Cyrus into another school and seeing if those teachers can handle and put up with him. This made me feel bad for Cyrus for several reasons. The first is that he is troubled and doesn’t understand the image he has created for himself at such a young age. The second reason I felt pity for the young Cyrus was because he doesn’t have the benefits of having parents to guide him down the right path in life and make sure he behaves normally as a young boy his age should. After brushing off the whole Cyrus issue I finally headed down the hallway to my trailer. I walked in and was again instantly greeted with multiple hellos. As I made my way over towards Barbs desk I was asked by several students if they could come and work with me today. I felt bad having to tell them they couldn’t come over to our group because they were not on the list of students who required extra help. The kids all appeared upset and looked as if they were feeling left out on the activities we were working on. After talking with Barb about the activities and things we’d be working on I went and took my seat at the table in the back. I called up the first group of students which consisted of Ricky, Julian, Sara, and Lucy. Again I noticed they sat in the exact same way they did last time, Ricky next to Julian, and then an empty seat followed by Sara next to Lucy. I laughed to myself and then quickly moved them into the boy/girl order from last week. We then proceeded with our activity which dealt with vowels and consonants again. The kids seemed to remember most of the things we went over and even remembered the helpful hints I had given them. I was very impressed at their ability to intake knowledge and then remember and relate to other similar activities. We were able to breeze through the materials with almost no problems at all. We then moved on to an activity that involved reading a story. Barb has tons of different little stories with multiple copies which make it easier for the kids to follow along. I was again impressed at the reading ability of the young children who were cruising through the pages and only really struggling with the names of characters which were understandable because of the names were rather silly. After forty five minutes it was time to call up the second group of students and again Ricky, Julian, Sara, and Lucy all looked disappointed it was time for them to return to the normal class activities. I then called up the second group and similar to the first group Trevor, Cory, Trinity, and Bubbles came running up almost tripping over each other. These children sat in the same order as the week before and again didn’t appear affected by each other’s sexes. We did the same activities as the first group and they also remember everything we had covered previously. We then moved onto the story and were able to breeze through it without any issues, and the great cooperation of the children allowed us to actually read two stories and get more work done. I was impressed and very happy with the kids and handed them all stickers. My fourth visit was again a very successful and impressive one.

visit 3

Visit Number 3

Today was my third visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. I was looking forward to getting in and getting right down to business with the kids. After stopping and saying good morning and Mr. Lahey and Randy I headed down the hallway to my trailer. As I entered I was greeted with several different “hello Mr. Josh’s” which made me feel very welcome. I went and spoke with Barb for a few minutes and discussed everything I would be covering today. Finally sitting down at my little table in the back I called up my first group of students. Ricky, Julian, Sara, and Lucy all came running over and sat down in front of me. I noticed they sat in the same exact seats as last time which was Ricky next to Julian and then an empty seat and then Sara next to Lucy. I thought it funny and then proceeded to ask them why there was the empty seat in between to which they all replied “because we don’t want to sit next to them.” Thinking nothing of it we jumped right into our first activity. Learning the difference between words spelt differently but are pronounced the same such as there, their, and they’re. I quickly noticed that the children sitting boy/boy and girl/girl was clearly not going to work out. The kids were talking among themselves and clearly not paying attention to the activity. This lead to me separating them girl/boy and girl/boy. This showed quick progress and we were able to move on with our activity. We then moved onto and activity which dealt with fluency again. We went over pronunciation and sight words. It was difficult to explain to the children the purpose of these sight words and the role they play in everyday life. After about forty five minutes it was time to call up my other group of students, the kids seemed so sad to have to go back to their seats. I called up the second group of students and Trinity, Cory, Trevor, and Bubbles and call came running over. I thought it was interesting that Bubbles did not mind sitting next to the girls and because he seemed so calm about it the girls didn’t think it was a big deal either. We jumped right into the activities and the kids quickly absorbed all the materials. During this particular visit I noticed this one child who we’ll call Cyrus giving the teacher a lot of back talk. Cyrus was one of the two white children in the classroom and the kids told me he is in trouble all day every day. The student’s desk is located next to teachers and nowhere near the groupings of desks where all the other children sit. I thought it was interesting to see this child so being so fresh to the teacher and I also happened to notice he was wearing expensive brand name clothing. After my session was up I went up to the teacher and talked to her about Cyrus. Apparently he comes from a family where he is in complete control of his parents. Whatever he wants he gets, and is allowed to behave in the manner he chooses, which explains his unacceptable behavior. Barb then went on to tell me sometimes he gets so carried away she has to call down the principle and have him deal with, and even at that it’s not always successful. She told me he is constantly sent home, and his parents could care less about the negative track record he’s already started for himself. Accept for seeing the disrespectful Cyrus my third visit was a good and successful one.

visit 2

Visit Number 2

Today was my second visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. After arriving to the school five minutes early I stopped in to say good morning to Mr. Lahey and Randy then grabbed my folder and proceeded down the hall to my trailer. After talking with Barb for a few minutes it was time to sit down and meet my second group of kids before working with the first group again. This group was three boys and one girl, who we will call Trevor, Cory, Bubbles, and Trinity. We spent the first few minutes going over the same questions as the previous group. Trevor told us all he enjoyed math, didn’t like social studies, was good at gym class, and wanted to work on his pronunciation. Next was Trinity who also liked math, didn’t like waking up early, was good at science, and wanted to work on sight words. Next was Cory who told us he liked social studies, didn’t like math, was good at English, and wanted to work on vowels and consonants. Finally we got to Bubbles who told is he loved social studies and science, was totally against math, was good at helping others with their work, and wanted to work on his reading skills. After getting to know them a little and learning about their interest, we were finally ready to get to work. We started by working on an activity that works on fluency. We had a bunch of cards with different words the kids were expected to know by sight and we spent a good twenty minutes flipping through the cards until we were able to make it through without any mistakes. We then moved on to an activity involving blends of letters in words the kids should also know without having to think to hard about what they are. We worked on the blends between t and h. The words we went over were ones the kids used constantly through every day including words like them, they, these, their, and there. The kids seemed to focus well and seemed to really appreciate the extra help I was giving them. After forty five minutes of good solid work it was time to say goodbye work with the first group again. Sitting down with Ricky, Julian, Sara and Lucy we quickly got back into the activity we left off on. We were getting back into the blends activity, the same I had just finished going over with the second group. We were able to sit down and get through all the same blends words as the other group and after twenty minutes were ready to move on. We went on to the other activity I had just done with the second group. We worked on the blends and were able to fly through with almost no problems at all. After forty five minutes we were finished up and the kids were sad to see me leave. All in all my second visit was a successful day.

journal1

Visit number one

Today was my first visit to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. I was both nervous and excited to go in and meet my literacy coach, principle, teacher, and students. I wasn’t really sure what to expect walking in, but the surrounding neighborhood appeared to be an indicator of what was to come. The surrounding houses all had unkempt lawns, trash piled on the sides of the houses and the sidewalk, and even a rundown liquor store right next to the school. This gave me the impression that this school will be full of students from working class families, and there will probably be many behavioral issues. When I went in I was shocked at what I saw. There was a young boy sitting in the principal’s office waiting for his parents to come pick him to start his out of school suspension. I sat next to him and asked him what grade he was in. He turned to me and told me he was in third grade and didn’t want to talk about what he’d done. I left it at that and went in to meet the literacy coach. She was a very interesting person and seemed to have great knowledge on the subjects to be taught. She gave us many helpful hints for teaching the kids including chin tapping, elongated pronunciation, and also many ways of making the activities fun and appealing to the students. I then went in to meet the principle of the school, who we’ll call Mr. Jim Lahey, to ask him a few basic questions about discipline at the school. Mr. Lahey was very happy to see me (a male) coming in to work the kids. After introducing me to the assistant principle who we’ll call Randy, they sat me down and explained a lot of the students needed an older role model to look up to because even at such a young age some of the children were already showing signs of heading down the negative road in life, a great example being the young student waiting to be picked up when I walked in. I was then brought to my classroom to meet my teachers and students. My teacher who we’ll call Barb is very welcoming and extremely nice lady. She introduced herself and told me she was very happy to have me in helping her with the students, and was very appreciative of VIPS sending me to her. I was given a folder containing all the materials I would need to work the students and basically left on my own to get to work. I started by looking around the class and taking note of the diversity, which left me completely baffled. There were two white children, one or two Asian students, and the rest were evenly split between Hispanic and African American students. Coming from a graduating class that was about 90% white I was very surprised, but I was in no way intimidated by these numbers. I called up the first group of children two boys and two girls who we will call Ricky, Julian, Lucy, and Sara. We started by introducing ourselves and telling one thing we liked about school, one thing we didn’t like about school, one thing they were good at in school, and one thing they weren’t good at but wanted to work to improve it. Ricky started off by telling us he enjoyed doing math, didn’t like English, was good at floor hockey during gym class, and wanted to work on his spelling, grammar, and reading ability. Next was Julian who said he also liked math, was not fond of social studies, was good at coloring, and wanted to work on his reading skills. Next was Lucy who told us she loved social studies, did not care for math, was good at English, and wanted to work on her sight words. Finally we got to Sara, who told us she liked social studies, didn’t like math, was good at social studies and wanted to work on pronunciation. After getting to know a little more about the kids we started to work on a blends activity, but were quickly stopped by a fire drill that lasted too long for us to do anymore work, and I was also unable to meet the other members of my tutoring group. All in all a successful first day.

talking points 10

"In school and society, the lack of meaningful participation alienates workers, teachers, and students. This alienation lowers their productivity in class and on the job. I think of this lowered productivity as a performance strike, an unorganized mass refusal to perform well, and informal and unacknowledged strike."

I chose this quote because it really stood out and also applies to everyday life. Students who chose they'd rather just sit there and not learn are choosing to alienate themselves from the rest of the class. this also happens to teachers who don't like to teach the material or even chose to ignore students request for obvious needs of extra help. When workers alienate themselves it causes their companies and consumers problems. People need to be feel more comfortable about participating, and alienation needs to cease to exist

“The teacher brings lesson plans, learning methods, personal experience, and academic knowledge to class but negotiates the curriculum with the students and begins with their language, themes, and understandings. To be democratic implies orienting subject matter to student culture – their interests, needs, speech and perceptions – while creating a negotiable openness in class where the students’ input jointly creates the learning process.”

I like this quote for several reasons. The first is how true it is, when these teachers show up with lesson plans, it's almost impossible to carry them out without first establishing negotiations with the students on what they are capable of handling and what they're able to do. It is also important to learn the students perspectives on the materials they're gonna learn, and their input can help in developing these lesson plans.

"Is the curriculum balanced and multicultural, giving equal attention to men, women, minorities, and nonelite groups, or is it traditionally male-oriented and Euro-centric?"

This is also a very important quote and goes along with the second one i chose. the curriculum and materials taught to the students is very important. Its necessary for these students to learn about all the different cultures, races, sexes, and backgrounds. An evenly divided curriculum allows students of these minorities, sexes, races and cultures to have a learning experience of not only other peoples cultures but their own as well

talking points christensen

“Young people, unprotected by any intellectual armor, hear or watch these stories again and again, often from the warmth of their mother’s or father’s lap.” Young children are often predisposed to the images on television, which are not meant for them to see. Children do not realize the racial undercurrents that are present in modern media, and will believe it as truth. If a child, who does not know any better, see’s a black man acting like a buffoon on television, he or she may believe that is how all black people behave all the time.

I chose this quote because i feel it applies to everyday life. Everyday there are new tv shows and movies that are aimed at attracting the attention of young children. However these forms of entertainment are almost always full of materials that are deemed inappropriate for these children. These images are stuck into these young minds and can cause children to grow up with negative impressions of those people depicted in them.

"Both of these tales leave young women with two myths: Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption."

I chose this quote because of how closely it relates to the first one i chose. These are two very wrong impressions that young children are capable of falling for. At these young ages women can develop a feeling that without a man they will never be capable of being happy or successful. the lesson about consumption to seperate themselves from harsh conditions is also one the children are vulnerable to. They could possibly not be happy with certain conditions at home that lead to them making drastic decisions following in the footsteps of their idles from these childhood films.

" Her father like so many good men, was weak for a pretty face and big legs and big hips. her stepmother had a heart of rock. The milk of human kindness had curled in her breast. But did she have a pretty face, big legs, and great big hips... Well, that fool fell right into that woman's trap.

I chose this quote even though it is not as closely related to the first one i chose.l the characteristics mentioned above that attract the man to women are ones that can be absorbed into the minds of young children, and when the time comes for them to be attracted to women, they will look for all the wrong things, which will essentially lead to a poor relationship

talking points 9

“Gardner’s work… has effectively broadened our interpretation of what it means to be smart. In doing so, he has transformed the school notion of intellect from a rigid, intrinsic commodity to a cultural construction widely shared by individuals traditionally devalued in the educational arena.”

In this day and age there are many areas in which children can excel and be considered intelligent or smart. The school cannot be considered just an institute for education, because many children have natural causes that allow them to be more successful in other fields than just classroom testing. Some children really excel in activities such as drama or band where it takes a lot of courage and practice to perform in front of large audiences. Some children excel in areas like atheletics which also require lots of practice and conditioning.

"How absurd to be judged by others at all, especially by those who have never experienced a disability or who are unwillingly providing us with support or who don't listen to the voices we have."

This statement is completely true. No one should ever be judged, and no one should ever feel that they have any right to judge others. People who don't suffer from disabilities, people that have problems supporting disabilities, and people who ignore people with disabilities especially should not be judging others. It is not only inhumane and in bad taste, but causes great amounts of pain and sadness in those suffering from disabilities and those close to them.

"Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full,rich life. The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about people with developmental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disabilities"

There is a major difference between people with disabilities and people with developmental disabilities. For people to even assume that they're the same thing is totally ignorant of them. Barries between these should not exist, and people should take the time to learn the differences between them.

talking points 8

“In a sense, some whole schools are on the vocational education track, while others are geared to produce future doctors, lawyers, and business"

I chose this quote for several reasons. The first is that even those vocational schools are aimed at making doctors and business because they all have pre-med and pre-business and even pre-law. there is not anything wrong with vocational schools, and it's not as if someone will be more successful coming out of a regular high school. I personally feel that more schools should take up vocational options, mainly to offer wider variety of courses, but also to help those students are less motivated in school. It gives these kids an opportunities to find a field of interest rather than coming to school and looking at the same lame classes everyday, they can find one they like and can possibly learn a trade and find employment in.

"Work tasks do not usually request creativity [in the middle class school]. Serious attention is rarely given in school work on how the children develop or express their own feelings and ideas, either linguistically or in graphic form."

i chose this quote because i feel its very important. If we are giving these school children everyday tasks that don't require any creativity, we will essentially be creating a classroom full of robots. There will be no individualism among these students. Creativity is a very important part life, especially at this young age. It is very important to get these kids doing activities that require large amounts of creativity.

"There is little excitement in schoolwork for the children, and the assignments are perceived as having little to do with their interests and feelings. As one child said, what you do is "store facts up in your head like cold storage - until you need it later for a test or your job." Thus, doing well is important because there are thought to be other likely rewards: a good job or college."

I chose this quote because its important and i don't like the truth in it. These kids are doing schoolwork all day for five days a week. When they're doing work that is boring to them, it makes it that much harder to pay attention. these kids will learn much better through activities that they find fun and exciting. It will also help to keep their attention on the materials they're supposed to be learning. Rewards should not be their motivation for doing work, they should be working because they enjoy it and want to learn.

talking points seven

"Principal Mansell reports that her single-sex classes produce fewer discipline problems, more parental support and better scores in writing, reading and math. She does, however, acknowledge that her data are compromised, as her highest-performing teachers and her most-motivated students have chosen single-sex".

I chose this quote because it really jumps out at he reader. At first it would appear that these single sex classrooms are a great success and that all classrooms should be separated this way. The list of achievements from that classroom are great ones that all helped the children in a positive way. the boys and girls learn differently so maybe separating them is for the better. but it leads to the problem of these children wanting to be separated from the opposite sex all throughout their lives.

"Baby boys prefer to stare at mobiles; baby girls at faces. Boys solve maze puzzles using the hippocampus; girls use the cerebral cortex. Boys covet risk; girls shy away. Boys perform better under moderate stress; girls perform worse"

I chose this quote because i feel it somewhat explains my first quote. this goes into scientific detail about just how differently these young children are learning. they use separate parts of the brain to solve similar problems. This shows that maybe these single sex classrooms can operate in two completely different learning styles, teach the same subject, and have all the kids retain the information, and the boys and girls methods to solving the problems will be different.

"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 chose this final quote because it really sums up the article and why classrooms nation wide aren't sex separated. It instills a permanent sense of separation in the children, and they grow up feeling its accepted to be separated. It taking the children's minds off of whats important, which is learning the materials, and focuses it more on who is in the class with them. At these young ages children are very vulnerable to picking up bad habits. If we start separating them now, they'll desire to be separated for the rest of their lives

talking point. Barrack and a hard place

This speech was very interesting. Like everyone else's blog i reviewed, i too was unaware of the this White Privilege Conference. The quotes i chose were

"allows us often times to view criminals of the dominant group as mere individuals while too often viewing black and brown folk through the lens of a group pathology whenever one of 'theirs' violates our legal and moral norms"

I like this quote because i feel it really ties into one of our other reading. The dominant group referred to is whites, who would we could also call the "Culture of Power." What he's saying is that when a white commits and illegal act, we only look at them as a white person. When a person who isn't white commits the same act, we look at their entire race as a whole. I never really understood why this happened, but it is nice to see someone else is thinking the same thing.

"the past affects everything, that what comes before shapes us in ways more profound than any of us would probably like to acknowledge"

I also liked this quote, and feel it really jumped out as i watched the video. Looking at the best and all the unfair treatment minority races recieved, and looking now and seeing that they still aren't treated fairly really makes me wonder. If the military can look back and realize what tactical mistakes they made, and change their approach, white can't whites realize that their "tactics" or treatment of minorities is a mistake still being made and why can't we change it.

check out this video on white privilege

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

visits 4-5

March 17

This Wednesday was my fourth trip to the Subterranean Tree Fort, and I was looking forward to getting started on the new materials with the kids, and get their attention back to where it was the second week and beginning of the third. We settled in and got to work on the new stuff. The kids were all having a slight problem paying attention, but I feel it was because the classroom temperature was very warm. I know from experience that a really warm classroom creates a sometimes difficult learning environment. Aside from the slight lack of attention, the kids were doing very well working our way through the new stuff. Again they were disappointed when the session was over.

March 24

This Wednesday was probably the best day at my Subterranean Tree Fort. I had two kids leave the group permanently because they are back on grades and no longer require the extra help. They were sad to not be part of the group anymore, but at least they were able to extract something out of the weekly group work. The new kids that were assigned to my group were also not white, making the ten children I’ve worked with thus far all non-white. The session went well and we got lots of materials covered. The teacher informed me that every child in my group was ascending in grade levels since I started working with them.

School Visits 1-3

Feb. 4

Today was my first visit to Subterranean Tree Fort. I was excited to get in and start helping these young kids. While I was waiting in the office there a third grade student waiting for his father to come get him and start his suspension from school. However this didn’t make me worried about the kids in my class. When I got settled down the kids were all well behaved and very attentive. It made giving them the extra work they need easier. It was also interesting to notice that there were only a few white children in the class, and none of them required the extra help the others did.

March 3

Today was my second visit to the Subterranean Tree Fort. I was looking to forward to getting in and getting right to work. The children’s positive attitudes toward this extra learning made it very easy to get together and get started. The kids all settled in and cooperated and we were able to cover everything that was assigned without any problems. I could tell that the kids really did want to get this extra help, and it was amazing how much they would settle down to receive it.

March 10

Today was my third visit to the Subterranean Tree Fort. The kids were all excited to sit down and get to work. We worked on the same materials as the previous work, and made it through with even fewer difficulties than before. The kids were showing great progress and we finished everything and they even appeared to be disappointed when we ran out of materials to cover. I could tell they were getting sick of repeating the same stuff, and becoming less attentive. On my way out of the school I asked the reading coach to add some new games and activities to help keep the kids interested.

talking points five

Josh Wainwright

"The experiential and interpersonal components of service learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of 'otherness' that often separates students-particularly privileged students-from those in need

I feel this quote is important for several reasons. First it should help motivate many other people to step up and get involved in these kinds of projects. Everyone should want help get rid of that sense of "otherness" because it will be a large step forward towards allowing everyone to feel equal.

“Just as the difference between change and charity may provide an important conceptual distinction for those analyzing service learning curricula, it is helpful to distinguish the moral, political, and intellectual goals that motivate those who support service learning.”

i chose this quote because i feel it helps spread the word about service learning. The way this quote is worded helps ignite a sense of interest to learn more about the topic and how to get involved. once people understand all parts of service learning projects, it will help increase the amount of participants.

"Service learning activities seek to promote students' self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences."

I chose this final quote because i feel it really sums up the entire article and enables everyone to . It helps people to develop a true understanding of all the benefits associated with service learning projects. Hopefully it will catch peoples attention and more people will get involved, and service learning projects turn into a very common part of everyday life, making our communities that much more friendly to be a part of.

carlson

Josh Wainwright

Dr. Joyce Stevos

Carlson Talking Points

1. "The official policy in most school districts is in fact identical to that of the U.S. military, namely: "Don't ask, don't tell."

I chose this quote because I found it particularly interesting. First off the military has not always allowed gays in the military. Standard questions asked before signing included questions about one’s personal sexual orientation and if they were in fact a homosexual. This policy has gone on force homosexuals to lie about their sexual backgrounds in order to join. There has always been and always will be homosexuals enlisted in the military, and it shouldn’t matter either way. I feel I had already recognized that most schools are don’t ask don’t tell as well though. In high school when ever classmates would have a teacher about their significant others, they would either be open to discussing it, or sometimes say it’s not an appropriate topic for class. I personally don’t feel it’s necessary to know a teachers sexual orientation, so long as that teacher doesn’t let it affect their ability to act professional.

2. "Throughout this century, one of one 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. Early in this century, the dismissal of gay teachers was legitimated as a way of keeping young people from being exposed to improper role models, lechery, and child molestation"

I chose this quote because it kind of goes along with my first one. If these teachers were fired just because someone went through the trouble of discovering their sexual backgrounds, than they were wrongly terminated and deserve compensation. However if they were allowing their sexual orientation to affect their level of professionalism and acting inappropriate than they were rightly terminated for the sake and safety of the children.

3. "Nevertheless, normalizing texts systematically exclude and neglect the culture of those outside the norm for the purpose of ratifying or legitimating the dominant culture as the only significant culture worth studying."

I chose this quote because I feel it’s really important. Now a days I feel it is very important for people of all ages and especially school children to learn about many other cultures. If texts are normalized then children are going to miss out on many great learning opportunities, plus grow up neglectful of other people and their cultural backgrounds.

thinking points II

Joshua Wainwright

Joyce Stevos

FNED

23 February 2010

Why Can’t She Remember That?

This article was particularly interesting. Having worked with a children’s after school program, I can understand how hard it can be for children to pay attention to reading. The kids as a whole were always so energetic after being out of school that they were more interested in playing outside with their friends than being read to or doing homework. The first time a child asked me to read was over the summer when he didn’t want to venture out into the 95 degree weather. The children of color in the group never once discussed an unfair showing of only white characters in books. This article brings up many fascinating points though, especially the abilities of such young children. I was amazed when I read that three year old were repeating books, creating poetry, and making up songs about real people in their lives. Children are continuously being more and more capable at younger ages. Being able to absorb information, understand the meaning, and recall it on command at such a young age is simply amazing. I think this brings up the questions of how much can a three year old really take in? Would it be possible to introduce more intellectual and sophisticated materials? Can damage be done? I think that over time children will be introduced to harder materials, and eventually be able to process more complicated information. The movie “Meet the Fockers” is a great example of this when Robert De Niro is teaching the baby hand symbols depicted on flash cards. The symbols are a way for the infant who can’t speak yet, to communicate with the adults. I think that these three year olds are living proof that humans are becoming smarter at younger ages. I also feel that it’s a foreshadow of great things to come.

white privelege

1. "I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to

recognize male privilege."

I can totally understand this quote. Being a white male I understand why it seems whites have been taught to not recognize privilege. Until taking this diversity class, I had never before relaized the privelages given to whites. Class discussions have further deepened my understandings of those privileges, and also how whites have been unaware of these privileges.

2. "whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and

average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow “them“ to be more like “us.”

This quote I feel relates in a way to the first. Whites were brought up not understanding these privileges and also not understanding the the certain advantages associated with them. The life white people feel is normative, is not the one represented by the people being benefited. They look at these benefits, like certain scholarships and fundraisers as ways to help others be more like them.

3. "For this reason, the word ”privilege” now seems to be misleading."

This quote i feel is very important to the article. People who read this article might find the word privilege offensive. They feel everyone already has equality to one another, and that the privileges are even giving the so called "unprivileged " the advantages over them. It would be very beneficial for a nation wide diversity class be offered for free to people of all ages across United states, which would help further deepen everyones understanding on how diversity affects everyday life.

I'm a freshman at RIC going onto my second semester. I was recruited to wrestle here, but took a year off to heal up end of the season injuries from my senior year of high school. I'll be applying to the School of education in a few months at the conclusion to this semester. Living on campus has proven to be a good time so far, and im looking forward to returning next year.