Valenzuela: Teacher-Student Relations and the Politics of Caring & Rolon-Dow: A Color(full) Analysis of Care Narratives in the Schooling Experiences of Puerto Rican Girls
I always knew that caring was important in the classroom, but I don't think I really acknowledged how crucial it could be to some students and how much of a difference it could truly make. Looking into the predominantly Latino student body with the predominantly non-Latino teaching staff in Valenzuela's article was interesting: the "teaching staff sees students as not sufficiently caring about school, while students see teachers as not sufficiently caring for them" (61). Well, if we have both groups blaming each other and neither one wanting to budge, we're never going to get anywhere. There was also some information from Noddings: "Noddings argues that teacher's ultimate goal of apprehending their students' subjective reality is best acheieved through engrossment in their students' welfare and emotional displacement. That is, authentically caring teachers are seized by their students and energy flows toward their projects and needs." (61). It certainly sounds like understanding the cultures, lifestyles, and backgrounds of students would help teachers a lot. The examples of what was going on in the classroom was really blowing my mind. I know their are moments when teachers have to demonstrate their "power" but it is not supposed to be in such a way that makes the teacher look like a tyrant. Mr. Johnson made himself sound absolutely terrible simply to impress the observer in his classroom: "The main problem with these kids is their attitude. They’re immature and they challenge authority. Look at them, they’re not going
anywhere. I can tell you right now, a full quarter of these students will drop
out of school come May.” And then what he says to the student who is kind of trying to make him shut up? “Joel, stop thinking, you know it might hurt you,
cause you some damage upstairs.”
So I'm assuming he's mentioning out loud in front of the entire class that this student has a learning disability or something of the sort. No one want to work or learn in an environment that is so verbally abusive. I think that's the worst thing a teacher can do, is to verbally abuse students because you can't tell when the students are getting hurt by it. The Rolon-Dow article connected with this article really well. It took what we were learning and went further with it. It really made it clear that good teacher-student relations go back to the neighborhood and family life of the students. It feels to me like teachers believe they try to reach out to students in one way, and when that doesn't work, they stop and say the student is not interested in school. What they don't realize is that, even though it might drive us as teachers crazy, those students want and need to be pushed to new levels. They need to be understood for who they are, not what they cannot do. It's interesting to me because it's like everyone knows there is a problem but no one is really DOING anything about it.
Dance: On Being "Hardcore," a "Hardcore Wannabe," or "Hardcore Enough"
Trying to understand why students want to be considered "hardcore" is beyond me and I'm not sure why. It doesn't make sense to me and I feel like it should be something insignificant to most people. I mean, I get that people want a reputation, but wanting to be considered hardcore seems like way to much hard work and suffering. Yet students work very hard to achieve this status. "The stereotypical hardcore inner-city youth is a ruthless gangerlike Black (or other ethnic minority) male from a desolate, low-income urban area who carries a gun and participates in drive-by shootings and other senseless acts of violence without fear or remorse." (55). These acts of violence are life altering things, yet according to these students, they see it as just playing a role and that they need to hold in and hide all emotions that go along with it. "People will look at you and think you have no heart." (56). Students who have this kind of thing going on in the background are obviously not focusing or caring at all about what is going on in school. These students can't be ignored. These are the students that need our undivided attention. One interview says exactly that: "A couple of teachers at my old school use to push me to work. (now at his new school) They don't show no support. If nobody's gunna show no support at a school... why would you wanna work?" This same student is one who gets in fights and wants to prove to everyone that he is tough, yet here he is, wishing that teacher would push him to graduate and make something of his life. This tells me that students want to be interested in school and that it's up to teachers to be as involved as they can be in their students' lives to really and truly understand them. I know it makes the job much harder, but it seems like the best way to achieve the most in the classroom.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Blog 6: Ableism
Hehir
I can relate a lot to the Hehir article. I have a twin sister who is severely disabled. When we were born her brain was not fully developed. When we were two months old, we both developed spinal meningitis; I was viral and she was bacterial. This did a lot of damage to her and is mostly to blame for the way she is today. She cannot walk, talk, and is not completely blind. We use a wheelchair to help get her around but she is able to crawl around and interact with things she finds. She loves swimming and listening to music, especially Kelly Clarkson. She is also very strong, and knows enough to laugh when someone says, "Ow." She basically has the mentality of a 1 year old and is likely to be that way for the rest of her life. About a year and a half ago we were able to place her in a residential facility where a therapist is working on getting her walking again. She is able to walk if people are holding her hands. In elementary school she was able to walk by herself; unfortunately she took a nasty fall where she bumped her head and was set back significantly.
It really hit home for me when the article was talking about the fact that Penny needed to prepare herself to fight for her son's rights for the rest of his life. My sister and I are turning 22 today, actually, and the fight is far from over. My sister lived at home until we moved her into the facility she is at now, and we did not have nurses coming in to take care of her. It was all on my parents. My dad had a good enough job that my mom was able to stay home and do what needed to be done for my sister. But it has been exhausting. I remember going to Mass General Hospital (or perhaps Mass. Eye and Ear) several times throughout my childhood because my sister needed surgery on her eyes. Her retinas kept detaching and they were doing whatever they could to save her vision. Sadly it was not enough. We were there so much I was placed with a "babysitter" so to speak while my mom stayed with my sister in surgery. I spent so much time with some of the staff there they framed one of my silly drawings and put it on the wall in the hallway.
My parents fought the school system, went to court hearings, filled out endless paper work, fought insurance companies, met with specialists; the list goes on and on. And it's not over. My sister is still having some issues in the residential community she is in. She is on many medications, she is still having seizures, and sometimes has trouble sleeping. Her body is a very sensitive thing, and her immune system is weak. She gets sick a lot, which makes it even harder for her. We have known for a long time that she will never be employed or simply be an independent human being. It's a tough thing to grasp and hold on to.
Gardner
What I liked about this article was this little note: "There is not, and never can be, a single irrefutable and universally accepted list of human intelligences." This article was a great introduction to what we can expect when we look further into what the multiple intelligences is all about. I also liked when he mentioned, "We fall in the habit of labeling ourselves but that's not all there is to it." When I've learned about Gardner in the past, I generally take a little quiz that tells me what categories I fall under, therefore labeling myself. So I think this kind of shows a misuse of this theory.
Cohen
What I really took away from this article was how to be the most effective educator I can be. "Effective teaching rests on our capacity to empathize with the student." I couldn't agree more. This goes right along with how well we know our students. The past can, and does, affect the future and the present, and the classroom is not immune to this. What I had overlooked was how important social and emotional development was for everybody in the school building. Students need it to learn in general. Teachers need it to better communicate with their students. If there is poor communication with a teacher and his/her students, the capacity for learning is very small. We want this capacity to be as large as it can be.
I can relate a lot to the Hehir article. I have a twin sister who is severely disabled. When we were born her brain was not fully developed. When we were two months old, we both developed spinal meningitis; I was viral and she was bacterial. This did a lot of damage to her and is mostly to blame for the way she is today. She cannot walk, talk, and is not completely blind. We use a wheelchair to help get her around but she is able to crawl around and interact with things she finds. She loves swimming and listening to music, especially Kelly Clarkson. She is also very strong, and knows enough to laugh when someone says, "Ow." She basically has the mentality of a 1 year old and is likely to be that way for the rest of her life. About a year and a half ago we were able to place her in a residential facility where a therapist is working on getting her walking again. She is able to walk if people are holding her hands. In elementary school she was able to walk by herself; unfortunately she took a nasty fall where she bumped her head and was set back significantly.
It really hit home for me when the article was talking about the fact that Penny needed to prepare herself to fight for her son's rights for the rest of his life. My sister and I are turning 22 today, actually, and the fight is far from over. My sister lived at home until we moved her into the facility she is at now, and we did not have nurses coming in to take care of her. It was all on my parents. My dad had a good enough job that my mom was able to stay home and do what needed to be done for my sister. But it has been exhausting. I remember going to Mass General Hospital (or perhaps Mass. Eye and Ear) several times throughout my childhood because my sister needed surgery on her eyes. Her retinas kept detaching and they were doing whatever they could to save her vision. Sadly it was not enough. We were there so much I was placed with a "babysitter" so to speak while my mom stayed with my sister in surgery. I spent so much time with some of the staff there they framed one of my silly drawings and put it on the wall in the hallway.
My parents fought the school system, went to court hearings, filled out endless paper work, fought insurance companies, met with specialists; the list goes on and on. And it's not over. My sister is still having some issues in the residential community she is in. She is on many medications, she is still having seizures, and sometimes has trouble sleeping. Her body is a very sensitive thing, and her immune system is weak. She gets sick a lot, which makes it even harder for her. We have known for a long time that she will never be employed or simply be an independent human being. It's a tough thing to grasp and hold on to.
Gardner
What I liked about this article was this little note: "There is not, and never can be, a single irrefutable and universally accepted list of human intelligences." This article was a great introduction to what we can expect when we look further into what the multiple intelligences is all about. I also liked when he mentioned, "We fall in the habit of labeling ourselves but that's not all there is to it." When I've learned about Gardner in the past, I generally take a little quiz that tells me what categories I fall under, therefore labeling myself. So I think this kind of shows a misuse of this theory.
Cohen
What I really took away from this article was how to be the most effective educator I can be. "Effective teaching rests on our capacity to empathize with the student." I couldn't agree more. This goes right along with how well we know our students. The past can, and does, affect the future and the present, and the classroom is not immune to this. What I had overlooked was how important social and emotional development was for everybody in the school building. Students need it to learn in general. Teachers need it to better communicate with their students. If there is poor communication with a teacher and his/her students, the capacity for learning is very small. We want this capacity to be as large as it can be.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Blog 5: Sexuality & Sexual Education
Anderson's article, "Lesbian and Gay Adolescents: Social and Developmental Considerations" held many new and interesting facts for me, and it also supported some things I already knew. I feel that people today who don't understand gay and lesbian people really don't understand why gay and lesbian adolescents feel the way they do. I've heard people say, "They're too young to be thinking about that." But this article really disproves the idea of being too young to make that decision. "According to reports of adult lesbians and gay men, the onset of homosexual arousal, homosexual erotic imagery, and homosexual romantic attachment occurs during adolescence." I guess the "decision" part could still be up in the air, but I highly doubt people are just going with the flow of being gay or lesbian during these years because it's considered "cool." Another point that supports this idea: "The average age of first homosexual experiences was 13.1 years for the gay boys and 15.2 years for the lesbian girls." I do find this to be really young, no matter what your sexual orientation. But I think the young age here is partly due to the confusion felt my the adolescent. It was also interesting for me to read, "There is evidence that teenagers are now self-labeling at earlier ages." I hope what is meant here is that teenagers have made a decision about their sexuality and are not afraid to hide what they have discovered, and that is why they are self-labeling. If that is the case, I think it is easier to come out in this current society than it was a few decades ago. Not to say that it is easy to come out, but just that it is more common to see now.
I hear conversations all the time about whether or not someone is gay, followed by, "He can't be gay; he's married to a woman." Being a man who is married to a woman even though he is truly interested in men is something I believe to be quite common (the same goes for lesbians who are married to men). "Gay and lesbian teenagers frequently begin or continue heterosexual activity despite and awareness of their homosexual orientation." I believe this goes along with a point that Anderson makes later in the article about identity crisis in adolescence. "Homosexual adolescents initially make one of three choices in dealing with their newly acknowledged feelings: (a) try to change them; (b) continue to hide them; or (c) accept them." The adolescents who continue to engage in heterosexual relationships have not come to terms with their feelings and are hiding them by staying in these relationships.
This article was mostly informational, but I found it interesting to take in. Some people say that talk of sexual orientation does not belong in schools, but I think it's something that adolescents need at their age because for some, it's dominating their lives during this time. They can be left confused about their feelings or could spend more time hiding what they feel instead of paying attention to what is going on in the classroom.
Sexuality Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years
What absolutely blew my mind about this article was how much money is spent on teaching kids about abstinence, and about how it's the only method that works. At this point in our society, I'm pretty sure that the more money spent on teaching ONLY abstinence, the more money is spent on abortions or treating teens for STDs. Clearly teens are not interested in not having sex. Fine also makes an interesting point about promoting abstinence only until marriage. "This educational crusade has been unleashed through public institutions and laws advocating the virtues of abstinence, the dangers of unmarried sex, and the promised safety of heterosexual marriage." The fact that she called it a crusade is interesting. It's nothing more than a push for something people don't actually want, and I'll repeat that it's a waste of money. When I started reading through the numbers my mind instantly jumped to all the other things we could be spending that money on.
I hear conversations all the time about whether or not someone is gay, followed by, "He can't be gay; he's married to a woman." Being a man who is married to a woman even though he is truly interested in men is something I believe to be quite common (the same goes for lesbians who are married to men). "Gay and lesbian teenagers frequently begin or continue heterosexual activity despite and awareness of their homosexual orientation." I believe this goes along with a point that Anderson makes later in the article about identity crisis in adolescence. "Homosexual adolescents initially make one of three choices in dealing with their newly acknowledged feelings: (a) try to change them; (b) continue to hide them; or (c) accept them." The adolescents who continue to engage in heterosexual relationships have not come to terms with their feelings and are hiding them by staying in these relationships.
This article was mostly informational, but I found it interesting to take in. Some people say that talk of sexual orientation does not belong in schools, but I think it's something that adolescents need at their age because for some, it's dominating their lives during this time. They can be left confused about their feelings or could spend more time hiding what they feel instead of paying attention to what is going on in the classroom.
Sexuality Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years
What absolutely blew my mind about this article was how much money is spent on teaching kids about abstinence, and about how it's the only method that works. At this point in our society, I'm pretty sure that the more money spent on teaching ONLY abstinence, the more money is spent on abortions or treating teens for STDs. Clearly teens are not interested in not having sex. Fine also makes an interesting point about promoting abstinence only until marriage. "This educational crusade has been unleashed through public institutions and laws advocating the virtues of abstinence, the dangers of unmarried sex, and the promised safety of heterosexual marriage." The fact that she called it a crusade is interesting. It's nothing more than a push for something people don't actually want, and I'll repeat that it's a waste of money. When I started reading through the numbers my mind instantly jumped to all the other things we could be spending that money on.
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