Talking Points #10

Shor "Empowering Education"

1. "To educate is to adapt the child to an adult social environment...the child is called upon to receive from outside the already perfected products of adult knowledge and morality; the educational relationship consists of pressure on the one side and receptiveness on the other. From such a point of view, even the most individual tasks performed by students (writing an essay, making a translation, solving a problem) partakes less of the genuine activity of spontaneous and individual research than of...copying an external model; the student's inmost morality remains fundamentally directed towards obedience rather than autonomy." (pg. 12)

"The deficiency is the curriculum in schools, which he saw as a one-way transmission of rules and knowledge from teacher to student, stifling their curiosty." (12)

- This passage illustrates several core concepts which we have discussed over the course of our time in this class as well as in relation to our service learning projects. Concepts and ideas such as imitation, obedience, pressure (all of which are techniques we do not want to employ) versus critical thinking/discussion, equity, and understanding. By practicing imitation of gernally established "adult knowledge" and by "copying an external model" the students ability to think critically about an idea and form their own opinion of the subject matter is inhibited. Furthermore, it gives the impression that the product of "adult knowledge" is always the correct one, thereby causing the student to conform to what is gernally accepted as "right" instead of voicig theri own opinions, even if they are in opposition. Also, this passage explores the "obedience" of the student. A really great example of how we are conditioned to do as our teachers instruct us comes from the exercise we did prior to our class discussion on Anyon and Oates. Although dittos and busy work is not at all the way our class has been designed throughout the course of the semester, when we were presented with a task the majority of the students began filling ot the worksheet without a word - much less a question as to why the teaching strategies were suddenly changing.

2. "Banks (1991) described empowerment in terms of transforming self and society: 'A curriculum designed to empower students must be transformative in nature and help students to develop the knowledge, skills, and values needed to become social critics who can make reflective decisions and implement their decisions in effective personal, social, political, and economic action.'" (pg. 16)

- I like this concept of "empowering education" and "empowering students." There is something distinct about the choce of the word empower, which immediately associates itself with strength, confidence, envisionment, having a voice, and many other positive relations in my mind. I also feel like the statement "empowering education" takes a look at the general direction in which public (and private) institutions and education are heading and suggests that we give education a second chance by employing better strategies and guiding students towards a future as self-sufficient and confident individuals, ones who will take personal action and responsibility.

3. "In a Utopian literature class I teach, a student once suggested that there should be no required attendance in our class or in others. She argued that attending class in her other courses had been a waste of time because she was able to do the work on her own. Instead of responding immediately, I posed her ideas back to the class, to see what other students thought. Some agreed with her strenuously, saying that they should not have to come to class if they could do the work on their own. I then asked, 'Is there nothing special to be gained by students and teachers meeting in class to talk over ideas? How often in life do you set aside time just for intellectual growth?' They were not impressed. They reported being bored and silenced by didactic lectures in classes where teachers raced to cover the material and ignored their questions. They were convinced that if they could copy a friend's class notes, read the textbook, and talk to each other on the phone, they would get just as good an education as they got by coming to class. Their alienation from the traditional learning process surfaced early and became the starting theme for negotiating our own class.” (pg. 27)

- I have mixed feelings about the ideas proposed in the preceeding passage. If all of my classes were structured in a way that stimulate critical conversation and gernal discussion about a topic or a theme that relates to the material studied and our overall objective in the class, then even if I could use outside resources to gain the information needed to pass the course I would be compelled to say and participate in discussion. I personally feel that discussions arranged in this manner open up the material being studied for further analysis and interpretations given by our professor as well as our peers, a valuable resource not available in textbooks. Further examples and relations may also be given that enlighten the essential ideas that need to be obtained. I know I always feel like I have a better understanding of even the most difficult and dense material after having discussions in our FNED class. However, I do have at least one other class where I feel like a body in a room. My professor doesn't take attendance, often strays away from the topic at hand (making even the lectures difficult to follw) and asks very few questions that would open the class up for student-teacher interaction and participation. While the information available in my textbook is limited, I am less compelled to attend class when I don't feel like I am benefitting from the discussion/lecture and when my voice/opinion does not appear to be valued.

Miscellaneous Post

I was given these valueable resources for finding and identifying quality LGBT literature at te Promising Practces Conferenc that I thought I would share for those of you who are interested in using LGBT literture in your classroom.

Literature Selection and Review

The Rainbow Project
http://rainbowlist.wordpress.com/


Rationale and Censorship Issues

NCTE Anti Censorship Center
http://www.ncte.org/action/anti-censorship

ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips/index.cfm

National Coalition Against Censorship
http://www.ncac.org/


Additional Resources

GLSEN
http://www.glsen.org

Advocates for Youth
http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/youthresource

PFLAG -Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
http://community.pflag.org

LGBT - Friendly Campus Climate Index
http://www.campusclimateindex.org

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
http://www.glad.org/


Articles

Fight for Your Right: Censorship, Selection, and LGBT Literature
Curwood, J.S., Schliesman, M. & Horning K.T. (2009). English Journal; 98, 4;

Reading LGBT - Themed Literature with Young People: What's Possible?
Clark. C.T., Blackburn, M.V., Gardner, T. (2009). English Journal; 98, 4;

Promising Practices

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Talking Points #8

Anyon "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work"


1. "Basil Bernstein, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michael W. Apple focusing on school knowledge, have argued that knowledge and skills leading to social power and regard (medical, legal, managerial) are made available to the advantaged social groups but are withheld from the working classes to whom a more "practical" curriculum is offered (manual skills, clerical knowledge)."

- By participating in these practices, educators are creating "self-fulfilling prophecies" and thereby determining what a student will ultimately become based upon their given situation (i,e, terms of privilege). This action perpetuates an ongoing cycle of ignorance and stereotypes by placing students into categories and limited the opportunities available to them. Limiting such resources causes them to become "stuck" and will negatively impact their self-confidence as well as their outlook on the classroom and their instructor. This is primarily because it is alluded to that they are less intelligent and their teachers have lower expectations of them, these pre-determined factors will eventually make the child internalize this opinion and they will act out in such a way that is consistent with what they believe to be true about themselve and their abilities.


2. There were several writing assignments throughout the year but in each instance the children were given a ditto, and they wrote answers to questions on the sheet. For example, they wrote their "autobiography" by answering such questions as "Where were you born?" "What is your favorite animal?" on a sheet entitled "All About Me."

- This passage made me angry. I was angry because the questions that were specifically asked of the student to answer were supposed to represent some form of a "biography" and suggested that the information the student was providing was all of the characteristics and facts the student had to offer abotu themselves, hence the tite "All About Me." I cannot write "all about me" in one paper and certainly not with several fill-in-the-blank questions. Aside from the fact that the proposed questions that the students were asked were narrow and provided no mental stimulation or act of thinking, they also limited the student's creativity in selecting their answers. There is little to be said about where you are born or what your favorite animal is. Also, this doesn't give the student the opportunity to offer any information about themselves that they feel is invigorating and important, any information that they may want you to know as you build on your relationship with them. For example, my love of dance is important to me. I like the new people in my life to eventually understand this about me as it may explain some of my fidgety behavior. Allowing students the opportunity to share information with you will cause you to have a deeper relationship with them.


3. She discusses two-digit division with the children as a decision-making process. Presenting a new type of problem to them, she asks, "What's the first decision you'd make if presented with this kind of example? What is the first thing you'd think? Craig?" Craig says, "To find my first partial quotient." She responds, "Yes, that would be your first decision. How would you do that?" Craig explains, and then the teacher says, "OK, we'll see how that works for you." The class tries his way. Subsequently, she comments on the merits and shortcomings of several other children's decisions.

- This just blew my mind. I'm not confident in my ability to answer that question myself, let alone posing it to elementary level students. Ultimately, I like how the teacher approaches the math problem as a decision-making process. This enables the students to help teach each other the steps necessary when solving these types of problems, as they are all providing a piece of the equation in their discussion. Another strategy mentioned later in the article that I thought was both interesting and effective was the method in which the elitist teachers discussed correct vs. incorrect answers. They posed this concept as a discussion where students chose to "agree" or "dsiagree" with their peers answer in which case they would have to explain why they made their choice. I like the termonology used as it stimulates critical discussions and places the students all on the same level whereas using words such as "wrong" or "incorrect" have less positive implications.

Talking Points #7

Gender and Education

When I started researchng current events information on gender equality in the classroom environment, I came across an organization that indirectly related to the topic and whose efforts were truly inspiring.

The name of the organization is UNICEF andthey tackle issues with gender and equality on a global level, giving attention to issues in the classroom, in society, and in general living siuations. The organization focuses on children who they consider the most vulnerable including girls, the disabled, ethnic minorities, the rural and urban poor, victims of war and natural disasters and children affected by HIV and AIDs.

On their website they have five corealues they are wrking for with regards to eduction. These include:

1. Equal access to education and universal primary school education
2. Empowerment of women through girls’ education and gender equality
3. Education in emergencies and post-crisis education
4. Early Childhood Development (ECD) and school readiness
5. Enhancing quality in primary and secondary education

Here is a link to the article where all of the aforementioned information was derived from...

UNICEF in action

UNICEF's homepage is located at http://www.unicef.org/index.php

Miscellaneous Post

I was at my dad's house the other night and he was telling me about Wanda Syke's new show. I've only seen one episode where she spoke out about Barack and Michelle Obama, but I found few of these clips that I thought I would share with the class off of youtube.

This is one about Michelle Obama:




This one compares homosexuality with black heritage:





I originally decided to post these two clips because I wanted to see what everybody's thoughts were on the content of her comedy routine and whether you would consider them to be offensive or in some way helpful? However, something that I noticed while I was copying the embed links for these videos was that the commentary left by viewers were very different for each video. The comments left on the post for the first video were primarily harsh, offensive, and racist. The comments left on the second link were mostly all positive.

Here are the youtube links for those of you who are interested in checking out the comments as well.

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=KLxOhg7Fzvc&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3DKLxOhg7Fzvc

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=8L1PQBeymZQ&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3D8L1PQBeymZQ

Talking Points #5

Kahne and Westheimer "In the Service of What?"

1. "As is commonly the case with new policy initiatives, however, more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are heading." (pg. 2)

- While this quote was presented early in the article, I feel it arrives at the same basic point that Kahne and Westheimer are trying to make through their comparison of the various methods used when executing service learning projects. By focusing on the end versus the means, not only are we deprived of the wonderful experiences and learning opportunities to be gained by the process of doing good, but our efforts are also much more valued and effective as become a factor in change as opposed to charity. Also, it is important to understand what our goal is to be attained so we can set a focused path towards reaching that goal. By simply moving forward, we lose sight of our ultimate goal and it becomes difficult to determine whether or not we are on the most effective and efficient path for reaching it.

2. "The approach to service learning taken by Mr. Johnson stresses charity and the ways in which participating in service and reflection can develope students' sense of altruism. ... Mr. Adams' students, by contrast, began their work with a systematic and critical analysis of the causes of homelessnss and of the strategies employed to prevent it." (pgs. 3-4)

- At first glance, I initally thought that the work proposed by Mr. Johnson would prove to be more effective in the long run because the students were given the opportunity to place themselves in various communities and work with those in need. It appeared that they were gaining more hands-on experience, and therefore helping the community. While charitable acts such as these are no doubt helpful, they don't suggest the kind of change necessary to really make a difference in the lives of others. Mr. Adams' students were able to educate themselves about the conditions of hte homeless and the causes of homelessness, therefore instilling a sense of understanding and tolerance that most cannot grasp. After having this preliminary information, they can put themselves into the community where they will work beside the homeless for a common, greater cause. They place themselves on an equal-playing field with the homeless, although they are in less fortunte circumstances, whereas Mr. Johnson's students may naturally view those that they are helping as "clients."

3. "Others argue that educators may miss important opportunities if they disconnect the act of service from a critical examination of the setting in which it occurs. While requiring students to 'serve America' (the rhetoric of the federal legislation) might produce George Bush's 'thousand points of light,' it might also promote a thousand points of the status quo. Indeed, the emphasis on altruism and charity, so common in many recent service learning initiatives, is often used to back a conservative political agenda that denies a role for government." (pg. 8)

- One key concept that I found interesting in this quote was the "thousand points of status quo." Many view charity as an act for the better good of the community, the nation, and people as a whole. Most wouldn't associate charitable acts with the emphasis of negative stereotypes or even just reinforcement of already established ideas about those who are less privileged. I personally feel that it is necessary to having both the educational component and the service learning component. An abundance of knowledge about any situation won't be very beneficial if you don't take any form of action, however action without understand can prove to be more detrimental. One could argue then that inaction does less damage than action - even if done with good intentions - because even if somebody does nothing with their newly acquired knowledge, they have found understanding and tolerance for the group in question which places them on a relatively equal playing group whereas someone who just does service still views the other individuals as "unfortunate" or "less priviledge." In order to have true change, you must find a delicate balance utilizing both materials and resources.