Hope High vs. Moses Brown

I just came across this video and I thought it was great.

Education Is Politics

1."In a curriculum that encourages student questioning, the teacher avoids a unilateral transfer of knowledge. She or he helps students develop their intellectual and emotional powers to examine their learning in school, their everyday experience, and the conditions in society."

I think this is important because, often kids feel put off by school. They don't feel as if they are participants in their own education. Shor is saying that by allowing students to have a voice in the classroom, the teacher is assigning value to each student as an important contribution to the class. When kids feel valued they are more inclined to participate and less so to withdraw and become disconnected. I think Shor's idea of integrating the classroom with a student's outside life only serves to engage the student more.

2."Rote learning and skills drills in traditional classrooms do more than bore and miseducate students; they also inhibit their civic and emotional developments. Students learn to be passive or cynical in classes that transfer facts, skills, or values without meaningful connections to their needs, interests, or community cultures."

I remember feeling very disconnected in school and I mentally checked out after my second year of high school. I showed up but my mind was elsewhere and as I realized that there were really no immediate consequences, it reinforced the feeling of separation from school for me. I figured out that I could fail my Spanish 3 class and still move on to my senior year, so I slept in the back everyday. I am not proud , but I remember that I had drooled so much that the pages were all wavy and the book was hard to close by the end of the year. The following year I decided to do the same in Psychology and was asked at the end of the year by the teacher not to show up for the final because they could use the extra seat. I didn't attend graduation and my picture was not in the yearbook. I regret these decisions now, but at the time I was angry and I didn't feel any connection to the teachers or the curriculum. Getting back to the quote, I can see how a little boredom and lack of connection can turn into complete withdrawal.

3."...this competitive orientation leads to isolation and alienation " among students, encouraging a handful of " winners" while depressing the performance of the many, especially female students and minorities who withdraw from the aggressive affect of the classroom."

I am hesitant to talk about isolation and alienation again, but it really struck a nerve with me. I can totally relate to the feeling of not wanting to compete in a game where the odds are rigged and the terms are only clear to those who are supposed to win. The academic competition doesn't encourage learning as much as it inhibits it. Nobody wants to play a game that they have no chance of winning. Schools skim the top of the fish bowl for those students who can swim to the top, and the ones that can't drown. Things needs to change and maybe it already has started to. It has been a while since I was in High School and I hope that with the influx of new teachers, the old way of unilateral, competitive education is dying.

Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

1."To value another is to recognize diversity as the norm. It establishes the equal worth of all schoolchildren, a sense that we all benefit from each other, and the fundamental right of every student to belong."

I think this sums up the entire reason for inclusion classrooms and the need to deconstruct the old "norm" and create a new one of diversity and acceptance. The story that preceded this quote was of Anne and her placement in a school setting where she was unhappy. Although it occured after her schooling the old norm was reinforced when she was placed at a job that she didn't care for. Shayne cared enough to include Anne in her placement, by listening to what she was passionate about and finding her work at the movie store. I work with the public and meet many people with disabilities and I find that some of my co-workers approach passengers with disabilities like they already know exactly how to assist them, instead of asking them how they want to be helped. You have to care enough about the answer in order to ask the question.

2."All people with Down syndrome are happy"

I like this comment about how people with Down syndrome are always perceived as being happy all the time. This stereotype serves to lump people with Down syndrome together, and makes them less human and more character-like. If we think about typical people we encounter on a daily basis, we know that they are definitely not always happy and it sets people with Down syndrome apart from everyone else. I am sure if you take the time to meet and talk with people with Down syndrome, it won't take you long to find out that they share the same emotional ups and downs as the rest of us. It is funny how you just accept certain stereotypes without really thinking about how silly and untrue they are.

3."We have our basic core in common; We both love music and we both believe that everybody is part of the same family."

I found this to be a great connection between the concept and reconceptualizing Down syndrome. Here John's friend talks about how they relate to each other in that they both believe in the same fundamental love of music and regard for human oneness. It is so easy to get caught up in the complexity of life and I think it to strip it all away and connect on such a personal level with anyone is wonderful. I have a personal story that kind of goes along with this very point. In High School psychology class the teacher made us watch a movie called "Bill" and it was kind of a cheesy made for TV movie. The movie was about a mentally challenged man who is released from an institution and tries to make his way in the world. In the Movie Bill's whole goal in life was to become a " regular good man". I remember thinking to myself that here you have this guy who is supposedly less than a human being, and yet he has discovered the true meaning of life. He just wanted to be a " regular good man" and be treated the way he treated others. When I was 19 I decided to get "RGM" tattooed on the back of my neck as a reminder to me of who I want to be. I have not seen the movie since and I don't want to because I am not sure if it would be as spiritual today as I remember it being back then. I ultimately failed the class because the teacher made me uncomfortable, but at least I learned a life lesson. I learned more about life from the true story of a "mentally challenged" man than from the rest of my high school experience combined.

Anyon

1. "In the two working-class schools, work is following the steps of a procedure. The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice."

I can see this in Windmill, maybe not as drastic as in Anyon's piece but still present. The teacher follows the handouts closely and there doesn't seem to be any room for discussion. I am not sure if it is because teachers, in the public system, have to follow the curriculum closely or if it is personal choice. I sat in on a class where my friend teaches and it was a completely different experience, just like the contrast in Anyon's observation. My friend taught fourth grade at The Gordon School, which is a very pricey private school in E.P. First off, he only had twelve students in his class which is a lot easier to handle than the 25+ at Windmill. I know you can't really compare Private with Public but I was amazed at the huge advantage the Gordon kids have over Windmill. It doesn't seem fair at all. The kids at Gordon were able to move about the room and work on different creative projects and were able to manage their own time for the most part. My friend's class can chose to work outside if the weather is nice and everything they do seems totally interactive. The kids encourage each-other and I remember it felt very strange to see the kids getting along so well. It was almost as if they I was in a fantasy class. I thought how could any kid not succeed in such a nurturing and positive environment. Comparing the two just makes me want to graduate and work in a public school so I could maybe help give these less privileged kids some of that same positivity.

2. "In the affluent professional school, work is creative activity carried out independently."

I kind of talked about this in the first quote and how it pretty much described my experience with Gordon. I also observed a class play that day and I was very surprised at how comfortable the boys were with singing in front of their peers. I thought it was great that the boys especially could be so artistically expressive, because I don't think that is the case at Windmill and I am positive it wasn't the case at Nathaniel Green when I was young. I am not saying these things to beat up on Windmill, I just think that they should be able to have an equal school experience. You only get one chance to get it right and it is sad to think that the kids at Windmill are being short-changed.

3. "These differences may not only contribute to the development in the children in each social class of certain types of economically significant relationships and not others but would thereby help to reproduce this system of relations in society."

I think this is Anyon directly naming the problem. She explains here how allowing these differences to negatively affect some kids, while positively affecting others only serves to reproduce this cycle of unequal distribution of opportunity. The kids will grow up and take the place in line that was saved for them and in turn pass it on from generation to generation. I am sure things have improved some since this study, but I know there is still a long way to go to balance the education of poor vs. wealthy students.

Promising Practices

I enjoyed Promising Practices for the most part. The day started off a little shaky, but it improved as it went on. I arrived a little after 8:00 and checked in and got my folder. I had forgotten the second workshop I had picked, but I knew the first one was on the artwork and life of Diego Rivera. I met up some of our class and I found out that Jared and I picked the same first workshop. We arrived and found out that the presenter was having technical difficulties and couldn't get her PowerPoint presentation to open. She passed around handouts very nervously and I felt bad for her. She had a couple of students offer to fix her presentation in the computer lab, but after 10 or 15 minutes they came back and it was still unusable. She tried to push forward with her presentation using just the handouts, but I got the feeling that she felt defeated from the start. The images of Diego Rivera's artwork were essential to the presentation and to have them in full color on the drop-screen would have been nice. A few pages into the presentation Jared was raising his hand to get her attention. She called on him and Jared suggested that she use Google Images to pull up the paintings. He basically saved her entire presentation and deserves the credit. Nevertheless, the workshop wasn't the greatest, but I did learn a few things about Diego Rivera's life.

The second workshop I chose was called New England Historical Context and Multicultural Education. I picked it because I thought it would be good to know a little more local history and it goes along with our class and what we have been studying. The workshop started and the instructor had some materials spread out across the room so we were put into groups to discuss our document. All of the materials had to do with the local commerce in the 1800's and they all had a tie to the triangular slave trade. I learned a bit about how Rhode Island was connected to slavery even though we were not a major slave state ourselves. Rhode Island supported slave trade through international commerce. The workshop went by pretty fast and we were off to lunch and then to hear Dr. Rose.

The highlight of the day was definitely Dr. Rose's address. She is an excellent speaker with the gift of being able to speak intellectually with a common voice. Sometimes when really smart people give speeches the message gets lost and it is hard to connect. I think her message went along with what we are doing in class. Like Rodriguez, Dr. Rose talked about a public identity, although not with language but still carrying the same essential point. Especially when the angry anti-capitalist girl tried to argue individuality separate from a social identity. Dr. Rose wanted to give her a verbal beating but she took the high ground and let the girl defeat herself. I think another connection to class is when Dr. Rose was talking about unpacking issues as they arise. That reminded me of Macintosh, and how we can unpack our own privilege and also unpack the cause and reasons behind oppression as they present themselves in the classroom. She gave an example of a girl in her class calling her dysfunctional computer "gay". She talked about how she unpacked that issue and handled what this student had said in a moment of frustration while her mental guard was down. Dr. Rose also talked about using the words and recognizing the problem. She gave an example of a conversation she had with a colleague about racism and yet the word racism was never said once. This reminded me of Johnson and how you must name the "trouble" and not dance around the issue. Dr. Rose's speech seemed like it was specifically designed for our FNED class and I thought it was the best part of the day.

I changed my mind and decided to post the link. http://www.aauw.org/research/whereGirlsAre.cfm

Gender Equity #7

I started out researching gender equity in today's schools and I came across this huge report by the American Association of University Women. It was written by Christianne Corbett, Catherine Hill, Ph.D Andresse St. Rose and published in May of last year. The study looked at scores from standardized tests such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the SAT and ACT college entrance examinations, as well as others. It was pretty in-depth and difficult to read in its entirety, but it showed no alarming trends as far as a gender gap in education. I was going to post the report but it is 124 pages long. I wanted to find something dramatic and exciting to blog about but the report showed a just the opposite in regards to gender equity. I figured that a study put out by a women's group might be trying to call attention to a negative trend in educating females. I was surprised that the numbers were so close. The report instead showed that there are huge gaps when it comes to race and income level in both sexes. The article is summarized at the end and is consistent with the data in the report. The summary says, "Overall and within racial/ethnic groups and family income levels, girls and boys are improving by most measures of educational achievement, and most achievement gaps are narrowing. The past few decades have seen remarkable gains for girls and boys in education, and no evidence indicates a crisis for boys in particular. If a crisis exists, it is a crisis for African American and Hispanic students and students from lower-income families—both girls and boys."

Time Wise Brown v. Board of Education

It is sad to think that a mere 50-something years ago segregation existed in the school system. The website was interesting and it put into perspective the work that was put in to do away with constitution sanctioned segregation. I was unaware that it took lawyers 20 plus years to bring the matter to the supreme court. It must have been some people's life's work to bring about this historical change. It is also sad to think that, since Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights movement in the sixties, that we still haven't achieved racial equality. It seems that as a society we could have moved passed this roadblock and achieved much more together.

The Tim Wise videos were good and I found a few things he said to be very important and relevant to what we are doing in class. In response to some people saying that Obama's presidency is proof of racial equality he made a comment about Obama's education and the standards he was held to as opposed to a white candidate. He said,"Proof of racial equality will be the day that people of color can be as mediocre as white people and still get hired." I remember during the election they would always mention that Obama was a Harvard grad but never mentioned what school McCain attended. In fact I have no idea what school Bush Jr. or Clinton attended either.

Another thing that Wise said in the interview reminded me of Johnson. In the interview they kept talking about "denial" of the problem. It reminded me of Johnson's warning to recognize the trouble we're in. The first step is to recognize and acknowledge that there is a problem. Wise said,"If you want to know if a problem is still a problem, it makes sense to ask the people who are targeted by the problem." How are we to know unless we care enough to ask. I guess it is easy not to see what you don't want to.

Talking Points 5 -In The Service Of What?

1."altruism can best be appreciated as an experience rather than an abstraction."

I think this is a meaningful quote that Kahne and Westheimer take from Ernest Boyer. This is the common goal of service learning regardless of whether the approach is 'giving' or 'caring'. Although, the 'caring' approach takes 'giving' to the next level, they both share the same core principal. The purpose of service learning is to experience the joy of selflessness hands on and not just talk about solutions to social problems in a classroom. It is in the doing. Service learning requires action and interaction. Although it would be ideal to have all students come away from service learning with a deep sense of empathy and social concern, just giving in the first place is still better than only talking about it in a classroom.

2. " When I care, Nodding explains, a relationship develops in which " the other's reality becomes a real possibility for me." The distance between the one caring and the one cared for diminishes.

This is a great quote describing a deeper connection and understanding of service learning. To be charitable alone is good but to empathize is better. I think that it is important to realize that service learning isn't just privileged students helping the underprivileged, for their own personal satisfaction. Ideally, it is one person caring for another enough to take the time to understand their situation and help improve it and come away from the experience a catalyst for change as well as a changed human being.

3. "To be critical thinkers, students must be able to consider arguments that justify conclusions that conflict with their own predispositions and self-interest. "

This quote stresses the importance of reflection and critical thinking. Upon reflection, students might arrive at conclusions that are different from what they had believed to be true their entire lives. They must then realize that they were wrong and change. Through service learning students are forced to challenge their own beliefs and question what they had come to accept. It is important for students to experience change and transformation first hand and free from outside influence. The knowledge gained is deeper and more lasting.

I thought that the piece was interesting and relevant to what we are learning and doing with VIPS. I think it is very valuable to have the time in an actual classroom where we are educating and being educated at the same time. The fact that we can help out and learn at the same time is great and it makes perfect sense. How can their be any strong opposition to such a mutually beneficial program? Is it not a win-win situation for everyone involved in service learning?

Talking Points 4 Christensen

1. "Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them(students) how to act, live, and dream."

I think this quote is important because we are a society where TV, movies and music play a major part in our lives from birth. I think the entertainment industry definitely influences children as well as adults. We get clothing ideas, hairstyles, body image and social standards all from popular culture. We are told who to idolize and we emulate them. In turn, the things they value become the things we value. I am a product of this environment, and whether I chose to follow or not, the standard still exists. This means that any action I take to either fit in or not is in direct response to popular culture.

2. "Do you agree with Dorfman's position that children receive a 'secret education' in the media? Do you remember any incidents from your own childhood that support his allegations?

This question posed by Christensen to her students caused me to think of my own childhood and how cartoons influenced me. I watched a lot of TV as a kid and I remember when we first got cable it was new to everyone so you just watched as much as you could. I watched a lot of cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Popeye, and Bugs Bunny. I used to watch Heckle and Jeckle, and Woody Woodpecker which are no longer aired on TV. I look back and think about how there were definitely racist, sexist and homophobic images portrayed. Tom and Jerry used to have a southern black housemaid who used to talk in a stereotypical southern drawl. She looked like Aunt Jemima and swatted Tom with a broom. Now they overdub her voice to sound less racist. There are a number of racist Bugs Bunny episodes they no longer show on TV. They pulled Heckle and Jeckle and Woody Woodpecker off the air completely. I am not sure, but I don't think that they show Speedy Gonzalez the Mexican mouse any more either. I grew up watching these cartoons over and over again so they definitely had an impact whether I like it or not.

3. "I don't want my students to believe that change can be bought at the mall, nor do I want them thinking that the pinnacle of a woman's life is an 'I do" that supposedly leads them to a " happily ever after."

I think this is a powerful statement about what we emphasize in our society. We are taught to be consumers and that everything can be bought. From "Sex and the City" popularizing Manolos to"Cribs" making competition out of luxurious possessions, all you see are images of people buying happiness, respect and admiration. Little girls are taught to dream about 'Prince Charming' and hope that someday he will come and sweep them off their feet. The 'Princess' waiting for a 'Prince' image devalues women and sets them up for disappointment and low self-esteem. It teaches women that they are only as good as the man that wants them. Women are more then a man's counterpart and they do not need a man to make them whole or even happy. Conclusion: I found this to be an easy read. It made me think about my childhood and how I watched way too much TV. It made me think about how much it played a role in my life and how it probably affected me negatively. Images aside, I think I have a shorter attention span and I don't read as much as I should because of it. I feel like there are a lot of kids out there who are being babysat by a TV and are being fed misleading images. Although TV is a bit more PC and socially responsible, I think children need to know that entertainment and truth are very different.

Talking Points 3 Carlson

1."Gay men are confirmed in their role as the Other---a bit silly, prone to emotional and hysterical outbursts, narcissistic, obsessed with sex and fancy clothes, and inhabiting an exotic and "decadent" life on the margins."

This quote struck me because this is how gay men have been portrayed in film and TV my whole life. This is a comfortable stereotype of gay men that the culture of power has accepted. It is like how Johnson said, "The trouble is produced by a world organized in ways that encourage people to use difference to include or exclude, reward or punish, credit or discredit, elevate or oppress, value or devalue, leave alone or harass." No reasonable person would deny that gays have been excluded, punished, discredited, oppressed, devalued and harassed in our society.

2. "The challenge is to engage straight men in a deconstructive analysis of how they understand "being straight" in ways that involve treating women and gays as Others."

I think this is an important point because straight men are often very uncomfortable about homosexuality when it comes to gay men. I think it's also important to point out that many straight men view "feminine" gay women favorably but are uncomfortable with "butch" lesbians. You can see how society, as a whole, has adopted these feelings that stem from straight males. I don't know if our male dominated society is willing to fully embrace a strong gay male and not the effeminate stereotype that is seen in the movies and on TV.

3." ...but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices."

This is the closing sentence of the whole piece and I think it is an important one to end on. It is exactly what we are doing in class. We are trying to understand and appreciate differences, not by blind acceptance, but through open discussion and dialogue. It is easy to accept something because it is politically correct but it's more important to arrive at the same conclusion through understanding.

I think Carlson made me think back to when I was a kid and "gaylord" was the big insult of choice. I went to school at a time when kids didn't "come out" because it wasn't an option. I remember I got my ear pierced when I was eleven ('87) and even though I made sure that I got the so called "non-gay" ear pierced I still got called a "gaylord". I remember straight kids getting beat up for being labeled a "homo" so no one who was actually gay would come out and say they were. As I got towards the end of high school I think it began to be slightly more acceptable, but I still can't remember any openly gay male students in school. I think it is great that kids have more of an opportunity to be themselves today, even though being gay still must be difficult in our society.

Talking Points 2 Aria by Richard Rodriguez

1. "That day, I moved very far away from the disadvantaged child I had been only days earlier. The belief, the calming assurance that I belonged in public, had at last taken hold."

This is the moment in Rodriguez's life when he realized that he had become part of the class. He was no longer an outsider. I think this is a meaningful statement because it points to a very specific discovery in his life and explains how, from that point forward, he would never be the same again for better and worse. He had successfully assimilated but at the cost of losing part of his previous identity that he had found a strange comfort in.

2. "The family's quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents."

I think this is the sad side of Rodriguez's story. That the family shared fewer and fewer words reflects a family that is growing apart because they are becoming part of society and no longer share the isolation that once held them together. They share fewer words in the literal sense due to the kids advancing in English and they share fewer words because they aren't as close.

3. "...they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."

This is a heavy statement and shows that while Rodriguez understands that something was lost, much more was gained. I think he means that it is better to share with the world all that you have to offer instead of letting that potential go unrealized. He uses the word achievement to describe public individuality because it requires effort and sacrifice to put yourself out their especially when you are not part of the "culture of power". To me, Rodriguez is saying that it is better to show the world who you are, and make a positive contribution to society, instead of withdrawing out of fear.

Conclusion: I enjoyed reading "Aria" because it is a story of personal growth overcoming social obstacles. I think his story translates to more than just language barriers. To me it is not about fitting in, but more about being an individual on a larger scale. A scale on which you can do something positive and inspire others who might not have had the courage.

Kozol Talking Points Take 2

Amazing Grace by Jonathon Kozol

1. "There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons that the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway."

Kozol is referring to Cliffie the seven year old boy, who is showing him around St. Anne street and seems to find a little happiness in such a miserable place. I think it affects Kozol because all around him is sickness and evil and Cliffie still has to live there and be a little boy. Cliffie lives in a place where everything and everyone is working against him and there is really nothing to be happy about. He also uses the word "seem" in referring to Cliffie's happiness because he knows that underneath the smile their is a little boy in pain.

2."..they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants."

Cliffie's mom is talking to Kozol about the incinerator that the state of NY built in the neighborhood to burn medical waste. It had been previously scheduled to be built in another neighborhood but the parents in the nicer community were able to stop it for fear of cancer risks to their children. It wound up in their neighborhood along with 3000 relocated homeless families that the state had no where to put. She also says that people from nicer neighborhoods come to hers to throw away trash and discarded items in the street. In a sense the area has become a human landfill as well as a literal one.

3. "They ( drug dealers) look at you with this strange smile. It's not just hatred. It's as if they're laughing at their lives--and yours."

I think this closing sentence sums up the grim situation on St Anne. The conditions and the way of life have breed such a complete disregard for human life that living and dying are roughly the same.

Conclusion: I think that Kozol is trying to show you that there are people all around who are forgotten and need help. They are in situations too dire to get out of on their own and it is up to all of us to make their problems our own. We are all in this messed up world together and we should lend a hand instead of turning our backs.

Kozol video

Here is a youtube link to a Kozol interview that relates to class. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scIS_kbB8CU

Talking points on Kozol's Amazing Grace

I read Kozol's Amazing Grace today and it put new perspective on my life. I realized how removed I am from such desolation and how fortunate that makes me. The story of St Ann's Church and its surrounding community and the hardships they have to endure is sad to say the least. The fact that they suffer so much and yet they are located in the backyard of one of the wealthiest areas of NYC seems hard to understand. When Cliffie tells Kozol that he had seen a boy shot in the head and then asks him if he wants a cookie, its as if it didn't phase him because it is his reality. He lives it, so he copes with it. The sickness that surrounds St Anne's doesn't seem tolerable. In your day-to-day life it is easy to get lost in your own small world and chose not to look around for fear of what you might see. -Brian

2nd 1st post.

I failed to follow instruction on my first post. Sorry. This will serve as the real first post. I am Brian Parmentier and this is my first semester back after a long break. I have been working as a Skycap at the airport for the past twelve years and I am looking to change direction. I am juggling work, school, new baby with the help of my wife. I used to play guitar/bass and skateboard when I had time. I look forward to this semester and hope to do well. Thanks. -Brian

1st post

This is my first post on my first blog. I have finally stepped into the 2000's. Hooray for me.