Social Issues in Education

I really enjoyed the readings this week. I particularly enjoyed viewing the teacher practice maps made by other educators and hearing their analysis of the work. Viewing the maps created and reading about how they think their students view them, what they do in a day, made me stop reading and reflect on what my students would say about me and all that we do together in a day. School starts at 8:15 and there is much that is done before the bell even rings. I identified with Michelle's teacher map in particular. She talked about how it is impossible to plan the day because you never know when a particular child is going to do a complete 180. I have a student who is like this in that she can be easily set off by things, like not getting chosen to answer a question or if she doesn't like the lunch choices for the day. As much as you think you can plan out the day, you can't. It is minute by minute plan more so. I also made a connection to myself and many other educators I kn...

As a teacher of emergent bilinguals, I often have others ask me, "how can you teach ESL when you do not speak Spanish?" This is a common misconception among those who are not educated on what it means and entails to teach emergent bilinguals. I then go on to explain that not all emergent bilinguals speak Spanish. I have had students who speak Polish, Mandarin and Bengali. Translanguaging is a vital component of teaching emergent bilinguals successfully. Sometimes people confuse this with code switching, which it is not. Translanguaging is allowing students to use their language repertoire in order to be successful in the classroom. There are some great ways that this can be encouraged from allowing students who share the same home language to work together and in their home language, to encouraging students to write in their home language or whatever language they feel most comfortable using.  I loved the short CUNY video that showed how a teacher used graphic novels with...

The Freire Project was an enlightening video that highlighted the importance of critical consciousness and the connection it has to both society and in the classroom. As he states, critical consciousness is just good sociology. This is something that I learned about in college as I was also a sociology major. I take this concept and really try to apply it to my own pedagogy.  It is vital for educators to remember that we need create and maintain open lines of communication as well as create a nurturing learning environment for students to feel safe exploring and expressing their opinions. Hooks on page 1 stated, " to teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin." This is a notion that I firmly believe in especially in kindergarten, where students are just beginning their educational journey. I spend most of the time in the...

The exercise Kimberle Crenshaw begins her TEDtalk with was moving to see. Watching so many sit down as she moved on to name women who had been killed by police in the last few years was eye opening. I like many in the video knew of the first 5 or 6 names. I was only able to recognize 2 female names before I would have had to also sit down. It was such an eye opening moment for me to see and hear her explain how when facts do not fit with the available frames, people have a hard time incorporating new facts into their way of thinking about a problem. Therefore, these women's' names have slip through our consciousness because there are no frames. Resulting consequently with media not leading with them and politicians not talking about them. "Without frames that allow us to see how social problems impact all the members of a targeted group, many will be let to suffer in virtual silence." -This notion is what gave rise to her creation of the term intersectionality. ...

Article Title : In the Shadow of Brown: Special Education and the Overrepresentation of Students of Color  Focus of the article is to discuss the disproportionate placement of students of color in special education programs. This concept is commonly refereed to as over representation. Background Information : This article was written after the 50th anniversary of Brown vs.  Board of Education and the 30th anniversary of Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA asserted a need for increased educational opportunities for excluded groups of students. The authors of the article states that instead of celebrating Brown and IDEA, it would be ore honest to commemorate because schools are still just as segregated. Introduction: 2 main questions posed by the authors that this article tries to answer:  1. How has special education ignored the intersection of race and disability and by doing, contributed to failure of Br...

As an early childhood teacher, after reading the three articles, I immediately rummaged through my classroom library. I searched for pieces of literature that discussed and highlighted the topic of disability and sadly to my realization I had very few. I also enjoyed reading in Disability in Children's Literature by Liz Crow examples of how disabilities are misrepresented. She gave the example of Captain Hook (disabled people are menacing and dangerous), Tiny Tim ( disabled people are innocent and saintly) or Helen Keller (disabled people are an inspiration to us all).  Even reflecting on movies, I can't think of many movies that don't misrepresent those who do have disabilities. I wonder for those teachers out there, do any of you have pieces of literature that adequately presents those with disabilities and how do you incorporate this topic into your curriculum and classroom? This article does list some great books like Wonder and others that I read growing up. I wan...

 Emergent bilingual education is something that I feel very passionate about. I am majoring in teaching English as a second language and am an advocate for my ELLs and all ELLs when I can be. This includes educating others about the needs and rights of emergent bilinguals especially to those who are in control of laws and regulations like RIDE. Both professor Hesson and Toncelli are inspiring and knowledgeable educators with whom I have had the privilege of taking multiple classes under. Emergent bilinguals have the right to an ESL/bilingual teacher. In my school, there is an ESL/classroom teacher per grade level. At other schools in my district, they have one ESL teacher who travels to all 5 grade levels at the elementary level throughout the week. There is no co-teaching which would be ideal, but instead they follow the pull-out method. Emergent bilinguals should be with their peers in their classroom, while having access to a certified ESL expert to aid them on their journe...

Reading through the lesson plan, I was encouraged to see there are educators out there who are addressing important topics such as queer affirming, trans affirming and collective value. I know that these can be hard topics to teach based on grade level and what administration allows. This lesson allowed for critical thinking and deep discussions. I also thought it was great that the educator included multimedia to aid student's understanding as well as extension activities. The short video on Intersectionality was an interesting claymation way to explain a topic that is so important and hard for young students to grasp. I had never heard the term intersectionality until very recently, and apparently my spellcheck still hasn't! I was aware of the definition and what it meant for different people but, I had never put that term with it. Watching the video I realized, I am Greta. Everyone in my family attended college so did all of my friends, I always knew I would go to...

I found the article on Teaching Tolerance, Why Talk About Whiteness? very eye opening. As a white women myself, I truly have never thought about my race that much and I definitely do not talk about it either. I do believe that I am self-aware and I acknowledge my white privilege and feel comfortable talking about it to an extent. I love what Molly Tansley says, " naming whiteness and its privileges among white friends, family and colleagues is where the real work needs to be done." Talking about white privilege with people of color is not what is going to help as they are already aware. This topic needs to be addressed with other white people who perhaps are not so aware of their white privilege.  The Tools of Whiteness was also something that resonated with me. I was taken back a bit when reading some of the transcripts from actual educators especially Diane. Reading this was very eye opening in that I have heard people say things I was reading like "I don...

The Black Lives Matter short video on debunking myths is something that I need to show a few people. I find that when I try to talk and educate others on such important topics such as this, my words do not do my thoughts justice. I have heard from a few people that "black lives matter means that their lives are more important" and that "ALL lives matter". I heard someone say that at a family party in front of my friends and I became so embarrassed and felt as if I had to apologize for on their behalf. I try and explain as best I can, but this video does such a wonderful job eloquently addressing opposing opinions and advocating and explaining the moment using analogies and stats. Every single comment one would say in rebuttal to the black lives matter is what I hear when I try to present facts, "blue lives matter" being an example. Reading through the website, Black Lives Matter Herstory,  I was very inspired and proud that 3 strong women started this in...

All 3 readings were insightful and thought provoking. Below is my list of 5. The reading by Heidi Tolentino instantly made me think of the movie Freedom Writers staring Hilary Swank. This thought jumped into my mind because of the similarities in the way the educator handled the topic of race. In the movie and the reading, the teacher had the students write in a way to vent and express their feelings and opinions on particular topics. Doing so both educators were able to communicate effectively and create a bond with their students.  I really admire Heidi's ability to invite open discussion whenever necessary no matter how sensitive the topic. Many educators would have shut both the conversations sh e was presented with down with a quick, "let's focus and get back to the reading". Students need to have these conversations and the way that she allows the students to discuss with each other and invites others to listen and provide input is amazing and what mor...

As discussed in the reading, Who Am I? Who Are My People? , identity formation is a complex web that is an ongoing process. The authors on page 49, describe the key questions one may ask themselves when exploring their identity. "Who am I? What social groups do I want to affiliate with? Where/what/whom are my "community" and home?" The answers to these questions are not easy, no black and white answers. These answers also form the core of our existence according to the authors Kirk and Okazawa-Rey. As an educator, the topic of self- identity and the journey and exploration of self is of the utmost importance. The journey of identity starts young and we as educators need to aid kids on this journey and allow them to express and explore freely. As a kindergarten teacher I hear from students comments such as, " I don't like purple that is girly, only boys can play with the trucks, I only wear boy colors." I find it is not only my job to be teaching these ...