Teaching the world to Change

As i read this article i noticed alot of different things that they were trying to get across. Some of the words that struck me were education, power, wealth, change, tradition, sucess, hard work, ambition, oppourtnies, money, hope and the biggest of them all was goverment. Goverment was a big issue in this article. An example would be they argue that democracy required ccitizens to delibrate publicly and to use their reason to decide among competing ideas for guiding the nation.So their trying to say that a "free pass" would circulate the ideas that Americans would debate over and citizens must be able to read.
It goes on saying that Language is how we use to talk to students. it really impacts the students and setting of how you talk/teach them. Differnet children learn materials in all different ways so the student and teacher need to communicate in a language that they both will understand. The lack of acknowledgement will make students not want to learn becuase if your not into it then why would they..and its the other way around. Most teachers basically say that their teachers and they get paid to teach so its not killin them if the child doesnt care.

Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us

Linda Christensen argues that basically that the "happily ever after" saying is annoying many people. She talks about alot of different things but one that struck me was racism beings early such as preschool. I never knew that. After i read this article. I looked back at where i work which is a daycare/preschool and i did notcied some of the things she pointed out. For example she said kids are exposed to misinformation about people different from ourselves. She means that kids say what they hear. An example would be that i was working with the kids at the preschool and i had a mixed group of 10 boys and girls. We just got in from playing outside so i was bringing them to the bathroom to wash their hands, mind you all of the childrens hands are dirty. I have this one colored girl in my group. As the colored girl and a white girl was washing thier hands the colored girl had dirt coming off her hands. Basically the white girl asked me why was her skin shedding? I was in complete shock and felt bad for the little girl of color becuase she was like "not huh it just dirt". I explained to the white girl that her skin is not shedding and it's just dirt coming off her hands. I also told her that her hands were dirty and everybody would have dirt coming off into the sink. I cant be mad at the girl who said that comment because she is only 4 years old and she doesnt really know whats "right from wrong" yet.
As i read down further into the article i noticed how the whole disney concept came up. I personally agree when the girl got mad about how their isnt a black, asian, hispanic cindrella. The perfect image of a cindrella they adress her to be is a white girl who is beautiful. Dont get me wrong, but there could be different girls of race that could fill that spot even though they arent white.But i think that would just defeat the whole purpose of a perfect life meaning cindrella and her prince. In many people's eyes they see if different. It's sad to say that people of color or a different race it's hard for them to get roles such as the lead role finding their perfect prince. When kenya and Sabrina justify that their should be more women of color in disney movies, supreme court, and scrubbing up for sugeries i agree with them, but basically it's not their choice when it comes down to it. I feel bad becuase there are other smarter people in the world besides "white people".

Gayness, Mulicultural Education, and Community

As I read this article I really noticed how gay people have been made absent, invisible and silent with the community. Public schools are being drawn into the battle between brewing "new right" fundmentalists in American culture. Carlson talks about how gay people or gayness have been kept in their place in the school community. I dont know what he really means by that, but I feel like he saying that gay people have to be secretative about their relationship when in school because people will look at them and judge. I know it might not be possibly but I feel as though if your gay or not you should be allowed to show your feelings to one another in public areas such as school. I dont think they should go as far as showing physical activity but holding of the hands or whatever if might be that is acceptable in school. When i was in highschool i had alot of diverse students and there were a few of "gay couples". They would hold hands and mabye give a kiss here or there. Some of the students at school would make rude remakrs or make fun of them becuase it was "two guys being together". I was always okay with that, i never made comments about it becuase there really no need too. I know it makes alot of people uncomfortable to see it. As i read down in the article i noticed how Carlson states that white middle class males get privileged and represented as "normal" but if yor gay, black or whatever it might be you are analyzed as sick, neurotic, criminal or lazy. I just think that is going a little to far.

Since all schools need to be "normal" they make sure that they have the power to keep "gayness" in it's place. They want to make sure it's invisible, meaning they dont want any other normal students to see it. They give a couple of techniques that show what they have done:

1. erasure of gayness in the curriclum
2. the "closeting" and "witch hunting" of gay teachers
3. verbal and physical intimidation of gay teachers/students

I feel as though gay people get that shorter end of the stick with whatever they try to do. Now a days when two guys live together people automically think they are gay, or when they are out to dinner. Basically it comes down to that schools will not allow gay people/couples and if they do they make sure they are in invisible.

Teaching Multilingual Children

As I read this article I noticed how there are alot of questions asked about the world today. When i say that i mean they talk about teachers wishing that learning could be a bit easier to teach to children who are multilingual. They talk about how technology should be easy to use instead of being so complicated. Parents freak out when they have to teach thier kids how to use something when really they are unsure of themselves. It's hard for parents to teach them when they are still unsure of that to do. Alot of the times i feel like the parents ask the children for help in cases like this.
When teachers are expected to teach English say in less then a year they automically freak out because kids are going to take more time then that. Children who speak a different language and use english as a second language it's a bit hard for the children and the teacher. An example they used was they say that teachers must be creative and flexible, serve has a catalyst for discovery so they can learn to operate effectively in the mutiple worlds. "teaching is complicated but it's rewarding in ways that many jobs can never be. Thats totally true becuase if you have a job where you have to teach in two languges thats alot of work and i give anyone credit who can do that. It might suck at times but if you love what you do then you should keep going. It gives you a chance with daily life, growing, thinking and maturing. There are jobs where people go to everyday and just speak in english as their first language get their work done and leave. It's as simple as that.
As I read more and more down the page I noticed how they gave important guidlines to teachers about how the mother and father use with their children. and how they should be more aware with while teaching. Some examples of these points would be that:

• Caregivers talk about what is going on here and now. The child is actively involved in the immediate context rather then dealing with the abstractions.
• Caregives speak in short and simple sentances. They are on the same level that the child controls or the next higher level.

Down towards the end of the reading i noticed about how they talked about code switching by students. I not sure what they mean by that. But i guess it's up to the teacher's decision to switch or not to switch the codes at any time according to their goals and the type of bilingual program they are in-i have no clue what that means but im sure ill learn about it down the way. In the end after everything was said the author talks about how launguage is enchanting, powerful,magical, useful and personal.