Johnston-What can we do?

As i read chapter 9 in johnston's book it was very helpful becuase it was like what we read all along during the semester but it would of been nice to read it in the start of the semester so we could of looked back on it. But i like how he says the challenges we face are rejection, privilage, harassment, violence and discrimination. All that is so true becuase we are facing that in the world today. He states that the problem of privilege and oppression is deep and wide and to work with it we have to be able to see it clearly so that we can talk about it in different ways. I think what he means by that is that everyone should look through the problem first instead of jumping into conclusions. I duno i just felt like as i read on we already read or covered in the class so it was kind of just giving me a refresh of what the world, people and society is all about. For example Johnston points out that racism, sexism, ableism, and privilege are words that we can't get away from..thats totally true becuause there are people in this world that dont care what other people t hink so they are goign to say whatever is on their mind.
This semester finally is over ): and i gotta say that johnson was my favorite to read this semester. I think he gets his point across from the start and doesnt hold anything back. I def learned from him!!!!!!

Dr. Bogad you are an awsome professor and this class has taught me alot.

School GIrls-young women, self-esteem and the confidence gap.

When i think of Confidence i think of trusting yourself, not being afraid to talk infront of others, and generally being happy with your self. I lack confidence in some areas such as talking in front of others, but i have confidence in other areas, in balances out. The problem is that most girls in today worlds lack confdience wether it being they think their too fat, ugly, not good enough for others. Educators around the country are working to develop gender-fair curricla in all subjects and trying to learn how children learn best. I didnt really get when Orenstein was saying "looking through the gender class" only that they find most females taking over classrooms rather then the male gender. An example would be that when they said looking around in Ms. Logans classroom i find myself wondering, "where are the men", then it dawns this is a classroom that went through gender looking glass. It is a mirrior opposite of most classrooms that girls will enter, which are adorned with masculine role models, male heroes, with books by and about men. Education that includes us all talks about how the students ineract with each other and how they connect in the classroom. They say people always ask the teacher Ms. Logan how they can get boys to stop being so male-oriented. MOst females sometimes lack confdience in classrooms.

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

This Article is About:

• down syndrome
• education
• segregation
• judgment
• democracy
• schooling
• citizens
• children
• individuals

What i got out of this article, was that Kliewer was trying to let people know how children are being segreted and judged in school systems. It's hard to read what the children have to say about how other kids treat them. An example would be that a girl named Mia was taking special education classes and she didnt like it, she went through those classes almost her whole life. She wanted to feel liek a normal person and take normal classes. In my highschool when there was a student who was special ed they had their own classroom which was good and bad. I guess you can say it was good in a way becuase they were getting extra treatment they needed rather then being in a big classroom where they probbaly would of been ingorned. But i think it's bad in a way becuase students who are in special education classes who can take care of them selves should have the opportunity to be in regular classes to see where they stand..i think the school system should give them a chance to see if they can handle the difference. My highschool was half and half with choices like that.

Judgement and Democracy talks about how the framework of utilitarianisim maitains the decocracy and exisits as a bureaucratic arrangment apart from the general population and it's charged with the protection of individual.

The movie we watched in tuesdays class was kind of hard to sit through just becuase i was wacthing students who were disabled and alot of them were being segregated from schools and alot of the paernts were fighting for the right of their child. PArents wanted their kidds to attend regular classes becuase most of the students could handle it, but the school systems were not agreeing to let the "special ed" students be in the same classes as regular students. I personally think that wether if your in a wheel chair or whatever it might be i think that if you can talk. write, listen and hear then you should be able to attend regular classes, it's only fair. Just becuase you have some students who walk funny, talk wierd or make wierd noises i feel as though most schools shut students down.

This article is about:

misunderstanding
education
race
segregation
children
gender
schools
state
court
laws
placement
lawyers

Lawrence's argues that both judiciary and society denies reality of race in America. He says that segregations is a big part of it all, which is true becuase in the article it talks about how segregation functions and the three underlying characteristics are:

1. Segreation's only purpose is to label or define blacks as inferior and exclude them from full and equal particpation in society.
2. Blacks are injuried by the existence of the system or institution of segregation rather then by particular segregating acts.
3. The instituion of segregation is organic and self-perpetuating. Once established it will not elminate more removal of public sanction but must be affirmativelydestroyed.

So basically those three charatertistics is saying is that blacks should be not be able to particpate in society and that we should exclude them from everything. I disagree with that statement becuase without blacks we would be short handed with alot of things in this world. Another thing later in the arrticle says that if we think of seperate white children from blacks as a source of harm that also is not right becasuse if society seperates white children from black then those children are not going to know why? They are going to think that thats how the society runs. On page 288 i really like what the parent said to her child. She said make sure you study hard and one day you will end up like Mr. Lawerence. I feel as though alot of families, children look up to lawerence.

Lawerence talks in the article about a school in new york and when the teacher passed out grades he would give the same speech as before. Everyone is equal and does to their best of ability and no matter what your grade might be, you all are smart. He also says that A students become law professors, B students become judges and C students make the money. If that all was true then this society would be a whole lot different. Education and the school system is looked at as being a misunderstanding becuase of the goverment.

This article was a bit confusing to me so when we get to go over in class ill come back and update it.

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route

What this article is about:

• education
• teachers
• experiences
• opportunties
• growing
• curriculum
• alternatives
• students
• competing
• lecturing
• assigments
• learning

As I read the Jennnie Oakes: Why schools need to take another route I believed that the way they talk about the learning system with the students is awkard. I think it's wierd how there are different ways that students are learning or the way they say it. For an example students that are called top students spend more time in class learning activities and less on displine, socializing and class rountines. HIgher-ability students are expected to spend more time doing homework-their teachers tend to be more specfic on instructions. Then you have the low-ability classes that teachers seem to be less encouraging and more strict on discipline. They are more focused on making sure the students are on time and following directions, rather then actually learning what they are supposed to.

There's a quote in the article that says "Students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences then other students." I personally think that the statement is true but at the same time i think its just saying that only smart kids will go further in the education rather then students who are in low standard classes. When i was in high school i was in good classes but i wasnt always smart in math. I actually was horrible but my math class ranged from smart people who was good in math all the way to where kids were lost in the class. I was one oof those students who were lost in the class but i had a teacher that pushed me to try even when i felt liek giving up. I think that there are teachers out there that need to be more encouraging and helpful with students even if they are smart or not.

The section of Evaluation that supports Learning really caught my eye becasue it talks about how teachers garde students and how they grade it. Grades are posted in many different ways for example letters, numbers, starts, smiley faces that are generally good but when if and when a students does poorly the teachers puts sad faces, zeros. I think it's ok for them to put that if a student does bad but i feel like they should write comments on the side or help them with materials they are having trouble with. Reading this artcle makes me think that i had it different in the schools i attended. There are def a number of teaches out there that are encourgaing and heloful with the students but then you have the ones that say i am getting paid to do this if you dont want to learn then it's fine by me...becuase they are already getiing paid for it. It's liek the article we read the one before this. IF a a teaches is not willing to teach in a respectful way then the students will also give up. Students need guidance!!

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.

Peggy McIntosh

McIntosh.

In this article McIntosh talks about white/male privilege as a phenomenon and basically saying that our society is filled with white privilege and is somewhat denied and protected. For example she says "I realize I had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but I had been taught not to see through them". I like that statement alot becuase while I was growing up I was taught not to hate on people that was not of my race, or even to be mean for no apparent reason. People of other color are just as human as we are. MsIntosh is trying to say that privilege is put at an advantage for white people. As I read along I liked how she stated that whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege and males are not to recognize male privilege. I understand that statement but I think it's hard for them not to recognize things in life because things become so much easier for them and she names a couple of them throughout the article.
A few examples would be that if:

• If went shopping alone then im pretty sure that I won't be followed or harassed about giving three forms of id, stealing or even walking alone.
  
• If a white person moves then they are pretty sure of renting a house in an area that is afforable and where they are happy.
  
• She also says that I am pretty sure that when I move my "new" neighbors will be neutral or pleasant to me.
  

She gave alot more ideas but I just named a few. I just want to say that I agree with alot of what she is saying but some of the stuff she says makes me so mad. She talks alot about male privilege and power. As I was growing up I learned alot about how you shouldnt judge a book by it's cover. McIntosh says that she was taught to see her self as an individual..she generally saying worry about your self and not about what others are doing around you.

About Me (:

My name is Demi Spitaleri. I am Italian and Irish. I am currently 19 years old and my birthday is March 7th. This is my second year at RIC and I do not seem to be liking it that much. I know it's only been three weeks into the semester but i would love for it to be over already. It's so overwhelming. Lets just say that RIC was not my first choice for schools. I was going to attend Point Park University for dance but i was injuried bad so i kinda needed to stay here. My major is early child education so i guess this school is best for me. I love working with kids. I currently work at dunkin donuts and a daycare. I love it.
Other than being in school I love being with my friends..they are amazing. Ashton is my best friend..yes I said Ashton everyone thinks it's funny how are names are DEMI and ASHTON. Everytime we say our names they make a big deal out of it becuase for one we are related. She also comes here which is good. My hobbies include going out and having a good time, working, shopping, dancing, movies and pretty much anything else that you would consider a good time. If you want to know more about me you can ask (: