Miscellaneous Post - Reflection on FNED

FNED has been an eye opener class, which I have learned a lot that allowed me expanded my horizons. This class informs former teacher what to be aware of while teaching as while as in today’s society. The expectations in the class are high, but beneficial. It requires many readings and reflections on the readings. Readings are important to read and reflect because they each teach something new, whether it be about racism, sexism, privilege, etc. Writing and class discussions are also helpful therefore you get other people’s ideas and opinions which also you to be able to see all sides of the issues. These readings will often be demonstrated in the classroom you tutor in, you’ll be able to relate readings with real life experiences. 


As we would all like to think that America has become a non-discrimination place it unfortunately has not. Although over the years progress had been made to eliminate discrimination but equality still does not exist. FNED has affected my perspective on equality in today’s society. Before this I just saw discrimination between different races, sexes and sexuality. This class showed me that there are more levels of inequality, which allowed me notice them more and more in the media and everyday life.  FNED gave me the knowledge to be aware of inequality that I have never noticed before.


I have learned a lot of beneficial aspects about teaching and will take everything I learned in this class into furthering my education studies. 

Miscellaneous Post - Gay Bullying

I found this video shocking. For one, gay bullying is something that should not be taken lightly. Gay people are more likely to commit suicide and suffer from depression. Something need to be done about this. Even though more people has become more accepting to it, but yet do NOTHING about it. The problem is not going to get fixed without taking serious actions.

Education is Politics - SHOR

"On the other hand, education is a social experience for tens or millions of students who come to class with their own dreams and agenda."

I do believe that education in schools do develop one’s social skills. Interacting with other people, especially your own age, is a way of learning. Also interacting with other develops communication skills to be fully functioning successful adults. This social experience is something a student learns during their first few year in school.

"Participation is the most important place to begin because student involvement is low in traditional classrooms and because action is essential to gain knowledge and develop intelligence."

Participation is very important in education. It’s important for both the teacher and the student. It shows the teacher that the student is engaged in learning and whether the answer right or wrong they are still making the effort to learn. For the student, participation keep them focus and active in a lesson. This is necessary to develop learning skills. It also is a way one gains knowledge from participating their own ideas and also listening to other’s ideas. Students learn a lot from their peer therefore participation is important for education in schools.  

"Situated, multicultural pedagogy increases the chance that students will feel ownership in their education and reduces the conditions that produce their alienation."

Learning about multicultural is important aspect in education. In today’s diverse society it is beneficial to all to learn about one another’s culture. This will allow students expanded their horizons of another culture as well as feeling connected when learning about their own. Also with this it would allow students to be more accepting to one another, to realize that people come from all over with different beliefs but that does not make them less important. This is important that children learn this at an earlier age therefore they’re more accepting.

I did enjoy this reading. I found it very informative about how to approach thing in a class. It also taught me problems to avoid. I agree with shor’s ideas and opinions.  

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route - OAKES

OVERVIEW:

I fully enjoyed this article. It brought up a lot of great point about tracking in school. It allowed me to see both sides of the issue, and the positives and negatives about each. I do believe that changes should be made to the tracking system in order for equality for all students.

“Moreover, the nature of these differences suggests that students who are placed in high-ability group gave access to far richer schooling experiences than other students. This finding helps explain, at least in part, why it is that tracking sometimes seems to “work” for high-ability students and not for others.”

This is unfair for low-ability students for obvious reasons. If classes are divided by learning ability there should not be discrimination of classes getting less money and fewer amounts of the best teachers. It is wrong. All different learning classes should be equally divided with materials and concepts they must learn.

“In low-ability classes, for example, teachers seem to be less encouraging and more punitive, placing more emphasis on discipline and behavior and less on academic learning.”  

This is something that I have personal witnessed at my tutoring. While I am in the classroom as a whole, the less-ability students are more focus to the lesson. But when it is time to break up and the less-able students going into another classroom the aid teacher and myself the students become more rowdy.  It is harder to keep the students focus and I find that a lot of the time is wasted to keep reminding them to stay on task.

“For teachers, evaluations might involve more private, individual questions, such as, “What did she learn?” rather than “How did she compare with others?””

In schools I feel like it is competitive between students. Scores and grades are everything. They determine how much you really know and understand. But to be compared to other students is unfair because everyone learn at different rates and are stronger in one subjects than others. I do like this idea that Oakes suggests to compare scores to the individual student alone, and focus on what they learned. I believe it is a more positive way of evaluating students. 

Race, Class, and Gender Why Students Fail - McLaren

“Ogbu draws attention to no less than seventeen behavioral categories that constricted for black students what it means to ‘act white’. These include speaking Standard English, working hard in school to get good grades, being on time, and so on.”

For one I don’t believe these behavioral categories should be referred to acting white because there are many many whites who would not fit in all seventeen categories. Perhaps it should be called the “perfect student”?  Also getting everyone ethnic group to act like these categories would make them lose their native background, which is said in both this article and Rodriguez’s article “Aria”.

“I witnessed numerous daily incidents in which girls clashed physically and violently with boys or with other girls. In fact, some of the girls were among the school’s most menacing and gifted pugilists.”

‘Bein’ Tough: Bein’ Female’ was one of the larger sections. It showed that girls did have a lot more pressure in schools than boys. In the article it states that girls care a lot about the trend (e.g., hair, makeup, clothes) and the competition with other girls. Also girls have pressure with boys/relationship, not to give “too much” or too “cold”. Girls have higher standards than boys which more a lot of pressure on them, which may be a reason why girls are more popular.   I do agree with McLaren in this quote. Throughout my years in grade school I have witness or heard of more girl fights than boy fights. Girl fights are also more intense and vicious compared to boy fights.

“‘Psychologizing’ student failure amounts to blaming it on individual trait or series of traits (e.g., lack of motivation or low self-concept).”

I believe this has a major impact on a student’s success. It is not the student fault who has develop such traits but things within their background that has triggered them. Although many reasons may cause these traits, it is possible for the teacher to get behind them and eliminate them. That is what makes someone a good teacher. To be able to take a failing students and shaping them into a successful by learning about them and where these negative traits come from. 

A Particularly Cheap White Wine - Wise

“First, although white students often think that so-called minority scholarships are a substantial drain on financial aid resources that would otherwise be available to them, nothing could be further from the truth.”

I do not agree with Wise, at all. I believe that there’s a percentage of Whites who do believe this way but on the other hands they a many Whites who do not see anything wrong with minority scholarships. Besides saying this, the author should have got statics. He should have shown how many Whites agree and how many disagree. Then also get the percentage of the amount of money lost from minority scholarship. Although this is he’s opinion, I believe it was too general to state.

“Indeed, schools serving mostly white students have three times as many honors or AP classes offered, per capita, as those serving mostly students of color”

I do agree with Wise. Statics have shown this. It could be because school with more students of color are for the most part in poverty areas and cannot afford funding for it. Students in honor and AP classes have a higher opportunity of receiving a scholarship. I believe this plays into a factor of the ratio of Whites and colors and scholarships. When scholarship groups are picking their candidates, they are looking are the person grades, classes they took and extra activities. In case, I can see what whites have a higher chance of receiving a scholarships over than Blacks or Latinos.

“In effect, there are not scholarships based on race, but rather, scholarships based on recognition of racism and how racism has shaped the opportunity structure in the U.S”

I believe that race scholarships do exist because of racism. Racism is still an ongoing battle in the U.S still today, whether people want to admit it or not. Scholarships based on race are in effect therefore people can say it is equal. Scholarships are awarded to everyone and not just Whites. These scholarship original were established to set equality. That there’s scholarships for both Whites and non-whites. 

Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us - CHRISTENSEN

OVERVIEW:

I agree with a lot with what the article was entailing. Racism, sexism, etc. is shown within Disney movies, cartoon, commercial, etc. It is an unsaid message to young children. The clear messenge of white dominant power began more apparent to me as I recalled Disney movies I used to watch.  Also women’s image in cartoons, T.V show, magazines, etc. These have created the image of the perfect body. Because of such a image of   the “beautiful” girl, young girls feel pressure into fitting the same image. This has lead to extreme measures from girls who go on crash diets or develop eating disorders. 

QUOTES:

1.      “I start by showing students old cartoons because the stereotypes are so blatant.”

While I was reading this article I began to recall Disney movies that I used to watch, and still do. Not once did I ever think of them as being racist, sexist or anything like that. I just always watched the movie for the underlining life lesson. But, when I began to think back to these movies I could see that racism, sexiest, etc. was clearly demonstrated. Most of the main characters are white, girls are shown as having the perfect hour glass shape, and men a shown as always being dominant to women.   

2.     “Many who watched cartoons before we start our study say they can no longer enjoy them. Now instead of seeing a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see racism, sexism, and violence that swim under the surface of the stories.”

People said that they saw such things on TV and would shut it off. I believe that taking this to such an extreme is a little ridiculous to be honest. Although that racism, sexism, etc. is present the overall message is more powerful for young children. I could feel like way for the simple fact that I am a white girl and these issues are not as clear to me, at first, than it is to someone of color. I don’t believe shutting off such cartoons is solving the problem. Although times are changing and people believe that racism is no longer present in the U.S, it still is. Its shown everywhere, even if it’s not on purpose or not suppose to be seen as racist.

3.     “The Barbie syndrome starts as we begin a lifelong search for the perfect body.”

I do strongly see the issue with women’s role in cartoon, TV show, magazines, etc. Most of the girl characters are either drawn with the perfect hour glass shape or have it. It puts a lot of pressure on young girls to look like that, to be skinny with curves. This often discourages girls, and makes them believe their bodies aren’t good enough leading to crash diets and eating disorders. Coming from a girl perspective, I believe that this is one of the more powerful unsaid messages than most.

Gayness, Mutlicultural Education, and Community - CARLSON

OVERVIEW:

Gays and lesbians have come a long way for the past. Even though things still need to be done to make improvements. For example, marriage. Most of the states in America do not allow gay marriage. I believe people are going to be together regardless, so why don’t allow them to be married? Also in the military. Gay men should be open about their gayness while they’re in the services. Homosexuality should be something young children learn about, therefore it more nature because they have grown up around it. It should be discussed in school classrooms as a way to make everyone comfortable and accepting, therefore the hate crimes against gays would hopefully decrease. Kids are aware of gayness at a young age but are often mislead. With learning about it in school can make things clear, and all questions can be asked and answered, therefore they have a better understanding.

QUOTES:

1.      “Since homosexuals were therefore ineffective.”

Here Carlson describes the stereotype of gay teachers. He says that gay teachers are more likely to get involved more and develop crushes towards their students. I did not agree with that stereotype at all because in high school I had a gay teacher, and honestly he was the best teacher I ever had. Teachers developing crushes on their students is something that is more personality based than sexuality, I believe.

2.     “Yet the intimidation continues, much as it does in the military.”

I believe the military rule “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule is ridiculous. I don’t see why gay men can’t enroll in the military. Just because they’re gay doesn’t make them different or less of a men than a straight man. Gay men should have the right to be in the military and be open about it.

3.     “The new right has not been successful in building a broad-base power bloc or articulating a “public” discourse on educational and social problems with broad appeal.”

I cannot remember talking about gayness in elementary or high school in any of my classes. It was something that was present and people knew about it but never discussed in a classroom. In high school there was a group, the gay-straight alliance, but it was a small group who met after school, but never preached out their opinions. I believe that gayness should be taught at an early age, therefore it seems more natural/normal to kids, and then they can be more accepting.

Aria - Richard Rodriguez

OVERVIEW:

When I first starting reading Richard’s story I did not agree with what he was saying about public schools teaching children Spanish. I had a set option that Spanish speaking people should learn the English language in public schools, hands down. But while I was reading I began to agree more and more with his idea. I did not realize the impact on speaking English would have on him and his family, and there clearly needs to be a division between the two.  What really made to realize the dramatic change was the impact it had on him and his family being able to communicate with one another.  And because English was the only language they were speaking, their conversations often got the parents confused, which lead to little to no conversations. I also tried to imagine myself being in Richard’s shoe, being in a classroom where everyone speaks Spanish, and they difficulties I would have to face with that. I believe I would be the same as Richard was, silent and at a huge disadvantage. I think that in areas where a lot of people speak Spanish, they should teach both Spanish and English in schools, therefore no one is left out and the get a view on both sides.

QUOTES:

1.      “That day, I moved very far from the disadvantaged child I had been only days earlier.”

Richard always saw himself having a disadvantage from the other children, because Spanish was his first language, therefore he could not speak and understand English that well. He was often silent and shy towards the other children because he was not confident with speaking to English speaking children. But, once he practiced more and more with English his confidence level went way up. He was then raising his hand to answer questions in class, and the teacher and children could understand what he was saying, which made him feel no longer at a disadvantage from everyone else.

2.     “No longer so close; no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public.”

As a request from the school’s nuns was to have Richard’s parents help Richard with English, by practicing with him. They suggested speaking English around the house more, rather that Spanish. The entire family began to shut out the Spanish language and focus on English. But, because the family’s English was not strong, talking began to dead down. Within the family, there was many times where they could not understand each other, which ended the conversations with ‘never mind’. I found this to be sad in a way, because even though it is very necessary to know English in America, I believe a line needed to be drawn. A time for Spanish is needed for Spanish families for their communication with one another.

3.     “Today I hear bilingual educators say that children lose a degree of ‘individual’ by becoming assimilated into public society.”

After reading Richard’s story, I strongly believe with this quote. As I saw with Richard he lost a part of himself, as well his family, when he made English his main focus, and forgot about his native language Spanish. I believe it would be a good and successful method to teach young children, in areas where there are a lot of Spanish speaking people, both English and Spanish in public schoolings. Therefore, it would benefit everyone. English speaking children with learn another language which is become more and more useful in today’s society. And the Spanish speaking children can learn English, without feeling at a disadvantage and left out from the others.

Jonathan Kozol: "Amazing Race"

OVERVIEW:

The read itself was easy to comprehend and interesting, but the harsh reality was hard to grasp. It was hard to relate and imagine living in such a neighborhood. This article was a major eye opener. I was aware that neighborhood like this, in the Bronx, existed but I did not reality how troubled they really are. The high number of AIDS, drug addicts, and death rates in one community was the most mind-boggling. Also, the hospital was filled to capacity, which leaves germ infected people waiting in the waiting room for days.

Clearly, this community is not sanitary at all. But to make some progress, there are places which give out free condoms and needles, which in a way are supporting the bad behaviors, such as prostitution and drug using. But it is so second nature to most people living here that in a way it is helping solve further more problems, like AIDs. I also realized that is that children in this neighborhood are similar to children in any other environment. The seven-year-old boy who guided Kozol around the neighborhood, seemed be like any other seven-year-old boy. He was “cheerful” and “buoyant” according to Kozol. This young boy is fully aware of what is going on in his community, and yet he’s upbeat and outgoing to the stranger. Although some children may appear to be happy, according to Kozol, most children in Mott Haven do have depression symptoms, live in fear and anxiety, and also suffer from medical illness, commonly asthma.  

QUOTES:

1.      “Nearly 4,000 heroin injectors, many of whom are HIV-infected, live here. Virtually every child at St. Ann’s knows someone, a relative or neighbor, who has died of AIDS, and most children here know many other who are dying now of the disease.”

This to me is crazy because I do not know anyone who has died from AIDS. I also think it’s safe to say that not many, if any, knew of anyone who did in my public schools growing up. This show just how bad this neighborhood truly is. It is common to see someone you know die of AIDS, which to me would be stocking and unusual.

2.      “God told us, ‘Share!’”

Although Cliffie’s family is poor, he is still is brought up to share and have manners. When a homeless man asked Cliffie for food, he gave him some of his pizza, even though there was barely enough to feed his family. Most would believe that his parents would be mad or upset for them giving away their food. But when he was asked if his parents got mad, he was puzzled as to why they would be. He was also willing to share his cookies with Kozol.  It show his innocence for doing a good thing, not being selfish, especially when most people, both rich or poor, would have not bothered to share with a homeless man. Living in a bad neighborhood does not always have a negative effect on people living there.

3.      “At 96^th Street, all of the other white people leave the car I’m in, but several black and Hispanic...”

The community is made up of mainly blacks and Hispanics, which relates to “The Trouble We’re In” from Privilege, Power and Difference by Johnson. It is a clear demonstration of white privileged because of the fact that no white people live in such a community. White people are expected to have a good job and be successful, and because of that they are not seen to be living in such a neighborhood. But on the other hand, it is not unusually to have this community filled with black and Hispanics, according to Johnson.

About Me

Hi! My name is Bethany, but most people just call me Beth or Betha. I am from a small town in Mass. near the Cape, where everyone knows everyone. I'm a typical 20 year-old girl, who goes to school, works and likes hangs out with friends in my free time. I attend Rhode Island College and I'm inspiring to be an elementary teacher, with a concentration in math. I'm normally an outgoing girl who loves to meet new people and have a good time, but I can have a shy side at times. I'm big into my family and friends, I would do anything and everything for them. I absolutely love the summer time, the warm weather, beach days, care free living. I hate really cold temperatures, eventhough I do enjoy a little snow, but sometimes enough is enough. I do enjoy being a girl by shopping, doing my hair and nails, tanning, etc. but I also have a  tomboy side. I don't mind being outside, getting my hands dirty, and playing sports. I do believe everything happens for a reason, both good and bad, and makes you who you are today.