Blog #11: Spring '25 Top 3

 The three things that will stick with me the most from this semester are:

1. "Other People's Children" by Lisa Delpit

This reading as a whole changed some of my thinking in terms of power in the classroom. I had not considered a "silenced dialogue." Delpit describes how middle class students do better because the culture and rules of the classroom are based on the culture of the upper/middle class, aka those with the power and those who create the school. Delpit then goes into how parents who are not in this culture already want this for their kids. They want their kids to have the "discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society" (Delpit p. 28-29). Since completing this reading, I have tried to keep these ideas in mind, as well as Delpit's other points on the behavior of white teacher's to other students and teacher's of color. In this reading, Delpit also discusses the differences between middle class and working class speech in the sense of teacher's directives (p. 34-35). Middle class speech may involve a directive or command in the form of a question. When this instruction is ignored in the classroom, a student may be labeled with a behavior problem, but in actuality- that student may be expecting a command to sound like a command. Delpit also states that "Black children expect authority figures to act with authority" (35). These are all things that I had not necessarily considered before doing this reading. I have since noticed and been more mindful of this in what I see in classrooms and in my work.

2.  "Precious Knowledge" Video

I got a lot out of this whole video and I think that it's main topics come up a lot in other readings and videos. I enjoyed hearing and learning about the students at the school and their Chicano studies class. I think that it is important to hear their stories and their beliefs about having their culture included in the classroom. The students cared more, wanted to be in class and in school, and got better grades all-around. I also enjoyed hearing from their teacher and how/why he wants to do this for them. 

3. "Literacy With an Attitude" by Patrick J. Finn (Preface, Chapters 1 and 2) and "Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route" by Jeannie Oakes

 These readings made me reflect more on myself as a future educator as well as my past experiences in school. I also have been more aware of the effects of tracking on students in the different leveled classes in the high schools that I observe in. In one day I may see the same lesson given to three different levels of groups and I observe some of the things discussed in these readings. I think that it isn't fair to the students and if they are in a school that has tracked classes, teachers should be making an effort to give all students quality education. 

Table information comes directly from the Oakes reading

The effect of tracking on students in top-track classes	The effects of tracking in the “low-ability” groups	The effects of tracking in “average” classes
·       More class time on learning activities and less time on discipline and socializing ·       Expected to spend more time doing homework ·       More enthusiastic teachers ·       Clearer instruction, better organization of tasks ·	·       Poor and minority students are placed in these groups more than other students ·       Teachers of these classes use stronger criticism and are less encouraging ·       Learning skills mostly consist of memorization ·       Fewer topics ·       Less depth of coverage	·       Teachers expect relatively little from students ·       Rarely ask students to think critically, deeply ·       Very set routines

 Table information comes directly from Chapter 2 of the Finn reading

Working-Class School	Middle-Class School	Affluent Professional School	Executive Elite School
·       Less discussion of controversial topics ·       Copying teacher’s notes, lab directions from workbooks ·       Teachers make derogatory remarks regarding the students ·       Teachers control students movements ·       Students showed no enthusiasm, less resistance to easy work so assignments were not demanding ·       Repetitious and mechanical work	·       Teachers value the knowledge from the textbooks/curriculum over than knowledge taught by experience ·       “work is getting the right answer” ·       Controversial topics were avoided because parents may complain ·       Teacher decision based on rules and regulations that are known to the students ·       students view knowledge as a valuable possession that can be traded for good grades, good college education, good job	·       teachers all come from middle- or upper-class backgrounds ·       creativity and personal development are important goals for the students ·       students have there work “verified” by other students before handing it in ·       Encouraged discussion on current events ·       Work is a creative activity carried out independently ·       Teachers rarely gave direct orders ·       Few rules ·       Dominant theme of “individualism,” minor theme of “humanitarianism” ·       Students and teachers negotiate	·       Teachers are all women married to high-status professionals and business execs. ·       Children required to plan and teach lessons ·       Little attempt to regulate students movement ·       Students were “boisterous and occasionally rude” and were brought back by being reminded of their responsibility to achieve ·       Dominant theme of “excellence” ·       The point of there school work is to achieve, excel, prepare for life at the top

 

Blog #9: Hehir and "Examined Life"

Examined Life video- Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor (2008)

"Eliminating Ableism in Education" by Thomas Hehir (Sections "Ableist Assumptions," Ableism and Schooling," and "Education of the Deaf," "Toward Ending Ableism in Education") (2002)

QUOTES

1. "Help is something that we all need and it is something that is looked down upon and not really taken care of in this society when we all need help" (Butler and Taylor's conversation).

This quote stuck out to me when I was watching the video because it unfortunately feels very true. Many people refuse to ask for help and perpetuate this mindset of help being something that only weak people need and looking down on it. There is a "false idea that the able-bodied person is somehow radically self-sufficient." It shouldn't be thought of this way and it made me sad to hear about the ways that this has negatively impacted Sunaura Taylor's life. Another part of the video that stuck out to me was when they mention that physical access (like accessible public transportation, curb cuts, and accessible buildings) leads to social acceptability due to "more disabled people out and about in the world.

2. "While disability is not a tragedy, society's response to disability can have tragic consequences for those who have disabilities" (Hehir 2).

Hehir mentions the lowered expectations that people have for disabled people and this reminds me the some of the conversations we have had in class. For example, differently-abled people are not always challenged in the classroom and sometimes are given very easy work. This does not give those people the opportunity to really learn. 

3. "In her landmark study of the impact of a high percentage of dead people living in a Martha's Vineyard community, Groce found that graduates of [the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb] had achieved higher levels of literacy than many of their hearing neighbors... Deafness was so common on the island that most hearing people learned to sign. As a result of their relatively high education levels, deaf people held many positions of leadership in the community" (Hehir 5-6).

I chose this quote because I thought it stuck out to me as an example of deaf people receiving a good education and surpassing their peers-in terms of completing school.

4. "Studies of deaf children whose parents are deaf are revealing. These children start school with vocabularies comparable to their hearing peers and have higher levels of educational and occupational success than most deaf children with hearing parents" (Hehir 7).

I chose this quote because I thought it was interesting research. I wonder if their were more early educators that could use ASL and if this alongside the hearing parents use of ASL would put those children in a similar spot, vocabulary-wise, as their peers. I wish that/I hope that I have the opportunity to learn ASL. I am wondering if their are any good online resources for this.

Video: Students Learning Sign Language to Support a Classmate

Blog #8 "Aria" and Observations

 “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez and Observations From my Clinical Placement

Quotes

1.      “Had they been taught (as upper-middle class children are often taught early) a second language like Spanish or French, they could have regarded it simply as that: another public language” (Rodriguez p. 34).

This quote reminded me of the Finn reading where Finn compares the schooling of students in working class, middle class, affluent professional, and executive elite schools. In the working class school, students are often not taught another language until middle or high school. In the instance that Rodriguez is talking about, his native language (Spanish) was not considered a public language and he was obligated to speak English in school from a young age. I know people who attended private schools or public schools in wealthy neighborhoods, and they were taught a second language beginning in kindergarten or first grade. Those people continued to learn the language for the remainder of their k-12 schooling and exited school essentially bilingual. This language learning was encouraged and expected of them at these schools, but for the author “as a socially disadvantaged child,” his Spanish was not encouraged and was kept private/at home.

 

2.       “Following the dramatic Americanization of their children, even my parents grew more publicly confident” (Rodriguez p. 36).

I think that this relates to SCWAAMP and the value of Americanness and what is considered the most American and how this can affect one’s social standing. For this child, his parents became bigger participants in their physical community. The author states “my father continued to use the word gringo. But it was no longer charged with the old bitterness or distrust.” This families use/strong encouragement of English changed the way that they saw themselves and others.

 

3.      “One Saturday morning three nuns arrived at the house to talk to our parents... ‘Is it possible for you and your husband to encourage your children to practice their English when they are home?’ Of course, my parents complied. How could they have questioned the Church’s authority which those women represented?” (Rodriguez p. 35).

This quote also relates to SCWAAMP and the value of Christianity. The nuns told this family to have their children speak English at home instead of Spanish and the parents took that order, as they felt who are they to question the church.  

Observations from my Clinical Placement

My clinical placement is in a first-grade bilingual classroom at George J. West elementary school. When I arrive each week, the students are working on spelling. They had each been writing on a whiteboard on the rug and holding it up for the teacher to see, but over the past couple of weeks they have been transitioning to writing the words in workbooks and moving from the rug to their desks. They are working on writing words with -ea, -dge, and the magic/silent e and they are doing a great job. I go in on Thursdays and I know that throughout the week they are expected to practice this spelling and reading at home to prepare for there quiz on Friday. Some of them clearly are doing this practice at home, but some of them are not and the teacher does call this out and tells them they will not be prepared for the quiz if they are not working on it at home. After this the students go back to their seats and the teacher sees small groups of them to work on reading while the rest of them work on i-ready. During this time, I work with individual students on reading practice out of a workbook. They read words, sentences, and a short story. Then I talk to them a bit about the story and whatever else they want to talk about. For the most part, the students do very well and don’t even really need to sound out the words. There is one workbook I use for the students more at grade level and another one for the students below grade level.

Some of the students have trouble sitting safely on the rug and paying attention to the lesson.  There are two boys and one girl in the class of 17 that have the most trouble. They do not pay attention or participate in the lesson and then they do not know what they are supposed to be doing next. The teachers try to get their attention. Besides these instances, the students do not really have any disruptive behavior during the time that I am there.

When I arrive, the students greet me with “good morning” and when I leave, they all say thank you, goodbye, and see you next week. Some of them thank me directly for reading with them and I am sure to thank them for reading with me because they really are doing a good job, and it is exciting for them when they can figure out tricky words on their own. Their classroom has student work hung up on the walls, but there is not much individuality as it seems that each student completes the same projects. Each student has a third-grade buddy, and they have drawings of them together (first grader and third grader) with their names and fun facts hanging on the back wall of the classroom. The project that they started last week is a research-type project where each student is working on a different topic and will be using multiple sources to get their information.