Talking Points Shor- Education is Politics

“You must arouse children's curiosity, and make them think about school. For example, it's very important to begin the school year with a discussion of why we go to school. Why does the government force us to go to school? This would set a questioning tone and show the children that you trust them and that they are intelligent enough, at their own level, to investigate and come up with answers. A school year that begins with questioning school could be a remarkably democratic and critical learning experiences for students.”

In my opinion this is a very good idea, why not question why we are forced to go to school? If you can discuss this and create hypothetical scenarios like “what would it be like if we weren’t made by law to go to school?” I would ask students what they think would happen if this were so and if they would choose to go to school or not go. Obviously some kids choose not attending, this is where I would have to have these students question themselves, their choice and what they think would happen to them further on in life if they did not have an education. Then have the other students who would opt to go to school explain why they would want to go to school and what will come of their decision. I think this would make for a very good discussion in any classroom.

“If the student’s task is to memorize rules and existing knowledge, without questioning the subject matter or learning process, their potential for critical thought and action will be restricted.”

I strongly agree with this quote, without questioning anything, how do you really learn anything? I’m not saying you don’t learn from just reading and memorizing, you obviously do, but learning that way is kind of being programmed like a robot in a factory, it knows what it’s programmed and then does the task it’s programmed to do. This may be a bit of an extreme analogy, but I remember cramming for tests in high school the night before and then regurgitating the info the next day on the exam, getting a good grade, but if I took a similar or even the same test a month later without preparation I wouldn’t remember most of the information and do poorly on the test. It was like a programmed myself to take that particular test. I always learned better in a discussion type setting asking questions, getting answers and then discussing and elaborating on those answers. The way our class is conducted is much more likely to get me to learn rather than read the book and take the test which was like a class I had last semester and I hardly remember anything from that class and that was only 5 months ago.

“School funding is another political dimension of education, because more money has always been invested in the education of upper-class children and elite collegians than has been spent on students from lower-income homes and in community colleges. Moreover, testing policies, in which women and minorities have traditionally scored lower than men and whites.”

I chose this quote because it really supports the “culture of power” concept and also made me think of the Johnson reading as well as the Anyon and Oakes readings with it referring to the education of upper class children and how they are more advantaged than the lower class by having more opportunities. It’s rather apparent that white privilege gives the upper class and elite much more of an advantage over everyone else where the school system is underfunded. This is too bad because the students without privilege are the ones who need the most help and a student who has great potential my just be left behind due to the fact that they didn’t have an outlet or opportunity to express or use their potential.

"Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome" by Christopher Kliewer

“Those who appear not to make use of these conditions (supposedly open to all), or who appear to lack the potential to accrue privileges, are systematically devalued as less than full citizens – charged as they are with having the differences that matter.”

Basically what is being said here is that people with mental disabilities are not given the right to be full citizens. Disabled people should have the same rights as everyone else. But as far as the classroom goes, I don’t know how effective it is to mainstream disabled persons. It’s like when you put a non- English speaking student in an English speaking class they will eventually catch on and learn but someone who is limited by disabilities may not do so well and just get frustrated which would be a bad thing. I don’t know much about this topic, but I do remember in my high school Spanish class a student with down syndrome attended the class with an aid, but always became frustrated because the teacher couldn’t understand him, most of the time the aid couldn’t understand him. It was too bad and kind of sad, this student left the class halfway through the first quarter. Obviously putting that particular student in the classroom didn’t work for him but maybe it might work for other students with disabilities.

"How absurd to be judged by others at all, especially by those who have never experienced a disability or who are unwillingly providing us with support who don't listen to the voices we have."

A truthful quote, kind of like putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s kind of like school administrators who forget what it’s really like to be in a classroom preaching to teachers on how they should run their particular classroom, my sister is a middle school teacher and she and her colleagues complain about this quite a bit and how it just makes problems.

"As mentioned earlier, people with Down syndrome are joined in their struggle for citizenship by other oppressed groups."

This is a good quote because it goes along with the first quote I wrote about first. I never thought of people with disabilities as being oppressed but after reading this, it does seem as though that they are. When I thought about it, it makes a lot of sense that they do have to struggle, a good example would be that disabled persons get special treatment such as handicap parking spaces, but many people don’t respect disabled persons or just don’t care so they just take the spot or some people that may have a handicap parking pass when they don’t really need it and use it so they don’t have to walk as far, which in my opinion is even worse that just taking the spot.

From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work JEAN ANYON

I found this article somewhat interesting but not so surprising. Children are usually products of their environment so why would schools be any different. They should be different and give kids from lower or working class families more of a chance to attain an education that will allow them to excel to higher standards that would allow them to get better jobs and have more of the opportunities that middle or upper class students would have.

April 7,2010 Racial Stratification and the Politics of Culture

This article seemed like more of the same to me, but at least this article focused on the underclass and not just minorities being oppressed. In my opinion one of the main reasons students fail especially younger students is lack of parent involvement. I see this every week with one of the students I work with in the VIPS program. This student has very little support from home, he usually doesn't get breakfast so he is hungry and this distracts him. Also there is no help with homework or readings that are sent home. This student is clearly behind because of this and the lack of support is always going to hold him back. Granted there are other factors, but this is a big one.

Tim Wise "Between Barack and a Hard Place"

I agree with Mr. Wise's views and found him to be a very good speaker but a little bit eccentric. I like the points he made about minority groups not being at fault and how white people "view blacks and browns through a lens of a group pathology" I strongly agree with him on the topic of America now being "post racial" and how we are not in fact post racial at all. I really liked his quote "the past affects everything, that what comes before shapes us in ways more profound than any of us would probably like to acknowledge"

V.I.P.'s Level K

2/23/10 The First day

This was was my first day in the Kindergarten class and

Upon my arrival to the school the receptionists were some what neutral to me be did help me to get signed in and get to my classroom. When I reached the classroom the teacher was very nice to me and glad that I was there to volunteer, she told me a bit about her class and then introduced me to her aid that was also very nice to me. The teacher then talked to me about the two students I would be working with, one who is a bit behind due to lack of help or interest form home and the other who is actually quite bright but severely lacks focus. She then informed me that for today I would just be observing and next week I would be working with the students. We then went out to the schoolyard to bring in the awaiting kindergarten class, which the aid had rounded up. We then led the students back to the classroom where she pointed out the two students I would be working with, then introduced me to the class. At this point I just stood back and observed. The teacher settled the students having them hang up their coats, putting away their things and getting them to all sit down, this seemed to go rather smoothly, she then took attendance and took care of minor logistics such as milk money and things of that nature.

The children sat quietly doing their daily work for about 15 minutes and then moved to the carpet where the teacher talked about what day it was how the weather was and then the sang a son about the weather. Next came a group reading activity which the students really seemed to like and then they all lined up for a bathroom break. Upon returning from the bathroom trip the class had snack time and after that the students returned to the carpet for story time, where the teacher read a few books and then they did another group reading activity. After this they returned to their seats for some more written work for about 15 minutes. After this the students lined up again to go to gym class.

After the students left, I spoke with the teacher a bit about the class, she informed me that this was one of the best classes she had ever had.

3/02/10 The second day

Today I started working with the two students who need extra help, the first student which was the rather bright student but who just lacks focus. I helped the student go over and correct some of the work they had done, but done incorrectly. I had to really work hard to keep the student focused but any noise or other activity happening was a distraction and it took a moment to get the student re-focused. When focused this student is actually very smart and can complete their work with ease. We finished the work and then the student read me 3 short books, again when focused this student read the books with ease. The student then returned to the rest of the class.

The next student who is behind due to the fact that this student is not as bright as the others and lacks support from home. We did pretty much what I did with the first student, but it took much longer. This student became frustrated because they didn't understand and also lacked focus. I kept working with the student, remaining positive and eventually we finished the work and the student returned to the rest of the class.

3/23/10 The Third Day

Today in Kindergarten classroom 108 it was literally chaos! It was as though the kids watched a video on anarchy before they came into school. Getting them to hang up their coats took like 5 minutes, then getting them to sit quietly was nearly impossible for the teacher and her aid. Finally the kids were settled and completed some quick morning work at their tables and then they moved to the carpet which went a bit smoother than earlier. This is where I started working with 1 of 2 students I work with on writing sentences which this student is quite capable of doing and this particular student is actually very bright but is much more interested in everything else besides the task at hand. While working with the student the class went back to anarchy with one student taking off their shoe and throwing it at another student, the teacher immediately took action scolding the student and putting the student in time out. At this point my student's focus was out the window, it was very difficult to get the student to finish his work, but we got through it. When it came time for the other student with whom I work with to work with me, the student wandered around the class a bit disregarding the teachers commands to go and sit with me, eventually after a minute or so the student did, and then it was very clear that this student did not want to do any work, so I talked and joked with this student a bit and then this student was ready to work. After talking and joking around, it seemed to loosen this student up and the student completed all the work without any problems except for the fact that the student sneezed all over themselves, I let the teacher take care of this one ;) When the student returned the student completed the work with me and re-joined the class.

The students behavior was a lot better the last 2 times I had been to the class. The teacher said, it's just an off day and not typical of this particular class.

4/06
Today the kids were much more behaved than the last time I was in class, just another day with nothing out of the ordinary. I worked with the student who is behind first, he had been having trouble with his ABC's so we played a game where I spread out letter flash cards on the desk and then had him put them in order, after he put a letter in order I had him tell me three words that started with that particular letter. After we completed all the letters, I had him match the lowercase letter cards to the uppercase letter cards and then we were done. This student like the time before was hesitant to sit down and focus, so I had to joke around with him again to get him to loosen up, then he worked without incident.

The next student, the one who is bright but lacks focus came right over and started working with me right away, he was a lot more focused today than the previous time. We worked on some sentences that he didn't finish, but with some help focusing he breezed right through them, then we were done.

Before I left the teacher informed me that both students have shown improvement since I started working with them, that was nice to hear.

In The Service of What?

To be honest, I had no idea what service learning was before reading this article, but after reading about it and doing a little more research I can say that I am now an advocate for it. Being a Tech Ed. student and eventually when I become a Tech Ed. teacher, I can see service learning being very beneficial to my students who will be more likely to be hands on type of students. The community service can allow them to get out into the real world and apply the skills they've learned say in manufacturing class, for example the service could be fixing up the home of a needy family or something along those lines.

Students from all classes can benefit from service learning. Students from an affluent community, where most of the kids are handed everything and have it all. These are the children, in my opinion that are least in touch with real society and it's needs. When these kids get out there and see real people and real problems will give them better perspective on their own lives and maybe help some them not to take for granted that they are more privileged. Then the students who come from say an inner city school system where their home life might not be so great or who are just generally oppressed will also benefit due to the fact that they will be out in their own communities helping too make them better in turn they will take pride in their work and ultimately their community. The other benefit to service learning is that it keeps kids occupied, a bored kid with nothing to do will eventually get themselves into trouble or mischief.

All in all service learning and the concept of "The joy of reaching out to others" will be very beneficial not only to students, but to teachers as well as the community.

Check out this site it has a good video and some good info on service learning.

http://www.servicelearning.org/what-service-learning