Becoming Something Different

When I was young I began my educational life with speaking my own language until I began the third grade when my teachers introduced the English-speaking language to me and all its rudimentary aspects like grammar, vocabs, punctuation and most importantly vocalization. During that time I assumed that being taught on how to speak English was just another language class I would move on from once I moved up a grade, but I soon realized that it would stick with me forever and it was about to define my whole educational future. In the article, Becoming Something Different, it is mentioned that the linguistic and cultural capital of English Language Learners remains "unrecognized and without value". In other words, due to English language domination there was a failure to recognize linguistic diversity, and as a result other cultural languages were devalued unknowingly by the students whom originated from them. I can certainly say that I was a victim who was affected by the process of language domination.

When I moved to the U.S. the only place I spoke Spanish, besides having side conversations with my Hispanic friends, was at home. Like Esme what intimidated me in the beginning was the classroom practices and expectations, but not my interactions with friends. Moreover,  like Esme I used my linguistic resources to achieve greater academic success. Not only that, but my friends were also vital artifacts to my school achievements such as getting into the honors list. Also, My mom supported me through out the way but only from the "side lines". My mom spoke little English and did not fully understand the assignments handed to me. Therefore, I did them on my own while she verbally embraced me to get good grades. If I didn't make a drastic change from speaking Spanish to learning how to speak English properly, between elementary and middle school, I would have been misplaced in resource and remedial classes like Esme because of my English language development instead of my academic performance. This situation would relate to Lake's  An Indian Father's Plea letter. Lake wrote a letter to his son's teacher to not categorize his son as a "slow learner" because of his diverse learning methods that derived directly from his Indian culture. Attached is an article about understanding why kids are considered not ready for college level studies and how to fix college remediation issues. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/03/schools-and-colleges-still-struggle-to-reduce-the-need-for-remedial-education

Between Barack and A Hard Place: Challenging Racism, Privilege, and Denial

Speaker Tim Wise begins his lecture of Racism Denial with explaining the unnecessary act of those who avoid a conversation about racism by retreating to the claim that they have "many black friends" so as to therefore not consider themselves part of the discussion, let alone part the problem. One quote he says, "It's the people who don't really have that level of closeness who sometimes make a big deal out of it than there is. See, what we do is we view racism as an inter personal phenomenon. When it's so much more than that. We view it as something that's between individuals". However, Tim finds such claims of personal relationships insufficient in the matter of undoing inequality or mistreatment. For that matter I agree with what he is saying. I believe the relationship you have with someone of another background or culture is irrelevant  to how you view others of different backgrounds or cultures and what you think about them. Saying "I have many black friends" doesn't stop a person from being bias about other backgrounds or cultures. Just like Tim said, "Being with a woman doesn't make a man not sexist". In other words, the relationship you have with someone doesn't constitute where you stand when it comes to racism or any ism for that matter. Racism is so much more than relationship, thoughts, or beliefs. Tim goes on explaining that one reason why relationship is not sufficient is because people have a tendency to drift apart from each other. Moreover, thoughts and beliefs don't necessarily change, but the relationships do. I can honestly tell you that this couldn't be any more through. I had a best friend in middle school and we spent all our time together. I still have our last picture taken of us when we were still in middle school. However, once we arrived in High School we drifted apart. Our relationship now is extremely discrete. I barely know anything about her nor don't share anything about myself to her because it just doesn't feel right anymore. My opinion about her didn't change, she's still a wonderful girl, but the relationship did. One reason that contributed to this detached relationship is because of different learning experiences and Tim once again couldn't be anymore right. My old friend and I never had one single class together in high school therefore, we had different learning experiences. She also was mistreated by some teachers while I got offers to take AP classes. We were both from the same background and culture, but we were treated differently. And unfortunately it took me a few years to realize that the different experiences she and I had. Mr .Wise often mentioned that most people unintentionally are not aware of their own privileges, which such fact applied to the reading of White Privilege we had in the class. He also mentions that if we are willing to own or acknowledge that racism is a part of who we are than we can take action to not act on it. We can resolve to challenge that within ourselves and encounter conditions within ourselves first. Some tend to believe nowadays that because we have an African American president racism has ceased to exist, but that's not true. Racism still exists. The problem is that some of us don't recognize it or  we don't internalize it as part of our lives. Attach to this blog is a list of 10 things that make white folks  more racist than they think they are.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/04/racist-white-people_n_6800522.html

In Service of What?

Before reading this article, I never put that much thought on the difference between change and charity. I always assumed that charity and change were part of the same caring morality. It turns out that Charity, a product of change, focuses only on the giving morality as an aspect of Civic Duty. Mr. Johnson's classroom did give their own time to help out those who were less fortunate. However, they only focused on helping to fix the unfortunate events without understanding what caused the unfortunate events in the first place and how they affected those the students served. Unlike Mr. Johnson's classroom, Ms. Adam's classroom came together and focused on one subject which was Homelessness. Coming together as a class on one subject not only provided different beliefs and thoughts from each individual on the same topic, but also different ideas of aid contribution to homelessness. Ms. Adams class not only went out to the field to do charity work for the homeless, but they also systematically analyzed articles about homelessness, invited guest speakers from homeless advocacy groups, and developed action plans to raise funds for homeless advocacy groups. At the end, the students reflected on their experiences through group discussions and reflective writing. Intellectually, as a result of their altruism, they developed transformative experiences. In order to develop such an experience a service learner must not also help those in need but also "apprehend the reality of the other", according to Nel Noddings. In other words we must, begin a deeper relation with your service learning by being in another persons shoes specifically those you are helping.
That's why I believe this class is more change than charity. Not only do we do community service but we also reflect on it through our journals and discuss about the social and political issues in our society let alone in our education. We all go out into the field ourselves and get a taste of the life we once left for college. Not only that, we also know what its like to be a student at a primary or secondary school system because we were once students living in those worlds. My whole life I haven't don't that much volunteer work and I actually thank this class for enlightening me about Service Learning and the intellectual outcome that comes with it. As a matter of fact this actually reminded me that the way I'm helping my students, is based a little more on charity than change. I help students with their reading and reading assignments, but I barely get the time to talk to them one on one to develop a deeper professional relationship with them. This is a negative outcome of service learning for me.  On this NY Times article, Does Service Learning Really Help?, professor Randy Stoecker from University of Wisconsin says, “Academic institutions are focused on making sure their students learn from the service-learning experience, but they aren’t always paying similar attention to the interests of the organizations that provide that experience, much less the clients they serve".http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03service-t.html?_r=0 I for in fact am interested in helping students out, but sometimes I question myself if the relationship between student and tutor is professionally deep enough for me to consider this not just a civic duty, but also a social reconstruction.

Why Can't She Remember That?

As I read, "Why Can't She Remember That?", I was reminded that children develop their first linguistic skills through socializing within their communities first. What benefits them is the many different linguistic and cultural aspects their communities have to offer. It goes to show that children, especially those around the age of 4, although in the first stages of  developing a cognitive brain, are quick and smarter than what we expect. Children like preschoolers Lindsey, Lem and Marisa are capable of using those language skill sets they learned from their own cultural communities to negotiate relationships with others and to fulfill their social purposes. 

Not only can these kids absorb language skill sets from everyday conversations within their communities, but from also book reading experiences. Introducing a child to the world of book reading can increase their vocabulary and enhance their cognitive thinking about gender role in society, family relationships and the nature of friendship. The stories being told not only can be used to entertain children, but to also have them make sense of their own experiences and reflect on them.  Learning such adroitness very early in life can prepare children for the young adult stage in life. Being read to at home can prepare kids in easily understanding reading assignments in school. On the other hand, kids who are inexperienced with independent reading at home may find book reading in school not intellectual stimulating nor interesting activity. The point of book reading is to get kids engaged and interested in the fresh knowledge that is being provided to them. On the Best Books For Kids website, there's a list that explain 10 benefits of reading. http://www.best-books-for-kids.com/benefits-of-reading.html . Two benefits are the increase of concentration in a kid's head and improvement of language skills and vocabulary.

Speaking the Unspeakable in Forbidden Places: Addressing LGBT Equality in the Primary School

As I read Speaking the Unspeakable in Forbidden places: Addressing Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender Equality in the Primary school, I agreed with Laura that the alternative fairy tale lessons the school system used to have the kids develop different understandings of gender roles and sexuality wasn't enough for them. Even though the kids got the chance to discuss the Prince's and Cinderella's sexuality in an open environment, the lesson being taught still felt like it was being restraint by the boundaries of that safety-zone the school system provided. Because of such restraint Laura would slightly feel like she was walking on egg shells if some kids asked her about her own sexuality. Moreover, she tried her best to challenge her students' knowledge of what characterizes lesbian identity without having them think about lesbian stereotypes.

 Overall, the project was well taught, but it wasn't informative enough to raise awareness of sexual identity in these young minds. I feel like the earlier you teach a child about sexual identity and sexuality the better. When I was young I wasn't aware of the fact that there were more than just one sexual identity or sexuality for that matter. It wasn't until high school that I began to learn more about the LGBTQ community. The more I learned about the community the more I accepted them as part of my life. I only wish that I was educated about sexual identity and sexuality earlier in my life because if that happened I believe coming into high school, a new environment, I would have felt prepared  and confident about living in a new generation where divergent sexual identities are considered common.

When it comes to teaching, Confidence is the key. When the staffroom was analyzed some teachers were confident talking about sexual identity and sexuality within the teachers lounge. However, when it comes to the "innocence of the children", teachers felt obligated to keep those types of conversations on the down low when walking through the hallways. Reason why teachers acted liked that was because they felt like they were threatening that safety zone the school system set up for the children, but wouldn't that be undermining their methods of teaching kids to be open to new and honest topics? "The climate of a school has a direct impact on both how well students learn and how well they interact with their peers," states the article Creating an LGBT-Inclusive School Climate http://www.tolerance.org/lgbt-best-practices.So why not have a climate that is not only welcoming to straight students as well as LGBTQ students?

McIntosh's White Privilege Argument

 In McIntosh's White Privilege article, McIntosh stated an interesting argument that I never thought about until I read this article. She states that while privileged men try to improve the status of women in society, they wont consider the option of lessening their privileges nor support the idea. She compares this situation towards those who are privileged and white, and she questions why those who have white privilege haven't consider lessening their privilege as an attempt to come into terms with those who are unprivileged. Those that are privileged, and have chosen to help those who are not, focus more and more on improving the disadvantages of others, but never take a second to consider the fact that maybe another answer to improvement would be lessening the advantages of those who are privileged.
 The inability to recognize on your own the unearned privileges being handed out is one of the many issues attached to those who are white privileged. Another issue that McIntosh points out is that, as a white privileged person, she was not taught as seeing herself as an oppressor. The reason why is because in this American society we are taught to see ourselves as individuals who are dependent on our moral wills. To work things out in her head she identified the effects that white privilege has on her life. Many of her conditions explained unearned advantages given by luck or birth, but at the same time other conditions were systematically made to confer dominance over certain groups. Moreover, that dominance's existence is purposely denied or unacknowledged everyday by those who have the position of dominance in order to maintain the idea that everyone, privileged and unprivileged, are equal. 

By making a list of her own privileges McIntosh was becoming more aware of what she received from this society and it made her think of what she actually deserved. Youtube member AJ+, a news group, interviewed pedestrians on the streets about what white privilege is in their opinion. One of them admitted to benefiting from white privilege and listed what she unjustly earned on a daily basis because of white privilege.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQK8H0z-irM