Blog Post #11

Things that stood out to me this semester

What to Look For in a Classroom- Alfie Kohn: This article provided a lot of advice on what a good and bad classroom looks like, there is a big emphasis on the environment in which students are learning. It brings awareness to how the classroom environment can affect student success and learning. This article is something I will definitely be coming back to when it is finally time to build my own classroom environment. 

Troublemakers- Shalaby: When reading this article I was able to connect it very well to my service-learning classroom. In this second-grade class, there is a student who, when looking from the outside in, seems like a troublemaker, I do not believe this to be his intention at all. He is a young boy with a lot of energy and does not know how to fully handle it, but what he gets for that is not understanding, instead, he gets kicked out of class and misses out on the lesson. This article explains how when students seem to be acting out it is not because they want to be troublemakers, but they usually have a specific reason.

Service Learning: My service learning experience was not ideal in terms of cultivating relationships with the students and being able to act as an asset in the classroom, but when I look past that I am still thankful for my experience there. The few times that I was able to use my skills to help students it was very rewarding, I never want to shy away from things that make me unique but that will also help the students in a classroom. An example of this is the ability to speak Spanish, when I first helped a student by translating what the teacher was saying he was so shocked that I spoke his language and he also seemed so relieved that there was someone who could not only understand him, but also help him understand. 

Eliminating Ableism in Education

 In this blog I will be talking about a couple quotes I found in the text 

1. "disability only becomes a tragedy for me when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives- job opportunities or barrier free buildings" 

I feel like this quote is saying that having a disability is not lacking something, but rather society is the one lacking ways in which people with differences can strive in. There is an ideology about what a healthy strong and independent person is and society only caters to them. When buildings don't have elevators or when certain work places do not admit someone simply because of their appearance, they are assuming that disabled people are not capable of doing things any other person could and they are diminishing the humanity of said disabled person.

2. "a pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion that oppresses people who have mental, emotional, and physical disabilities... Deeply rooted beliefs about health, productivity, beauty, and the value of human life, perpetuated by the public and private media, combine to create an environment that is often hostile to those whose physical mental, cognitive, and sensory abilities... fall out of the scope of what is currently defined as socially acceptable"

Going along with the theme of ideology, this quote accurately depicts the fact that human ideology is formed around a certain set of standards and views of what is seen as "good and healthy". There is an agenda that pushes these standards into society and it creates an "ideal" and "normal" picture of what one should look and act like, but that is not the case of reality. The truth is that there are hundreds of differences from person to person and it is impossible for everyone to fit into the perfect box society has made us believe is a thing. When is comes to disabled people, its not that they're not normal, the problem is that society has not accustomed to their normal, it has only wanted to stay in the comfort of what they already know.

Reflection: After reading this and putting more in perspective how excluded students with disabilities are even when the effort is to make them "included" has definetly changed my perspective on schools. From the outside looking in it seems like taking students outside of classrooms or giving them their own classes with a similar community is helpful and all good, but in reality it can be internally hurtful. Seperating students with disabilities within schools can make them feel indifferent, they're not dumb they know why they're being taken out of classes or why they're in separate classes all together, they start to believe that they're different is not normal, that it does not fit in the normal classroom. My goal is to create a classroom environment where that is not the case, I don't want students differences to be seen as deficits but rather as assets and even be celebrated in my classroom. 

Aria By Rodriguez

 Blog #8: Reflection

Reading this text reminded me a lot of my service learning experience. In the classroom I'm placed in, two students do not speak English very well or even at all. Spanish is their first language and most likely the only one they hear at home. From the outside looking in, these students appear to be going along with their lessons but once it is time for them to put their understanding to the test, you can tell that all they are doing is copying things down trying to get by. We cannot blame them for doing this because there is no one to help them understand, they are expected to get through without knowing the language. Whenever I am assigned to work with these students, I try to reexplain what the teacher was giving a lesson on but in Spanish. When I do this I notice that the students not only have a glow in their eyes from understanding but also feel comfortable because there is someone there that is like them, someone that speaks their language. A lot of times students who do not speak English are seen differently by their peers and this can make them feel like they're doing something wrong, they can feel like their only option is to stay silent and to the side until they can fit in with everyone else. This experience relates to when Rodriguez was talking about the American culture being pushed on him and his family. This expectation of having to fit into the American culture, overtime created a separation within his family Along with this idea he mentions that "children lose a degree of 'individuality' by becoming assimilated into public society" which I believe to be very true, children can become afraid or insecure of who they really are because being different is viewed negatively. 

Non-English Speaking student Cartoon

This cartoon shows the irony of placing a non-English speaking student in an English-only class in which he/she does not understand anything. It shows the feelings of frustration and confusion these kids experience.

Literacy With An Attitude by Patrick J. Finn

 Blog #8: Reflection post

This text really gets into the serious gaps we've got in our education system. It shows how a kid's background can shape the kind of education they get. It is very eye-opening to see the things Jean Anyon talks about in her research on working-class schools. It is like a mirror image of what I've seen attending public school in Providence and even volunteering at the elementary school I was assigned to. This problem clearly is not strictly in Jersey. Creativity in the schools is being put on the backburner which results in just one more problem for students and when you're in a school with a large amount of poverty, it's like the problems just stack up. This quote "work [is] often evaluated in terms of whether the steps were followed rather than whether it was right or wrong," and "teachers [make] every effort to control students' movement" (Finn, 10-11) shows what matters to the school system, it is not about the students but it is about how they students can make the school look by getting things "right". Teachers are all about making sure the kids follow the steps, not really caring if they get it right or wrong. This strategy can easily block real learning and creativity from students because they will learn to only care about checking the right box, not necessarily knowing why they are checking said box. Kids are curious by nature, but the way things are going, they're just getting boxed into a routine.

The image bellow shows different and creative way in which children learn and grow in joyous ways.

Creative Learning Outlets

Video Analysis

 Blog #7

What To Look For In A Classroom

 Blog #6: Reflection Post

 

Kohn's article talks not only about the physical items that are in the class, but the environment that the teachers and students bring into the room.

Reflection: Looking back at my elementary school years, I see hallways full of color and posters. I see student artwork and good test grades. I remember feeling a sense of community and belonging when walking the halls or even just being in my classroom. Our artwork was up on the walls, we had our groups to sit with while in class, and occasionally our seats would get moved around in an effort to make us socialize with the other students. Our rules and expectations also hung on the walls but what was nice about it was that we had a say on our classroom rules and expectations. I remember being asked at the beginning of the school year for several years what we as students thought our classroom norms should be and it always felt nice to have a voice in things like that. As I entered the later years of middle school and high school I was very blessed to have encouraging and creative teachers who fostered a welcoming environment and did not subject me to strict rules and stereotypes that if we did not follow we were deemed the bad troubled kids. The teachers that I had, most of the time, had grace and understood that we were young adults but not only that, but we were also just human. I will admit that the colorful bright artwork on the walls was lacking in the classrooms, but the teachers' personalities and the environment of the classrooms made up for it. Needless to say, our hallways were filled with student-painted murals. 

Below is an article that speaks on this same topic of fostering a positive environment for students in the classroom 

How to Foster a Positive Classroom Environment

TroubleMakers By Shalaby

 For My 5th Blog, I will be taking some quotes from TroubleMakers written by Shalaby.

Preface- "The more you refuse to hear my voice, the louder I will sing." This quote to me spoke volumes about what Shalaby was trying to showcase in her writing. When connecting it to the "troublemaking" kids, they are the birds that are being silenced or pushed away but they refuse to conform to the power that is shutting them down. In the education system, the rule followers and the submissive students are the ones categorized as "good kids" but I believe that Shalaby is posing the argument of what if the troublemakers are also considered good but just in different circumstances or environments. The reason they are considered bad is because they probably speak up or don't follow the absurd amount of structure and rules that are expected for them to follow, so when they are in the slightest form not following the rules, their behavior seems to be har more inappropriate than it really is because the lease that is set on them is one of stillness and submission. 

Introduction- "I was the adult, the teacher, the leader. He was the child, the pupil, the follower." This quote paints the picture of the culture of power, where a teacher leads, gives directions, and should expect for everyone to follow, and the student simply follows the directions they were given. As students, we are supposed to have a certain level of respect for teachers which I believe is good and can be healthy but a lot of times that respect becomes fear and then it becomes an unhealthy teacher-student relationship where all the power is on one side. 

Reflection- This piece was very enjoyable and it opened my mind to a new perspective on different behaviors by children. This text discusses the influence teachers have on students and dives into the unique individual characteristics each kind of student possesses, which play a big role in the classroom. As teachers, we are to make it more inclusive for all our students so that they don't feel caged in or dismissed. 

How Teachers Impact Their Students