Dear Social Issues Class,
Sitting in your seat on the first day of class, I can guarantee that you have no idea as to how lucky you are for the experience you are about to embark upon. I’ll let you know that all I was thinking when I was in your seat was is this class really three hours? As well as I’m definitely not going to make it to every Monday night; I’ll miss my shows. A semester later, though, I didn’t miss a class – oh, and don’t worry – it wasn’t always the full three hours.
From the moment he walks in, you’ll know Dr. Talbert and you’ll never be able to erase his face from your mind (that’s a good thing- trust me). He’ll bring to your attention biases and feelings that you never even knew existed in you, but they do, and they will lead you to your final transformation within the confines of Draper.
Without divulging into a boring monologue about how this class changed my life, my opinions, and me as an educator, I have a few pieces of advice for each of you.
Don’t be self-conscious. We all come from different backgrounds, different families, and such a variety of experiences. Be open to sharing your own – they form who you are and why you believe what you believe. I feel that by my classmates sharing their lives with me, I was enabled to better understand people who are seemingly so similar to me, but underneath completely different. If you are open to sharing your thoughts as well as to hearing others, you will quickly realize that you will be doing this for the rest of your career. These people sitting next to you represent the people you will be working along with side by side in your years as an educator. If you don’t learn how to understand them and compromise with them now, you are only paving a rougher road for yourself in the future.
Do not enter the room believing that your feelings can never be changed. You will be discussing extremely important, personal, and even scary subjects. When race gets brought to the table as a barrier in education today, you may want to squirm in your seat, lock your lips, and close your mind to any opinion that other people have. Let me be the first to tell you – you won’t always be right. If you think that by not listening, you can keep your opinions steady and strong – you’re wrong. This class offers such a safe, friendly environment to put your opinions out into the world with others’ and see what happens. Maybe you’re not entirely right, but that doesn’t mean the kid with the red hat up front is right either; you could both come to realize that there are circumstances that you never even considered, and that you found a completely different meaning to being a good teacher.
This will be redundant; read your books. The books selected for this class are not textbooks. They do provide you with an abundance of knowledge and experiences that you may never have been exposed to, but they are certainly not textbooks. I see these books as guides that I will add to my personal library and most likely return to in the future. Each work has it’s own meaning, which I will let you discover for yourself, but each is equally important. It’s easy to push the book aside and study for the biology exam you have Monday morning, but what’s written in these books should weigh on your heart and help mold you into an amazing educator. You may not agree with each author, and you may even want to say that you hate the book. Here’s the best part – you can. Take it to class; tell your peers why you didn’t enjoy it or find it helpful, and chances are, they will reveal to you something that you didn’t pick up on in the text.
Let this class change you. Don’t lose your morals by any means, but take in this experience. Don’t look at Monday night as a three hour class; look at it as a trip you couldn’t otherwise afford to take. Hey, it’s Baylor, maybe you couldn’t afford it this way either. Good news is, student loans are deferred until your teaching anyway. So sit back, take in your surroundings, lose yourself in the text, and become the educator that you feel will most effectively and beneficially revolutionize the next generation.
Enjoy!
Courtney Weddle
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
White Like Me - Tim Wise
• 5 sentences summarizing the main idea
In his book, Tim Wise discusses his life experiences in order to prove to the reader that white privilege is real. He opens up to the reader and shares ideas and tells opinions that most likely offend many white people in society. If the reader is willing, however, to see flaws in the white population, Wise serves as a microscope. He offers a medium through which to look at my own race and see not only the ways in which I am privileged, but also the ways in which I can use my privilege to end racism.
• 4 key quotes
“ It is how we bear the past that matters, and in many ways it is all that differentiates us.” (2)
“ Aside from the natural aversion to torture that animates most reactions to my hypothetical, the most common response is one of sheer panic, followed by heartfelt concerns that if teachers who believed poor kids or kids of color were less capable were to be fired, there would be a teacher shortage! As if a shortage of race and class-biased educators would be a bad thing.” (20)
“ Though I am hardly proud of it, the simple fact is, I’ve broken plenty of laws and some that would easily, if detected, have resulted in my long-term incarceration and sent my life in a fundamentally different direction.” (36)
“ But we were also warned to stay away from certain neighborhoods, and to travel in groups as well, because not all of New Orleans was as safe as Uptown, where the university was located.” (47)
• 3 key terms
“ multiculturalism” – 19 - the mix of cultures in the classroom and the world; understanding/accepting all
“Naturalization Act of 1790” – 11- said that all white people and only white people were be considered citizens
“flawed profiling” – 52 – when racial profiling is inaccurate to the person
• 2 connections
- When Wise talks about his experiences at Tulane, I could not help but to see myself at Baylor. When we came to orientation, we were first instructed to travel in groups, not leave campus, and avoid particular areas of Waco. Though administration requires such instruction for safety purposes, some of the feelings seemed unwarranted to me. In my first week here, my roommate wouldn’t go to the gas station with me because African American men were outside of it. Coming from the city I lived in, I was unaware that particular areas were seen as “bad” because black people were there. It makes me sick to think that my own friends profile people when we’re not even in the parking lot yet; they judge completely by looking through the glass at the color of a person’s skin.
- When Wise shared his experiences with escaping punishment by law, I was brought back to my high school days. In my high school, we were metal detected and searched every morning before we could enter the building. More often than not, I had items in my bag that I shouldn’t have, and yet, I never got in trouble. The officers would flirt with me and send me on my way. African American students, however, would be sent to the dean and usually dealt with security when they were found to have even a butter knife in their lunches. It was always clear that security expected bad from the black students, regardless of any other aspect of the students’ personalities.
1 question
How, as a teacher, would you make yourself “colorblind” so as to fight the white privilege and treat your students with the same respect and have the same expectations of each student, regardless of his/her race?
In his book, Tim Wise discusses his life experiences in order to prove to the reader that white privilege is real. He opens up to the reader and shares ideas and tells opinions that most likely offend many white people in society. If the reader is willing, however, to see flaws in the white population, Wise serves as a microscope. He offers a medium through which to look at my own race and see not only the ways in which I am privileged, but also the ways in which I can use my privilege to end racism.
• 4 key quotes
“ It is how we bear the past that matters, and in many ways it is all that differentiates us.” (2)
“ Aside from the natural aversion to torture that animates most reactions to my hypothetical, the most common response is one of sheer panic, followed by heartfelt concerns that if teachers who believed poor kids or kids of color were less capable were to be fired, there would be a teacher shortage! As if a shortage of race and class-biased educators would be a bad thing.” (20)
“ Though I am hardly proud of it, the simple fact is, I’ve broken plenty of laws and some that would easily, if detected, have resulted in my long-term incarceration and sent my life in a fundamentally different direction.” (36)
“ But we were also warned to stay away from certain neighborhoods, and to travel in groups as well, because not all of New Orleans was as safe as Uptown, where the university was located.” (47)
• 3 key terms
“ multiculturalism” – 19 - the mix of cultures in the classroom and the world; understanding/accepting all
“Naturalization Act of 1790” – 11- said that all white people and only white people were be considered citizens
“flawed profiling” – 52 – when racial profiling is inaccurate to the person
• 2 connections
- When Wise talks about his experiences at Tulane, I could not help but to see myself at Baylor. When we came to orientation, we were first instructed to travel in groups, not leave campus, and avoid particular areas of Waco. Though administration requires such instruction for safety purposes, some of the feelings seemed unwarranted to me. In my first week here, my roommate wouldn’t go to the gas station with me because African American men were outside of it. Coming from the city I lived in, I was unaware that particular areas were seen as “bad” because black people were there. It makes me sick to think that my own friends profile people when we’re not even in the parking lot yet; they judge completely by looking through the glass at the color of a person’s skin.
- When Wise shared his experiences with escaping punishment by law, I was brought back to my high school days. In my high school, we were metal detected and searched every morning before we could enter the building. More often than not, I had items in my bag that I shouldn’t have, and yet, I never got in trouble. The officers would flirt with me and send me on my way. African American students, however, would be sent to the dean and usually dealt with security when they were found to have even a butter knife in their lunches. It was always clear that security expected bad from the black students, regardless of any other aspect of the students’ personalities.
1 question
How, as a teacher, would you make yourself “colorblind” so as to fight the white privilege and treat your students with the same respect and have the same expectations of each student, regardless of his/her race?
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Discussion Circle Question
Chapter 13 – Eros, Eroticism and Pedagogical Process
Main ideas and theses:
Chapter 13, as the quote shows, discusses the issue that many higher education professors today lack passion for teaching the subject. Though professor once held, and may still hold passion for the subject that they teach, they no longer strive to involve the students and develop their passion as well. Unfortunately, most students need inspiration to find a love of learning. Chapter 13 instructs teachers to always teach passionately and never lose the love of knowledge; if we, as teachers, are excited and involved, then our students will be too.
Consistent/ Inconsistent with Experiences as a Student/Novice/ Teaching Associate.
As a student, I could not agree with the ideas presented in chapter 13 more. My best teachers were those who never stopped growing in their own education. My kindergarten teacher was always on the lookout for new concepts to teach us; because of her devotion, we learned sign language and even cooked in our classroom if it related to the book we were reading. In high school, however, I had a chemistry teacher who, in fewer words, told the class he hated his job and his life. He did not care about the class, let alone our interest in the subject. I lost all motivation even before second semester began.
As a Novice, I must say that I am concerned as to how teachers lose their passion. When I found out that I had to tutor at 8:00am in the morning, I was discouraged; I immediately thought I would hate it after a week or two. As soon as I met my student, however, and began to work with him twice a week, I could not wait to find new ideas that I knew he would enjoy. I loved when he got excited about a book we were reading or an educational game we were playing, and I still can’t wrap my mind around the idea that I could ever lose that excitement.
Consistent/ Inconsistent with Teaching Beliefs & Practices
Chapter 13 basically spells out my teaching beliefs and practices. I feel that, if you lose the passion to teach, you should not be allowed to. Children need role models who display that it is fun and exciting and completely acceptable to learn. If I slack off as a teacher because I don’t care, then my students will think that it’s okay for them to slack off as well. The more they slack off, the more likely they are to slip in their education, and when children slip in their education, they begin to lose their chance at a comfortable, happy life. I believe that, as a teacher, it is my job to increase each student’s chance at a good life, and for that reason, I must instill the idea of passion into, and not only display it to, each student.
So what? Impact on Future Professional Development
I feel that, because I have been forced to look at the impact of teaching with passion, I have been enabled to realize that I can never lose my fervor. Perhaps so many teachers lose their love of teaching because they never took the time to step back and observe what a great difference it makes in their students’ success. By reading the books for this class, however, and analyzing what the teacher’s attitude in the classroom does, I feel that I have been compelled to take into account that I must never lose my passion. I realize that if I ever feel that I am losing my love of teaching, I cannot give up and let my students slip; I must not only challenge them, but challenge myself as well to always keep my students engaged and enlightened.
Main ideas and theses:
Chapter 13, as the quote shows, discusses the issue that many higher education professors today lack passion for teaching the subject. Though professor once held, and may still hold passion for the subject that they teach, they no longer strive to involve the students and develop their passion as well. Unfortunately, most students need inspiration to find a love of learning. Chapter 13 instructs teachers to always teach passionately and never lose the love of knowledge; if we, as teachers, are excited and involved, then our students will be too.
Consistent/ Inconsistent with Experiences as a Student/Novice/ Teaching Associate.
As a student, I could not agree with the ideas presented in chapter 13 more. My best teachers were those who never stopped growing in their own education. My kindergarten teacher was always on the lookout for new concepts to teach us; because of her devotion, we learned sign language and even cooked in our classroom if it related to the book we were reading. In high school, however, I had a chemistry teacher who, in fewer words, told the class he hated his job and his life. He did not care about the class, let alone our interest in the subject. I lost all motivation even before second semester began.
As a Novice, I must say that I am concerned as to how teachers lose their passion. When I found out that I had to tutor at 8:00am in the morning, I was discouraged; I immediately thought I would hate it after a week or two. As soon as I met my student, however, and began to work with him twice a week, I could not wait to find new ideas that I knew he would enjoy. I loved when he got excited about a book we were reading or an educational game we were playing, and I still can’t wrap my mind around the idea that I could ever lose that excitement.
Consistent/ Inconsistent with Teaching Beliefs & Practices
Chapter 13 basically spells out my teaching beliefs and practices. I feel that, if you lose the passion to teach, you should not be allowed to. Children need role models who display that it is fun and exciting and completely acceptable to learn. If I slack off as a teacher because I don’t care, then my students will think that it’s okay for them to slack off as well. The more they slack off, the more likely they are to slip in their education, and when children slip in their education, they begin to lose their chance at a comfortable, happy life. I believe that, as a teacher, it is my job to increase each student’s chance at a good life, and for that reason, I must instill the idea of passion into, and not only display it to, each student.
So what? Impact on Future Professional Development
I feel that, because I have been forced to look at the impact of teaching with passion, I have been enabled to realize that I can never lose my fervor. Perhaps so many teachers lose their love of teaching because they never took the time to step back and observe what a great difference it makes in their students’ success. By reading the books for this class, however, and analyzing what the teacher’s attitude in the classroom does, I feel that I have been compelled to take into account that I must never lose my passion. I realize that if I ever feel that I am losing my love of teaching, I cannot give up and let my students slip; I must not only challenge them, but challenge myself as well to always keep my students engaged and enlightened.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Teaching to Transgress chapter 8-14
5. Sentences Summarizing the Main Idea
In these chapters, bell hooks writes concerning the nation’s attempt to make all people the same. There is neglect throughout the country regarding differences in white male and black, white female and black female, and even white language and black language. bell hooks encourages difference and acceptance throughout the classroom as well as encouraging understanding of the differences in order to create greater equality. As well, she says that we, as teachers, must not only consider the mind in the classroom, but the body as well to make it an experience of the person as a “whole.”
4. Key Quotes
1. “Confronting one another across differences means that we must change ideas about how we learn; rather than fearing conflict we have to find ways to use it as a catalyst for new thinking, for growth” (113).
2. “It was only when I entered college that I learned that black males had supposedly been ‘emasculated,’ that the trauma of slavery was primarily that it had stripped black men of their right to male privilege and power, that it had prevented them from fully actualizing ‘masculinity’ (120).
3. “In the classroom setting, I encourage students to use their first language and translate it so they do not feel that seeking higher education will necessarily estrange them from that language and culture they know most intimately” (172).
4. “Significantly, I found that when ‘women’ were talked about, the experience of white women was universalized to stand for all female experience and that when ‘black people’ were talked about, the experience of black men was the point of reference” (121).
3. Key Terms
1. Feminist classroom – 113 – any classroom where the topic is being taught from a feminist perspective
2. Women’s Studies course – 113 – course aimed at studying women in the past and present
3. “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” – 167 – a poem by Adrienne Rich
2. Connections
1. “…despite racism, black gender relations were constructed to maintain black male authority even if they did not mirror white paradigms, or about the way white female identity and status was different from that of black women” (120).
• Throughout high school, I attended classes with a wide variety of students. Our school was made up of wealthy students of various descents, as well as poor students bussed in from the projects of our city. In four years, I became acquainted with many students from both ends of the spectrum, and quickly realized how differently life can be based upon race. To me, it seemed that, in the homes of wealthy African American students, their father was only a “good” father if he acted like a white man. So many of my friends from the less fortunate parts of town did not even know their fathers, but among those of whom did, not many shared positive experiences. It seems, too often, that in order for an African American man to gain respect in society, he has to whiten himself. The positive differences between white males and black males are not recognized; only the encouragement for society to act white, regardless of each man’s heritage, is encouraged.
2. In chapter eleven, hooks discusses encouraging students to speak in their vernacular language. She shares an occasion, as well, when she instructed her students to speak in such a manner, and when they did, other students were angered, complaining that they could not understand what was being said.
• In high school, our teachers always corrected students who spoke in their vernacular language. I realized then, and still do today, that it is not “proper” English. I never asked myself, however, what “proper English” really is. There were always different dialects and accents throughout the United States because it has always been such a melting pot; who is to say that we must speak in a certain manner to be accepted? I wish that I would have had teachers like bell hooks that encouraged my fellow classmates to speak in their vernacular tongue. Too often, I fear, there are students who don’t share their valuable opinions because they are afraid of “sounding dumb.” I know that I have sat in classes with ideas running through my mind, but kept quiet because I didn’t know if it was the right answer and if I knew how to correctly say it. Students need encouragement such as bell hooks provides to speak in the language that makes them comfortable and confident. If students are given the opportunity to feel not only encouraged, but insightful, they will strive on that success and, hopefully, reach their potential.
1. Question
In your classroom, how will you expect students to speak? Will you require perfect language in essays and oral responses? If so, what effect do you think your expectations will have on your students’ self-assurance?
In these chapters, bell hooks writes concerning the nation’s attempt to make all people the same. There is neglect throughout the country regarding differences in white male and black, white female and black female, and even white language and black language. bell hooks encourages difference and acceptance throughout the classroom as well as encouraging understanding of the differences in order to create greater equality. As well, she says that we, as teachers, must not only consider the mind in the classroom, but the body as well to make it an experience of the person as a “whole.”
4. Key Quotes
1. “Confronting one another across differences means that we must change ideas about how we learn; rather than fearing conflict we have to find ways to use it as a catalyst for new thinking, for growth” (113).
2. “It was only when I entered college that I learned that black males had supposedly been ‘emasculated,’ that the trauma of slavery was primarily that it had stripped black men of their right to male privilege and power, that it had prevented them from fully actualizing ‘masculinity’ (120).
3. “In the classroom setting, I encourage students to use their first language and translate it so they do not feel that seeking higher education will necessarily estrange them from that language and culture they know most intimately” (172).
4. “Significantly, I found that when ‘women’ were talked about, the experience of white women was universalized to stand for all female experience and that when ‘black people’ were talked about, the experience of black men was the point of reference” (121).
3. Key Terms
1. Feminist classroom – 113 – any classroom where the topic is being taught from a feminist perspective
2. Women’s Studies course – 113 – course aimed at studying women in the past and present
3. “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” – 167 – a poem by Adrienne Rich
2. Connections
1. “…despite racism, black gender relations were constructed to maintain black male authority even if they did not mirror white paradigms, or about the way white female identity and status was different from that of black women” (120).
• Throughout high school, I attended classes with a wide variety of students. Our school was made up of wealthy students of various descents, as well as poor students bussed in from the projects of our city. In four years, I became acquainted with many students from both ends of the spectrum, and quickly realized how differently life can be based upon race. To me, it seemed that, in the homes of wealthy African American students, their father was only a “good” father if he acted like a white man. So many of my friends from the less fortunate parts of town did not even know their fathers, but among those of whom did, not many shared positive experiences. It seems, too often, that in order for an African American man to gain respect in society, he has to whiten himself. The positive differences between white males and black males are not recognized; only the encouragement for society to act white, regardless of each man’s heritage, is encouraged.
2. In chapter eleven, hooks discusses encouraging students to speak in their vernacular language. She shares an occasion, as well, when she instructed her students to speak in such a manner, and when they did, other students were angered, complaining that they could not understand what was being said.
• In high school, our teachers always corrected students who spoke in their vernacular language. I realized then, and still do today, that it is not “proper” English. I never asked myself, however, what “proper English” really is. There were always different dialects and accents throughout the United States because it has always been such a melting pot; who is to say that we must speak in a certain manner to be accepted? I wish that I would have had teachers like bell hooks that encouraged my fellow classmates to speak in their vernacular tongue. Too often, I fear, there are students who don’t share their valuable opinions because they are afraid of “sounding dumb.” I know that I have sat in classes with ideas running through my mind, but kept quiet because I didn’t know if it was the right answer and if I knew how to correctly say it. Students need encouragement such as bell hooks provides to speak in the language that makes them comfortable and confident. If students are given the opportunity to feel not only encouraged, but insightful, they will strive on that success and, hopefully, reach their potential.
1. Question
In your classroom, how will you expect students to speak? Will you require perfect language in essays and oral responses? If so, what effect do you think your expectations will have on your students’ self-assurance?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Teaching to Transgress - Introduction - Chapter 7
5. Sentences Regarding the Overall Statement
In the book Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks writes on her experiences as a black student in the American public school system as well as her position as an African American schoolteacher. She shares her thoughts regarding how different methods of teaching combined with various attitudes towards not only education, but towards students. She writes to inform teachers of the nation how to teach children to transgress in life. She wants students to feel passion for school and power in knowledge in a multicultural world.
4.Key Quotes
1.“To begin, the teacher must genuinely value everyone’s presence. There must be an ongoing recognition that everyone influences the classroom dynamic, that everyone contributes. These contributions are resources.” – page 8
2.“In the effort to respect and honor the social reality and experiences of groups in this society who are nonwhite is to be reflected in a pedagogical process, then as teachers- on all levels, from elementary to university settings – we must acknowledge that our styles of teaching may need to change.” – page 35
3. “Not only did it require movement beyond accepted boundaries, but excitement could not be generated without a full recognition of the fact that there could never be an absolute set agenda governing teaching practices. Agendas had to be flexible, had to allow for spontaneous shifts in direction. Students had to be seen in their particularity as individuals (I drew on the strategies my grade school teachers used to get to know us) and interacted with according to their needs (here Freire was useful).” – page 7
4. “Many professors have conveyed to me their feeling that the classroom should be a ‘safe’ place…It is the absence of a feeling of safety that often promotes prolonged silence or lack of student engagement.” – page 39
3. Key Terms
1. “Liberatory practice” – page 59
* a form of teaching that will allow children to find power in knowledge and set them free from society’s unfair separation of classes.
2. “Paulo Freire” – page 45
* a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy
3. “”transgressions” – page 12
* movements against and beyond social boundaries
2. Connections
1. “And I saw for the first time that there can be, and usually is, some degree of pain involved in giving up old ways of thinking and knowing and learning new approaches. I respect that pain. And I include recognition of it now when I teach, that is to say, I teach about shifting paradigms and talk about the discomfort it can cause. White students learning to think more critically about questions of race and racism may go home for the holidays and suddenly see their parents in a different light.” – page 43
* This passage reminds me of our own Social Issues class. Weekly, I feel that Dr. Talbert pushes our limits, makes us think, and introduces us to subjects that we may never have looked deeply into without his aid. Sure, there are times in class where we feel uncomfortable or even ashamed of what we want to say, but that’s what makes the class so insightful. Observing what those around us think and hearing what they have experienced helps us to know what we may face in the future as teachers.
2. “The unwillingness to approach teaching from a standpoint that includes awareness of race, sex, and class is often rooted in the fear that classrooms will be uncontrollable, that emotions and passions will not be contained.” – page 39
* So many teachers in high school were afraid of losing control of our classroom. In English class, especially, we would read works that particular students may feel passionate about, but if a religious belief or any other value that was not standard in the classroom was brought about, it was quickly avoided. Unfortunately, I saw so many students in my class become discouraged with their lack of opportunity to express themselves and share what the book had done for them and their own emotions. Dr. Talbert, however, does the exact opposite. He encourages us to lose control (to an extent) and to let our emotions and passion run unleashed. I feel that an uncontained classroom such as his has allowed me to connect with how I feel about society and the educational world, as well as about myself as an educator, more than any other course I have taken part in throughout my school career.
1. Question
* As a future educator, how do you plan to conduct your classroom? Will you incorporate liberatory practices? If so, how? If not, why not?
In the book Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks writes on her experiences as a black student in the American public school system as well as her position as an African American schoolteacher. She shares her thoughts regarding how different methods of teaching combined with various attitudes towards not only education, but towards students. She writes to inform teachers of the nation how to teach children to transgress in life. She wants students to feel passion for school and power in knowledge in a multicultural world.
4.Key Quotes
1.“To begin, the teacher must genuinely value everyone’s presence. There must be an ongoing recognition that everyone influences the classroom dynamic, that everyone contributes. These contributions are resources.” – page 8
2.“In the effort to respect and honor the social reality and experiences of groups in this society who are nonwhite is to be reflected in a pedagogical process, then as teachers- on all levels, from elementary to university settings – we must acknowledge that our styles of teaching may need to change.” – page 35
3. “Not only did it require movement beyond accepted boundaries, but excitement could not be generated without a full recognition of the fact that there could never be an absolute set agenda governing teaching practices. Agendas had to be flexible, had to allow for spontaneous shifts in direction. Students had to be seen in their particularity as individuals (I drew on the strategies my grade school teachers used to get to know us) and interacted with according to their needs (here Freire was useful).” – page 7
4. “Many professors have conveyed to me their feeling that the classroom should be a ‘safe’ place…It is the absence of a feeling of safety that often promotes prolonged silence or lack of student engagement.” – page 39
3. Key Terms
1. “Liberatory practice” – page 59
* a form of teaching that will allow children to find power in knowledge and set them free from society’s unfair separation of classes.
2. “Paulo Freire” – page 45
* a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy
3. “”transgressions” – page 12
* movements against and beyond social boundaries
2. Connections
1. “And I saw for the first time that there can be, and usually is, some degree of pain involved in giving up old ways of thinking and knowing and learning new approaches. I respect that pain. And I include recognition of it now when I teach, that is to say, I teach about shifting paradigms and talk about the discomfort it can cause. White students learning to think more critically about questions of race and racism may go home for the holidays and suddenly see their parents in a different light.” – page 43
* This passage reminds me of our own Social Issues class. Weekly, I feel that Dr. Talbert pushes our limits, makes us think, and introduces us to subjects that we may never have looked deeply into without his aid. Sure, there are times in class where we feel uncomfortable or even ashamed of what we want to say, but that’s what makes the class so insightful. Observing what those around us think and hearing what they have experienced helps us to know what we may face in the future as teachers.
2. “The unwillingness to approach teaching from a standpoint that includes awareness of race, sex, and class is often rooted in the fear that classrooms will be uncontrollable, that emotions and passions will not be contained.” – page 39
* So many teachers in high school were afraid of losing control of our classroom. In English class, especially, we would read works that particular students may feel passionate about, but if a religious belief or any other value that was not standard in the classroom was brought about, it was quickly avoided. Unfortunately, I saw so many students in my class become discouraged with their lack of opportunity to express themselves and share what the book had done for them and their own emotions. Dr. Talbert, however, does the exact opposite. He encourages us to lose control (to an extent) and to let our emotions and passion run unleashed. I feel that an uncontained classroom such as his has allowed me to connect with how I feel about society and the educational world, as well as about myself as an educator, more than any other course I have taken part in throughout my school career.
1. Question
* As a future educator, how do you plan to conduct your classroom? Will you incorporate liberatory practices? If so, how? If not, why not?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Exam 1 Essay 1
Having read Jonathan Kozol’s The Shame of the Nation, I feel that I have gained such an exemplary insight into the lives of schoolchildren throughout the United States, and am so grateful for the chance to speak out for each and every one of them. In his book, Kozol shares of his encounters mostly with severely underprivileged schools throughout our country. Providing more than ample examples and situations which he experienced with the children, Kozol’s main thesis is that, presently, the nation remains in a state of apartheid schooling. He writes that “segregation, rarely discussed, scarcely even acknowledged by elected officials and schools leaders …is incompatible with the healthy functioning of a multiracial generation” (20). I could not agree with Kozol more in finding it of the utmost importance that all children of the nation receive an equal chance for a safe environment with beneficial educational instruction and the comfort of knowing that someone has faith in them to learn and succeed.
In the land of equal opportunity, there should not be so many students in the nation’s school system experiencing unequal chances. Kozol says, “Racial isolation and the concentrated poverty of children in a public school go hand in hand…Only 15 percent of the intensely segregated white schools in the nation have student populations in which more than half are poor enough to be receiving free meals or reduced price meals. By contrast, a staggering 86 percent of intensely segregated black and Latino schools have student enrollments in which more than half are poor by the same standards” (20). Some may ask, “How did these schools become segregated and poor after the Brown v. Board decision was made?” The answer is simple; schools rely on their surroundings. Unfortunately, existing residential segregation creates vast inequality. It began when Thomas Jesse Jones, a known educated black man, seemingly surrendered to a racial caste system and suggested blacks attend schools of industrial instruction rather than higher thinking. W.E.B Dubois, however, recognized this mistake; he argued that differing schools for differing races put the black children at a disadvantage. Society was not as willing to accept Dubois’ idea as it was Jones’. From the beginning, whites did not want non-whites learning to read and write because it would provide equal opportunity. Sickeningly, similar instances still exist today in 2010. Racial segregation takes place in the schools because whites leave the area in order to preserve their “pure”-schooled children when non-whites begin moving into a school district. This “white-flight” is how residential segregation is attainable. Not only are the tax dollars from these residents what the school relies on, but also the residents themselves. When wealthier, white families flee integration, however, such areas lose resources. Less-fortunate parents cannot donate large sums of money or spend their time fundraising for Parent Teacher Association like wealthier whites can. Kozol’s experiences report that in too large a majority of mostly non-white schools, students with limited family resources are dealing with school officials , “giving them less and calling it more” (131). Kozol interviewed Dr. Thomas Sobol, the former state commissioner of education in New York and he said that as teachers are forced to raise standardized test scores and that, “We are… limiting what we teach to what we can easily measure, pushing our students to focus on memorizing information, then regurgitating fact” (131). With lack of funding for better teachers and curriculum, non-white children are exposed to the same, basic, work-based curriculum suggested by greedy whites in the 1800s.Children are being forced not to actually grasp concepts, but to memorize answers for a test so that they can not only pass a grade and go to work. It is a cruel, unfair cycle that began with slavery and must end with us.
Curriculum and instruction aside, African American and Latino students are placed into unfit schoolhouses. When a student goes to school, he/she should feel safe; if a child feels unsafe and unsteady, he/she’s fears will fill his/her mind and he/she is not going to be able to focus and learn. In Los Angeles, some students were reported describing their room. “’I saw a rat in room 28,’ wrote a boy Daniel in the fourth grade of an elementary school… ‘The room smelled very bad and it made me sick to my stomach. There was blood all over the place’” (172). When children are asked to learn in such inhumane circumstances, no desirable results can truly be expected. At the elementary school I work at, I have heard the testimonies of the students as to how their life at home is run. Though each story breaks my heart, I cannot help but to listen intently in an attempt to begin to understand the circumstances that they undergo which I will never see. One little girl in particular told me a story in which her daddy’s new girlfriend came to her father’s house and was sent to jail for trying to stab her mother. Though many details are spared, I think the point is made; many children in poverty do not feel safe at home. Every child in the nation should be granted the ability to feel safe at school; if nothing else, it will encourage them to want to attend.
How do we fix this problem? In my eyes, the biggest hurdle to jump in the face of the nation’s problem is denial. Just as Kozol’s title insinuates, the nation’s schooling system is truly the nation’s shame. It is so shameful, in fact, that a large majority of the population is in total and complete denial that the schools are separated by race. Though many are willing to admit that
there is a class distinction, they are unwilling to confess that the classes are divided by race. A problem cannot be fixed until it is uncovered. Once highlighted through required in-depth teaching about segregation, I want the federal government to pass legislation demanding that the state equally divide tax dollars for education among the schools throughout the state. There will, of course, be disagreement about any rules regulating money; I have faith, however, that persistence and insistence will prove beneficial when the nation is filled with students of equal educational caliber. All students need to be taught that they can do anything, not just the white children. No student should be told “You’re ghetto so we send you to the factory…you’re ghetto- so you sew!” (180). Students should have teachers, schoolhouses, and lessons that tell them, “You are destined for whatever your hearts desires.” I realize that my hopes for the United States are hopeful and ideal, but then again, so should be the children of the nation.
In the land of equal opportunity, there should not be so many students in the nation’s school system experiencing unequal chances. Kozol says, “Racial isolation and the concentrated poverty of children in a public school go hand in hand…Only 15 percent of the intensely segregated white schools in the nation have student populations in which more than half are poor enough to be receiving free meals or reduced price meals. By contrast, a staggering 86 percent of intensely segregated black and Latino schools have student enrollments in which more than half are poor by the same standards” (20). Some may ask, “How did these schools become segregated and poor after the Brown v. Board decision was made?” The answer is simple; schools rely on their surroundings. Unfortunately, existing residential segregation creates vast inequality. It began when Thomas Jesse Jones, a known educated black man, seemingly surrendered to a racial caste system and suggested blacks attend schools of industrial instruction rather than higher thinking. W.E.B Dubois, however, recognized this mistake; he argued that differing schools for differing races put the black children at a disadvantage. Society was not as willing to accept Dubois’ idea as it was Jones’. From the beginning, whites did not want non-whites learning to read and write because it would provide equal opportunity. Sickeningly, similar instances still exist today in 2010. Racial segregation takes place in the schools because whites leave the area in order to preserve their “pure”-schooled children when non-whites begin moving into a school district. This “white-flight” is how residential segregation is attainable. Not only are the tax dollars from these residents what the school relies on, but also the residents themselves. When wealthier, white families flee integration, however, such areas lose resources. Less-fortunate parents cannot donate large sums of money or spend their time fundraising for Parent Teacher Association like wealthier whites can. Kozol’s experiences report that in too large a majority of mostly non-white schools, students with limited family resources are dealing with school officials , “giving them less and calling it more” (131). Kozol interviewed Dr. Thomas Sobol, the former state commissioner of education in New York and he said that as teachers are forced to raise standardized test scores and that, “We are… limiting what we teach to what we can easily measure, pushing our students to focus on memorizing information, then regurgitating fact” (131). With lack of funding for better teachers and curriculum, non-white children are exposed to the same, basic, work-based curriculum suggested by greedy whites in the 1800s.Children are being forced not to actually grasp concepts, but to memorize answers for a test so that they can not only pass a grade and go to work. It is a cruel, unfair cycle that began with slavery and must end with us.
Curriculum and instruction aside, African American and Latino students are placed into unfit schoolhouses. When a student goes to school, he/she should feel safe; if a child feels unsafe and unsteady, he/she’s fears will fill his/her mind and he/she is not going to be able to focus and learn. In Los Angeles, some students were reported describing their room. “’I saw a rat in room 28,’ wrote a boy Daniel in the fourth grade of an elementary school… ‘The room smelled very bad and it made me sick to my stomach. There was blood all over the place’” (172). When children are asked to learn in such inhumane circumstances, no desirable results can truly be expected. At the elementary school I work at, I have heard the testimonies of the students as to how their life at home is run. Though each story breaks my heart, I cannot help but to listen intently in an attempt to begin to understand the circumstances that they undergo which I will never see. One little girl in particular told me a story in which her daddy’s new girlfriend came to her father’s house and was sent to jail for trying to stab her mother. Though many details are spared, I think the point is made; many children in poverty do not feel safe at home. Every child in the nation should be granted the ability to feel safe at school; if nothing else, it will encourage them to want to attend.
How do we fix this problem? In my eyes, the biggest hurdle to jump in the face of the nation’s problem is denial. Just as Kozol’s title insinuates, the nation’s schooling system is truly the nation’s shame. It is so shameful, in fact, that a large majority of the population is in total and complete denial that the schools are separated by race. Though many are willing to admit that
there is a class distinction, they are unwilling to confess that the classes are divided by race. A problem cannot be fixed until it is uncovered. Once highlighted through required in-depth teaching about segregation, I want the federal government to pass legislation demanding that the state equally divide tax dollars for education among the schools throughout the state. There will, of course, be disagreement about any rules regulating money; I have faith, however, that persistence and insistence will prove beneficial when the nation is filled with students of equal educational caliber. All students need to be taught that they can do anything, not just the white children. No student should be told “You’re ghetto so we send you to the factory…you’re ghetto- so you sew!” (180). Students should have teachers, schoolhouses, and lessons that tell them, “You are destined for whatever your hearts desires.” I realize that my hopes for the United States are hopeful and ideal, but then again, so should be the children of the nation.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Chapters 5-8 Race Matters
5. Sentences Summarizing the Reading
Cornel West urges black liberals to do more than accept movements such as affirmative action that was put into place in the mid 1900s. Saying that the root of so much chaos in the black race is a complete lack of self-love and too much poverty, he urges that people must not only talk, but do. Redistributive measures with no support can’t be successful. Later in the reading, he discusses Malcolm X and his manner of dealing with what he saw wrong in America. He spoke to blacks with a rage against the inequality and hoped his rage would inspire them to change.
4. Key Quotes
1. “The urgent problem of black poverty is primarily due to the distribution of wealth, power, and income – a distribution influenced by the racial caste system that denied opportunities to most “qualified” black people until two decades ago” (93).
2. “Yet, in the heat of battle in American politics, a redistributive measure in principle with no power and pressure behind it means no redistributive measure at all” (95).
3. “Rather, Malcolm believed that if black people felt the love that motivated that rage, the love would produce a psychic conversion in black people; they would affirm themselves as human beings, no longer viewing their bodies, minds, and souls through white lenses, and believing themselves capable of taking control of their own destinies” (136).
4. “ Needless to say, Michael Jackson’s example is but the more honest and visible instance of a rather pervasive self-loathing among many of the black professional class. Malcolm X’s call for psychic conversion often strikes horror into this privileged group because so much of who they are and what they do is evaluated in terms of their wealth, status, and prestige in American society” (138).
3. Key Terms
1. “Psychic conversion” (143) – what Malcolm X hoped would take place in the mind of black Americans and change their way of life
2. “affirmative action” (95) – redistributive measure that attempted to solve inequalityin the mid 1900s
3. “progressives” (93) – people who promote redistributive measures
2. Connections
1. “The more xenophobic versions of this viewpoint simply mirror the white supremacist ideals we are opposing and preclude any movement toward redistributive goals” (99).
* At the school that I work at, many parents have taught the children not to like white people, especially Baylor students. They feel that they have been hurt and that their lives have been negatively affected by Baylor students that they cannot see the good in any of them. Because of this fact, I had to work pretty hard to get the children to accept me and learn that not all white people are out to hurt them and take from them.
2. “ The difficult and delicate quest for black identity is integral to any talk about racial equality. Yet it is not solely a political or economic matter. The quest for black identity involves self-respect and elf-regard, realms inseparable from, yet not identical to, political power and economic status. The flagrant self-loathing among black middle-class professionals bears witness to this painful process” (97).
* This made me think of a beginning scene in the musical Rent. Benny used to live with the rest of the group, but he married a rich girl. When he did so, he gained ownership of a tenement building where he had once lived with his friends, and he promised them a free stay for a year. Come December, however, he knocked on their door demanding the year’s rent, which they clearly did not have. When they begged mercy because he was their friend, he leaned on his Range Rover and made it very clear that their pitiful circumstance was nothing of his concern. Though this is a musical, it is also a sad, true representation of the world. Too often, people forget where they come from and where their people still are. Just because you escape a bad situation doesn’t mean that you should forget about hose still in it. You should fight for equality of everyone so that they can be just as happy.
1. Question
• What can you, as a teacher, do in your classroom to attempt to erase the contempt that may exist between black and white children due to circumstances and beliefs that their parents may have put into place?
Cornel West urges black liberals to do more than accept movements such as affirmative action that was put into place in the mid 1900s. Saying that the root of so much chaos in the black race is a complete lack of self-love and too much poverty, he urges that people must not only talk, but do. Redistributive measures with no support can’t be successful. Later in the reading, he discusses Malcolm X and his manner of dealing with what he saw wrong in America. He spoke to blacks with a rage against the inequality and hoped his rage would inspire them to change.
4. Key Quotes
1. “The urgent problem of black poverty is primarily due to the distribution of wealth, power, and income – a distribution influenced by the racial caste system that denied opportunities to most “qualified” black people until two decades ago” (93).
2. “Yet, in the heat of battle in American politics, a redistributive measure in principle with no power and pressure behind it means no redistributive measure at all” (95).
3. “Rather, Malcolm believed that if black people felt the love that motivated that rage, the love would produce a psychic conversion in black people; they would affirm themselves as human beings, no longer viewing their bodies, minds, and souls through white lenses, and believing themselves capable of taking control of their own destinies” (136).
4. “ Needless to say, Michael Jackson’s example is but the more honest and visible instance of a rather pervasive self-loathing among many of the black professional class. Malcolm X’s call for psychic conversion often strikes horror into this privileged group because so much of who they are and what they do is evaluated in terms of their wealth, status, and prestige in American society” (138).
3. Key Terms
1. “Psychic conversion” (143) – what Malcolm X hoped would take place in the mind of black Americans and change their way of life
2. “affirmative action” (95) – redistributive measure that attempted to solve inequalityin the mid 1900s
3. “progressives” (93) – people who promote redistributive measures
2. Connections
1. “The more xenophobic versions of this viewpoint simply mirror the white supremacist ideals we are opposing and preclude any movement toward redistributive goals” (99).
* At the school that I work at, many parents have taught the children not to like white people, especially Baylor students. They feel that they have been hurt and that their lives have been negatively affected by Baylor students that they cannot see the good in any of them. Because of this fact, I had to work pretty hard to get the children to accept me and learn that not all white people are out to hurt them and take from them.
2. “ The difficult and delicate quest for black identity is integral to any talk about racial equality. Yet it is not solely a political or economic matter. The quest for black identity involves self-respect and elf-regard, realms inseparable from, yet not identical to, political power and economic status. The flagrant self-loathing among black middle-class professionals bears witness to this painful process” (97).
* This made me think of a beginning scene in the musical Rent. Benny used to live with the rest of the group, but he married a rich girl. When he did so, he gained ownership of a tenement building where he had once lived with his friends, and he promised them a free stay for a year. Come December, however, he knocked on their door demanding the year’s rent, which they clearly did not have. When they begged mercy because he was their friend, he leaned on his Range Rover and made it very clear that their pitiful circumstance was nothing of his concern. Though this is a musical, it is also a sad, true representation of the world. Too often, people forget where they come from and where their people still are. Just because you escape a bad situation doesn’t mean that you should forget about hose still in it. You should fight for equality of everyone so that they can be just as happy.
1. Question
• What can you, as a teacher, do in your classroom to attempt to erase the contempt that may exist between black and white children due to circumstances and beliefs that their parents may have put into place?
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