laptops

Please bring your laptops tomorrow (as you usually do)--we'll be doing some collaborative work online.   Great blogging.  See you in class. 

GK

he he

Citizenship and Learning

Kliewer writes on page 73, "society itself is hurt when schools act as cultural sorting machines" then references Biklen, writing these are places that "justify a competitive ethic that marginalizes certain students or groups of students...[that] legitimize discrimination and devaluation on the basis of the dominant society's preferences in matters of ability, gender, ethnicity, and race...and [that] endorse an elaborate process of sorting by perceived ability and behavior."
1.  Students not in power are devalued,"sorted", and silenced in schools 
He writes on pages 95-96, "To eliminate a single person through any form of banishment, no matter how benevolent the logic,....makes the community a less democratic and less rich place." And on page 72, Kliewer writes "Freire emphasized, democracy can only occur when no person's voice is deterministically silenced".
2.  Sorting and silencing leads to a less democratic classroom.
On 83 he writes, "Vygotsky found that the culture of segregation surrounding people with disabilities actually teaches underdevelopment of thinking through the isolation of children from socially valued opportunities....Altering the culture of disability requires that a child be recognized as an active learner, a thinker, and a problem solver, but this cannot occur apart from relationships that allow for such engagement." And on page 89 Kliewer writes, "John's hectic schedule, his work, his art, his enhanced communication--these were not the precursors to citizenship; rather, they were the consequences of his community connectedness.
3.  Democratic classrooms promote citizenship for all students.
Also on page 91, "Constructivist education directly reflects Vygotsky's sense of higher mental functions emerging through an individual's connection to the community." And on page 81 Kliewer writes that "Gardner's work...has effectively broadened our interpretation of what it means to be smart."
4.  Citizenship leads to the development of "smart" students
Connecting #1 to #4 above, we can infer that students not in the culture of power, are denied the opportunity to become "smart".

(I may be wrong).

Another important takeaway from the Kliewer reading is that as teachers, we need to get to know our students better.  I mean really get to know them.  Their interests and strengths are important to their learning, and if they can express what they know in a way they know how, they can all be more successful.  Gardner's patterns of learning show us that there are many different types of learners, and we cannot stereotype and judge and assume we know what's best for a certain student without getting to know them.  This is especially true for students with disabilities because their behavior is often misinterpreted by teachers.  Below is an excerpt from an article on the Teaching Tolerance website by a student with Down syndrome.

I'm Smart in a Different Way by Michael Arnold

So when you see me, don't think that I don't know who you are. Tell me "Hi" and I'll do my best to answer you! I want to be friendly! Sometimes I look away from you so I can concentrate and process what you've said to me. It doesn't mean I'm not interested or don't understand. That kind of frustrates me.

I am bashful, quiet and don't talk much unless I am very comfortable. I have a large tongue because of Down Syndrome. That makes it harder for me, than most people, to breathe and talk clearly. That's probably one reason I don't talk much. I'm afraid you won't understand me, might ask me to repeat what I said, or might make fun of me. It's frustrating, so I just don't talk a lot. Some people confuse "not talking much" with "not knowing very much." That isn't true. I know a lot!

Can Culturally Responsive Teaching Create Opera Singers Too?

Delpit wrote about the importance of knowing the rules of the culture of power.  Equity among all students can only be reached if they are taught these rules in school as they are prepared for life in "the real world".  But does learning the rules come at a price?   Can becoming privy to rules for success in public life be disastrous for one's private life?  Carter would say that kids can balance their cultural capital as "cultural straddlers", they can have the best of both worlds if they do it right.  But what happens when the person is so eager to change his public image?  and what happens when the person is a six year old who may not be able to weigh the costs and benefits of his decisions?

Richard Rodriguez (no longer Ricardo) wrote "Today I hear bilingual educators say that children lose a degree of "individuality' by becoming assimilated into public society....but the bilingualists simplistically scorn the value and necessity of assimilation.  They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized.  So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality. "  

The title "Aria" is apropos of the authors struggle for public individuality.  I can see Rodriguez lost in the crowd as a child, embarrassed and not confident, avoiding the spotlight.  But as he learned the public language, he emerged from the shadows and became a confident young person--ready to have a voice, ready to sing his aria.  Still, I'm surprised at Rodriguez's opinion on all this considering what he gave up in order to achieve his public individuality.  He expresses obvious nostalgia on page 38 "..so many of the Spanish voices I'd hear in public recalled the golden age of my youth."  

   

Collier reminds me of  Bartolome, when she writes, A bilingual teacher..." must affirm the cultural values of both home and school..." (p222).    She is describing culturally responsive teaching here (I think).  She is not saying that teachers should not teach the language of the culture of power --English--to studnts, but that there is a way to do it that "acknowledges the legitimacy of the cultural heritages of different ethnic groups" (quote from this website on culturally responsive teaching).   Collier emphasizes this opinion a number of times including in guideline #6 where she writes, "Once a child becomes literate in the home language, literacy skills swiftly transfer to second language settings."  So, not only is culturally responsive teaching the "right thing to do", but it is also effective--Collier presents evidence for it.  The editors note on the bottom of page 235 states, "Collier points out that a rich but underutilized resource for literacy development is the "funds of knowledge" from language minority home and community that students can share."

I wonder if Richard Rodriguez might still be Ricardo Rodriguez if his nuns shared Collier's perspective.  He might sing a slightly different public aria, and might not think so longingly of the "golden age" of his youth. 

I may be way off with all of this, and not sure if I even made any sense.  It gets trickier to think of this stuff as we add author after author to our arsenal.  Just when things seem clear to me, they quickly blur.  Look forward to discussing tomorrow.  By the way, am I on snacks?  GK 

Promising Practices and a chicken sandwich

The morning started with a keynote speech by Dana Fusco called, "Youth Development--Promoting equity through child and youth agency".  Essentially she explored the question "what happens when school isn't enough?"  When students do not see the significance (link to wesch) in what they are doing, they have a tough time getting motivated to do anything.  Fusco suggests that an after school setting is a good place to inject significance into their learning.  She found that a statistically significant (a different meaning of the word here) difference exists between how middle and high school students feel about "in school" vs. "after school" activities (they find the "after school" experience more enjoyable).  Contributing to the attatchment of significance to after school activities are the following:  strong relationships, celebration of accomplishments, and a relationship between what they are doing to not only their own lives, but to the world.  Basically Fusco says that connection to a greater global good (again link to Wesch), is very important to students--they feel a part of something bigger than just their own lives.  And after school youth develpment groups provide a forum for students to develop connections between what they can contribute on a personal level to the global (or at least a bigger) community.
It was a pretty good start to the day, although the speaker's point was most surely lost on the tens of undergrad students engrossed in whatever was going on in cyber space.  At any given time MANY could be observed retreating to their hand held life lines....not going to lie, it annoyed me.
So off to the first of two workshops:  "Wake Up and Smell the Environmental Racism" put on by ECO youth (Environmental Justice League of RI)

ECO youth is involved with Environmental Justice education--basically they go around giving talks on what Environmental Justice is, but don't really touch on solutions, which is fine, but I didn’t learn much about how to combat environmental injustice in poor urban areas.  So, the content was not really helpful, BUT the keynote was  about youth development and this workshop was put on by high school students---so it was cool to see youth development in action.  Fusco’s keynote in the flesh.  

The next workshop was called "Brain Dominance:  The Neurological Underpinings of Critical Thinking and Social Skills"  Wow, I was excited about this.  But the guy never showed up.  So I went back to the dining hall to see what was up and get a sandwich.  I ended up at a different workshop called "Using Open-Ended Science/ Art Activities to Build Confiddence and Competence".  I felt out of place because it was full of 3rd grade teachers.  But I did take away one nice thought about open vs. closed ended activities (I really like open ended lessons, but I've never been able to figure out how to assess the students).  The instructor suggested to build it into a class participation grade.  Thank you Bonnie Epstein, I will.  

Overall a nice day, some good things to take away.  I was disappointed to find pasta at lunch though.  I ended up buying a chicken sandwich instead.  

GK