Social JUstice Event

Math, I am not a fan at all. Never really could understand it, sometimes  I feel like I am cracking the Da'Vinci code just to solve an equation. Last Tuesday April 26h, 2011 I had attended a lecture by Dr. Anne Collins, Director of Mathematics at Lesley University.  In this lecture she had discussed "Effective Teaching" for future math teachers, but the many points she had made that day, not only goes just for effective teaching in math, but for in all subjects and in all courses. One of the key contributes for effective teaching, Dr. Anne Smith suggested that in order for the child or person you are teaching you must use "appropriate vocabulary." Appropriate vocabulary in the sense of instead of cutting corners with words, but to pronounce the word or problem as it is. For an example 1.44, this says one and forty four hundreds, not one point forty four. Her advice suggests that having the students use proper language they will get a better grasps of understanding the problem. Also she said that the students will like the way they  can use "smart talk" or big words when the speak in solving the problem. This point reminds me of Lisa Delpits to teach the students the rules and codes of power. This piece of advices gives the students the ability to know how to use the correct vocabulary instead of using slang terminology, and not being able to use it properly.

Still on this subject of matter, using "appropriate vocabulary"  Patrick Finns Literacy with an attitude reminds me of this. Reasons why instead of using skin color, its about being in the class room to describe the example. In the classroom, when there are only a select few people in the class that understand

Extention off Emily Onufraks: Education is Politics

The quotes Emily Chose.

 

" It is the students who decide to what extent they will take part in the syllabus and allow it to form them. Many students do not like the knowledge, process, or roles set out for them in class. In reaction, they drop out or withdraw into passivity or silence in the classroom. Some become self-educated; some sabotage the curriculum by misbehaving." (Shor 14).

 

Emily agrees with Shor on how the role of the syllabus does not work well for all students, and that students do indeed learn at a different pace. She also acknowledges what Shor says that it is up to the students in deciding to the extent that they will follow the syllabus, and sometimes the end results become to overwhelming and students will drop out of the class, or become home schooled. My experience with this pretty much hits the hammer on the head for me. Reason being is because looking at a syllabus for any class is very nerve wrecking, maybe not for all students, but for the first day of classes looking at the syllabus i want to freak out. Freak out because school is not my thing, i have to work over time just for the grades i get, and knowing that i have to work twice as hard as some students makes me feel overwhelmed, sometimes during mid course of the semesters, sometimes i just want to give up, and call it quits. I never manage to do it because so far i never failed any classes in my college career and the family structure or " the culture" i grew up in wont allow me to give up. 

 

"To be democratic implies orienting subject matter to student culture - their interests, needs, speech, and perceptions - while creating a negotiable openness in class where the students' input jointly creates the learning process." (Shor 16).

 

I completely agree with Emily and Shor with saying that the students are the ones who should be making the classroom a learning space along side the teacher. This quote means a lot to me, because of this class i look at school in a whole different perspective. This class gave me the knowledge to look at a situation and see how it really is, like "wow that is a delpit moment". I would never be able to do that if our classroom wasnt structured the way it is. Not only does the class control the conversations because of Dr. Bogad the class has a openness where our inputs are actually considered instead of other classrooms and professors saying "no that is not correct". We as a class are democrats in the class because we might not be reading our interests, but we talk in big discussion as a class like it is, and our conversations help us learn on what is going on instead of reading a 15 page article then taking a 120 question exam to "see" if we understand what was written. This quote i take deeply into consideration, because i can now say i have somewhat of a structure in mind on how i will get my future students engaged and willing to learn, just as i have. Hopefully.

 

 

"In the first session of an introduction to journalism class, to encourage immediate participation and questioning I routinely ask students to define what "news" means to them and to write down questions they have about the news. Their definitions and questions launch our class discussion, not a lecture by me." (Shor 28).

 

Again this quote reminds me of how this class is ran. From the first day Dr. Bogad tolds us as a class dead up, that each of us will have to talk at least once each class in order to gain participation points. This may have had some students, or maybe all students a little bit nervous because no one knew each other. Also Dr. Bogad makes us in every assignment to define what the experience was like for us, not to define definitions but, on how we took the experience and compare and contrast it to the past readings that we had in class, and then that what we wrote in our blogs from the readings will be the topic of discussion. If a student does not understand a article that was assigned, we can always look back at what other students of the class wrote to help us better understand what was said and done, because it is sometimes easier to learn from peers rather than experts.

 

 

 

Well, Dr. Bogad you pretty much hit the head on every point. Well done.

 

Citizen Ship in Schools

The title to my blog and to this article makes me trip out a little bit. The more i think about it, the clearer it becomes. I can not speak for everyone, but for my experience with people with disabilities was a bit  segregated. I say segregated because in my high school the had 3 floors, top floor was the seniors and juniors, second floor was your sophomores and freshmen. The special education classroom was in the basement where you would find the locker rooms and the school's gym. It never really hit me until now, but i feel like there was some alienation going on. One of my next door neighbors was in the special education classroom, and it bugged him out. Reason why was because he was not your typical character. Chucky is very well known in my hometown. He was the guy at my football games dress in a full fire fighters suit, helmet, boots, jacket, pants, and riding his bike up and down the town in the suit making a siren noise with his mouth. He did the whole 9. Everyone loved him. In high school everyone would scream his name, not to make in fun of him, but because he was the man. He could careless about anything. He would spit game to girls, and if they looked at him wrong because he looked a little different, he would laugh and let them know "their shit wasnt all that". Direct words from the mans mouth. I bared witness to this NUMEROUS TIMES.  He is very out going, very social, loves to laugh, but he is handicap. For the years Ive know him i have no clue what is wrong with him. Do i care? Not one effing bit. Our school placed him in the basement of our school. My school pretty much told everyone without saying a word, when you go down to the basement to change for gym, that is where you will find the kids with special needs. Wow. However, Mrs. Fishback was my homegirl, they were blessed to have one of the  most caring, loving person i had every met besides my mother for their teacher. Maybe i am looking at this to deeply, but the basement? They had citizen ship to our school, but  was no where to be found unless you had P.E, hit the gym, or kicked with Mrs. Fishback. Im still kind of wavy on this topic, until Tuesday i will have a better understanding on this topic, so i will go with i understand now.

I guess i am pro inclusion. Dont get me wrong, there are some students whos disablites are more server than others, but looking at my man Chucky this could do anything. He was not like the others in his class, reason being said was because he took apon himself, and break out the norm or the cultural of power our school placed him and he did his thing. He would roam the hallways and talk to the people who he knew, like myself. The more he was around the more people saw him the more he wanted to soicalize. The kids in the speical education classroom in the basement never really left, because i am guessing that they were not as comfortable as Chucky was to break out. Chucky to this day attends all home sporting events, never missed a football, baseball, soccer, hockey, and basketball home game since we were freshmen and still goes to every game after graduating 3 and half years ago. CHUCKY IS THE MAN. I feel that even though special need students may not be able to solve a algebra equation, i barely can, or able to communicate efficiently, but being having the opportunity to be with people and able to socialize, and function in the society is the main deal. Just because your disabled doesn't mean you cant live a perfectly normal life, ( but what is normal) it just only means your have strengths in other places that other people would kill to have.

To function in society, you need to teach the rules and parameters to function in the culture of power. Placing wonderful people in a basement, and saying they are citizen of the school, just because they attend the school and are being taught by people who work at the school doesn't make them citizens, i feel it makes them the ghost of the school until your class schedule tells you its time to see them.

Literacy with an attitude literally

Nothing but connections....

My role model in the way i look at the world. Like it or leave it, but i strongly believe in what this beautiful wise man has to say about the world. When watching this, i would like you to sit back and really think. Think about what he says, what he means to have a "White Christmas". Who does this sound like when you watch this.

To me this sounds like Lisa Delpits "The Silenced Dialogue". Deplit argues that who are the people who not aware of being in the culture of power are and should be responsible to show the minority or working class how to be apart of the culture of power. In the video Tupac talks about how in order to get through this, we need to stop having people hit the lotto for 36 million dollars when someone cant even afford something on the dollar menu at McDonald's. That is the world we live in, give me, give me give me. Now Flinn argues which Delpit i would believe she would agree with is that in order for the people to become literate and understand the culture of power, the people of the culture of power which is mostly high status white individuals are really responsible for helping. In the video Tupac talks about in order for black people or any race that is not in the culture of power, why cant you help me out and give us some money instead again, hitting the lotto, or having 40 billion dollars, is there really a need for 7 house with 50 rooms each, when there are people that don't even have a pair of pants. When the minority can have a little money and able to stand on their two feet that would make it much easier to prove Delpits 4th point " if you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicit the rules of the culture makes acquiring power easier". Its not going to solve world hunger but it is a really a good damn way to start off. Delpit and Tupac are really close because Delpit is aware of this "culture of power" and Pac goes to explain a "White Christmas" which is literal as he means its, because minority's understand what its like to have one, because they never had one, when people in the culture of power don't really understand what is not like to have gifts under the tree, not having a Christmas dinner, never the less not ever having dinner. I'm bad at explaining what Tupac beautiful states, but Delpit would be a great fan, and so would Flinn.

Flinn and Tupac make me also make me think about  Allan Johnson's power, privilege and difference. Because Tupac again like stated up above talks about the lotto millionaires with 10 cars 5 house, when people dont have any of those things. Now dont get me wrong alot of those people are black with 10 cars and 5 house, but would you blame them for doing so, because that is how they feel they should act because of the poverty they went through, and the world they live in taught them to live the life like that. Education in the upper class is a privilege plan and simple. Heres why, in the first pages of Flinns article he goes on to talk about people 300 years ago were afraid that the people who couldn't read would learn how to read and understand the bullshit life they were living, and then attack violently. Johnson goes to say that people are naturally afraid of what they don't know or understand. The people in the upper class took it as  lets take advantage of these different people (not using any particular race), they aren't like us, they must be stupid, and we can keep them stupid by stripping their rights away so they can work for us and have no reason why they are working for absolutely nothing. There is more deeper things to Johnson and Pac just Pac has a connection with a lot points that my brain can't even fathom. Flinn would be a supporter, but Flinn isn't pointing anyone out but saying how the upper class could help, whereas Johnson and Delpit are saying in order to help out the culture of power, needs to be explained and taught and privileges are the reasons to the downfall.

Im looking for alot feedback, Im not to sure about this blog but seriously check out Tupacs interviews you will be amazed with this so called "ignorant black gangster rapper" as some politicans like to call him, has to say about the sad world we live in. Pac does a much better job than this blog.

Women are beautiful creatures. Athletic women is a cherry on top for a guy like me. Women in the world today are no looked down upon in society, and in the world of sports. Sports is dominated mostly by males, because due of the competitive nature and built up testosterone men feel they need to get out in order to feel superior to other men. I have seen my fair share of women who could show men in sports and in life as a whole. Only less than 40 years ago women were finally given a chance to prove themselves in the world of sports and equal opportunity to participate. However, 40 years later, i still feel that women in the world of sports are still heavily looked down upon. If you look through any magazine or sports magazine women are degraded. Degraded by wearing sexy clothing, which i am not complaining about whats so ever, however that seems to be there only chance to shine, to help sell something. Even in sports magazines, women athletes have to be in sport bras, or tight clothing just to be able to have a spread in a magazine. Title IX act was passed 1972 to give equal opportunity to women to participate in sports just as much as the men can. Coming out of high school 3 years ago and having the privilege of being male and able to part take in those sports saved my high school career. That being said it is only fair for women to have the same opportunity's to do the same. This gives women the chance to also better there life, because if a women can succeed in a sport she has a great chance that she could get a scholarship to a higher education.

Here is a article and video that was covered by CBS when the title 9 act was violated.
SMH...

Tim Wise on Fire...

Taking the main points out of  two videos and a particular website would normally seem pretty tough for me. However, when dealing on topics that i had always been thinking about, because some things never seemed right to me when i look at some thing in a different light. First starting off with white privilege, i always new something was wrong, when i would get the stink eye when i wearing a hood. Over the years i find myself taking my hood off when i see pretty girls walk by me so they don't get intemiadated. Any who, that is not the point, my point for this is blog it is pretty hard to miss the topic of discussion for this week. Me going to Rhode Island College and also being African American does not seem to be the perfect candidate to be President of the United States.

In these videos that we watched the main aspects i took out was that no one can look at any person as an equal, regardless skin tone. What took me back for a second was like i stated at top  i have always thought something was fucked on how people are looked because of skin tone, (pardon my french) but that's just frustration because now i am learning about my intuition i always had since i was like 10. Barack Obama is the man, i say this with pride because he will be the reason why African Americans can have a better name. I say this because in the video they compared the worst President George W. Bush to President Barack Obama. Tim Wise is on FIRE on this point, that everyone gives wayyyy to much credit to white people even if they don't deserve it "white privilege" and if they are the most insanely over praised moron in the country, meaning former President Bush. Since Bush is white the country felt comfortable  with him as head of the country. Now if Bush was black but the same complete person inside and out, and the country knew about the same background Bush had in the past with drugs and Alchol and shitty grades, Bush would not even stand a chance. Now seeing that i started out at a community college this point is also throwing gas into my now blazing fire inside. The people of this "awesome" country don't let other minorities that come from low or ordinary lifestyles get decent jobs. A white male that went to a community college and has no field experience still has a better chance than i do in getting a job when i will graduate with a bachelors degree in education. Yeah i am free, yeah i can do somethings that i please, but I'm not equal. This blog isn't written out of hate, but now i realize that my intuition should of never been seconded guess. The culture of power is the downfall. Just the name "Culture of Power" is messed up seeing that it is singular and not plural, until then i feel equality will just be a word i can continue to laugh at like i have always been, but now will more reinsurance because i am learning the great stuff in the world.

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, schools are not segregated anymore, but still are. How so, in the New York Times Article we had to read was talking about how school start segregated even though they aren't anymore. Where you live, the job you have to support you family determines if your going to a school that is decently diverse. Fortunately i had this privilege to have a family that is white and live a nice part of town, so i can have a better education, that schools down my street. I seriously just laughed out loud when i wrote that last line. The article also explained that these students, when put into BETTER schools they got BETTER grades. NO shit, go figure. People must of forgot that everyone needs air to breath, and when you get cut you bleed the same color. Truth be told cause i can go on rambling about this for days because ive seen it at its best from my view and i see it at its worst taking down one of my best friends, because his more couldn't afford to live up the street more with two jobs and 4 mouths to feed. Where you live determines alot, unfortunately.


Steve Colbert has a pretty good points.

Not only is Sarah Silverman funny and beautiful, this is why I am infatuated with her. Shes real.

We all bleed the same color. GLSEN.

High school is a beautiful thing. I never saw this until i graduated. I walked the halls confident because i was a all year around athlete. Never was picked on my entire life, not even for the color of my skin. I walked into high school with NO FEAR. Now with that being said, with my narcissistic mentality at the time i never stop to think about someone else waking up, ready to throw up because they have to go to school. Why, because of fear. Fear of being picked on, fear of not fitting in, the fear of someone finding out that you are different.

The GLSEN ( Gay Lesbian and Straight Education) reported that two thirds (65%) of teens have been harassed or assaulted for their appearance, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race/ethnicity or religion. This scary statistic is unbelievable. I feel horrible knowing that someone i know, people i associate with where criticized for being themselves. This class hopefully does not make me go into a depression lol. 33% of students which is one third are crudely harassed because they "look" like they are gay, lesbian or bisexual. 22% of actual gay and lesbian students do not even feel safe in their schools compared to 7% of  people that are not gay or lesbian feeling safe at school. Not feeling safe at SCHOOL! It blows my mind, how a place where you need to be at for almost a quarter of your life you do not feel safe at. At 90% of (LGBT) students have actually been harassed for their sexual orientation, and 62% of students who are not (LGBT) have been harassed for be considered homosexual. SMH! This type of torment leads to exactly what the definition states, "to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering."  There should be no pain in a place where education should be the pain of the mind.

Where are we? I say we because on day this will be us, hearing these rude comments by our future students. Most teachers 85% of high school teachers say that they "believe" they are ensuring a safe learning environment. 68 % of students say their school has a snit harassment policy. HOWEVER, only 48% of all students say their school has policy that specifies sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Most of students who experience harassment in school (57%) never report these incidents to teacher other personnel, because most teachers report that they would feel comfortable intervening if they saw the harassment. REALLY?!?!?.... This is bothers my terribly because that is when most of the bullying doesn't happen. Most of it is on myspace, face book, text messages, it is everywhere. Students should feel comfortable to talk to SOMEONE when they are getting tortured.  One out of ten students don't do anything because they feel what the teacher might do is powerless to improve the situation.  This our my future career, and we are supposed to work these students, we will see some of these children more than their own parents. My children should not have fear in talking to someone that is supposed to educate and guide them REGARDLESS of the situaiton.

Aria

Quotes...

"What i needed to learn in school was that i had the right and the obligation to speak the public language of los gringos."
This quote is at the beggining of the article, what he needed to learn was that he had the right and obligation to speak the publice language. After reading the couple pages, i thought to myself there wasnt any rights or any obligations for him. He didnt even have the choice to learn english. It was thrown at him, like here learn this, and learn this fast. In school, his nuns not understanding what it is like to not feel comfortable with a forengin lanugage, telling him to "stand up", "dont look at the floor" "stop mumbling". He was very shy about being in public, and he felt better speaking spanish in school. It was a trumatic experience for him to go through this. Having is teachers come to the house and tell his own flesh and blood that it would be better if the family started speaking english around the house. That allow changed his views on life at such a young age. He started speaking less to his family, because he did not feel that love when the family was speaking english. He didnt like the words, ma, papa, dad, mom. He wanted the spanish speaking diolouge. Richards father even loss spark in life, when he was around other spanish speaking men that Richard notice his father come alive again, his voice would spark, flicker alive with sounds. Silence took over there own home, and he felt anger when his parents only spoke english to him. At the dinner table instead of laughter of trying to speak "gringo" and sharing stories, it became noisy with knives and forks against dishes. He no longer bothered to listen to the family speak, he became careless to the public language he was supposed to be obligated to learn in the first place.

Quote 2:
"At first, it seemed a kind of game. After dinner each night, the family gathered to pratice our english"
This quote my not be to big of a deal, but for Richard i can feel this. At first being with is family speaking his native tounge where he felt comfortable at ease being home. He used to run home just to be home with his family where he felt most comfortable, where he could speak with ease. Starting it off almost as a game, miss prouncing words, and they laughed about it. Adding spanish sounds that was familiar to them while trying to pronouce english words, but they knew it was cheating. They were more or less having fun with it, because they were not strong with the"public language" themselves.  But then it slowly started to change to straight english. He walked in on his parents speaking spanish then in a moments change, they started to speak english. This is when he felt it changed for the worst. It scared him, he felt pushed away so he just walked away.

Quote 3:
"The silence at home, hoever, was finally more than a literal silence."
That is really scary to hear, more than a literal silence. Silence in a home when it was once filled with laugher and joy then changed to something that had no right being there is scary. There is a time and place for everything, being forced feed something that did not have to envole the home. It would help it the family helped with english games like the did at the table, but no to the point when it was complet english. That is like my family telling me to stop acting black, how can i do that. That is me, that is my background. Eliminating something that who are, you start to lose your sense of self as Richard did. He began to not feel like himself anymore in his own home. Home is where you make it, if there is not one place in the world where you should be happy, and free from this cold place should be your home. For Richards part he had that for a short while, until he was not performing in the "culture of power" to the point where NUNS came to his home and changed that. I am sure they had good intentions, but withouth them realizing that it would be determental to do that. They let there own privilidge get the best of them and change something that had no right to be changed. They conviced Richards own flesh and blood his own higher power to do something, because of what he was doing in school. His public idenentiy would of came out at a later age, not at 7 years old, he was a child, and they thought it should be sooner or later. 

To be or not to be is the question...

Argument, please no beef, i didn't bring the A1 sauce:

This author Peggy McIntosh argues that whites are taught by society not to recognize the white privilege they receive, in contrast to us males denying that males have privileges over women in today's cold world. I find it funny that we substituted one word out of white privileged, instead of privileged why isn't it white power? Isn't power and privileged the same thing? OH i know why, how stupid of me, then it would be racism. Peggy calls white privilege an "invisible weightless knapsack of social provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." I couldn't agree with that more. Why because through out our lives, me being African American living in a town predominantly white, and I've learned the culture of power, because i was brought up in it. Now that doesn't mean i have the upper advantage, i was taught that i was. Being males is one but to a cetain cost. Being African American makes my invisible nap sack with all those goodies stated at top exchanged with rocks, and with one strap to carry. She call skin tone and unearned privilege. This allows you to freely criticize, or be oblivious to anything outside of dominant culture. Unearned privilege often gets confused with strength, because it gives the false sense of control, same goes for power. This brings me to my point that opened my eyes from looking at murky water, to crystal clear water when it comes to society. My brains almost hit climax reading the 25 conditions she does not have to worry about, not even being a female, but for being white. Some of these i never ever realized because i felt i didn't have to worry about because of my up bringing. I never had thoughts of in high school, reading about black history month, i was the first one picked on to give my thoughts. That shit really did happen. Or when walking down the street most people will stare at me with eyes WIDE open to make sure i am not going to do anything. As i am writing this i am geeking out, because all these 25 condition should be running through my mind all the time when only a couple do. Ive been so conditioned by a white society to myself thinking i have white privileged, but i was just foolish to see that i really don't have that much at all. I am glad i was condition in such a way, because it gives me less to think about, and it helps me not think that everyone is a racist.  The funny thing about this is that while whites do not have to worry about any of those 25 conditions, and the reason is why because society taught people to only recognize racism as acts of cruel or meanness by members of the culture of power, or the main dominate race. Students across the country do not see that being white in this beautiful cold country as a racial identity, and do not think that racism doesn't affect them because they are not people of color. Peggy Mcintosh is a female if you already couldn't tell, and she recognizes that there is an unequal justice for being a female, also not being white. I truly believe she does realize she has more privileges  being a white female.

Just a tid bit about myself.

Good morning, afternoon, or evening. My full name, William Edward Sherrill III, but i much rather you just call me Billy. I am 50% African American, 25% Italian, and 25% Irish. Tough to believe? Tell me something i don't know. Im 21 years young, and I live in North Providence, Rhode Island. I'm addicted to music, tattoo's, sports, and different types of beer. Well, i aquire the taste i wouldn't say addicted. But don't that let that fool you, I am also addicted to the gym.This could be one of the sole reasons why i strive to be a phys ed teacher. I currently double majoring, in physical education , and also in health education. I work as a waiter at the renaissance hotel in downtown providence. I love music, loving music is the thearpy for everything, but not everyone has found out yet. I love to write poetry, but i call it music cause i do with with headphones on, regardless what i talk/write/rap about. Me, not everyone understands cause i am a confusing person. Life is a big deal its scary. But i am not afraid by it, I take it day by day, and loving life. One day I will have students that will seek my guidence, and they will have a role model to follow, forever, today, and tomorrow....