Class Overview

 The parts of this class that stuck with me the most was Rodriguez's Aria, Hehir's Ablism, and the open forum roleplay for Wind-Wolf. 

Rodriguez's Aria stuck with me because of my service learning experience. I was witnessing students before my eyes "losing out" on instruction because it was taught in English and they only understand Spanish. I watched students get pulled out of class other times during instructional time for what I assume was enrichment...Language barriers are something I never realized the severity of in schools.

Hehir's ableism was interesting to me. I like how it was broken down into different groups. You really don't know what something is like till you hear it from the person it effects. Hehir demasks that. 

The open forum roleplay on Wind-Wolf was interesting. You realized as the others were acting, just how involved/passionate you can get about a situation when it is YOU it effects. 

Woke Read Aloud Argument

 A. Hey all, I'll be doing an "argument" analysis from woke read aloud video...the reading wasn't working for me. 

B. To start, boy was that video interesting. I was surprised to see the channel titled woke kindergarten. All things considered, "woke" does not have the best societal connotation...even though it is nothing bad, but to say the least, I'm not surprised the comments were turned off. Smart of the creator.

Personally, I liked the overall message, teaching kids about pronouns, making mistakes, and respecting others. It goes about it in a diverse and informative way. Honestly, I wish kids learned about the concept of pronouns much sooner in life.

Having an understanding from a younger age that just because someone looks like a girl doesn't mean they use she/her is a message I believe kids can handle. I wish I had understood that concept sooo much sooner. It would have helped ten fold in the understanding of my own identity. However, I think learning about what that means in regards to a persons identity should come a little later when they can really grasp that. Fundamentals should be taught younger, and the deeper meanings taught as kids get older and mature...as any topic of this nature should be.

(somebody tell that to the 10,000 year old congressmen)

This is coming from the mouth of a trans guy who grew up in an ultra conservative, catholic household. I don't believe learning what transgender means early on would have been beneficial for me (and that is entirely just my personal experience). I think I would have grown up with a lot of misconceptions surrounding genderfluid identities. However, I don't think that LGBT conversations about identity should be hidden as much as they are. I can honestly and unfortunately say I was extremely intolerant in middle school because of this...and look at me now...pretty much the exact opposite of who I used to be in views AND identity.

It's sad that gender identity has become so polarizing. I worry about my future and the future of others in the community everyday, but unfortunately in the world we live in, there is no "easy" answer when we live in a society so extremely against accepting change. 

C. What do you think could be done to properly start the conversation? 

(Broad I know, but frankly there really is no other way to start this dialogue)

I'm attaching RI's "statement/guide" on transgender and gender non conforming students

RI Guidelines

Hehir Quotes

A. Hello class, today I'm doing a quotes analysis on Hehir. 

B. The first quote I'd like to put out there is the main one we discussed the meaning of during class...“Disability is not a tragedy, (however) society’s response to disability can have tragic consequences for people who have disabilities.”...I was really glad we discussed this because it could mean so many things. To me, this is remarking on the unfortunate reality on how society views disability as one of two extremes; either something that makes someone completely incapable, or something "fake" that a person uses as an excuse to be difficult/lazy. 

The second quote I'd like to remark on is "disability only becomes a tragedy for me when society fails to provide the things we need to lead our lives — job opportunities or barrier free buildings”. I wanted to remark on this because it is so true. If society listened and adhered to the accommodations and needs of disabled individuals, it could very well be less stigmatized as a tragedy. By normalizing disability, it becomes "less sad/tragic". 

The final quote I'd like to remark on is “Studies of deaf children whose parents are deaf are revealing. These children start school with vocabularies comparable to their hearing peers and have higher levels of educational and occupational success”. I find this important. It really shows and sticks a hand in the idea that disability is not always a disadvantage. Students who are disabled may not be "behind" but rather just need assistance to keep them moving forward.

C. One question I'd like to leave with the class is whether they have experiences surrounding disability and the themes suggested that could shed light into societies need for change? The article I'm including remarks on the overwhelming need of society to work to destigmatize disability. 

Destigmatizing Disability Article

Aria Rodriguez

 A. Hello everyone, today my analysis will be connections referring to Rodriguez's text Aria. 

B. I find Aria connects very closely with with silenced dialogue and intersectionality. The troubles Rodriguez faced in regards to his forced education on the English language (and subsequent 'loss' of Spanish) give a hand to a topic that has only recently been genuinely recognized. ELL education still to this day, even in my service learning placement is not at all where it should be. The fact that some teachers still have to resort to google translate and/or have students lose hours of lessons due to a communication gap is not only unfair to students, but also teachers. It's a topic not talked about enough, and even though it is talked about more today, that does not mean it is discussed sufficiently and effectively. In regards to intersectionality, it is not students faults when they hit this crossroads between language and proper education. It should be up to the schools systems to accommodate the needs of students who do not know they dominant language, no matter in the US or in a different nation. Unfortunately the US is one of the nations with ELL education being such a prominent problem. This ties into my connections and further analysis below. 

C. One question I would like to leave with the class is, have any of you seen struggles with ELL accommodations whether during FNED 101 observations or with your service learning placements this semester? The article I am introducing includes some statistics on ELL students across the United States. I would have never known before looking at this that Rhode Island has one of the highest ELL percentages across the country. 

ELL Statistics

Unfortunately I can't figure out how to include the most recent graphic from the article, so I'm adding an older version. 

Video Analysis Notes (Teach Us All, Classroom Tour, Precious Knowledge)

 

Finn Reflection

 Hey everyone,

A. This week I will be doing a reflection on Finn's "Literacy with an Attitude" and how it relates to my school experiences. 

B. While reading (in depth) Chapter 2 of Finn's writing, he discusses the study performed by Anyon regarding the difference between different class based schools in different school districts. The most intriguing part was hearing the break down of what Anyon experienced in the various different 5 grade classrooms and how they differed. Hearing all the different details from the various schools made me realize and pinpoint where my schools fell in the realm of Anyon's experiences. Obviously this study does not mean every middle class school will be the same for instance, but I would have thought my schools would have fit into one category. When reading I noticed that my schools fell into multiple different categories. Obviously, I imagine the schools in the study could have experiences not written about that fall into other categories, but I just found it interesting. Lincoln has a wide array of economic classes within its borders, so I assume it would make sense that our schools would exhibit characteristics from the various backgrounds that were discussed. I just think it is interesting for the prospect that one district can also fall into the working class, through the elite category, sometimes at the same time. 

C. Some questions I would like to leave to the class is, what school that Anyon experienced do you feel that you related to the most? Did your district vary through multiple classes as I feel mine did? What did you relate to most in the article? For my article, I am going to attach a link to a fact sheet regarding the relationship between economic class and education and its affects on the students.

Fact Sheet

Tatum Hyperlinks

Hey everyone...

A. My reading was by Tatum and is an excerpt from their book called "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria".

B. When I was reading this excerpt, I was immediately drawn to the concept of political socialization. I had not thought about it since taking AP US Government and Politics my senior year. It is a process where people gain their beliefs, values, and attitudes towards government from others, starting at a young age. This kind of process is what Tatum discusses, just with race/differences. I found this fascinating as I had not realized before that political socialization could be so similar to other "socialization" processes in the world today. I'm including a hyperlink regarding political socialization incase anyone would like to see the comparison.{ Political Socialization }. I believe that knowing the similarities and just how common socialization is in our society can help people become more aware of their impacts on others, especially young impressionable kids who learn political ideology from their parents (without their parents even realizing sometimes.) This connects to Precious Knowledge in that, if people were only more educated on these matters would they see the importance of diversity and how exciting different cultures can be. 

C. The point I'd like to leave with the class is that, in my opinion, people need to think through their words and who their speaking to, and especially, around, before discussing serious social justice issues. People don't realize just how impressionable younger generations are and their need to come to their own in beliefs, attitudes, and ideologies. Socialization is important to lay a ground work for younger gens, but a groundwork is not "an entire building". Younger gens need to get the full picture from the get-go so they can come to their own without fanning ignorance due to lack of proper education on seriously important matters of social justice initiatives in today's world.