Chapter 31...and a video

I really liked the following quote from the beginning of chapter 31: "People who have no choice but to live their life in their black skins know racism when they see it. Racism is never subtle to the victim. Only White people say race doesn't matter."

This chapter tied in quite appropriately with something we're discussing in one of my other classes. We just finished reading Morrison's The Bluest Eye and are currently designing lesson plans around the book. Much of the content of the book focuses on race and self-image among African American adolescents. The class has found some difficulty in knowing where to begin a conversation about race. Teachers, especially White teachers with little urban understanding, struggle with knowing both how to relate to students whose experiences differ drastically from their own and promoting important discussion about issues related to race in the classroom.

One of my classmates recommended a video portraying African American youth talking about their race and concerns or views they have about their "blackness." I think the video could be used as a really powerful tool in getting the conversation going regarding racial issues. The content is thought-provoking, yet appropriate for students at both the middle and high school level. It seems as though the hardest place to start is getting the conversation going. For far too long teachers have chosen to be "color blind" (oh, yuck) and in doing so have ignored the importance of the individuals in their classrooms. With UWM's focus being urban education, I think it is especially important that we as future teachers really grasp just what urban means and feel comfortable relating to the urban youth population. Here's the link for the video...I definitely recommend checking it out! http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=525

PBL Article

Oh, the PBL article. I have some pretty mixed feelings about it, I guess. I think the concept of PBL is fabulous. I think it is really an effective way to provoke original thought, creativity, teamwork, and real problem-solving skills that will be useful both academically and socially later in life. The particular PBL described in the article didn't seem to be quite as inspiring or engaging as some of the others I've read about. I agree, it felt a bit like teaching to the test. Also, I'm not exactly sure that the skills or ideas students are deriving from this activity are terribly useful for later in life. It seems they spent an awful lot of time figuring out HOW to take the test and statistics of the test, but are these really useful skills? I'm not so sure. Again the other part of me is really excited that these kids worked together for a greater goal and were inspired to really learn, I'm just not sure what they were learning was so worthwhile or educationally beneficial beyond the the world of standardized testing.

Melting pot calls the kettle black

So, as I read this article, I kept wondering what other countries do with this issue. I mean, it's quite obvious that we aren't the only country in the world with a dominant language and a good sprinkling of others. Isn't it quite common for citizens of countries where there are a couple dominant languages to be fluent in both those languages? America seems to be rather resilient to fully accept and embrace the diversity of language (which is really absurd, what with priding ourselves to be the melting pot and all). We seem to view anything that is not standard English as a burden on our communicative society. Multilingualism throughout the world seems to be viewed more as a means to enhance and expand communication, providing greater opportunities to understand the world around us. In America, it seems that the first programs to be cut when a budget runs low are foreign language programs. With increasing ESL students in schools, the inadequacy of or lack of programs to assist and enhance the educational experiences of these students becomes more apparent. The root of this problem seems to lie not only in the educational system itself, but with the somewhat unfortunate American view of diversity in language.

More education necessary

This article helped to reiterate the uncertainty I feel about having to discipline students in the very near future. I believe we take one class in the school of education about behavioral management, but is this really enough? I feel as though throughout my education classes thus far, questions or concerns regarding behavior or discipline have been largely avoided by teachers. I realize the topic is extremely complex and multi-faceted and thus would warrant an extensive discussion which may not fit into teachers' curriculum schedules, but perhaps it would be justified. The article made it clear that behavior management, particularly innefective and destructive ways of doing so, is a real problem in schools. Maybe if we took time, aside from one class, new teachers would feel more comfortable and be more effective at behavior management of diverse student populations. I think much of the issue lies in a lack of information rather than intentional mistreatment of students.

Freedom for Some, Farming for Others

After reading Brown's "Freedom for Some" article, I was really just shocked and appalled at our education system. The fact that these drastic differences exist today is sad, but the message these differences sends to our kids and reiterates for them day after day is really the saddest part. Kids aren't stupid. They know when they are being treated unfairly, or when they have a privilege. Kids travel to other schools for sports, forensics, and various other school activities. They have the opportunity to view schools from an outsider perspective. After reading this article, I began to think about my own school experience from the perspective of this article.

While I am in no way comparing my own education to the very underprivileged schools described in the article, I do now see the shortcomings of my own education because of the working-class town where I was raised. I came from a very small, farming community where, until a couple years before I graduated, the elementary, junior high, and high school all resided in one building.

When choosing classes, we were given a pamphlet prior to the start of each semester. This was not cause for much excitement, as the class options were few and never changed. Cooking and sewing classes for the girls, wood-working and welding for the boys, one or two art classes, and pages and pages of agricultural classes for the future farmers who made up a great deal of the student population. People still don't believe me when I tell them that we built a barn of sorts on to the side of our school so the agricultural classes could better teach about principles of farming.

Now I view farming as a hard-working, honorable profession. But by only offering classes to foster the needs of particular students in any capacity, whether it's farming or something else, just doesn't seem right. It doesn't meet the needs of all students present, and that is ultimately what a school should do. Classes don't need to be fancy, but a rounded education including many aspects of career development and college preparation should be available. My senior year I remember the excitement over talk about including a new Anatomy and Physiology course (which I now recognize as a course to prepare future nurses, something which our community produced a lot of to staff the local convent/retirement home). Students were thrilled! A new class! It was a step in the right direction, but I wonder how much has really changed since I graduated.

No doubt, there needs to be change in the education system. It is difficult to imagine the immense and incalculable changes that need to occur throughout the nation to provide equal opportunity for all students. The Brown article does a good job of identifying the drastic differences that exist, but where do we go from here?

Important Issues

I really liked the section called "A Plan for Action" in the Turning Points article. I think it is too seldom that we criticize a system without identifying specific ways in which the system needs to be changed. This section identifies not only teachers, principals, and others directly involved with the education of adolescents but also health care professionals, the president, private sectors, states, community organizations, and (most importantly, in my opinion) parents as being necessary components in bringing about change for schools. Emphasizing the need for many parties, big and small, powerful and lesser so, to be involved in bettering the education of our children is a bold and necessary step by the authors of this essay.

From the chapter 11 essay, I was curious if anyone knows where Wisconsin stands on their consideration of whether to recognize middle level licensure. I don't think it would be a bad idea, although I don't really know the specifics. I think it's necessary that we have classes (like this one) geared specifically toward issues involved with teaching middle school aged kids. I'm curious when these middle school specific classes were implemented at UWM and whether its only a matter of time before licensure for middle school education becomes mandated.

Also from the chapter 11 essay, particularly under the Glass Half Empty section, I thought it was interesting that all of the problems listed from Individual Differences to Economic Inequalities were issues that affect not only middle schools but the education system as a whole. I think this article would no doubt appeal to a wider educational audience as it thoroughly pinpoints areas for reform of the entire educational system.

Nymphet Fantasies - Boo!

Alright, so let me start by saying that I totally agree that child (and baby and probably teen) beauty pageants are warped and creepy and highlight the fact that our society needs to re-examine its view of what is beautiful and ok in this regard. But, honestly, this article was kind of a waste of time to read. Few comments throughout the article regarding society's view of the adolescent were squeezed in until the very end. If an article is going to make it into The CRITICAL Middle School Reader, I think it needs to be significantly more worthwhile than this one. At the very end of the article, several pertinent points are made. Pop culture should be seriously analyzed, kids and adults should learn to view pop culture critically and make decisions about what they will view and accept from a critical perspective, teachers should educate kids about how to organize social movements, etc., etc. These are all great points! Unfortunately, they come in the last page-and-a-half of an ultimately ineffective article centered around the child beauty pageant, with little information about self-esteem, self-image, and even less that pertains to the CRITICAL adolescent I would like to be learning more about. I nearly closed the book a page before making it to the meat of the article. I'm glad I finished reading but was ultimately disappointed in the end - not a useful article!