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.