Awakening Conference Highlights.

Jordan and Pastor Marco...They head up the youth ministry...

Ben from TBR with Mandy and I The Group... ie. my sisters, my brother in law and Sebastian...

Fun stuff...

So I've been working on my Scrapbook...

and i keep finding all these things... This clipart was literally title "embrace diversity"

Athiest in the Army

Check this out... I skimmed it and it really reminded me of SCWAAMP... you be the judge.


http://news.aol.com/story/_a/atheist-claims-harassment-in-military/20080428092709990001

Ironic:

Privelage, Power and Difference -- Alan Johnson Part II

Premise:

• privelage
• change
• being on the hook
• acknowlegement
• learning
• opression
• listening
• activism
• solution
• discrimination
• conflict
• myth
• denial
• inablity to change
• stubborness
• obligation
• responsibility
• constructive

Arguement:

• Johnson argues that there is always room for change and that all parties must take part in the effect of change, that the difference in privelage is not immediate and responsibility does not mean playing the blame game.

Evidence:

• "taking responisiblity doesn't have to involve guilt and blame, letting someone off the hook, or being on the hook yourself. It simply means acknowleging an obligation to make a contribution to finding a way out of the trouble we're all in adn to finding constructive ways to act on that obligation"
• "we have to begin by thinking about the trouble adn the challenge in new adn more productive ways as outlined in teh preceding chapters..."
• "the problem of privelage and oppression is deep and wide, and to with with it we have to be able to see it clearly so that was can talk about it in useful ways."
• "this is why most cultures of privelege mask the reality of oppression by denying its existence, trivializing it, calling it something else, blaming it on those who are victimized by it, or diverting attention from it."

Questions/Comments:

• I liked the article or chapter whichever it was. But it just felt like a continuence of Johnson Part I. It is useful information in preparing yourself for society, but at times can be depressing reading how deep in we are.

Thursday-- 4/17

I actually had a good time working on the project today.

My whole group was there and I think we were really productive.

The quotes for all theories have been entered and the things I didnt have to input my other group memebers are typing and emailing them to me.

So I feel good about the project.

School Girls -- Peggy Orenstein

Premise:

• school curriculum


• girls v. boys


• racism


• sexism


• statistics


• parents


• teachers


• class distinction


• equality


• equity (fair)
  
• sexual harrassment

Argument:

• Orenstein argues that it is vital for teachers to create a learning enviroment that teaches life lessons to boys and girls equally and be cautious of the hiddne curriculum that teaches girls false things about themselves and how they should be in society.

Evidence:

• " Feminist teaching is not about allowing a win/ lose situation to develop between boys and girls."
• "The hidden curriculum is all the things teachers don't say, but that you learn in class anyway. Sometimes, the hidden curriculum is what you learn the most."
• "Curriculum should be both a window and a mirror for students , that they should be able to look into other's worlds, but also see the experiences of their own race, gender, and class reflected in what they learn."

Questions/Comments:

• i think its important not to see things like Alice...through the looking glass. But to see reality plainly.

Whites Swim in Racial Preference -- Tim Wise

Premise:

• race
• privelage
• college
• rural
• presidents opinion
• famililes
• minorities
• income
• affirmitive action
• preferance
• money

Argument:

• Wise argues that whites suck and need to get over themselves.

Evidence:

• "so long as those privelages remain firmly in place and the preferential treatment that flows from those privelages continues to work to the benefit of the whites..."
• "affirmitive action for whites was embodied in teh abolition of European indentured servitude..."
• "in other words, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that white America is the biggest collective recipient of racial preference in the history of the cosmos."

Questions/Comments:

• Sorry but this article really frustrated me. Can't put my finger on it...but it really really bothered me.

Some Thoughts...

Martin Luther King Jr. worked his whole life toward desegregation and reform for the blacks in the South. He was not directly correlated with Brown vs. Board of Education but he took strides toward freedom in schools... All this discussion in class about children being threatened for the color of their skin even Dr. King when he was younger. In his autobiography Dr. King talks about riding the bus to school and being forced to sit in the back...but that he left his mind up front. "one day my body will join my mind up there."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA

"One More River to Cross" -- Charles Lawrence

Premise:

• ignorance
• inequality
• privelage
• american schools
• segragation/desegregation
• students
• labeling

Argument:

• Lawrence argues that the presence of segregation is an ever present issue that isn't going to just disappear and that those who are opressed must keep full sight of their goals and keep old of their self-evident truths of equality.

Evidence:

• "The oppressor's understanding of his oppression is limited by self-interest, and ultimately we must find ways to make our oppression operate against the self-interest of those in power." (pg. 293)
• "Once the state has effectively institutionalized racial segregation as a labeling device, only minimal maintenance is required". (pg. 286)
• " ...keep these self-evidant truths clear in our minds. Too often we have been sidetracked in our struggle becuase we have lost sight of our goal, or accepted the oppressor's definitions, or mistaken the means for the ends." (p. 293)

Questions/Comments:

• I don't know why, but his particular statement got me... “Segregation is organic and self-perpetuating. Once established it will not be eliminated by mere removal of public sanction but must be affirmatively destroyed.” - it reminds of Martin Luther King Jr. and his protest before and after the civil rights act. That he knew that they needed to pursue not just "equality" but freedom.
• I think its interesting that Lawrence referances self-evident truths. ie.) Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?? - or is he describing his own self-evident truths...?

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route -- Jeannie Oakes

Premise:

• Tracking
• students
• teacher
• high-ability
• low-performing
• school politics
• rich-richer, poor-poorer
• consequences
• opportunities
• alternatives
• well developed curriculum
• constructive competitiveness
• punitive v. encouragement
• visualization
• student evaluation

Arguement:

• Oakes argues that teachers need to emphasize their own professionalism while intiating a more successfull and condusive learning enviroment for students of either high or low performance, to bring low students up and increase the participation of high performing students with the rest of the student body.

Evidence:

• "working with their communities, school staffs can desing changes that are compatible with school goals and also politically mangageable." (p. 181)
• "creating constructive alternatives to tracking presents technical as well as political problems. Despite promising research finding abotu heterogeneous grouping, little is likely to be accomplished by simply mixing students up." (p. 179)
• "...classroom knowlege that remains connected to its larger context is much easier for student to understand and use." (p. 180)

Questions/Comments:

• when i was in middle school we had a tracking system, but "only the teachers knew how it worked". They didn't use straight alphabet but all the students did was try and figure what level they were. Are we in the top 3? Why we cared, i dont know but it was a constant preoccupation to be better.
• even without tracking, what about the special education or remedial children who need resource class. Then even withough tracking those kids who have disorders taht need help are still singled out. Any system needs constant work, b/c even with inclusion models, all the children know who the teacher is focused on... but i digress...

In the Service of What? Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Premise:

• Service Learning
• volunteering
• what can you do
• controversy in education
• community
• learning experience
• teachers
• politics
• students
• compassion
• involvement
• advantage/disadvantage
• reality

Argument:

• Kahne and Westheimer argue that service learning differs from the execution of the individual teacher and that it has many aspects to it, some simply being the challenge of politics and accepted morality.

Evidence:

• "proponents of service learning have worked to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, business leaders and community activisit" (p.2)
• "...authentic learning experiences, reflection on matters of social concern, and opportunites for interdisciplinary study linked to curricular goals." (p.3)
• "Just was the difference between change and charity may provide an important conceptual distinction for those analyzing service learning curricula, it is helpful to distinguish the moral, political, and intellectual goals that motivate those who support service learning." (p.5)
• "The importance for a meaningful reflective component becomes clearer when one considers the kind of deliberation and studnet empowerment that such a curriculum can foster." (p. 11)

Questions/Comments:

• Service learning has its place and always will. The vitality of volunteering is evident in everyday society or you wouldn't see so many juveniles getting community service, which is not the same but still, to volunteer is to sacrifice time and energy to better ones community. I volunteer at a food bank and its touching to see how excited an elderly women can get that prospect of bringing home a jar of peanut butter for her grandkids.

Jeff Dunham Video

For some reason our discussion on media in class reminded me of this. Sorry I couldnt get the video itself to post...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us -- Linda Christensen

Premise:

• Media
• Cartoons
• racism
• sexism
• Popeye
• Children
• Society
• Disney ideals
• Hierarchy
• better world
• black cinderella... Cindy Ellie
• Stereotypes
• Awareness
• Ignorace
• Happiness
• Analyzation of current society

Argument:

• Christensen argues that as children are constantly exposed to carefully crafted media, with carefully planned morals and messages ingrained into their plots, that young society it subliminaly being shaped and manipulated to fit the present mold.

Evidence:

• Christensen approachs main stream media as a challenge, one to be proven incorrect and questionable. As she states in her opinion of how she wants her students to take in her lectures.... "I want my students to question this accepted knowlege and the secret education delivered by cartoons as well as by the traditional literary canon"
• "both of these tales leave young women with two myths: Happiness means getting a man, a transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption- in their case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle." This quote is an affirmation of what she is striving to bring to the younger generation. That all of these messages given by the media are not saving children for corrupt morality but teaching them that happiness is only found through certain, often unattainable values.

Comments/Questions:

• This is probably my favorite piece thus far. I have always firmly beleived in the ability of meida to subconsciously affect action and emotion in everyone not just children. I am excited to see how everyone else in class has responded to Christensen's activity's in her classroom, that seem to be very affective in changing the views of her students indefinately.

Dennis Carlson - Gayness...

Premise:

• individuality
• homosexuality
• gayness
• shame
• identity
• silence
• ridiculous crushes
• school discipline
• invisibility
• abnormal society
• schooling

Argument:

• Carlson argues that the topic of homosexuality or gayness in schools is causing a fragmented community and an innate confusion between who one can be in school, and who one is within oneself.

Evidence:

• "Throughout much of this century, the dominant idea of community in America was represented by waht I willc all the normalizing community"
• "One thing we can conclude about the emerging shape of community in America is taht becuase it is more fragmented, it is becoming more difficult to construct a "public" curriculum that has broad based support."
• "throughout this century, one of the primary means of ensuring that gayness was in invisible presence in the school was through dismissal of teachers who were found out to be homosexual." Carlson goes on to say taht they were viewed as improper role models and that many people were concerned about improper relations./ child molestation.

Questions/Comments:

• I dont really have any. I dont totally understand therefore i have no worthwhile comments.

Aria - Richard Rodriguea

Premise:

• bilingual
• public indentity
• personal identity
• students and teachers
• ESL
• title confusion from one language to another
• home conflict

Argument:

• Rodriguez argues that sacrificing part of your private identity is necessary and worthwhile in order to gain and formulate a more widely accepted public identity.

Evidence:

• there is a difference between language appropriate in the home atmosphere and language needed to succeed in the public and schooling spheres. But such seperation can cause confusion in child trying to blend two different cultures. "My mother! My father! After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use when addressing my parents”.

Comment

• I enjoyed this piece, but honestly the title caught my attention more than anything else. Why he would reference a musical term used in Opera caught me off guard and made me wonder how it connected to public versus private identity,.

What Amazing Grace?

Jonathan Kozol, Amazing Grace

Premise:

• unfairness
• incompetance
• laziness
• dirty
• income
• unkempt
• unhealthy
• sadness
• disgruntled
• despairing
• race
• drugs
• irrational decisions
• hopelessness
• un-even lifestyle

Authors Argument:

• Kozol argues that the desparity in certain parts of New York and New York City are due to a lack of social and economic concern for men, women and children who are at or below poverty. Sturggling to survive in a drug and disease infested world, that they should never have to cope with in the first place.

Evidence:

• When Cliffie, a young man who shows Kozol around, expresses a morbid enthusiasm about an incinerator located within his neighborhood. Cliffie's mother later explains that it is in their neighborhood because when it was proposed to placed in Manhattan, that the parents in those neighborhoods complained that it could cause cancer.
• also, When David, another one of Kozol's interviewees, calls Kozol while he is home in MA just to talk to him about the condition of his ailing mother. His mothers fear of hospitals sadly overrides her fear of death becuase her doctor informed her that a stay in a hospital could easily worsen her already fatal condition.

Questions/Comments:

• I much preferred this article to Delpit, though in my opinion it said the same thing (ideally). It was a much more logical and close at home approach to bring his point home.

Moi?

Ok, I dont really know french that much, or spanish for that matter even though I took both in middle and high school. But I love to play around with language. I went to a very small, (but exceedingly great) high school, so even in my second semester I am still dealing with a little culture shock. Other than attending my classes and doing homework, I spend my time working at a music studio (i love music), babysitting and working at my church. None of which are as boring as they sound. I pretty much hate homework (who doesn't) but love reading...so theres a tidbit about me...ttfn