Between Barack and a Hard Place

For this blog on the video, Between Barack and a Hard Place: Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denial with Tim Wise; I chose to reflect on quotes within the video. 

The first quote I picked was at the beginning of the speech; “today we live in a world where people are ignoring the issues at hand." I find this to be very true. There are so many issues occurring in this world at this very second that nobody cares to mention or try to fix. Problems aren’t just going to go away and I think that is many people’s problems. Most people think, ‘well maybe if I don’t acknowledge the problem, I wont have to think about it or see it as a problem.’ Once one-person thinks in that way, everyone starts too. Then who is going to fix the problems at hand? No one will.

It only takes one person to start a chain reaction, so be that person to try and fix the problems in this world, not only Barack Obama can fix things, the average person can too.

The second quote that stood out to me was, “if people did not want to have the conversation about racism, they (white people) would say I’m not racist, most of my friends are black.” This stood out to me because sad to say but I have seen a lot of this in my life. In the town I grew up they would throw around the ‘N’ word and other foul language, but the instant someone would call them out on it, they would say it is okay because I am friends with the only black kid in school. People I know would have these quick remarks to make others believe that it is okay then. This happened way too often throughout high school and I still see it now as these “sheltered” kids are off at college. It is sad.

The last quote I have chosen is, “the only way would benefit from greater equity, is that we would be forced to face the realities, that we will eventually have to confront anyways.” I think this is important because it is the sad truth. As individuals we like to think we are in complete control and know our lives better than anyone else. The truth is we don’t have full control and we don’t always know the best for ourselves. Sometimes we need that extra help from an authority figure or someone with greater knowledge than us to come in and teach us right from wrong. The example Wise gave about privileged kids who have relative advantage over under privileged kids; yet they are big on substance abuse, parent alienation etc. These are the times in one’s life that require higher guidance to help these people face reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuRURJ9E3iQ

In the Service of What?

In The Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer the importance as well as the benefits of service learning programs are highlighted for both students and communities. Service Learning allows a student to take the information they are learning in a classroom and transfer it into real-life experiences while responding to the needs of their communities at the same time. I strongly agree with this idea. Students get bored from being lectured in a classroom and usually wonder how this will help them in their future. I believe the most effective education is taught to us through doing it our self; at least that is how I’ve always learned best. Service learning allows students to have a more hands-on learning experience and connect this to the real world.

There was one section of the article that I was able to connect to the most; when the music director had her upper-middle class students volunteer at an elementary school in a poor neighborhood. This reminded me of our community service being done in a providence elementary school. I did not come from a wealthy family, but my family was able to live without worry. I’ll admit, when I first found out that we had to do this I was very nervous and skeptical. I am not even sure why because my mother taught me to not be afraid of unknown places.  But I wasn’t sure what to expect, how the kids will treat me (an outsider) and how they will react to tutoring. When I arrived on the first day to the classroom I was placed in, kindergarten ESL, the students were all so sweet and eager to learn. They are bright children for only being in kindergarten. They learn with hand on activities and I cannot think of a better way. This is fun and educational for them. My prior accusations were wrong and I am ashamed I felt that way. These kids are just like kids from my hometown just in a different environment. I hope I will be able to make an impact on their learning; they should be able to receive a great education as well.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pFTINdpen94

I couldn’t agree with this video more. Service learning is so crucial. It is one thing to receive your own education but to then use that to your advantage and help someone grow theirs is amazing.

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

For this blog post, I decided to write a think piece for Christensen, Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us. As children, we grow up watching Disney movies, I am sure we all know what most of the movies are about. We start to picture a perfect future for ourselves at a young age, then as we get older we realize that perfect future doesn't exist. These movies are setting children up to think their life is not "perfect," when in all reality, it is the movies that are not perfect. One aspect that is mostly in ever fairytale is "magic." Magic appears in each of these stories in different forms, such as: talking animals, pumpkin carriages, mermaids etc. As we all know, these ideas do not exist in real life, so why give children this false hope. Most writer's use it for entertainment purposes, some find educational values behind it, but I think it is plain out silly. Children's stories should hold truth to them and real world situations. Another aspect that is common in most children stories is, prince charming. Young girls are taught that they are happiest when they have a guy, like Cinderella. We should be teaching girls that instead of adjusting yourself with pretty clothes and makeup to attract your "prince charming," that your true prince will love you just the way you are. And even with that, we should be teaching girls to love themselves before they want a guy to love them. Another issue I have with these fairytales is how each one has a romance between a guy and a girl. You would think that after all these years, Disney would make a movie about LGBT's. This opens the gateway for change at a young age, which I think is so important. The media has a way of influencing your opinion and your way of life. This is how it is with everything, and this is why if society wants to see a change in the acceptance of LGBT's then they should allow the media to reach out to all ages about it, including kids.

A video I found on YouTube tells you about after the ever after in these fairytales. Although these ideas may not be true, it is interesting to see the see what other's think would happen. These "after ever after" scenarios can sometimes be more realistic or prove how "make believe" and foolish Disney's stories actually are. Also the artist of this video, Paint, provides the more important issues in the world that would relate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mIQr_TrFTUk

Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places: addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the primary school

For the Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places: addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the primary school by Allan et al, blog post I decided to pick out quotes. The first quote that stood out to me is right in the beginning of the text. "The primary school is often thought of as a place of safety and innocence; a place where childhood is both nurtured and sheltered, and attempts to address what are seen as ‘adult’ issues are sometimes seen as intrusions into or threats to this safety zone. In this context, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities are made absent in one sense through the fact that they are not addressed in formal school contexts, while being made doubly present by the fact that they are taboo, and are brought into being through the popular discourses of homophobia." This very long quote stood out to me because I believe it is very crucial to talk to children about these issues in hopes to change the future. This idea reminded me of a video I watched on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8TJxnYgP6D8 This video allows you to see kids reacting to gay marriage first hand. I didn't realize how strongly kids feel towards these kind of subjects, it is an amazing thing. I think it is important for kids to form their own personal opinions on gay marriage and LGBT's rather than being influenced by their parents, religion, or society.

The next quote I chose was after Laura performed an alternative "lesbian" Cinderella, then a boy asked Cindy aka Laura if she was really gay. After saying yes, this was how she felt. "That felt horrible but I couldn’t avoid it, seeing as I was perfectly happy about answering all the other questions and I was doing this for the very reason I was aware that we hadn’t spoken much about lesbians ... so I wanted to present a positive lesbian to them who was comfortable about being a lesbian." I chose this quote because although Cindy told the class the truth, she said she felt "horrible," but she also aid she was happy with answering questions and giving 'lesbian' a positive look. I had mixed feelings with this statement because her feelings are contradicting. Lesbian's shouldn't feel horrible expressing their sexual orientation. I felt bad for Laura, having to transform herself into someone else in order to express her true self. It is ironic because Laura was the real teacher and Cindy was the "pretend" character, but in the end Cindy was real and Laura was fake. Laura could not be herself without being herself, if that makes sense. 

The last quote I chose is, "Their reaction made me feel very accepted and supported by them. Even  [a] boy who had described gay as ‘minging’ wanted to be sure I knew that he didn’t think I was." I found this section of the text to be very important. Reading that once one girl speaking out that there is nothing wrong with being gay, that started a movement in their classroom. Soon everyone was speaking out about people they knew who were gay or lesbian; all of the kids had nothing but positive things to say. I found this to be so important because it is movements like this, with young kids, that can make a difference in this world. Children have a lot to say and think a lot; people just need to give them a chance to voice their opinion on these touchy, "adult" conversations. 

 
A point I would like to bring up to the class is based off of the YouTube video I linked. What did you think of the kids reactions to those videos, to me it gave me faith in humanity. What is your opinion? 

Why can't she remember that?

I chose to write a think piece on Terry Meier's, Why can't she remember that? I chose this piece because the description jumped out at me, "the importance of storybook reading in multilingual, multicultural classrooms." This piece reminded me of my First Year Seminar called Grimm and Glitter. We talk about storybooks/fairytales and their effects on a child's life. I find that reading books as a child has a great impact on the way a child speaks when they are older. Even in college, reading is essential to one's language skills. When a child is younger their brains are more prone to obtaining a concept for life, such as verbal and nonverbal learning. Meier states, "Children who don't have many early book reading experiences learn their cultural lessons through interactions with family and other community members, from oral stories, and from observations of other people's behavior."Although this is true, I find this could also have a negative impact on a child's life. Some kids can be vulnerable to the idea of growing up and if they are observing the ways older people live their life, they could be receiving the wrong lessons. 

Thus the title of this piece, Why can't she remember that?, is very important. A child will have a heard time remembering and grasping language if they did not experience it when they were young. This reminds me how important it is to learn a different language younger. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11151726/Children-should-start-learning-languages-at-age-three.html This article, Children should start learning languages at age three, discusses a Harvard University study on learning additional languages increases critical thinking skills, creativity and flexibility of the mind in a young child. Thus the same goes for the importance of storytelling. 

Point to bring up in class:
What was your favorite childhood story to read? What kind of impact did it have on your life? Mine was Cinderella, to this day I still remember the story and believe in happily ever after although it is not realistic.

Silenced Dialogue

For this blog post I picked "Silenced Dialogue" by Delpit.
There were a few quotes that stuck out to

me. The first quote is, "they (white people) won't listen; white folks are going to do what they want to do anyway. It's really hard. They just don't listen well. No, they listen, but they don't hear - you know how your mama used to say you listen to the radio, but you hear your mother? Well they don't hear me." This stuck out to me because I think it is very true, not only for African Americans talking to white people, but any one. That is just my opinion. Some people, mainly white people I know, are so fixated on their own opinion, that they don't want to listen to anyone else's. Thus I do agree, I can see why this is mentioned and why it is frustrating. People want their opinions and thoughts to be heard, not for it to go in one person's ear and out the other.

The next quote I chose from Delpit's article is, "if schooling prepares people for jobs, and the kind of jobs a person has determines her or his economic status and, therefore, power, then schooling is intimately related to that power." I couldn't agree more with this statement. Education plays a major role in one's future. The way students develop can impact them for the rest of their life. People are not given the same opportunities as other's, which leads to them not being able to have the same job opportunities because they might not be equally qualified. Schooling and educators have so much power over our future. 

The last quote I have chosen is, “success in institutions – schools, workplaces, and so on – is predicted upon acquisition of the culture of those who are in power." When I read this statement I immediately thought of what Inspiring Minds told us during our training session in class. They gave us numbers on how many words children of different classes hear in an hour. Statistics showed that children of the middle-class heard more words in an hour than children in the lower-class. With this being said I do agree that one's success in school can be predicted upon their environment. 

( http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015.pdf )Here is a PDF file I found called, "Status and Trends in  the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups." I found it very interesting, there are a bunch of facts that tie in with this article.

About me

Hey everyone! My name is Samantha Zambarano, I like to just be called Sam. I am a freshman at Rhode Island College and a commuter. I am also an elementary education with a special education focus major. I love kids and I love kids with special needs. I currently work with a girl who has special needs. We have a lot of fun, we work on life skills she needs to improve on as well as her schoolwork. A few interesting things about me, I was a cheerleader for 6 years, I am obsessed with cats, and I hate oranges. If I am not busy with school or work, I turn to my addicted, Netflix. I also love to hang with my friends and family! This semester has been going very well so far, besides the abundance of snow days. I am excited to see what this class has to offer and I am very excited to start tutoring as well. Hopefully this class is just the begin of an exciting future for each of us in the education field!