Empowering Education
By: Ira Shor
Quote #1:
"The contents included and excluded in curriculum are political choices while the unequal outcomes of education are not neutral either. But even though the subject matter and the learning process are political choices and experiences, Apple also observed that there was no simple socialization of students into the existing order and no automatic reproduction of society through the classroom, Education is complex and contradictory."
Comment #1:
I think it is a bad idea to make the curriculum based on political choices that means that people aren't learning what they want to learn but what people are making them learn. Each student has different interests and shouldn't have to follow the complex choices of the curriculum. This causes unequal outcomes of students because they don't learn what they should which puts them behind even though they are ahead in most areas.
Quote #2:
"School funding is another political dimension of education, because more money has always been invested in the education of upper-class children and elite collegians than has been spent on students from lower-income homes and in community colleges. Moreover, testing policies are political choices, whether to use student-centered, multi-cultural, and portfolio assessments, or to use teacher-centered tests or standardized exams in which women and minorities have traditionally scored lower than men and whites."
Comment #2:
Unequal distributions of money to different schools based on classes isn't fair. They should give the same amount of money to schools in the same district. The schools that need it the most should have more money invested in their schools especially community colleges so those children have things to look forward to when they enter school. If no money is invested then those children have nothing good to look forward to when they go to school.
Quote #3:
" By starting from the students situation, problem-posing increases their ability to participate, because they can bring critical reflection in their own context and their own words."
Comment #3:
I think this is a good idea because students situations are really important in their learning and once they get over those problems they allow themselves the ability to participate. They can use their past situations to actively participate and relate their problems and situations to things they are learning about.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Talking Points #9
Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome
By: Kliewer
Quote #1:"It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here- kids, teachers, parents, whoever-it's all about all of us working together, being together, and that's what learning is. Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail."
Comment #1: I agree with that statement and that even the 10 non-disabled children learn from the 6 clinically disabled children. And in that sense I also agree that the disabled children will learn from the others. I think it would be worse to segregate the children into different groups that is labeling them. I think they are being set up to succeed and do well in groups.
Quote #2: "The argument that school learning and community success have, at best, only a weak positive correlation has a long and contentious history. Through numerous educators have acknowledged this gap between the schooled mind and the valued citizen, perhaps the most accessible critique that is of Howard Gardner, a psychologist and educational researcher."
Comment #2: I believe that they have a strong correlation and go hand in hand. Success comes from community in many ways if there is a strong and healthy community then people will have a good learning environment and be able to perform better. On the other case if there is not a positive community then it might be harder for children to focus and they will not perform the way they should.
Quote #3: "As early as the first grade, Japanese students are posed arithmetical problems of some complexity and allowed a week to solve the problems. They are encouraged to work together, to criticize one another's approaches, and to try out different roles vis-a-vis the problem."
Comment #3: I believe this is a very good idea because the children are being asked to solve problems themselves and work with others to figure out the problems. Then the teacher will step in and solve the problem if that is the case. But they are given a week to work among the other classmates and people which gives them social skills and helps them develop good educational skills instead of being asked to just complete the problem on their own.
By: Kliewer
Quote #1:"It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here- kids, teachers, parents, whoever-it's all about all of us working together, being together, and that's what learning is. Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail."
Comment #1: I agree with that statement and that even the 10 non-disabled children learn from the 6 clinically disabled children. And in that sense I also agree that the disabled children will learn from the others. I think it would be worse to segregate the children into different groups that is labeling them. I think they are being set up to succeed and do well in groups.
Quote #2: "The argument that school learning and community success have, at best, only a weak positive correlation has a long and contentious history. Through numerous educators have acknowledged this gap between the schooled mind and the valued citizen, perhaps the most accessible critique that is of Howard Gardner, a psychologist and educational researcher."
Comment #2: I believe that they have a strong correlation and go hand in hand. Success comes from community in many ways if there is a strong and healthy community then people will have a good learning environment and be able to perform better. On the other case if there is not a positive community then it might be harder for children to focus and they will not perform the way they should.
Quote #3: "As early as the first grade, Japanese students are posed arithmetical problems of some complexity and allowed a week to solve the problems. They are encouraged to work together, to criticize one another's approaches, and to try out different roles vis-a-vis the problem."
Comment #3: I believe this is a very good idea because the children are being asked to solve problems themselves and work with others to figure out the problems. Then the teacher will step in and solve the problem if that is the case. But they are given a week to work among the other classmates and people which gives them social skills and helps them develop good educational skills instead of being asked to just complete the problem on their own.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Talking Points #8
Tracking:Why Schools Need to Take Another Route
By: Jeannine Oakes
Quote #1: "Few low-ability classes, on the other hand, were taught these topics and skills. Students in the latter classes learned basic reading skills taught mostly by workbooks, kits, and easy-to-read stories. Learning tasks consisted most often of memorizing and repeating answers back to the teacher."
Comment #1: I think that the low ability classes should be taught the same things the regular classes are taught. They classes should run the same way except the low ability class should have a help and go at a different pace than the other classes. That would be fair to all the students instead of secluding them and making them do work that isn't really helping them in the long run.
Quote #2:"In classrooms where the curriculum consists of a sequence of topics and skills to require prerequisite knowledge and skill master, mixing students who have different skills is difficult."
Comment #2: I agree with this statement in the fact that it is difficult to mix the students who are at different skill levels. However it is kind of rude to just take them out of their surroundings just because they are slower than the other students. I think that with them being in the group with the children who are really smart and understand the concepts that it would actually help them in the long run. Being around people who know what they are doing helps you and allows them to see the problems and be able to fix them.
Quote #3: "To be successful, heterogeneous classrooms probably need to lean toward placing students more in charge of their own evaluation-checking their own understanding and asking for and providing feedback. This is what happens naturally when students are engaged in complex tasks and have lots of interaction."
Comment #3: I agree with this, it is somewhat like our class and how when the students are paying attention they can figure out their own problems and discuss them between each other and figure out the problems. It is a good sign when kids are asking one another to help solve the problems it shows they truely care about what they are learning and they are helping everybody around them.
By: Jeannine Oakes
Quote #1: "Few low-ability classes, on the other hand, were taught these topics and skills. Students in the latter classes learned basic reading skills taught mostly by workbooks, kits, and easy-to-read stories. Learning tasks consisted most often of memorizing and repeating answers back to the teacher."
Comment #1: I think that the low ability classes should be taught the same things the regular classes are taught. They classes should run the same way except the low ability class should have a help and go at a different pace than the other classes. That would be fair to all the students instead of secluding them and making them do work that isn't really helping them in the long run.
Quote #2:"In classrooms where the curriculum consists of a sequence of topics and skills to require prerequisite knowledge and skill master, mixing students who have different skills is difficult."
Comment #2: I agree with this statement in the fact that it is difficult to mix the students who are at different skill levels. However it is kind of rude to just take them out of their surroundings just because they are slower than the other students. I think that with them being in the group with the children who are really smart and understand the concepts that it would actually help them in the long run. Being around people who know what they are doing helps you and allows them to see the problems and be able to fix them.
Quote #3: "To be successful, heterogeneous classrooms probably need to lean toward placing students more in charge of their own evaluation-checking their own understanding and asking for and providing feedback. This is what happens naturally when students are engaged in complex tasks and have lots of interaction."
Comment #3: I agree with this, it is somewhat like our class and how when the students are paying attention they can figure out their own problems and discuss them between each other and figure out the problems. It is a good sign when kids are asking one another to help solve the problems it shows they truely care about what they are learning and they are helping everybody around them.
Talking Points #7
Quote #1- " This apparent difference, which Sax argues is hard-wired, causes teachers to praise girls’ artwork and make boys feel that they’re drawing incorrectly. Under Sax’s leadership, teachers learn to say things like, “Damien, take your green crayon and draw some sparks and take your black crayon and draw some black lines coming out from the back of the vehicle, to make it look like it’s going faster.” “Now Damien feels encouraged,” Sax explained to me when I first met him last spring in San Francisco. “To say: ‘Why don’t you use more colors? Why don’t you put someone in the vehicle?’ is as discouraging as if you say to Emily, ‘Well, this is nice, but why don’t you have one of them kick the other one — give us some action."
Comment #1: I don't believe that this is true and that teachers praise girls over boys, that just doesn't make sense. Usually the teachers praise the children who get their work done and try harder than the other children. I don't understand how this words could be discouraging to children about using more colors they are just trying to get the children to be more creative and think, I am sure they say it to both sexes and don't just single out boys vs. girls.
Quote #2: "The girls’ crisis was cited in the 1990s, when the American Association of University Women published “Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America,” which described how girls’ self-esteem plummets during puberty and how girls are subtly discouraged from careers in math and science. More recently, in what Sara Mead, an education expert at the New America Foundation, calls a “man bites dog” sensation, public and parental concerns have shifted to boys. Boys are currently behind their sisters in high-school and college graduation rates. School, the boy-crisis argument goes, is shaped by females to match the abilities of girls (or, as Sax puts it, is taught “by soft-spoken women who bore” boys)."
Comment #2: I do agree that when girls are going through puberty they do have a very low self esteem. I don't believe in the world today that girls are discouraged from careers in math in science, actually there are many girls in math and science today. I do believe that boys are discouraged from teaching, and nursing and other such careers that have somewhat of a girly sense. I don't understand how boys are behind their sisters in high school and graduate rates I believe that boys and girls have the same opprutunity its just that girls choose to do more with school then boys.
Quote #3: "A deluge of data has emerged in recent years detailing how boys and girls have different developmental trajectories and different brains. Sax has made a role for himself popularizing this work, though it’s not yet clear what the research means or whether there are implications for single-sex education. For instance, among neuroscientists, motor skills are often used as proxies for assessing cognitive skills and social and emotional control in younger children."
Comment #3:
Girls and boys i think have different developmental trajectories, I think that boys just tend to careless than girls in some cases. However there are some boys who are smarter and try harder then most girls. Its hard to determine but in my eyes while i'm sitting in class I notice more girls than boys in most of all my classes.
Comment #1: I don't believe that this is true and that teachers praise girls over boys, that just doesn't make sense. Usually the teachers praise the children who get their work done and try harder than the other children. I don't understand how this words could be discouraging to children about using more colors they are just trying to get the children to be more creative and think, I am sure they say it to both sexes and don't just single out boys vs. girls.
Quote #2: "The girls’ crisis was cited in the 1990s, when the American Association of University Women published “Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America,” which described how girls’ self-esteem plummets during puberty and how girls are subtly discouraged from careers in math and science. More recently, in what Sara Mead, an education expert at the New America Foundation, calls a “man bites dog” sensation, public and parental concerns have shifted to boys. Boys are currently behind their sisters in high-school and college graduation rates. School, the boy-crisis argument goes, is shaped by females to match the abilities of girls (or, as Sax puts it, is taught “by soft-spoken women who bore” boys)."
Comment #2: I do agree that when girls are going through puberty they do have a very low self esteem. I don't believe in the world today that girls are discouraged from careers in math in science, actually there are many girls in math and science today. I do believe that boys are discouraged from teaching, and nursing and other such careers that have somewhat of a girly sense. I don't understand how boys are behind their sisters in high school and graduate rates I believe that boys and girls have the same opprutunity its just that girls choose to do more with school then boys.
Quote #3: "A deluge of data has emerged in recent years detailing how boys and girls have different developmental trajectories and different brains. Sax has made a role for himself popularizing this work, though it’s not yet clear what the research means or whether there are implications for single-sex education. For instance, among neuroscientists, motor skills are often used as proxies for assessing cognitive skills and social and emotional control in younger children."
Comment #3:
Girls and boys i think have different developmental trajectories, I think that boys just tend to careless than girls in some cases. However there are some boys who are smarter and try harder then most girls. Its hard to determine but in my eyes while i'm sitting in class I notice more girls than boys in most of all my classes.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Talking Points #6
A Particularly Cheap White Whine: Racism, Scholarships and the Manufacturing of White Victimhood."
By: Tim Wise
Quote 1:
"Oh, and then there is this: in spite of the above-mentioned events, the President of the College Republicans at Boston University, announces that race-based scholarships for people of color are
the worst form of bigotry confronting America today," demonstrating the desperate need for BU to require a course in "Getting Some Perspective, 101," for all incoming first- year students"
Comments #1:
The events mentioned in the first paragraph are crazy and I don't know why all of a sudden race is a big issue. I agree with the fact that the race-based scholarships may make people feel less important or be a sense of prejudice towards them which is unfair. If there are race based scholarships for people of color then there should be race based scholarships for less fortunate whites as well. This relates to s.c.h.w.a.m.p because the white race is superior.
Quote #2:
"Fact is, there are plenty of scholarships that
have nothing to do with merit per se, but about which conservatives say nothing: scholarships for people who are left-handed, or kids whose parents sell Tupperware, or the children of horse-
breeders, or descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, among many thousands of such awards (3). Apparently, it's OK to ensure opportunity for members of these groups, despite the fact that none of them have faced systemic oppression before, but it's the height of immorality to do the same for students of color, who have indeed faced explicitly racial obstacles in their lives. "This seems out of hang when comparing how much a family can cover of their school cost. I believe it should be somewhat equal because students who can afford school shouldn't be given scholarships based on random acts, instead that money should be given to students who can't afford any school and instead are working instead of attending school. I belive if the student is well qualified then they should be able to attend school and financially be assisted as well.
Comments #2:
By: Tim Wise
Quote 1:
"Oh, and then there is this: in spite of the above-mentioned events, the President of the College Republicans at Boston University, announces that race-based scholarships for people of color are
the worst form of bigotry confronting America today," demonstrating the desperate need for BU to require a course in "Getting Some Perspective, 101," for all incoming first- year students"
Comments #1:
The events mentioned in the first paragraph are crazy and I don't know why all of a sudden race is a big issue. I agree with the fact that the race-based scholarships may make people feel less important or be a sense of prejudice towards them which is unfair. If there are race based scholarships for people of color then there should be race based scholarships for less fortunate whites as well. This relates to s.c.h.w.a.m.p because the white race is superior.
Quote #2:
"Fact is, there are plenty of scholarships that
have nothing to do with merit per se, but about which conservatives say nothing: scholarships for people who are left-handed, or kids whose parents sell Tupperware, or the children of horse-
breeders, or descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, among many thousands of such awards (3). Apparently, it's OK to ensure opportunity for members of these groups, despite the fact that none of them have faced systemic oppression before, but it's the height of immorality to do the same for students of color, who have indeed faced explicitly racial obstacles in their lives. "This seems out of hang when comparing how much a family can cover of their school cost. I believe it should be somewhat equal because students who can afford school shouldn't be given scholarships based on random acts, instead that money should be given to students who can't afford any school and instead are working instead of attending school. I belive if the student is well qualified then they should be able to attend school and financially be assisted as well.
Comments #2:
I think its crazy how they give scholarships for those type of children but they don't give opprutunities to children with nothing to offer or not a lot of money. Instead they would rather give scholarships to people who truely don't need them or are given them for strange reasons. They would be helping out students of color who have had a rough past and could in a sense give them a sense of belonging and offering them a scholarship because they truely need it.
Quote #3:
"On average, black student's families are only able to
cover about forty-two percent of the cost of college at the nation's most selective schools, while white families are able to cover, on average, roughly seventy-four percent of the total cost."
cover about forty-two percent of the cost of college at the nation's most selective schools, while white families are able to cover, on average, roughly seventy-four percent of the total cost."
Comments #3:
I find this shocking how black families are only able to cover 42 percent where white families cover 74. These numbers I believe should be about equal, where as they should try and give scholarships to students who actually need the help. I also believe that as stated above how they give scholarships for random things instead of actually giving them to the people who need them the most.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Talking Points #5
The Politics of Service Learning
Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer
Quote 1:
"Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling. Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of the students."
Comments:
I believe this statement is true in the fact that not only am i helping the students at the elementary school with a new approach to learning they are also providing me with feedback and helping me with the learning process as well. I analyze and watch the children in the classroom and they have goals that they want to complete and when I work with them I also want them to do the best that they can. It helps the students and myself to learn different approaches to the situations and the things they are learning and will also help me in the future.
Quote 2:
"Similarly, many contemporary scholars focus on change over charity and argue that the lack of connection between individual rights and communal obligations within our culture has left us with a bankrupt sense of citizenship. Like the programs Hanna criticized more than 50 years ago, many current service activities emphasize altruism and charity and fail to call into question current notions of individualism or to encourage the type of political participation that furthers democracy."
Comment:
I believe this to be false in the sense that when you believe you are doing "charity" work you are actually improving and changing an individuals life. When doing service activities it isn't considered charity you are helping the less fortunate and encouraging different behavior which wouldn't be a bankrupt sense of citizenship in fact it would be helping the community in an overall sense. They are teaching less fortunate others to think on their own and make decisions that they wouldn't normally make and it isn't charity if they enjoy doing and helping these others.
Quote 3:
"Efforts to integrate service learning activities into the curriculum have great potential and deserve the support they are now receiving. To date, however, little attention has been given to sorting out the goals and motivations that underlie the spectrum of service learning projects emerging in schools throughout the country."
Comment:
Without a doubt there should be more service learning activities in school curriculums. This is the first class that I have been asked to do a service learning project and already I see a different approach that I have to school and see different point of views on how i'd like to teach in the future. Maybe it's not the exact location or place that I want to be in the future but it gives me a sense of what I am getting myself into before starting the program.
Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer
Quote 1:
"Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling. Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of the students."
Comments:
I believe this statement is true in the fact that not only am i helping the students at the elementary school with a new approach to learning they are also providing me with feedback and helping me with the learning process as well. I analyze and watch the children in the classroom and they have goals that they want to complete and when I work with them I also want them to do the best that they can. It helps the students and myself to learn different approaches to the situations and the things they are learning and will also help me in the future.
Quote 2:
"Similarly, many contemporary scholars focus on change over charity and argue that the lack of connection between individual rights and communal obligations within our culture has left us with a bankrupt sense of citizenship. Like the programs Hanna criticized more than 50 years ago, many current service activities emphasize altruism and charity and fail to call into question current notions of individualism or to encourage the type of political participation that furthers democracy."
Comment:
I believe this to be false in the sense that when you believe you are doing "charity" work you are actually improving and changing an individuals life. When doing service activities it isn't considered charity you are helping the less fortunate and encouraging different behavior which wouldn't be a bankrupt sense of citizenship in fact it would be helping the community in an overall sense. They are teaching less fortunate others to think on their own and make decisions that they wouldn't normally make and it isn't charity if they enjoy doing and helping these others.
Quote 3:
"Efforts to integrate service learning activities into the curriculum have great potential and deserve the support they are now receiving. To date, however, little attention has been given to sorting out the goals and motivations that underlie the spectrum of service learning projects emerging in schools throughout the country."
Comment:
Without a doubt there should be more service learning activities in school curriculums. This is the first class that I have been asked to do a service learning project and already I see a different approach that I have to school and see different point of views on how i'd like to teach in the future. Maybe it's not the exact location or place that I want to be in the future but it gives me a sense of what I am getting myself into before starting the program.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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