So I know this is really late but better late than never right?!
I went to the Sex Toy Bingo event. This event was really cool. It wasnt just something to go to win at bingo and get sex toys. It was more to help raise awareness of breast cancer and to help collect bras for a project that the women studies group was and possibly still is working on. They are trying to link bras together to set a record. Although i didnt win anything it was still fun.
This event relates to Kahne and Westheimer's, In Service of What?
This event is a service project that is helping other people that the ones who put it on dont even know. This is somewhat like our service learning projects. At the beginning, we had no idea who the children were and what their stories were. We were doing it to benefit them. That is what the Women's Studies group is doing as well. I really like that they are so enthusiastic about what they are doing and the events that they are holding.
The event also semirelates to Christensen.
Its not so much that the media has hidden meanings, its more that the event itself has a hidden meaning. Most people that i told i was going to Sex Toy Bingo thought it was weird that i was going but when i told them the actual reason for it they "approved". Its like when Steph was talking about the hidden meanings in Spongebob. The Krusty Krab in Bikini Bottom has one meaning to the kids that watch it but to older kids that actually think about it it has a completely different meaning (sometimes).
I hope there are more events on campus that help support breast cancer. I would really like to help with at least one.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Education is Politics
This week i am going to extend off of Conor's blog. I agreed with him completely that this article sums up a lot of what we learned this semester in FNED. I also really liked the quotes that he picked.
"The teacher leads and directs the curriculum, but does so democratically with the participation of he students, balancing the need for structure with the need for openness (pg. 16)."
This first quote that Conor picked is a great one. I agree with Conor when he says that it is difficult for teachers to create their lesson plans to fit different curriculums. Schools curriculums differ and that makes it difficult for teachers to plan 1) what the students will want or participate in and 2) what will live up to their own expectations of lesson plans. I know from watching my brother write lesson plan after lesson plan, while helping create the curriculum for Health Education in the East Providence elementary schools. It is a lot of work and everything that he does has to be perfect, so it took him even more time just to write them. This will make it easier for him in the future because if he stays in the East Providence school system and in the elementary setting because he helped write the curriculum. If the students dont participate then the teacher needs to think if its their teaching styles or the areas of the curriculum that they dont like.
Conor also makes a good point. " No curriculum created by anyone other than the teacher, can accent the individual personalities and dynamics of each individual classroom."
This almost goes back to what i was saying last week about everyone in my advisory class writing our own IEPs. If each student has an IEP the teacher would have an easier job when trying to figure out why certain students arent taking to a certain subject like they did to another. IEPs do take time to create and are just adding more work to the teachers already busy schedule. It will however benefit the students in the long run so they have more knowledge because they will have learned in a way that they best understand everything. I might sound insane but its just how i feel.
Id like to talk about how everyone else see this topic and if having an IEP for every student is a good or bad thing.
Hope everyone had a great Easter! :)
"The teacher leads and directs the curriculum, but does so democratically with the participation of he students, balancing the need for structure with the need for openness (pg. 16)."
This first quote that Conor picked is a great one. I agree with Conor when he says that it is difficult for teachers to create their lesson plans to fit different curriculums. Schools curriculums differ and that makes it difficult for teachers to plan 1) what the students will want or participate in and 2) what will live up to their own expectations of lesson plans. I know from watching my brother write lesson plan after lesson plan, while helping create the curriculum for Health Education in the East Providence elementary schools. It is a lot of work and everything that he does has to be perfect, so it took him even more time just to write them. This will make it easier for him in the future because if he stays in the East Providence school system and in the elementary setting because he helped write the curriculum. If the students dont participate then the teacher needs to think if its their teaching styles or the areas of the curriculum that they dont like.
Conor also makes a good point. " No curriculum created by anyone other than the teacher, can accent the individual personalities and dynamics of each individual classroom."
This almost goes back to what i was saying last week about everyone in my advisory class writing our own IEPs. If each student has an IEP the teacher would have an easier job when trying to figure out why certain students arent taking to a certain subject like they did to another. IEPs do take time to create and are just adding more work to the teachers already busy schedule. It will however benefit the students in the long run so they have more knowledge because they will have learned in a way that they best understand everything. I might sound insane but its just how i feel.
Id like to talk about how everyone else see this topic and if having an IEP for every student is a good or bad thing.
Hope everyone had a great Easter! :)
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Schooling Children With Down Syndrome
Reflection
As I read this, I started to think about how my high school's inclusion program was set up. I came up with the fact that if a student had a mild to moderate disability, they were included in standard or the lowest level learning classes. If the student had a severe case of disability, they were put into the special needs classroom. There was always other students in that classroom doing work with them and even when they went to phys. ed they had another student without disabilities there helping them do the activities.
As for the discrimination aspect of this reading, there wasnt much in my high school that i know about. There were chances for the disabled students to play sports if they wanted. There was always the opportunity for them to participate in the Special Olympics. This also makes me think of when i was younger and in girl scouts. We did something called Mini Camp. This camp was always during the school vacation weeks and it was in the morning so that parents had an almost built in babysitter for them during that week. There were a few girls that attended the camp that had down syndrome. We always made sure that we incorporated them into the activities, most of the time it was having them sit at the same table with the other girls and having one of the "leaders" helping them with the projects.
In class i would like to talk about anyone else's experiences. Were they good or bad? If they were bad, how do you think the school or the people that made that situation bad could have changed it?
As I read this, I started to think about how my high school's inclusion program was set up. I came up with the fact that if a student had a mild to moderate disability, they were included in standard or the lowest level learning classes. If the student had a severe case of disability, they were put into the special needs classroom. There was always other students in that classroom doing work with them and even when they went to phys. ed they had another student without disabilities there helping them do the activities.
As for the discrimination aspect of this reading, there wasnt much in my high school that i know about. There were chances for the disabled students to play sports if they wanted. There was always the opportunity for them to participate in the Special Olympics. This also makes me think of when i was younger and in girl scouts. We did something called Mini Camp. This camp was always during the school vacation weeks and it was in the morning so that parents had an almost built in babysitter for them during that week. There were a few girls that attended the camp that had down syndrome. We always made sure that we incorporated them into the activities, most of the time it was having them sit at the same table with the other girls and having one of the "leaders" helping them with the projects.
In class i would like to talk about anyone else's experiences. Were they good or bad? If they were bad, how do you think the school or the people that made that situation bad could have changed it?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Why Schools Need to Take Another Route
Quotes:
"students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences than otber students."
This quote from Why Schools Need to Take Another Route is very true. Jeannie Oakes talks about the study done and written about in the book A Place Called School. This study reported that students in higher level english classes were taught more education advancing knowledge and were more likely to score higher on their SATs. I read Steph Bourgeois's blog and noticed that she makes a good point. Separating the slower learning students from the faster learners is a big disadvantage for the slower learners. Although a school may have a set curriculum, i feel that most teachers pick what they want to teach based on what they feel their class can handle. This holds back students when it comes to the SATs. People wonder why students that are put in the lower level classes are less likely to go to college. Its a mystery.....
"For example, in average classes, many teachers expected relatively little of students. They established set
routines of lecturing and doing worksheets,held time and workload demands (both in class and for homework) to a minimum accepted and sometimes even encouraged distractions, and rarely asked students to think deeply or critically. When classes are conducted in this way, average students, too, are deprived of the best that schools have to offer."
This goes back to the beginning of the semester when we talked about the students slipping through the cracks. Some students are almost ignored and others are focused on too much. The schools need to find a balance.
"In the standard classroom, instruction is characterized by:
• Competitive whole-group instruction.
• Lecturing as the prevailing teaching strategy.
• Common assignments.
• Uniform due dates and tests
• A single'set of standards of competence and criteria for grades."
This list reminds me of Alfie Kohn's list of what shouldnt be in a classroom. As I read this i thought about my classes in high school. If there was a student that needed extra time or needed to take a test on a different day or after school it, the teacher let them. Now in college, ive seen examples of both. Some professors lecture for the entire class and i fall asleep and end up teaching myself the material better than he does. Others give different assignments, let us work on different things and sometimes have different due dates which makes the classes and the work more interesting.
I hope that in class people will have more stories from their service learning or even personal experiences in classes. Should be interesting! :)
"students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences than otber students."
This quote from Why Schools Need to Take Another Route is very true. Jeannie Oakes talks about the study done and written about in the book A Place Called School. This study reported that students in higher level english classes were taught more education advancing knowledge and were more likely to score higher on their SATs. I read Steph Bourgeois's blog and noticed that she makes a good point. Separating the slower learning students from the faster learners is a big disadvantage for the slower learners. Although a school may have a set curriculum, i feel that most teachers pick what they want to teach based on what they feel their class can handle. This holds back students when it comes to the SATs. People wonder why students that are put in the lower level classes are less likely to go to college. Its a mystery.....
"For example, in average classes, many teachers expected relatively little of students. They established set
routines of lecturing and doing worksheets,held time and workload demands (both in class and for homework) to a minimum accepted and sometimes even encouraged distractions, and rarely asked students to think deeply or critically. When classes are conducted in this way, average students, too, are deprived of the best that schools have to offer."
This goes back to the beginning of the semester when we talked about the students slipping through the cracks. Some students are almost ignored and others are focused on too much. The schools need to find a balance.
"In the standard classroom, instruction is characterized by:
• Competitive whole-group instruction.
• Lecturing as the prevailing teaching strategy.
• Common assignments.
• Uniform due dates and tests
• A single'set of standards of competence and criteria for grades."
This list reminds me of Alfie Kohn's list of what shouldnt be in a classroom. As I read this i thought about my classes in high school. If there was a student that needed extra time or needed to take a test on a different day or after school it, the teacher let them. Now in college, ive seen examples of both. Some professors lecture for the entire class and i fall asleep and end up teaching myself the material better than he does. Others give different assignments, let us work on different things and sometimes have different due dates which makes the classes and the work more interesting.
I hope that in class people will have more stories from their service learning or even personal experiences in classes. Should be interesting! :)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Title IX - Extended off of Lukes Blog
I would like to do another extended comment this week, but off of Luke's blog. I think he brings up a good point when he says that mens sports are being cut for more women's sports. I also however feel that they are getting rid of some women's sports for more women's sports. I know for a fact that right here at RIC they are getting rid of women's gymnastics, which i believe to be a pretty popular sport, and replacing it with women's swimming and women's golf. These two sports i believe are less popular sports well at least women's golf is anyway. At my high school, the golf team was co-ed. In the four years i was there, there was only one girl that i know of that was actually on the team.
"Another experience i have with this issue is when a girl at my highschool was allowed to play football. All she had to do was say she wanted to play and she was on the team because of title nine. There were no restrictions put on her where she could and couldn't play. She ended up playing middle linebacker on the freshman team and at times she would be the full back. I personally believe that this was a great thing just letting her play but at the same time it was a little bit one sided just letting the female athlete play her sports when the male athlete had to jump through so many hoops just to play the back row so he never played."
Luke's experience is also an experience that i had in high school. How ever i didnt have much of a problem with the girl being on the football team. She went through hell and back with the team, never missed a practice, came back as dirty and disgusting as the guys, and played in as few games as the the "back row player" who didnt play many games. The only time the coaches really put her in was when there was blowout.
About a minute and 20 seconds in, Donna Lopiano starts to make comments about the culture that the athletic directors or high school and college sports grew up in. I think that she makes some very good points and she has some very good statistics about women in sports today and from thirty years ago.
I would like to talk in class about what other poeple think. I also would like to bring up the fact that men are not allowed to participate in women's sports if there is not a team for them. For example, at RIC, there is no mens volleyball team, there is a womens but a man is not allowed to play on our team.. Interesting, no?
"Another experience i have with this issue is when a girl at my highschool was allowed to play football. All she had to do was say she wanted to play and she was on the team because of title nine. There were no restrictions put on her where she could and couldn't play. She ended up playing middle linebacker on the freshman team and at times she would be the full back. I personally believe that this was a great thing just letting her play but at the same time it was a little bit one sided just letting the female athlete play her sports when the male athlete had to jump through so many hoops just to play the back row so he never played."
Luke's experience is also an experience that i had in high school. How ever i didnt have much of a problem with the girl being on the football team. She went through hell and back with the team, never missed a practice, came back as dirty and disgusting as the guys, and played in as few games as the the "back row player" who didnt play many games. The only time the coaches really put her in was when there was blowout.
About a minute and 20 seconds in, Donna Lopiano starts to make comments about the culture that the athletic directors or high school and college sports grew up in. I think that she makes some very good points and she has some very good statistics about women in sports today and from thirty years ago.
I would like to talk in class about what other poeple think. I also would like to bring up the fact that men are not allowed to participate in women's sports if there is not a team for them. For example, at RIC, there is no mens volleyball team, there is a womens but a man is not allowed to play on our team.. Interesting, no?
Sunday, March 27, 2011
extended off of Billy's Blog.
"The article also explained that these students, when put into BETTER schools they got BETTER grades. NO shit, go figure. People must of forgot that everyone needs air to breath, and when you get cut you bleed the same color. Truth be told cause i can go on rambling about this for days because ive seen it at its best from my view and i see it at its worst taking down one of my best friends, because his more couldn't afford to live up the street more with two jobs and 4 mouths to feed. Where you live determines alot, unfortunately."
Billy makes a good point when he says that where you live really determines a lot. Students that grow up in better neighborhoods get better educations and get better grades. In cases that ive witnessed, the students that grow up in a better neighborhood, with parents that they see regularly get better grades and actually want to be in school. The students that live in the poorer or less fortunate neighborhoods with their parents working multiple jobs just to keep enough food in the house got poor grades and hated going to school.
"Tim Wise is on FIRE on this point, that everyone gives wayyyy to much credit to white people even if they don't deserve it "white privilege" even if they are the most insanely over praised moron in the country, meaning former President Bush."
He also makes a good point about people giving whites too much credit when they dont deserve it. as Billy also pointed from the out people of the united states fell more comfortable with a white man as president than a black one. I completely agree with him that if Bush was the same person with the same background and same knowledge of politics and things, the peoples opinion of him would be completely different. I also feel that people in schools give credit to white students over black students when in fact the black student could have done that good thing or better grade or better project.
I would like to talk in class about what other people think about students growing up in different areas and how that affects their grades and willingness to actually go to school.
Billy makes a good point when he says that where you live really determines a lot. Students that grow up in better neighborhoods get better educations and get better grades. In cases that ive witnessed, the students that grow up in a better neighborhood, with parents that they see regularly get better grades and actually want to be in school. The students that live in the poorer or less fortunate neighborhoods with their parents working multiple jobs just to keep enough food in the house got poor grades and hated going to school.
"Tim Wise is on FIRE on this point, that everyone gives wayyyy to much credit to white people even if they don't deserve it "white privilege" even if they are the most insanely over praised moron in the country, meaning former President Bush."
He also makes a good point about people giving whites too much credit when they dont deserve it. as Billy also pointed from the out people of the united states fell more comfortable with a white man as president than a black one. I completely agree with him that if Bush was the same person with the same background and same knowledge of politics and things, the peoples opinion of him would be completely different. I also feel that people in schools give credit to white students over black students when in fact the black student could have done that good thing or better grade or better project.
I would like to talk in class about what other people think about students growing up in different areas and how that affects their grades and willingness to actually go to school.
Monday, March 7, 2011
unlearning the myths that bind us
Connections:
This article by Christensen is very similar to two other articles that we have read this semester. The articles written by Delpit and McIntosh have very similar topics. The three articles all talk about how whiteness gets you farther in life. Delpit talks about the culture of power and how people in the culture of power are going to be more successful. Christensen's piece says that the successful people in movies and tv shows are depicted as white and part of the culture of power. McIntosh's piece talks about the advantages of being white and that being white can get out out of trouble, a better job, or have better privileges than non-whites. The advantages of the white actresses and actors are that they have more options for parts in movies and tv shows. The video above shows the thoughts and feelings of different people on stereotypes and white privileges.
This article by Christensen is very similar to two other articles that we have read this semester. The articles written by Delpit and McIntosh have very similar topics. The three articles all talk about how whiteness gets you farther in life. Delpit talks about the culture of power and how people in the culture of power are going to be more successful. Christensen's piece says that the successful people in movies and tv shows are depicted as white and part of the culture of power. McIntosh's piece talks about the advantages of being white and that being white can get out out of trouble, a better job, or have better privileges than non-whites. The advantages of the white actresses and actors are that they have more options for parts in movies and tv shows. The video above shows the thoughts and feelings of different people on stereotypes and white privileges.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
GSLEN
Reflection:
This website and article reminded me of the end of my Junior year of high school. The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) decided that they were going to come to East Providence and protest near our high school because we have a Gay-Straight Alliance. I remember when the school was told they were coming at the end of the week, thats all we wanted to talk about for the entire week. The gays and lesbians of the high school were obviously not happy about this protest and the entire school was ready to protest back. In the article that I read, the survey said that nearly 9 out of 10 LGBTs were harassed while in their high school. Students also reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation. I feel that the students in East Providence High School are part of that 1 out of 10 that feel safe while they're at school. I actually know someone personally that was kicked out of her home by her own mother because she is a lesbian. She loves being at school, she plays basketball, has friends, a girl friend and from what i see is very happy with her life. The survey also shows that over the course of 10 years there has been an increase in support clubs such as Gay-Straight Alliances. The pictures and the video that go with the article in the second like show how the students came together to rebel against the WBC. I think that if every school had some type of support system for LGBT students then life would be so much easier for them and they wouldn't have a reason to feel fear as they walk through the halls of their schools.
This website and article reminded me of the end of my Junior year of high school. The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) decided that they were going to come to East Providence and protest near our high school because we have a Gay-Straight Alliance. I remember when the school was told they were coming at the end of the week, thats all we wanted to talk about for the entire week. The gays and lesbians of the high school were obviously not happy about this protest and the entire school was ready to protest back. In the article that I read, the survey said that nearly 9 out of 10 LGBTs were harassed while in their high school. Students also reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation. I feel that the students in East Providence High School are part of that 1 out of 10 that feel safe while they're at school. I actually know someone personally that was kicked out of her home by her own mother because she is a lesbian. She loves being at school, she plays basketball, has friends, a girl friend and from what i see is very happy with her life. The survey also shows that over the course of 10 years there has been an increase in support clubs such as Gay-Straight Alliances. The pictures and the video that go with the article in the second like show how the students came together to rebel against the WBC. I think that if every school had some type of support system for LGBT students then life would be so much easier for them and they wouldn't have a reason to feel fear as they walk through the halls of their schools.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Aria by Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez argues that through personal experiences during childhood, being bilingual as a young student, he struggled with keeping his public identity while trying to fit into the society around him.
He talks about the troubles he faced as a child growing up speaking mainly Spanish, adjusting to speaking English daily, and adapting to the “American” way of life. He felt that he would be more comfortable speaking in class and just being a part of the class if the teacher was able to speak at least a little bit of Spanish to him. Not being acclimated to the English language also made him apprehensive of speaking out in class. He felt that by speaking English in school, he was leaving the person he truly was behind. He also felt that speaking English more often he would be offending his family. He talks about the troubles he faced as a child growing up speaking mainly Spanish, adjusting to speaking English daily, and adapting to the “American” way of life. He felt that he would be more comfortable speaking in class and just being a part of the class if the teacher was able to speak at least a little bit of Spanish to him. Not being acclimated to the English language also made him apprehensive of speaking out in class. He felt that by speaking English in school, he was leaving the person he truly was behind. He also felt that speaking English more often he would be offending his family. Sunday, February 13, 2011
Peggy McIntosh: White Privilege
Quotes: Choose three quotes from the text and explain what they mean and their relevance to the text.
Quote 1: "whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others this is seen as work that will allow 'them' to be more like 'us'."
This quote from McIntosh helps better understand what Delpit would call the "Culture of power". White's see themselves as the ideal race and that everyone else has to conform to their way of living, speaking, etc. One of the points McIntosh makes is that a white person can swear or wear "second-hand clothes" and not be looked at as a bad representation of their entire race. How ever, if a black person dress and speaks like that, they are looked at as an entire race and that gives that race a bad name. McIntosh's 26 points are very similar to the 5 rules that Delpit talks about. This is relevant to the text because it shows how white men have an "advantage" over everyone else. As McIntosh says, whiteness can protect a person from hostility, distress, and violence.
Quote 2: "I see a pattern running through the matrix of white privilege, a pattern of assumptions that were passed on to me as a white person."
A person who is born into the culture of power is going to know the codes and just assume that everyone else around them knows that codes. Like Dr. Bogad said in class, if a teacher who is in the culture of power asks a student who isn't in the culture of power, "Is it time to be playing with that puzzle right now?" The student won't understand that the teacher is really asking. If we do not teach the children at a young age that there is more than one way to talk to people and that there is a certain place and time for each, then the cycle will keep going. The children will never learn to try to break that barrier of the culture of power.
Quote 3: "Men's unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged."
This shows that men, especially white men, are not willing to admit that they have special privileges when it comes to jobs, property ownership, credit etc. White men also have a code that they follow but don't seem to realize they are doing it. It shows that in a society, men will acknowledge that women do not have the same rights as them but they will never say that they have more rights than women. This goes along with the ways of the culture of power. Those who hold the power do not realize that they hold it until explicitly told.
Monday, February 7, 2011
First Post
Hi everyone! My name is Amanda Cabral. This is my second semester at RIC as a Health & Phys. Ed. major. I play volleyball in the fall & like to play basketball & softball too. Sports are pretty much my life. Im liking this semester and that we havent had too many classes because of snow, but i hate parking!! Hope to have a good semester!
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