Extra Blog 1

I was thinking about one of the classes over this semester and how it was one that is stuck in my head. Every time we talk about or i hear the saying, "in one of the previous classes", I automatically think back to this one. The class I referring to is the class when we discussed Christensen. I really disliked the article when I read it the first time, however this class completely changed my mind, as did the class we started talking about Delipt. I thought that is was so wrong to critique everything I loved to watch as a child and when Christensen stated, changing up some of the stories and their characters and the themes along with it, I was completely against it. I thought that there was no way a child would watch it, that it wasn't interesting enough. But then I realized, with the help of our class discussions, that if its not there for them to watch and they never have heard of it, they wont miss it. I loved the movie Cinderella, and when I realized that really the only messages that were being put out there were that you have to have nice things for people to like you and you need a man to be happy.
The best thing about the class was when we watched clips from Beauty and the Beast and the other music videos. I learn visually so seeing clips then discussing it really made me understand it better.

Talking point 8

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

by Jean Anyon

Reading this article, I wasn't very shocked with the facts that i was presented. I pretty much was aware of the difference in the schools and educations of different social class communities. In higher social class communities they better prepare their students for desirable jobs, like Anyon says, and this doesn't surprise me. I like how the study she did was over an entire year and not just a short time and how she chose all the same grade classes.

1. "fifth graders of different economic backgrounds are already being prepared to occupy particular rungs on the social ladder."

This quote is so true. Like I said before, it came no surprise to me that this is already happening. I just feel like this is why people stay in the social class they were born into, because they aren't given the chance to change or even any encouragement.

2. "teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned."

This quote is explaining the working class schools. I feel like its the reason students don't care about education because they don't have any teachers that motivate them to learn or even explain why they are being taught what they are being taught. This probably makes the students not care about it because they don't know how they will use it in life or even the significance.

3."If one accumulates enough right answers, one gets a good grade."

This is how I was taught in school. The more answers I got right the better grade I got. This doesn't give the students the want to learn the material, just to understand it or even memorize enough to get correct answers on a test. The education is not valued and it effects the students in the long run in their education.

Social Justice Event

On Easter Sunday I took part in my diversity event. I watch a family of 5 kids every Saturday and they are all wonderful. There is a 13 year old names Anthony, a 10 year old Jacee, an 8 year old Isis, a 6 year old Jawarie, and a 3 year old names Romello(Mello). The father Mike is African-American and the mother Rana is Latina. The kids as well as both parents speak both English and Spanish. I was invited to their home for an Easter celebration. After I went to church with my family, I went to their house and there were so many people there. Both family and friends were there and there were about 20 kids there. I spent half the time with the adult and half the time with the children. I had an awesome experience and really loved being part of a different cultures traditions. They had certain ways and orders of doing things through out the day. There were some similarities to my families Easter celebrations, but many differences as well. A huge difference was the types of foods they were serving and when they were serving them. With my family we eat a lunch and a dinner, at their home the food was all put out at noon and was out all day. You could eat as much as you wanted and there was such a variety of foods that people brought. I have traveled to many different Spanish countries and have experienced some different foods. One of my favorite snacks are plantains. They had fresh plantains that Rana's mother had brought and they were so good.
At around 1, we had an Easter egg hunt with 100 eggs and it was crazy! Kids were everywhere and it was very hectic but very fun. I was on the porch with Rana and some other women and we were all talking about the kids and how cute they all were when all of a sudden Rana started yelling at Jawarie in Spanish. He was too close to the road and she was telling him to get away. As soon as this happened i thought about the code-switching that Collier talks about in her article. Like she says "when bilingual people use both languages in speech, alternating the two, they code-switch." In the chart that is found in the article about code-switching, i feel like my example would fall under the situational switches pattern. This is because we were all talking in English and as soon as she went to yell, Rana yelled Spanish.
My second example is from McIntosh's article. I went to play with Isis and some other girls her age and they were playing a Barbie game on their WII. While picking what their Barbie looked like I noticed that there were only white Barbies to choose. When McIntosh lists all the things that he never has to worry about I saw number 20. This states, " I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race." I couldn't help but wonder if the girls really think about the fact that none of the dolls are the same color as them, and if they even care, because I didn't notice anything. I never thought about this before taking this class and now I feel like it bothers me more than them.
My third example is from Linda Christensen. Now that I am aware of all the amounts of secret educations in cartoons and kids shows I notice it. As the night was starting to wind down, the kids who were still there were watching Spongebob Square Pants. I have heard many things about the content in this show and even the names of things in the show. The place where all the characters live is called Bikini Bottom. This is a very inappropriate name for a children's show. Also there are many things about the roles of women and people who are different then the norm. All the parents were with the kids while they were watching this show and as Christensen says "young people, unprotected by any intellectual armor, hear or watch these stories again and again, often from the warmth of their mother or father's lap." All these readings really have effected my thinking and its so interesting in how i notice everything.

Talking post 7

Gender and Education

While searchign Gender and Education, I didnt find too much information on it. there are a bunch of random sites and a lot on other countrys. However sex disctimination came up a lot. The discrimination mostly effects the women. One fact that I really was upset by didnt have to do with education, it was stated that for every dollar a man makes a woman only makes 75 cents.

The biggest topic came up around my search was the gender gap. The gender gap is defined as the difference between the way males and females are treated. There has also been many studies of the ways that boys and girls brains grow.

Talking Point #6

Tim Wise and Brown vs. Board of Education

I have been extremely busy this weekend and since the videos and website were not posted until Saturday I didn't have anytime to do them. However I had a chance to do so today. I really enjoyed the change up of things. I was getting really bored with the readings and this was a good break from that. I enjoyed taking a look at the website and getting a good feel for the Brown vs The Board of Education and more. I had gone through this before in some previous classes but for some reason it just never sticks in my mind. Looking at the website brought some things back that I have already learned. Wise said a lot of really great points that I had never really thought about before. There was a lot of proof and statistics that he had for some scenarios. I really enjoyed this assignment this week and can understand everything a little more.

talking point #5

In the Service Of What? The Politics of Service Learning

by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheime

This article is about the two different parts of Service Learning. It also talks a lot about how it is beneficial to both the student giving the service and the student receiving the service. Both participants gain many positives aspects to their learning expediences. Unlike many of the previous articles that I have read I almost completely agree with what this one is saying. I found some good quotes in the article that really helps to understand what Service Learning is.

1. "It is the combination of service and critical analysis, not either by itself, that seems most likely to promote interest in and insight into these complex social issues."

I agree that each part can not serve by itself. Like many other aspects of life most things don't work completely or perfectly without something else to hold it down. Both parts are beneficial and need each other to be proactive.

2. "Students tutor, coach softball, paint playgrounds, and read to the elderly because they are interested in people, or because they want to learn a little about poverty and racism before they head out into the waiting corporate world..."

I don't like how some people think of Service Learning as charity work. There is way more to it than just helping those who are less fortunate. There are learning opportunities for both the students who are receiving the service and those students who are actually taking part in the tutoring.

3. "Students would interact with those less fortunate than themselves and would experience the excitement and joy of learning while using they community as a classroom."

I agree completely that students need to learn in other places than the classroom. Having other experiences is what makes the students who they are individually and there is still a ton of learning to be don't. Finding things for the students to do and participate in outside the classroom is a key component of the roles of teachers.

Talking point #4

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

by Linda Christensen

1."Many of us grow up in neighborhoods where we have limited opportunities to interact with people different from out own families..."

I believe this is a very huge part of why we don't know any different that what we see. There are so many different types of people and we are so set on what we already know. The narrow view that many people have, is the only view people are willing to use.

2. "Happiness means getting a man, and transformation from wretched conditions can be achieved through consumption-in their case, through new clothes and a new hairstyle."

This is the way every fairy tale is played out. Cinderella is the most popular Princess story and personally my favorite. Even though this is how the story portrays happiness, I feel that once you get old enough you will realize its just a story and not real life.

3. "For some the lesson doesn't end in the classroom. Many who watched cartoons before we start our study say they can no longer enjoy them."

This is not the point of cartoons. Cartoons such as Looney Tunes are meant to be funny and entertaining. I personally don't see how analyzing cartoons like this is important. I understand that there are not enough diversities brought into the cartoons, but the fact that analyzing cartoons is ruining peoples take on them is not what should be happening.

This article was very hard to read. The text was very blurry and i couldn't focus because of that. What I got out of the article was that people were over analyzing cartoons and the meanings of them. Like I said before, I understand the problem that different diversities are not very well represented but I don't believe that we should have to over think the point of a cartoon. I liked that she provided her students the chance to make a difference by doing all the different types of projects.