Blog #11 Reflecting on the Semester

 Reflecting on the Semester

This course has given me a lot of useful knowledge that I plan to use in my future classes at RIC and my future art classroom. I have learned more about the struggles that people face in school or in their lives that I may not have experienced. 

One reading that really stuck with me is "Troublemakers" by Shalaby. This reading focused on students who are considered or classified as "troublemakers" by others. Teachers should be aware that children aren't born bad; they have bad experiences, which can cause them to act out or misbehave in the classroom. If teachers look deeper and try to figure out what causes students to act out, then they can work to make all of their students successful in their class. A quote that I really enjoyed reading focused on a canary in a coal mine. Shalaby writes, "...we are in the habit of incarcerating the people from whom we could learn the most about freedom, we cage the birds singing most loudly." People that we can learn from, we tend to ignore and just punish them, but if we take a second to listen to them, we could help them, or we could help ourselves to learn more about others. 

Another reading that will stick with me is "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez because it focuses on the author's experiences of learning English in the U.S. school system, with Spanish being his first language and the language spoken at home. Rodriguez struggled in school because his English wasn't that strong, which led to him being enrolled in extra English help classes. Even with the extra help, his teachers felt like he needed further assistance, so they visited his home and spoke with his parents. After this conversation, the teachers told the parents to no longer speak Spanish at home. This caused Richard to not feel sure of himself at school and at home because he couldn't be who he wanted to be anywhere. As a future teacher, I would want my students to feel comfortable with being who they are and expressing their culture. I would want my students to feel comfortable with speaking their native languages, and I should meet them halfway and translating assignments and learn vocabulary that I would use in the class. 

A video that will stick with me is "Precious Knowledge" because it focuses on the values of ethnic studies. The school in this video originally had no ethnic studies courses, but they eventually added them because they thought it would be valuable for their students to learn about their culture and history. But the superintendent found the ethnic studies inappropriate because he didn't understand their value. By being ignorant of the struggles and cultures of other people, we prevent people from being successful in school and in their lives. I would want my students to express their cultures in my class because the other students would learn more about each other and other people who aren't similar to them. 

How a Sanctuary for Self-Expression can Change Lives Video Reflection

I enjoyed watching this video because I was able to get more insight on the struggles that LGBTQ+ people face when they show signs of being different than what society deems "normal", "boy", or "girl" things or activities. Society and people who don't understand those who are different fear that difference and aren't accepting to the change the world is experiencing. By people becoming more educated, understanding, and accepting of all people no matter what they wear, do, or the people they are attracted to our society and world will become a better place. Everyone will feel welcomed in our society and world and they won't fear what could happen to them if they show who they really are. 

Blog Post #10 on "Woke Read Aloud: They, She, He Easy as ABC" and RI Department of Education Guidance for RI schools on transgneder and gender nonconforming students

 Argument for Woke Kindergarten Video and RI Department of Education Guidance to Schools

In the Woke Kindergarten video, they describe the book's main message, which is for people to accept and respect all people and to understand what pronoun or pronouns someone may use to describe themselves. The argument for the RI Department of Education Guidance for Schools is to describe a school's responsibilities and expectations towards its students who are transgender or gender nonconforming. The video and reading both explain how important it is for people to be understanding and aware of students or people who don't use the gender that they are assigned at birth. 

The video described people and the pronouns that they may use, even if a person wouldn't assume that those are the pronouns they use due to their visual appearance. A student may appear to be female due to the way they are dressed, but internally, the student could classify as male or they or something else. A person could also use multiple pronouns. One character in the book used both he and she to describe themself. Another thing the video mentioned is that if you aren't certain of a person's proper pronouns or you forgot, then you should refer to them by their name. But if you know a person's preferred pronouns, then you should use them to show your respect and understanding towards them. By not using someone's preferred pronouns you are telling that person that you don't respect, accept, or understand them.

The reading described multiple acts and documents that explain the responsibilities and expectations that schools and staff must follow regarding their students who are transgender or gender-nonconforming. One thing that schools must do is to create a safe, supportive, understanding, and bully-free environment. If the students don't feel safe or welcomed at the school, then the students won't want to participate in school activities, or they won't attend school altogether. A survey was done on 10,000 gender-nonconforming students in RI, and over half of the students don't participate in school activities due to fear of discrimination. Another thing schools must do is to promptly and effectively respond to sex-based harassment of all students. A school can't turn a blind eye in certain situations due to what pronouns a student may use. Schools and school staff are expected to respect a student's identity and to not inform parents or guardians if the student does not wish to inform them because it may jeopardize their home. A final thing schools should do is modify their dress code to make all students feel comfortable with what they wear.  

I found this video and reading very important for us future educators because we must know our future responsibilities and expectations we have toward all of our future students. We must be understanding and respectful to all of our students and not allow any of our students to face bullying or harassment due to the pronouns they use or for any reason. Our students must feel welcomed and should want to come to school every day, if we fail to create a welcoming environment then we have failed the students. 

Blog #9 Hehir, Judith Butler, and Sunaura Taylor

Hehir, "Toward Ending Ableism in Education" and Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor "Examined Life":

Hehir describes Ablesim in the education system and its impact on students with disabilities. Those disabilities could either be an IEP, being deaf, being blind or other disability that a person may have. People have different attitudes or beliefs about students or people with disabilities. Hehir describes a mother and her son who were born with a disability and their experiences as a parent of a disabled child and a child with a disability. Hehir states, "At a workshop for parents of disabled kids, Penny was told that she had to go through a period of mourning the arrival of her disabled child. DEpply insulted Penny's response was, "I have lost a child at birth and I have had a disabled child. I know the difference. My son is a gift, not a tragedy"(2). Penny, the mother of Joe, was sharing the frustration she had with the workshop due to what they believe about her child and other children with disabilities. Saying that when her disabled child was born she had to mourn, is incredibly rude and terrible because even though Joe has a disability he is still a person and has a life to live. 

Hehir later writes about the "poster child" of children with disabilities. These children need your help, and it is terrible to have a disability and these children will never achieve anything amazing or spectacular in their lives. Hehir writes, "Cyndi Jones, a disability activist and former poster child, argues that 'the poster child says it's not okay to be disabled... but it says if you just donate money the disabled child will go away'"(4). Jones was explaining the terrible message that the "poster child" is sharing with people about children with disabilities. If people just ignore those with disabilities or just think giving money to them makes a difference it doesn't. Disabled people should be treated like any other person and shouldn't be babied, but that doesn't mean we should help them as we would any other person. This relates to the video "Examined Life" as Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor talked about Sunaura's disability she described going to the coffee shop and carrying her coffee cup in her mouth, and people seemed shocked or confused. Instead of staring or judging, people could offer to help her even if she doesn't want or accept the way she is carrying her cup because she can't hold a cup of coffee in her hand like other people tend to do.  Hehir later described the term "supercrip", which is a disabled person who did something that people don't expect a disabled person to be capable of. 

Hehir later talks about how the education system for deaf children started off fine but took a turn for the worse when "oralism" entered the classroom. Oralsim taught deaf children through lip-reading and speaking, but this wasn't successful for all deaf students because it was extremely difficult for deaf children to learn this way. Hehir states, "Leo Jacobs, a deaf educator, compares lip-reading with breaking eighty in golf or painting a masterpiece, since under the best of circumstances only 30 percent of speech can be read from lip movements (Jacobs, 1989)"(8). Leo Jacobs explains that is very difficult for a deaf person to learn to lip reading because it isn't always possible to understand what someone is saying. Deaf children are now encouraged to learn American Sign Language as soon as possible, which allows them to be very successful. 

This reading and video open eyes to more of the struggles that students and people with disabilities face either in school or in the world. Teachers still have work to do to make the classroom welcoming to all students with disabilities or without disabilities. Teachers should educate themselves on a student's disability in their classroom, so they can understand what struggles their students face and what they could do to make their students successful in their class. Society has more work to make all buildings accessible for people with disabilities, so it shows that people with disabilities are welcome in our society.