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. 

Blog #8 "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez

 Quotes from "Aria":

Richard Rodriguez describes his experiences as an English learner in school, while Spanish was the main language spoken at home. He explains the effect that learning English had on himself and his family's dynamic. Richard was at first nervous to learn English and to speak it in school, which led to his teachers visiting his home and speaking to his parents. The teachers asked his mother and father if English was spoken at home, and they learned it wasn't. The parents and the teachers made the decision to speak only English at home to allow Richard and his older brother and sister to be successful in school. Rodriguez writes, "In an instant, they agreed to give up the language (the sounds) that revealed and accentuated our family's closeness"(1). Rodriguez was shocked that his parents were willing to give up speaking Spanish at home. Spanish brought their family together in Rodriguez's mind and didn't understand why they should stop speaking it at home. Besides speaking only English at home to improve his and his siblings' English speaking skills, they had to attend extra help classes. His teachers also worked to be sure to keep his attention. But they called him Richard instead of the name he was born with, Ricardo.

As his family began to speak only English at home and as his and his siblings' English-speaking skills improved their relationships began to change. His family began to spend less time together and the time they did spend together they didn't really talk to each other. The kid's English improved, but the parents still struggled, and at some point, the kids didn't want to repeat or explain what they said. Rodriguez states, "The family's quiet was partly due to the fact, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents. Sentences needed to be spoken slowly when a child addressed his mother or father"(2).  Due to the kids receiving lessons in English, it created a rift in their family because the parents were not learning English. The kids felt ashamed to speak Spanish in school, which caused them to feel ashamed to speak Spanish at home or in public. This made talking to their parents difficult. 

Rodriguez later described the effect English had on his parent's roles. His father's English was not as good as his mother's, which made the father uncomfortable speaking when they had guests or when in public. His kids and wife would laugh at him while he led prayers at the dinner table, this caused his wife to eventually do it. Rodriguez describes how his father changed from when he spoke Spanish to English. Rodriguez states, "In Spanish, he expressed ideas and feelings he rarely revealed in English. With firm Spanish sounds, he conveyed confidence and authority English would never allow him"(3). Rodriguez's father was able to express himself when he spoke Spanish, but when speaking English he was unable to share information about himself. 

I personally don't know how well the education system has improved to include bilingual classes because I  speak English in an English-speaking community. But last semester I observed bilingual classes, where they delivered lessons in English in one class and then would do another class in Spanish. The students in both classes were paired up with either strong English speakers with poor English speakers or strong Spanish speakers with poor Spanish speakers. This classroom structure seems very interesting because it allows all of these students to learn two languages while they are in school, which allows them to become bilingual. In my Inspiring Minds classroom lessons are delivered in English and English is the main language that I hear the Preschoolers speak, but I do hear the students occasionally switch over to Spanish.  

Blog #7 "Literacy with an Attitude" by Finn

Quotes from "Literacy with an Attitude":

In Finn's "Literacy with an Attitude," he describes his experiences as a teacher and the experiences of Jean Anyon when they observed five schools in New Jersey. Finn's first teaching job was at a school that split the students up into sections based on how well they performed in their classes. The newer teachers had the students that performed the worse in their classes and the teachers with experience had the students that performed the best in their classes. This is strange because to make all of these students get a fair education the students who are struggling need a teacher who knows what they are doing and what they need to do to make their students successful. Finn later became a professor and taught teachers who were trying to receive their doctorate, which allowed him to understand one of his professors.

When Finn first started teaching he was teaching lower level classes and he described how he handled his classes. Finn states, "I made the assignments easy so the least able students could do them. I had 'extra credit' assignments for students who finished early, usually not too challenging, but time-consuming. I corrected and graded and returned every paper by the next class so the students felt that completing assignments mattered,..."(4). Finn made his assignments easy for his students to complete because these students either struggled in school or weren't as interested in school as other students. I like that Finn would return work back with a grade very quickly because when my teachers would take a while to grade work it would be aggravating and annoying. Also, I like how he gives students the chance to do more work if they finish their assignments early, but by making the assignments easy the students may not be getting challenged enough to catch up to their fellow classmates.

While Finn was teaching he was working to receive his doctorate. His favorite professor said something that stuck with him, which was that Finn and the other teachers who were trying to get their doctorate working at poor schools were "hard-bitten". Finn writes, "And we didn't think that John Carter, or any other professor, had anything to tell us about what would work in our classrooms. We were out there in the trenches and we took no advice from anyone who wasn't out there with us. I think that's what John Carter meant when he said we were hard-bitten"(7). Finn's professor John Carter meant that these teachers experienced the schools and communities that have few resources to make their students and classrooms successful. This made these teachers ignorant because they didn't want to take advice from anyone else unless they were in the same position as them.

Finally, Finn described Jean Anyon's experiences of observing five schools in New Jersey. Each of the schools had different financial resources. The five schools were either working-class, middle-class, affluent professional, or executive elite children. Each of these schools had teachers with different backgrounds and relationships to the community they taught in. Each school taught similar topics but were taught in different ways. Anyon finalized her observations of the school and described what the students were learning due to their financial class. Finn states, "The working-class children were learning to follow directions and do mechanical, low-paying work,.... The middle-class children were learning to follow orders and do the mental work that keeps society producing and running smoothly. The affluent professional children were learning to create products and art, "symbolic capital," and at the same time they were learning to find rewards in work itself and to negotiate from a powerful position with those who make the final; decisions on how real capital is allocated. The executive elite children? They were learning to be masters of the universe"(20). These results show that students at these schools were being taught to stay in their classes and to not challenge them or try to get out of them, but to accept that they are stuck in that class their whole life.

I found this reading very interesting. Future teachers need to be aware of their additional job of teaching students how to challenge what society and the world classify the students as. Teachers shouldn't let their students accept or embrace what society thinks of them, they should help them break free of these expectations. 

Blog #6 Kohn: "Introducation to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy" and "What to "Look for in a Classroom":

 Alfie Kohn's Argument

Alfie Kohn's argument is that there are many things to make a classroom or school appear as good or bad, without even listening to a teacher or student discussion. You can tell by the appearance and layout of the school and class. But after making your observations, you can observe how the teacher runs the class. The teacher could either be the dominant voice in the class or the one who starts the discussion and lets the students all speak.

Alfie Kohn created a table that lists good and bad signs to look for in a class. Good and bad signs aren't just the teacher and student's relationship, but also the classroom and school environment and setup. Is the school welcoming? Are the staff welcoming to new people and questions? Is it a place where you would want to spend your time? These are some questions that you could ask when in a school to see if the school has good or bad characteristics. The table emphasizes that the layout of the classroom can show many good and bad signs. If the class is arranged in rows with no student work on the walls, these would be considered bad signs. If the class has large tables or desks in clusters with student projects on the walls it makes the class feel more inviting and welcoming, which are good signs. Another section is the teacher and staff's voice and attitude. If the teacher isn't the main one doing the talking in the class and the students can share their thoughts and opinions, that is a good sign. But if the teacher does most of the talking for the entire class and the students can't speak, this would be a bad sign. The main point from the chart is what makes a school or a classroom a success or a failure. 

The video "Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy" the connection between culture and school. Teachers can make their lessons or assignments connect to the student's personal life experiences and culture. By doing this it makes the students more engaged with the lesson or assignment, which can lead to more creative and unique work. It says that culturally relevant pedagogy builds on students' prior knowledge, mainly their cultural knowledge. The students can learn about their culture through courses that teach with culturally relevant pedagogy. By doing this it would also result in unique and creative work. If teachers fail to incorporate the students' culture or life experiences, students might not be as engaged in the lesson, and class results may not be as successful.

This chart and video are especially useful for us education teachers right now because we are currently in a class and school and we can use this chart to see how the school and class would do. We can see where the class and school can improve to make it more welcoming or successful. Some schools may need to work on the way they layout their classrooms and others may need to work on displaying student work.  

Classroom Observation Blog on Student relation to Shalaby

"Troublemaker"

    A child in my Pre-K school placement who could be classified as a "troublemaker" is an African American boy with an IEP. I've never really heard him speak or say anything to anyone. He tends to not listen to the teacher, the teacher assistants, me, or the other volunteer. When the teacher is delivering a lesson on the rug this boy doesn't stay over there for long and tends to walk away and begins to play with some of the toys around the room. When any of the teachers tried to ask him to return to the rug, he would just continue to play with the toys. My first day was my teacher's first day back from maternity leave, so she was just meeting the students and learning their personalities. I heard one of the teacher's assistants tell the teacher, "You are going to have fun with that one". This is a horrible thing to say in front of the students, even though they are Pre-K and might not even acknowledge or know what they are saying. Once, when the student wandered away from the rug while the rest of the class was watching a video about the alphabet, I followed him and tried to see if he would go back to the rug. But after I asked him multiple times and he didn't go back, I just played with him and kept him company instead of leaving him by himself playing with a toy while the rest of the class was together. He also tends to be destructive by sometimes knocking over blocks that other students are playing with and stacking, which causes the other students to be upset with him. But I calm the students down and tell them they can rebuild it better. I also try to give him some blocks where he can build and knock them down instead of doing it to other towers students make. He tends to just walk away and go play with something else and doesn't play with one thing for long. This causes me to believe that he has a short attention span and will need assistance with staying on task. 

Troublemakers By Shalaby

 "Preface" and "Introduction" on Troublemakers by Shalaby

These readings focus on students who are considered "troublemakers" and how teachers should respond and act when they have students who are considered "troublemakers" in their class. Teachers need to think about what causes their students to act out. Teachers shouldn't single them out in front of the entire class and punish them when they may just need some extra help. I found multiple parts of this reading very interesting and valuable for future teachers to learn about and use in their future classes. 

The first reading started with lyrics from the song "Something Inside So Strong" by Labi Siffre. Labi Siffre states, "The more you refuse to hear my voice, the louder I will sing."  I found these lyrics interesting because they focus on how the more someone is silenced, the more they will try to speak up. This relates to how minority groups continue to be silenced for the injustices that they face and how they have to continue to challenge the system that continues to silence them and oppress them.

The first reading later talks about how miners used to bring a caged canary down into a mine to alert the miners to carbon monoxide poisoning. The canary was able to sense the carbon monoxide before the miners, which allowed the miners to escape their deaths, but the canary died because the miners valued their lives over the canary's. This is a valuable example not just for teachers but for all people to learn from. People need to understand that no one is more valuable or important than someone else. 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 could learn from regarding their life experiences are the ones who tend to be punished and silenced causing our society to be the same and never change.

The second reading further focused on students who are considered to be difficult for the teacher to teach or keep focused. It also focuses on what teachers think of their students regarding how easy they are to work with. Shalaby states, "We generally think of 'deviance', and of deviant people, as a problem. I have learned to think of deviance as informative, and often as an exercise of power and free will." The author believes that students who are "problems" tend to use their rights to share their opinions and beliefs. The author wrote about a student who always challenged a teacher's instructions and never did an assignment that they didn't want to do or find interesting. In this case, the teacher may have either put in the extra effort to keep the student engaged with different lessons or provided extra help to make the student enjoy the lesson or activity.

Teachers need to be aware that every student is capable of greatness, and some just need the right tools to be successful. Teachers have to be insightful and alert, they have to notice things about their students that others may not notice to allow their students to get the help that they need to be successful. 

PUblic Education and Ethnic Studies

"A Short History of Public Schooling" and "The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies":

Schools initially aimed to subordinate children and get them in the mindset of being subordinated, so they grew up as subordinates. This is a terrible thing for a school to accomplish, schools should make their students become people who are well educated, able to make their own opinions and challenge societal issues. Schools began to incorporate ethnic studies to make the curriculum in courses more representative of all people, not just whites. I found multiple parts of the reading interesting, and I found quotes to highlight certain sections.

Christine E. Sleeter writes, "Of the 96 Americans who were named for study in the Framework's course descriptions, they were 77 percent White, 18 percent African American, 4 percent Native American, 1 percent Latino, and 0 percent Asian Americans"(2). This book mainly focused on white people and very little on people of color. They should make each ethnicity equally represented and represented in a fair way and not just be portrayed as victims. If textbooks make a race, specifically those of color victims, students could internalize that message and believe that they are just victims in this society. 

Another quote I found interesting discussed the different beliefs of white students and African American students. Sleeter states, "For example, although White fifth graders believed that the Bill of Rights gives rights to everyone, about half of the Black children pointed out that not everyone has rights"(3). These students experienced different issues in their lives, which caused their opinions about rights to vary. African Americans on paper have the same rights as white people, but our society doesn't treat everyone equally even though they all have the same rights. 

The final quote I found focused on how white adults do not realize that school curriculums don't include or focus on multiple cultures and ethnicities. Sleeter writes, "White adults generally do not recognize the extent to which traditional mainstream curricula marginalize perspectives or communities of color and teach students of color to distrust or not take school knowledge seriously"(4). White adults don't realize that schools mainly focus on white culture and how this would affect students of color. Students of color would not feel represented in their school curriculum, which would cause them to not feel a part of their school community. Ethnic study courses allow students to become inspired and may even pursue further education to learn about their culture and use what they learn to teach others. 

After reading and watching the video, I could see more of the impact and value of ethnic study courses and their positive effect on students, schools, and communities. It is very important that school curricula value all ethnicities and bring equal attention to all of them and make them all equally valued. If schools don't highlight all ethnicities and cultures, students will not feel welcomed at that school or community.

The Four I's of Oppression and Intersectionality

Luna Malbroux's The Four I's of Oppression and Learning for Justice's Intersectionality:

Luna Malbroux argues that there are four kinds of oppression, and these forms of oppression vary for everyone due to the privilege they were born with, which relates to intersectionality. Malbroux classifies the four forms of oppression as ideological, interpersonal, institutional, and internalized. All four of these oppressions relate to people's beliefs and feelings towards others who are different from them. She then provides ways for people to solve these forms of oppression or beliefs that they have internalized about others or themselves. 

The first form of oppression is ideological, which is rooted in our value systems that allow people to dehumanize, take advantage of, or harm other people due to them being different than them. A way to solve this form of oppression is to start the long process of social, political, economic, and cultural change. This would require everyone to work together; no one person or group can solve this issue by themselves. Another form of oppression is internalized. Internalized oppression addresses the way people absorb belief systems that lead to feelings of false supremacy and deficiency within themselves and with others. To challenge this form of oppression, people have to be taught or teach themselves about "liberation learning". This means that people have to learn about injustices and see if they hold an opinion towards a group of people due to past events. The third form of oppression is interpersonal. Interpersonal is a way internalized oppression is expressed between people either by accident or on purpose. People can say something that seems like a compliment, but it is actually an insult because they are surprised by a person being good at something due to who they are. A way to challenge this oppression is taking accountability and changing your way of thinking. The final one is institutional oppression, which is the way oppression is perpetuated socially through policies, laws, and social practices. Ways to solve this involve transparent, dedicated, accountable, diversity, equity, and inclusion work towards change. These forms of oppression will all take a while to eliminate from our society. To remove them, every person, no matter what they look like or what power or privilege they have, needs to unite and listen and respect each other.

After doing the reading and watching the videos, I believe that not every person will experience oppression, and if they do, no one person experiences oppression in the same way. People are born with privileges and power, which gives those with privilege and power the additional privilege of not having to face oppression. Finally, the graphic below is from Lens of Systemic Oppression — National Equity Project, which explains oppression and questions to ask regarding oppression. 

Other People's Children

 Leo Labonte

Other People's Children

Lisa Delpit describes situations in which teachers make assumptions about students or fellow teachers based on their race or background. Some teachers don't understand that they are born with power or privilege, which affects their classroom environment and the student-teacher relationship. Some teachers try to point out issues to their colleagues, but some ignore what their colleagues have to say because they haven't faced these issues and don't see them as a problem they need to address. There were multiple interesting points that Delpit writes about, but I highlight a few that I found very interesting while I was reading. 

At the beginning of the reading, Delpit described how an African American teacher was trying to convince their white colleagues that they needed to do more work with their African American students, but their colleagues didn't take them seriously, so they had to step up to pick up the slack. Delpit states, "You can only beat your head against a brick wall for so long before you draw blood"(21-22). People can challenge issues that they see, but after a while, it becomes tiresome and aggravating to continue to fight it. The African American teacher can't make her colleagues more open-minded and change their teaching methods. The teacher will eventually only worry about what she can do because it is too challenging to change someone's mind who doesn't think about issues that they don't face. 

Another section that I found interesting was when Delpit described the power in a classroom and how there is a delicate balance. As a teacher, you can't be super strict where the students are afraid to express themselves, are speaking up or being too friendly and the students walk over you and don't respect you. Teachers need to realize that students may have an understanding about what you are trying to teach them or may know something that you don't know that relates to a class topic. Teachers need to respect a student's opinion and not instantly deny them and expect them to be wrong because they are younger than the teacher. Delpit writes, "To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them"(32-33). By saying a student is wrong without being sure, you are taking away what power the student has and their confidence. This may also cause students not to volunteer in classroom discussions because the teacher will assume that they are wrong.

Finally, teachers need to make their classrooms a place that is welcoming to all and that highlights multiple cultures. Teachers need to share the issues that the community, society, or world are facing, and by doing this, it allows students to be aware of what others around them are facing and to be more prepared to challenge the issues in the world. Delpit states, "And finally, we must learn to be vulnerable enough to allow our world to turn upside down in order to allow the realities of others to edge themselves into our consciousness. ...Teachers are in an ideal position to play this role, to attempt to get all of the issues on the table in order to initiate true dialogue. This can only be done, however, by seeking out those whose perspectives may differ most, by learning to give their words compete attention, by understanding one's own power,..."(47). Teachers need to share opinions and beliefs that the students and the teacher themself may not experience in their life and by doing this they all start to understand others that are different than them.

Overall, from this reading, I learned that teachers need to be aware of their additional job of challenging issues in the world and educating their students on these issues so their students can also make the world a better place because everyone has to work together for the world to change for the better. Teachers shouldn't give up in difficult situations and need to set an example for their students. 

Alan Johnson's Privilege Power and Difference Argument

 Leo Labonte

Alan Johnson's Privilege Power and Difference

Alan Johnson argues that if we ignore certain words that people find "uncomfortable", we only prolong their damage and effect on our society and on people deemed below others with no privilege. Johnson says that the purpose of this reading is to change how people think, which then changes how people act and their role in the world. This then causes the world to change by people making the necessary changes to it.

Johnson mentions how there are many differences in our world. Such as a person's gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, age, education, or profession. He believes that class differences can be changed, but the other differences are much harder to change due to prejudices and beliefs that people have or make about others. 

He then went on to describe certain privileges that people have over others. Men have privilege over women, white people have privilege over non-white people, and heterosexuals have privilege over homosexuals. These are the privileges that Johnson mentions, but there are many more privileges that people possess. Men tend to hold most of the more powerful positions in society while women hold few of those positions. White people have less to worry about compared to non-white people due to the resources they have, the police, or other people in their society. White families have an average wealth that is ten times that of black families. Heterosexuals don't have to worry about how their family, friends, or others may react, but homosexuals have to worry about what others may think of them or do to them. 

If we ignore the words like, "white racism", "sexism", "homophobic", or privilege itself it keeps us in a state of unreality, by promoting the illusion that difference by itself is the problem. Those who are born or given a privilege must help those who don't have a privilege because they can not do anything to change or solve the problem by themselves because they do not have the power or resources to solve it. People must use their privilege to get rid of privileges in our society. Everyone no matter what they look like, their background, what they classify as, or who they love, need to have the same chances and opportunities. This would allow privilege to disappear from our society.

After reading Johnson's Privilege Power and Difference I learned that if change is ever going to happen in our society everyone must unite to make a change, not just those who are facing these issues personally. You must challenge issues that don't even affect you because if the world is going to become a better place everyone has to work together. Those that have power and resources and those that don't.