final exam

I can honestly say that taking the class was the most motivating and beneficial class I have take thus far at Baylor. Dr. Talbert does an incredible job and pulling you into the conversation and modeling what we are to be doing as teachers. Let me put it this way, the class was on Monday nights, and after the first class I was legitimately sad when I had to miss class. I would even encourage you to take this course as a elective if it is not required. My outlook on teaching as completely changed as a result. You will not fully understand what I mean by this until you have taken this class. What makes the class in addition to the content taught is Dr. Talbert. Our time was not wasted but our opinions were what drove the conversation. He was such a great example of the teacher facilitation the conversation.

My views on race, privilege and sexuality have really been altered after this class. Hearing from my classmates and listening to the points Dr. Talbert pointed out have really opened my eyes to my “sheltered” view on these issues. I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to make an impact in the world.

About Passion in the Classroom

About Passion in the Classroom...

Main Idea

There are two quotes hooks uses to portray the problem with the lack of passion in the classroom. I love what she says about if their is a lack of passion in the classroom how can we expect our students to open up? In a later quote she address the lack of motivation as well within teachers today. I believe the main points she brings up here are that in order to spur on education in our classroom it is going to require work on our part to jump start learning. It is not that our job as teachers isn't hard, it is that we are responsible for the motivation or our students. I also like what she says about bringing our own passions as a class together so we are able to learn and grown from each other. Students learn a great deal from their teachers but they learn even more from their peers. Being vulnerable in our passions as classroom teachers models that vulnerability that our students need to see. If they see us sharing our passions, they are much more likely to share with each other.

Consistant/ Inconsistant with Experiences as a Teaching Associate

I would have to agree with what hooks talks about in regard to passion in the classroom. I have been fortunate enough to placed in an environment where my CI is very passionate about her job and brings that passion into her teaching. Unlike a lot of teachers, she is always prepared and willing to go the extra step with her students. She brings that passion into her teaching and in turn that draws the students into learning. She also wants to know her students. She encourages creativity in her classroom and wants her students to incorporate their own experiences into their learning. I have learned a great deal from this. In my station at the school I teach at, one of the biggest struggles is motivation among the students. I try my best each day to make the lesson motivating, enjoyable, and in tune with the interest of my students. The more excited and prepared I am about learning the more my students want to learn. It really does make a huge different in the atmosphere of the classroom when my attitude is positive and engaged.

Consistant/ Inconsistant with teaching beliefs and practices

This concept in and of itself is why I want to teach. I want to bring that passion and motivation into my classroom. I do not want my classroom to be about me but I want to scaffold learning according to my students. I want my classroom to be an environment where my students feel safe to learn from each other and from me as well. I also want to bring in that excitement about learning because each child deserves that opportunity to grow and be encouraged.

Impact on future professional development

The experience I have had as a T.A. has shown me so much about the kind of teacher I want to be. It was so good for me to be in an environment where I had to push myself. Not every day was fun and exciting but I had to make that choice to be that encouragement and as a professional. It has opened my eyes that there will be some hard days, but that those hard days make me a better teacher. It has spurred on my passion to be a teacher because I have seen the small impact I have made and will be able to make in a child's life. Passion as hooks talks about is so dry and I want to make it obvious in my classroom next year.

The Shame of The Nations: Essay 1

Jonathan Kozol - The Shame of the Nation: Essay 1

You have been appointed by President Obama to serve as a teacher representative on the “U.S. Commission for Improving the Quality of Education Opportunity for Marginalized Children in the United States.” In particular, President Obama is curious about your opinions on Jonathan Kozol’s book entitled The Shame of the Nation. The President has asked you to summarize Kozol’s primary theses as represented in the book, support or refute Kozol’s claims of “Apartheid Schooling” in the U.S., and provide your own recommendations on improving the quality of education opportunity for marginalized children in the United States. President Obama has asked you to submit to him a letter that is no longer than 3 pages addressing these issues and providing specific citations (i.e., book, notes, documents) to support your answers.

As an advocate for equality in schools, I fully support the claims made in Jonathan Kozol’s book, The Shame of the Nations. Segregation in schools, while on paper looks together and perfect, in reality is still very prevalent. It is not that the problem was not addressed years ago, it is that there has not been progress since. The quality of the schools Kozol visits and reports about are horrendous and heartbreaking. He brings light to the darkness of the situations that lie within the school of the New York area. He addresses the segregation, issues of race and poverty, teachers, the academic system and curriculum, and most importantly the students within this mess. The first step to improving this situation is to discuss the problem and get everything out in the open, this is where Kozol comes in.

Laws against segregation and motions had been passed to make segregation illegal, but that did not fix the problem entirely. As beneficial as these laws and regulations are, they can also be a crutch for fixing the problem. “There is no misery index for the children of apartheid education… you have to do what children do and breathe the air the children breathe. I don’t think that there is any other way to find out what the lives that children lead in school are real like” (Kozol, 163). This right here is why the issues of segregation are so treacherous. It is not the school we look at or even the materials but it hurts the children and their education first and foremost. For those living amongst this problem, the truth of the matter is that there has not been a remedy to this problem of segregation. I would say one of the most significant downfalls is our lack of awareness of this issue. It is messy and complicated so it tends to be shoved under the rug instead of dealt with. This is the biggest downfall of the desegregation system that took place so many years ago. From a Christian view point, the problem also lies in the hearts of people. This fact cannot be ignored. Without people taking notice of this issue and waning to see justice done, this issue with continue to sit still and brew until something bad has to happen again to bring this issue to the surface. Our children will have to deal with the consequences of oblivion.

So many of these issues are intertwined, it is hard to separate and pinpoint the problem. The “white flight” mentality has continued over the years if not increased. There are always two sides of the story but through the lens of segregation, this is a huge issue. This “shame of the nation” in run down schools is a result of people caught in an inescapable trap. By this I mean whites, for the most part in the areas he addresses, take care and worry about themselves and do not want to help fund schools they see no hope from or have no connection to. They continue to move out or move on while leaving the problem behind to grow and get worse. The impoverished communities have nothing to grow on and no where to go so they continue to get worse. This is the cycle or system most school are stuck in. Kozol’s book sounds harsh and horrible but all he is doing is bringing the problem to the surface. This mentality of “get out and move on” really hurts the problem we have in education. It is not always done out of fear or bitterness but the actions leave the same results. If we paused for a second and reflected on this very statement that Kozol makes in his book, we might have a different take, “You find that almost everything that people feared was false- the apprehension disappears. Then there is this wonderful discovery that people make: children whom they thought to be so different from their own kids aren’t so different after all” (Kozol 223). Like before, there was this fear of segregation in the 50’s and 60’s that seemed impossible to accomplish. There was breakthrough and now we as educators must continue on that journey. This twisted reality that we live in can be helped by one person’s voice making a difference. It is about the individual child and equating all children. We must be their advocates to fight for them and to show them that despite their background and what they hear that they are equal and that everyone deserves and education.

Another area that needs to be addressed is how sometimes segregation is very commonly blamed on class divides. While this affects the problem it is not the problem. Again it goes back to not being aware of the issue in the first place, “Some of our most segregated urban neighborhoods lie just adjacent to well-funded districts serving middle-class communities. Less than a fifteen-minute bus ride often separates our wealthiest and poorest schooling systems” (Kozol, 204). It is sad to see such a divide in the community that most of the time does have to do with race. In an attempt to not step on toes, a common remedy to the problem is blaming the issue on class division. The reason we can so easily falter to blame the segregation on class is because we have never gone through something so huge as nation where class was the center of it like we did during the civil rights movements. To blame the problem on race once again stirs up problems and grudges of what happened during that time. It is a safe place to blame it on class because it does not point out one racial group or point the finger at one specific group of people. In all honesty the through way we “separate class” is based on race. When we so focus on these two aspects again the worth of the child is thrown out the window and stereotypes become such a strong hold. We have to bring ourselves back to the student and their worth and success in the school system.

I want to end with the most important aspect and I believe the heart of Kozol’s purpose and message of his book; the worth of the individual student. The individual student is why we are teachers, why we feel passionate to do what we do, and the reason the class exists. It is hard, at the same time, to constantly have that perspective when the classroom is made up of about of 25 or so individuals. The pressure to keep the class running smoothly and to get everything accomplished within the allotted time give a day, is what makes the focus on in the individual student to be blurred at times. Never the less, the individual student needs to be where our attention is. With that being said, the different races of our students should not affect the way we teach in a negative way. We need to see our students for who they are as person and take into account their backgrounds but look beyond their race. It is sadly easy to stereotype and assume but it is also our jobs to be there source of encouragement and support. This is where I believe Kozol wanted to focus on the individual child. He wanted to make us aware of the severity of the situation so we could therefore turn around and see the child in the midst of the chaos.

Race Matters CD 5-8

4). “Progressives should view affirmation action as neither a major solution to poverty nor a sufficient means to equality. We should see it as primarily playing a negative role- namely, to ensure that discriminatory practices again women and people of color are abated. Given the history of this country, it is a virtual certainty that without affirmative action, racial and sexual discrimination would return with a vengeance” (West, 95).
“Unfortunately, black conservatives focus on the issue of self-respect as if it were the one key that would open all doors to black progress. They illustrate the fallacy of trying to open all doors with one key: they wind up closing their eyes to all doors except the one the key fits” (West, 97).
“Black people have searched desperately for allies in the struggle against racism- and have found Jews to be disproportionately represent in the ranks of that struggle. The desperation that sometimes informs the antiracist struggle arises out of two conflicting historical forces: America’s historically weak will to racial justice and an all-inclusive moral vision of freedom and justice for all” (West, 111).
“Americans are obsessed with sex and fearful of black sexuality. The obsession has to do with a search for stimulation and meaning in a fast-paced , market-driven culture; the fear is rooted in visceral feelings about black bodies and fueled by sexual myths of black women and men” (West, 119).
3.) Empathy: the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another
Visceral: characterized by or dealing with coarse or base emotions; earthy; crude: a visceral literary style
Xenophobia: an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

Countdown West Preface-4

Race Matters

5) Cornel West approaches the issue of race in a very bold and clear manner. After beginning to read this, much of what he says is the truth and in all honesty can be taken very offensively. If we do not address these issue and someone does not speak the truth, this issue can never be remedied. He lays out the issues of what the African American race continue to deal with and it completely grabs your attention. He shows that just because race was addressed and the issues were “dealt with” so many years ago, does not mean things are the way they should be.

4) “Yet the legacy of white supremacy lingers- often in the face of the very denials of its realities. The most visible examples are racial profiling, drug convictions, and death-row executions. And the less visible ones are unemployment levels, infant mortality rates, and special education placements, and psychic depression treatments” (West, XV).

“The liberal notion that more government programs can solve racial problems is simplistic- precisely because it focuses solely on the economic dimension. And the conservative idea that what is needed is a change in the moral behavior of poor black urban dwellers… highlights immoral actions while ignoring public responsibility for the immoral circumstances that haunt our fellow citizens” (West,5).

“The tragic plight of our children clearly reveals our deep disregard for public well-being. About one out of every five children in this country lives in poverty, including one out of every two black children and two out of every five Hispanic children” (West, 12).

“Nihilism is to be understood here not as a philosophic doctrine that there are no rational grounds for legitimate standards or authority; it is far more the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness hopelessness and (most important) lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbering detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world life without meaning, hope, and love breeds a coldhearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and others” (West, 22-23)

3) Nihilism: Philosophy extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence.

Tokenism: the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, esp. by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce.

Substantive: having a separate and independent existence.

2) I connected with the way West just came out boldly to state his opinion. However because of my background, I have not had much exposure to segregation in schools. I do agree with the majority of statements he said, provocative as they may be, as well as that I agree that these issues do matter. It is heart breaking to see on paper the issues that African Americans face because of a matter of race. I truly hate it and wish I with the little small influence that I have as an educator will be able to shine light on these issues.

1) I want to know more of what happened in his life that caused him to speak out so boldly?

Countdown Paper: TSOTN 7-12

5) In these chapters, Kozol brings awareness to the dirtiness and the lack of consistency within the school system at the time of his visits. He points out later on that while the “outside” has changed for the better, the internal problems in the school still linger. The part that got me the most was when I child said that they saw new teachers everyday. If I have learned one key thing in my student teaching, it is that we are supposed to be that constancy for the students. Kozol tells of his experiences so we can know the validity of what was and still is going on.

4)

“Everything in my school is so so dirty… Many thing have changed in inner-city schools since then; and some remain the same. Physical disrepair and squalor may not be as blatant in most districts now, although there are schools I visit where conditions are a good deal more offensive that the ones my students fully described… I see new teachers omots every day” (Kozol, 162).

“There is no misery index for the children of apartheid education… you have to do what children do and breathe the air the children breathe. I don’t think that there is any other way to find out what the lives that children lead in school are real like” (Kozol, 163).

“The hard edge of the standards-driven juggernaut did not seem to have made more than minor inroads on instructional approaches in this building’ and despite the fact that testing pressures were increasing for the teachers at the Russell at the time that I was there, it had not lost that fragile sense of unprotected and unglazed humanity in grownups and endearing randomness in children that is often very hard to find in other urban schools today” (Kozol, 169).

“Our parents do not know what the best is, but they want the best. When we have to assign their kids to summer semesters and to portables while three miles down the road they can see schools with traditional calendars and with sufficient space, I can understand it when they ask, why are our children not important?” (Kozol, 171).

3)

Squalor (161): a state of being extremely dirty and unpleasant, esp. as a result of poverty or neglect

Juggernaut (169): he form of Krishna worshiped in Puri, Orissa, where in the annual festival his image is dragged through the streets on a heavy chariot; devotees are said formerly to have thrown themselves under its wheels. Also called Jagannatha .

Asbestos (172): a heat-resistant fibrous silicate mineral that can be woven into fabrics, and is used in fire-resistant and insulating materials such as brake linings.

2)

I made several connections in these chapters. The first was in chapter 7 when he talks about the dirtiness within the schools and how the students described their school was heart breaking. I was in New York city this summer and when we took the subway through areas like the Bronx I would look outside and see all of the graffiti and trash that was everywhere. This specific area that we were in was near a school and to see their “Playground” was mind shattering. It did not seem fair in the least that these children were not able to even have a clean and safe place to play. Reading this passage brought me to this. The way the children describe their dirty school and the inconsistency of their teachers is heartbreaking as well. We place these high expectations on students but then don’t even give them a place to be proud of? The second part I personally connected with was when Kozol was talking about how sometimes it was more difficult to go into a high school classroom and see how much more difficult it was to get them to open up. I think this is where my fear comes in as a teacher. I have so limited myself to the younger grades because of the fear of rejection I have so quickly pinpoint to high school students. This is true but I should not reach out and care for this age out of my own fear.

1) While the cleanliness in schools has improved tremendously in so many areas, that does not mean that the problems are fixed. How can we as teachers be more in tune to the problems our students have?

The Individual Student

"What is the role of the individual student in your class room?"

When I read this question, the first response that popped into my mind was that the individual student is the most important aspect to the classroom. The individual student is why we are teachers, why we feel passionate to do what we do, and the reason the class exists. It is hard, at the same time, to constantly have that perspective when the classroom is made up of about of 25 or so individuals. The pressure to keep the class running smoothly and to get everything accomplished within the allotted time give a day, is what makes the focus on in the individual student to be blurred at times. Never the less, individual student needs to be where our attention is.