Blog 6 - Finn

Argument/Reflection:

In the article “Literacy with an Attitude” by Patrick J Finn he lays out the differences in school culture and teaching style depending on the average income of the students’ families who go there.  Teachers of the lower income students often describe them as “dumb” or “lazy”.  There is also less discussion about critical issues in these schools, and creativity/outside the box thinking is not valued.  In the middle class schools students are taught directly from the textbook.  They are taught that if you follow the rules you have a successful job.  The overall attitude from the students was “possibility” and working the “right way”.  In affluent schools creativity is fostered and personal development is taught.  Experiments that relate to the students real life are done and higher level concepts are talked about.  The students are given much more freedom by teachers, and the overall theme from students was thought to be “individualism”.  When looking at all of this we see how there is a problem in the system of education.  Teachers are often unable to see past a student's background, and believe that the student will or won’t succeed solely based on their background.

With all of this being said it makes me worried for the students in the school I volunteer at.  Many of the students come from an economically challenged background compared to the state average.  I can see how intelligent these kids are, and it will be up to all their future teachers including people like me to make a difference in their lives and get them to believe in themselves and their future.  They do have the advantage of being in a strong pre k program that teaches them real social and academic lessons before they even begin elementary school.  My hope is that all of these kids will have teachers that believe in them and challenge them academically, and that I can be one of these teachers.

Here is a link showing the spending differences per student between rich and poor schools:

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs/web/97916.asp

Blog 8 Hehir

 Argument/Quotes:

Those with physical and mental disabilities are not only discriminated against by being given limits to what they can do, but also aren’t given support to help them achieve their goals that exceed these limits.  In the article by Hehir a parent is told that her son won’t have the same future and opportunities as other kids.  While setting expectations is good, a better message would be to ensure parents that their children with disabilities can have the same future with other kids if they receive the correct support.  Problems arise when people try to change someone’s disability rather than give them the support they need.  The article mentions how people with disabilities are only portrayed in two ways, “Tiny Tims' ' or “Supercrips' '.  This extreme and stereotypical view doesn’t give those with disabilities realistic role models that resemble real people in the real world.

The solutions put in place to help are generic if they are there at all.  “We tend to have “one size fits all” reading programs in the primary grades. This is true of other areas as well, such as how schools handle students with disabilities that affect behavior” (Hehir 28).  If students with intellectual disabilities are given a specific way that will help them read rather than giving them the same reading program only to fail, they can learn to read at their own pace instead of not at all.  The author believes that ableism looks to use a one size fits all education approach and to fight against this we need to view each student as an individual with a unique learning style.  The author also argues that schools and buildings need to be built assuming that they will be used by those with all different abilities.      

Here is a link on how to prevent examples of ableism

https://www.everydayactivismnetwork.org/archive/how-to-be-anti-ableist

Blog post 7 Rodriguez

 Hyperlink:

In this article the author knows it was necessary to be taught the codes of power, in this case it was the dominant language of english.  However, he also recognizes how it negatively impacted his life and took away a large part of his identity by not being able to speak spanish at home.  The author speaks of the loss of connection to his family at home and the loss of his personal identity, but concludes that this is necessary to achieve one's public identity

https://alexandraalessandri.com/isabel-and-her-colores-teachers-guide/

I chose to look at this article through the lens of a children’s book on translanguaging, titled “Isabel and Her Colores Go to School” by Alexandra Alessandri.  This book is about a girl who doesn’t want to learn English, but has to because she is starting at a new English speaking school.  Isabel associates English with cold and dark colors, while she is drawn to the warm and vibrant colors she associates with Spanish.  The teaching guide and book mentions how she brings her colores to school, meant to represent her personal culture and language that she brings with her into the classroom.  The idea of translanguaging is teaching a class that incorporates more than one language into the lesson.  This book would help in a translanguaging classroom because it has words in both English and spanish.  Another emphasis of this book is using alternative and non verbal forms of communication in scenarios where language can be a barrier.  One way of doing this is through art.  Isabel and her classmates are able to relate to each other by working on art together.  Translanguaging is an opposite view from Rodriguez’s view, as it wants to keep the individual culture of every student while still teaching the culture of power.