Pecha Kucha

Delpit- Delpit tells us to the importance to teach the rules and codes of power. i feel like this particularly important in young children. I had a moment where a squirmy child had his feet behind him on the back of his chair. So I looked at him and said "We do not put our feet on our chair. Our feet are to be touching the floor when we sit down." After I told him the rule, his feet remained on the floor. 

Rodriquez??- On my first day I met a little girl who is Spanish. I asked her her name and she told me, I repeated her last name and the girl told me it was Spanish. I told her it was really special to have a Spanish last name and it was beautiful and her eyes lit up. Im not sure if she felt accepted or understood, maybe it would've been more powerful if i was able to talk to her in Spanish.

McIntosh- A single student was selected to wear a special sash and stand outside of their room and direct children to their room in the morning. The Safety Patrol was a good example of power- since those in charge for the day were black or hispanic. 

SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL

Reflection:

I was entering my senior year of High School. From Freshman to Junior year we only had 4 black students in total (one in my grade), we had no hispanic or latino students, and one Asian student ( in my grade). So I walk into my senior year, and I see new faces, new black faces. And I asked myself "Where did you come from?"
Its rare that people move into our town.
And I still don't know "where they came from"

But, that moment reminded me of the Podcast we had to listen to... Where did all those Normandy Students come from? Who let them in here? Why are they here? What now?

While listening to the podcasts- I was most hurt by the ignorance and hostility of the parents. I just couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that they could not see a great opportunity for the students of Normandy- that they were willing to catch a 5:45 AM bus and hitch a ride to get a BETTER education.

It also hurts me that there seems to be a good and bad school.
That the good school is all white students.
And the bad school is all black and latino students.


Look at the bigger picture-  Kristof tells us that our so called "Land Of Opportunity" is more like the land of the standstill. If your grandparents were stuck in the ghetto when they lost their job back in the 60's because the factory shut down... you best bet your present self isn't coming out of that generational poverty. So if there is a 5% chance the poor will get out of poverty.... why is it so bad that students living in poverty go to travel to a town of "wealth" to be educate?
Thats where all the "good" teachers are.

"Breaking up these toxic concentrations of poverty would seem to be a logical and worthy goal. Long years of evidence show that poor kids of all ethnic backgrounds do better academically when they go to school with their more affluent — that is, middle class — peers. But when the poor kids are black or Hispanic, that means racial and ethnic integration in the schools. Despite all the babble about a postracial America, that has been off the table for a long time." - (Separate and Unequal)

Is SCWAMMP telling us its a bad idea? That "Just because I'm white- doesn't mean I'm a Racist..... but those Normandy students shouldn't go here"

"They will bring drugs and violence !" 

Is it demographic prejudice?

I don't see a bright light at the end of the tunnel... but I will applaud students like Brittney for opening her white arms to her new black friend from Normandy Jr. High. 

Westheimer

An Extension to Mary Abbys Blog:

I really loved how Mary Abby talked about her own Service Learning experience to talk about the article. I agree with her in that Service Learning is beneficial for both the child and volunteer. When Mary Abby talks about the perceived notion of the school being gang related- tough, the students being rude.... I had the stereotype before going into the school. And i experienced the same feeling of relief to see that it was not as I had expected. I got the stereotype of inner city schools from movies like Freedom Writers and stories in the news.... my friends in different education programs warned me. But like Mary Abby said- "the stereotypes they had were dispelled"

I think that was powerful of her to say. Not only were my stereotypes flushed away- but like what Ashly had experienced in her service learning with "What is this white girl doing here?"
We have opportunities to banish their stereotypes as well- we want to help.

Christensen- Hyper Link

Unlearning the Myths that Bind us, introduce the reader to think about the "secret education". Christensen talks about how Disney movies and cartoons first introduce children to harmful stereotypes. The most shocking I discovered was the lyrics from the black men singing...

Growing up I didn't understand what the men were saying but now that I'm older, I ask myself why did Disney choose black men? Why did they explicitly sing such horrible things? When I read this article, I started charting out stereotypes much like Christensen's students did.
"Then students started noticing patterns..."
Christensen was correct when she said that in later cartoons Disney's "sophistication" of the secret education increased... dumbo for example. Disney plays a really big role in SCWAAMP.

S- every disney movie includes a heterosexual couple
C- some of the cartoons run christmas specials- Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas... or toys are made with santa hats etc.
W- 4 out of 12 princesses are princesses other than caucasian
A- Americaness... It's apart of the american dream to go to Disney Land
A- Ariel is one of the far few who are not of able body ( after she gets her feet).
M- All the males are strong, confident, aggressive.... all except HunchBack Of Notredame (never watched this one so I'm not sure how the plot unveils)
P- You have to own at least one disney themed something... or you're not cool.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/mlew15/21-absolutely-awful-life-lessons-disney-films-taug-h0se#.hfnRBZzq26

Safe Spaces- Reflection

Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August and Megan Kennedy collectively came together to write Safe Spaces to reflect on the LBGT community and how to include students of that community and how to teach without hurting and while using careful language. This piece reminded me of when I first met an open homosexual man. I was literally given the run down before I met him...

"Just so you know Alex... Kyle is gay.... so be careful of what you say..."

Now, I was 12 or 13 when I first met Kyle and this was when the term "Thats so gay" was spilling out of everyones mouth as if it was the term "like".

 As a child, LBGT was not normalized for me... it wasn't even discussed (may I add). It wasn't until i was in middle school did I hear the word gay. When I was in high school and I worked at an after school program, kids all of ages were throwing the word around without respect for its history. Safe Spaces introduced me to the idea of teaching young children that every family is different... that a simple book like the penguin story or the family story... can be one step for acceptance and tolerance for LBGT. 

Safe Spaces also introduced the example of Post Cards For Buster. (Arthur was & still is, my favorite kid's show, so I commend Mr.Brown for his efforts). This example reminded me of SCWAMMP. The system has to work so hard that it can't run one episode that just so happens to include a family with two mom's? 

It seems a little ridiculous to me that in 2015, after the past few years with the marriage laws, that an episode has to be taken off air. But reflect for a second: What TV show do you know that has a family structure different than Male and Female?