Allan Johnson "What Can We Do? Becoming Part of the Solution"

Johnson's article from "Privilege, Power, and Difference" is basically about trying to eliminate exclusion, rejection, privilege, harrassment, discrimination, and violence. Johnson feels that "silence and invisibility allow trouble to continue" and in order for it to change poeple have to "do something". Johnson brings up skin privilege numerious times within this text and often repeats that people with power are the ones that dont know they have it, as we have previously discussed in other works we have read over the past few weeks. He also brings up a good point that "privilege exists when one group has something that is systematically denied to others not because of who they are or what theyve done, but because of the social category they belong to." This means that people arent given the opportunites that others are given just because of what class they belong to and how much privilege and power is associated with that class. It doesnt matter how great you are at different things, because you will be judged and placed in a category regardless. This next quote that stood out to me: "oppression also takes many forms, most notably avoidnce, exclusion, rejection, unequal access to resources and rewards, and violence". I think it stuck out to me because I knew before reading it in black and white that this was true, but actually reading them really resignated with me. A statistic that also kind of shocked me was when Johnson said "racial oppression has been a feature of human life for only a matter of centuries, and there is abundant evidence that male dominance has been around for only seven thousand years or so which isnt very long when you consider that human beings have been on the earth fr hundreds of thounsands of years". I didnt ever realize that there was any research about how long male dominance has been around for and it shocked me because I thought males were always the dominant sex between the two.
Overall I enjoyed reading Johnsons' piece and found it interesting and easy to read and understand. The only thing that was sort of annoying to me was that it seemed too wordy and drawn out and I felt he couldve put his ideas into a shorter version. That being said, I learned a lot from this piece and it was one of the only peices this semester that I didnt feel bored reading.

Christopher Kliewer "Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndome"

Kliewer's article "Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome" is about how students with disabilites should be viewed as equals in the school system and be able to participate and learn in a "normal" school environment instead of specialized schooling. Kliewer argues that putting kid's with down syndrome and other disabilites into special education classrooms with actually hold these students back academically more so than if they had been placed in a normal classroom. Kliewer feels that "success in lkife requires an ability to form relationships with others who make up the we of community. . .we must learn to work with others, and this holds true whether we ultimately are destined to lead a multinational computer software firm, inspire a civil rights movement, raise caring children, bag groceries, or chat and feed squirrels with an old man on a park bench." I feel this is true to his theory about disabled kids because regardless of whether they are in a sped program or not, once they are forced to enter the real world they will have to learn to form relationships and it would be a lot easier on them later in life if they learn social skills earlier rather than later. Douglas Biklin states, "society itself is hurt when schools act as cultural sorting machines and discriminate on the basis of ability, gender, ethnicity and race." To me, this quote is correct because it doesn't give students experiences that they will be abvle to relate to in the future if they are only put with kids like themselves. Diversity helps students learn about others as well as themselves, and forcing kids into a non-diverse environment will only hinder their ability to learn and grow. Also, the fact that "schools have traditionally taken a narrow position when defining and judging student intellect" seems very unfair. Just because someone is different or has a learning disability does not mean they are any more or less smart than the student who appears more "normal". some children just need more stimulation to get them motivated to learn or need different tools of teaching to succeed.

Overall this article was hard for me to read and did not keep me focused. I liked some of Kliewer's ideas and rationalizations, but the good stuff was sometimes overpowered by the boring stuff. The parts I liked most were the little stories he added. They made it a bit easier for me to read through and helped to make sense out of the information.

Blog #10

Jean Anyon's "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" is basically about how different classes are seperated into one of the following type of schools: working class, middle class, affluent professional, and executive elite. Anyon did research within each of these types of schools located in New Jersey and her findings were that each schools teaching methods differed upon what class the children's families came from. In the working class schools Anyon observed that teachers only gave one way to do different tasks and were not taught that there was many times more than one way to do things. She also observed that the manner in which the teachers spoke to students was often times sarcastic and also yelled often. It was basically the teachers way or no way at all. "teachers observed in working class schools attempted to control classroom time and space by making decisions without consulting the children and without explaining the basis for they decisions. The teacher's control thus often seemed capricious." This quote I think verifies that the pedagogy in the middle class school definetly does refer back to their class and what, more than likely, the skills they will need in their career later on in life. In middle class schools that Anyon did field work in she observed that the student were given some decision making within the classroom,but that it was still very strucutred and went by what the teacher and the faculty of the school said. "The style of conrtol of the three fifth grade teachers observed in this school varied from somewhat easygoing to strict, but in contrast t the working class schools, the teachers decisions were usually based on external rules and regulations".
In the affluent professional school the students do alot of independent work and appears to do a lot of hands on activites, which more than likely would be a good skill they will need to perfect in their future line of work. The teachers also appear to be much more enthusiastic and encouraging. Three children at the most at a time are allowed to leave the classroom at a time, showing some signs of trust within the classroom. This school 'class' stood out to me because as Anyon states "the products of work in this class are often highly valued by the children and the teacher". This showed the kids that what they did in class actually meant something beyond just the assignment itself and gave the kids purpose instead of a feeling of busy work.
The executive elite school seems to be very different from the other types of schools. The teachers never use sarcasm, are respectful to the children, teach numerous ways of doing things, and the kids seem to run the show on some levels. One example Anyon used that I thought really backed up her idea that the schools were ultimately preparing the kids for what they would be doing career wise is when the teacher said "when youre up there, you have authority and you have to use it. I'll back you up.'"
I really liked reading this article and found it really interesting at how differently privilege affects people, even at the elementary school level. If the kids in the working class schools just happened to be born to people in the executive elite school they would be starting life off with more going for them then if born to a lower class.

Blog #9

Charles Lawrence's "One More River to Cross" - Recognizing the Real Injury in Brown: A Prerequisite to Shaping New Remediess is basically stating that brown vs. the board of education did not really give blacks as many equal rights in the school system as some may believe. Personally I don't agree with this. I think it was a a stepping stone that needed to be taken in order to BEGIN to give blacks the same opportunities as whites. It would be too far fetched for one issue to change what had been going on for decades before. Lawrence goes on to talk about segregation in length and appears to think that it has not really gone away. However he quotes Professor Charles Black "it was actionable defamation in the South to call a white man a Negro, that placing of a white person in a Negro railroad car was actionable humiliation, and that a small portion of Negro blood put one in the inferior race for segregation purposes." I personally think that these ideas have changed dramatically and issues of race have diminished a lot since the time that segregation was around. I do agree with "to seperate engro children from others of similiar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community in ways unlikely ever to be undone" because I cant imagine being forced into a room seperate from others just because of my skin color. I think there would be a lot of resentment and frustration to say the least and those feelings would probobly not go away very easily, in fact they would probably go on and stay with you for life. Lawrence believes that the segregation in schools isn't the only problem and that fixing the school segregation won't fix life for blacks.

I really enjoyed reading "Whites Swim in Racial Preference" by Tim Wise. The opening paragraph about the fish and the water was a good analogy and caught my attention immediately. The article is basically about how racial preference is relevent today, however many white poeple can't see it because they are so used to it. "White families on average, have a net worth that is 11 times the net worth of black families, according to a recent study; and this gap remains substantial even wehn only comparing families of like size, composition, education, and income status." and "A full time black male worker in 2003 makes less in real dollar terms than similar white men were earning in 1967." These two quotes really proved to me, even if I dont necessarily want to believe its true in this day and age and that people are allowing this to happen, that some forms of segregation and black privelage do occur. Wise ends his article with "So long as those privilages remain firmly in the place and the preferential treatment that flows from those privileges continues to work to the benefit of whites, all talk of ending affirmative action is not only premature but a slap in the face to those who fought, and died, for equal opportunity." I believe this is very true and also eye opening because people talk so mcuh about equality and how things are so much better now, but in all actuality life is still really hard for minorities and they arent given the backpack filled with all the tools they need like white people are. No matter how mcuh poeple talk nothing is going to change without action to back up the words.

"Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community" Dennis Carlson

Calrson's argues in his text that gay people need to feel that they are welcomed into a community where, up to this time period, they have been shunned. He states that schools need to be more open to discussing "gayness" at a young age and that gay people also need to be comfortable enough within their community to come out without feeling that they are doing something wrong and without being anxious about their decision. One thing that Carlson points out is that "analysis needs to proceed through an account if the specific techniques and apparatuses of power that have been employed in the school to keep gayness 'in its place' as an invisible presence. Three techniques of normalization and (hence) marginalization have been of primay importance in this regard: 1 the erasure of gayness in the cirriculm, 2 the "closeting" and "witch hunting" of gay teachers, and 3 verbal and physical intimidationof gay teachers and students." After reading these 3 points that Carlson brings up I tried to think of myself in the position I would be in if I was gay. I realized that I would probably feel uncomfortable and never really be able to be myself and show the people around me who I really am without be self conscious of what others will say or even do. Carlson goes on to discuss famous writers who were gay and that this "cleansing of gayness from the literary canon is ofen defended as an effort to maintain the reputation or 'good name' of authors by not 'outing' them." This wording actually offended me a lot. I felt that why would the publishers be tarnishing their 'good name' when they were famous for being great writers, so why would anything in their personal lives affect how they are seen today? I almost feel that if this information was more widely known, they would become more famous because it seperates them from other writers. Another thing that really offended me in this work was when Calrson explained Willard Wallers' view that "nothing seems more certain than that homosexuality is contagious" and that "gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as contagious." I felt that this statement was appalling and not only that but completely rediculous.
All in all I really enjoyed reading Carlson's work. I liked the way he wrote and it wasn't boring for me at all. I liked how he brought in other's viewpoints and with him doing that it opened my eyes to how, for lack of a better word, insane people are. Its really appalling to me to think that there are people who talk about other human beings like they are carrying around the black plague just because they are different from themselves.

Rodriguez "Aria" and Collier "Teaching Miltilingual Children"

"Aria" is a story about Richard Rodriguez's childhood experience growing up in an assimilated classroom where he was forced to soley speak english. Rodriguez felt that this process stripped him of his family culture and tradition and ultimately caused his family to lose the closeness they had once shared due to the family converting to speaking english most of the time. At one point, Rodriguez describes the event of the teachers from his school going to his house and asking his parents if "it is possible for you and youre husband to encourage your children to practice their Engish when they are home?". This was the beginning of a process that was described as a game within the family when speaking English with eachother. They would sit at the dinner table and speak English, lauging when they couldn't say a word or understand what it means. Over time, however, Rodriguez seems to become bitter about not being able to speak his native language and begins to see that it is slowly tearing the family apart. He also states how awkward he sometimes felt speaking English because it didnt 'belong' to him. He had trouble determining what to call his parents. "mama and papa i couldnt use anymore . . . all those terms i felt were unsuitable, not really terms of address for my parents." He also describes an incident when he walks into the house and overhears his parents speaking to eachother in spanish and when they notice he is there they switch to English. Rodriguez got upset by this and was forced to leave the room.
Overall I thought this piece was interesting and easy to read. I understood that Rodriguez felt that he lost a part of himself when he was forced to speak English instead of Spanish and that this greatly affected his home life as well.

Collier's "Teaching Multilingual Children" is about the responsibility put upon teachers to both teach multilingual children correctly, but also to be aware of their culuture. Collier states that it is important to teach kids what they need to learn, but also respect their background. " The key is the true appreciation of the different linguistic and cultural values that students bring into the classroom." Collier also states that "1. be aware that children use first language aquisition strategies for learning or acquiring a second language." This statement is very true because when a child learns one thing it opens pathways to learning more, the same is true with languages. She also states that "3. dont teach a second language in any way that challanges of seeks to eliminate the first language." when reading this I thought that maybe if the teachers Rodriguez had had been told this, he would not have felt so out of place in his youth.
This piece was really hard for me to read. I found it boring and half the time after finishing a paragraph I'd have to go back and read it again. I agree with many of the topics Collier presented, however perhaps it could have been told in a more personable way in order to keep the readers attention.

one addition to school context..

Today at school I actually saw a really great relation to the kid's culture. The teacher was asking the kids math questions such as "is 999 more or less than 1000?". The kids looked really confused and bewildered and after asking different versions of this question and many of the kids answering incorrectly, she asked the same questions in spanish. Immediately the kids recognized what the quesiton was really asking and they got the answeres correct. Just thought I'd add that..it was interesting to see.

School Context Assignment

Driving up Mount Pleasent Ave to see George J. West Elementary on my right I was kind of a shock to me in some ways. The first thing I saw was a chain link fence surrounding the play area where tons of little kids were running around and playing. I thought it was strange to have such a harsh looking fence surrounding an area where kids should be feeling welcomed and safe. I parked my car and was pretty early so I sat and watched for a few minutes. I noticed a lot of different races, but at that point I did not notice even one white child. After looking at the demographics I realized why. There were 58% Hispanic, 24%African American, 15% white and 3% asian. Walking through the plain, bare corridors I tried to remember what the walls looked like in my own elementary school. They were filled with artwork, pictures from different recreations, posters and probably more things that I just cant recall. But in these corridors there was nothing, not a stitch. As I walked into the office I was also kind of taken aback to see that every single teacher there was white, not one was a minority. Why would a school with such diversity not reflect that with their teachers as well? The classroom I was assigned to was also not as I had expected either. I expected the typical classroom of desks in rows with the main focus put on the teacher's desk and the chalkboard. However, instead of desks there were 5 tables with chairs spread out around them and an easle with a colorful rug next to it as the main area for the teacher to give lessens. The room was sort of cluttered, but not with anything that I viewed as important to these children's culture and race, more with posters of the classroom rules and ABC's. There were about five computers spread along the walls, but I did not see them being used often due to having too much work to complete. The computers, to me, seemed to be more of method to keep the kids busy if they finished their work more than a tool they need to learn to use in this day and age. Many of these kids probably can not afford to have computers at home so if they were to be able to learn the basics it would be a great asset to them. As far as cirriculum is concerned the only books I have seen used are reading and math textbooks. To me this shows that perhaps the school does not have the funding needed to provide more textbooks to help with these kid's education. Handouts are given out periodicaly with different reading activities on them. These handouts actually do correllate to the student's culture and race because some depicitions of people on them are minorities and not the typical images that I am used to seeing of white people. Another good thing that this school does to integrate learning with making the kids feel comfortable and not embarressed is that they split kids up into classes with similiar reading and math levels. I think this is a great strategy because 11% of the students in this school are English as a Second Language and if the kids were all just jumbled randomly into groups they would not be recieving adequate education and they may also feel alienated and made fun of at the same time. The pedagogy of the classroom appears to not be very structured. The kids are given enough work to be busy the entire time and not have time to get into "trouble". However during this time the student's socialize quite a bit and are free to walk from table to table if they have questions. The children also get up and go to the bathroom without asking first, which shows a sign of trust between the teacher and her students. This trust may help within the classroom to give the students a feeling of ease when approaching the teacher. I believe Delpit would not agree with the pedagogy in this classroom because I don't feel that the person who has the power, in this case the teacher, is really doing an adequate job of reflecting "middle-class values and aspirations". It appears that the teacher is more conerned with making sure there are no problems in the classroom and the time they are in that specific classrrom is filled up with work.
Some informal interactions I have personally witnessed is when the minority girls were playing with my hair. I believe they were noticing the differences of race and how it affects how one looks. An African American girl also asked me, "are there any black people in your family?" to which my reply was "no". She seemed so shocked at this revelation and it later occured to me that maybe she was not even really aware of my actual race and that is why my answer confused her. Perhaps I just assumed that she knew I was right, since I am white and I just assume that I never have to tell people what my race is, like McIntosh states in her text. One incident in the classroom that was appaulling to me was that the children were rewarded for good behavior with food such as crackers or cookies. After looking at the demographics and noticing that 76% of the kids at G.J.WEST are eligible for free of reduced lunches I realized how cruel it was to dangle food in their faces when maybe they don't have meals regularly and these little snacks are a rare treat for them.
All in all I do not think that this school represents the demographics of the community very well. I beleive that if the school was to take a little more initiative it would not be very hard to represent, celebrate, and honor the different cultures and races within this school.

"Data show racial bias persists in America" by Muwakkil and McIntosh "White Privilege"

McIntosh's main idea in "White Privilege" is that racism does still exist in America even though many white people feel that it has ceased. She feels this is true because white people still have more advantages over minorities even though many whites do not realize it. This exists in everything in everyday life such as getting a job, going shopping, being able to say different things without having people judge you by color, living in areas where you want to and so many more. These things are certaintly true, even though it is a touchy subject. After reading this article I realized that I overlook the privileges that I have just because I am a white American. McIntosh states within her text 26 "skin-color privelages" that she has noticed in her daily life. Reading through these, I related to them immediately. I definetly agree that her examples are accurate, however taken for granted amongst white people today. McIntosh also states that she "had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilegem which puts me at an advantage."I had never actually thought of this subject in the manner that McIntosh suggested, but after digesting it I came to realize the truth of it. Growing up I was taught about racism not unlike McIntosh had, but also had never realized that others' injustices were my advantages. It surprised me how I had always seemed to overlook and take this point for granted. McIntosh also made a relation to this topic in a way that I really liked and made sense to me. She described white privilege as an "invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day . . . white privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisisons, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." I feel that this was an interesting, along with accurate, way of thinking of skin-color privileges. White people do not neccessarily realize they're wearing this knapsack 24 hours a day, but they are., and within it is everything they need to succeed. White people are at a constant advantage by wearing it because the provisions included in it are something that minorities start off without having and they are difficult, in many cases, to earn. I believe that McIntosh is stating that the only way for minorities to succeed and for racism to truly be abolished is for white people to recognize the privileges and the codes of power that they have and use that to help others.

"Data show racial bias persists in America" by Salim Muwakkil is basically along the same lines at McIntosh's text. Muwakkil states that in a recent poll the question "do you feel that racial minorities in this country have equal job opportunities as whites, or not. Fifety five percent of whites polled yes." I believe that by adding this in his article Muwakkil meant to show that white people are sometimes oblivious to the injustices that minorities go through. He was also talking about how a field experiment was run where 4 job applications were distributed. 2 of the names were very white sounding names and the other 2 were very black sounding names. The results were that the 2 white sounding names got more likely to be called about the job than the 2 black sounding names. Again, this shows that racism is still predominant within America, even though it is not seen as much as it was years ago.

Kozol, "Amazing Grace" and Goldberg "Jonathon Kozol"

Jonathan Kozol's"Amazing Grace" was both informative and moving. Kozol spoke about the hardships of those living in the Bronx. Issues such as welfare, disease, murder, drugs, prostitution, housing, and hospital conditions were some of the topics Kozol described. It amazed me how these people are living and what small children are constantly subjected to. It made me question how anyone could expect these people to better their lives when they are not given the tools to do so. Another thing that shocked me was that the city of New York allowed a burner to be placed in the Bronx since the previous location on the East Side of Manhattan had been "successfully resisted by the parents of the area because of fear of cancer risks to children". I had to question, why was it not okay for children on the East Side to be subjected to cancer risks, but it was alright for the children in the Bronx to risk the same outcome?
Some of the stories that were told stuck with me for much longer than it took for me to read them. One such story was the following... "In early July of 1993, shortly before the first time that I visited the neighborhood, three more people were shot in 30 minutes in three unrelated murders in the South Bronx, one of them only a lack from St. Ann's Avenue. A week later, a mother was murdered and her baby wounded by a bullet in the stomach while they were standing on a South Bronx corner. Three weeks after that, a minister and elderly parishiner were shot outside the front door of their church, while another South Bronx resident was dscovered in his bathtub with his head cut off. In subsequent days, a man was shot in both eyes and a ten year old was critically wounded in the brain". This description of the amount of violence the residents of this area had to deal with on a daily basis, the fear they must feel doing simple tasks that I take for granted, really made me realize how bad they have it and how hard it would be for one to get out of that horrible situation and environment. Not to mention that most are barely able to afford the necessities in life like food, clothing, and housing so how would it be possible to pay for an education which in this day and age is so rediculously expensive.
I feel that "Amazing Grace" was the most eye opening article thus far. It did not sugarcoat any issues. Kozol also touched on the codes of power that Delpit's "Silenced Dialogue" talked about. One of the boys that Kozol met with frequently, David, called him one night and said, "'Evil Exists' . . . 'I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in tis city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power. Pretending that they don't so they don't need to use it to help people-that is my idea of evil.'"

Goldberg's "Jonathon Kozol" is basically going against the teaching of Jonathon Kozol. Goldberg beleives that his books are turning American's into a culture who does not have pride for their country and will criticize it every chance they get, but will be easy on other countries. I do not really agree with much of what Goldberg says because how could one man change the way people act or their patriotism? Goldberg also stated that Kozol has affected teaching methods in America. This may be true, I'm really not sure, but again I feel that maybe Americans are so outspoken about their own culture because they were raised to say what they feel and to be grateful for the freedom of speech. The only quote that really stood out to me was "Far too many of today's schools are violent, and far too many are filled with kids who dont care much about learning." I'm not really sure what this had to do with Kozol, because he certaintly could not have single handedly done this to American schools. Goldberg's article was confusing to me, it felt like he was trying to stretch ideas in order to make Kozol look villanious but his points really had no significant relation.

My relation to the "culture of power"

Lisa Delpit argues in "the silenced dialogues" that there are different codes of power and rules that some people who are not generally a part of the codes of power do not know. She states that "if you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that clture makes aquiring power easier." I completely agree with this statement and luckily I was familiar with these codes of power throughout my life.
I grew up in a middle class family with 2 older brothers and an older sister. My dad owned a barber shop and my mom worked for the city. My siblings and I all went to a Catholic school filled with upper-middle class people. I remember pulling into the parking lot filled with Mercedes and feeling the need to get out of our crappy old Chevy as fast as possible without being seen by my friends. Still, I knew how to act towards my teachers and I knew that I was supposed to be respectful and always follow directions. I went to Classical High School in Providence which is considered a "high performing" public high school which you have to take a test to get into. However at Classical I sometimes felt that I was the minority because many of the kids were other ethnicities and it shocked me how many kids came to school wearing the same clothes as the day before, who talked about losing their homes, kids who came to school an hour before most others did in order to get the free breakfast that was served, and so many other scenarios. I didnt realize it at the time but I know feel that they were at somewhat of a disavantage because they were not raised with the codes of power. They were, along with myself, in a good school that is ranked high but at the end of those 4 years many were not left with as many opportunites as I was. Countless kids, when asked about what college they would be going to, stated they were going to get a full time job to help pay their parents' bills. My brothers also went to this school and my sister went on to a private high school. I did well academically in high school and went on to college in order to advance my career.
Without knowing the codes of power I may not have been able to succeed thus far in my life. Hopefully after knowing these codes I will be able to pass them on to the students I will be teaching in the future so they will be able to succeed to the best of their abilities as well.

"The Silenced Dialogue"

"The Silenced Dialogue" by Lisa Delpit was basically about different codes of power within school systems, I think. Some pages were missing so right when I began getting into different ideas the packet skipped two pages, so I was thrown off a bit.
One thought of Delpit's that stuck out to me was when she began explaining "dialect readers" which were "seen as a plot to prevent the schools from teaching the linguistic aspects of the culture of power, thus dooming black children to a permanent outsider caste. As one parent demanded, 'my kids know how to be black-you all teach them how to be successful in the white man's world.'" This quote was powerful to me because of the apparent assumption of some people that in the classroom kid's aren't being taught all of the different codes of power that would help them to succeed within the real world and not just be teaching them book smarts.
An idea that I thought was a revolutionary and creative way to teach kids was to relate topics they are learning in school to topics the kids are actually interesting in, as Amanda Branscombe did. As described "when she was working with black high school students classified as 'slow learners' had the students analyze rap songs to discover their underlying patterns. The students became the experts in explaining to the teacher the rules for creating a new rap song. The teacher then used the patterns the students identified as a base to begin and explanation of the structure of grammar, and then of Shakespeare's plays. Both student and teacher are expert at what they know best." I thought this was a really great way to corporate each individual student's knowledge, making them feel comfortable while learning, and in turn helping them understand a topic which most student's could honestly care less about.
"I am certain that if we are truly to effect societal change, we cannot do so from the bottom up, but we must push and agitate from the top down." This is very true because in order to make changes people need to put pressure on those who are in power and not on those who really can't do much to provide the change that we need.
Overall, I really found it hard to read "The Silenced Dialogue". It did not grasp my attention all that much besides a few quotes that stood out to me and I found myself becoming less and less interested after each page I read. Also, Delpit's language she used did not resonate well with me.

First 2 Days doing the SL project

Okay..let me start off by saying..wow. These kids really blew me away. They were so funny and warm and opened their class to me immediately. I got to George J West Elementary superrrr early and found my way to the office and signed in. Then I met my teacher, Mrs. Callaghan, in the classroom and we chatted about the school and the kids for a while until the kids came running in. It was SO hysterical to me that literally EVERY SINGLE GIRL commented/played with my hair and asked about my jewelry. Dr. Bogad called it! The first half hour we did an art project and I just went from table to table meeting all the kids and introducing myself (Ms. Lennon was sooo weird to hear) and helping the kids cut out paper heart cards for their father's. At 9:30 the class switched with another group of kids that are all kind of in the same reading level. Again I was bombarded with hair and jewelry questions along with the "who are you, "how often will you be here" questions. We all sat on the rug and did vocabulary words and then the kids were asked to write each word in a sentence. (I came across one snag at this time..some little boy kept putting his feet up on a girl's chair and she was getting SO mad about it so I tried to give him the "mom eyes" im so synonymous for at my job. I was surprised, however, that the eyes had ZERO power over this kid! I tried a couple times more and it was still hopeless. Finally I say "TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF HER CHAIR OR YOUR SITTING AT THE OTHER TABLE ALONE!" .... needless to say he stopped) The sentences took about an hour for all the kids to finish but in this time I really got to know the kids and I think I made a pretty strong relationship with the kids. By the time it was time to go the kids were hugging me and asking when I'd be back and if I could come more often than twice a week, which made me feel like I'd done a good job.
The second day went pretty much the same except I tended to ask kids to come in groups with me instead of me wandering from group to group. In the morning we did another art project. At 9:30 we did vocabulary and then writing sentences. Around 10:30 or so I took two kids and we did math problems. I didn't yell at any of the kids on the second day either, so that was a plus. Mrs. Callaghan also told me I had been doing a good job and she was thankful for the help, so that was a reinforcemenet for me. I told the kids when I was leaving I'd be back Thursday and as I was leaving they were switching to go to different classrooms. I got hugs all the way down the hall..it was so cute.

Allan Johnson

Here's a pic of Johnson..he said he was a "white, male, heterosexual" so many times I thought he might be lying..who's to say he's heterosexual though? So his whole theory that the way a person is viewed by others is in turn the way that person will be treated is a bit of a contradiction...seriously...

Allan Johnson's "Privilege, Power, and Difference" was, to me, somewhat repetitive. I felt that he made some good points that I did agree with but instead of putting his thoughts into a 2 or 3 page work he made it super long. His main ideas were that some people, namely white male heterosexuals, have greater opportunities than others just because of the fact that they have these characteristics.
One quote that I thought was good was on page 6... "We need to feel that we belong to something bigger than ourselves, whether it's a family or a team or a society. We lok to other people to tell us that we measure up, that we matter, that we're okay. We have a huge capacity to be creative and generous and loving." I feel that this quote is very true in general to everyone because humans are definetly social beings and we need the acceptance of others to validate ourselves, for whatever reason, and if we arent given that validity we somehow feel we dont belong.
Another that stuck out to me was when Johnson was speaking about racial profiling. I think I said something about it during class, how I felt it was still true today...but heres the quote... "The simple truth is that when I go shopping , I'll probably get waited on faster and better than she will. I'll beneift from the cultural assumption that I'm a serious customer who doesnt need to be followed around to keep me from stealing something. The clerk wont ask me for three kinds of ID before accepting my check or accepting my credit card."
This final quote I thought to be somewhat eye opening to me. I never really thought of race in this way but Johnson's outlook was interesting. "...skin pigmentation varies from one person to another. What he is saying is that unless you live in a culture that recognizes those differences as significant nd meaningful, they are socially irrelevant and therefore do not exist. A 'black woman' in Africa, therefore, who has not experiences white racism, does not think of herself as black or experience herself as black, nor do the people around her. African, yes; a woman, yes. But not as a black woman."
Overall I think "Privilege, Power, and Difference" was interesting and informative, however he repeated some things so many times that it got almost irritating. =)

About Me

Hi. My name is Sara. I'm 21 years old and live in Providence. I've been at RIC for 2 semesters...transferred from CCRI. I work full time at a Residential Group Home for abused and neglected children from ages 5-12 in Pawtucket and pretty much all I do is work and go to school. My job can be tough sometimes (restraining kids for example) but I feel the experience I'm getting will pay off when I'm in a classroom and forced to deal with behavioral problems. On my spare time I usually just go out at night with friends to different places. I have 2 older brothers (one of which is having a baby soon so all I've been doing is buying baby clothes) and an older sister. My summer so far is going alright, but I wish it was hotter out because I'm dying for some beach days. I have a minute to minute countdown to May 30th..sex and the city movie..its kind of an obsession. I have a 1 year old Yorkshire Terrier named Chloe...which I'm equally obsessed with. Shes adorable. This class looks like it should be interesting, but a lot of work. The vips stuff starts tomorrow and I'm having a small anxiety attack about it. But hopefully it will turn out alright. We'll see...