A song to remind us not to give up..

"Unschooling" Hands-off approach to education allows kids to make their own decisions.

Wondering what you all thought about this idea of "unschooling" that is becoming popular. Kids are essentially home schooled but create their own lessons and are free to do as they please. As secondary teachers it is possible that these children could be placed into our classroom. How could we work the students who have been raised in this kind of environment?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFgVgRvmSeM


-Hannah Wise

A little inspiration to make you smile

If you have 5 free minutes in your life I recommend that you watch this video. It was an incredibly inspiring video that shows strangers coming together and connecting through communication and the sharing of their personal stories.Turning strangers into friends I hope you enjoy! :)

-Christine

These two posts on Facebook have been a trending topic recently. Any comments on the video on common core and the illegal immigrant game?

“Catch An Illegal Immigrant” Game Planned For University Of Texas

://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/catch-an-illegal-immigrant-game-planned-for-university-of-te


Legit: Tennessee high school senior decimates Common Core
http://youngcons.com/legit-tennessee-high-school-senior-decimates-common-core/


Post by: Ivan Valdovinos

This video is the epitome of what this class entails. I suggest looking at it.

Ivan Valdovinos

Just another interesting read I stumbled upon

http://www.musingsonlifeandlove.com/2010/09/13/the-hardest-job-everyone-thinks-they-can-do/

Nick Harteau

common core decimated

http://youngcons.com/legit-tennessee-high-school-senior-decimates-common-core/

Please take a look, I think this is very important for everyone, not just teachers.

Nick Harteau

New way to grade?

http://q13fox.com/2013/11/14/federal-way-parents-say-kids-are-flunking-classes-due-to-new-grading-system/#axzz2kkUZJVyB

Just stumbled across this from my old school district. Not quite sure what to think about it but I am going to look more into it but it does not look like it is taking well with students and parents. Interested to see what everyone has to say on it.

nick harteau

Vocational Programs in High Schools

So I had a pretty slow weekend this past Veterans Day. Naturally, I watched a lot of Food Network to pass the time. On two separate shows, there were featured contestants that had been considered "at-risk" youth. They both credited vocational culinary programs as something that had helped get them off of the streets and on a path that had helped them discover their passions and get them on the right path. These programs are often underplayed and students are steered away from these classes in lieu of the core classes. President Obama has responded to the benefits of this program by recently announcing an additional $1 billion investment into the Carl D. Perkins Act fund, with an attention to engineering and healthcare. Unfortunately, much of this funding is going to focus on educating post-high school students. Currently at a 22% rate of unemployment rate for youth in our country, we need to rethink our current vocational programs and prepare our youth for the workforce. Many students who graduate from high school will not attend a four-year university, and we need to prepare them for their transition into adulthood.
As teachers, we will hopefully have a pretty good understanding of our students and recognize the ones that will not enter the university route. We need to encourage students to think about their future and work with our fellow teachers to make sure that we are guiding productive members of society. Teachers involved in the CTE programs at schools often have contact with business leaders in the area and know of jobs that are open or about to open. We also need to instill in our students that taking a vocational route is not something to be ashamed of. What would this world be like if it weren't for our plumbers, electricians, garbage people, and agricultural workers? We would be covered in waste, in the dark, surrounded by garbage and hungry.

This is what we do

I've seen this video several times.  Every time I'm amazed, inspired and definitely tear up.  Being a teacher and a coach is more than giving them the facts and the skills but it's the chance to make them better human beings.  Be connecting with your students you can impact the way they want to be, the choices they'll want to make and hopefully we all get the chance to have students or players do something amazing that makes you break down and cry with pride.

Everyday Leaders

Hey everyone! While I was at my staff meeting, this TED Talk was shown. I really appreciated the message that was in here. We can make someone's day brighter without even knowing it. If you all watch this video share your thoughts that came to your mind. Have a great day! ~ Andrew

Cougador Mask: To Be or Not to Be?

While I was on Facebook, I came across a petition to stop the distribution of the "Cougador" mask at the October 31st football game due to "devaluing  and decontextualizing a part of the Chicano/ Latino cultural identity." What do you guys think of the petition? Are people taking this too far? Do you guys think it is ok to be able to dress up like a Mexican for Halloween?

http://www.change.org/petitions/wsu-athletics-department-stop-the-distribution-of-cougador-masks-at-the-oct-31-football-game




Ivan Valdovinos

Week of October 22: Physical Environment

Weinstein states in Chapter 2 "Often, school environments provide physical security but fail to offer psychological security- the felling that is a good, comfortable place to be. Psychological security is becoming increasingly crucial as more and more youngsters liver in impoverished, unstable, and sometimes unsafe home environments. For the, in particular, schools must serve as a haven" (p. 34).

IN WHAT WAYS DOES PSYCHOLOGICAL SECURITY CONNECT TO SADOWSKI AND DELPIT DISCUSSION OF "SCHOOL DEPENDENT CHILDREN?"  Using both the reading and your own experiences, WHY IS PSYCHOLOGICAL SECURITY important to be aware of and WORK FOR? Can you think of examples in your own life as students in middle or high school? 

Physical Environment: Freedom Writers, Couches and Penguins

     Last night I watch the movie Freedom Writers and those student began to feel the classroom as a home. The teacher, Mrs. Erin Gruwell allowed her students to share their stories and incorporated their struggles into the classroom. This allowed the students to first see the teacher as a human who genuinely cared for them which facilitated the students to be open with one another along with the teacher, who initially knew nothing of their upbringings. The desks were initially set up in lines facing the front of the room. This set up did not allow the students to discuss with one another and further broke up the cliches/groups. As I watched, the desks moved to the sides and the desks faced each other. This set up allowed the students to discuss more with each other. This built a better community because were encouraged to debate and their views mattered in Mrs. Gruwell's class.
     During my practicum experience, I have a teacher I observe who had couches in his classroom. I never asked why the couches or how do you decided who sits at the couches but I see that this makes the room 'homey'.
     Lastly, I had a teacher in high school or who had a stuffed class pet; it was a penguin.  This penguin went on trips with the students and became a mascot. For example, two students went to Hawaii during Christmas break and the penguin went along on the trip. The penguin became a symbolic identifier for the class.

"Some Study That I Used to Know"

I totally just nerded out to this song. It doesn't really add much to any kind of learning on your part, but its fun to listen to and pretty easy to relate to. Its sad that I find this stuff hilarious now. - Jenny Harris

Kid President Song

Hey everyone. I know at the beginning of the semester we showed a kid president video in class and everyone seemed to like it. Here is a song version of a couple of his videos mashed up. I think the message is a good one to be sending out into the world. Even though this is for everyone trying to do better, I feel this can totally be related to us becoming teachers. I view this as a way to help create a safe environment for our students, because of a couple of lines such as "keep going, keep going, keep going" and "it's love gives us hope". As talked about in class and my own personal experiences, the best teachers are those who show interest in their kids. Both those lines from the song are encouraging for people and if we can encourage our kids, than hopefully that will help with the environment of the class. What do you all think about this? Agree or disagree? I posted the link below. ~ Andrew http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFGcrYPdrJU

"How Movies Teach Manhood"

I really like this video. The movies that students watch are dominated by the "stand alone hero" and don't promote working together as a team. While it may be a jump from movie themes to sexual assault statistics, it does bring up an interesting point. Why are we seeing this increase of sexual assaults? Is there a correlation between pop culture and these statistics? Just something to think about

At what point are we doing a disservice to our students? By Tim

We have been learning how we need to change our teaching strategies so we can meet the needs of all our students. Personally, I agree with this to a point but I can also see the downside as well. Putting the material in a context so the students can better understand it is one thing but providing too much assistance or holding their hand to insure success isn't helping them. Since I coach soccer at the high school, I get to see the differences in the students of today compared to when I was in high school. The kids today have a hard time dealing with adversity. One student in particular was enrolled in a math class, after the first test that he did poorly on, his parents allowed him to drop the class because it was a hard class. What happens to him when he is in college or has a job and is given a hard task? He will have no idea how to deal with the situation because he has always been bailed out of any uncomfortable situation. Where is the line of modifying lessons to help the students without making it easy for them? How do we make sure we are giving every student the opportunity to succeed and prepare them for their future lives where accommodations will not be present?

Justs doing some research on culturally responsive classrooms

After we're done with college I know it's going to be impossible to recall everything we've gone over, but here is another post on a different blog, National Equality Project, that discusses briefly 5 ways to create a culturally responsive classroom.

http://blog.nationalequityproject.org/2012/08/22/5-ways-to-create-a-culturally-responsive-classroom/


- Nick Johnson

White Privilege

Watch 11:05-13:20

http://vimeo.com/25637392

ALL FOR A PAIR OF SHOES

ALL FOR A PAIR OF SHOES

I was thinking about the video we watched in class the other day by Macklemore and it really made me think about my own experiences with this topic. I touched on it a little in my autobiography but fashion really does have a huge impact not just in school but in society as a whole and when you really think about it, they are just clothes and shoes. I mean, what is the purpose of clothes and shoes in the first place? To keep up warm and feet protected? Unfortunately I do not see us as a whole abandoning these ways and fashion will always be a big priority. Even with songs like "Thrift Shop" where famous stars say its ok to shop at Goodwill and other second hand stores and the increase in "hipster" living, the same stars still have high end taste. Macklemore is a great example of this because even though he sings about wanting to take his Nike shoes off because he doesn't want them to consume him and create his identity, in real life he is a huge sneakerhead meaning he loves to have the new Air Jordans and other high priced shoes.

I am guilty of falling into a sneakerhead category and do have shoes I have not worn or tried on but I feel I have other motives. When I was in school I wasn't able to have nice things and I had to sit back with my brothers and watch more fortunate families provide for their kids with the best everything while we had to make due with whatever we could afford. I think that has made me appreciate things so much more and while I may have a lot of shoes, most wouldn't know that I have almost every pair of shoes I have ever owned. I try and take care of my stuff so it will last. I have saved my money and bargained and searched for the good deals to get what I wanted and that includes shopping at thrift shops too, but that's not to say I have spent a pretty penny on something that caught my eye. Either way, I think as long as you are smart with your money, have your own sense of identity and aren't letting society and companies cloud your judgement by telling you what is "popular" or "in" then its ok to have nice things and reward yourself every once in a while. Just be conscious of your decisions and never resort to violence. It is sad to see and hear violence happen over something silly like shoes. Just a few of my thoughts on the topic, here's a link I remember seeing a while back and although sad, its true.

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Mom-of-teen-murdered-for-Air-Jordans-launches-campaign-to-stop-violence-212396861.html

A Cartoon describing our school system

I thought that this picture sums up the need for differentiating instruction.

-Lizzie

Using tech from the past as a psychomotor assessment by Stephanie

I know I wish I could use this as an assessment. What about you guys? I know a lot of us feel like we're over-worked right now, so I thought a super awesome idea for an assessment courtesy of a Grad student somewhere out there in the world would help ease the stress a little.

How much fun can we bring into our classrooms? Check the link below. It's actually pretty cool.

An Educational Pwn Up by Dorkly

12-year-old Girl Arrested for Bullying

While reading news articles, I came across this article about bullying. I thought that it was interesting that a pre-teen got arrested for constant bullying. I think that this can be a great article to share with students because it can open up conversation on the topic of bullying. This article can possibly show students the repercussions of bullying. Even though the article claims that all severe bullying cases can go under investigation, I believe that it is biased due to the fact that the school where this incident occurred was a private middle school. I am curious to see if this would to happen in a public low-income school would the same actions be taken? 

By Ivan Valdovinos

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/02/20791972-12-year-old-girl-arrested-for-relentless-bullying?lite= 

Positively Present

As we begin this week of class, I thought I might share a few words of wisdom. In all areas of our life, and certainly in this class, I think everyone can benefit from maintaining an open mind. I find myself sometimes forgetting to do this and I hope I'm not the only one! This is something to remember as students now, and one day as teachers.

-Hannah Wise

http://www.positivelypresent.com/2010/09/7-benefits-of-being-openminded.html

National Diversity Day (Coming up this Friday)

I think this would be an interesting thing to include in curriculum. Have a diversity week, where you could spend your class time discovering and learning about content specific figures of diverse backgrounds, showing students that "being white" has nothing to do with "being important" or "being smart."

The NDD website can be found by clicking here.

By Stephanie

Philosophy of Education example: It's connection to Delpit

Class,

As you are reading through Delpit's book, I would like you all to keep note of some of the very interesting suggestions she makes. She most of her examples surge from urban schools of predominantly African American students, her ideas and suggestions can be applied to any setting and with any student.  Check out this philosophy of education and the principles it lays out:
 http://ows.edb.utexas.edu/site/sardegnas-student-site/slades-teaching-philosophy

After reading through Mr. Slade's philosophy, I find many connections to Delpit.  For instance, principle 2 ( The teacher must provide opportunities to read, listen to, watch, converse in, and write within a range of contexts that students will encounter inside and outside of school, while trying to instill a love of academic learning in all students) reminds me of Delpit's call to make learning meaningful for teachers to teach contextualized and non-isolated skills, amongst her suggestions on curriculum, pedagogy, and classroom management. She states:"Only a consciously devised, continuous program that teaches skills and develops vocabulary in the context to real experiences, provides rigorous instruction, connects new information to the cultural frameworks that children bring to school, and assumes that the children are brilliant and capable-and teaches accordingly- can" (p. 58). 

WHAT OTHER CONNECTIONS CAN WE MAKE BETWEN THIS PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION AND THE POINTS MADE/STORIES SHARED IN LISA DELPIT'S BOOK? HOW DOES THIS SAMPLE PHILOSOPHY PUT DELPIT'S DISCUSSION INTO PRACTICE?   Share quotes and page numbers. 

Javon Johnson - "cuz he's black" (NPS 2013)

BE MORE AWESOME.

After today, I wanted to share something that I know most of you have probably seen (I've watched this at least three times in the past two weeks), but I'm sure we can agree it has some valid points that should be acknowledged more than once. Like naming your pet dinosaur Reginald.

Personally, I felt our discussion in class today was difficult and challenging, but ultimately it was productive. I'm glad to be part of a classroom environment that where people respect each other enough to be open and honest about situations like the one we dealt with today. I know for a lot of us (myself included) we struggle with associating our identity and culture to the curriculum we are learning, but isn't that going to be our job one day? If you feel like you don't have culture or your culture isn't important, remember that because I have no doubt there will be students in your classroom that feel the same exact way.

BE MORE AWESOME.

-Alex

American Culture

A post by Lizzie

We talked in class about American culture, and how white students don't have culture. This reminds me of a country song. The song is American Saturday Night and the lyrics focus on how American culture is a melting pot of other nations and cultures. I thought I'd post the song so that people could think about which aspects of their lives are influenced by other cultures and other countries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhgOwc6-QG4

What do you think?

Here is a link to a video of Tim Wise discussing multicultural classes and how classes are not multicultural because the curriculum is designed by white people. The audio is not the greatest but you can still understand him well enough.

Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P5CDI5mw70

Comments on Stand and Deliver by: Christine

About the film:

 

I really appreciated the approach that the teacher had, the idea that the students will rise to meet his expectations and that he need not lower them. I also felt like he actually connected to his students and made it so they wanted to please him out of respect for him as a teacher.

 

One of my favorite quotes from the movie was:

 

"... There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of those two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do. *Math* is the great equalizer... When you go for a job, the person giving you that job will not want to hear your problems; ergo, neither do I. You're going to work harder here than you've ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is *ganas.* *Desire.* "

 

It's something that's often overlooked in today's society because everyone thinks the problem is fixed and that racism no longer exists. I love that movie was honest about it and called attention to it, I also appreciated how he didn't say to wait for society to change but instead he taught his students that it is going to be a tough ride and they are going to have to work twice as hard. the teacher never gave his students excuses, instead he gave them reasons to fight back and became stronger and smarter.

 

 

 

Stand and Deliver

A post by Lizzie

Stand and Deliver was made in 1988, so the facts at the end of the movie only show Garfield High School's pass rate for up to 1987. I was curious about what happened after that, and I found this article:

http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Escalante.html

It's a bit long, but it details the success of his math program over the years and what happened to it. This article really shows the bureaucracy of education and what role district politics can play in education.
Thoughts?

50 Shades of Students

I thought that this video was really interesting and corresponded to the idea of a "spectrum" of students. Whether you are talking about disabilities, gender, sexuality, race, etc. I believe that talking to students about where they may fall on a spectrum would be a pretty powerful lesson for the first day of class. Just something to keep in mind.
- Jennifer Harris

'That was Hannah Montana'

    I am feeling culture and identity has been discussed in a very fast matter and pushed into our brains to a point I cringe when someone says the words identity and culture. I tend to be blunt but this is a blog and I'm frustrated.  We talk about for an hour and then we move onto the next topic for the next day's discussion. It does not matter how long we talk about culture, identity, disabilities, assessments, we will not become good teachers if we don't practice working with these topics.
     Also I am feeling that I lack a culture and this has made my feel inadequate to teach students of different racial and or cultural backgrounds because I am not one of them. I am here not because I am white or of a social class, I am here because I worked hard and I want to make students to 'do better'. We all have a culture, we have all been bullied, we all have weaknesses, that is what makes us unique and we need to have our strengths define us.
    I will be a good teacher despite the race difference, despite the social class difference, I will be a good teacher because to me your race doesn't make you a bad student, your social class doesn't keep you from attending college, it is you, the student.
     Some look at Miley Cyrus as trashy and questionable but at least she is doing what she wants and is being who she wants to be. She said in an interview, "I was never the Disney Child Star, that was Hannah Montana". In a more recent interview, she explained how artists in the hip hop/rap genre ask her [Miley], 'do you know what kind of music you are making?' suggesting that a young Caucasian adult cannot make music about twerking or clubs. She replied along the lines that she knew what kind of music she was making. Although I do not like the music she is making at least she does not make excuses for or hide who she is.

Making History

While reading some of the current news articles in the NBC news feeds, I came across an article titled "Transgender Homecoming Queen Makes History." I recommend reading this article because it shares with us the importance of being ourselves regardless of race, gender, class or sexual orientation. Last week we spent some time discussing the LGBTQ community and to further continue this discussion, some of the questions I pose are the following: How do we educate our students about the LGBTQ community? How do we create environments that are inclusive of every community without putting them on the spot thus creating opportunity for bullying?

Transgender Homecoming Queen Makes History



http://www.today.com/news/transgender-homecoming-queen-makes-history-4B11222434

by Ivan Valdovinos

Competition

A post by Lizzie

This article was on the Yahoo newsfeed. It features a woman who was fired from her library position following her defense of a young boy who has won the library's summer reading contest for five years in a row. This summer he read over sixty books. The head librarian decided that this kid intimidated all of the other kids, and in order to make it more fair, wanted to change it from a "You read the most and you win" system to a lottery system. If a child read a certain amount of books, they would be entered into a lottery and then prizes would be given to the kids' whose names were drawn out of a hat. The librarian in question defended the boy's win and was fired shortly after.

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/closing-a-chapter--beloved-librarian-fired-following-reading-contest-controversy--185514741.html

What do you think about this idea?  The idea that one kid's success intimidates others, so therefore the system is reworked? Is competition between students a good or bad thing? Do you think that the librarian should have been let go?

FROM THE MOUTHS OF RAPISTS: THE LYRICS OF ROBIN THICKE’S BLURRED LINES

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/09/17/from-the-mouths-of-rapists-the-lyrics-of-robin-thickes-blurred-lines-and-real-life-rape/

French lawmakers have banned child beauty pageants in order to stop the "hyper-sexualization" of young girls. Should we put an end to Toddlers & Tiaras here in America?

Check out this site. Thoughts?

Bullying (Nick Johnson)

Found this a few days, a 12 year old girl  killed herself as a result from bullying on social media. When should we begin to start educating our students on bullying in schools? 


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57603173/bullies-use-social-media-to-urge-12-year-old-to-kill-herself/

Imagine a world where being "gay" was the norm and being "straight" was the minority

Please please please take 19 minutes to watch this short film and reflect on what some of our students are going through today . Thoughts? "LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED??"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOJgDW0gPI

Are You Serious?!

So since we are talking about bullying and name calling in class, I thought this article fit in perfect to how mean people can be. Cyber bullying is something that exists ESPECIALLY in this day in age. Cyber bullying is something that happens outside of the classroom and is probably harder to stop but at least with cyber bullying there is proof that something was said and it should be stopped.

Here's the link:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/a-lot-of-people-are-very-upset-that-an-indian-american-woman?bffb

Two things for thought:

First thing: I know this is slightly old new, but I thought you all might be interested in reading this:"Blurred Lines" Banned at Edinburgh University.

And secondly, I wanted to share a video that me and a couple of friends put together our sophomore years for an Anti-bullying PSA project...the videos don't belong to us but we compiled it all and added the text and music.

Link to the youtube video :)

-Christine Sweet

Masculinity

Masculinity

 Toug Guise: Violence, Media, and Crisis in Masculinity

Ohhhh Buzzfeed

I, like everyone else loves to spend time on buzzfeed. As I was wasting time there I came across the buzzfeed titled "34 Reasons It’s A True Tragedy Tom Daley Isn’t Gay". As I made my way down the page I couldn't help but to feel ashamed of what the author was saying. His claims made no sense at all. One of his claims was, "Because he likes beaches and lots of gay people like beaches too". WHAT?!!! Since when do you have to be gay to enjoy the beach?

I scrolled down to read the comments and it seemed like no one else found offense to this except for one person! That was probably the most shocking thing for me. What has our society come too? How can reading something like this be okay? Do we ever stop to think about the other person's feelings?

Anyway here is the link:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattbellassai/reasons-its-a-true-tragedy-tom-daley-isnt-gay

-Yuri

A Pick-Me-Up, If You Will

By Stephanie Long

I figured we could all use a good laugh at something that is relevant to our class. How could we turn something like this around and use it in our classroom to help promote diversity and getting along? I think, personally, I'll be hanging this picture up in my classroom to bring some humor to my students, and talk to them about how its meaning would change if you replace the word hate with the word love.

Thoughts?

Depression and what kids are facing under the surface

Post by Lizzie

Someone posted this on my facebook newsfeed, and I thought I would share it with you guys. I know we've been focusing on race, gender, and societal pressures but to me the underlying current is each student is an individual with an individual background. This includes culture, family, and personal issues. One thing that a lot of students suffer from is depression. I wanted to share this video that might perhaps help you understand what's going on under the surface with some kids, especially the ones that look like they have it all together. It's kind of long, but worth it.

http://www.upworthy.com/this-kid-thinks-we-could-save-so-many-lives-if-only-it-was-okay-to-say-4-words?c=ufb1

One Classroom, Two Genders (A look @ Teacher gender); Kyle Toyra

The following link will take you to a NY Times article. It is interesting in that it looks at teacher gender and its impact on students!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/opinion/one-classroom-two-genders.html?_r=0

Boy Wears Pink Zebra Shoes to School

Link to Article

Here's my favorite quote from the article

"The kids didn't tease him or anything, which I thought was great and really showed how children are taught about gender roles instead of simply knowing them. My family really never made any negative comments, though."

It will brings up thoughts about where gender roles are stemming from and who/what are perpetuating them?

-Christine

GoldieBlocks for Girls by Kim

Hey ya'll.

So I don't remember when I saw this- must of been over the summer on Facebook (probably one of you shared it) but its this idea that toys designed for boys facilitate higher and more deeper thinking that lead them to become engineers and scientists when they grow up and because girls play with barbies and princesses that that is why so few women are in these fields that are predominantly male. This female engineer created this toy designed for young girls to be engaged through storytelling to build and solve the problems in the stories with the building set- spatial and verbal learning. BOOM!

Ch. 5 about gender learning reminded me of this idea and video. It's interesting to think how children develop and PLAY as kids can effect their learning and possibly life.

Personally, when I was a kid I played with Transformers and K'Nex and Leggos (God, I love Leggos) and I do think it simulated my mind and learning but in a different way than when I was playing make believe house or with my Barbies in their Barbie Dream House.

Anywho, anyone who hasn't seen this video about the GoldieBlocks should check it out. Its very interesting and kind of cute to see the little girls excited about creating to solve problems :) Let me know what ya'll think!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AtZfNU3zw

Let's Talk About Race

Check this video out super funny and true.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-6-2013/the-r-word

The Power of Wors

Hello fellow peers, hope all is well.  I was thinking it might be fun and beneficial to, as a class, define some of these powerful words that come up in our readings.  A few that came to mind for me were, stereotype, identity.  How do we define these works and what do these words mean to me.  

Tulsa school sends girl home over hair

Thoughts?

http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Tulsa-school-sends-girl-home-over-hair/sGcEwBSrm02W8ZSBNnGoXQ.cspx?fb_action_ids=10151578956477190&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B579593642082300%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.recommends%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Draw my life by Andrew Chamberlin

Hey everyone! While we are talking about identity and diving deeper into finding out who we are as individuals this idea came into my head. Jenna Marbles is a popular youtuber and created this video a couple months ago called Draw My Life. In this video she has a whiteboard and draws out significant moments that really have shaped her into becoming the person she is today. I think that this is a great idea that could possibly be for an assignment if we want students to reflect on who they are as an individual. The person who is drawing can tell their story the way they want to, which gives a sense of freedom in a way. If you haven't seen this video I highly suggest you watch it because it brings you through both happy and sad emotions. Let me know what you all think!

Heres the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCxzaHC30Ec

Rappers promoting the N word by Yuri Can

I stumbled upon this article that talked about how a Florida sheriff accused Florida Gulf Coast University of promoting the use of the N-word, drug use and sexism by trying to bring Ludacris and Kendrick Lamar over for a concert. 

I found this interesting because we live in a society where we are always throwing racial slurs around like there is no tomorrow. It obviously isn't a good thing but I believe that it is very common in any society. So are the sheriffs actions a little too over the top or is he actually trying to make a change?

Music is such a great influence, and I can see why the sheriff is upset about bringing these rappers down. However, I do believe that music can also just be music. I personally just listen to the beat and never pay attention to the lyrics. Ludacris and Kendrick Lamar are very popular and it makes sense on why the student body wants them to perform at their school. When Ludacris was here for SpringFest, Beasley was packed! 

Anyways I just found this article interesting and wanted to share... Here is the link:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/entertainment/florida-sheriff-says-florida-gulf-coast-university-promoting-use-n-word-bringing#

Sexual Inequalities in Pop Culture posted by Stephanie Long

This may seem somewhat vague in that it does not deal with culture in a sense of race, but I think it's important none-the-less. (Give our discussion on Miley Cyrus last Thursday)

Recently, a parody video of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" was taken off of YouTube because it violated their terms and conditions -- basically, it was deemed too sexual. Meanwhile, Thicke's video continues to air on the website, even though the uncensored version contains topless women being objectified like sexual toys.

The idea of objectifying women can be seen throughout the pop culture scene, but I don't believe I've been more offended by a single video than while watching this one. What is this kind of behavior teaching younger generations, in particular our own students? How will this shape or influence their behavior both in and out of school? How can we, as teachers, counter act this kind of gender representation in our classrooms? Not only the objectification of women, but that of men as well.

The girls reversed the roles, making a video (as a joke) that objectified men in return. Was their behavior appropriate? Do you think it was just or fair for them to create a video objectifying men? Was it right for YouTube to remove their video while keeping Thicke's up? Keep in mind YouTube is a public website that can be accessed by any age of viewer. It's fairly simple to lie about one's age on the internet.

A lot of the comments are very interesting as well, although not always well versed.

Check it all out below!

WARNING: Both of these videos may be found offensive to viewers. Watch upon your own judgement.

Parody Article with Link to Uncensored Original Video

Harrison Bergeron

Post by Lizzie Horne

As we do our readings this week, our book talks about race and the ways that racially identity plays out in the classroom. Our other block 2 courses also talk about student differences and how we can help them achieve at the same level. In chapter 4 of our book, Adolescents at School, it talks about high achievers, and how they often receive discouragement from their peers.

All of this discussion about treating everyone the same made me think about a short story that I read in the ninth grade, called Harrison Bergeron. The link can be found here:

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

I encourage everyone to read it. It's not very long, and I think it applies to our current topics beautifully. In this story, everyone is equal. Unfortunately, because of this equality,  people are being handicapped in order to be the same as everyone else. In an effort to put everyone on the same level, they had to pull everyone down to the level of the lowest achievers. I wanted to share this story because the reading for Thursday reminded me of this point.

What do you guys think? Do you think this happens in the classroom? What can we do to celebrate our students' differences while still encouraging everyone to achieve to their fullest potential?

Question for discussion: How can learning empower students who feel little connection to school?

"Give the world a reason to dance" -Kid President

In the video we watched in class, Kid President talks about taking the path that leads to awesome. He asks: "What will be your Space Jam?"

So, what will be YOUR Space Jam? What will you create?

 "We in education, at universities or in K-12 schools, re charged with preparing the minds and hearts of those who will inherit the earth. I view it as a sacred trust." - Bell hooks




http://youtu.be/l-gQLqv9f4o