Dennis Carlson - Gayness, Multicultural Education and Community
1. “I want to suggest that public schools may play an important role in helping build a new democratic, multicultural community, one in which sexual identity (like other markers of difference including class, gender, and race) is recognized, in which inequities are challenged, and where dialogue across difference replaces silencing and invisibility practices” (p.233)
Ok, it’s just the first paragraph of the reading but I have to say I’m thinking…Just like Delpit and Rodriguez…another job for the Teachers. We need to deliver codes of culture of power for Delpit, English language for Rodriguez, and “democratic multicultural education…in which all voices are heard and truths are understood” for Carlson. Don’t forget…English, Reading, math, Social Studies…Don’t get me wrong, I’m up for the challenge…but it is a challenge right? Really, I believe this first quote is what motivates Carlson’s whole writing in this reading.
2. “One way to rupture the boundaries between groups is to emphasize the multiple subject positions (class, race, gender, sexuality, etc.) we all occupy. Thus, I am not merely a gay person, but rather a gay, white, male with a particular working –class background and middle-class status and occupation.”
I believe he is telling us how important it is as future teachers to instill in students that we are all individuals – with whatever characteristics make up that individual, and we all have many layers. But, it’s how we respond to others and how they respond to us that involve our cultural background, our personal experiences and beliefs and it’s within our ability to recognize this and make our own decisions on how we act upon our background and experience that is so important. He is looking for the same as Johnson in Privilege, Power and Difference p. 6 “you’d think we could treat one another with decency and respect and appreciate if not support the best we have in us”. In addition his message of young people building alliances to have a sense of community is also so important and I hope would contribute to much lower rates in dropout, drug abuse, and suicide
3. “The objective of classroom discourse is thus not so much to achieve consensus on one “true” or “objective” depiction of reality, but rather to clarify differences and agreements, work toward coalition-building across difference when possible, and build relationships based on caring and equity” (p. 252)
He wants Students to be educated as to the realities of all real relationships, marriages, families, and lifestyles in this world and to be open to talk freely about them, in an environment where everyone feels comfortable to have a “voice” to enable clarity of difference and to work toward equity. Again, like Johnson…you can’t fix it if you don’t talk about it.
Although this reading does seem dated on some of the information there are too many valid points and arguments for the need of multicultural education and building a “multicultural community” to not see Carlson’s point of view on this. I enjoyed this reading and all the information it made me aware of such as normalizing curriculum.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Richard Rodriguez – Aria
1. “What I needed to learn in school was that I had the right - and the obligation - to speak the public language of los gringos.
This quote is in the opening paragraph and supports the main point of this reading. Richard is resistant to learning the English language. He is viewing the English language as simply an instrument of words to communicate with the world outside his family. To Richard English is used to give answers in school or to communicate something of necessity to others. Spanish is for “self-expression”, feelings, and family. He is in first grade, and at such a young age to realize the importance of the “great lesson of school – that I had a public identity” This part of the reading reminded me so much of Delpit p.29 when she comments teachers ensuring that the school provides children “spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society” Richard was lucky to have teachers that understood his need to speak English but maybe not the way they went about it.
2. “The old Spanish words… I had used earlier – mama` and papa` - I couldn’t use anymore”
I kept referring back to Delpit in my mind in the reading. She would not approve of the teaching methods used here: demanding Richard to speak up to the entire class when he was unsure of himself and the English language, calling him Richard instead of Ricardo, and asking the Parents to use English at home to name a few. Now that Richard and his siblings are gaining more confidence in their use of the English language and perhaps the American culture or codes of power they are loosing their Family togetherness and culture. Are the examples of not being able to call his Parents “mama and papa”, the growing lack of conversation at dinner, and the lack of the father’s participation at family gatherings, the “cultural genocide” Delpit referred to in her reading? I think so.
3. “So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.”
The importance of teaching children who do not speak English the English language is not just an issue of communication. You can see in how Richard tells how his story his confidence builds, identity strengthens as he becomes more confident in the “culture of power” ( Delpit / Johnson). He recognizes the loss within his family but also that we all go through this as we grow.
I enjoyed how this reading was written. How personal the story was and the importance of the message it delivered regarding “teaching the public language”. It does show some of the possible negative effects it can have on a family. I’m not quite sure why it seems like it was an all or nothing for Richard. Like he never spoke Spanish again, but Richard is happy.
1. “What I needed to learn in school was that I had the right - and the obligation - to speak the public language of los gringos.
This quote is in the opening paragraph and supports the main point of this reading. Richard is resistant to learning the English language. He is viewing the English language as simply an instrument of words to communicate with the world outside his family. To Richard English is used to give answers in school or to communicate something of necessity to others. Spanish is for “self-expression”, feelings, and family. He is in first grade, and at such a young age to realize the importance of the “great lesson of school – that I had a public identity” This part of the reading reminded me so much of Delpit p.29 when she comments teachers ensuring that the school provides children “spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society” Richard was lucky to have teachers that understood his need to speak English but maybe not the way they went about it.
2. “The old Spanish words… I had used earlier – mama` and papa` - I couldn’t use anymore”
I kept referring back to Delpit in my mind in the reading. She would not approve of the teaching methods used here: demanding Richard to speak up to the entire class when he was unsure of himself and the English language, calling him Richard instead of Ricardo, and asking the Parents to use English at home to name a few. Now that Richard and his siblings are gaining more confidence in their use of the English language and perhaps the American culture or codes of power they are loosing their Family togetherness and culture. Are the examples of not being able to call his Parents “mama and papa”, the growing lack of conversation at dinner, and the lack of the father’s participation at family gatherings, the “cultural genocide” Delpit referred to in her reading? I think so.
3. “So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.”
The importance of teaching children who do not speak English the English language is not just an issue of communication. You can see in how Richard tells how his story his confidence builds, identity strengthens as he becomes more confident in the “culture of power” ( Delpit / Johnson). He recognizes the loss within his family but also that we all go through this as we grow.
I enjoyed how this reading was written. How personal the story was and the importance of the message it delivered regarding “teaching the public language”. It does show some of the possible negative effects it can have on a family. I’m not quite sure why it seems like it was an all or nothing for Richard. Like he never spoke Spanish again, but Richard is happy.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Jonathan Kozol
Amazing Grace
Quotes: 1. “Why do you want to put so many people with small children in a place with so much sickness?....”
This quote represents the issue of this whole reading. The staggering statistics provided at the beginning of the reading is enough to show that something, many somethings, need to get done. When you continue reading into the shared stories of the lives they touched upon it’s tragic to see them as victims of a system that has gone wrong and has placed them here and has not seen to their basic human needs and rights. No one, especially children, should live in unsafe housing or communities, in the sickness, and drug addiction, prostitution, and other conditions described in this reading. Children can’t develop emotionally, physically and intellectually if they are not provided with their basic needs.
2. “The point is that they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants,” she says. “The waste incinerator is just one more lovely way of showing their affection.” I ask, “Does it insult you?” “It use to,” She replies. “The truth is, you get use to the offense.”
During these stories being told to the Author throughout this reading of seeing a boy shot in the head, sleeping through the night in the cold and hoping you wake in the morning, waste incinerators that other neighborhoods don’t want, drug dealers, prostitution, HIV/Aids, beyond poor healthcare, etc….they are all just discussed as a way of life. This is it. It is just the way things are. For the most part like the author phrases it on page 17 “She seems resigned to things the way they are” Everyone quoted in the reading seems this way. No one except for Cliffie’s Mother in my first quote and David at the end in my 3rd quote seem to question things. They just live with things the way they are.
3. “Evil exists,” he says, not flinching at the word. “I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil…”
This quote is from David. He is blaming the rich or some rich system perhaps for the things that have happened in his and his Mother’s life. Someone is responsible for the neighborhood they are in, his Mother’s healthcare, her missing welfare checks, everything. It isn’t God, but it is someone with money that is responsible. It all comes down to others control on their lives and they have them in a living hell and are doing nothing about it from his perspective.
Questions/Comments/Points to share
I enjoyed reading how Amazing Grace was written as a story of this Author’s experience conducting his research and interviews of the people of Mott Haven. There are awful statistics and stories shared in this reading. No one should have to live in these conditions. There needs to be appropriate housing, food, safety, and healthcare available to all.
Kids Count
Amazing Grace
Quotes: 1. “Why do you want to put so many people with small children in a place with so much sickness?....”
This quote represents the issue of this whole reading. The staggering statistics provided at the beginning of the reading is enough to show that something, many somethings, need to get done. When you continue reading into the shared stories of the lives they touched upon it’s tragic to see them as victims of a system that has gone wrong and has placed them here and has not seen to their basic human needs and rights. No one, especially children, should live in unsafe housing or communities, in the sickness, and drug addiction, prostitution, and other conditions described in this reading. Children can’t develop emotionally, physically and intellectually if they are not provided with their basic needs.
2. “The point is that they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants,” she says. “The waste incinerator is just one more lovely way of showing their affection.” I ask, “Does it insult you?” “It use to,” She replies. “The truth is, you get use to the offense.”
During these stories being told to the Author throughout this reading of seeing a boy shot in the head, sleeping through the night in the cold and hoping you wake in the morning, waste incinerators that other neighborhoods don’t want, drug dealers, prostitution, HIV/Aids, beyond poor healthcare, etc….they are all just discussed as a way of life. This is it. It is just the way things are. For the most part like the author phrases it on page 17 “She seems resigned to things the way they are” Everyone quoted in the reading seems this way. No one except for Cliffie’s Mother in my first quote and David at the end in my 3rd quote seem to question things. They just live with things the way they are.
3. “Evil exists,” he says, not flinching at the word. “I believe that what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil…”
This quote is from David. He is blaming the rich or some rich system perhaps for the things that have happened in his and his Mother’s life. Someone is responsible for the neighborhood they are in, his Mother’s healthcare, her missing welfare checks, everything. It isn’t God, but it is someone with money that is responsible. It all comes down to others control on their lives and they have them in a living hell and are doing nothing about it from his perspective.
Questions/Comments/Points to share
I enjoyed reading how Amazing Grace was written as a story of this Author’s experience conducting his research and interviews of the people of Mott Haven. There are awful statistics and stories shared in this reading. No one should have to live in these conditions. There needs to be appropriate housing, food, safety, and healthcare available to all.
Kids Count
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