Belly dancers vs Burqas

I didn't know what to expect going to this meeting.  I honestly was dreading going but it really opened my eyes to a lot.  When the women first started speaking he had us complete the sentence "Muslim women are....." and we wrote it on a paper and give it to her.  She then read every answer in the room.  Most of the answers were words such as "oppressed", "misunderstood" and "beautiful".  I wrote down the word "conservative".  After she read all of the answers in the room I was shocked at some peoples answers.  Some people seemed to judge these women for the way they dress.  They were judging people they dot even know.
After finding out what others in the room thought of Muslim women we started looking at different images.  She spoke about Aladdin and how it shows racism in the movie wether you catch it or not.  Jasmine was portrayed as a beautiful woman with small features and revealing clothes.  However Jafar had more realistic features and he was portrayed as evill. Also in the movie there was originally a song with the lyrics " where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face but hey its home."  They changed these lyrics before the movie came out.

She then showed us this image of a muslim women. 

A man took this picture of this women without even asking her.  The picture then turned famous and bad things were then said about muslim women just by this one photo.  Things were said such that she is angry and sad and in reality she was probably just shocked that someone snapped photo of her. The photographer of this picture was then paid a ton of money to find this women and interview her.  And when he did and her picture was on a magazine they did not even show her face on the cover.  She was all covered up instead of showing who she really is.

I related this experience to our reading to the silence dialog because i feel like these muslim women are being silenced when they should be heard and we should be learning about them and their culture instead of calling them oppressed because they do not say much.  you never know anything about anyone if you are silencing people

I learned to never judge a book by its cover.  I also learned a little about the Muslim culture and that was cool to be able to learn.  Muslin women are viewed as "oppressed" and i learned that this is not true.  They are beautiful smart women who are just like me.  Just because they dress differently then i do does not mean that their personality is any different then someone from the USA or China or Europe.  We are all equal.

citizenship in school

The article and the video we were able to see in class really was close to home for me.  i have a cousin with autism and i believe that he should be able to live a normal life and be treated with respect.  there is no reason to talk down to somebody with a disability.  i absolutely loved the video in class that the girl with downsyndrom made.  she was right in everything that she said and i am so glad that she sticks up for  herself and doesn't let anyone tell her differently.  seperating student with special needs from general education students is beyond ridiculous.  i understand for learning purposes yes it is sometimes better to keep the educations separate but there is no reason why kids with special needs cant be in gym class, sit at lunch or go on field trips with general ed students.  everyone is different and everyone has something to offer in the world and we need to let that shine and let friendships form.  it makes me uncomfortable that some teachers or parents want general ed students separated from special ed students.  and nothing makes me more angry then when a person with special needs is talked down to or left out of sports or activities.  we should be about unity and coming together and being happy and learning from one another.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/8e6d1efc652c472faa6c/General%20Education%20and%20Special%20Education%20Co-Teaching%20in%20Saint%20Paul%20Public%20Schools

this video proves that collaboration is a healthy wonderful thing for the students and it helps them 100% in education.

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route: reflection

this article discussed a lot about the ability of students.  as being a student my hole life i did like having a label in classes or in my grade.  if i knew that i was in the low class it motivated me to better myself and to work harder.  i can see how this can effect students in a negative way though.  students can see it as a bad thing because it can make them feel bad and make them be discouraged in a class.  in this article is says that "the quantity of time spent on learning is the quality of the teaching"  i don't agree with this because teaching is about different ways of teaching not just spending time.  spending time is a great thing though because students need time and need to be able to retain what is going on

Becoming Something Different: links

this article made me think of the reading hunger of memory.  she wonders if she will be accepted and liked and if she will fit in.  in my eyes everyone should be accepting of everyone no matter what.  i am white and don't get discriminated toward a lot but i can only imagine how it must feel to those that do.  i would be so upset if someone was mean to me for my color or where i come from.  these pictures show unity between people and cultures:

 this first photo shows people of different races with a quote saying it makes them accepting and open.

 this picture shows friends from different cultures embracing and sharing their cultures with one another.

this shows what the world is made up of.  the world is made up of different cultures and races and without it the world would be boring and everyone would be the same.  we need these differences in life and we need to embrace it and come together as one instead of being rude to someone from a different culture.  before you judge someone, get to know them, get to know where they are from what they like what kind of food they like, get to know the real them before judging a person that could turn out to be incredible or even your future best friend.

The Other 3 R's Race, Reform, Rights: connections

the connection i made with this video and a reading is the reading of the indians father plea.  this video reminded me of the indians fathers plea because in that article the father or wind wolf was arguing with white teachers about culture.  as this video mentioned the majority of teachers are white.    i personally have only ever had one non white teacher (not sure what his nationality is) and he was a spanish teacher.  a lot of times white teachers tend to be close minded and not wanting to focus on other races or cultures.  so back to wind wolfs teacher.  she reminded me of this video because she did not want to incorporate any of his culure to the class and she did not care to help him when he was falling behind.

in the service of what?: refection

i have done many hours of community service up to this point in my life.  doing so it has taught me a lot about myself and others.  to me community service feels great.  in this article i was surprised to read that it can be thought of as the wealthy helping the poor.  i don't like this statement because community service can be a plethora of things such as volunteering at a hospital or a nursing home or a school or picking up trash.  none of these are helping anyone poor.  it is simply just helping anyone in the community.  i have done a few different types of community service such as working at a soup kitchen, raising money for children with cancer, and now my service learning at the elementary school.
working in the soup kitchen really opened my eyes to a lot.  before i went there i was always afraid of the people on the streets asking or money.  i thought they always had bad intentions.  after i did my hours at the soup kitchen i learned that they are just normal people just like me.  i never judge them now.  everyone has heir own story and you don't know it unless you walk in their shoes.  raising money for children with cancer made me feel amazing.  i knew i was hoping children and families through a tough time.  when cancer strikes a family the last thing they should have to worry about is the money.  my service learning at the elementary school is awesome.  I've learned that all kids are different  and all kids learn different.  it is a great experience for me.  if i were to choose one community service to do over and over again i would deffinetly chose raising money for cancer needs.
reading this article made me realize why i like doing community service and it is the reason that it feels good to help others no matter how big or small the situation.

unlearning the myths behind us: link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfpY4FgccTU

this is a clip of the top five racist disney songs.  this is showing that disney portrays racism without saying it directly.  this is teaching children the wrong thing.  whether they know it or not these kids are learning to be racist toward certain things.  parents and guardians may not notice this but it is effecting their children from a young age when they are sponges and absorb everything that is said to and around them.  disney movies are not the only thing to expose racism.  disney shows, cartoons, dolls and many more things children are around have racism, sexism, prejudice and show children that there is a right and a wrong way to look physically.  for example, barbie shows girls that you should have small features, be thin, have great hair, and have nice things.  girls then start to think they are not beautiful if they do not look like barbie.  media is hurting children right before our eyes.  they are saying that girls should be fragile and beautiful and boys be strong and the leader making money. when i was young i used to look like a typical little girl dressed in pink, a bow in my hair and always playing with my dolls.  even though i was a stereo typical girl does not mean that i didn't like to play with my brother and his friends.  back then no one noticed it as much now.