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.

speaking the unspeakable

HYPERLINKS:

reading this article brought a lot of things to my attention.  i had no idea that children so young would ask questions.  if i were asked before reading this article how old a child should be when you should start discussing this topic i would have said middle school.  i now realize that the younger the better.  these childs minds are impacted greatly on what they are taught at a very young age.  in this video the children are set up to watch two proposals both gay.  they are then asked questions and every child says that they think people should just be happy.  i liked this video because children think its ok before they are influenced by negative thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TJxnYgP6D8

FIRST DAY AT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

October 8, 2014

I was assigned to go to Alan Shawn Feinstein Elementary school on wednesdays from 12pm-2pm.  Having never tutored or taught children in a real classroom setting i was very nervous for what it would be like.  I entered the school and was paired up with a kindergarten and second grade class.  I go to each class for an hour.  First i went to the kindergarten class.  The class was separated at 6 different tables all with different activities.  They had about 30 minutes at each table.  I sat at one table and assisted them with counting and drawing the number that they had rolled with the dice.  each table had a different math game.  some students had no problem rolling the dice reading the number then writing the number and drawing that certain number of leaves on the paper.  a few select students had trouble concentrating and counting.  when i entered the second grade class the teacher gave me two students so i could go practice math with them in another room.  one student i was with was very good at the math i gave and the other student needs a lot of attention and help.  hopefully with time i can help him get on the right tracks to concentrate and be up to speed with his classmates.

Rodriguez reading: Question

Speaking a different language then the norm around you is very difficult.  When you enter in a place and you are the outcast you feel lonely, left out and scared.  I have been in the situation where everyone around spoke spanish and all i knew was english.  it is very difficult to understand what is happening around you and you feel like you are on a whole different planet.  Richard learning english to fit in and be able to learn in school is nice because i thought he would have been bilingual but he lost his spanish language along the way.  it must have been difficult for him to learn english once knowing a different language first because I've had experience in language classes and it was very hard for me to just learn key words in a different language.


Question:
why do they not have different languages in schools? they may teach a class but why don't they provide the whole system in the language that the child speaks?

An Indian Fathers Plea: Quotes

An Indian Fathers Plea
by: Robert Lake



"He is 5 years old, in kindergarten, and I can't understand why you have already labeled him a "slow learner"."  This quote was the first one to really stand out to me.  The reason this quote stood out to me was because when i read it i thought "how can a 5 year old be judged as a slow learner when he is just beginning to learn?".  To me every 5 year old is equal, they are all just starting out and just beginning to learn, so it is to fair to judge one that is not catching on as quick as the other kids because learning takes time and it takes each person a different amount of time.

"He is not culturally "disadvantaged", but he is culturally "different"."  I really liked this quote a lot because it goes to show that not everyone is culturally the same.  Just because a student or a peer is different cultural wise does not give them a disadvantage in any way.  It just means that he has been brought up a different way and to me i see that as an advantage.  I see that as an advantage because when you exposed to different cultures and ways of living that gives so much experience that the classroom could never give.

"All I ask is that you work with me, not against me, to help educate my child in the best way."  I liked this quote because it shows that the teachers should be working with the parents and students.  Parents should be involved in their childs schooling and i feel that that will educate everyone.  Every child deserves to be educated the best of the teachers ability and to work with parents to do whatever possible to help any child.


I chose this image because it shows that everyone around the world is equal and should be treated equally.  we shouldn't push away people of other cultures we should all come together and learn from one another.

Kozol article

This article was very sad to read.  I had never in my life given the bronx much thought besides the fact that it was a bad place.  After reading this article i now realize how bad it is and i really feel for the people that have to live there.  I especially feel bad for the young children that live there.  They have no choice but to stay in that area because they are only children.  They do not get a good education because of their living conditions and most of the times their parents do not care.  this makes me upset because those children could have a bright future ahead of them and they could be capable of so much yet they are stuck in this cruel world.  Some are lucky enough to get out and live a better life but for the ones that can't get out i really feel bad for them because they do not know another way of life.  it is not fair to those people stuck in that place, they deserve opportunities just like everyone else.