“Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us” by Linda Christensen.

Reflection  

   For this week I would like to do a reflection on the article “Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us” by Linda Christensen. After reading this article I can see why Dr. Bogad said that, when this class is over I will not be the same person, boy was she right!!

Dr. Bogad was like...

   Since I was a little girl I had loved Disney movies, I enjoyed that feeling that you get when watching those movies, princess finding their prince charming. Aww that happily ever after…. good wining over evil, blah blah blah… and as I got older I saw Disney movies as a great influence in children, because I thought that they did a great job teaching kids about good and bad.  I didn’t know the negative effect Disney movies has on children. Until now I had never pay attention to the actual message this movie were sending (shame on me, I know right?)  Disney gives this portrayal of unreachable beauty. 

                                             

I found this picture  in article posted in blogger. It clearly how unrealistic the Disney Princesses compared to how women actually look like. 

In the article Christensen talk about how in those movie children learned that woman are passive, men are strong and people of color are either evil or absent.  It wasn’t until I saw the most current Disney movie Frozen that I saw how I got played by Disney.  People are saying that with the new movie frozen Disney is trying to change the imagine people have of them. In the movie Disney tell that a woman doesn’t need a man to be happy, that she can take care of herself, and I congratulate Disney for that but, in the whole movie I dint saw one person of color. I guess ones can argue that at least they are trying but one question that I would like to bring to class is are they trying hard enough? 

Point to share:  I think that as future teacher is our job to teach our student that all this stereotype does exit. Also we should teach them to speak out when they don’t like something.  I feel that the more we point out all this stereotypes, the more we raise awareness things will become more obvious to others, and the “culture in power” will force to make changes. We are already seeing how Disney are being force to make changes with the movie of Frozen.

P.S. I adore Olaf  

This little guy is adorable  

Reflection: Safe Spaces by Vaccaro, August and Kennedy

Reflection:  Safe Spaces by Vaccaro, August and Kennedy  

First of all trying to do homework with a three year old, saying that she wants to play every five, minutes is extremely difficult.   

My Beautiful Baby Girl 

      This week blog I decided to do a reflection of the article. This article was very difficult for me to read, not because of the word but because of its message. Reading about how humans being are being deprived of their fundamental right, to freedom, to decide what they want do with their own life.  The thing that hurt me the most was my lack of knowledge in the matter. My lack of knowledge got me thinking, that as a member of the Latino community and a woman I had suffered my share of discrimination. But never had I ever been told that I cannot choose my own path that is up to society to choose for me. As a married woman who love her husband dearly, it would’ve cause an excruciating  pain  if I was told, that because of who I choose to be, I couldn't married the love of my life.

      As I continue reading the article, my three year old baby girl sits next to me, she wants to help Mami with her homework.  While I continue reading the article, l can’t help but to look at this three year old little girl coloring next to me, so smart yet so innocent. As her parent my job is to protect her from any harm and to teach her that she can be whomever she desires, that no one can’t tell her any different. But am I being realistic? Am I preparing her for the real world?  I can’t only imagine how hard it must for a parent, who has a child of the LGBT community that feels that the only option they have is to commit suicide because the felt that, they were unwanted, unwelcome.

    Point to share; yes I do agree that school has a lot to improve on how they deal with teaching kids about different type of families. But I do feel that this job belong to each and one of us, we need to stop using derogatory words towards the LGBT people. We need to be aware that we the heterosexual community are the privilege group, like Delpit said, we are the change that this world needs because, and we have the power to create a better world for our children. We have the power to say enough is ENOUGH!!!!

“Aria” by Richard Rodriguez

Reflection

        This week article “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez are hitting close to home, when I first came to this country even though I had my family with it was extremely difficult. At the age of sixteen I found myself going to a new school in a different country. I spend the first few months of school, trying to adjust, most of my classes were in English. I didn't understood the teacher or some of my classmates, not all  of my teachers were understanding but one in particular made my life a living hell, I remember one time when she asked me a question and I couldn't comprehend, she just nodded her head with disappointment, after class I asked one of my classmate who spoke Spanish to tell her that I was new to the school and that I didn't spoke English, her answer was that “this was America and that I needed to get with the program, that she was not going to slow the class for only one person” (I got an F for the class), I remembered going home crying, I couldn't understand why she was being so unreasonable, I wish she could have  known how smart I was in Spanish. When I decided to practice English, I remembered getting laughed at by my classmate. I didn't let that stop me I successfully learned to write and read  English but, there are  a lot of kids like me that  come to this country where people don’t speak their language who ended up dropping out school because they don’t feel welcome or like they belong.  I can rely with the author when he talks about how the teachers put a label on him, “slow Kid” because he wouldn't participate in class.  Even now in college I find myself feeling out of place most my classes I am the only Spanish speaking person. 

Comments; while reading the article of “Aria” I find a connection with Delpit, #2 “There are codes or rules for participating in power, that is, there is a “culture of power”. Like me Rodriguez didn't follow the teacher orders (culture of power) therefore we weren't accepted, because we violated the rules of power. I bet that Delpit would have said that in order for us to excel in this culture we needed to be taught in English.  

Jonathan Kozol “Amazing Grace”

This article have been so far one of the most difficult piece that had ever read. It breaks my heart knowing that people living in one of the riches country in the world, are being deprived of fundamental care. As my fellow classmate julienne it was extremely difficult to pick certain quotes and leave others behind.

 “…..then looks up looks up at me and ask politely. “Would you like a chocolate chip cookie?”

This quote may seem insignificant but, to me it shows the innocence of a child, who is growing in one of the poorest, dangerous, unsanitary and deprived environment in U.S. A child who despite his situation is offering the only treat he has. A child who is an example to follow, even though he doesn't have much, he still find on his heart to share with others.

“Either you wait for hours until someone cleans the room or else you clean the room yourself”

This quote was said by Mrs. Washington when she was explaining to the author why she doesn't like going to the hospital. This statement broke my heart, I couldn't comprehend how is this possible that a hospital doesn't have clean rooms and bed made for their patients, I felt like I was reading about a place in a third world country not about “The world’s Capital”.

“I keep waking up myself. Even if my mother isn't up, I wake up anyway. I go in her room to see if she’s asleep. If she sleeping I just see there by her bed”

This quote was said by Mrs. Washington’s son David. This quote remind me of the Delpit piece that we read last week, about how sometime children would drop out school to take care of their siblings. The article mentions that David is a high school senior. I can only imagine how difficult is most be for him to manage school and a sick mother.

A point to share; since the article was written in the 1990’s I decided to do a little research to check if thing have change since 1990’s . I found this article article according to a new census data New York remains the number one state in the nation in wealth inequality.

  

Lisa Delpit: The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children

 (Quotes)

“I want the same thing for everyone else’s children as I want for mine”

This quote means that you as a teacher, want to educate your student the same way that you educate your own children. Even though this statement was made probably with the best intentions, as Delpit points out; “This is a very reasonable goal for people who children are already participants in the culture of power and who have already internalized its code” but how the parent of the children of color? Do they what their children to be teach the same way? Every parent have their own preference on how their child should be teach.  I know that it must be difficult to please every parent, but at least an intent should be made to understand that every student come from different social status with different aspiration.

“They want to ensure that school provides their children with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society”

This quotes addressed the needs and wants that a parent of a child of color have. I agree with Delpit when she says that it is the lack of attention to this concert such a negative outcry in the black community. This quote got me thinking of the “No child left behind act.” And have raised a question in my head. If a teacher or an institution is not taking in consideration, their student background, language, race and ethnicity, how is this not leaving a child behind? We are focusing on keeping student in school and out of the streets, and this really good but in order for us to prevent students from dropping out of school. We should provide a minority-friendly schools.

“…….Because authority is earned, the teacher must consistently prove the characteristic that give her authority”

This quotes means that the teacher keeps his or her classroom under control, he or her will earn respect from their student. When children have respect from their teacher is more likely the student will be more productive in class. A good example of this is a teacher I had in high school, this teacher was one of the toughest teacher I ever had, but he was also the more respective teacher in school. He was what you call a nonsense kind of teacher but also very fair, everybody knew that they most do their work in his class. I remembered now that he used to say “I want for you guys to be a first class citizens, I want to get you ready for the real world, where their rules to follow” at that time I thought that he was an arbitrary man, but now that I’m older  I can see how right he was.