Dreamkeepers

For this week, we had to read Dreamkeepers, a book that complimented my experiences with African American children in the classroom well.  One of the important premises is that despite popular opinion, African Americans and inner city children can attain the same educational standards as any other student in the classroom.  I think that it is very important that as teachers we engage every audience in our classrooms regardless of culture or background.  In this way, the book verifies other readings we have conducted over the semester that talk about the importance of engaging students and their prior knowledge to help them learn.  Therefore, African American history and the histories of underrepresented populations that may be in our classrooms is something that needs to be integrated into each daily lesson, rather than on one or two separate occasions during the year.  Therefore, I will try to find readings from varied authors of varied backgrounds for as many assignments as possible. 
Another way teachers can engage African American students is by embracing their experiences and by encouraging them to share and stay active within the classroom, something the book highlights as well.  While race relations have come a long way in contemporary America, the book highlights how there is still separate educational practices in modern schools.  As a teacher with limited power, I will attempt to make sure African American children are being included as much as possible during class assignments.  One of the strengths of this book is that it not only discusses the history of the education of African Americans, but also provides possible solutions and practical applications teachers can use in the classroom.  Furthermore, the book explores issues from every perspective, something other readings have not done so well.  I believe a very important point in this book that we should all take away is that teachers need to accommodate to student's needs and not be rigid and inflexible, as it does a disservice not only to African American students, but all students in the classroom.  Another point that stood out to me in the reading was how many new teachers assimilate to their school's cultural environment and practices.  This could be a challenge to myself as a first year teacher because I will be focused on just getting through the year while not creating any trouble or tension, something that might pressure me to assimilate and not truly be looking out for the interests of my students.  This is something I will be sure to keep aware of, as my responsibility is to educate EVERYONE in the classroom.  I find it appalling that African American students are blamed for their own failures, when from the beginning they never had a fair chance due to unintended oppression even within the educational system from an early age.  We as teachers need to be less focused on blame and more on solutions.  As a quick side note which relates to the topic, in another class many of us tutored K-12 students who were almost exclusively African American and I found that these students were more motivated to learn than many white suburban students I had come across in substitute teaching.  They were fun and easy to work with.  They did not fit the educational stereotypes of how African American youth "should" perform.  Overall, this book made me more aware of any possible unintended discrimination I may have  been at fault for in my future classroom had I not read this book.

Affirming Diversity: Chapters Four Reaction

A major claim in chapter four is that schools are not reflective of our society's democratic principles.  I feel this is not only true, but that inequality in schools is even greater than it is in general society.  For example, the social stigma poor kids face in schools by richer children and even teacher bias is horrendously great.  Furthermore, if you add in racial differences, there is a clear pecking order whereby the rich kids are at the top and get many more opportunities than those at the bottom.  This was shown in my experiences, as when I was in high school all the richest kids were all white, the most popular, and could afford things such as studying abroad and to play on all the sports teams, something that all students could not do due to the hefty fees involved in playing.  I feel that it is fine as a society to let those who fail fail and those who work hard and are intelligent succeed.  However, I feel that as a democracy it is important to give EVERYONE a LEVEL playing field with equal opportunity in the school system so that everyone is prepared with equal tools to succeed.  It amazes me how in a free country there are such stark differences in treatment and opportunity not only within a single school or school district, but even between different school districts that are geographically very close to one another.  It is just that one school is deemed failing and bad while another is suburban and good.  We cannot stand to have these disparities in our schools any longer and change needs to be made at the macro level.  For example, funding needs to be equal across the spectrum of schools and schools need to stop charging for extra curricular activities because it ends up having the effect of a poll tax, banning minorities and poorer children from having character building experiences and opportunities from a young age.
The reading mentions problems of tracking and standardized testing in particular.  Though I agree there are many problems with both, they are necessary evils.  Tracking allows students to be grouped in a sensible manner.  However, the reform that does need to take place is that instead of changing the entire system, schools need to provide opportunities, tutoring, and the necessary help for students at a lower level track to be able to rise out of their situation and status to join high achieving peers.  The same theory goes for standardized testing.  Though many students are discriminated against unjustly in our school system, the solution is not to hold students to no standards and drop testing altogether.  Instead, it is the job of the teacher to bring under performing, discriminated students up to the point where they can pass these tests and do well like their higher achieving peers.  I am saying that rather than abandoning the notion of holding students to high standards, teachers need to wake up, stop being lazy, and help EVERY student get to the standard.  We know that students are products of their environment, which means that if they go to an old dirty school with few resources, they are at a disadvantage.  However, with quality teachers who practice a philosophy of caring, they can counter poverty and give these students a real chance to get out of their oppressive places in society.

Politics of Caring and Other Readings

Rolon-Dow's Critical Care article was very interesting and highlights some important issues that we as perspective teachers should be paying attention too.  Though this article is basically a case study of middle school Puerto Rican girls and their experiences in the school system, a theme emerged that I noticed in the article.  This theme was that teachers need to use caring language and teaching methods that cater to each individual in the classroom, regardless of background.  This made me think that as a teacher a very significant challenge will be balancing teaching to the entire class content that they must know yet keeping awareness of the backgrounds, needs, and pedagogical demands of every student in my classroom.
A claim in this article is that the existence of race and the relationships between races greatly shapes the school experience for many minority individuals.  Though I am weary of racial claims generally, this article had many valid points that made me think about race relations in American schools and how they can affect each student. I think it is important as perspective teachers that we understand the history of race relations and how they shape the lives of our students so that as educators we can do the best job possible to help them deal with these burdens and to help them succeed.  The article briefly also discussed something that I thought was important.  It discussed how teachers must be aware of their own biases, political or otherwise, so that they do not detract from teaching students of different backgrounds.  A theme emerged in the article that I translated to advice.  The article infers multiple times that teachers must deeply understand and be comfortable with themselves, be aware of their biases, and really stay in tune with their teaching methodologies to truly be effective in the classroom.  Furthermore, the article says that teachers must use counter narratives in the classroom which represent the diverse learners in the classroom.  I feel that as a history teacher this will be easy, as being a trained historian I know the importance of viewing issues from every angle and perspective to get the truth.  I will look forward to approaching historical topics from multiple perspectives.  Overall, this article highlighted just how emotional and human interaction based the teaching profession is and I look forward to trying to change the lives of my students for the better.  The guest speaker we had a few weeks back from inner city schools in New York really complimented this article and highlighted the importance of caring for one's students.  He really gave me hope that through deep caring I will be able to change my student's lives and was a great inspiration for me.  I think the most important thing we can do as teachers is to help overcome our differences with students in order to reach them, change their lives, and help them learn in a caring environment.