"What Do We Say When We Hear 'Faggot'?"                                              March 28, 2012

What would I ask this author over a cup of coffee?

There are a few questions I would ask this author over a cup of coffee. In the article, “What Do We Say When We Hear ‘Faggot’?” Leonore Gordon explains the situations she has faced with some of her students and their homophobic behavior. Gordon is an elementary school teacher, which means that her students are very young people who are easily influenced by their surroundings.  If I had the opportunity of asking Leonore Gordon some questions based on this article, I would ask her if her students’ parents are aware of their children’s comments and behavior when it comes to the sexuality of their peers. I believe that the answer to this question and learning about how parents perceive homosexuality will provide enough information for the teacher to take action and create long-lasting, positive results. Also, if this situation is taking place at an elementary school, I am sure there are other elementary schools that are having the same problems. I would like to ask Ms. Gordon what actions she has taken towards informing her school’s principal and the school department about this situation. I would ask these questions because it is important for all the adults in the school to be aware of the circumstances that the students are facing. It is also important for them to act as a team in order to make the school a more comfortable and safe place for all the students being educated there.

Rosaly Cuevas

rosalycuevas@hotmail.com

"Building Community from Chaos"                                                                       March 21, 2012

Rate the author on the following: clarity, interest, significance. Explain.

This is one of the most direct and interesting articles I have read, Linda Christensen, the teacher who wrote the article was exceptionally aware of the fact that she had to take action in order to help her students become interested in what she was teaching. Ms. Christensen was interested on helping her students achieve and step out of their fears and this generated amazing outcomes. The way this teacher was able to connect the “world outside of school” to their students’ lives made them more appreciative of other people and their struggles. This initiative created an atmosphere of belonging and gave the students the certainty that they were being understood. What Linda Christensen was able to accomplish is of great significance. If teachers are able to relate their lesson to students’ lives, they will find that students will become more interested on the material they are learning because they will understand that there is a reason why they are learning that particular material. Her way of conducting the lesson also comes to show that if a student is having difficulty in school, teachers most keep in mind that there might be something- not academic- that is causing that student to do poorly.

Rosaly Cuevas

rosalycuevas@hotmail.com

Playing with Gender                                                                                              March 21, 2012
Rate the author on the following: clarity, interest, significance. Explain.       

This article is one that truly troubled me. I believe that in order for people to be able to teach others about any given subject or matter, the one conducting the lesson should have, at least, a general idea of what he or she will be teaching. In my opinion, the teachers in Ann Pelo’s article were experimenting with these children and did not have the training necessary to conduct this research in the best way possible.  Throughout the article, these teachers were trying to figure out what it was that they really wanted to research on and what aspects of behavior they were going to focus their research on. As I read the article I felt as If they were judging the children’s behaviors instead of giving them the tools to develop into more understanding beings.  I also noticed that the children were unaware of the teachers’ research and were only being observed instead of thought about behavior. I understand that these teachers wanted to change the culture of their pre-school classrooms, but I do not think they were conducting this initiative in the correct way. Their greater problem was probably, the fact that they were dealing with children who were too young for their research.  An example of this is the case of Laura and Jamie. Laura and Jamie enjoyed playing together. In their dramatic play, Jaime was always the leader and Laura was always told what to do by Jaime. Jaime’s leadership was so strong that Laura did not even move her own body, but instead, Jaime moved her whenever he wanted her to (or at least, this is how the teachers perceived the behavior); however, I see it very differently. Jaime was a few years older than Laura; in fact, Laura was learning to use her motor skills. In my opinion, what happened while Jaime and Laura played was not that Laura allowed herself to be dominated by Jaime, but instead, she was too young and weak to keep up to his energy. I believe that Laura used her early morning playtime with Jaime as a time for her to rest and have everything done for her, but the teachers were unable to see this because they were focused on the idea that she was letting herself be dominated by a male.

Based on this reflection of the article, I believe that the clarity, interest, and significance of this article were not clear. I also believe that these teachers will not be able to help their students if they do not find ways to talk to them about gender and society instead of observing them and not making them aware of their behavior.

Rosaly Cuevas

rosalycuevas@hotmail.com

Race and Respect Among Young Children and Teaching for Social Justice.

                                                                                                                                 March 8, 2012

How does the central or supporting argument/s of this author connect with other course readings or themes?

“Race and Respect Among Young Children” as well as” Teaching for Social Justice” have a lot in common with other course readings such as “Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us” for example.” Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us’ purpose was to provide the knowledge necessary in order for us, as future teachers, to be able to teach our students who to be accepting people. “Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us” also focused on what are those “unseen” things that we watch on TV that change our perspective of others without us noticing. This reading relates to” Race and Respect Among Young Children”. In “Holding Nyla”, the narrator, Katie Kissinger, expresses her desire to incorporate Nyla into the classroom and help the other students accept her. Even though the teacher was successful at helping her students accept Nyla, I believe that the idea of treating Nyla especially because of her physical disability was still present in the classroom. As I read this story I could sense how the students were deeply interested to Nyla because she was different. I also believe that they used her as a toll for experiment to learn about her condition. In my opinion, this attitude the students had toward Nyla, even though it was not a negative one, it was to a certain degree influenced by the things we watch on TV and the way in which society typically perceives people with disabilities. Likewise, “Teaching for Social Justice” relates to the two articles mentioned before.” Teaching for Social Justice” suggests the idea of students learning about themselves and helping better the lives of the people in their community. Like “Unlearning the myths that blind us”, “Teaching for Social Justice” suggests that students’ actions are influenced by the media. It also suggests that the reason why students are fooled by the media is because the curriculum does not allow teachers to have deep discussions about topics that concern them. 

 Rosaly Cuevas

rosalycuevas@hotmail.com

10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism and Taking Multicultural, Anti- Racist Education Seriosly.

What passage did I find most important? Explain.                              March 1, 2012

A question that I was not expecting to read in this article was one about the reaction of white children to comments and teachings about people of color. This question read: “How can one teach multiculturally without making white children feel guilty or threatened?” I believe this question truly deserves to be answered and thought deeply. People of color and non-Americans have been discriminated against for a long time. Those who want to change that and turn American culture into one that is more accepting and appreciative of differences must keep in mind that these changes must occur in a very subtle way so that whites do not end up being the ones who are discriminated against. The purpose of this article is to teach people that success is possible for all people; however, this idea could be misinterpreted if non-whites begin to look at whites as the number one perpetuators of racists actions. It is essential for all people to understand that as humans, we all have the skills necessary to succeed and  be leaders; likewise, it is essential for all people to understand that racists behavior is not only seen in white people. Racisms should not be a bridge for more racism, and that, I believe, is the most important teachings educator should teach students.

Rosaly Cuevas

rosalycuevas@hotmail.com

Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us.

What did I find interesting?                                                                       February 16, 2012

I was personally touched by this article because it relates a lot to frequent conversations I hold with close friends.  I found this article to be particularly interesting, because even though times have changed so drastically and people are now starting to view differences as something positive instead of something negative, there is still a lot of racism and discrimination in many forms surrounding our daily life. Cartoons, as the article suggests, are extremely efficient at teaching children to treat others differently if they do not look like most people they know; however, cartoons are not the only source that influences this atmosphere of differentiation. Our society is built in a way that many times supports the classification and categorizing of people. An example of this is “Black History Month”. History is something that we, humans, are creating as we speak. I believe that heroes deserve to be honored, but having a month dedicated to blacks is a way of supporting the idea of fitting people into categories. I believe there is still a long way to go when it comes to creating a society which completely appreciates differences; however, I also believe that educating people and teaching them how to look at differences as opportunities will be one of the most challenging situations the United States will have to overcome.

Rosaly Cuevas

rosalycuevas@hotmail.com