Shout out to all the first EDS Cohorts.  You are an amazing group of ladies and gentleman.  I have learned so much from each and everyone of you and wish you the best.  From you all, I have a renewed hope in our profession.  In many ways, more practical ways, I have learned to have more hope, practice, patience, and to view from an other’s point of view; I hope to carry all your teachings into my classroom teachings next year.   We have struggled through readings, papers, personal pains, and school reform needs, but at the end we have all grown emotionally, socially, intellectually, psychologically, and any other ___ally’s you can imagine.

To the girls in BOTH Northeast Region, thank you.  I have learned that even Tritt Tigers have issues to deal with at their school.  I have learned that the Tigers are more like Tiggers.  They are loving, caring, playful group of teachers who inspire me.   OH, and knowledgeable, too. 

From the Northeast Rocks group, I have learned to open up my weaknesses and seek help.  I have built rapport with you and learned how I really enjoy hanging out with you ladies and how much we have in common.  I have learned that we will be life long friends and professional go-to’s.  I am lucky to have you met you and you inspire me daily.

Lastly, my students inspire me.  Despite their limitations, they have learned to adapt and prosper.  Who couldn’t learn from them?  They are the Energizer Bunnies.  They keep going and keep me going.  I will miss them greatly next year but will always keep them in mind when doing lesson plans reflecting on whether I have done my job to reach every child.  They are my hope, my possibilities, my reasons for action. 

What a great way to wrap up the semester.  There were mixed emotions in this chapter.  First it really enraged me when I was reminded of how our profession is overlooked by society as unimportant and easy.  This is reflected in our salary, the lack of respect we receive, and the lack of professional training we obtain and are given opportunities for, such as collaboration with our peers and meaningful, practical apprenticeship instead of an hour workshop.  Then as I kept reading, it reminded me of Possible Livesby Mike Rose that Caren and I read for our book study.  Being a social justice educator means that I am helping to open doors for students, making dreams possible to obtain.  So do I need the money and the respect?  It would be nice, but it’s not a necessity.  Like Freire, I keep hope dear in to my heart.  I will continue to hope for better conditions for my students and keep fighting the struggle.  Take action, right?  That’s what the whole program was about, right?  Construct it to change what you don’t like, right?  I really liked the quote referring to Freire and West, “hope and struggle are not simply instruments that produce improved social conditions, although improved social conditions is a leading goal.  Participating in a hopeful struggle is itself an ‘improvement’.”  Make what we do matter.

Assessment, assessment, assessment.  I don’t think there’s an educator out there that hasn’t gotten their earful of this term.  With AYP and NCLB, we can’t avoid assessments and it’s emphasized in our schools as early as Kindergarten with for example, GKAP.  How disheartening though to know that the initial purpose of assessments and how they are used now are so different.  Instead of using assessments to support student learning and to individualize instruction we now use it to retain them and identify them for special services.  Even worse we use them for school report cards which translates to school funding.  Some of the misconceptions reminded me of Ruby Paine, such as “low-IQ children are mostly non-Anglo and poor” (p. 219).  No wonder our country isn’t near the forefront of literacy, math, and sciences.  Equally disheartening is the fact that these practices of dismissing people who are low SES  and/or of differing cultures and race continues to dominate the popular belief of policy makers.  I do use a lot of alternative assessments in my field and have used portfolios in the past when I taught first grade, but now adays, that’s not enough.  I hope that NCLB gets set aside with the next administration that comes in November but I won’t hold my breath.

As I read this chapter, I asked myself how many times I thought that my parents did not care enough to participate.  One year I taught first grade at a charter school.  As part of the charter, each parent had to volunteer 15 hours of service to the school in what ever capacity they could (make copies, Thursday papers, AR program, media center, fundraisers, class newsletters, posters, etc.).  My particular classroom had 15 students with 3/4 of the class either in EIP, ESOL, SST process, and/or free/reduced lunch.  When I had parent teacher conferences, about 50% of the parent(s) came.  I now wonder what could I have done to have more parents attend conferences, volunteer at school, etc.  Did I blame them for being poor parents since were not involved, or so I assummed?  Then I begin to think of my own parents as I grew up.  How involved were they?  Not really.  How many parent teacher conferences did they attend?  Not many.  Were they concerned about my education?  Absolutely.  Were they too busy to be involved?  Absolutely.  My parents left home at 6:00 and didn’t return until 7:45.  Why didn’t I think of my immigrant parents when I had my own classrooms?

I wish there was such a project as the Texas IAF or the UCLA Parent Curriculum Project here.  I think many parents of low SES, immigrant parents, and/or minority do not realize their rights.  I think this because it’s a lot different being a special educator in a middle to upper middle class school and in a Title 1 school.  The parents are much more demanding and know their rights whereas many of my parents at the Title 1 school didn’t question anything that was presented to them and didn’t demand certain services, accommodations, etc. for their children.  Just imagine how empowering these programs must be.  If I were not an educator and didn’t know my rights as a parent, I would want to be present to learn about what happens at school, how schools run, standardized testing, tracking, etc.  I would want to learn to ask the hard questions and what questions to ask. 

As an educator, what can I do to foster parent involvement?  “Because understanding is not enough, educators must act in ways that respond to their understanding” (p. 400).  I have a  lot of brainstorming to do.

I have been in and out of many schools in my current position, and school culture definitely plays a role in teacher attrition/retention and school morale.  After reading the chapter, I no longer believe that school culture is top-down.  I always believed that ”attitude reflects leadership” (Remember the Titans) but now I’m not so sure that’s the case.  Anyone can make a difference and if I don’t model this with my own students, who will?  I have to practice what I want them to do, don’t I?  It’s like Gorski, it’s up to us to make the changes occur.  I’m not saying that we can do this alone, but we need to foster a community of learning and growing within our schools.  My capstone is on mulitcultural literature analysis and my hope is that with the sharing of the analysis, there will be a greater sense of inquiry and a change in my school culture.  Sure, my school is in a middle to upper middle SES but that doesn’t mean that we have the most qualified teachers or the richest curriculum.  There’s always room for improvement.  My school still has “tracking” so are we believe that all students can learn and be challenged?  I think we’re heading in the right direction with more team taught classes for students with special needs, but we have leaps and bounds to achieve.  “School cultures help shape what people see, how they feel, and what they think is possible” (p. 340).  The school culture dictates the caring ability of the school, the staff, and the parents.  My hope is that we continue to inquire and challenge the way it is and practice what we preach so that our school culture is a nurturing one that challenges everyone who walks through the doors…children and adults alike. 

Like everyone else, I really enjoyed Paul Gorski’s visit.  Typically, I can’t wait for speakers to end when I’ve been working all day but this time, I really wish we had more time.  I don’t know what his background is, but it amazes me how passionate he is for the underprivileged.  I have a better understanding of who I am as a teacher.  I think the author of Black Ants and Buddhas would have really enjoyed hearing Gorski speak.  I thought I was an activist for the special needs but I realize now that there is so much more that I can be doing.  We have our Exceptional Children’s Week coming up in 2 weeks.  That’s wonderful, but it’s like the Black History Month.  I try my best to advocate on my students’ behalf and always have people address questions directly to my students and not me, but what else can I do?

I was also moved by the 10 chair activity.  Who knew that so few had all the power?  I knew to some extent but seeing it visually, I’m a visual learner, was eye-opening and heartbreaking.  How could so many people associate themselves as middle class and actually not have a “chair”?  There are so many injustices in the US and I bet you most people would not put education as an injustice since it’s available for free.  But how fair is it that suburbia doesn’t have to worry as much about medical care, school supplies, qualified teachers with low student to teacher ratio, etc. and inner city and rural areas do?  How fair is it that the richer keep getting richer with tax breaks and the poor keep getting neglected and pushed aside to remain unheard?  What can I do as a teacher?  I need to figure this one out….this summer when the program’s over. 

I was really alarmed by reading this article.  I think many teachers and administrators attend her workshops without knowing all the facts, or in this case, without knowing that her “research” and “case studies” aren’t really research but anecdotes.  To place the blame of our unequal educational system  on the “culture of poverty” seems so far fetched.  True, I may not understand where they come from nor will I ever say to my students that I do but how dangerous to assume these “characteristics” of poverty are true.  We are always taught to differentiate our instruction and see each child as an individual with potential; so wouldn’t teachers be neglecting our students by excusing their inability to understand a concept on their “culture” rather than on our teaching?  Talk about taking steps backwards. 

Also, the “Could you survive?” quizzes are outrageous.  You mean I would have to pay to hear someone’s opinion on surviving in poverty?  Where’s her information coming from?  I want to see data!  What’s so troubling to me is that she’s spreading her “expertise” to the low income school districts, charging astronomical amounts per person to attend where they HAVE to purchase her book, and she’s profiting from this.  Imagine how much materials they can purchase with the funding that they set aside to send representatives to these workshops.  If what Payne says is credible, why isn’t it peer edited and why is her attorney always pressuring academia, who have research to back up their statements, to leave Ruby alone?  It’s not a “culture of poverty” but a culture of taking advantage of low income school systems and their limited resources, a culture of passing the blame elsewhere, a culture of apathy with the way things are, a “culture of denial that has become institutionalized in our society and has caused the study of poverty in the last 20 years to be more concerned with promoting a theory of individual culpability than with addressing institutionalized inequalities” (Bohn).

I really enjoyed reading these two articles on cultural responsive teaching.  I especially liked reading about the success stories and the online resources.  Caren and I are reading a book that portrays teachers who are culturally responsive (ethnically, regionally, urban/rural, etc.).  The teachers in our book, as well as the article, not only celebrate differences and cultures but also empower their students.  I think often times we forget how important it is to EMPOWER any person.  I can’t tell you how many times people ask me about my students with my students standing there.  I have to constantly ask them to ask my students directly.  I always have talks with my students to be self-advocates for their needs and will often build it into their IEP goals.  I believe that empowerment improves someone’s self-esteem, achievement, and overall well-being.  Lastly, empowerment educates others around them to be more aware of their lack of understanding and hopefully will encourage that person to seek more understanding.

“Withitness” (p. 202).  What a great term.  This chapter reminded me of when we were supervising our student teachers.  How a look, your proximity to the child, the activity, etc. can make such a great difference with classroom management.  You know, I’ve met a lot of teachers, especially special education teachers, who teach their remedial students in a repetitive manner drilling every day.  How fun is that?  No wonder they don’t show their talents and prosper.  How boring.  It may be that they’re bored…not that they’re not capable.  Sure they’re well behaved, but are they learning?  It means a lot to children if you can relate to them.  It builds rapport.  My husband is in investments.  He can tell you first hand that if you cannot relate to your customer, they won’t invest their life savings with you.  You’ve got to build a relationship.  Teaching is much the same way.  If you can’t relate to your customers, our students, they won’t invest their time and energy into what you’re trying to teach them.   

I think like everything else in education, society places the blame on educators when they are the ones who tell us what we should/should not do without being educators themselves.  Education has become a political fight instead of a fight to enhance our future generation to become leading adults.  Everything in education seems to be a crisis.  A new way appears constantly with “scientific” data.  Teachers have to “unpack” new standards to teach our children, especially with NCLB.  What other profession has those outside the profession dictate what, how, when, why something occurs?  The “reading war” and everything else in life, you can’t rely on a single way of doing it.  There is no exact science to teaching.  Something may work with one child one year and not the next.  You have to use your judgement and combine your repertoire of skills and knowledge to teach.  “Professional responsibility obliges teachers to be articulate participants in both the public and professional arenas of curriculum inquiry and debate… Dialogue and advancement of learning in the subjects [math, science, social studies, reading, language arts, etc.] - in the classroom and out: This is the work of teachers” (Oakes & Lipton, p. 158).