SED 445

In a podcast called On Being with Krista Tippett , host of the podcast, Krista Tippett, hosts technologist, principal researcher for Microsoft Research, and founder of Data & Society research institute, Danah Boyd. Together, Tippett and Boyd engage in a conversation surrounding technology and its evolution, and how we utilize it in the 21st century. During the conversation, Tippett poses a question concerning the term "digital natives" in the classroom, in which Boyd responds, "When we use the term 'digital natives,' we assume, then, that adults don’t have anything to teach young people, and that is so not true." Before listening to this podcast, I didn't think twice about the concept of "digital natives" because I believed that it referred to a generation of people who grew up, or are growing up with technology. For example, I considered my younger cousin, who is eleven years younger than myself, to be a digital native because at thre...

In the third chapter about essay writing in Linda Christensen's Teaching For Joy And Justice , Christensen explains that receiving good writing from students takes time, and that there needs to be more of a focus on student progress, rather than the final product (Christensen 132). This can be accomplished if educators teach writing, which is a big difference than simply assigning writing. As teachers, allowing students time in the classroom to work on their writing and providing instruction and feedback during the process will not only help students improve in their skills, but inspire them to write that essay that excites them, one that could maybe even be called, as Christensen's student proclaimed, "fire." In this chapter, Christensen explains the steps of a paper and how helping students in each step will lead to better writing. The step that stuck out to me the most was generating thesis statements, and how a good one will guide an essay. In my middle and h...

In Robin Diangelo’s White Fragility, Diangelo discusses the good/bad binary of racism that continues to exist in the 21st century, which is essentially how well-intended, educated people avoid the discussion of race because they believe they are not racist (Diangelo 72). The good/bad binary dates back to the civil rights movement, where white northerners would see images and read headlines of white southerners inflicting violence on black people. To the white northerners, these acts of violence, prejudice, and racism committed by white southerners caused them to be on the “bad” side of the binary. This gave the white northerners the idea that racists were from the south and were “mean, ignorant, old, [and] uneducated” (Diangelo 71). By identifying the southern whites on the “bad” side as racists, this gave northern whites the idea that they themselves were on the “good” side and were not racist. This conclusion for them made them feel that they were not to blame for the racism happeni...

It seems that every school in America will claim in their mission statement something along the lines of embracing diversity. But how true is this? The same schools that hang banners from a variety of countries in their foyers are also guilty of silencing students who are linguistically diverse, stripping students of their identity. Christensen reflects on her students' observations that teachers often "whitewash" students of different cultures, reinforcing the English Only laws that plague classrooms around the nation (Christensen 209). In reflecting on her teaching, she created a unit that analyzed not only the roots of linguistic genocide but the act of schools perpetuating inferiority of languages that are not English. I witnessed this in a school that has stuck with me throughout my undergraduate studies and has helped shape my teacher identity. As a special education major, I began my first practicum in my second year of college. This was initially daunting, be...

In Linda Christensen's  second chapter of Teaching for Joy and Justice , she discusses the importance of narrative writing and provides numerous strategies in implementing this type of writing into a secondary level classroom. The beginning of this chapter, “Teaching Narrative Writing: Why It Matters,” spoke to me, because narrative writing was something I was deprived of in high school. Christensen narrates the opinions many high school English teachers have towards narrative writing, almost viewing it as “self-indulgent, like recess” (Christensen 60) in the curriculum where analytical and essay writing are more valued. As an elementary school student years ago, narrative writing was my favorite part of learning. I looked forward to the hour I had every afternoon to write in my journal and share what I had produced with my teacher and peers. My love for writing was often reinforced in the classroom when my teacher would use my work as an example, which made me confident in my...

#2 Karma: Awesome! As a commuter to my college, the morning drive to class is never something I look forward to. I’ve lived in Rhode Island for my entire life, which means I can confidently confirm that Rhode Island drivers are the worst drivers out there. While I experience poor driving and near-collisions on a daily basis, only a few of these experiences are noteworthy, such as this one. One April morning, closer to finals, I was driving to my 8am class with the sun blaring in my eyes almost the entire way. Because of this, I was cautious, because with many schools along the route, I didn’t want to hit any kids waiting for their buses. So I was driving the speed limit, especially since it was the beginning of the month and Providence has about a million traffic cameras. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the car behind me was driving on top of me. I mean, if I had stopped, I would’ve gotten hit, for sure. But I didn’t let this intimidate me. I kept on driving t...

Through working in the schools, I was introduced to a blog called “ 1000 Awesome Things ” by Neil Pasricha where he posts daily about an “awesome” thing that has happened to him. These occurrences vary from scoring the winning goal to opening a new jar of peanut butter. According to Pasricha, all of these experiences are relevant. Therefore, he writes short blog posts about them, always ending with “AWESOME!” Today, I’m writing my own “awesome” thing. #1: Music is a Universal Language Music is a universal language. The sounds, rhythm, energy. It is an experience that all people, despite their variety of beautiful, spoken languages, share. This shared experience brings people together in the best of times, the worst of times, and everything in between. Music brought me closer to a stranger in Quebec City this summer, even if we couldn’t speak the same tongue. My friends and I traveled up to Quebec City last month to celebrate ten years of friendship. On our second night in...

One day, I woke up from my snooze to find that my humans were gone. I picked myself up from the cold floor to check the rest of the house. I couldn’t smell them anywhere, and there weren’t any sounds. The little girl usually likes to sing, and I didn’t hear any of that. After I checked the entire house, even after climbing up the stairs, which was hard for my old hips, I decided that they weren’t home. Where could they be? I heard a small fly come from the outside, so I followed it to where it came from, realizing that I could get out. What if my humans were outside? I squeezed myself out of the house and was met by tall grass and a bunch of bugs. My mom human’s car wasn’t there, the one I like to ride in. Dad human’s car hadn’t been there for a long time, and I stopped smelling him. I lost him. Knowing that my mom human and girl human were not there, I felt alone and unsure as to what I should do. So I sat down in the yard under the tall trees for a little while, thinking. After som...

     Mama decided to homeschool me. Why? I’m not quite sure, exactly. It wasn’t like I was failing my classes. Actually, I had almost all A’s, which was good for me, especially since Home Economics dragged me down. When I was pulled from school, I had a 85.6% in the class which drove me crazy. No matter how much I argued with that old Hag of a teacher, I couldn’t get it higher. But Daisy Thomas had a 96.7% in the class. And she thought she was so smart. In your dreams! Anyways, back to Home Economics. Right. I tend to go off on long tangents. So, my guidance counselor put me into that wretched class this year and COMPLETELY ignored my request to take Physics. “Ladies like yourself aren’t scientists,” she told me. What does that idiot know about what’s good for me? So I got stuck in a class of all girls learning to make sandwiches, sewing clothes, and reading about ways to please your husband when he comes home from a long day of work. I was miserable. And worst of all, I ...

In this blog post, I’ll present one point from each reading that I believe is worth discussing, all of which relate to creating comfortable spaces for students and teachers in the classroom. In Matthew Kay’s “Not Light, But Fire,” he first mentions what it means to facilitate a “safe space” in the classroom. For students and teachers, the definition of this term will have different meanings. Kay provides numerous strategies for teachers to establish a safe space with their students, one being what he deems the “foundation of such spaces”: listening (Kay 16). He next asks the reader to question what active listening is, and how it will help the student. Active listening is crucial in helping students feel that they are learning in a safe space. So how do we, as teachers, ensure that our listening strategies are most beneficial to students? Kay lists certain traits teachers should exhibit when actively listening, such as making eye contact, being patient, and staying focused when a stu...

Hi everyone! Below is the link to my introductory video! Enjoy! :) https://spark.adobe.com/video/WGFhpm1nEh44j