In Exchange of the Promising Practice Conference

       I was not able to make the Promising Practice Conference. I was also not able to find another conference to attend. So, instead of this I decided to write about the movie that we watched in class on different students who are mentally disabled going to California Public Schools. I wanted to write about this movie anyways because it made me open my eyes to see what is really going. It has allowed me to see all of the problems and other thins parents have to do to make sure their child gets the same type of schooling as any other child. In the movie Going to School "Ir a la Escuela". In this movie it talks about five different students that mentall challenged, or mentally disabled, and they all have IEP's.
        All of the students in this movie reminded me of many different articles. The one that kept sticking out to me the most is Kliewer's article on students that are special, or have down syndrome. He states many different resons why they should be in normal classroms, and have the same chances as other students. This is what this movie talked about. It talked about five different students Richard, Sally, Ana, Cynthia, and Aaron. All of them were either mentally challenged and mentally disabled. But, they were able to participate and learn in a normal classorm just like all of the other students. They may have had to do this in a different matter, but in the end they accomplished everything that a normal sutdent was accomplishing and sometimes better. Also, some of these students parents that were in this movie were in a group that helped these students get the right care and the best oppurtunites. For example, there was one student named Richard. He was in a wheelchair, because he was born premature, and had multiple disablites. His mother had to go to his classes with him for 3 years because he was not given an aid. Other students would be in normal classrooms, but they would jsut be placed in the back of the room and not given the right help to learn.
       All of these were problems that the students faced that did have disabilites. The parents formed a group to not only get them individual help, but place them in the correct classes, and allow for them to have certain needs. This was a great movie and it showed how hard it was until all of the laws and programs came to be. It was hard when they did have certain things to help them. I think the country has come a long way in the teaching of students with disabilites. There are many more opportunites now, and it allows for the students to learn in different calssrooms with different students each day. This will eventually help them to pursue their goal in life, and just by doing that I tihnk is a great accomplishment.

End Of Semester

It is almost the end of the semester, and the end of FNED 346 with Dr. Bogad. This calss has taught me so many different things about schooling and teaching. In the beginning I thought when am I ever going to use these techniques. Also, in the beginning with all of the different articles, I was would think why do we need to read these? We will never use them in our classrooms, or relate it to our styles of teaching. Well, now that I am looking back on it I realized how wrong I was and how much I came to appreciate tthis class, and how much I have taken out if it.
        Starting off working and helping out in school, I had no idea what to expect. I did not know what the students were going to be like, or if they would even like me. Now that it is over, I realized that I did helpt the kids out and had a strong relationship with every student in Mrs. Pinksaw's kindergarten class at Robert F. Kennedy. Not only do I hope I taught the students different things, but I know that they had a huge impact on my life and helped me elarn different styles of teaching that I will take with me for the rest of my life. Everyday I was at the school I learned something new. I also tied everything back to an article we read that week or in the past.
        I just feel like wherever I go now, all I think about are all of the different authors, and how much it is actually portrayed in real life. Overall FNED 346 helped me learn a lot of new different styles of teaching. It also gave me a great prospective of what I can expect in life as I start my career of teaching. Dr. Bogad made me realize all of this and I am very appreciative of having this class and learning everything from her and my classmates.

Talking Points #10 "Shor"

Hyperlinks:

      The author raises the fact about education and how it does so much relate to politics. Also, how it is just like the real world and there are different things you need to do to survive in the real world, and to realize the politics that take forth everyday. The first major issue she raises is participation. There are different ways to get students to participate, and it is a major role in the schooling society. For a student to achieve they should be active sometimes participate in either the discussion, or the involvement with the teacher or other students. If there are problems in getting the student to participate, there are many different ways. In this article it gives different sitautions to use in order to get a student to participate. It is a good way to get the students to interact. Participation allows for the students to maybe get a different look and view on things, if he/she doesnt understand. It also allows the teacher to know if the students do understand as well. Here is also a video of whole brain teaching which is a method used to teacher and allows for participation.
        The author expalins many different methods of teaching in this article. She explains different ways to get through to different students. One method that I feel all teacher should use that will work is teachers learning from student learning. This will allow for the students maybe teach the teacher something that he/she does not know. Whehter they do it indivually, or as a class, there is always something the students could teach the teacher. It will maybe improve her teaching habits. Or, by using different methods, this will allow for the teacher to learn by the way the students react to it, if it was a positive or negative style of teaching. A teacher with different methods may be the one that is able to get through to her students. Teaching in a social enviroment allows for the students to interact and learn in different ways that are sutiable for them. If the teachers are unsure there are different website and articles like teacher vision to guide them and get them started. All of this ties back into what the author is trying to say. I beleive that with different styles, and methods it allows for student to learning and get them ready for the real environemnt. Therefore, in class I would like to discuss just how much school is like the real world, and does it compare to the situaitons and daily activites on goes through each and every day?


 
       

Talking Points #9 "Kiewer"

Connections:

         Kliewer does remind me and prtray two different articles that we have read in the past. The first that I feel he portrays is Collier and Finn & Oakes. I  will talk a little about how I feel he portrays Collier. In Kliewer's article he talks about the kids being in certain classes considered as special Education. This is because people may beleive they may not be able to do same things as a normal person. I beleive they are right and wrong. They may not be able to do everythign as a normal person, but they certinly can try. They should be given the ability to try and maybe be placed in some classes that will suit them and help them out in life. They are just like everyone else trying to succeed in their goal. Also, it is separted in and out of the classroom by their diabilites. They are either placed in certain classes, or require certain assistance throughout the schoolday. Just like in Colloer, except of them having certain diabilites, they have language barriers. Which may force them to be placed in a different classroom, or recive special treatment. Am I saying they shouldn't be placed in different classrooms? No, I just beleive that every once in a while they should be placed with normal kids and let them learn off of them and with them. It may give them a jump and help them out in life.
        This was the same with Finn and Oakes, but they talk about tracking in the schools. This is like tracking in a way as they are seperated into different calsses by their abilites or disabilities. I feel that if you want every to have the same chance then they should all be given the same chance and treated equal in different ways. There may not always be an answer in public schools. Some students with disabilites may be given better opputunites in different types of schools. Here is a video that talks about different families that goes to special schools and different school in order to help their diabilites to the fullest and help them trying to fit in and be equal. The video will show different parents talking about their children. What I would like to discuss in class is do all schools offer services for students with disabilites?

Talking Point #8 "Finn and Oakes"

Argument:

             Jeannie Oakes is basically talking about tracking, and why she disagrees with this theory completely. I was never really introduced to tracking, but now after reading this article I am aware what it was, and further more reading Oakes lead me to complelely agree with her on tracking. They are doing it I feel like she said for no reason. As she said "The rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer". I just feel as if it is not helping out at all. She tries to fight for the fact that tracking is not good in stating different alternatives to tracking. She also says that "Academic ability is not unchangable, but developmental". The only way a student will learn is to be around others that learn like and different from him. He can take the advantages and disadvantages of each. Just to show she is not the only one on this, I found another article that talks about this problem to, and some things to do to take advantage of it. The article shows different techniques or practices in tracking and how it takes place in school.
       Literacy is major for everyone no matter if you are in the upper class, or working class states Finn. There should be a place where it should all meet and come together is her argument. She is basically saying that if people want to be successful everyone needs to help out eachother in school. Whether you are rich, or poor, you need to help out eachother in order to be successful in both literacy and school.
           Both of these authors make their arguments clearly stated. They say what it is like, and what they beleive it should eventually be like. It may and may not change. But, I do agree with what both of these authors are saying. To be able to exceed and survive in the schooling environment everyone needs eachother, and should not be sepearated into different groups. I would like to discuss in class a little more about tracking, and would like to find out just how much tracking takes place in different school settings?

Gender And Education

Hyperlinks:

        I came across many different websites while I was googling gender and education. I dont see why, but still today many people call gender wars a huge problem. I do agree with them, even in our society today we not only still have some racial problems that exist, but gender and education as well. Looking back to when i was in grades K-12 I do notice where the article I stumbled across is coming from. If you think back to when you were in these grades the boys were always trying to beat the girls, or the other way around. This short paragaph I thought was very intersting in the article:
        "Back in 1992, we pointed out that stereotypes have long limited the options of girls and boys. Viewing science and math as things boys did and art and dance as things they did not do influenced the course taking patterns and achievement levels of both sexes. We noted that although girls were getting better grades and going on for post-secondary education in greater numbers than boys, the job segregation that limits women's employment choices and the gender gap in wages continued. This is still the case."
     This was a paragrpah from the article that I found very intersting. I feel that it is not so much in college, but I could be wrong. I feel the gender wars take place more along the grade levels of secondary education. The article The Gender Wars in Education also says how this can be a good thing as long as we are all on the same side. This was just one of the articles that I stumbled upon, and I did research this topic more than others. I also was searching videos and I came across one how it talks about how women our perfrom men and more options in the workforce. The video is Women "Out" Perform Men and it jsut talks a little about different successes at Universities in the UK. In class I wish to discuss where More about this topic and if all of the statistics are true.

Wise and Brown vs. Board of Education

History: Past and Present-

       The Brown v. Board of Education website is a very informational website. It focuses on mainy turning points that we came across throughout our nation's history. It talks about how the civil war promised racial equality, and how African Americans have made a landmark on U.S. History. I feel this focuses so much on the past, but there are still many things today that are still helping use change racial equality. Also, I think it is still not a solved issue, and in Tim Wises's video he talks more about this. They both do talk about the same issue but Tim focuses more on today's society and how it still affects us today and what people are doing to change it.
         The videos are a step up to racism, but the Brown v. Board of Education shows all of the fights that they fought for. They fought hard to get to where they are today which was all for the civil rights and there rights to be treated equally just like everyone else. In the vidoe's Wise talks about Obama and how he is a stepping point. I feel this as well because, back then they would have never elected a black President. It just goes to show that what they all fought for is starting to fall into place. There is still many more steps to go through, but the vidoe's were concerning more about how they are tapping the glass, and starting to push things forward again.
     Both the vidoes, and the website both were very informational, as one focused more on the past, and the other focused more on the present time and the future. But, they were both talking and giving inforamtiona about the same thing which is racial equality. There are still problems with it today and we are just starting to "tap the glass" like Wise said. He also talks about Obama and his role. I tihnk I would like to find out more about Obama and what else he would bring to the table in solving this issue? Here is a video of a speech from Obama and it talks about race :
Obama's Race Speech