Education Has No Color
A blog about education from a woman of color...
Yesterday I was tutoring 6th grade students when it came to my realization that these students really don’t know their social studies and worse American History. Every Thursday I tutor a group of 3 ESL children with their weekly vocabulary words. This weeks words were kind of challenging and they had to use these words to write a paragraph. Their vocabulary words were visionary, stately, captivating, etc. They were some powerful words that I decided would be easier if they wrote about powerful people. One student chose President Barack Obama and the other chose MLK.
My student who chose MLK was talking about him and said, “He stopped the civil war.” I said no he wasn’t even around during the civil war and then he said oh well one of those wars world war I? World war II? He had no idea. My student is a black male and I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t fimiliar with the civil war. He was way off and not remotely close. How are these students suppose to be prepared to be citizens of our country one day when they aren’t learning about our country until they get to middle school? These students actually ENJOY learning about our country and other countries. It can be interesting, but all we ever focus on is READING AND WRITING. No wonder why they kids hate reading and writing. Half of their school day is spent trying to “pass the test”.
This incident really just made me realize that if we are going to continue “teaching to the test” some how we need to still incorporate social studies so that these children are ready to be citizens of the United States. THEY are our FUTURE and I feel like some people just think everything is going to come to them naturally, but education does NOT come naturally. It needs to be taught and there has to be a way we can still teach this curriculum. Where are our priorities?
You Know you’re a teacher when …
Meeting a childs parent instantly answers the question, Why does this kid act like this?
Truth!
I recently took a day off from teaching to visit two high-achieving schools in an affluent suburb of Detroit, not ten miles from where I teach.
My principal asked me why I was interested in visiting these suburban schools. I explained that these schools…
(via creative-education)
Sir Ken Robinson answers student questions about what the school of his dreams would look like, Part 1! Part 2 and Part 3 here. Well worth your time!
What would you call it?
“I would probably call it the Explore Academy, because I think education is about that. It should be about exploring ideas, not just ideas about the world but ideas about yourself, who you are, the people around you.”
(Source: sirkenrobinson.com)
The research literature on the impact of socio economic status on children’s learning is sobering, and it’s easy to see why an individual teacher might feel helpless in the face of these effects. Teachers should not be alone in confronting the impact of poverty on children’s learning. One hopes that the advances in our understanding the terrible consequences of poverty for the mind and brain will spur policymakers to serious action. but still, teachers should not despair. All children can learn, whatever their backgrounds, and whatever challenges they face.
(Source: gjmueller)
LOVES when we get candy from the PFO with little inspiring sayings thanking us for our hard work… This months goodies are chocolate covered pretzels with candy corn. HOMEMADE chocolate covered pretzels… This is the note; Thanking you for helping our children… FALL in love with learning… because the season is fall right now of course… Clever.. and cute…
I am super stressed out about the recent position I’m about to take on, not because it’s different than what I’ve been doing, but because I have worked so hard with my current students and they will possibly be left with nothing. My leave was known at the beginning of the school year so why is it just now being approached?
I’m leaving my role as an ESL teacher (really an ESL IA because the district doesn’t want to pay for a teacher, but I’m qualified to teach so they gave me the role and I love this area, culture, and students its too hard for me to say no). Anyway, I’m leaving my ESL role for a Spanish Teaching position. Would I rather teach ESL or Spanish? I would rather teach ESL because I know how desperately the students in our district need it and I want nothing more than for them to be successful. What I don’t understand is how administrators, teachers, parents, can let children or there students be so neglected? What I don’t understand is why ALL students, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background are treated differently? They ALL deserve the same education. They should ALL be serviced appropriately. Maybe some don’t realize that they students are our future. Maybe some have yet to accept this fact. But we all know it comes down to money. There’s not enough money to support all of our kids that need it. If so then what are we setting our kids up with? Failure? Are they going to be living in our basements until they’re 40 because we can’t put our money where our mouth is? We can compete with a global market like reformers insist because we don’t have the funds to do so. We’d rather waste government money on something else like deporting immigrants who aren’t criminals and separating families.
I’m just frustrated because I wish I didn’t have to leave my students. I wish I could continue making a difference in their lives or at least know someone will be taking my place. Someone will eventually be taking my place, but I’m worried about the few days or weeks where they will go unnoticed, unheard, and not cared for. A week will put them a month behind, a few days will put them a week behind, and a lot of them are already years behind. It’s hard not to take this kind of work to heart. I’ve been working my butt off since day one to close the gap. Although I feel successful I wish my position was seen as important as the new one I’m about to take.
I feel guilty taking a job that’s going to help my family… I feel guilty leaving my students that have gained trust in me to educate them and help them succeed. Somethings got to give and I hope one day MANY things will change. There’s so much people don’t know… or choose to ignore… silence is ruining the minds of young achievers….
You might think that students taking classes with some of the world’s most prestigious academics wouldn’t spend lecture time checking their Facebook profiles. But it turns out that Harvard students have a pretty tough time disconnecting from the web. Harvard Crimson staff writer Hemi H. Gandhi writes that Facebook use in Harvard classes “has become so ubiquitous that no one even questions it”—not even professors.
When Gandhi asked his fellow students why they use Facebook in class, they told him they turn to the site because “a professor starts regurgitating exactly what they’ve read in the textbook; paying attention won’t clarify confusion; a professor starts on a random tangent that is neither interesting nor relevant; [they] need a break to re-focus; [or they] feel pressed for time and decide to multitask.”
Because “Harvard students are generally pragmatic and hyper-concerned about maximizing their Return On Time Investment,” Gandhi writes, they log onto the site (which, of course, was founded at their university in 2003). Besides, he says, students no longer have to pay attention to the professor’s lecture to learn the subject matter because “much of knowledge has become commoditized on the web.” To solve the problem, Gandhi believes professors must “start thinking of themselves as service providers who must constantly innovate to serve students better.”
» via GOOD
This is what I think I hear - “The goal is for the U.S. to compete in the global economy. The proof of this goal is for U.S. students to have the highest standardized test scores.”
Did I hear right? Isn’t this what the “reformers” are saying? If so, here are four obvious reasons why we are…
(via gjmueller)
(via gjmueller)
