Blog Post 5

Last class we discussed homophobia and racism itself and in the education system. It is pretty obvious to see the distinction between liberal and radical views of this in schools. Some institutions have liberal views on these issues, including students and organizing clubs for all students to feel a part of something and represent their individual group of people. In my middle school and high school we had clubs for both African American groups as well a Gay Straight Alliance. I felt my school was very liberal and helpful to their students making them feel comfortable and that school is their safe place, as it should be. I never heard any negative or discriminatory language used against individuals in school either. Although, hearing stories in class from other students, this is not the case at all schools. Some my classmates were saying that their schools did not allow clubs to be formed in support of these groups and that they heard discriminatory language used not only by students, but by faculty as well. Rofes discusses childhood as innocence. Children do not know exactly what they are feeling yet, are they gay or are they straight? It is difficult as a child to know how to feel and what you are, but you know that something is different. That is the view I got of childhood form Rofes's writing. I think this shows that we as a community we need to be more liberal in schools with children. It is hard enough trying to figure out who you are as a child, but to be discriminated against, and feeling like being gay is not ok, this will make the transition and childhood that much harder for students. In the school I hope to be teaching at, I have a vision of a very inclusive school that allows for all students to openly express themselves.

Field Post 2

The visit at Shaker Heights Middle School was great! We were welcomed with open arms by the students and teachers. The first class that we visited was Mrs. Lambert's Literature and Language class. Unfortunately, when we were visiting the children were doing silent reading time, but there was still a lot to observe. The kids were actually really well behaved for a class full of eleven year olds being told to read quietly. There was an aid in the class while the students were reading watching over them. The main teacher was out in the hall. The children were in little pods of four or five desks. There was two to four children in each pod. As reading time went on there were little disturbances like kids getting up or talking to each other. The next class we observed in was Mr. Knebel's math class. Mr. Knebel maintained a lot of control over the classroom. He had a powerful voice that the class responded to well. He asked leading questions about the problems on the board, helping the students come to the answers on their own. The students were very attentive. About half the class would raise their hands when a question was asked. The students were given ten minutes at the end to do a problem in their groups of four or five. Mr. Knebel made it a competition for the students which got them much more involved and then he went around to each group to answer questions and guide them to the correct answer.
When Ayers discusses building bridges, in my opinion he is discussing creating opportunity and new opportunity that one might not have felt was attainable in the past. The bridges are from old to new, from uneducated to educated, from unsuccessful to successful. In the section that my group was assigned in class was about Sal the teacher of an adult writing class. My group agreed that this class was a bridge for knowledge for these students. They had come from low income neighborhoods without much to show for their hard work. This class offered them the ability to change their stories, to gain knowledge, and this knowledge is a bridge to change their stories in their actual lives, not just in stories.
The bridge in Shaker Heights Middle School that is constructed is one between the students to other students. This bridge is one of understanding and acceptance. There is community circles once a week in each class at the middle school. The goal of the school is to make children comfortable with their peers, and like I've stated in the past I think the only way to truly learn is to be comfortable with your peers and teacher.

Blog Post 4

Dear Mr. Smith,

It is very sad the state in which the state of Ohio's state of finance is unconstitutional. It is honestly a disgrace that this has not been fixed yet. As a young person going into teaching it makes it difficult to stay motivated, and I'm sure this is a feeling that many aspiring teachers have. Every teacher wants the best for all their students, and for them to have the ability to reach their full potential with as many resources possible. In the state which Ohio's school finances are in that's not possible for today's students. It begs the question of how are students expected to succeed in state testing or reach their full potential if they are not being offered the resources and finances they need. I know this is a difficult problem to fix, but I just want you to know that as a aspiring teacher I would greatly appreciate attention to this very relevant issue.

Sincerely,

Paschasia Modrzynski

Field Post 1

INTERPRETATIONS

- Children responded to kind voice and singing
- Children were loud when teacher didn't seem like they were paying attention
- Children liked assignments where they could bring it back to their own lives and stand up and talk rather then the math lesson
- The kindergardeners got distracted very easily and needed to be continuously stimulated
- Kindergarden teacher sang and was way more playful
- 4th grade teacher was harsher and more flat with the children

DESCRIPTIONS
- Kindergarden teacher sings and talks in a playful voice
- Children get rowdy and loud throughout the class time
- In the fourth grade class, students had two lessons in the time we were observing. One, the students talked about the sports they liked and why other people's interests were important too. In the second activity was a math question they had to work on independently.
- There was always something going on in the Kindergarden classroom. A full minute didn't go by without someone talking.

PARKING LOT
An observation that we made through our visit and discussion is that the classrooms were very different. The fourth grade classroom was set in a much more structured manner, while the Kindergarden classroom was more free form and filled with stimulation.


I discovered what I think was something I already knew about myself from this visit. I discovered that I really want to teach younger children. My partners and I visited both a fourth grade and Kindergarden classroom. Both my partners liked the fourth grade classroom better, saying that there was too much going on in the kindergarden classroom and too much stimulation needed. That the children needed to be talked to as too low of a level. I had the opposite view. I loved the Kindergarden classroom much more then the fourth grade classroom. I felt very at home in the class. I realized this is where I really want to be, with younger children. I loved the way that the teacher interacted with the children and the stimulation that filled the room.