Ireally liked seeing this short movie. I think it gave valuable insight into the struggle for racial identity that many people have. Before being in the school of education, I didn't realize how much our culture is dominated by images of white, middle class people, and how difficult it can be to feel like you fit in if you look differently. Even the books on our shelves in classrooms- while we try to be diverse, often these books and posters just promote the same stereotypes we already feel- the only books with African American people on them are books about slaves in the Civil War, etc. What messages do children of various races and ethnic backgrounds receive about where they are able to go in life? What role models do they look to? This video also touches on that a bit with the children picking between the two dolls. It was very interesting, though not necessarily surprising, that the majority of children labeled the white doll as good, and the black doll as bad. It makes perfect sense when you look at the media's portrayal of different races and even what kids see in their schools and neighborhoods. I feel like I could try to be as conscientious of this as possible when I am a teacher but I still can't change those stereotypes or what kids are seeing and hearing in the media, so will those stereotypes continue to prevail? How can I, a white middle class female, perpetuate change and even attempt to identify with students of a different race or ethnic group or socioeconomic background? How can I convince them that they are capable of much more than what they see people like them doing?

Wake Up!

I was somewhat disappointed with what I saw in my 3rd grade classroom last week. The children did so much sitting and writing or reading, and even sitting and listening. I could tell they were getting so antsy toward the end, and needed to do something creative or use their hands or just be able to move around. It may not be the teacher's fault that she has to teach a reading, writing, and math block all before lunch, but she should make it more engaging and interactive. Eight-year-olds are not made to sit still for so long! Plus, they will only remember about 10% of what they hear from an oral lecture, but much more if they are discovering it themselves. I can think of many different activities they could do that involve learning and movement, or discussion, or competition. All of these would get the students much more engaged than listening to the teacher and then going and filling out a worksheet or writing a list of ideas for a poem. It just frustrated me to see some of the kids (especially boys) get snapped at or get in trouble for spacing out and fidgeting when the lessons were so disengaging. I wasn't even paying attention. And I see this whole cycle playing out where kids get in trouble for not paying attention, and then they learn that they are just troublemakers, and start to play into their own ideas that they will be troublemakers or they are students who are always off task, instead of being enabled to learn. Put that energy to use. Use the outgoing and boisterous students as leaders and allow the creative jokers to come up with ideas for the projects. I think that, although this might not always work, enabling students and putting the qualities that they already have to use is so much better than trying to get 16 students to sit still and be quiet for even a short amount of time. If they finally comply, they will just completely space out rather than being focused and engaged. I wish I could have jumped in during some of these boring lessons and figured out ways to engage the students with more active and hands-on activities, instead of having to sit in the back and watch half of her students fall asleep as she talked.