EDU Prosetry

 ”Love is not a relationship. Love is a state of being; it has nothing to do with anybody else. One is not in love, one is love. And of course when one is love, one is in love – but that is an outcome, a by-product, that is not the source. The source is that one is love. And who can be love? Certainly, if you are not aware of who you are, you cannot be love. You will be fear. Fear is just the opposite of love. Remember, hate is not the opposite of love, as people think. Hate is love standing upsidedown, it is not the opposite of love. The real opposite of love is fear. In love one expands, in fear one shrinks. In fear one becomes closed, in love one opens. In fear one doubts, in love one trusts. In fear one is left lonely. In love one disappears; hence there is no question of loneliness at all.” ~Osho

                On the first day back at McNair the students were required to attend an assembly in the school’s café. During this assembly the benchmark scores for each grade and PLC were announced. Public praise was given to those PLC groups and classes who held the highest average, read the most books, had the most students at school on a daily basis, best math test scores, etc. However, the scores of the other groups were also shown. When they declined the entire café was asked if this is the right direction, to which all shouted a loud and forceful “NO!”  The teachers were awarded leave early passes and exempt from turning in lesson plan passes for having the winning class.

                This entire assembly left me feeling ill. It creates a community of competition among students and teachers in which good grades become less about greater academic knowledge and more about public praise. What about the classes who have mostly special needs students who try their best but still are behind the rest… should this not be awarded? Or that student who makes all A’s and has to endure public humiliation because her class has the lowest average.

                I believe it is important to bring attention to good work and to show where improvement is needed. But to this type of sports like boasting and belittling I say who wins? Students become motivated by public praise and not intrinsic reward and teachers work to gain bragging rights not better minds. Really? Is this what our students need? I think not!

OOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEERRRRRRWHHHEEEELLLLMMMMMMEEEEDDDDD

overwhelmed

but fantastic

WOW! This has been the longest three weeks of my academic life. I knew that the journey I was beginning would be a long one; however, I did not know it would be this intense. Before starting the program I had different ideas about what I thought a good teacher was, but I did not know that there was so much more to it.

I am, we are, PANGEA is just beginning our mission to become the nest possible teachers we can each individually be. We have just begun our journey to gain all the tools necessary to go out into the world and “make a difference one little person at a time.”

There are so many things to consider when teaching students, and now that I have been made aware some of these things I will forever be accountable for all my actions. To tell you the truth I am a little scared. I am afraid because I know that every reading, every paper, every action, every class, everything I do for this day forward will be working to shape me into a person who will have an impact on the lives of others and the world. I will be apart of the army of people working to make this place Earth into something more beautiful then all the sunsets combined. Knowing this scares me. There is power in being able to change a life. My fear is of changing a life for the worst instead of the better.

These three weeks have confirmed in me that I am finally in the exact place I am supposed to be. It is here that I believe I will begin to do the things the divine has designed me to do. I am ready to begin!

A great fear of mine, as I begin my quest to become a teacher, is that I will get a student who does not speak any English. I fear this because I am afraid that the language barrier will cause me to do a disservice to her or him. This fear was somewhat manifested today during our visit to Idlewood elementary school.

During our visit there we were given time to spend in teachers’ classes in order to observe them in action. Towards the end of the day, the entire cohort and a group of second graders met for a group conversation. However, before our large group discussion we were paired of individually with a second grader to have a one on one discussion.

The little boy I was paired with could not speak any English. His name is Kalbe and he is seven years old. He is from Ethiopia and just immigrated to the United States. His first language is Amari, a beautiful language that was also spoken by his classmate Tinsaye. Tinsaye was a second grader in the class that Kalbe will be in next year. He spent the last few weeks of school with her in order to get an idea of what it will be like as a second grader.

During our conversation, or attempted conversation, I struggled with trying to find ways to communicate with him. I did not want to exclude him from the exercise; however, it was hard trying to communicate with him through Tinsaye because she could not easily translate my English into Amari.

I found myself wondering about what I would do when I get a student who does not speak English. I want to be able to give all my students the best I can offer.

The purpose of education, as Gatto mentions in his article and what many educators believe, should be to make meaning or provide the information to people so that meaning could be made. However, often this is not the case. The process of education in America, more specifically the process of public education in America, is not set up to have children question the norms but more so as a promotion of them. Students are given few opportunities to really explore the topic they are learning inside the classroom because the time spent on activities is dictated by the “test standards”.

Producing well-rounded individuals seems to be the least of the concerns of educators within the public school system. Producing ATM machines that things can be put in and taken out when asked for is what the schools are creating. One way to assure the success of this endeavor is to censor anything that will challenge the norms or provoke free thinking. If materials were allowed into schools that caused students to wonder, examine, challenge, and even go against what the dominant culture and their beliefs deem to be acceptable, then schools would indeed become dangerous places that produce revolutionaries.

What is it that I am trying to do over the course of this three week course in culturally responsive pedagogy and throughout my entire journey of becoming a teacher?

It’s Amazing how Gods are contained in glass walls
What marvels me is how short he was
Petite, shorter than the average man
The short robes behind glass windows
On poles reaching up to the heavens
He was a giant
With feet no bigger than mine
A fork placed there to remind
Us that even the immortal
Could not live off of love alone
What lies in the heart of a woman
After she has loved a God
Whose words had the power to
Make folks
“stop, listen, and imagine…”

Today we walked. We walked down a street. We walked down a street once flowing with life. We walked down a street once flowing with the lifeblood of black folks. We walked down a street once flowing with the lifeblood of black folks who dreamed big. We walked down a street of black dreams. We walked down a street of dreams. We walked down a street. Today we walked.