Blog Post #9

This is a very powerful piece to read. Coming from a family of teachers, and having worked with kids at a few different jobs, I have seen a lot of situations with children who Shalaby would call “canaries.” Shalaby’s idea that students who act out are not just “troublemakers,” but students who are actively being failed by their education system. I do not believe all students deemed “troublemakers” are “canaries” but there are still many situations where students are not given an equitable education. 

It has become more and more apparent to me throughout the years that many schools and teachers focus only on discipline and control over real connection with their students. Shalaby does a good job of reminding us that in many cases, a child acting out could be seen as a cry for help. That shift in perspective is so important because it changes how we respond to their misbehavior. Instead of trying to “fix” the child, we start to question what in our own system could be changed. 

Humiliating punishments are still seen in classrooms today

This text also carries an important message about how we should treat and look at neurodivergent students. These students are frequently misunderstood and disciplined for behaviors that reflect their brain processes. A child who fidgets, speaks out of turn, or struggles to sit still might be labeled as defiant, when in reality, they’re communicating discomfort or trying to regulate themselves. I personally struggle to sit still in class, and this was a bigger deal in my younger years of schooling, but is not anymore. 

We as future teachers should be challenging our current system. A quiet and orderly classroom is not the best place to learn for many students. Especially in early years, we should be inviting children to express their feelings and frustrations so that we can help them grow. The ideal classroom should give children the freedom to express themselves, while still giving important lessons.

 

Blog Post #8

 Until reading Patrick Finn’s Literacy With An Attitude, I hadn’t thought much about how different the working-class vs elite education systems are. According to Finn, there are two kinds of schooling in America: one that empowers and one that domesticates.

Finn describes how working-class schools tend to focus on discipline, obedience, and routine, while more affluent schools teach creativity and critical thought. This is described in the quote, “In the affluent professional school, work was not repetitious and mechanical, as it was in the working-class school.” This made me think a little bit about the school visits I’ve done in both this class and FNED 101. Despite the creativity that is seemingly present in the classrooms I visit, the work is all still very formulaic. This type of work, along with a "push them along" attitude, keeps children at lower reading and math levels.

   What is really crazy to me is how subtle these differences are. Teachers might believe they’re maintaining order or helping students succeed, but they’re also deciding who gets to think critically and who just learns to comply. This makes me think about my future as a teacher, and wonder what kind of strategies I can use to help my students think more critically.

Video Analysis

 Classroom Tour: 

Teach Us All:

Precious Knowledge:

Blog Post #7

While getting ready for, and completing, my first week of volunteer work, I found the introduction to CRP video along with the Kohn chart to be very helpful in knowing how to base my ideals for a classroom. 

The video on culturally relevant teaching emphasized that it’s not just about celebrating diversity when you feel like it, it’s about consistently recognizing and building up the cultural strengths that students already bring with them. This was very recognizable during my visit to Mary Fogarty elementary; the classrooms I visited all had literature, decor, and set ups that encouraged the celebration of each student's heritage. The video gives the idea that part of your teaching identity should have something to do with learning from your students, along with teaching them. This seems like a good mindset to have especially as a preservice teacher. 

Kohn’s chart also gave me a good representation of what a classroom should look like physically. I think that what he wrote in regard to classroom furniture/layout, things on the walls, around the school, and the general classroom environment are all very important things that I have searched for in both the schools I'm volunteering in, and observing. At an elementary level, it is especially important to see Kohn’s ideas at play.

Reading/watching both of these pieces has definitely been beneficial to both building my identity as a teacher, and informing me of what to look for in different classrooms that I may be in throughout the semester.