These photos brought the experience of the working American to life for me, and emphasized the importance of primary resources in the classroom. If a student were researching this subject for a paper, the images would give them a deeper, more personal understanding of the experience of the American laborer. In addition, information obtained from primary sources is generally less distilled than information from secondary sources.
#2: Three areas of "Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator" that I feel would work well with my teaching style are listed below:
---Determine which diverse groups are involved at school, and learn to what extent these students and their families are able to access school services. When I begin teaching, this initial assessment of student population will influence many aspects of my teaching. By being aware of who I am teaching, and what their cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds are, I will be better able to meet the needs of students and parents.
---Assess school staff's perception of their development needs, relating to providing services for diverse cultural groups. It is important to understand the perspectives of school staff, as well as students, to get a clear picture of what is needed to ensure that all students have access to a fair and equal education.
---Create a "competency task force." I like this idea, because the focus is on getting students, parents, teachers and community representatives involved in becoming aware of their school's culture. This group will plan and implement activities to promote cultural competence. The key aspect of this area that speaks to me is that it seeks input from people involved in various levels of the school and community, and uses this input to make the entire school more culturally competent.
#3: Yeti Adventure, Reading Levels 3-6.
I bookmarked a site called "Encyclopedia Mythica," which discussed the Yeti in detail, including the cultural origins of the legend, some possible physical characteristics the Yeti might possess, and some history and details about expeditions that have sought to find the monster. Kids Click listed this article's reading level as 3-6, and this made it a good candidate for this assignment. If I were teaching a unit on monsters and folklore, this site would be ideal. From the Yeti article page, I was able to search quickly and easily for other articles at about monsters and myths at a similar reading level.
#4:Kathy Shrock
I found the Teacher Helper area of this website very inspiring. It offers teachers help in so many areas, from ideas about bulletin board content and layouts to organizing presentations, to creating assessment rubrics. I believe that this site will be helpful to me in my future classroom because it offers such a variety of ideas and resources, and there are step-by-step instructions and ideas for teachers to incorporate elements into their own classroom. The fact that the site offers suggestions on how teachers might use the information makes it incredibly useful! For instance, I'm not necessarily a visually creative person, but Teacher Helper offers bulletin board layouts, for us artistically challenged folks. It also shows sample rubrics and other assessment tools, in case I need ideas or inspiration when creating my own.
#5: Multiple Intelligences
This is my favorite site on the scavenger hunt so far! I am fascinated by and excited about the theory of multiple intelligences. I think that this information is SO important, because it applies not only to education, but to the way all humans relate to each other and to the world around them. If individual's can develop an understanding of and appreciation for the various forms of intelligence, and learn to recognize this intelligence in others, the individual will develop tolerance and self-understanding. I also think that I have been applying this theory to horses and riders for years. Horses have distinct and various personalities, just as the people who ride them do. By identifying the strengths each horse possesses and the challenges it faces, it is possible to match that horse up with a rider whose strengths help the horse to overcome his challenges. It is exciting to see what a horse and rider can accomplish together, when their unique strengths and personalities combine to make both achieve more than they could alone.
#6: The Immigrant Experience
I selected a lesson idea called "The Immigrant Experience." This lesson focuses on one of Barack Obama's speeches. When the lesson is introduced, students analyze Obama's speech. Students then move on to analyze their textbooks to get a feel for how the story told in the textbook relates the immigrant experience. Students will examine the different ways in which various text books shape the narrative of the American immigrant, and also look at how the shaping of the narrative influences people's past and current perception of certain cultural and social groups. This lesson is exciting because it gives students an opportunity to question their textbooks, and possibly their own preconceived notions about the American immigrant experience.
#7: Social Inequity
Wow! This quiz really got me thinking...Two of the questions I found most thought-provoking were number 2 and number 10. Question number two reveals that, when compared to their white counterparts, African American women in the US are four times as likely to die in childbirth due to a lack of access to prenatal care. I found it astonishing that this figure was reported IN THE UNITED STATES! I imagine that this statistic is largely related to the fact that the numbers of uninsured and unemployed are larger among blacks than whites, but this certainly does not justify the death of mothers and/or children.
The answer to question number 10 states that a person must be convicted of possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine or 5 grams of crack cocaine to be sentenced to a mandatory 5 year sentence. The quiz makes clear that wealthy people usually do cocaine, while poor people usually do crack, though both drugs affect the body similarly. In my personal experience, people I've known who have been convicted of possession of cocaine have faced little punishment, and I had no idea that the definition of "possession" of crack was so drastically different than that of "possession" of powder. This is socioeconomic and racial discrimination, without a doubt!
#6: The Immigrant Experience
I selected a lesson idea called "The Immigrant Experience." This lesson focuses on one of Barack Obama's speeches. When the lesson is introduced, students analyze Obama's speech. Students then move on to analyze their textbooks to get a feel for how the story told in the textbook relates the immigrant experience. Students will examine the different ways in which various text books shape the narrative of the American immigrant, and also look at how the shaping of the narrative influences people's past and current perception of certain cultural and social groups. This lesson is exciting because it gives students an opportunity to question their textbooks, and possibly their own preconceived notions about the American immigrant experience.
#7: Social Inequity
Wow! This quiz really got me thinking...Two of the questions I found most thought-provoking were number 2 and number 10. Question number two reveals that, when compared to their white counterparts, African American women in the US are four times as likely to die in childbirth due to a lack of access to prenatal care. I found it astonishing that this figure was reported IN THE UNITED STATES! I imagine that this statistic is largely related to the fact that the numbers of uninsured and unemployed are larger among blacks than whites, but this certainly does not justify the death of mothers and/or children.
The answer to question number 10 states that a person must be convicted of possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine or 5 grams of crack cocaine to be sentenced to a mandatory 5 year sentence. The quiz makes clear that wealthy people usually do cocaine, while poor people usually do crack, though both drugs affect the body similarly. In my personal experience, people I've known who have been convicted of possession of cocaine have faced little punishment, and I had no idea that the definition of "possession" of crack was so drastically different than that of "possession" of powder. This is socioeconomic and racial discrimination, without a doubt!
#8: Netiquette %(|:-)
I scored an 80% on the netiquette quiz. It is important for teachers and students to practice good netiquette, because people interact more than ever online, in today's world. Just as students are expected to learn acceptable social behavior, good manners, and effective public speaking techniques, students are also expected to act socially responsible online.
For this assignment, I used delicious.com to become familar with social bookmarking, and collaboratively research real-world issues with classmates and peers.
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