Blog #12

 Mallory Needham 

Blog#12 

Last Blog 

Within these last couple of months I have learned so much! Besides the authors, articles, podcasts and videos, I have learned what it means to correctly collaborate. Sharing your opinions with others while gathering positive and constructive criticism are skills that I have gained so much knowledge in. 

1. When touching on neurodiversity I felt very confident in that area when speaking in class. I felt that our classroom space deeply allowed me to share my personal life which I greatly appreciated. Being able to share my story on my brother will be something that will for sure resonate with me. 

2. The card game we played in class honestly amazed me for such a simple concept. After playing the game in class, I went home and shared the story with my family which was so cool. It amazed me how people were so quick to judge each other when not realizing we all had different sets of rules. Taking away from the card game, I learned such a valuable lesson that I will carry on in my teaching career. 

3. As much as I did enjoy all the authors, an activity that stuck with me was when Professor Bogad handed out the worksheet and expected us all to finish it in a certain amount of time. The information on the worksheet was useless and felt like a waste of time. Come to find out, we learned that she tested us to see if we felt that was worth our time. Professors and teachers often make us as students feel dumb and that was a realization that really struck me during that activity. 

Blog #11

 Read: RI Laws and Policies 

Read: Queering Our Schools- Written by: The Editors of Rethinking Schools 

Watch: Woke Read Alouds: They, She, He Easy as ABC 

Reflection: After reading both articles and watching the short video I question the reality that all schools abide by these policies listed. Growing up in western Cranston, many children did not identify as other genders besides male and female. The reality of those concepts was not common so when having a child identify as something different that child was looked at weirdly. I wouldn't say that the specific child was bullied, however the likelihood of seeing that through my schooling was low. I feel now in the past couple of years more and more children have been identifying themselves more publicly and proudly. I believe that social media has a big influence on this in both positive and negative ways at times. I believe that in some cases schools can make a child proudly express themself or on the other hand,  have the child completely shut down being afraid to show who they really are. 

To share with the class: 

When discussing this topic I feel a sense of awkwardness. I am not heavily educated on many of the policies of gender identity when it comes to schooling. We live in a generation now where these concepts must be a reality to all. One specific question I have is, how can we get younger children to express themselves more freely at a young age? How can we support them to feel comfortable in their own skin? I believe young children are the most understanding, less hateful than adults. If we can get the younger generation to learn and understand at an early age we might be able to shift the mindset of so many. Growing up and coming from an extremely Italian household, I was never educated in this area. Coming from this, I would like to help as many struggling people as I can, understanding  how difficult it can be to find who you really are. Expressing yourself without the rude and hatefulness of others! 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10063975/

Blog #10

 Title: What is Neurodiversity? And how can parents support kids who are neurodivergent?

Written By: Caroline Miller 

Reflection: “Nerodiversity is the concept of people understanding that there is a natural variation in how people's brains work.” This definition stuck out to me and also is extremely important inside and outside of schools. Understanding people's lifestyle to the best of your availability will help set the scene for success and positivity in our community. As a whole I think it's so important to realize that no two brains work the same even when disabilities are involved within individuals. I believe instead of pinpointing the differences and needs of others, we should bring light and celebrate the differences of others. 

To share with the class: 

Having someone in my family who is neurodiverse is something that is not abstract to me. My brother, Dylan, is 22 and has Down Syndrome. He has many limitations but that honestly does not stop him. He lives an amazing life and truly shows my family the meaning of living your life to the absolute fullest. Just recently my brother got his first ever job at a local coffee job in Providence. Bitty and Beaus is a new coffee shop that only hires people with disabilities. There are hired professionals that work one on one with the individuals to help them gain a real experience of working in the community. My brother will get the experience of a work uniform, a paycheck, and the ability to serve in a restaurant. It’s been a struggle in my family to find my brother a job because he is very low functioning. We didn't feel comfortable having him alone so he qualified for a work coach when out in the community. He had his first ever interview yesterday and was so excited to tell us he got hired at Bittys and Beaus. Small things like this make a huge difference for some people that can be so minor for others. 

(this is a picture of Dylan!!)

Blog #9

 Introduction + Preface 

Written By: Shalaby, TroubleMarkers 

Reflection

After reading both articles, I resonated most with the Introduction article  of a child who struggles with everyday tasks. When assignments don't fit the interests of the child it seems that it may set them off. The structure of school may not work for every student which will lead to complicated work environments. All children are incredibly different and I believe our school system does not and will not help benefit children without a change. 

I can relate to these statements as I witnessed this in my service learning classroom. A young boy has a hard time controlling his emotions that are set off by triggers that happen in the classroom. I observed the child begin to get upset as the subject of science was the next subject on the agenda. The child began to act out, throw things, and become more vocal before it took a turn and became more violent. This event made me have a real life connection to the concept of children struggling with everyday tasks from the article. Something that may be so simple for others can be a major set off for another student which I believe to not be fair. As a sibling of someone with special needs, I didn’t agree with the teacher's response to the situation. There were so many different ways the child could have been served other than the ways that he was reached. I realized at that moment the child just needed to be explained what was going on or what would be happening next. I want to become a teacher who understands why something is happening rather than just judging the situation. Instead of having the urge to have such a sense of control teachers must have that connection or relationship with the students which then could even prevent the issue from reoccuring.

I interacted Chat GPT to create an image on freedom based learning in a classroom! 

Blog#8

Read: Literacy with an Attitude 

Written by: Patrick J. Finn

Reflection:

After reading this article, I learned a greater meaning or message behind writing. The concept of reading and literacy comes with more depth, such as power, class, and social control. Most students in the United States will read dialogue heavily based on their social class. This will then affect the way they think, act, and relate to the authority of their classroom. We are taught that most working-class students learn obedience while the upper-class students are taught independence and leadership. Our schooling systems are the lead role of existing social inequalities.  Finn teaches us to teach "Literacy with an Attitude”,  meaning,  empowering all students to think critically and challenge the injustices. 

To share with the class:

Through all my years of schooling, I didn't always agree with the reading pieces I read in school. I always thought they were always so focused on specific groups of people. And if the topic was changed, we would spend minimal time learning about the reading. I can totally agree with where Finn is coming from with the deeper meaning of literacy. However, I feel like this concept is tricky to grasp. For younger students, they won’t understand that most of literacy is center focused. As time goes on they will just believe it to be normal information to then realize one day that there may be a greater understanding of what they are reading. Finn makes a great point that education should not prepare students to fit into society but to almost transform it. I wish that through my years of schooling I had a mindset or an idea of these statements. As young and enthusiastic new educators, I believe that this reading would be beneficial to keep in mind. Out of all authors I had a deeper connection to this reading even though it was a little bit longer.

 

Precious Knowledge and Virtual Classroom Tour

 Precious Knowledge:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11w-WupRICLaNSYkG2qh3CLEGStVmKjODb1X1BYqBTqc/edit?tab=t.0

Virtual Classroom:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yiMae7yg6EKO7mGOvtTi3TF6iQV7BYSSBnQ9G1zmy3A/edit?tab=t.0

Week #7

 Read: What to look for in a Classroom—---- Written By: Alfie Kohn 

Watch: Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Reflection: 

After working in many classrooms, as well as a daycare weekly most of the stuff in this week's article was all familiar to me. Visuals of student work in the classroom are something that everyone sees immediately when you walk into the environment. It shows the parents what the children are doing at school and also shows their progress. Having student work on the wall as well as a stress free and organized environment is very important for classrooms. 

Within the video we learn about a culturally relevant pedagogy in academic environments. We learn that culture and diverse students bring new elements to a classroom that make the learning experience so unique. It’s so important to bring awareness to these backgrounds of students which can almost boost their confidence. 

To share in class: 

 When reading the article I was able to relate to having pictures in the classroom. At my daycare we made memory blocks for our infants. These memory blocks are soft memory foam blocks with family pictures for children to look at throughout the day. While doing tummy time and practing how to sit the children have the opportunity to look their family. After a couple weeks, I realized in great detail how each family and culture is so different. Some children just have mom, dad, and siblings while others have extended family which is a crucial role in their life. These elements will soon make the charcterits of these children shaping them to the individual they will once become. I find it so crazy how these children at such a young age look at these images and almost recognize their faces! On the flip side, I could see how this isn't conducive to everyone because some children don't have as many individuals in their life. This isn't a bad thing, but just something that sets children apart that parents may see when they come into the classroom.