Media & Ideology - Talking Points #1

Perhaps there is more than one meaning to the word reality, and I believe that media does have a direct influence on society. Although this particular text seemed to use examples that were a bit out dated, I was still able to pull the main ideas from it. President Clinton's impeachment,rapper Emenims angry and violent lyrics, as well as the way religion is portrayed in the media through movies. Whether we like it or not, our generation more so then before has been hit with this wave of media and I am not sure we can get away from it. It is a very powerful issue. I work as an assistant pre-school teacher, and everyday I see 3-5 year olds begging and crying, giving their parents a hard time so that they can use their parents Iphones and Ipads. It makes me realize that fortunately enough when I was that age such distractions were not available. It makes me sick to watch these parents giving into their children and allowing them the access to these devices. What did children do before these services were invented? I am a strong believer that people are products of their environments, and you become, what you are essentially surrounded by.

T.V stations like disney I even feel like are representing the wrong topics for their shows. On Friday evening its all shows, and within each episode there is always some kind of girlfriend, boy friend delima and boys interested in girls and vise versa, but why does that even have to be a subject matter? I feel like the only message with that is teaching children that they have to be involved in dating and relationships early on? I am a HUGE fan of Jersey Shore and I'm ok with admitting that, I find it very comical and entertaining. But I 100% agree that it is without a doubt sending out bad messages to young teens and perhaps maybe even young adults. What I do not like about it is that fact that my 12 year old niece knows all of the characters names and what happens in some of the episodes. I know for a fact she is not exposed to the show at home so it must be a conversation topic at her middle school, and I am almost positive that parents allow their middle schoolers to stay up until 11 on Thursday nights to watch the new Jersey Shore episodes.

Media is a very powerful contributer to the way in which society is based upon. I think from this point on it will only get worse. I think the availability to the internet is also a problem. There are 3 year olds who can work a computer and search better than my immigrant parents can. It just goes to show you where this is going.

Introduction 1/27/11 WMST-354

Hello everyone! My name is Taylor, this is my 3rd semester at RIC. Before transferring to RIC I went to CCRI for two years, with a scholarship to play soccer. So far the semester is going well, but I know I've got my hands full until May. When I am not in class I am usually at work or spending time with my friends and family. I am an assistant preschool teacher, and I am currently working towards a degree in early childhood education. There is a quote I came across that has stuck with me ever since I started to work with young children, "You can learn many things from children, how much patience you have, for instance." - author unknown. Moreover I think this course will be a good learning experience and good time.

Conclusion

I just wanted to take the time to conclude my overall experience as a volunteer , tutor in the providence public school system. It was without a doubt an eye opener for me. It is true that you do learn something new every day. I realized that I take a lot for granted within my life now at 21 years of age and when I was a grade student. And that there are some very unfortunate kids out there who are so grateful for the little they do have. I also realized that things have defiantly changed a lot from when I was an elementary student. I feel as though the children now know a lot more of the stuff they shouldn’t know yet and they are so advanced,and its not so much academic wise. I had some good times with the children as we taught one another, I helped them learn and they helped me be thankful for what I have and the life I live. I met some good people who helped me realize a little more each day the kind of teacher I want to be. I am thankful for the opportunity and I hope to change some of the lives of young children in the future.

Prompt 6 & Dewey

Communication is without a doubt one of the more important aspects I feel in education. I think without proper communication that there are always a lot of confusions, misconceptions, and more obviously miscommunications. A culturally competent teacher I strongly believe must use a variety of verbal, as well as non verbal communication techniques that encourage their students with positive social interactions, in which are supportive learning experiences within a classroom

Personally, while tutoring my kindergarten aged children I have found a few ways of communicating non verbally that have been a positive learning experience for my children. When going over their vocabulary words I use hand or face motions/expressions that help that remember/recognize the words. For example for the number word TWO I would put two fingers up for the word up I would use a thumbs up etc. Moreover, I also had the children write words that that couldn’t remember 3x each, and have them repeat the word each time they wrote it down. I noticed that the teacher in my classroom did similar things. She would say words aloud and have a picture to correspond with it. She made sure that all of her students were focused and paying attention whenever she spoke and did an activity. To make sure they were paying attention should would ask specific questions about the lessons. I feel it is especially important for educators to be aware of the fact that learning at a young age is essential for proper development. My teacher also likes to do 90% of her class activates in groups, incorporating social activity. And according to John Dewey he also believes that education is a social function. The more group involved activities, the more learning occurs.

Having social group oriented activities allows children to get to know one another, as well as learn how to work with others. Dewey also talks about how a child’s communication also has to do with their social life outside of school. People are attracted to other people with similar interests. For example in my classroom I tutor in there is only two white students, and they are always together. The troublemakers in the classroom are two African American boys and the most talkative, outspoken children are all of Spanish descent. So following Dewey’s belief, I would have my students sit in different groups, with different groups of children every couple of weeks to change things up and give them the opportunities to get to know one another on a different level, other than what they already know. On a personal level with my students the do not really talk about their personal lives because I don’t think that most of them realizes the certain situations they are in because of their age. I think if I were to see some of these children again in a few years they would have more to say aside from their school work.

Prompt 5 & Delpit

I think as an aspiring teacher that involving works with the students and their families, as well as some of the community, and its resources would be a great idea because that way it keeps everyone on the same page. Also the parents could be involved in what their child is learning in school and the children would like to have their parents see what they have learned. I remember as a grade school student whenever we had after school activities where our parents got to come and interact with their children in a school setting that I always had a great time as well as a great learning experience. I remember in the 3^rd grade we got to invite our parents to a science fair night with a bunch of experiments that had to do with our curriculum, games, and activities, the children got to learn as well as win educational orientated prizes. I think schools now should do more of these. It’s a fun, yet good way to learn.

I think depending on what kind of neighborhood in which I am teaching, would depend on the family/parent interaction with the school and community. I think that in an upper class to middle class neighborhood parents would be more involved and as you would get into the poorer, less fortunate neighborhoods and families, parents would be less involved. I don’t think its necessarily because they do not want to be involved, but because most of the time these families have work commitments, and communication issues that conflict with their involvement with their children’s school.

For example, while volunteering at my elementary school, one day a parent of a student who attends the school came in to speak with her child’s teacher. The only problem was it wasn’t the parent physically speaking to the teacher but her child who was translating for his Spanish speaking mother. I was looking at the teacher and it seemed as though she felt awkward with the situation only because what the student was translation from the teachers English to the mothers Spanish was about himself. So nothing that was said was at all private.

Lisa Delpit had a lot to do with my understanding of teacher, student communications and relationships as well as student, parent teacher relationships.. I think it is very important to have a good relationship as a student with your teacher and as a teacher with your student and their parents. Delpit seemed to focus a lot on the communication of poorer, African American students and their families. But she did mention how regardless of background some way of communication was essential in the learning process. And for children who are less fortunate than others that communication is absolutely necessary. Not only from an education standpoint but in all aspects of life I strongly believe that commuication is key no matter what it has to do with.

I would try to communicate with parents as much as possible. I would like to communicate with them through a school based e-mail system. If parents were not able to communicate through email I would communicate through letters that would be available in their native languages. I would generously give my spare after school personal time to parents who wanted to speak with me personally as well, and possibly have an appointment book to be organized.

Prompt #4 Johnson

As an aspiring culturally competent teacher, I must be aware of the diverse and cultural groups that may be represented in my classroom. I must investigate the sociocultural factors that may influence my students learning. Since no students enters the classroom without a personal history, I think it is quite obvious that no matter who you are, or where you go, that you’re going to encounter someone or something that you are not used too. I think that is part of life, and the way things work. As a teacher you might find yourself in some situation that you may have thought you would never be in. I think this comes into effect when a teacher who went to school in a different community or area, finds themselves teaching in a whole different atmosphere. As far as a teacher is concerned, they should be aware of the fact that No one enters a classroom without a personal history; thus, no one enters a classroom completely free of bias. I think that people are products of their environments and you are what you live in. Therefore in you were brought up one way, and for a while you may think that way is the only way, or right way, your wrong. Teachers have to be very open minded and be willing to learn and understand new ways of doing things.
Where I went to school as a child, that schools itself were not very diverse but my city was. I live in a relatively big city, and I feel as though we had a little bit of everything having to do with races and ethnicities. But depending on where you lived in the city, depended on what kind of kids you went to school with. Although I have always lived in the “better”, “nicer” end of the city, my parents put me in schools somewhere in the middle of the “bad” and “nice” parts of the city so that I could get the full public school experience, and I’m glad they did. I know some people who have never went to school with a black or Latino person up until college. And when they were in college they felt as though they did not know how to react to them. I am thankful that I never had to deal with that issue. My schools never had the best resources, and my high school had over 3,500 students in it. I think because of me going to school with many different kinds of students that it allows me now as an adult to be open minded and comfortable around all different kinds of people. I think people should be open to learning new things everyday and that as a teacher you have to really be open. What one may think about a certain kind of person of a particular race or ethnicity they might have a different opinion after working with one or meeting one. More over I would like to include the theorist Allan Johnson when discussing this issue, as I stated above it is very unlikely that someone can go through life without any kind of bias, therefore Johnson is his article, “ Our House is on Fire,” focuses mainly on how people say they are not racist in any way and that they have nothing to do with the problems around it, but in reality that is not the case. It is very important that as educators you go into a classroom as free of bias as possible and give every student the best support and education despite their personal histories. Johnson also says that one person cannot change the bias of people but if a person recognizes and accepts their own personal beliefs that eventually things could change. To promote tolerance, and celebrate difference.

Students should feel as though they are all unique in their own ways. That school should prepare them for their futures no matter, what school they go to or where they live. If I was the head teacher in my classroom where I tutor I think I would sometimes have issues with parents. They would probably think because I am white that I don’t completely understand their personal issues and hardships. Some parents might even think that I think I am better than them. The teacher in my classroom is a white woman. There are only about 2 white students in the class and the rest either Latino or African American and mixed races. But the assistant teacher in the room is an African American women. Right there though I think that is telling in itself because the head teacher in the class in white, but the assistant is black. Going into this experience I didn’t really have any misconceptions only because like I said before I went to school with all different types of children and people, so it really had no effect on me.

Prompt # 3 Shor

As a teacher, I believe that it is extremely important to be aware, and acknowledge the individual and different specific needs of all of your students. Teachers should be open to the idea of being able to use a variety of different assessment techniques while making sure that their students are active and participating in them. Teachers should come up with as many different appropriate activities and assignments that they can to help their students succeed in any way they possibly can. Teachers should understand that their students are diverse learners and students may need to learn in different ways than others. Especially because they all come from different linguistic, ethnic, and sociocultural backgrounds.
Teachers need to accommodate the needs of their students. For example a student with different linguistics than most of the other children needs extra, and or special attention. The teacher could come up with ways to make the student understand better, or even take more time with this student before or after school. The teacher could send home specific homework assignments that would allow the student to practice on his/her free time. Moreover, at my elementary school where I tutor kindergarten students there are MANY students that speak another language other than English. The school does consist of mostly minority students. I also believe that for many of the students at this school that English was NOT there first spoken language. When I am tutoring my three students I pay special attention to one little girl. Over a few sessions with working with her I realized that she did not speak English, and that english was not her primary language at home. And that she was also in one of the bilingual classes at the school. She is my one student that has the most difficult with her studies as well. With her I will exaggerate things more and reinforce a lot of different concepts to her.
Also i believe that as teachers we should all consider the students ethnic and sociocultural backgrounds when we teach. We should consider all ethnicities and allow our students to ask questions and to actively participate in their learning. A theorist that comes to mind when I think of participating being an important aspect in a classroom in Ira Shor in his article, “Problem Posing: Situated and Multicultural Learning”, He believes that teachers should teach in such a way that the actual teaching process encourages students to question what they have been taught. For example when teaching a Spanish speaking bi- lingual student a social studies lesson in English where they might not completely understand, then repeat the lesson in their native language. Then have the student ask questions comparing and contrasting what they just learned in both languages.