5/31/18

In the article A Critically Compassionate Pedagogy For Latino Youth by Cammarota and Romero, they argue that in oder for Latino youth to succeed and become active citizens they must feel comfortable. It is the teacher's responsibility to have "authentic care" which means the teacher makes strong emotional connections with students by sharing things about themselves. Authentic care allows students to feel part of the community and it helps them talk more freely in the classroom.

I can't argue with this article even when they point out that not enough teachers are "authentic" carers and because of standardized testing, must be "aesthetic" carers. Many educators feel the pressure of the tests and evaluations so they pretend to care or make shallow connections because they simply don't have the time to focus on social justice. But I believe that there is always time for community building activities. When students feel comfortable, learning is just easier.

I love the I am From poems and do them with my own ELL students. They seem to like writing them and also sharing them with myself and their peers. Last year I started framing their final drafts and displaying them in the library. The library is a very busy part of our school, hundreds of students visit  daily and for an entire month their work was seen by thousands of students and staff members. The positive reaction they received from their work was shocking for one student. She told me that she never even thought people would care about where she was from. It was in that moment that I hope she realized that her voice is important and that she is certainly an important member of our school community.

Bollinger and Spring Articles

Both of these articles discuss the issues of eradicating the culture and language of people of color by Anglo-Saxons.  Both articles claim that one way of suppressing one's culture and language is through education. These acts of subversion took place through American history and were deliberate (not some 'happy' accident).


In this article Bollinger argues that the Indian Boarding School were barbaric, ineffective  and simply a means of eradicating the indigenous people's culture, language, and traditions. This isn't the first time I have heard of these "schools", I knew that Native children where forced to go to these schools, cut their hair, and Anglicize their names.  What I did learn, and was happy to hear that, "many parents refused to enroll students in schools". I do not blame those parents for rebelling. These schools were supposedly set in place to educate young children and prepare them for industrial America. But there is very little evidence that any real education took place. Many students spent the majority of there "school day" participating in military drills or some kind of child labor. These schools were very damaging to native children and there culture.

I'm not a history teacher, but I do talk about these boarding school with my ELLs when we do a Sherman Alexie unit. I think it is important for our current students to understand our country's history (even the shameful stuff!). 

VICELAND has a series called RISE that focuses on Native Americans. One episode in the  eight episode series  focuses on these Indian Boarding Schools. 

Blog #3

The Full Cost of Incarceration - Matt Ferner

Argument Statement:

Ferner argues that the cost of incarceration in America is much higher than typically reported. He argues that the cost is inflated due to social costs on the incarcerated and their immediate families.

Talking Points: 

Even after a person is released from jail, they will still feel the effects of their time behind bars. This is the "social cost" of incarceration, Carrie Pettus-Davis gives us a figure of around $10 of social cost for every $1 of correction cost.

So what exactly is "social cost"? While this term isn't too familiar with me, its term Ferner uses to discuss the hardships people (and families) face during and after being released from a correctional facility. These include low wage jobs, lower life expectancy, negative effects of children of the incarcerated.

The first two "social costs" I mention in my last talking points were logical and not surprising, but the last cost was the one that upset me. Innocent children have to bare the cost of a guardian's mistake or bad choice. Children with incarcerated care givers are more likely to drop out of school, suffer from social or emotional issues, and/or fall into a life of crime themselves. It was just so sad to think that someones else behavior can have such a lasting and negative effect on the next generation.

What "Counts" as Educational Policy? Notes towards a New Paradigm - J. Anyon

Argument Statement:

Anyon argues that government and educational policies do not do enough for people in poorer communities.

Talking Points:

Throughout history there has been a plethora of policy reforms of both federal and state levels regarding education, yet Anyon argues that none of the policies had a focus on the poverty of families or the communities they reside in.

Some of the data Anyon includes in the article were quite alarming. Specifically the graduation rates for large comprehensive schools in NYC, for example, only "10 percent to 20 percent of ninth graders in 1996 graduated four years later".

Blog #2

Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth

This documentary argues that wealth equals health. The higher the socioeconomic status the longer the life expectancy. This hour long film state that it is not the lack of universal healthcare that is making people sick, but the stress of living in unsafe neighborhoods, lack of nutritious meals, and “low control - high demand jobs” that many people struggle with on a daily basis.

All data and facts mentioned in the Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth, did not  particularly surprise me but it did make me pause and make that connection between health and wealth that I may not have even thought of until I started teaching.  The idea that people living in unsafe neighborhoods had lower life expectancy seems logically and hard to dispute (“There’re all sorts of ways we’ve devised for depriving people of a sense of control over their lives. Living in a community where it’s not safe to go out. “). As did the argument of lack of nutritious food leads to health conditions and lower life expectancy. Those are all things that I have heard before and can’t really dispute.

The one point that also made logical sense, but I just haven’t heard data on it prior, was the effects of stress and life expectancy. Especially the stress of working a “low control-high demand” jobs. When our bodies our stressed for prolonged periods of time, due to work, has an impact on our health. When the documentary first began to argue this point, I thought, “isn’t everyone’s job stressful? Doesn’t the CEO get stressed? This argument could prove to be lacking”, but they quickly explained that while a CEO job IS stressful, “being a CEO is a high demand job, but Taylor usually has the power, resources and control to manage that pressure”. CEO’s can take a vacation to decompress, while people like Corey Anderson and his wife are not fiscally able to take a trip to release stress. So the stress continually compounds over the years and eventually leads to early death.

Blog #1

My name is Leah and I currently teach English and Writing Workshop for ELLs at Cranston High School East. I am on track to graduate from the Teaching English as a Second Language masters program in the fall. When I am not working or going to school, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, cooking, and occasionally working out.