Pangea!  I really feel some kind of way about that name.

I must say that I am so proud of all of us for making it through our first class together.  I absolutely enjoyed this class because it has opened up my eyes to so many different issues.  I once was blind but now I see! 

Now, 23 of us will continue on with the hope of becoming America’s Next Top Teachers.

The prizes that will be awarded to the winner(s) are: a lifetime of learning, the joy of helping a child succeed, the excitement to be who you want to be, the opportunity to change a life…

Please leave comments for the prizes to be added to the list!

Despite being very very very sick today, overall today was FANTASTIC!  I absolutely enjoyed the time we spent at Idlewood.  My most favorite part of the entire day was the time I got to spend with my little student Shamari.  She was really sweet.  I am so happy that she was able to open up to me and answer my questions while asking her own questions for me to answer.  My experience with her was very enlightening.  After today, I am even more excited and enthusiastic about teaching.  

My second favorite part of the day was when we participated in the morning meeting song with the 1st graders.  We had a blast!  1, 2, 3, 4 Come on Shonda, hit the floor.  We’re so glad you’re here today.  Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!!!

I can’t wait until the day comes when I will be able to do things like this with my own class!!!

Today has fueled the burning fire inside of me to become the best teacher I can be!

What are your thoughts about our day at Idlewood? 

Today we discussed censorship in public schools.  Information, books, etc. can be censored for a variety of reasons.  I personally feel that censoring materials may not always be a good idea.  I think even if public schools censor certain materials, students will still find a way to obtain this material.  I also think that censoring will lead students to seek information elsewhere which could lead them to a lot of untrue, unsupported information.  In addition, not all parents may agree with the idea of censorship.  So, how should a public school system deal with this?  How could they accommodate for the parents who agree with censorship and for the parents who disagree with it?

Today in class we discussed how teachers often feel that the disruptive behavior they experience in their class from certain students can be remedied if they get rid of the “bad apples.”  However, that is not always the case.  Why?  Because as soon as they get rid of those “bad apples” more “bad apples” surface to take their place.  So, what is the purpose of getting rid of the so-called “bad apples” if more “bad apples” are going to surface when they are gone?  As a result, if the teacher continues with this mentality that getting rid of the “bad apples” will solve behavior problems after a while he/she won’t have any students left.

What are your thoughts about this getting rid of the bad apples mentality?

So, basically as long as a child can go to school and successfully bubble in answers and “pass” a standardized test they are not getting left behind.  Right?  As future educators, our job will be “teaching to the test”…Right?  How is teaching to a standardized test effective for students?  How is it ensuring that no child gets left behind? 

Another problem I have is with “standardized” testing.  The test is testing to whose standards?  We have learned that students are culturally diverse and different cultures have different values.  So which culture’s “standards” are being tested?  What about the students who are no a part of that culture?  How does the test benefit them?

Can someone please enlighten me?

The idea of discussing sexual orientation in schools is a very controversial topic.  Some feel that it should be taught in school and others feel it should be taught at home.  Because of the high population of LGBT in Atlanta, we ALL will have to confront this issue at some point in our careers whether we like it not.  What happens when little Tommy with two mommies comes to school and tells all of his classmates about his two moms and your entire class wants to know how little Tommy can have two mommies?  Are you going to address the issue or send your entire class home to ask their parents?  What happens if several of your students have parents who are homophobic and they tell their kids to stay away from little Tommy?  What will you do if little Tommy becomes an outcast because he has two mommies?  What happens if you do decide to teach sexual orientation as a part of your lesson on diversity but several parents come at your throat because your teaching interferes with their religious beliefs?

I am sure that after our class all of these questions have crossed your minds.  It is time for us all to challenge the norm and time for some to challenge their own beliefs.

How will you handle situations like those mentioned above?

Today we discussed what it means to be considered a “gifted” student.  Several of us were in gifted programs in elementary, middle, and high school.  The majority of these gifted programs were centered on one fundamental premise, academic achievement.  Is intellectual giftedness the only form of giftedness that the majority of schools acknowledge?  I decided to do some research and I found this definition and explanation of “gifted” from the National Association for Gifted Children’s website.

National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
“A gifted person is someone who shows, or has the potential for showing, an exceptional level of performance in one or more areas of expression.

Some of these abilities are very general and can affect a broad spectrum of the person’s life, such as leadership skills or the ability to think creatively. Some are very specific talents and are only evident in particular circumstances, such as a special aptitude in mathematics, science, or music. The term giftedness provides a general reference to this spectrum of abilities without being specific or dependent on a single measure or index. It is generally recognized that approximately five percent of the student population, or three million children, in the United States are considered gifted.

A person’s giftedness should not be confused with the means by which giftedness is observed or assessed. Parent, teacher, or student recommendations, a high mark on an examination, or a high IQ score are not giftedness; they may be a signal that giftedness exists. Some of these indices of giftedness are more sensitive than others to differences in the person’s environment” (National Association for Gifted Children, http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=574). 

My question:  Should schools limit gifted programs only to students who are intellectually gifted?

“And I say to you, my young friends, doors are opening to you–doors of opportunities that were not open to your mothers and fathers–and the great challenge facing you is to be ready to face these doors as they open.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of my moments of solitude and reflection at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center was surrounded around this quote.  I live my life everyday knowing that I am provided with opportunities that were not readily available to my mother, my father, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, etc.  I embrace these wonderful opportunities and I make the best of each of them.  This particular quote also brings me back to my reasons for wanting to become a teacher.  The students we plan to serve in the urban community may be children of parents who did not finish school so as educators it is up to us to empower these students to accept the challenge of embracing each opportunity that they are afforded.  We should all want to encourage these students to challenge themselves academically and to have an appreciation for knowledge and higher learning.  Our goal is to build a foundation and empower our students to become high school and college graduates. 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are YOU doing for others?” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

My question: How do YOU plan to empower your students?

Today we took an awareness quiz on class and poverty.  So, how much did Shonda know about class and poverty?  How about I only got two questions out of fifteen correct.  And which two were those?  The first one was that the majority of poor people in the U.S. live in rural areas.  How did I guess that one?  Maybe because I grew up in a rural area.  Maybe because I grew up in one of the poorest counties in the state of Alabama.  Our class discussion on the stereotypes associated with poor people was a bit extreme for me.  Why?  Because 90% of the people living in Wilcox County were labeled as poor but only about 20% fit into more than five of the stereotypes we listed on the board.  It should be noted that many of the stereotypes associated with poor people could be used interchangeably among all of the socioeconomic groups.  The other 10% of the inhabitants of Wilcox County was broken down into 5% who were labeled as working/middle class (my family) and the other 5% were the wealthy White people (which includes two specific families who left Trust Funds to fund the education of Black high school graduates from Wilcox County who wanted to attend college).  

So, what exactly does it mean to be “poor?”  Does being poor mean not having a certain amount of money?  Aside from our stereotypes, how much do we “really” know about poor people?  Do poor people really have a certain look, a certain smell, or something else specific about them? 

Oh, by the way, the other question I got correct was the one about family income being the variable that most closely predicts how high someone will score on the SAT test.  (Just in case inquiring minds wanted to know)

Today in class we watched a video about the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise by Jane Elliott.  The exercise takes the color of a person’s eyes, either blue or brown, and uses that as a basis to decide which group is inferior and which group is superior.  The basic premise behind her exercise is to show how race is used as a deciding factor on who is labeled as inferior and who is labeled as superior.  For just one day back in 1995, actually two hours out of a day, several adults were differentiated based on the color of their eyes being blue.  The blue eyed adults were labeled as inferior and Jane put a piece of green cloth around each of their necks to distinguish them from the superior adults with brown eyes.  I found it very interesting that Jane was able to bring several of these adults to tears just by allowing them to directly relate to how it feels to be mistreated based on a characteristic for which you have no control. 

The exercise was also conducted on the kids in her classroom back in 1970.  They were differentiated in the same manner and she used blue cloth around each of their necks to distinguish them from their classmates.  At the end of the day she asked them how they felt about being singled out for being different because they had blue eyes.  They all responded that they did not like it because it made them feel like they weren’t as good as their classmates with brown eyes.  Fortunately for them, they could remove their color cloths at the end of the day and rip them and/or trash them and they would no longer have to deal with the agony of discrimination.

Now, imagine how it must feel for minorities who feel like this every day.  How does two hours of one day of feeling distraught about being treated as inferior compare to a lifetime?  For these people in this exercise, the feeling was only temporary as they knew in two hours it was all over and they could resume their normal lives.  Imagine what your life would be like if those two hours were a lifetime…How has this exercise affected your way of looking at all types of discrimination?