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Today, while giving a tour, I mentioned our book group to the student and her mother. I gave the usual speal, and tied it in by mentioning that the CEO pays for our travel and that BMC is supportive of these types of independent projects. She responded with, "Oh that must be so nice for a sociology student, to see how the other side lives."

My response was less than honorable. I sort of nodded along with her before realizing what I was agreeing with. Thinking back now, though, I realize how very, very strange the idea is that the women we work with are somehow different, removed, "others" from us. I think I stopped seeing true difference a long time ago. There is no "other side", I think. We all represent many colors and shapes in a kaleidoscope, overlapping, intersection, enmeshing to paint a picture. 

We are not the same, no, but we're not truly different, either. 

This is so in tune with everything we've been talking about this week, I'm not even sure what to think about it. Thoughts?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/04/09/291887381/banning-traditional-animal-slaughter-denmark-stokes-religous-ire

This public installation of a casita @ Congreso (where my daughter Marian has just accepted a job)
provides, for me, a very nice image of what I imagine for our story slam:
http://associationforpublicart.org/interactive-art-map/i-have-a-story-to-tell-you

If the link for the Tim Burke speech is down for anyone else (I know I can't get to the site right now for some reason) I found a back-up here

"Where writing once meant print text- black marks on white paper, left to right and top to bottom - today 'writing' is in full Technicolor; it is nonlinear and alive with sounds, voices, and images of all kinds" (Lunsford, 2007)

I really appreciated the views of Paris and Kirkland on the use of AAL vs DAE. I feel that because students are often caught between 'a rock and a hard-place' (as my mother would say) when it comes to writing, students are not feeling confident in their communication skills. Traditional writing and grammar practice can often be exclusionary. The use of AAL through text-messaging as well as social media interactions allows students to have a "second space" to express themselves, their feelings, and their thoughts in a manner that is not necessarily academic. I feel that students should be encouraged to write as often as possible and through any and all creative outlets. I never was really "into" my English classes in high school, though I often found myself writing slam poetry and entering competitions because I was able to express myself and my feelings without the constraints of traditional grammar and structure. 

What Delpit described in her readings as the "Warm Demander" is exactly the kind of educator I'd want to be, ideally. It is also my biggest fear, in the sense that I would fall short of it, or not be able to find the balance between the "warm" and the "demanding" and leave students feeling like I only served them halfway. What's hardest about teaching, for me, is learning how to subtly and fully incorporate values and ideals into every part of your lesson plan and curriculum and how you present yourself in class - in other words, showing that you want to validate your students and raise their expectations of themselves without outright saying it.

The reading by Delpit was extremely interesting for me, mostly because this is something that I have been trying to find for my inquiry project. I have been trying to look at what makes a productive classroom and what role do teachers have in the academic identify of their students. In this article they talk about how teachers can and should push and expect more of the students. In a core way I understand this, as a teacher should always respect and admire the intelligence of the student, and try not to underestimate them in their classroom. While I was uncomfortable with the idea of a fearful respectful relationship between a student and a teacher, I was happy to hear and learn more about self confidence from a teacher and a student knowing that the teacher was there to teach them and was incented in their learning. I can tell from my own experience, that most of the classes I enjoy-in college and in high-school-are with teachers that I admire, respect, and who I know respect my time in their classroom. I find that I am more willing to work hard and push myself and understanding knowing that the teacher or professor has created the space in their classroom for this kind of low stakes challenging but with high-stakes results. 

I would like to read further into this article to figure out how to teach STEM felids, and how teachers and students usually fall short in these fields and how students often fell less than able to study these field and are intimidated or uninterested in them. 

In the beginning of her writing, Delpit talks about how teachers touch students in various ways. Teachers impact the students in ways that they do not even realize. This is the reason that there needs to be teachers present in schools who genuinely care about students and are willing to push students, demanding them to learn.  Students from “disadvantaged backgrounds” particularly, rely on teachers to academically support them because students, often time, do not get this support from home. This whole idea makes me think in depth about my placement. There are specific students who have IEPs and are separated from the rest of the class. While the majority of the class sits on the floor in a circle to listen to stories, these students with IEP have to sit in a chair. In addition, when there is an activity that occurs, like drawing an animal, the teacher pushed some kids to do better, but not the students with an IEP. When one little boy did not draw the animal to her liking the teacher explicitly stated, “He can do better, so I will not accept anything less of him.” But when a student with an IEP drew an animal she stated, “I don’t expect much from him.” When a teacher has low expectations for a student and allows for mediocrity, this goes against Delpit’s idea of pushing students and demanding success. I can’t help but to question how these students with IEP’s will succeed. One, they have an IEP. Two, they are expected to only speak and learn in English in the kindergarten, but only speak and, for the most part, only understand Spanish.

I'd promised you some links to the work of Peter Singer.

Unspeakable Conversations, by Harriet McBride Johnson, is the 2003 NYTimes article I referenced, written by a disabled activist who agreed to two speaking engagements with Singer @ Princeton. You might also have a particular interest in Animal Liberation, his 1975 book which is pretty much thought to be the founding philosophical statement for that movement; and "Family, Affluence and Morality," written in 1972, is probably his best-known essay. But there's PLENTY more @ http://www.utilitarianism.net/singer/