IDEA

I'm not sure when this article was written but im assuming it has to be outdated. Under the IDEA education law falls the LRE least restrictive environment law and you can no longer isolate children with disabilities. Under FAPE every child is entitled to Free Appropriate Public Education including those with  disabilities. Even if child is in a coma or otherwise completely incapable of Barack Obama signed Rosa's Law which was put into place to end the use of  the term "Mentally retarded". So I feel like this article may be a little outdated however it still does hold a really good and true message. We should learn to embrace our differences, Children with special needs face so many obstacles yet somehow always seem so happy. We have much to learn from them, and yes many are soo incredibly capable and if we don't allow them to explore their talents we may miss out on so many gifts. I love the inclusion stricter it promotes acceptance and deteriorates bullying. My 8 year old is in an inclusion class and it really has changed her perspective for the better. I will often hear her say things like "I should be grateful I am able to do this". We also have an adult in our neighborhood who faces profound mental disabilities and it is great that my children have had the opportunity to watch him be such a great part of out neighborhood community. I think that it is ignorance that causes instances of people being shunned and like other topics in diversity...(sexual orientation, culture..) If it is not talked about openly people come up with their own wrongful and often hurtful accusatins.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ted-talks-education/speaker/rita-pierson/ I love this video reminded me of shyane.

Attachment and Trauma workshop my social justice event

   If your ultimate goal was to have us attend a workshop about injustices well this one was just that and even better this was not just a workshop this was my life. Welcome to foster care a world so often swept secretly under the rug because excuse my language but it is blatantly  a fucking disgrace. I'm sorry but the injustices of foster care have literally no ending and may any of you ever come across a child in foster care please do understand that child has in one way or a another suffered. Let's just begin with the basics regardless of all circumstances entering foster care is done abruptly so one day your home the next day you with your trash bag are sitting in a strangers house with people you don't know separated from your family. Told you are not yet allowed to make phone calls because they haven't yet Been "cleared" and you will get your belongings eventually. Now that is just the basic and none of the circumstances that are often so horrifying that landed children in the "system". Now to talk about the injustices foster children are over medicated immensely they are diagnosed left and right while they grieve http://abcnews.go.com/US/study-shows-foster-children-high-rates-prescription-psychiatric/story?id=15058380 <please read

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/08/15/changing-normal-for-foster-cares-used-and-abused-children/ they are also a favorite among sex traffickers because get this when a foster child goes missing there is no amber alert there is no turn to ten news... no one looks... they get a wayward stamp on their file end of story This reminded me of the silenced dialoge by Delpit. This group of people couldnt be any more silenced than they are,

When I went to the workshop I had a general idea of what I was walking into the same old foter youth are traumatized faster youth need help. I was hoping that by 2014 thought would have more solutions however I can't tell you how pissed off I left that that meeting. I actually at one point spoke out. I am so sick if hearing all the negatives associated with foster youth. Like as soon as you enter care that it your officially worthless. All anyone has to talk about is how broken they are foster care Isa joke it literally takes kids from one traumatizing situation and puts them in another. The event was mostly geared towards foster parents in an attempt to inform them the best ways to handle the behavioral problems often attached to foster children. How to handle all the trauma part of it was about the best ways to allow youth to use social media. Unfortunately many people after felt as if the event was a flop because it talked about how to deal with these issues with the "family". Many social workers left one had spoke out because she said "Many of the youth  I take care of are not with their families and may never go back with their families. How do I help those kids" In which case the speaker said "This workshop may not be for you". Although in the same room as all these people I felt like I was "on the other side of the fence....alone" they were are talking about foster kids and the trouble they have with them, and the difficulties, like there wasn't any in the room, it frustrated me. I was waiting for the positive the "my youth are great at this..." nooopppeee. I'm probably pretty bias I will admit my experience in care was nothing to write home about, some of my peers have had better luck in more structured group homes. Even in them though youth have strict rules, many of them are not allowed the simple privilege og playing a sport because no staff can be there for them. They are not allowed friends over or to go to friends houses a basic right of their peers. They may not go for walks, ride bikes, or leave the yard. Every phone call is screened and timed. There is very little that is normal about it, or helpful to youth who would do anything in the world to kbow what "normal was like" This reminded me of the reading on power and privilege. how the people in power continue to take any funds allocated towards this population and how they have no idea how privileged they are to have a family.

Literacy with an Attitude

 Finn's piece Literacy with an Attitude left me speechless. It also gave me this sense of being some sort of imprisoned within my own education system. It is tough to read a piece that so strongly argues that you like a chess pawn have been played within your education system throughout life to ultimately lose. Finn's argument is so convincible, his facts and examples proving his point we are set in a literacy path path from the more privileged to seek compliance not justice. Based on your class you were either taught critical thinking, rich literature filled with roles of leadership and skills to rise above or rules, compliance and functional literature. I can't help but feel like I was tricked and honestly this piece makes the power and privilege piece look like a cupcake.
There was a few points that stood out to me that id like to speak on
"Students also valued educational achievement without valuing the knowledge it brought"
This really stands out to me and is something I have thought about before. We live in a world were absolutely everything we could ever want to know about 6absolutely anything is just a click away... but how often do we take advantage of that? Is it that we are not encouraged to? Should we have to be? We could not be any more blessed when it comes to seeking knowledge and yet we don't. This is completing to me why do you think this is?

On the infant language piece I personally couldn't agree more I do believe that the are connecting a thought a want or need with a sound and it is important to encourage that.

On the stages of literacy this really stood out to me because in my student tutoring my third grade students are all grouped and segregated according to their STARR testing reading levels. It is based on this scored "Ability" that they are then taught in groups three times a week for an hour. The way I read that was if you tested low you were tought pass poor literacy and  restricted from literacy that was actually worth something. I you were lucky enough to I don't know lets say fed that day, slept that night, clothed properly and scored high enough you would be privileged to read a literacy that was rich. When my teacher gets her high scoring students for her hour she beams. She looked at me and said "look at how well these students do compared to the other students these kids excel and are learning things my other students can't understand for the life of them".

I really loved his emphasis on the equality of literacy and dialogue. I always do a section in my career planning curriculum that puts emphasis on language skills. I allow my students to play with strong language in resume adlibs. It allows them to visually see the massive difference strong language can make and then I continue with how people are often judged on their intelligence based on their language. I also loved how Finn used photos/artwork to bring his powerful message alive.

http://demonocracy:info/infographics/usa/usa_debt/us_debt.html

Becoming Something Diffrent

I have to admit I was rooting for Esme to enter AP classes as I read this piece. When I reached page 20 and realized her ability was most definitely squandered by an encouraging education system I was less than impressed. I can completely understand her position of not pushing herself because yes it does feel good to EASILY pass everything she clearly had more potential that was passed by like water under the bridge. It is a shame. I understand the emphasis on the over representation of language barrier in the special education classes and it almost seems like common sense to see how this could happen regardless of whether it is wrong or right. Now if Esme had began her education in a primarily Spanish speaking school what do you think the outcome would have been? And although being bilingual may have caused her difficulty in her earlier years do you not agree that in her later years it will only serve as beneficial? I do believe learning English is crucial however I also believe that knowing Spanish should be looked at as more of a gift than not being bilingual is a great skill to have and will only serve her beneficially in the  long run I really wish that we had looked at it as more of a gift than  hinder. I also  would like to talk about the relationships part. I really feel that this piece does a great job highlighting the importance of healthy relationships. Peers and family have great influence over ones potential. I strongly believe  that if Esme had somehow got mixed up with a less achieving peer circle or had a less supportive family things would have turned out much differently for her. Her family values had served her well and encouraged her. I really wish that her family was more understanding though and let Esme finish her last year of school towards graduation because she was doing well and transitioning into a new school in another country may be overwhelming to her but it was made clear relatively early n the piece that her father never saw this country as home. Although how welcome do we really make anyone not in S>W>A>M>P feel?

The Other Three R's

I have to admit to feeling a little disappointed after an hour and fourteen minutes I feel like i didn't learn anything. I heard three people who very informatively complain. It does not take some fancy degree or to be the chair of whatever to know our schools are still pretty well segregated. It almost seems like common sense as to why all our great teachers would flock to the more privileged schools, we have in a beginner Foundations of Ed class gone over the inequalities in education. We have addressed many of the issues with the high stakes testing and how Americas educational system is not culturally friendly. We have in many of our readings talked about the gap and deficit in education among our non white peers. I felt like i watched this long video and all it did was reiterate all the things we have already covered. I sat in bed with a paper and a pen waiting for that ahaa moment where one of them said something that really stood out but i didn't feel like it ever came. They did a fantastic job pointing out all the faults in out educational system though i will give them credit for that but this isn't what i think of as beneficial. If they had added more solutions, more what to do right now with what we have, I feel like that i would have gained more. I personally am not a fan of pointing out all the wrong without having a solution, a plan, or at the very least an idea for a better way. I don't mean to say the whole video was a complete waste i mean yes maybe a good magnet school could help integrate families, I would have thought good charter schools would do this to and was surprised to hear that's not the case. I just felt like the better half was alot of finger pointing.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2012/04/25/creating-innovators/ Lets be innovators instead!!

good read

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/on-learning-by-doing/