Jill: Social Issues

Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Urban Activists and Teachers are Reclaiming Matters of the Heart Ginwright, S. Ginwright argues that culturally responsive teaching along with a relational pedagogy facilitates healing among students in urban areas. Effective teaching and learning that is responsive to culture along with effective engagement with personal processes (forgiveness, courage, joy ect.) are crucial in the learning process. Relational pedagogy focuses on creating quality relationships with young people. The articles discussed three important lessons. Critical reflection is the reflection on situations and the most important lessons young people should learn. It considers spiritual, social, and political forces that shape our decisions. Forgiveness is a transformative practice that opens up possibilities for humane connections. Restoration is a repairing and rebuilding when harm is done. It is the process of making things right. Healing centered pedagog

Note to Educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete Jefferey Duncan Andrade In this article Andrade explores the concept of of hope. He argues that the enemies of hope are hokey hope, mythical hope, and hope deferred. However critical hope rejects the hopelessness in urban settings. Hokey hope suggests that urban youth can work hard and go to college if they put their minds to it, but it ignores the inequity faced by these youth that hold them back.  Mythical hope says that racism is over because of the progress made in society such as an African American president. It ignores the white privilege that remains in our society.  Hope deferred is a false optimism that society will be reformed in the future and that individual students will "make it out" of urban areas.  Critical hope rejects these false hopes of Americans. There are three elements:  Material hope is quality teaching for our youth to produce student growth.  Socratic hope requires teache

Films: "Stay Woke" a film by Hudson and Houston with executive producer Richard Cohen "Mighty Times" a documentary directed by Peabody and Laurens Grant "Stay Woke" and "Mighty Times" are both films that chronicle the protest against unequal rights and actions towards black people. There has been a struggle of oppression faced by black people starting long, long ago. Both films show a movement brought up by anger for an unjust system. "Mighty Times" documents the children's march movement in Birmingham in 1963. Thousands of children were put in jail in just a few days. They were peacefully protesting for their freedom. "Stay Woke" documents the "Black Lives Matter" movement starting in Ferguson in 2015. This movement protests for police to stop killing black people. This movement was greatly influenced by social media. Neither movement is hateful. They have come about because of black people who are &q

Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability Authors: Subini Ancy Annamma, David Connor and Beth Ferri The authors of this article propose a new theoretical framework, DisCrit. It combines Critical Race Theory and Disabilities studies. They argue that race and disability intersect and are interested in researching this. One statistic they shared was, "African American students continue to be three times as likely to be labeled mentally retarded, tow times as likely to be labeled emotionally disturbed, and one and half times as likely to be labeled learning disabled." The authors also discuss the social construction of dis/ability. It is society's interpretations and responses that decide what is the norm and what is not. Therefore, the interpretation of dis/ability changes throughout history. The authors rationalize DisCrit because they believe that issues involving disability are issues of equity that involve

Disability Studies in Education; The Need for a Plurality of Perspectives on Disability Authors: Susan Baglieri,Jan W. Valle, David J. Connor, and Deborah J. Gallagher The authors of this article argue that the field of special education would benefit from a broader understanding of disabilities. There are and have been many debates and arguments around special education. One of the most discussed issues is inclusive education. People with disabilities have historically been oppressed and segregated in public schools. The article states, "prejudice based on disability frequently remains unrecognized." Special Education students are experiencing oppression, however all students have the right to free and appropriate education. Their voices are not heard. The authors are aiming to use research to share the stories of students in special education and let their voices be hear. They invite everyone to "join the conversation" and spread the information surrounding spe

Podcast: How To Become Batman Hosts: Alix Spiegel and Lulu Miller Expectations create effects!  The podcast starts off with a discussion of a study on the expectations put on rats. Out of a group of rats some of them had a sign that said they were dumb and some had a sign that said they were smart. Then the experimenters had to record how the rats got through a maze. Now the rats were actually all average rats, however the "dumb rats" performed poorly and the "smart rats" performed well. How could this be? Rats cannot read the signs on their cage. It seemed as though the experimenters handled the rats differently based on their preconceived thoughts. How does this translate over to human interactions? The remainder of the podcast focuses on a blind man, Daniel Kish. Kish's Ted Talk gives you a good look into his life.  Kish does things like hike and ride a bike. Most people would be surprised that a blind person could do these things. But, Kis

"Schools, Prisons, and Social Implications of Punishment: Rethinking Disciplinary Practices" Pedro A. Noguera Noguera argues that school punishment is often in the form of exclusion and is most prevalent for minorities especially Blacks and Latinos. This is very similar to adult punishment. Schools do not seem to try to change this pattern of ostracism. The need this punishment to keep control. One principal even stated, "Kids like him just can't be helped." Students take on the labels that the people around them give. They therefore know that their education is compromised and will indeed live up to the expectations of defiance. Students are "sorted" in schools based on academics and behavior. However, taking all the "behavior problems" out of classrooms does not diminish the behavior issues in classrooms. Other students step up to the task! In order to diminish classroom behavior issues, students need to be engaged in learning. It

"Why Are All the Black Children Sitting Together in the Cafeteria" Tatum, B Tatum argues that racism is in our society. He states that people who think racism is in the past are not paying attention to issues of racism. Racism starts early in the fact that most neighborhoods and communities are socially segregated. He also defines racism as "a system of advantage based on race." It is hard for people to think this way instead of racism as blatant prejudice. It make White people feel guilty. Thinking of racism in this way means that people of color cannot be racist because in our society White people are the advantaged. The second chapter focuses on identity. Identity is who we are and is made up of a multitude of factors. Our identities also change as we learn and grow. Tatum refers to dominant groups and subordinate groups. "The relationship of the dominants to the subordinates is often one in which the targeted group is labeled as defective or substa

Film: I Am Not Your Negro Filmmaker: Raoul Peck This film is the vision of an unfinished book by James Baldwin, in which he accounts the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. It illustrates the continued racism that is alive in America. "I was not a member of the NAACP because in the North where I grew up the NAACP was fatally entangled with black class distinctions or illusions of the same, which repelled the shoe shine boy like me."  This was the first sentence that struck me as I watched "I Am Not Your Negro." The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is supposed to ensure equality of rights for Black Americans. As you can see in this quote, James Baldwin did not see that vision in play. The word that pops out the most for me is "illusions." An illusion is something that is wrongly perceived. Even though the NAACP was supposed to fight for black rights, they did not fight as hard for