Sunday, March 10, 2013

Group 3: Different Backgrounds and Arizona's Bills


When thinking about our own teaching, do you think in order for teachers to learn about all students’ different background and teach with an open mind that they need to take a graduate or college level course on the topic? Or do you think we need to educate ourselves or learn from our students or a combination of both? Many times I think teachers want to be open and include all cultures and backgrounds into their classroom and lesson but how do we learn to do this effectively or is it something that cannot be learned?

In Patrick Camangians article titled Subverting the Mater (‘) Syllabus, Camangian says “By mystifying reality, schooling is able to promote the idea that if you are compliant enough and study hard in school, then you can “achieve,” you will not get “left behind,” and you can “race to the top.” Everything will be all right for you. You will not be poor, you will have a nice job; and you will be better than those “other” people you left behind in “that” community.”
I think most teachers want to encourage their students to do well and look forward to a promising future but are there a way to do this with out “mystifying reality”? If so, how can we encourage and instill hope in our students with out being unreasonable and unrealistic?

What do you think about the Bills Arizona has passed? The government makes decision about what is important for educators to teach when they themselves are not in the classroom and don’t see what students need? I think it is important to educate our students on the history of the U.S. and not jus the white version but the history of slavery and immigration in this country. I think that it is important to have an open forum for students to discuss what has happened and what their current feelings are now on the history and how it affects them. How can we make students feel comfortable talking about tough topics that have happened din our countries history? 

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