ED3351; Purcell-Gates

"...As soon as she opened her mouth..."
If we claim to allow equal access to educational oppurtunity to all children in our schools, then we must. The way we interpret "differences" among children, and/or adults as deficit or difference depends primarily on our preconceptions attitudes towards, and stereotypes we hold towards the infividual children's communities and culture. A child with a nonstandard dialect, poor/uneducated family, we are much more likely to intrepet experiential difference as a "deficit" in children, their parents, their home, and sociocomnnunity the child grew up in. **And when we do this, we play God. Conferring or denying educational opportunity to individual, socioculturally different, children. And we do NOT have the right to do this.

Alot of reactions all throughout article, but this is the one that struck me as most critical. This section in the article is saying that as teachers, "we are playing God" in the lives of these innocent children, because of the experiential difference they may have. The next section below this talks about what the schools were doing about all this? Simply nothing. Not only failing to address experiential diference, not even concerned about it. "It's the boys failure to learn." It was very hard for me to think about such people, not caring one bit about children and their well being, and these are teachers! But I know what I read couldn't be more correct when talking about how the past has been if a student was from upper, middle, lower class and what minority group. As a teacher, I will never "play God" in the lives of my children. As a teacher, we must accept, believe, and act upon belief that ALL children are learning, have been learning since birth, ready to learn at anything, and WILL LEARN. ALL CHILDREN.

Mountaineer

After finding out how to upload my word document to gmail, I am confused about how to make my post to where I can have "For my Mountaineer reflection, click HERE." I looked at my previous posts from Instruct Tech, but I can't seem to figure it out. This will have to do for now.


Reflection- “Mountaineer”
While watching the “Mountaineer,” I found several reasons why I was connected to the movie. Both of the parents grew up in West Virginia, and like them, I have lived here all my life as well. I’ve had family reunions just like the one that was in the video. Cars parked everywhere, people walking all over the place greeting people with hugs, and my great uncles playing the banjos in the background. A couple people stated in the video that they loved the mountains and WV so much, that they wouldn’t be comfortable anywhere else. I do love the mountains and WV, but I think
I am uncomfortable when I go other places I haven’t been before due to other reasons. Especially if I happen to be driving! I was the third daughter and the baby of the family. I have no idea how I became such a tom boy, but by the age of 5-6 years old, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with doll babies or babies, all I wanted to do was watch Davy Crocket. (And also Dances With Wolves was my favorite to!) So, needless to say, when the video started talking about the movies that show mountain living, I got a pretty good giggle thinking back on those times of my life.

Q. Do you think West Virginia has been able to hang onto our traditions and way of life to a greater degree than other states? If so, why?
A. Yes, WV people have and still are able to hang onto their traditions and ways of life to a greater degree than other states. One cause of this would be the lack of family orientated families that live in bigger and/or states. WV people are very family orientated and hold true to their values, beliefs, and traditions. Traditions are passed down through generations of people/families. Those living in other states may have a higher divorce rate. This would cause a family to lose sight of such traditions if their family was to go through a divorce. Also, WV people live a “simple” way of life. Not dumb, “simple.” As it was described in the movie, “food on the table, clothing on back and shelter over head.” Those living in some places outside of WV are always wanting and needing something more. It seems as if they are never satisfied. It would be hard to have traditions and/or ways of life, much less hang onto and pass them down to generations.
Q.Many West Virginians have strong feelings about TV caricatures of mountain people—some love these fictious characters. Explore the reasons for liking these characters. Are there aspects of these characters that ring true, or is the absurdity that you enjoy?
A. First, the obvious answer, why wouldn’t people in WV want to watch people who share the same similarities? the same way of life? Small town they live in?: etc. My grandparents and father love the Andy Griffith Show. For as long as I can remember they have watched the comedic Barney and Andy. These shows display the kind of humor that WV people find funny. Of course, someone coming straight out of Beverly Hills is not going to enjoy watching Andy Griffith, but to people living in WV, these characters ring true.

Two links were added to my list; EDUC 3351 Course Site and FSU Blackboard.