Neutrality in teaching

As chapter 20 discussed, "rules are spoken about as inherently neutral, impartially exercised, and impervious to individual feelings and personal responses." (p. 313) I feel that school is in general talked about as a neutral thing. People often argue that everyone in American has an opportunity, that all children are given the right of education, but is that reality?

In public schools students are consciously or not divided into categories by their teachers, administrators, fellow peers, etc. To focus more on teachers as that is what we are all striving to be at this point, we can try to be as neutral as possible but it really can't be achieved. Every single person has had different life experiences that shape our thoughts and views. We were once cut off by a white woman driving while on her cell phone and inherently see a white mom on her cell phone drop her child off and think of her in a certain way. Maybe we were robbed by a young black male and that student looks kind of like him. It is impossible to be neutral! The main thing a teacher can do is strive to treat each student as an individual. As humans our brains generalize and categorize to save us time and energy but teachers need to consciously reverse this process. For example all football players cannot be categorized of as obnoxious and lazy in academics. It wont be easy, but it is something (among everything else we've talked about in this class) to keep in mind.

An "Aha" moment

A quote from the text that really struck me was in Erikson's piece but he was quoting William James.

"A man's character is discernible in the mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensely active and alive. At such moments there is a voice inside which speaks and says: "This is the real me!" - William James p. 245

I really felt that this describes identity and how you feel when you realize your identity. I immediately thought of the "Aha moment" commercials. Mutual of Omaha is the "Official sponsor of the Aha moment". They are commercials where people explain their Aha moment when they realized who they were going to marry, what they wanted to be when they grew up, etc. Essentially James is describing this moment when you realize who you are and exactly what you are supposed to be doing.

Of course Mutual of Omaha is a bank who wants to appeal to the public and use this as an advertising campaign to make more money, but I think it is a very good lesson on identity.

To listen to some of these "Aha moments" heres the website:
http://www.ahamoment.com/?gclid=CPioypqXqJkCFQquGgodbBoJqQ

Presentation: Social Awareness

Our group's presentation is about social awareness in the classroom. My specific part of this project is exploring how to bring social awareness and students' outside culture into all disciplines within the school. For example, I read an article where 'at-risk' teen mothers brought hip hop into their English class. They reflected in journals first.
Ayanna said, "Hip hop is more than music. It's also about dress. And hip hop is a cultural dance that started among young African Americans who expressed their feelings through their body movements. Hip hop makes me feel inspired. When I was a kid I'd make up dances and it was so inspiring. I'd express myself in a hard core way that wasn't dangerous."
This got the students thinking about their lives and how hip hop in particular fits into their real lives outside the classroom. Then they created their own verses to a hip hop song like Eminmen's Stan and Usher's "Confessions". The author of the article believes this allowed them to look at their lives through a social lens and apply songs to their lives. They were able to "promote change in their own lives as well as change in society" by seeing what aspects of the lyrics they did and did not like.
An interesting aspect of the article was to allow students to draw "on their 'real' voice by writing". They were bridging the gap between their real lives outside the classroom and their structured lives inside the classroom. So often teachers try to encourage students to leave what is bothering them from their outside life at the door and focus on school work. That is hard for adults to do, let alone adolescents, especially middle schoolers. This was a great example of a way to bring life into the classroom and apply skills they are learning to real world examples. These teen mothers are going to need an outlet for frustration. They have a difficult life ahead of them and using these writing skills in a practical manner such as keeping a diary may help them get through some tough times.