Reflection #10 --Gatekeepers

I believe this quote means that teachers are the ones who hold the metaphoric key to learning. They have the final say as to what is learned in the classroom. With all of the constraints put on them by administration, parents, as well as testing pressures it is up to the teacher to allow certain material into the classroom. To know your limitations and the possible potential of a class is vital to the success of the class as a whole. Teachers are responsible for the academic success, motivation, and accomplishments of each child in the classroom. It is imperative for the teacher to maintain authority when making decisions in order to maintain control of their classroom. As gatekeepers teachers teach with everything that they have. They are not wired to turn off once they leave the school. Teachers do not teach for praise or acclaim. They teach to enrich the educational environment. These gatekeepers protect their classrooms and the students within as a keeper of something that is precious and worth keeping sacred. Teachers also create new curriculum that is essential to support growth in their classrooms. They often innovate not because they are required to or because they are hoping for a praise and fame but because they love to teach with their whole self. Teachers have the difficult task of trying to engage their students in meaningful discussion to obtain sustainable discussion about the lesson. The is a flexibility to make decisions day to day regarding the educational growth of so many puts teachers on a pestle that they must work hard to stay on top of. Teachers can reach a number of students give the proper support from outside sources. A teacher can reach a child throughout the year as some resources that try to help children can only do so sporadically.

Reflection # 9 --Teacher Effectiveness

Compared to the first schools of in Sumerian and then the education in Egypt students of today are very fortunate. As far as teach effectiveness goes, I do not believe that present day teachers have become more effective in their educational roles. If anything they have become less effective. Students would study from sun up to sun down seven days a week without rest. Some would argue that there are harsh conditions unfit for today’s children. However, with so much free idol time whatever is learned is soon forgotten in favor of the latest video game or television show. Repetition may not be the most entertaining way to remember school work but it does leave a lasting impression in the mind. Whereas children in ancient Egypt would start their education as soon as they could imitate an adult, the children of today are coddled and taught to behave as children as long as possible. Formal education was not obtainable for everyone in Sumerian and Egypt, children who were lucky enough to be educated took their lesson seriously. The penalty for not doing well in your lesson could be very stiff. Today students see education as something they don’t really need and actually hate to do most of the time. Teachers try so many different methods to reach the children so that they can learn the “standards” of education. When only the wealthy members of the society could afford to educate their children the poor would relish the chance for their child to better themselves for a brighter future. Yes there are more children being educated but are they learning at the same rate and level as these ancient civilizations? If you were to measure teacher effectiveness based on the number of students who finish formal education then yes, today’s teachers are more effective. However if you were to judge students strength of the knowledge over a period of time I believe today’s teachers would not be as high as those in ancient Sumerian and Egypt. My final argument on teacher effectiveness is ended on a quote I learned many years ago in primary school. If you give a man a fish then you have fed him for today, but if you teach a man to fish you have fed him for a lifetime.” Today’s teachers could live up to this quote given enough freedom to educate, instead of just testing students.

Comment-- Intelligence is a number?

I found this poem to be very insightful and touched me deeply. How could a few men who called them scientist believe such nonsense and then spew out there beliefs as if they were fact. These men of so called science used there "finding" to keep so many people down for so long. It make me think of how far we (people of color) have come and how far we have yet to travel in the sense that our confidence has been squelched for so long. Our pride hidden under mountains of negativity and doubt. If you call a king a dog long enough and treat that king as a dog would that king begin to walk, feel, and see as a dog? This poem examine how mans ego can cause him to be a beast to his fellowman.Garner says there are multiple intelligences where some would have you believe there is only one. How boring would this world be if we had one standard of music and one standard of beauty and one standard of love. It is so sad that some have to tear down others in order to build themselves up. I HOPE that we can learn from our past and unite as a common people and share in our rich beautiful diversity.

Reflection#8 School Reform

The text describes three waves of education reform. Top down was the first wave were tighter regulations in schools were supported. The emphasis was to transmit culture not to reconstruct it. This top down wave advocated “back to basics” education. The second wave reported by Sizer, Goodlad, Boyer, and others focused on the teacher. By strengthening the teaching profession it would strengthen education. There were many observations and studies done that supported this wave of reform. Bottom up change is what they called it as they empowered educators at the school level and then working up. The third wave of reform is student needs focus where students needs are primary to education. The school would become a comprehensive institution providing various services to children. Such services would include social, medical, and other services all provided by the school. Of these three waves the top down wave continues to be the strongest. There is an emphasis on test and standards that make schools accountable for students learning basic skills. Due to the results of “A Nation at Risk” the schools are held to a higher standard. Poor student achievement and test scores measured against worldwide scores prompted the back to basic reform. In my opinion the wave has been so strong because as Americans we want our children to be able to compete on a global scale. We have a desire to be superior to everyone and if other countries far surpass us then they are superior to us. Back to basic reform is so strong because it puts major emphasis on standard test taking. By testing the students on information that other students around the world are tested on we can judge where that child places.

Reflection #7 Egypt & Mesopotamia

In both Egypt and Mesopotamia homeschooling, apprenticeship and temple education were used to educate their children. As children would imitate the adult actions this is an early form of apprenticeship. Usually the son took over for the father, therefore the son would learn at an early age the trade of his father. Although sometimes children would be apprentices to tradesmen who they were not related to. Homeschooling was also done at an early age where parents taught children their beliefs, moral codes, and social behavior. Female children were often taught by their mothers. Mothers taught there daughter how to keep the home, sing, and dance. Temples were not schools but were one gave offerings to the gods. Children learned at an early age how to respect and fear the gods. Parents also taught children what kind of offering would please the gods while also instilling there personal beliefs regarding temple to there child. Children in Egypt and Mesopotamia were educated at an early age. Imitation of an act was actually practice in their future field of employment. The only children who were not taught by their parents were the children of the king or pharaoh. These children were often taught by temple priest and scribes who would teach them writing, language, arithmetic, and science. These great societies believed in education, just in a non tradition way.

Reflection #6 – Importance of Writing

Just like the Egyptians believed to achieve immortality your name must be inscribed somewhere your name must been written to be remembered. If you are never know on paper you never existed. In most obituaries there is a list of people who knew the deceased. When all those people are deceased as well who then will be left behind to remember them. That is where the importance of writing comes in. We write things down that we think are important. These things are so important that we don’t want to forget them. Our human brains can hold only so much and even if it could hold more we would only lose once we died. Word of mouth is nice however, it leads to variation. Often telling a story to one person will lead to that person telling the same story with completely different facts. Writing allows us to know exactly who, what, when, where, and how every time exactly how the author wrote it. Writing also allows us to pass on valuable information to the next generation. A recipe for medicine that can cure thousands will need to be followed to the letter. Using memory alone is not a very good way to safe guard this information. There is also a mastery of skills when you can study information pertaining to a certain field. You cannot become a master of all history without studying it; there is history from too many cultures. Without the written history you will never succeed in this as the history of all cultures would not be available to you. Writing fosters creativity and joy. A story written hundreds of years ago still captivates and entertains so many today because of its creative properties. These stories where not perfected in one try but were honed by many rough drafts. Writing also utilizes the brain in a way nothing else can. Reading use to be a skill that was highly coveted as those who knew how to read held a power over those who could not. With knowledge comes power and holding power in your hand in the form of books is very valuable.

Reflection #5—Rites of Passage

Reflection #5—Rites of Passage
Initiations and rites of passage are used in every culture. When a child graduates from one grade to another they are completing one aspect of their rite of passage. Teaching a child what he or she need in order to grow is vital to their success in that culture. All children want to be accepted within their cultures; they do so by succeeding in their cultures rituals. By learning the rules and social norms of that culture a child is signifying that they are ready to go through the initiation of adulthood. Marking a child as completing a specific ritual changes there social status. There may or may not be a ceremony announcing the completion of this rite of passage. In the United States if a child does not have a diploma by a certain age they are seen as less than. They have failed there rite of passage. They are now of age without any of the tools they need to succeed in life. An adult who has not complete the rites of passage of their culture are seen as less than worthy. They are often outcast of their own making due to their feeling of inadequacies. This may even hinder someone from finding a mate. In the eyes of society if they cannot complete their rite of passage then they are not ready for a mate. How can they care for another person and begin to raise children if they themselves are still stuck as an “adolescent”. Every child that grows must go through some type of rite of passage this is done consciously and unconsciously. These rites of passage not only identify moving to the next stage for society but for the child. It signifies their readiness to take on new challenges, along with giving them the esteem to grow into happy, healthy members of society.

Genetic Eve Reflection #4

From studying the reading from this chapter various articles I have come to know many different types of hominids. This changes my standard paradigm where I believed present day man and the Neanderthal were the only two steps in the evolutionary chain. I believed that the Neanderthal had evolved from apes but I have come to know that our closet cousins are chimpanzees. Like the species Australopithecus aphaeresis who is somewhere in the middle between today’s man and a chimpanzee. These reading make me wonder when and how other species will evolve. Humans first evolved over 2 million years ago in Africa where we began to use tools. Homo habilis is the name given to these early humans meaning handy man. Proof that man originated in Africa was a skull of Homo erectus. Homo erectus was much more successful than Homo habilis. Perhaps Homo erectus survived longer than Homo habilis due to the fact that they could speak, even if it was very simple speech. Homo erectus spread to Europe and Asia and lasted longest in Asia. By using DNA scientist are able to trace the highest diversity of a various genes. Thus the highest genetic diversity should hold the oldest population. This is how we have now come to know that humans have been living in Africa longer than any other continent and then spread to all other parts of the world. To cement this fact scientist looked at the CD4 gene located in human chromosome 12. There were 24 different segments found in 1,600 individuals in 42 populations. Of these populations 21 of these segments were found in Africans while 3 to 2 were found in the rest of the populations. This argues that chromosome 12 has existed in Africans far longer and all other populations, which then branched off from them originally. Man once believed that the world was flat, learning that it was indeed round changed the course of the society forever. Many people who are deeply religious and believe god created man will be deeply changed by factual information about the origins of man. They will either choose to questions there paradigms or to negative factual information in favor of religious beliefs.

Reflection #3

My elementary schools multicultural education was very limited. Although there were a many children in my school from a different culture we did not learn about them. What we learned in school was the contributions approach where we learned about the most famous heroes, holidays, and traditions of certain cultures. During holidays like St. Patrick’s Day children were encouraged to wear green. I personality began to associate green with the Irish. I had no idea why green and people from Ireland went together but that was what I had learned. However, in middle school there were instances where we were exposed to different cultures in detail. The first memory of being exposed to multicultural education in middle school was in a food festival in sixth grade. This memory was also a part of contributions approach, where everyone brought in a dish from their culture. As students tasted a small sample of the dish the presenter would discuss different aspects of their culture. This festival was a huge deal as it was the first time we ate anything from a different culture. We also learned a lot about women’s culture including various current writers of the time. This is defiantly the addictive approach as it was during black history month when we learned about Maya Angelou. I’m glad that there was a month that focused in on black history because without it I may not have exposed to her writing. I can vividly remember a play that was put on during this time. The students put on a play based on Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” it spoke to me on so many levels. It was the first time I directly related a poem to my life. If one poem could do this for me, image what including other cultural influences could do for other children. If I could go back I would want teachers to take the transformation approach. I would have like to discuss different global issues with my peers. By discussing major events that happen on a global scale we can then go deeper into that culture. By discussing how and why people of different cultures fell in their own perspectives during a current event is a great way to learn about that culture. I would have also liked it if teachers used the social actions approach. During my middle school education there were several social events going on globally that I would have liked to help with. One person cannot make that much of a difference but an entire school can. It teaches young children how to solve problems and to use political means to solve these problems.