Chapter 7! - Rachel Mosher

Creative Connector

Pg. 121: “I certainly wouldn’t have expected him to be the kid to wage a one-person campaign against Ms. Reilly’s threatened early retirement.”

            When I read this story on Samuel’s letter to Ms. Reilly, it made me think about my own experiences in high school with the “bad” kids in school. Those kids were looked at by teachers as students who just don’t care about school and did whatever they wanted to because they didn’t care about school. A lot of the teachers in high school simply dismissed those students and didn’t pay much attention to them now that I think back on my classes in high school. I had seen some teachers lose it on these kids and could tell that these teachers had had it with school and some of the “bad” kids they had to deal with. When I read Samuel’s letter to Ms. Reilly, I felt sad thinking about those “bad” kids in high school who wouldn’t be expected to care and be the “Samuel” to stop a teacher from early retirement because they cared. Those “bad” kids did care and it’s a shame that most teachers don’t see that until it gets to a point where teachers just can’t take it anymore.

Pg. 125: “Unfortunately, neither Ruby’s nor Sam’s letter made much of an impact on the intended teacher.”

            I don’t really have a connection with this quote, but I was very moved and shocked by this statement. I can’t believe letters such as there written with true heart and soul from these kids were not addressed by either teacher. This wasn’t a written assignment they were forced to do, it was true and real and a message from each of these students crying out for help for someone to hear them! For both teachers to dismiss them is a slap in the face to both of these students who probably already felt like they didn’t have a voice. After having their letters dismissed and never addressed, I’m sure it scarred them even more than before and gave them a feeling of worthlessness, like nobody cared.

Pg. 128-129: When Mayra comes to Mr. Michie’s room after school to talk about her problems.

            I loved this moment between Mr. Michie and Mayra. Its little moments like this throughout a school day that can change a day for a student and make it a little bit better. Mr. Michie noticed the Mayra had been acting different and knew something was up so just asked to talk to her and when she did, she felt better and Mr. Michie was more aware of her circumstances. I had a teacher in high school that reminds me a lot of Mr. Michie. This particular teacher used to always have his door open for students to talk with him before or after school and during study halls. Students trusted him and felt that he was fair and they could talk to him about their problems. Sometimes, all a student needs it someone to listen.

Essence Extractor

Teachers provide students with the tools to learn, and ears to listen.

I am the Discussion Director this week!:-)

Chapter 7- Stephanie Baldwin

Chapter 7 Blog

Creative Connector:

In this chapter the author asks his students to evaluate his lessons in the middle of a unit.  The feedback he receives is surprising to him, especially since his students are so open and honest.  At the end of my student teaching experience I had students write evaluations of how they thought I did as a teacher.  Most feedback was positive, except for my Level 4 class.  They were harsh.  I was surprised by this because no one really gave any sign of being that dissatisfied with my lessons.  I wish I had known before so I could have fixed my mistakes.

A lot of this chapter deals with the author's first impressions of students and how they proved him wrong.  I think we all have probably had this experience.  When I first started student teaching I had this one student who tried his very hardest to get under my skin.  He quite often acted like a brat when he didn't get his way.  But after a while he let down his wall and actually started to like me.  I was then able to see the real person he was and he actually became one of my favorite students.  

Rigorous Researcher:

I find it really important to build good relationships with students, so I found some how-to sites on how to do so.

http://tep.uoregon.edu/workshops/teachertraining/beginnings/onlinebeginnings/relationship.html

http://www.priceless-teaching-strategies.com/teacher_student_relationships.html

http://www.howtodothings.com/education/how-to-earn-your-students-respect (Ignore all the links at the top of the page, the content is actually useful)

http://www.ehow.com/how_5060463_earn-respect-high-school-students.html

Essence Extractor:

There needs to be respect and understanding between teachers and students.

Chapter 7- Hannah Schreiber

"After reading the kids' letters, though, I'd decided it was time to admit temporary defeat"
Being able to crumple up your lessons and admit that you were wrong is not an easy thing to do. This is one of the lessons that I learned during my student teaching placement. I was teaching preschool during this one particular circumstance, reading a story to my 13 4 yr olds. It was a bad story. A LONG bad story. One which I hadn't read ahead of time to make sure that it wasn't a bad long story. The kids were bored with the story, and worst of all, so was I. They were all starting to get really antsy and couldn't sit still any longer. My cooperating teacher let me trudge through the book and finish an abbreviated version of it (in which I ended up making up part of the story on my own just to make it more interesting). Later that afternoon she told me that if I ever find myself in a similar situation again, that what she normally does is either admit to the kids that the book was boring, or tell them that you'll put a bookmark in and finish it later. (generally 4 yr olds won't remember if it was something they weren't interested in and you won't actually have to finish it.) It was hard at first to admit that I made the mistake by picking such an awful book, but in the long run, it saved me a lot of misbehaving out of sheer boredom.


"The security measures they seemed to say, were a necessary evil"
I know that this is quite a stretch from security measures and what was actually happening in the book, but the term "necessary evil" made me think about other necessary evils in education today. I currently have a child in my pre-k class that really needs to be receiving services of some kind. The way that things have been going, he just can't function in a regular classroom all by himself. The center that I'm teaching at doesn't have any sort of inclusion "technology" or services to help children with legitimate behavioral disorders. Today he was observed by Roosevelt center, a school for children with special needs, in the hopes that they would provide a 1:1 aid or some other sort of services for this child (or to train current employees in ways to help this child). Unfortunately, this child's mother has a fear of her child being labeled as special needs and prepared him for the observer. In the education world, i guess that you could say that labeling children with special needs is a "necessary evil" for getting a child the services that they need to succeed in school.

My last creative connector deals with Mr. Michie and talking to Mayra about what has been bothering her. Though my scenario is not really the same, it has similar characteristics. When I was in my first student teaching placement in Kindergarten, there was one particular child that was very quiet, didn't play with the other children, seemed to have speech problems as well as fine/gross motor delays. He came to school in dirty clothes with open sores on his feet from his wet socks/shoes combination. But worst of all, he had bruises all over his little body. Its one of those scenarios where you don't really know what to say. Nor did I know what to do. I wasn't the classroom teacher so it wasn't my place to bring up suspicions about abuse/neglect. But I felt like I had a duty to this child to protect him and make sure that he was taken care of. In the end, it turned out that my cooperating teacher had the same concerns as me and had already started looking into contacting CPS to help the family. But reading that part of the book made me remember that awful feeling of not knowing how to help. I think that Mr. Michie helped Mayra to decide what she wanted for herself and not to try and work hard for anyone but herself.

Essence Extractor: Students need to be interested in their learning for THEM and not because they are trying to impress someone else (ie: a teacher or a parent)

Chapter 7 - Kathleen White

Creative Connector
Pg 119 Dear Mr. Michie, Don't take it personal but your class is very boring..."
At my high school student teaching placement I had a bunch of really challenging classes. In the begining of this blog I wrote about a few of them, I wanted to come back to them for this chapter especially because of the letters by kids to teachers. There was one table of all boys that I kept having to separate, they were loud, they weren't always on task, I could tell that some of them cared and some didn't, I did my best and over all I think they all did pretty well. My last week I had a student from that table come up to me at the end of class. He said "Miss White? In english we had to write a letter to our favorite teacher... and I wrote mine about you." I didn't have any words. Here was this kid who had maybe an 80 on a top day, who was really challenged in the class, complained all the time - and there I was a student teacher at the school for 30 days... and I was his favorite teacher. I was so honored. The letter was sent, he said, through district mail "I hope you get it before you leave!"

I never got the letter, but I will never forget that afternoon.

Pg 128 Mayra tells Mr. Michie about her abuse.
So many of our students face lives that I can't even imagine. I can't be a therapist, I'm not trained to do that. I'm also not a priest, I don't take confession or keep things (big things) in confidence, if something/someone is at risk I have to say something, I have to tell people. I will be the teacher who you can come to with anything but I will also be the teacher who says "wait, before you tell me anything, I know you came to me because you think I can help even if that means going to a higher up if I have to" I will always do what is best for my students even if they hate me for it.

Pg 123 The debacle between Ruby and Mr. Shepherd
People always say that children are the future, I think there's even a song about it, I disagree. I think children are NOW. They understand so much more than we give them credit for, and can do so much if they are pushed. This past summer I participated in The March: Bearing Witness to Hope where I traveled to Germany and Poland to study the Holocaust. There are so many statistics associated with this atrocity of human failing that my mind swirled with numbers. One, however, did stick out - a Holocaust surviver, Sally, told our group that 1.5 million of the victims of the Holocaust were children. Kids, babies, pre-teens. They were seen as having no value, they couldn't work they couldn't do anything. It hurts me to think that Mr. Shephard was once a brilliant teacher who positively affected so many lives and now he's this crab who can't take the time to listen to students. I know burn out is a huge issue for beginning teachers and, knowing myself, I know that I will be prone to it. I cant be Mr. Shepherd. I've seen what loosing value in someone can do.

Essence Extractor
We have to care enough to help, to teach well and to really listen.

Idea Illustrator

Vocabulary for Chapter 6! - Rachel Mosher

target audience - the intended group for which something is performed or marketed; the specific group to which advertising is directed
Sentence - The target audience for the book is from young adults upward.

gimmick - an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.

glitz - ostentatious glitter or sophistication
Sentence - A cocktail lounge was noticed for its glitz.

high-key lighting - a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene.
Sentence - Several Hollywood movies use high-key lighting when filming.

tangentially  - pertaining to or of the nature of a tangent; being or moving in the direction of a tangent.

malas palabras - bad words.

tamales - tamale

horchata - cold drink made from ground tiger nuts, water and sugar.

banda - band

rendition - a translation or interpretation.

quinceanera - female's 15th birthday

Just a little something - Kathleen

HOW DID YOU LIKE THE LECTURE ON MONDAY!!!!
I thought it was cool to hear him speak, I wish he had done more of what he did at the end of his talk (good vs. great schools, and about education) rather than recount the book to us. I loved his good vs. great schools - and agree we live in a country of greatness, we want domination, and we want perfection, high scores and money. What we need to want is a good society one of equality, real learning and compassion. It may seem like a Hallmark card but I left that auditorium very empowered because someone was thinking the same way I was!

I had to leave before he had the panel with the Rochester Schools students - did anyone see how it went? What did they say? A cool idea right???
:)

Chapter 6- Hannah Schreiber

Creative Connector

The easiest way for me to connect this chapter to my life would be from when I was in high school. My school didn't exactly have a media studies class, we had a class called "Film as Literature". In this class we were supposed to watch movies and analyze them as if they were a piece of literature, as if we were reading a book. We watched and analyzed some old movies, such as Citizen Kane and some new ones as well. We picked out themes and underlying messages that were portrayed in the movies. Later, while I was in college, my younger sister ended up doing a study of Disney movies and their portrayal of women in their classic cartoons. I was shocked by the underlying messages that were brought out by looking at all of these movies closely, with a critical eye. Its amazing the things that the media throws at us, and we blindly eat it all up! We as a society truly are "zombified" when it comes to popular culture. I was so impressed that Mr. Michie brought up these issues with his kids and had them actually think about what they are singing along to on the radio. I've seen women listening and singing along to incredibly offensive and demeaning lyrics just because they are popular songs and I think to myself "do you even know what they're saying about you? And you're singing right along with them!" I think that courses like this should be offered at every school, and in the community as well. Society needs a wake-up call!

“I had to find ways to engage them.  I had to find things for them to do—things that were relevant, things that would interest them, things that could not be accomplished without the one element that sometimes seems foreign to school classrooms: real, live, unadulterated learning.” –p. 92

 

I know that Stephanie used this quote as well, but I think its a good one to use. It really is important, especially with older kids, to use material that can be related to their lives. For younger children, you can make foreign things to them interesting, because they're new, but when that new shine wears off you need to be able to bring it back to the real world and let your students know that this is for them too. That its not just true in the perfect ideal setting, that its true in their world as well. I don't have any inspirational experience with relating information to my students lives, but I do know that when I'm reading a story, or talking about a certain topic with my preschoolers, they are so much more excited when they can tell me a story about how something related happened to them or someone in their family. They love to connect things to their world. At that age, that's all they really know to exist.

"Frankie had called me out on the carpet and I had come out looking dumb"

As new teachers (and some experienced) I'm sure that we have all felt this way at some point or another. We have this great plan in our heads of how things will play out. You try to prepare for the mistakes that might happen, but then something completely over the top happens... and you're left looking like an idiot. This actually happened to me today at school. I was doing portfolio work with my kids in small groups, identifying and tracing shapes and cutting on straight and wavy lines. I plan to use this information for my own records as well as for conferences coming up next month. I figured that with 4 children at once this really shouldn't be a big deal. I passed out the first paper and a pencil and explained what they were supposed to do. One little boy finished his first sheet really quickly, so I moved him on to the second task so he wouldn't get bored. I handed him his paper and some safety scissors, then went back to helping the other 3 kids at the table. I figured it was a pretty simple activity. There wasn't too much room for error, since I was just gauging the kids abilities. So long as they don't get up and run around with the pencil or scissors there shouldn't be a problem. Well of course, while I had my back turned to Ryan, he decided that he needed a new haircut. And doesn't my director walk in the door just as he's putting a nice chunk of hair on the table. I don't think we'll be using scissors for the next couple of days.

Essence Extractor: To make learning real for students, it needs to be real and close to their lives.

Chapter 6 Kathleen White

Creative Connector

My first response is in reaction to most of the chapter, focusing on the new class created by Mr. Michie (Media Studies) and the quote he used “No Zombies Allowed!”

            I loved seeing this new class offered to Michie’s students. Not to say that they weren’t into his class before but just the subject matter of this course will add relevance and interest to the class. Taught properly there can be so much learning that happens here!!! This is the sort of thing I want to be able to do in my own classroom – help students to deconstruct what they’re seeing around them, posters, music, TV, etc and look at it objectively. What are they really saying here? What do they want you do think? Through my art class I want to increase student’s visual literacy, how well they interpret and make meaning from an image, as well as teach students about different art mediums, creation and expression. What Michie is doing is helping these students to think critically and to think for themselves in a world where it is so easy to sit back and be led by media and persuasive speaking. If you look at WWII and the Nazi propaganda, Hitler and the Nazi party used images, rousing speech and years of indoctrination to convince young men that their place in life was as a soldier killing Jews. I’m not brazen to think that the only reason men become soldiers is because they are easily convinced and don’t think idependantly, I know this is untrue. I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if there was more of a moral force (possibly teachers) who could say to these men – think about that poster, that short film, that speech, what are they REALLY saying.  We’ll never know for the past, but I know I’ll be doing my part in the future to create students who are visually literate.

“So sometimes when I think I have a problem I feel guilty, because I watch the news or talk to people at school who don’t have a mother, or whose heating just went out….and I feel dumb I feel like I have no right to complain.” Pg. 116

            We all experience this world differently and I’ve come to realize, as Paloma is so eloquently putting it, that there is always going to be someone who’s problems are bigger than yours. This fact does not decrease the value of things happening in someone’s life, or the impact these things have on that individual. I realize that comparatively to many of the students in this book or students I will teach, my life experiences in 22 years are probably only half of the things my students will have experienced by the time they’re 18. It is not our place as teachers to assume we know what’s going on in their lives, feel sorry for students or to make exceptions or have lesser expectations – we do, however, need to be understanding of extenuating circumstances, flexible, and above all we need to know our students.

In response to a student’s question about why she needs to wear a uniform but the teacher doesn’t : “And [the teacher] said ‘I’m not a teenager. I’m not in a gang.’ So I told him ‘ I’m sorry,  but I’m not a gangbanger, either. I don’t write on walls. I don’t sell drugs. I’m not affiliated with any of that. Why do you have to stereotype?’ “

            You know that they say about what happens when you assume… It is beyond true, you make students feel embarrassed because you are falsely labeling them and creating a victim, you make yourself look ignorant and mean because instead of asking questions and understanding your students you stereotyped them. It’s an extremely hard thing not to let our biases affect our teaching – I think its important that we acknowledge our biases to ourselves and always try to be aware of them. I love that Paloma had enough courage to stand up for herself in this situation, I know that as a student I wouldn’t have said anything because I was so shy, and that as a beginning teacher I would have been flabbergasted if someone did this to me. From where I sit today this was AWESOME! I want a student who is comfortable enough with me to respectfully tell me when I’m mistaken, I will admit my failures to the class (I have no problems owning my faults) and hope to create an environment of open communication and one with as few biases and as many personal understandings as possible.

Essence Extractor

Students need to be able to think critically about the world they live in, they deserve our best efforts in modeling and teaching this.

Chapter 6! - Rachel Mosher

Creative Connector

Pg. 101: "I knew that a media studies course would likely be met with skepticism by certain teachers at Quincy, who believed that any time in school away from reading, writing, and arithmetic was time wasted."
I loved this quote because it is so true and it's something I completely believe in with most "mandatory" content! I love the idea of a media literacy class, especially for this age group of students who spend half their days watching TV. It sparks interest from the students, engages them in topics they can relate to, and allows them to have a voice! The fact is, a majority of how the students behave and speak has to do with some form of the media. It is everywhere and affecting them in so many ways outside of school. I give Mr. Michie a lot of credit for taking on this course and creating it from scratch and getting the students involved in deep and meaningful thinking!

Pg. 104: "An important consideration in any media literacy course, I came to realize, is using programs the kids watch as texts for study."
I thought this idea to incorporate media programs the students actually watch all the time as their text in the classroom was brilliant. The students deal with assigned textbooks most of them probably don't even open in all of their other required courses. In Mr. Michie's media class, they are actually familiar with the "media text" before entering the room so they have prior knowledge on the topics that they actually care about and deal with on a regular basis. The topics Mr. Michie discusses allows the students to think even deeper about some of the television shows they watch just to watch for entertainment. In high school, I took a media literacy class that I was very passionate about because we discussed topics of interest for our age level and discussed popular media in our culture that we could all relate to. The students are much more engaged in the material when Mr. Michie can relate it back to media they are confronted with daily and have a degree of interest in. Mr. Michie turns a form of the students entertainment into meaningful schoolwork allowing the students to again, have a strong voice.

Pg. "There are times when I envy those teachers who always seem to be so sure they are doing the right thing with their students. It is rarely that way for me."
I smiled when I read this quote because I can picture myself as a first or second year teacher feeling the exact same way! I personally hate the feeling of not knowing what I'm doing in a situation or if I am even getting through to my students. Being a novice teacher with not much experience to begin with, I happen to feel this way all the time when I am surrounded by teachers who have "been through it all". It is nice to hear that a teacher as fantastic as Greg Michie feels this way too sometimes!

Essence Extractor

As teachers, we need to do our best to think “outside of the box” in order to create something magical.

Chapter 6- Stephanie Baldwin

Creative Connector

“I had to find ways to engage them.  I had to find things for them to do—things that were relevant, things that would interest them, things that could not be accomplished without the one element that sometimes seems foreign to school classrooms: real, live, unadulterated learning.” –p. 92

I can relate to this quote from the book because while student teaching I was always in search of activities that would be relevant to my students.  While it’s necessary to have straight up notes and lectures sometimes, it’s better to find a way to relate it to the students.  I did a unit on German music with my students they got really excited when they got to talk about the music in their lives.

A part that concerned me in this chapter is how the author lost track of Frankie, a student who could have been at risk.  The author got lazy and let this kid slip through the cracks.  This reminds me of when I had to report a student to the social worker at school.  This student one day wrote all over his papers references to Nazis and Jews that were not acceptable.  I found it necessary to get to the bottom of it, in case there was underlying issues.  It turns out his friends just did it as a joke to be mean.  I’m glad I found out the truth, even if it turned out not to be a problem.

Idea Illustrator

In this chapter the author discusses talk shows and how his students analyzed them to find what’s wrong with the media.  So for my idea illustrator I found clips to illustrate these negative aspects.  Feel free to analyze them yourselves!

Jerry Springer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRnIXnBcAAo&feature=fvst

Ricki Lake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQbMHFsXSCk&feature=fvst

Maury:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPLvd54wfaI

Essence Extractor

Students need new concepts to really develop their learning.

Chapter 5- Hannah Schreiber

P. 78 "Look at your hands/ that is where/ the definition of magic/ is located at."
This quote really hit home for me. In the past year or two I have been considering trying to work in a city school. To be perfectly honest, the thought completely scares me. I personally do not have a lot of experience with people of different cultures/ethnicities/races/etc... I grew up in a mono-cultural town, attended a mono-cultural school, participated in mono-cultural extracurricular activities, and so forth. I do have friends of different cultures and races, but that has been a more recent happening since all throughout my childhood I wasn't exposed to different people. After reading this chapter, it made me realize that even though you might not have a lot of experience with different cultures, that its never too late to learn, and that by teaching children of different cultures, you will learn from your students! This chapter really allowed me to take a look at my hands, accept who I am and what I know, and create the magic of potential to push myself forward and expand my horizons as not only a professional, but as a person as well.

p. 79 "A kid sitting near me turned to his friend. 'Stupid brazers,' he said. They both laughed"
Like both Rachael and Kathleen have said, there is that one thing that kids do that really strikes a note with some people, and for me as well, name calling and bullying is something that I refuse to put up with. When I was reading the chapter and I first saw the term "brazer" I really had no clue exactly what it meant, what the derivation of the word came from, or who exactly it was aimed at... but I knew from the context of how it was used--"stupid brazer"-- that it was not something appropriate to be saying about anyone. I was surprised that Mr. Michie didn't pick up on that and reprimand the kids for saying it in the first place. As you know, this year I am teaching pre-school to 4 yr old children. Every day we have story time, where I read the children one or two books. I always make a point of mentioning the author and illustrator's names and go over the meaning of the terms "author" and "illustrator" so that the children can learn those terms. Last week (and for a few weeks before) my students had been making a habit of laughing at the names of the author and illustrator (most likely in an attempt to waste time and make a game for themselves to see who else they can get to laugh). The first week that it happened, I gently reminded the students that its not polite to laugh at people's names because it would hurt their feelings. The second week when it was still happening I became more firm with the children. Halfway through the week it was still happening. Every time. When they laughed on Thursday I had had enough. I raised my voice at the class, shut the book, and told them all to go sit at the table and put their heads down for one minute. As they were walking over to their seats I reiterated how disrespectful it is to laugh at people's names and gave an empty threat that it had better not happen again-- "or else". We turned off the lights and set a timer for one minute for which we sat in complete silence. When the minute was up I turned the lights back on, directed the class back to circle, read the book, and got on with our day. I know it seems a bit harsh for 3 and 4 yr old children, but bullying and disrespect for others is something that I refuse to tolerate. On the plus side, no one has laughed at names ever since. Maybe the empty threat of "or else" works after all!



p.92 "But before long, if you don't start saying hi to Mexico, he's gonna leave you alone. He's just gonna leave you".
We talked in class a couple of weeks ago about how many of us celebrate our heritage as Irish, or Native American, or Polish, etc... and when I read this it made me think about how true it is that if you don't actively try to keep your heritage alive that you'll lose that part of you. My case is not nearly the same as Edmundo's. For those who are reading this and aren't reading the book, Edmundo is talking about how when he's with Americans he's embarrassed to admit that he is Mexican. He says that after a while, if you ignore your heritage, you won't have it anymore. In my case, I am not embarrassed to tell you my heritage, however, I feel like my heritage has been lost. My great-great grandmother came to the US from Germany when she was 16. I am 87.5% German (technically), but if you were to ask me what my culture was I'd probably tip my head at you. My family doesn't celebrate any "German" traditions, I can barely count to 3 in German, and I couldn't even tell you where in Germany my family came from. My grandmother will sometimes bring up different things that she has that came from Germany or tell us stories of things that her Grandmother would do or say. Its times like that when I realize that my family's heritage has been brought to that simple calculation of 87.5% and nothing more. Sometimes I wish that I had some sort of culture or heritage to celebrate that set my family apart from the standard "American".

Essence Extractor: It is important that we as teachers take a look at our hands and who we are-- our identity, our culture, and our potential to help others take a look at their own hands.

My role this week is the discussion director so I don't have a 3rd job to post for.

Chapter 5- Stephanie Baldwin

 Creative Connector

On page 77 the author discusses an exercise that he has his students do, writing what they think their definitions are of Mexicans and Americans.  Most of them had very negative views of the other culture.  When I was student teaching I did a unit just like this with my German Level 3 classes.  In this unit I taught them how Germans stereotype Americans and vice versa.  One of the beginning activities was to write on a piece of paper words or sentences that they associated with Germans.  A lot of the responses had to with Nazis, beer, and fat people.  At the end of the unit I had them do a project where they created a poster which had on one side a common stereotype of Germans on the other side what the reality of it was.  I can honestly say that many of the students’ views of Germans had changed positively throughout the unit.

A lot of this chapter deals with how many of the author’s students had a hard time with their identity.  Many did not know where they belonged because they had strong Mexican heritage but lived in America, but their American peers still saw them as Mexican and their Mexican peers saw them as American.  I am currently in a situation where I do not feel like I fit into either of a certain group and it kind of makes me feel lost sometimes.  It is hard to relate to both the groups at the same time. 

Vocabulary Vitalizer

Cajoled: To deceive with soothing words or false promises

(My brother cajoled me into cleaning his room, promising me that he would walk our dog for a week in exchange, which he never did.)

Brazers: Students from Quincy School’s slang for someone who is “too Mexican”

Unflaggingly: Tireless

(At first I wouldn’t agree to my brother’s proposal, but he unflaggingly harassed me into it.)

Antepasados: Spanish ancestors

Güero: Someone who is fair-haired

Gringa: a vulgar Spanish term for a North American

Mariachi: A Mexican street band

(The mariachi band’s music echoed through the streets of Mexico City.)

Punitive: inflicting, involving, or aiming at punishment

(Growing up my parents’ rules were punitive.)

Algo es algo: Spanish term meaning something is better than nothing

Posadas: A nine-day celebration with origins in Spain beginning December 16 and ending December 25. It is a yearly tradition for many Catholic Mexicans and some other Latin Americans and symbolizes the trials which Mary and Joseph endured before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born, based on the passage in the New Testament.

Essence Extractor

Classrooms are a good place to help students find their identities.

Chapter 5! Rachel Mosher

Creative Connector

Pg. 79: When students in Mr. Michie’s class refer to Mexican students as “brazer’s”:

            Kathleen, I saw that you had this mentioned in your connections also, but I feel extremely sensitive to this issue as well! As most of you know from our discussions, I was in an extended substitute assignment where students in the class were very diverse. I had a very difficult time with the amount of name calling and hurtful slang comments towards students that were “different” from them. These students are 5^th grader’s who probably don’t even know what they are saying but they do know what they are saying will influence a reaction and what they are saying is clearly hurtful and wrong! It makes me wonder where they even hear some of the slang names they call their peers and really hit home with the recent headline stories in the news on bullying. I think there needs to be a change in focus from high school bullying to bullying starting out in elementary schools so that we as teaches can make some changes early!

Pg. 84: The different writing pieces students had written about what they thought the definition of “Mexican’s” “American’s” and “Mexican American’s” are:

            These definitions were crazy and blew my mind! I actually read them out loud to my mom I couldn’t believe what some of the students had come up with, especially for what they thought the definition from “American” was. I personally don’t have a connection to this experience but I was extremely moved by the comments and made me realize just how true the stereotypes are for these different cultures and how much the students truly believe them. It’s both very sad and very enlightening how much teachers really need to focus on these stereotypes and incorporate them into our classrooms so that our students cam become more and more accepting of cultures. Which is way, the team teaching unit was a great idea by Mr. Michie and his colleague! Even though it took a lot longer than they expected, they left a great impact on their students and themselves

Pg. 87: Mr. Michie’s 2^nd TerribleHorribleNoGoodVeryBad Day!

            Thank goodness I have no been in a situation like this one, but I’m sure there will be a time in my career where a situation like this will happen to me! I love how Greg Michie writes-particularly in this section. He completely admits that yes, even though I have been teaching for a few years now I still make these terrible mistakes and yes, you can recover and rebound from them! I felt terrible for the position Mr. Michie was put in and for that poor student. However, we are only human and we make mistakes like this everyday, no matter how experienced we are and even if we knew better, these things do happen and it’s ok to admit it! There are definitely days I feel like I am losing my patience or throwing everything I have learned in my education programs out the window, but it’s always important to reflect on those days and remember that tomorrow will always be a better day!

Essence Extractor

Trying new teaching methods though challenging at the time, may surprise you in the end

Idea Illustrator

I’ll bring my sketches to class!:)